Felix, Kreian and Kreia all looked towards their father with wide eyes.
"Father, you know they won't let him come back. Calibri wouldn't handle that." Kreia said, her brows furrowing.
"By keeping him within Verbatium territory, his power surges haven't been felt in heaven. So his mother is unaware of what has been happening to him. But if she knew, she would take him to heaven and have their people work on him." Trinity said.
"Father, we have the best healers in the Living Realm in our sect. If they don't know what to do then how will Heaven know?" Kreian asked.
"Their cultivation techniques are vastly different from ours. They may know how to deal with his condition." Trinity said.
"But once you go to Heaven, you can't come back Father, and if you can, it's almost next to never." Felix said.
"This isn't about us children. If he stays here, he'll die. There's no question about it. He will die. You can't put a rock in the place of a liver and expect that body to function. If he goes to Heaven permanently, they can purge the parts of his Soul Flare that are linked to the Living Realm. While he may not be able to practice in the Living Realm or see us again, he will still have the parts of his Soul Flare linked to heaven and can continue to practice Heavenly and Divine cultivation in that Realm."
Alexei looked over at Calibri who looked pale. The words his father had said were not words he wished to hear. He vaguely knew that if his body continued to work against him, it would be his only option. Still, the thought of leaving everyone and everything he knew behind caused a horrible feeling at the pit of his belly.
With an internal sigh, Alexei squeezed his friend's hand, offering him support. Calibri didn't say anything, but he squeezed back in response.
"He's already been following Heaven's laws his entire life. He hasn't broken any of them. They would take him back without question." Trinity said in a heavy tone. Of course he didn't want Calibri to leave. However, after watching his son getting so much weaker as the days passed, sending him away was the only plausible option left.
"Then I have a proposal." Felix said.
Everyone looked at him.
"Both Kreia and Calibri took the Exam. To protect Verbatium's secrets and our people, one of them has to become the Grandmaster, or else our sect will suffer at the hands of those who wish us harm." He said and glanced towards his younger sister.
"If Kreia places first, then we can entrust her with becoming the next Grandmaster, and we'll send Calibri to heaven. But," Felix paused and looked back at Trinity.
"If Calibri places first and Kreia does not place at least second, then it means that the chances of Kreia being beat by another sect is highly possible and our sect would be in grave danger, in which case it would be mandatory for Calibri to go to that Cultivation School, and he would have to become the next Grandmaster. In the meantime, we'd need to work even harder to try curing him."
Kreia frowned.
"Kreia. Did you try your hardest on the exam?" Trinity asked her. She nodded, because it was the truth, but she wasn't sure how she fared against Calibri who aced every exam he'd been given since birth.
If she placed first, Calibri would leave, and she would never see him ever again. She didn't want that, but at the same time, if he didn't leave, then there was the possibility that he would die.
"You make valid points Felix. We'll leave the decision to their test scores then." Trinity said.
Felix nodded. "Well, I actually have their acceptance letters with me." He said.
"Do you?" Kreian asked in surprise.
"Yes, collected it from a messenger along the way back. I've not opened them, I assure you." Felix said, pulling out two letters from his impeccably white robe.
He handed one to Kreia. "This is yours, sister." The other was handed to Trinity. "That is Calibri's."
The family glanced at one another, slightly anxious. Trinity inhaled and began to open the envelope.
Felix and Kreian went to stand behind Kreia and their eyes skipped the letter and moved to the list of positions.
Calibri had scored a complete total of 800 out of 800 marks. The second position went to Prince Zhang Haochen with 798 points. The third position went to Princess Kreia of Verbatium and Alexei of Verbatium with 797. The Fourth was Prince Kol Damascus with 796, and he was tied with Prince Oliver Sterling and Princess Siren Akira. After that followed the names of the remaining 58 Verbatians who'd taken the exam, each with a score of 795, and nothing less. The rest of the students of the other sects were placed after the Verbatians.
Felix glanced back to Trinity who looked even more conflicted.
"Well, there you have it, Calibri has to go." Felix said.
"She missed the second position by one point." Trinity said.
"We've already made the decision to decide by points, Father." Felix said.
"I'm retracting the decision." Trinity said.
Felix frowned. "If you retract the decision only after finding out that Calibri placed first so he should go to the school, it means that you'll only accept Calibri not going at all. This is the fairest way to decide. This is pure merit!" He said.
Trinity exhaled and closed his eyes. "We can't be taking chances with his life like this. Kreia will have to work harder next time, that's it."
Calibri had heard enough, and he undid the enchantment on himself. Alexei looked at him with wide eyes, trying to stop him as he walked dizzily into the dining hall.
"I need to have a say in this!" He said, walking down the stairs quickly. He almost tumbled down a few times, and he would have if Alexei didn't grab him each time. Everyone in the room watched him with wide eyes.
"Father, what are you saying? I've already decided to accept the offer when it comes."
"I can do it Calibri. I'll make sure to beat the other sects. Please stop this. I said it was alright." Kreia said.
Calibri looked at her blankly. "Why are you lying? You told me you didn't want to be the Grandmaster. I know you don't."
She pursed her lips. " Yes! Alright! You're correct! I don't want to! But Calibri, look at yourself. You went to take a bath, a simple bath and passed out with a fever because it was too cold outside. How are you going to handle being over there? If I don't do it then you'll disappear right in front of us."
Calibri closed his eyes with a sigh. "I told you, you don't need to worry. I will handle it."
"How?" Kreian asked, staring at him.
"I'll get stronger." Calibri said.
Trinity sighed. "My love, it isn't about that. We all know you're strong and have such great expanses of potential. But Calibri, you can't change the fact that a part of you belongs in another realm. Your body doesn't function the same as those around you."
It was too frustrating. Not only did his family not want to listen to him, but they were also completely trying to control his way forward without even consulting him. Before he knew it, hot tears were flowing down his face. Alexei looked at him in concern, knowing he couldn't tell Calibri to stop crying in such a situation. He chose to rub his friend's back.
"I disagree." Felix moved closer to Calibri's and dabbed his face with his sleeve. His brother always started crying when upset and frustrated, which subsequently made his fever worse most of the time. "Aren't you too beautiful to be crying like this? Tell me, do you want to look like a tomato? You know tomatoes can be quite ugly. Don't be a tomato." He said, dabbing at the burning tears in his younger brother's eyes.
Felix smiled and turned to the other occupants of the room.
"Calibri is an oddity of our world. As such, how can you be sure of what may help him get better, and what will not? We've already established that his Soul Flare is prone to having Power surges and burnouts which make him like this, but what if learning to control it helps him fix that?"
Kreian sighed. "And as we've already said, what if it doesn't? What if it makes it worse and he dies? We'll never see him again."
"If he goes to heaven we'll still never see him again either. But are you certain that it will get worse and that he'll die? How can you prove it?" Felix raised a brow.
"How do you know that it won't? How can you prove that?" Kreia shot back.
"I can't but in the least I'm not reducing him to a feeble weakling like you all are." Felix said.
Trinity sighed.
"Children, stop." He took a deep breath before continuing. "This could go either way. There is no perfect solution to this situation."
Calibri who had been quiet for a while sniffed and looked up.
"I have something to say too."
Everyone looked at him curiously.
"I know you all have my best interests at heart. But for me, I wouldn't be able to accept knowing that if Verbatium fell at the mercy of another sect, the fault would be mine for not becoming the Grandmaster and protecting us all. Kreia. I know that you can do it. I do. But there is still the chance that you may not. Not because I'm more intelligent than you because I am not, but because we do not know the capabilities of the other sects. I want to be completely sure that our sect is safe. This isn't about positioning on a written examination. This is about your performance and the level of cultivation you build up to at the school. This is what matters in the end to become the Grandmaster, and if both of us go, we have a higher chance of success. We're both of royal blood, naturally our Soul Flares are stronger than the others. For this reason, I wish for us both to attend."
He looked back at Trinity. "But if you think I'm going to go to heaven and sit there for the rest of my life not having tried at all to protect our sect in the face of possible destruction, then you are wrong. I will not abandon anyone in our territory even if I am a weakling with awful constitution. If you want to banish me from this sect if you believe that would force me to go to Heaven, then I will go to heaven and break every law so much so that they banish me from Heaven, and I will be chased down to the Living Realm, or even the Underworld. And since I'll be banished from Verbatium, I will go lay on a rock and die."
"Calibri!" Kreian, Kreia, Alexei, and Trinity exclaimed at the last words.
"I mean it. If you don't want me here, I will go. But don't expect me to be going to heaven for healing. I really will go lie on a rock and die outside the sect."
Felix patted his head. "Oh, you dramatic child." He looked at Trinity.
"So what will it be? He goes to the school and there's only a partial chance of death? Or he goes to lie on a rock and die outside the sect, which is mind you, a one hundred percent probability of death."
Trinity stared at Calibri with a clenched jaw.
"Have you ever seen a vulture pecking at a corpse?" Felix asked, glancing around nonchalantly.
"Felix." Kreian said, making a face.
"They pick at the meat. They really love the soft meat too." Felix said, holding Calibri's cheek and squishing it.
Trinity looked nauseous at the thought of his darling son being mutilated.
Felix continued to squish Calibri's cheek. "Especially the face. Peck, peck, peck."
"That's enough, Felix." Trinity said, looking slightly green. "If he's going then we need more Verbatians to go along too. Felix, send a message out to the students that we need some of them to accept their offers, at least six more."
Felix smiled. "Yes, father. I'll take Calibri back to bed then. He must have run off on the healers."
"We'll wash up and come check his condition afterward. Calibri, go rest. We'll talk more once your fever reduces." Trinity said. Felix nodded and grabbed Alexei and Calibri by their wrists pulling them along.
Felix laughed as he walked. "Lie on a rock and die. Wow."
"It's his fever. He's normally slightly less whiny and dramatic when he's arguing." Alexei explained. "I know, I know. But it worked, so let's excuse the theatrics and figure out what to do next." Felix said with a humored smile as he led the two along.