
Bastion Academy was nearing its first anniversary, the conclusion of the first year of its life, and the final outcome of the years teaching.
There was one question on everyone’s mind: were the students adequate?
That would be answered throughout December when each and every student would be thrown into an intense, month-long tournament watched by even those in Bastion headquarters.
Yet, despite the monumental moment in Bastion’s history fast approaching, Jaxon found himself doing little to nothing.
“Two months,” Alisha said. She had her legs crossed atop her desk, and her chair leaned far back. “In two months, we will see just how effective Bastion Academy can be.”
She threw down the paper she had been reading—an official notice from the Council about the importance of the event.
“Are you confident?” Jaxon asked.
Despite being the headmaster, that position was just a figurehead role given to Alisha to keep her in check. She had some power—because she was still a Vanguard—but it didn’t go far.
And yet, if the students failed to impress, it would still be faulted to her. That could then be used to destabilize her mother’s position on the Council. It wasn’t much, but it was still a bullet.
The incompetent had no place in the highest rankings of Bastion.
“Nope!” Alisha said. She chuckled like she was watching a comedy unrelated to her, lightly shaking her head. “They shut down my expeditions and will act surprised when their students aren’t as powerful and combat-minded as an ordinary soldier.”
Expeditions had been shut down since two months ago. It was an official declaration from Bastion, handed down from the Paragon herself. The cores across the universe were behaving weirdly, and Bastion did not want any risks before they could understand what was happening.
Even ordinary Cadets were barred from them.
It was piss poor timing.
Regardless, he agreed with Alisha.
“Some will display remarkable ability,” Jaxon said. “But most will be disappointing.”
Alisha snorted. “They will display good control and combat capability, but it won’t be anywhere near as flashy as they want.”
“Nine students have an apex sigil, but that won’t be enough.”
“Because they ruined my plans!”
She wanted to get an elite class made of those who destroyed the core during an expedition and obtained an apex sigil. But that was halted even before the expedition pause. The expeditions they did get were too delayed, too slow, and drowned with political maneuvering.
And as a result, they only got nine when they wanted twenty to thirty.
“What will happen?” Jaxon asked. He had no idea what to expect in the coming months. Alisha didn’t sound concerned, but she hardly showed her true emotions.
“Absolutely nothing… if I don’t get my seeds back.”
Frost and Aria.
“The portal should be finished by then.”
But how far behind would they be? They were in an abandoned world with no corruption to fight and no way to obtain new sigils. There was a possibility corruption existed outside that Forest, but they obviously wouldn’t have been that strong if they hadn’t breached his senses.
While Aria would ensure they reached new heights in ordinary combat and control, there was a limit to how far one could go without good sigils and proper training.
Unless they were like Alisha, and their apex sigils were powerful enough to make up for it.
Frost, maybe—just based on rumor and conjecture. But Aria’s apex sigil was the type that required the aid of a good selection of sigils to make it truly shine.
“Oh, it will be finished before then.” Alisha lightly scoffed. “If someone dares to throw some nonsense at me again, I might actually kill a few people.”
And she meant those words, even though she said them as naturally as she breathed.
They had been dealing with a lot of nonsense regarding that portal. There were delays nearly every week, whether because some believed Sorana was a low priority or a simple—supposed—lack of parts. A new excuse always cropped up.
But despite all of that, the portal was nearly finished.
Maybe they realized they were pushing Alisha too far.
“But will they be enough?” Jaxon asked. “Frost and Aria are strong, but it is the same situation—not enough success.”
“I don’t care—the academy is not my child anymore. Hasn’t been for a while. But my work succeeds.”
And that was how it should be looked at.
Getting any student an apex sigil was Alisha’s work. Handing out sigils was her work. Creating the combat paths and training regiments was her work. She supervised most of what the academy used to create classes, even if they weren’t implemented like she wanted.
“It started with those sigils, didn’t it?” Jaxon sighed. An early decision that told Jaxon how little authority they actually had.
“Bingo! That was when I decided to be a bit more… focused… on my goals.”
Originally, Alisha wanted to create a curriculum where students were rewarded with sigils at every checkpoint they reached. That way, each student would have an arsenal by the end of the year.
They would be equal, save for the elite who risked their lives in excursions and expeditions.
But it was halted before it even started.
Many people took issue with handing out thousands of sigils, and even getting the first batch was a herculean task. Instead, they had to focus purely on control, combat, and education. It was technically a good foundation, but only if more sigils came into play in the next year.
In other words, they were building for the success of another.
Ridiculous.
Unfortunately, it was still not happening. It was a common belief that if the Earth humans were special, they wouldn’t need free, unworked for sigils to shine. Excuses aside, many were simply unwilling to give up that many sigils when the ordinary Cadet programs were seen as adequate.
“We will be leaving once the iteration is complete?” Jaxon asked.
In three years, once the first batch graduated. At that point—assuming it didn’t happen earlier—the academy would either continue or get shut down.
Alisha hummed. “Actually… I don’t think there will be more iterations.”
“Shutdown?”
Jaxon was impartial, but that was still interesting.
He saw the academy as a good idea, but it happened too soon—and without a unified approach. They would produce more above-average mages than normal, but not on a grand scale.
“No, no! But an academy on Earth isn’t as great as having it anywhere else.” Alisha tapped her desk as she spoke. “Too much wasted time on catching up. The academy will be moved to another world and be open to other races.”
She sounded confident.
“Is all of this a waste of time?”
“Nope! An academy is a phenomenal idea, regardless of where it is.”
“But why Earth?”
If they were going to be so annoying with their rules and restrictions, then why have it there at all?
“Who knows?” Alisha dryly chuckled. “Some really do believe Earthlings are more talented, others want the completely fresh perspective, and some just want to run the experiment.”
Regardless, the Grandmaster allowing it at all was something few expected.
But what was his goal?
“Do you—” Jaxon stopped as he detected someone climbing up the tower. “Someone is coming.”
“Oh?” Alisha brought her legs off the table and pushed her chair forward. Her tone instantly gained some excitement. “There are so many things I’m expecting to brighten up my week. I wonder which it is?”
That could be any number of things, but he would have to disappoint her.
“Their steps are slow and steady—purposeful.” Jaxon scoffed. “They know I can feel them and want me to know that.”
In other words, someone from the board.
“Oh,” Alisha deflatedly said. She immediately pushed her chair back and kicked her legs up once more. “That’s far less exciting.”
“What would the f— the board want with you?”
“Maybe an apology for trying to take the academy from me,” she said jokingly.
But it was true.
The board
“They’ve been avoiding meeting you one-on-one.”
Because regardless of political maneuvering and superficial power, Alisha was a Bastion Vanguard. And she was known for violence, even if it was an inflated rumor. That did not help when it came to keeping her control solidified.
“Jaxon, go lock the door.”
“What?”
“Do it, now.”
Was she really going to ignore it?
No, that was too unlikely.
He complied, swiftly approaching the door and turning the lock before the approaching mage reached the top floor.
Alisha snickered.
Oh.
Sometimes, his leader could act far too childish. But some annoying fools deserved that kind of treatment.
An obnoxious minute passed before the person opened the door.
Well, tried to.
“Knew it!” Alisha said—purposefully loud enough for the person to hear.
“Vanguard Alisha,” came the voice of an annoyed older man. “Is this what you’ve resorted to?”
A boardman.
Specifically, Joseph Tudor.
He was not powerful, and his ranking wasn’t high, but he was given high authority on Earth—on the island. That kind of authority outweighed Alisha’s, but it was ambiguous. And it only came when the board acted as a whole.
Individually, Joseph Tudor was a power-hungry coward.
“Knocking before entering is usually seen as common courtesy.” Alisha scoffed. “But I suppose dementia is hitting you early.”
Sometimes, a coward could still be surprising.
Jaxon almost charged on pure instinct, but a gesture from Alisha stopped him.
The doorknob burst as an explosive force twisted it, causing the door itself to gain a new hole as wood spattered against the floor.
It forcefully flew open, slamming against the opposite wall.
Joseph Tudor stepped through. He was a thin, older man with sharp features and a haggard face. His greying brown hair was cut short and neatly parted to the side, and his brown eyes seemed permanently tired and angry.
He wore a plain grey suit with a small silver staff on his lapel, the only sign of his authority. Though not actually imposing, he carried himself with an air of self-importance, every step deliberate and precise, as if trying to make up for his lack of real power.
That worked on weaker mages, but he was one of those whose power and confidence came from who he represented.
Unfortunately, Alisha couldn’t harm him—not when his role was so important.
“If you—” Tudor started.
“Tudor,” Alisha interrupted. Her tone had become colder. “Your authority doesn’t actually protect you from me. You know that, right?”
His face twitched, but he hid it well.
But Jaxon felt that fear he kept below the surface as he attempted to maintain his authority.
“You should show the proper respect to the order we have, Vanguard.”
“Respect is me not killing you the moment you broke into my office.”
He stepped forward despite the fear coursing through his body. Jaxon felt all of it as clear as though it were actually showing.
“If you insist on—”
“Enough.” Alisha waved dismissively. “What did you come here for?”
Tudor went silent for a minute, staring at Alisha’s mask with his deep scowl. But that wasn’t a contest a cowardly man could win.
Eventually, he cleared his throat. “Vanguard, the board has decided it is in the best interest of the academy for us to take control over the upcoming end-of-year tournament…” Perhaps he was waiting for Alisha to object, but she did not. He continued with a suspicious look on his face. “Naturally, that includes the rewards.”
In other words, they wanted it to be seen as their play.
“You came here for that?” Alisha asked, her tone unchanged and uncaring. “You guys can take it... Assuming, of course, that you aren’t attempting to rig it for your seeds.”
“We have no such thing!” Tudor shouted. “All students in Bastion Academy are treated equally and fairly, and there exists no evidence to the contrary for you to make such baseless claims!”
“Sure, old man.” Alisha snickered. “But tell me, why do you want it?”
“We will ensure it shows the progress our students have made in the best way possible.”
And try to leave Alisha’s name out of it as much as possible. But that was counterintuitive—the tournament was not going to be exciting.
“Okay, you can go now.”
“That’s it?”
“Yep.”
“Vanguard, don’t attempt to—”
“I said you can go, Tudor.”
Jaxon stepped forward.
“Fine.” Tudor turned and walked out, a quick pace to his steps.
“And Tudor,” Alisha suddenly said, freezing him. She waited a few seconds to keep him on his feet. Eventually, she darkly chuckled. “How harsh of a punishment do you think a Vanguard would get for killing a Captain who stepped out of line?”
Tudor flinched outside the door but only clenched his fists before walking away.
Jaxon waited until his presence faded.
“Why would they do that?” he asked.
“Because they intend to allow the students who participated in expeditions to join, including those with apex sigils.”
“Are they fucking stupid?”
“Language! And no, this was always the safest option to get people excited.”
“The tournament will be won by one of nine people.”
“Apex sigils aren’t that powerful, and I believe they intend to filter more sigils into the academy.”
“How?”
Alisha had tried, but it was difficult to get thousands of sigils that weren’t just the same, basic leveled ones.
“Who knows?” Alisha shook her head. “But I like it this way. My concerns lie in getting us access to expeditions and excursions—them making the tournament go well will help me.”
“And you don’t care how it makes you look?”
Alisha laughed, shaking her head like she had heard a good joke. “No, no. The people who care about how it makes me look already don’t like me. The Council might look into it, but they shouldn’t replace me until the iteration is done.”
And at that point, she’d have what she wanted.
Presumably.
Not even Jaxon knew what Alisha’s ultimate goals were. All he could see was that it involved Annabelle Frost and her apex sigil.
“What about—”
Jaxon was interrupted by a shining rock.
Specifically, the tuning rock used as a paperweight on Alisha’s desk. The one she used to know when Shadow was about to attack Aria.
The stone tuned to spatial disturbances that broke through the barrier. And that was only possible if the teleporter had an exact location to teleport to.
“Well, ain’t that a surprise?” Alisha said. She immediately jumped off her chair. “And I was just getting bored!”
“Shadow?”
Alisha scoffed as she picked up the stone. “Please! I just ripped his heart out two months ago!”
“Where is it?”
But Alisha seemed frozen. “This…”
It was incredibly rare to see that.
“What is it?”
“This is from the room we used to send you guys to Sorana!” Alisha excitedly said. “Jaxon, do not move from this spot!”
Before he could object, Alisha vanished into a cloud of violet hues.
Sorana?
What in the hell was he about to see?
Thanks for the chapter!
TFTC!