Inside the Court of Officials of the Ruvonnian Royal Palace, King Acacia Stone was sitting on the seat of power. It was past midnight and yet, the Royal Court was bubbling with noise. Several figures were discussing the news that had just arrived from Leklenia. 

 

Lexus Corvus, King of Leklenia, had been killed by his most trusted aide.

 

King Acacia was sitting with his head in his hands, worrying about the state of the mainland. Far more than that, he was worried about what stance the new king of Leklenia would take.

 

“Has it been confirmed that it was the work of the Cult?” One of the ministers asked. Several other figures looked towards him but no one spoke up. The cult was a topic that people never liked to talk about. Mostly, people of authority hated to touch upon the matter of cult. It was understandable though. An enemy you could never perceive and the one who forces you to doubt your closest allies and family.

 

The Cult of the Old Gods. The most terrifying power in the world. The past three Stars had been unable to deal with them completely. Their prowess was indeed magnificent but it was their methods that frightened people. The Cult had a technique by which they could take over a person’s mind. Their mannerisms, way of talking, memories and even the minutest gestures would be copied perfectly. Even children couldn’t identify if their parents had been mind-controlled by the cult. It was virtually impossible to catch them.

 

As soon as the topic of the cult was touched, people had a tendency of looking around them. Anyone anywhere could be a cult member.

 

“No…. that aide was promptly executed.” Someone sighed.

 

“Send an envoy to the new King of Leklenia.” King Acacia looked up and said in a tired tone. “Tell him that I hope Leklenia and Ruvonne will continue the friendship his father and I started.”

 

It was then that the door of the Royal Court was flung open and a haggard old man entered. His legs were wobbly and his caved in eyes had massive dark circles beneath them. His arms were thin to a point that he looked extremely malnourished and feeble. Yet, the ministers present in the court stood up respectfully as soon he entered.

 

“Prophet.” They greeted the feeble old man.

 

However, the old man didn’t even look at anyone else and hurriedly moved towards King Acacia Stone. His steps were weak to the point that he was even struggling to walk properly. Acacia stood up from his throne and, in a single step, crossed a sizable distance to appear in front of the prophet. He held the old prophet while looking at him with a confused gaze.

 

“Your Majesty!” Even though the prophet was standing extremely close to Acacia, he roared at the top of his voice.

 

“The Academy!” His spit was flying all over the place as he struggled to get the words out in extreme excitement.

 

“The Star is in the Academy of Baelor!” 

 

Silence drowned out the room as soon as the prophet’s words ended. Everyone’s breath increased pace and their gazes became heated. Their eyes moved to their King.

 

He was standing while supporting the prophet with his eyes widened. He couldn’t comprehend the words spoken. It had been so many years since he started searching for the Star, and now the Heavens had listened to him.

 

“Prepare the Gate.” King Acacia’s voice travelled far and wide as the mana around him trembled. He had already started flying towards the Gate that would open up to his majestic destiny.

 

‘Finally! Finally!’

******

 

Booooooom!!

 

The thunderous noise boomed throughout the prestigious academy. Everyone was jolted awake. They trembled at the ferocity of the noise that made them feel as if the sky had fallen down. Throughout the academy, everyone started using the mana balls to light up their rooms and ran to their balconies and windows to look at what had happened. Students who didn’t have the rooms facing the entrance of the academy ran to their friends’ rooms. 

 

The professors had also woken up due to the sudden noise.

 

Professor Cecilia, or rather Cecil Amavus, was jolted awake as soon as she heard the deafening noise. It took her a moment to realise what had happened and a moment more to realise that the mana signature she felt belonged to the Star. Her eyes widened in surprise as she rushed to her balcony. 

 

She had been searching for the Star in Baelor for almost a decade now. She had started feeling that the Heavens had given up on her. But now, she was sure that the mana she felt had belonged to the Star.

 

‘Lord Star is definitely here!’ 

 

She flew down from her balcony towards the place terrorised with the blast. The dust was yet to settle but that wasn’t much of a problem to someone of her level. She gently flicked her wrist and the immense amount of dust disappeared instantly. She was very excited thinking about what the Star was trying to do. Were they leaving a message for her, their diviner? 

 

As soon as the dust disappeared and the sight became clear, Professor Cecilia frowned. 

 

There was a massive crater on the ground and the blast had destroyed everything in the vicinity…. except one thing. Right in the middle of the crater, an elevated platform was left completely intact. On that platform, a pile of flesh in the shape of a human was hanging from the pole created by mana. The person’s condition was so bad that Cecilia couldn’t move for a moment after seeing it.

 

Gasps were heard throughout the academy. Every student was watching the scene with bated breaths as their hearts trembled. The tongue hanging out from the mouth without a lower jaw made the person feel like a Gods-forsaken hideosity. 

 

“Who did this?!” Professor Sorsha thundered as she flew down to the pile of flesh. She pulled the body down. She checked his breath and sighed in relief after confirming that he was still alive. Sorsha’s hands started glowing with splendour as she hovered them over the mouth of the wounded person.

 

The flesh slowly started to regrow and the face started to take shape. The bones were reformed and the muscles and ligaments grew out to complete the structure. As the face started to grow skin and the appearance of the boy became visible, many first-year students' hearts grew colder. They looked terrified while gazing at the face of Marcus. They remembered what he had done a few hours ago. Their eyes, filled with terror, slowly drifted to the balcony where two people were standing.

 

“That is…. Him?” Sirius looked at Marcus’ body with his mouth open.

 

“Yeah. Looks like someone else interfered.” Mehr, who was also standing beside Sirius sighed. “I was thinking of teaching him a lesson but I guess, it's not necessary anymore.”

 

Sirius glanced at Mehr.

 

“It is quite atrocious,” Sirius said.

 

“You wanted to kill him a few hours ago.” 

 

“Kill. Yes. Not this.” Sirius replied.

 

“Hmm.” Mehr just nodded and didn’t say anything else.

 

Sirius looked at Mehr for a while. He knew Mehr was lying.

 

“Are you sure it wasn’t you?” Sirius asked.

 

“Of course not, Sirius.” Mehr looked into Sirius’ eyes. “Wouldn’t they know by my mana signature that I did it? All of the professors would have been standing in this room if I was the culprit.”

 

That was true. Sirius didn’t understand why he had this nagging feeling though. It was indeed true that if Mehr was the culprit, he wouldn’t be standing here calmly. Sirius shook his head and sighed. He decided not to think about it too much. He would rather trust Mehr than doubt him for no reason. 

 

“What sort of a monster would do this to a child?!” Professor Sionn said while looking at his wife healing the poor child. Willem hadn’t spoken a word yet and Cecilia was standing motionless. She couldn’t understand why the Star would do something like this.

 

‘Monster?’ Mehr chuckled inwardly at the nostalgic term. He had always felt that people didn’t understand his ways and only labelled him a freak. As per him, Marcus was in this condition because of his own crimes. As for him being a child? What did that matter? A child, a baby or thousands of them, Mehr never cared anyway. One should be ready for the consequences of their actions. Apart from extremely few incidents, he never felt guilty for his actions. Because…. they were always right.

 

He was once a Great General who had turned a little kingdom into an Empire. He had killed thousands of people with just a spear in his hand.

 

And now….

 

He was a God. His words were the truth and his actions righteous.

 

Mehr connected his will with the mana orb he had left inside Marcus’ stomach. The orb churned and rotated wildly as it tore its way out of the stomach. Marcus’ agony-filled scream filled the entire area.

 

“Hmph!” Professor Sorsha waved her hand. Everything in the vicinity trembled as she tried to catch the escaping orb. She had created a blockade of mana that trapped the little orb inside. However, the orb never even slowed down.

 

Mehr had been having a strange feeling when he had removed his pendant. He felt that he had removed the shackles that were holding him back. The pendant, evidently, not only changed the mana signature but also restrained his power. From the moment he removed the pendant, he felt as if the entire world was beneath him. His whims were of greatest priority. Everything, far and wide, only existed for him. The mana he touched had its essence changed completely. And so he wanted to try it.

 

The orb of mana kept approaching the blockade by Professor Sorsha. As soon as it touched the blockade, the mana that had created the blockade disintegrated completely. 

 

“What?!” Professor Sorsha was astonished to see this. Even though it seemed as if she had created the blockade half-heartedly, she had in fact used a lot of her power. To think that her blockade would be shattered so easily.

 

Everyone was looking at the small orb of mana when it slowly started to change. It bubbled up and brightened up to an insane degree. The light started escaping the orb and spread out everywhere.

 

Mehr was doing all of this with mere thoughts of his. That was an orb he had created with his real mana signature and it felt close to his heart. He felt that mana with his real signature would do anything he desired. And so, he smiled.

 

It was time for the world to know that the Seventh Star was present in this generation.

 

---

 

 

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