Witnessing the sheer, raw power of the transformation of Draconis and thinking about what Void had just said, Quinn was rather hungry for the possession of a power ineffably greater than the one right in front of his eyes. Draconis' partial transformation into a species of the Imperial-Divine Vampiric Dragon was, by no means, weak; in fact it was strong enough to surprise Quinn who thought what good a mere partial transformation would be.
Although strong, it was only enough for Quinn to make use of about 50% percent of his full power. However, Quinn did not want to ponder upon whether or not he should kill Empyrean Draconis; the latter was an incredibly important figure in Vastoria and killing him would complicate his stay and things could go south rather fast—the culprit behind the same might be revealed as well. After all, Quinn does not know the extent of the abilities that the Vampires and Humas are capable of; he is in a foreign city, on an alien planet, in an entirely different realm after all.
Moving on from the rather useless thoughts, Quinn noticed that Draconis was about to attack him; the latter raised his right hand such that his palm directed towards Quinn. Turning his palm such that it now faced upwards, he clenched his hand; the following second, crimson blood rushed from the ground where Quinn stood on and hardened around the same in the form of a blood dome, capturing him.
The very next moment, Quinn observed that the dome turned sphere was now in the air—Draconis flawlessly manipulating it to his will—and from within, there were fluctuations within the magic and Energy of the blood, 'Energy? Impressive,' Void commented, 'The mere presence of even a speck of Energy in mundane beings is exceedingly rare; well, I suppose the said being has the blood of a Sub-Divine Dragon coursing through his body, so he is anything but mundane—allthemore reason to be surprised with the amount of Energy that the Vampire Lord is able to control: far exceeding my expectations.'
'Well, shit; you never said anything about me when I could flawlessly control the three Primordial Energies, eh?' Quinn mocked. 'What reason is there to flatter a nosey brat? I have to admit, I was rather taken aback when three of the Primordial Energies found refuge in a single body and operated completely harmoniously—taking into account that the Origin and Demise Energies are basically polar opposites: Creation and Destruction. I have... come to realise that you are destined to inherit great power and surpass even me soon enough; even within the small number of the greatest Shadows, you have things at your disposal that some cannot even dream of—you will understand come time—and you are capable of becoming the strongest.
'I do not know why, but the Third King has layed out a path for you; it is a conquest for the truth. I shall not talk of this any further—not until you are somewhere quiet, at the very least,' Void declared as Quinn merely grunted.
From the walls of the blood sphere that Quinn was ensnared in, the blood began to morph as thousands of spikes and needles tried and pierced Quinn as if he were inside of an iron maiden. As the formations of phalanx projections pierced Quinn, the same's body retained its material appearance, but in actuallity, returned to its natural composition and astral form: that of a Shadow, allowing the blood to pass right through him.
Not moving an inch, Quinn released a small pulse of Demise Energy, destroying the sphere from within; as the blood sphere slowly disintegrated, Quinn remained in the air, face to face with Draconis, just a few metres apart.
"What is going on...?" Empyrean questioned his current situation: facing a supposed Human child not older than 17 years of age who was effortlessly negating his powers of Dragon heritage. "Shall we end things here as of now, my lord? I suppose this is enough for the examination and an overview of my prowess," Quinn tried and changed his tone so as to not irk the Royalty of a Vampire Lord that was first in line to become the next Vampire King. For the sake of his purpose here, and a smooth-sailing life in Vastoria for the amount of his stay, he did not want to make an enemy out of Empyrean—much less, kill him, causing a stir in the Vampire world.
"You talk big for a measly Human. You mock me: the most revered Royalty," Draconis spit towards Quinn, a small clump of blood that moved relatively fast, but before it could touch even a hair on his body, it stopped midair and fell down, "Are you a god? Why are you here? I will not allow an anomaly to wreck havoc in my empire."
'Your empire? Talking as if you're already the King; the nerve of this bastard. I guess most of the Royalty are like this guy...'
"My~, Draconis, child. Do me a favour and stand down for now, will you?" the director and headmaster of the Royal academy appeared in front of the two powerhouses with a flash of white light. Holding out both of her hands towards either one of them, she used her Ability to encapsulate them in an orb of pale-blue, transparent energy with runes of white light around them.
As Quinn entered the chronostasis bubble, he could definitely feel the effects of it; although he could break out of it whenever he wanted to, he also wanted to observe its effects and understand its working, so he stayed put. Additionally, it seemed like even Empyrean Draconis was unable to do anything against the Ability, so he thought it best to stay low and not reveal too much of his power. However, he did unseal part of his mental powers so that he could make sense out of what was going on in the outside world rather than just staying in the chronostasis bubble for a second and blinking his eyes just to be somewhere else entirely.
———
It seemed like Valeria had already dismissed Empyrean Draconis so that Quinn and herself could have a nice little talk in her office, within the Royal academy. As the chronostasis bubble dissipated, Quinn slowly descended from midair and gently landed on his feet, right in front of the headmaster who was sitting opposite to him, on a comfy looking chair, behind a clean desk.
"Take a seat, dear student of the Royal academy," Valeria gestured for Quinn to sit down on an equally comfortable chair facing her. "Student...? Ah, I am honoured to be a part of this prestigious and renowned institution, headmaster Valeria. However, I do wonder: what was the purpose of having Lord Draconis assess my worth? I daresay that any one of the professors would have been enough."
The headmaster remained quiet; before she finally opened her mouth, the same tapped on the desk twice, causing a holographic screen to appear—mirrored such that the original image was visible to Quinn. Apart from the larger screen, relatively in the middle, there appeared a few more screens a bit smaller in size around the same—none blocking the view of the other—and each of them portraying a similar theme: the colossal remains of some mystical beings.
Valeria remained quiet and allowed for Quinn to speak first, "Hrr... gods? Why would you show me this?"
"Oh, wonderful. It seems as though you are aware of the manner of beings that are before you," Valeria mused, "I have to say, our master sure is a mysterious man; he informed me—after he had experienced a divine vision—through a god's Divine Decree—that the vestige of Primordial essences would step in the Vampire world and the great city of Vastoria, and some more details that I would not speak of that helped me consider the possibility that you were the person our master spoke of."
Trying to make sense out of what Valeria was talking about, Quinn began to ponder upon the phrase: vestige of Primordial essence. He could only come to one conclusion—if the master of the headmaster truly spoke of him—that the phrase was meant for his existence as a Shadow: long extinct, near Primordial entities, with Quinn as the only remaining one after he so emerged and awakened due to the Shadow Heart.
Due to all the talk of gods and masters, Quinn wondered if headmaster Valeria's master and Aaron's master were the same person, but the confirmation came from none other than Void: 'Yes, it is most likely that they are the same beings; perhaps under a different guise. I doubt the two of them—Aaron and Valeria—even know of the others' existence as a person under the same god.'
'It would have been great if they had some ties within the academy—especially with the headmaster herself. I guess it can't be helped... I'll play along since it's mostly in my favour.'