(I was going to skip today because I'm abroad but Dayden_Smith gifted 3 power stones. Thanks for the support :) bonus 2/3.)
The students being too focused to notice Regulus, the ones discussing his fate, were the teachers watching the process from above.
"Ooh, another one about to get crushed."
One of the teachers remarked as he pointed out Regulus was approaching the first step, which was the resting place for the last student who failed to circulate his card energy.
"Isn't that the Cosmos boy? To think one could be so untalented to not awaken his 'Ace' card at 16."
Another teacher remarked as he recalled the fall of Duke Cosmos and the purging of all talent within their house. Understanding that this was the root cause of the tragedy he was about to witness.
"Still, you have to admire his bravery to go out there just to get flattened."
A female teacher chimed in, hoping to offer some support for the handsome boy who could make any woman feel like she was in the spring of youth once more.
"I think you are confusing bravery with stupidity, Jenny."
The first teacher, Lance, spoke once again to the female teacher with a smirk on his face. Despite lacking an apparent reason, he felt a need to see Regulus arrogance crushed as he crawled out of the academy.
In a hidden corner of the room, the air flickered, and an old man who looked to be at death's doorstep appeared. A long, unkempt grey beard dragged down to his knees, and the ragged robes he donned would make a homeless man feel sympathy.
Yet when this old man moved, not even the dust in the air was disturbed by him. Like a phantom wraith in the corner, unmoving and untouchable, he watched the applicants climb the stairs.
Feeling the pressure of a pinnacle master battering his untempered body over and over again, Regulus felt an animalistic exhilaration bubbling up inside him.
In his last time, every time he walked into battle, it was a solemn march, knowing he carried the responsibility to return the men who unwaveringly followed him back to their families alive.
Tied down by the burdens of a King and the responsibility of the lives he commanded, It had been years since he had last felt this feeling.
A desire that blazed like wildfire, the urge to pursue growth and to experience the long-lost exhilaration of a real battle.
Each extra step he took added to his fighting spirit as Regulus felt a war god had descended into his body when faced with an impossible obstacle.
Commanding the flow of celestial energy around his body to reinforce his muscles, Regulus felt every ounce of his being resound with power.
'Let's see how you dare try to hold this King down, Erwin Croft.'
At that moment, his foot touched the first stair, and he felt his world slightly tilt.
'Heavy'
That was the only word possible to describe it, a weight that displayed to the student not only his power but also the responsibility he bore on his shoulders.
A weight that seemed to drag down time itself collided head-on with Regulus. Yet unbroken and unbent, Regulus maintained his posture, his eyes fixing on Croft in challenge.
'The celestial energy is hardly helping; it's obvious the test is designed to test card energy control as opposed to physicality.'
Saying this, a savage smile spread on Regulus' face as he felt the shocked gazes of the teachers fall on him.
'Looks like willpower is the sole thing I can rely on in this situation.'
A single voice broke the eerie silence on the balcony as Jenny spoke out to the other teachers.
"He's actually still standing. What is that kid's body made of."
The pressure Regulus felt was still bearable. He moved his creaking body with difficulty onto the second step.
On this step, Regulus' body screamed in resistance as he increased the flow of celestial energy around his body erratically pushing it to his max.
His celestial energy caused his body to reach an unprecedented level. Regulus forged through the onslaught of pressure, reaching the fifth step.
At this point, even breathing was hard for Regulus; having no card energy was equivalent to facing a tsunami without knowing how to swim, and yet he persevered.
Unlike before, a large number of eyes were resting on the blonde boy who was struggling to breathe and yet kept his head high and maintained a regal aura.
Several students on the same level as Regulus started shaking when they realised that the madman in front of them had reached the fifth level without card energy.
Erwin Croft's eyes had long been drawn to the anomaly as his brain failed to compute how such a thing was possible.
'Just how much higher can you climb Regulus Cosmos? You truly are a monster.'
If only he had been blessed with card energy, Croft thought, he understood better than anyone the sheer mental resistance required to face such pressure without wavering.
Forcing his body to reach the sixth step, Regulus felt the top layer of his clothing explode under the galeforce of pressure he was met with.
Pain, unimaginable and indescribable pain was what Regulus felt at this point as his muscles began to convulse under the sheer force he was facing.
Not wishing to waste such an opportunity, Regulus began using the determination of his muscles for reformation into idle shape, a common procedure for celestial users.
As his muscles were torn apart and reshaped by the celestial energy he provided, Regulus's body slowly reached an optimum state he could reach under such conditions.
Watching Regulus from the corner of the hall the old man's eyes couldn't stop shaking at what he was faced with.
'Second by second his body seems to be getting stronger. How is such a thing possible? How come he's able to do it under such conditions?'
'This ki-. No, this young man is a true monster crouching among the rest of those fakes who claim to be them.
-Author's Note-
Thanks for all the support plz add this story to your library to be updated on new chapters.
Also power stones and reviews are always appreciated :)