Chapter 229: A Prophecy
Chapter 229: A Prophecy
Leaving the Dean’s pavilion, Rhain didn’t return to Seris’s side just yet.
With two days remaining before the Heavenly Ascendent Tower opened, he had no intention of waiting idly.
He headed straight for the Battle Arts Division.
But this time, he did not head toward the Gold-tier chambers he had been using previously.
Instead, Rhain walked straight into the most heavily restricted underground sector of the facility.
"Core Combat Chamber," Rhain requested, presenting his Core Palace token to the trembling attendant.
As the names suggest, these combat chambers for specifically reserved for the Core Palace disciples.
These rooms were rarely ever used, as there were only five Core Palace disciples in the entire Academy.
The defensive arrays etched into the obsidian walls here were fundamentally different from the lower tiers.
They were inscribed by array grandmasters and reinforced with mystic-grade spiritual stones, entirely capable of withstanding the full-powered, sustained assault of a Half-Step Domain Master Realm expert without suffering a single scratch.
The moment Rhain stepped inside, the doors sealed shut behind him, the arrays activating, and plunging the chamber into complete isolation.
Rhain’s eyes sharpened.
He had memorized ten Mystic-Grade martial arts from the fifth floor of the Grand Library.
Over the next three days, he needed to practice them to the highest level possible, so that he could have more cards while facing the Heavenly Ascendent Tower.
Rhain closed his eyes, accessing the profound knowledge he had ripped from the fifth floor of the Grand Library.
Out of the ten supreme arts, three were strictly Domain-type or Law-manifestation techniques—such as the Third Form of the Empyrean Purgatory Bloom, the Burning Purgatory Domain.
Because he had yet to actively wield even a single percent of any Law, they were completely locked to him.
"Without the ability to command a Law, I cannot even initiate the first stance of these three," Rhain thought, dismissing them from his immediate focus without frustration.
But the remaining seven Mystic-Grade martial arts were different.
While they required the mastery of a specific Law to reach the absolute ’Perfection Stage’, their foundational stances and intermediate forms could still be executed using raw essence and the level of comprehension.
"If I cannot reach perfection yet," Rhain’s dark grey eyes flashed with an unyielding light, "then I will simply push them to the absolute limit beneath perfection."
Rhain raised his hands, and the space within the chamber began to violently distort.
BOOM!
For the next three days, Rhain locked himself within the Core Palace combat chamber.
The underground chamber echoed continuously with the thunderous sound as he relentlessly practiced the seven Mystic-Grade arts.
Though he could not push them to the perfection stage, the destructive output he achieved was terrifying enough to instantly annihilate any peak Core Formation expert.
During these three days, Rhain would occasionally step out of the chamber to return to Seris.
It was on the afternoon of the second day that Carmilla had sent a transmission talisman, summoning him briefly.
According to Carmilla’s narrative, Seraphine had been utterly bewildered by Rhain’s predicament.
They could not find a single valid reason why a Rhain cannot wield the laws that he so perfectly understand.
Seraphine had suggested that Lyra, who had successfully forged a Domain at the Spirit Manifestation Realm, should sit down and speak with Rhain directly to see if she could identify some hidden, instinctual block that the older Domain Masters had missed.
But Lyra, whose pride was still heavily bruised from her crushing defeat, had flatly and furiously refused to even see his face.
Rhain didn’t mind the refusal in the slightest.
This was his own path.
One day, he will naturally shatter the bottleneck and uncover the reason himself.
He simply returned his focus to his training.
The seven Mystic-Grade arts that didn’t require law comprehension as a prerequisite were drilled relentlessly, each one pushed to the ceiling of what he could currently achieve.
By the time the sun rose on the morning of the fourth day, Rhain’s preparations were finally complete.
---------------------------
At the very center of the Stormveil Academy stood a structure that defied the passage of time.
Heavenly Ascendent Tower.
It radiated an ancient, suppressive aura that made anyone who stood near its base feel as insignificant as a grain of sand.
At the base of the massive bronze doors leading into the tower, a solemn group was gathered.
Carmilla stood at the forefront, her red robes fluttering gently in the morning breeze.
Beside her stood Myrielle.
Behind them were High Preceptors Aldren, Octavius, and Mordecai, alongside Preceptor Krell and the rest of the Academy’s highest echelons.
Only Preceptor Fabian was absent.
He had immediately entered deep closed-door seclusion following Rhain’s profound lecture on the Law of Wind, fully intent on seizing his breakthrough to the Domain Master Realm.
The atmosphere among the gathered elders was incredibly solemn.
High Preceptor Aldren looked up at the towering spire, his eyes filled with visible apprehension.
"Dean," he spoke with a grim tone. "I must ask you to reconsider this. It is not too late to stop him."
Carmilla didn’t turn her head, her bright eyes remaining fixed on the sealed obsidian doors. "We gave him our word, Aldren. The tower is open to him."
"Sister," Myrielle also stepped forward, her sapphire eyes were clouded with anxiety. "If anything happens to Rhain inside that tower, it will not only destroy him. It will destroy Seris as well. You have seen how deeply those two are bonded. If he emerges with his consciousness shattered, or if he doesn’t emerge at all..."
Myrielle’s hands clenched into tight fists.
"By allowing him to enter this millennium-old death trap, we are gambling with two irreplaceable prodigies with a single decision."
The High Preceptors nodded in heavy agreement.
The gamble was simply too dangerous to justify.
Carmilla stood silently for a long moment, without speaking a word.
Then, she slowly turned to face the anxious elders.
The playful, mischievous demeanor that usually danced in her bright eyes was completely gone.
In its place was the solemn majesty of the supreme ruler of the Stormveil Academy.
"Do you all remember the words our founder left behind before he departed this place a thousand years ago?" Carmilla asked.
Myrielle, and the Preceptors stiffened.
"A thousand years ago," Carmilla continued, turning her gaze back to the towering spire, "our founder built this tower, and then left. But before leaving, he left behind a prophecy that one day, a person would come to our academy who would conquer this tower. And he decreed that when that man arrives, the entirety of the Stormveil Academy must submit to him and support his ascent with all our might."
She swept her gaze across Aldren, Octavius, and finally Myrielle.
"For a thousand years, we have waited. Countless geniuses have failed. But ask yourselves this... If you look at the entire thousand-year history of our Academy... do you genuinely believe there could ever be a man more likely to be the one our founder spoke of than Rhain?"
The High Preceptors and Preceptors fell entirely silent.
"I believe in the founder’s words," Carmilla stated firmly. "He is the one. And even if I am wrong, and the tower proves too much for him... I am certain he has the strength to walk out of it safely."
Before any of the elders could respond, the sound of unhurried footsteps came.
Everyone turned their heads to look at the direction of sound.
Walking leisurely toward them was a tall youth in dark, gold-trimmed robes, his expression as placid and unbothered as a still lake.
And beside him, her delicate hand intertwined perfectly with his, was a breathtakingly beautiful girl in flowing blue robes, her silver-blue hair shimmering in the morning light.
Rhain and Seris had arrived.