Chapter 139: New Spire

Adrian stepped forward before the applause had even finished landing.

"Head Chief." He kept his voice level, but the confusion was all over his face. "I’m pretty sure I performed second after Alden."

Alarion looked at him. "We never said we were judging overall performance, Cadet Adrian."

Adrian went still.

"We said we were judging improvement." Alarion’s gaze moved from Adrian’s face toward Leon. "Before the training week began, you were already significantly stronger than Leon. After a week, your growth was impressive. But the gap between where you started and where you ended wasn’t nearly as wide."

He looked back at Adrian, steady and plain. "Leon showed an extraordinary rate of improvement."

Adrian’s expression changed slowly.

"The purpose of the Spire selection isn’t to take the strongest cadet," Alarion continued, his voice carrying clean through the quiet hall. "We look for those with the greatest potential to keep growing. Raw strength means little if someone reaches their ceiling and stops climbing. What matters is how far they can go beyond where they are." He let the words settle. "Among all the cadets, Leon demonstrated the second highest growth potential after Alden."

Adrian looked down at his boots.

His fist closed tight for a moment. Then he breathed out, let his hand open, and lifted his head.

"Then I understand," he said quietly.

Alarion gave a short approving nod and turned toward the stands.

"Leon Evercrest."

Leon blinked. He looked left. Then right. Then pointed at his own chest with a trembling finger.

"Me?"

"Come forward."

Leon swallowed and stood up. He walked down the marble steps into the arena floor, his footsteps echoing in the silence of the watching hall. He stopped a few meters in front of Alarion and just stood there, heart hammering.

Alarion looked straight into his eyes. "You have been selected to receive the rank of Spire." He paused, giving it room. "Do you accept?"

Leon placed his hand flat over his chest.

"I accept."

Alarion raised one hand toward the ceiling. "Then hear this. Leon Evercrest of the Empyreon Assembly is hereby granted the rank of Spire." A short pause. "He becomes the eleventh."

The hall erupted.

Up in the Spire’s section, one seems not to be satisfied with the result.

Theodore stared down at Leon with the specific exhaustion of someone watching potential walk out the door.

And across from him, Ulvakor’s face had been doing something violent for the last few seconds.

BANG.

Both of his enormous hands slammed against the stone railing hard.

"THAT BASTARD!" He stabbed a finger toward Alden, who was still celebrating below. "THAT SHOULD’VE BEEN WINDSKY’S SIXTH SPIRE!" His knuckles had gone white. His teeth were together. "If Alden hadn’t refused, Windsky would have claimed for this year as well!" He looked like a man watching his house burn down while holding the bucket he forgot to fill. "WHY DID THAT IDIOT HAVE TO REFUSE?!"

Theodore let out a long, heavy sigh. "What a waste."

Isabella glanced at both of them from her spot, arms folded. "Don’t be dramatic. It was his decision."

"It was a completely wasted decision," Theodore muttered.

A Spire nearby cleared their throat quietly. "To be fair, talking like this isn’t exactly the warmest welcome for the new Spire."

Theodore glanced at him. "...True."

Isabella shook her head.

Then a woman standing beside Theodore smiled, her eyes drifting down toward Leon with a bright, curious light in them. "Well. I find the new Spire rather interesting."

Isabella’s head turned immediately. "Luna."

The woman blinked, the picture of innocence. "Yes?"

"Why are you looking at him like that." Isabella’s eyes had gone flat and specific. "Don’t tell me he’s your next target."

Luna pressed a hand to her chest with a deeply offended expression. "Isabella, please. Don’t make me sound like some shameless woman who chases every man she sees. I have standards."

Isabella stared at her. "Do you."

Luna smiled brightly. "Of course I do."

Theodore chuckled from the side. "Well, Luna. You do understand how it feels. Some people can’t resist flaunting impressive relationships in front of others. Especially when the person beside them has a rather notable position."

Luna immediately covered a giggle with her hand. "I suppose I can agree."

Isabella turned toward Theodore with the slow, dangerous look of someone who has been pushed to a very specific point. "Theodore. Why are you bringing my personal life into this."

"What? I didn’t say anything specific."

"You very much did."

"I genuinely didn’t."

Isabella let out a long breath and turned back toward the arena. "Whatever."

Down on the floor, Leon was surrounded.

Nicholas got to him first, hand hitting his shoulder hard. "Congratulations, Leon!"

Nathan and Daniel arrived a step behind like a wave. "You actually did it!" "That’s unbelievable, man!"

Roselle smiled with the full warmth of someone genuinely delighted. "You deserved this, Leon. Truly."

Cecilia gave him a firm nod. "Congratulations."

Claire’s expression had done something rare and gone fully soft. Her eyes sparkled. "I’m so happy for you, Leon. That was incredible."

Adrian came over last, one hand on his hip, wearing the most theatrical tragedy on his face that one person could produce. "Congratulations, Leon." He let his shoulders sag dramatically. "Even though I still can’t fully process losing to Alden and then watching you take the Spire right out from under me in the same day."

Leon rubbed the back of his neck with a sheepish smile. "Sorry."

Adrian’s eyes widened. "Wait. You’re actually apologizing?"

"I think... Not really."

"HEY!"

The laughter followed. Adrian chased Leon in a wide, indignant circle while Leon dodged with the expression of someone who has zero regret about anything.

Alden stood a short distance away and watched all of it.

A quiet, real smile had appeared on his face without him deciding to put it there.

’Looks like it all worked out.’

He turned his feet to walk over and congratulate Leon himself.

Then he stopped.

His eyes had caught something off to the side without announcing that they were going to.

Silver hair. Crimson eyes. A face that had been somewhere in the back of his mind for the entire past week without him letting himself acknowledge how fully it had been there.

His breath caught before he could organize it.

At almost the exact same moment, Seris turned her head.

Their eyes met across the noise and the crowd and the distance of the hall, and for one suspended second everything else stopped registering. The cheering, the laughter, Leon shouting something, Adrian chasing him, none of it reached Alden. His whole awareness had narrowed to one specific pair of crimson eyes looking back at him from across the room.

His expression, which had been hardened and careful for most of the day, went quiet.

’Seris?’

Seris held his gaze. She didn’t move. She didn’t say anything but only looked at him steadily.