Arriving at her bedroom, Erza decided to put all things to the back of her mind. She directly went to sleep as she was really tired. Today was truly such a long day for her.
The next morning, Victoria really came visiting. Unexpectedly, Erza was also called by the third lady to meet with Victoria.
"Second Auntie. Third Auntie." Erza greeted both Victoria and Violet when she entered the meeting room. Victoria nodded in reply.
"Come here." Violet asked Erza to stand at her side.
"How was your rest?" Victoria surprisingly asked.
"I am fine, thank you for Second Auntie concern." Erza replied.
"Good, let me cut straight to the point. I bring the Heavenly Flame Sword as per my promise. However, I have a small request. I want you to try subdue the sword now in front of my eyes. Do you dare to accept my request, girl?"
"Victoria! That is not the promise. No one since the late Emperor Lin managed to become the master of the sword. And you call that a small request?" Violet was angered.
"Relax. It's not like you to lose your temper easily." Victoria teased then continued "Do you forget what bloodline the girl has? It is the Eastern Sage Imperial Clan bloodline. The people of that clan were famous for their skills with weapons, notably with sword, lance, and axe. I believe our little girl has the qualification to become the sword master."
Victoria then brought out the Heavenly Flame Sword. The sword was rather small. The blade was red in colour and roughly 45 centimetres in length, carved with several ancient symbols, whereas the handle was covered in black colour.
Erza trembled with excitement and felt a faint connection between her and the sword. She ignored Violet uneasiness and reached out to grab the sword.
Upon contact, her mind entered an unknown world. Here, everywhere was burning with flame. Erza was standing between the flames but she did not feel the heat.
"Who are you?" A voice reverberated in the burning world. Next, a phoenix suddenly appeared in front of Erza.
"Hello, are you the sword spirit? My name is Erza. How should I call you?" Erza replied.
"Erza? Who is Lin Dong to you?" The sword spirit ignored Erza question.
"Yes, I am Erza Valentine, though I heard that I am actually not blood related with anyone from Valentine clan. As for Emperor Lin, he is my idol, my hero." Erza answered honestly.
"You meant he is not your father or maybe your grandfather? No blood relation at all?" The sword spirit pressed.
Erza was bewildered by the question. She replied "I don't know. I have no idea who is my dad. As for mom, it was said that her name is Lin Qingzhu." She felt a bit sad talking about her origin but managed to control her emotion. She had long accepted her status as an orphan.
The sword spirit contemplated about something. After a while, he looked carefully at the young girl in front of him then said "I know the reason you came here. However, I must say that I had reached the peak of this world. I had seen countless geniuses growing up and perished. Why should I follow a little girl like you now?"
Erza blinked a few times. "Don't you think I am cute? Don't you feel bored here? Rather than being locked in here for countless years, why don't you accompany a cute girl like me? Honestly, I had even peeked at my future appearance in the so-called samsara world and I must tell you that I will definitely grow up to be a devastating beauty."
The phoenix forehead had few black lines. "I had seen countless genius. Some of them promised to upgrade me becoming a God artifact. Some would offer exciting adventures overthrowing fates, not few wanted to exact their revenge. This is the first time I encounter a shameless brat like you, a girl on top of that."
"Hehehe.. Don't be too mean to a little girl. Truthfully, I have nothing to offer you. After all, I am just a young girl without any clear background. I don't even know for sure who are my parents. Therefore, I could only shamelessly ask for you to assist this young me." Erza paused a bit then offered a handshake.
"Please become my first partner and I promise I won't treat you badly." Erza said sincerely.
Hearing what the girl said and seeing her gesture, the sword spirit thought for a while then said "It is not impossible for me to accept you as my master but on one condition. You must be able to resist the baptism of my flame."
"Deal."
"Aren't you afraid that you will be burned to death? There were not few people who tried to subdue me and died without leaving a corpse behind."
"First of all, I don't want to subdue you. You will be my partner. Secondly, I believe we are meant to be together." Erza firmly replied. Then, the phoenix like sword spirit extended his right wing to accept the girl handshake.
In the outside world, Erza was standing with her eyes closed. She was holding the Heavenly Flame Sword. After a few minutes, suddenly her body was set ablaze. Her whole body was covered in flame and she started to float. Moreover, she started to release painful screams. Both ladies were startled.
"I told you she is not ready yet!" Violet panicked and released her anger to Victoria. Violet wanted to help but she was powerless. She didn't dare to interfere, fearing one wrong move might lead to Erza death.
"Was my feeling really wrong?" Victoria muttered.
A fire pillar rose high to the sky, destroying the meeting room. This event attracted everyone attention. Many divine senses kept coming to observe the situation. When they realized what was happening, they were deeply shaken.
Erza was in great pain. She kept screaming to alleviate some pain.
"Do you regret your decision?" The sword spirit asked. However, Erza did not even have the energy to think and reply the question. She felt every inches of her body was burning, even her mind and soul.
"How about you give up now? Then you won't need to bear with the pain anymore." The sword spirit continued.
"Aaaarrrrgghhhh! Aaarrrggghh! Aaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh!" Erza was screaming like never before. She truly wanted to give up. Nevertheless, she kept fighting the urge to give up until the last moment. "Is this how I die?" That was her last thought before losing her consciousness.
She did not know what happened after that. However, the following event was earth shattering incident which was classified as one of the clan most protected secrets. Both the patriarch and the supreme elder even joined hands to cast large scale memory cleansing magic throughout the clan, not even the heads of household or senior elders were spared.
Most people could only remember that Erza was engulfed in flames, after that, they had no further recollection.
Six years later...
Today was the start of academy enrollment days in Black Snow Empire. It would last for a week before new classes started. There were many academies throughout the empire, however the top three always belonged to Black Snow Royal Academy, Saint Beast Academy, and Hathaway Academy.
Backed by the palace itself, Black Snow Royal Academy was the indisputable number one. Furthermore, the relationship between humans and beasts was quite harmonious in Black Snow Empire. Saint Beast Academy was built by Ice Phoenix Clan Ancestor and it was especially designated for beasts.
Lastly, Hathaway Academy was a branch academy from Central Continent – Hathaway Empire. They were Black Snow Empire's closest ally. The academy was specialized in robotic and advance technology curriculum.
There were many informants around the entrance of each academies. Once a genius enrolled in an academy, the rest of the academies would also be informed.
In front of Black Snow Royal Academy entrance, many children around the age of 12 were queuing, waiting for their turns. Some were accompanied by their elders or servants while some came alone. Not few of them were young nobles from aristocrat families, however all of them still needed to queue.
All of a sudden, the temperature went lower and a phoenix cry resounding across the sky. Then one could see an approaching ice phoenix flying from the northern side of the city. The ice phoenix hovered above the academy entrance, while a small figure jumped down from its back. It was a little girl around the age of 12 with long blue hair.
"What a beauty" muttered a lot of boys while the girls grumbled silently.
"Welcome to Black Snow Royal Academy, Miss Elsa. We have been notified of your arrival. Please follow us to complete the necessary documents." Two supervising elders came forward to greet the girl and led her toward the inside of the academy.