Ramses gripped the arm on the Mana crystal and tried pulling away but he couldn't then the light erupted right in front of him, shattering the crystal ball in a wild explosion.
A roaring shockwave that made his ears ring followed,hot and blinding even through his shut eyes,blasting everything in it's part away with one swift sweep as their shadows dissolved into the blinding storm.
Ramses felt a person's warmth bent over him as his shakey hands kissed the ground,his mind blank and body motionless,his lips sealed by the fear that gripped his heart.
When the light finally began to recede,he opened his eyes and looked above him to meet the glowing red eyes of General Rengyotsu gazing down at him.
Carolene lay next to him unconscious,as blood oozed out the deep lacerations on her face but he was unharmed.
The general had erected a barrier just in time before the explosion and shielded him from the sharp shards of the mana crystal but unfortunately the barrier wasn't large enough to contain the examiner.
He had been caught in the explosion and burnt by the light to ash and the building destroyed to expose the blue sky above.
"I—am sorry...am sorry"Ramses shakingly grabbed his ears as his eyes stared ahead.
"I—"
"It's okay"Ren's assuring voice said as he held both his hands,slowly lowering it.
"Ca—Carolene..."
"She'll be fine"
Ramses barely nodded when he sighted the blood dripping from the general's hand,
"Blo—blood,you—you are bleeding"
His eyes followed it to see sharp multiple crystals lodged into Ren's back and a loud gasp escaped his mouth.
General Ren didn't know when he smiled or when his hand gently rubbed on Ramses's head.
Something he had never done before to anyone,when he realized it he abruptly withdrew his hand and his lips curved downward into a frown,
But why did he feel good from it?
"I'll be fine as well...let's get you both home".
Ren grabbed both their hands and Teleported them to Tyran's bed chamber.
Unbeknownst to them,a fourth person however survived the blast,Dark had entered the same time the general had pulled down the barrier to go in although he never spotted the scarlet prince.
The sorceror had stood downstairs listening and had also erected a protective barrier just in time to protect himself from the explosion,after which he teleported to king Max's Chambers to report what he had seen.
************************
Zero sat in his room meditating to hon his abilities after being dismissed early from his duties as usual.
Today he had been absent minded, cursing his actions to the maiden the previous night.
He had blamed himself all day for paving way for distractions instead of being focused on his revenge.
Clearly he was intrigued by Mia but this wasn't the time to consider his own feelings,he had other better important things to do.
And what was he doing back then he had lost himself in teasing her and had almost kissed her,that had never happened with another woman before.
Zero had hit his face severally while he rained down curses on himself in his room determined to avoid her if he noticed such unwanted feelings lingered.
He opened his eyes when he heard the explosion and looked out the window, wondering what it was.
The explosion...go investigate,Tyran's voice boomed in his head.
His hands picked up his long dark silk-like hair and tied it up in a ponytail as he got to his feet then he swung his white shirt over him,grabbed his sword and teleported himself to the location.
The building was in complete ruins,it's foundation completely pulled to the ground and some spectators and Chief knights had already gathered.
Zero walked around gathering information, luckily no one was nearby when it exploded and the explosion was only confined to it's surroundings, nearby buildings were unaffected but the only examiner on duty was no where to be found.
"The Emperor had ordered no one neared the building... I heard it was because the imperial crown prince was assessed today...his results were to be strictly confidential".A teacher told him in a whisper and the Knight's eye lit up with a small smirk.
Great...Dark probably had pulled one of his cheap tricks to kill the crown prince,hopefully it worked.
Zero thought as he watched some knights raise some rocks with their abilities in search of the examiner then his eyes spotted fresh blood splatted on a rock mingled with ash.
He walked over and sniffed then he sighted a garment deeper underneath the rock,pulled it out before observing,he would find out if it belonged to the examiner on duty.
Zero noted some black shards nearby and picked it up,the amount of mana emanating from the Mana crystal made him suspect it was related to the explosion.
Had the Crystal assessed greater than it could contain and exploded as a result?...
But Zero shoved of the thought immediately it crossed it's mind.
Even the emperor's commander tier level had been assessed with this same crystal or was there something higher?
He however pocketed the crystals,he suspected Dark would have been watching the Prince's every move so he was the most suitable person to ask the cause of the explosion to soothe his curiosity.
For hundreds of years,the same mana crystal he knew was used to assess a person's magical abilities responding with a glow or no glow at all in the absence of no abilities and had the explosion come from an external source,the crystals won't be beeming with such enormous amount of magic energy.
"Ensure to search both in and out side the academy,he could have been blown further away and report to me every detail of your findings by tomorrow".he told the chief Knight in charge before teleporting to the children academy administrative office and when he had gotten what he needed,he appeared Infront of the emperor's bed chamber,landing a knock on the door.
"Your Majesty!"he called out.