Chapter 351: The Beginning Of The End [XIII]

A few days passed, and everything only got worse.

The midterm evaluations were right around the corner, and with the Inter-Academy

Tournament scheduled right after that, the Student Council office was a storm of movement. Papers piled up faster than anyone could read them.

Reports, schedules, resource requests… every damn hour, something new arrived.

And after all that, we’d still have to prepare for the Festival of Zenith.

We were pretty busy.

Actually.. no, beyond busy.

It was morning again.

The golden light of the sun spilled through the tall arched windows, casting a faint glow across the room.

Dust motes drifted lazily through the air while the sound of rustling papers and pens scratching filled the silence.

Lunara sat at the far end of the long table, as calm and cold as always. Her violet eyes were fixed on a sheet of parchment glowing faintly with divine seals.

She didn’t even look tired, even though she’d probably been awake since dawn.

Meanwhile, Themis stood beside her, holding another file, her hair tied in a loose ponytail. Her expression was somehow sharper than usual.

“The Valkyric Knights again,” she muttered, tapping her finger against the paper.

“They submitted a request this morning. Apparently, they want to include an additional ’special trial’ as part of the midterms.”

Lunara looked up slowly, and her expression didn’t change.

“I’m aware.”

Themis frowned at her words.

“You already knew?”

“They approached several instructors last week. Many of them, unfortunately, have already approved the idea. Some even offered to provide resources.” Lunara nodded,

“They approached several instructors last week. Many of them, unfortunately, have already approved the idea. Some even offered to provide resources.”

I glanced up from my own pile of documents.

“Wait, they already got permission?”

“Yes,” Lunara replied. “Through formal channels.”

Her calm tone made it sound like it wasn’t a big deal, but her eyes said otherwise.

“That’s ridiculous. You know what kind of people they are. Every time they get involved, they push their authority too far.” Themis exhaled sharply.

“The Valkyric Knights…” I muttered, leaning back in my chair.

“Aren’t they under the Eternal Tribunal’s jurisdiction?”

“Technically, yes,” Themis said. “But they act like their own damn army.” She threw the paper onto the table.

“Their ’trial’ involves testing divine synchronization with relics. It’s supposed to measure how well students handle divine energy, but the amount of divine power they want to use for it is absurd.”

“How much?” I asked.

“Approximately one hundred and fifty thousand units,” Lunara answered before Themis could.

Fucking hell…

That’s enough divine energy to heal more than one thousand 6✯ True Gods!

Just to explain how absurd that actually is, a 1✯ True God could hold about 500 Units of Divine Energy without exploding, and those units are more than enough to heal even a 5✯ True God!

And they wanted one hundred and fifty thousand of them?

“…That’s beyond insane,” I finally replied, blinking as if caught off guard.

Elijah, who had been quietly reading beside me, adjusted his glasses and glanced up.

“That’s equivalent to about eight hundred perfect divine crystals.”

“Eight hundred?” Harper nearly choked on her drink, setting down her cup. “That’s not a test, that’s a damn military exercise!”

Even Lunara’s expression stiffened slightly, though she kept her usual detached tone.

“I already denied their direct request for funding, but they’ve been gathering support from the professors instead. If enough departments agree to lend energy, they can bypass the council’s veto.”

“That’s manipulative,” Themis muttered, crossing her arms.

“That’s typical,” Elijah corrected, sighing.

“The Valkyric Knights always claim they’re doing it ’for the sake of divine excellence.’ I bet they just want to flex their resources in front of the other academies and factions before the tournament.”

Lunara didn’t respond.

She simply closed her eyes for a moment, as if trying to decide whether to care. When she spoke again, her voice was even, but the air around her felt heavier.

“If they drain that much divine energy, the academy’s ambient barrier will weaken for days. Any external interference, magical or otherwise, could slip through.”

“Meaning,” I said quietly, “they’re putting everyone at risk. For a test.”

She opened her eyes and met mine.

“Exactly.”

Although I had a bit of a complicated expression… this was quite the opportunity for me. Because they would need to import a lot of personnel to use those units, and that grants me the perfect chance for an attack.

I didn’t expect to get such valuable information. I’ll need to inform Christina later to tell the army to prepare themselves for a quick attack.

I’m still not confident enough to destroy the faction directly, so I’ll guess I’ll tell them to make as much damage as possible and get the fuck out of there as quickly as possible.

For a long second, no one spoke, and I too didn’t I as I was lost in thoughts.

Until, finally, Harper broke it, leaning forward with a nervous smile.

“So what are we gonna do? We can’t exactly shut them down if they already have the professors’ approval, right?”

Themis clicked her tongue.

“We can, but it’ll look bad politically. The Valkyric Order funds half the Combat Division’s weapon supplies. If we block them, we’ll lose their donations for the next fiscal cycle.”

Lunara looked thoughtful, her fingers lightly tapping the table. “We’ll have to find another way.”

“Another way?” I repeated.

“Yes. If we can prove that the divine energy expenditure violates academy regulations or poses a safety hazard, we can revoke the approval without directly opposing their Order.”

Elijah nodded. “I can help with that. I’ll gather the energy calculations and find the threshold for the safety margin.”

“Do it,” Themis said immediately.

“We’ll need proper numbers before the next council meeting.”

I flipped through my own folder again, scanning the Valkyric proposal. There were handwritten notes about “relic resonance tests” and “divine pressure endurance”.

Oh… a relic resonance test?

I raised an eyebrow.

This was quite interesting….

A relic resonance test was one of the most dangerous forms of divine synchronization ever developed.

The idea was simple: you expose a person, or a group, to the pulse of an ancient relic and measure how much divine energy their bodies can synchronize with before they either lose consciousness… or explode.

It wasn’t meant for students.

Hell, it wasn’t even meant for most gods.

Relic resonance could tear your divinity apart from the inside if you weren’t perfectly balanced, leaving your soul fractured and your mind screaming.

The fact that the Valkyric Knights wanted to use something like that for a “test” said enough about them.

They wanted to obtain the most radical and talented students by exposing them to a relic that could actually evaluate their future endeavours.

I turned another page, finding sketches of the actual setup. There were runes, containment seals, relic fragments…

My fingers brushed lightly across the symbols drawn in black ink.

Even through the paper, I could tell whoever designed this had experience handling divine relics.

But they weren’t being cautious; they were being quite greedy instead.

“Relic Type: Class A—Unknown Origin,” I muttered under my breath, reading one of the annotations.

“Divine output: unstable. Resonance fluctuation range: unpredictable.”

Unpredictable… yeah, that was one way to describe something that could flatten an entire section of the academy if it went wrong.

I leaned back, closing the folder halfway.

If they really intended to go through with this test, it could go horribly wrong. But that also meant one thing… chaos.

And chaos was opportunity.

My lips twitched slightly, almost forming a grin.

If something happened during that test—say, an unexpected explosion or “accident”—the academy’s attention would instantly shift toward crisis control.

In that confusion, no one would notice if I left the area for a few hours.

And if I used that time to move toward the Valkyric base…

I could hit them directly with my army.

Cut off the head before they even realized the knife was already pressed against their throat.

Of course, I’d need to plan it well.

Their base wasn’t unguarded, far from it. But with the chaos from the resonance test, their forces would be scattered, most likely focusing on recovery or containment.

That would give me enough of a window to strike without anyone connecting it back to me.

I drummed my fingers against the table, thinking carefully.

Still, I needed to know exactly where their relic came from.

It wasn’t something you could just buy or borrow.

If it were an artifact from the old pantheons, then it was definitely sealed for a reason.

If they managed to unseal it, then they either had a death wish… or someone higher up was helping them.

That part worried me more.

It wouldn’t be the first time a high god-backed faction used “training” as an excuse to test unstable relics.

They always called it “advancement for divine understanding.” What they really wanted was power that couldn’t be regulated.

“Haaa…”

I sighed softly, resting my chin on one hand.

If that thing went out of control, it could cause a resonance chain, and the divine energy overflow would make it impossible to sense or track individual signatures.

Perfect cover for an infiltration.

Maybe I shouldn’t be thinking like this.

Then again… when opportunities fall right into your hands, ignoring them is just stupidity.

My eyes turned toward Lunara for a moment.

She was still writing, calm as ever, like none of this chaos bothered her in the slightest.

Themis stood beside her, flipping through her own reports, muttering something about “energy limits” and “ethical concerns.”

Harper was doodling some nonsense in the margin of her notebook. Elijah was still calculating on his tablet, his expression unreadable.

I looked down again, my thumb tapping against the folder.

If I played this right, I could deal a heavy blow to the Valkyric Knights and make it look like an unfortunate accident.

I’d just need the right timing, and maybe a distraction or two.

A small hum escaped me as I leaned forward again, pretending to read while my mind spun through potential strategies.

Would I use my Authority?

As long as it wasn’t the Authority of Karma, then yeah.

Or maybe I could let the relic itself destroy them. Just a little push at the right moment, let their arrogance dig their own graves.

That idea felt almost poetic.

I was so caught up in my thoughts that I didn’t even notice when Lunara’s voice cut through the silence.

“Aestrea.”

I blinked, lifting my gaze immediately.

Her tone was calm but firm, and everyone else in the room looked up as well.

“Yes, President?”

Her violet eyes fixed on me.

“You’ll be assisting Elijah with the report,” she said, setting down her pen.

“He’ll handle the energy calculations, and you’ll handle the risk analysis. I want every possible scenario documented, especially regarding potential containment failures.”

For a brief moment, I hesitated.

She definitely noticed that I’d been lost in thought. Maybe she even was tryin to guess what I was thinking about.

But I simply nodded.

“Understood.”

“I’ll share the data with you once I finish the first draft.” Elijah gave me a small nod from across the table.

“Got it.”

“Good,” Lunara said, her voice quiet again as she picked up another set of papers.

“Then proceed. I expect a full report by morning.”

“Yes, President.”

I flipped my folder shut, straightening slightly in my seat.

Fine.

If she wanted a report about “potential containment failures,” then I’d make sure it included every one of them, especially the kind that could turn the Valkyric Knights’ little experiment into a smoldering crater.

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