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Primal Devourer The Broken Hatcher’S Rise Ep
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00:00My mentor gives the blonde girl the best egg in the hall. He tosses me the one no one wanted.
00:05I am last in the rankings. Refusal is never an option. For seven years, I fed it everything I had.
00:11My magic, my sleep, my youth. No one helped, no one noticed.
00:16When the shell finally cracks to reveal the air of Yormonkar, the rarest bloodline in a millennium, suddenly, everyone wants
00:22a piece of what I've made. The blonde girl claims him, my mentor backs her up. Three seniors corner me,
00:28forcing me to give him up. And my lindworm, he just stands there, saying nothing.
00:31Aurelia is the only one worthy of me. Let me go.
00:34I gave you life. I could take it back. So I drive a blade through his heart, devour his core
00:39and become stronger than all of them combined.
00:41Seven years ago, the hatching hall. On the altar lay 20 familiar eggs, each radiating a different light. Aurelia walked
00:49to the center and picked up an egg glowing with golden flames.
00:52This egg is calling my name, Mentor, she said with a smile. She never once looked at me. The last
00:57egg lay alone in the corner, dull, gray-white, without a trace of light. Archmaster Maldus gave me a side
01:02-lay glance.
01:03Vesper, you are patient. You can bear this stillness. This one is yours.
01:06I cradled it in my hands, heavy, ice cold. It took me seven years. I slept with it against my
01:12skin every single night. Fed it my magic, thread by thread. I turned down every field trial.
01:17Missed three ascension rites and four tower galas. I read every lindworm-hatching record in the grand library. I learned
01:23to scrape the absolute bottom of my magical core when utterly exhausted.
01:26Seven years later, the shell cracked. A boy with silver hair and amber eyes stepped out. He opened his eyes,
01:33and I was the first thing he saw. After that, he never chose to see me again.
01:37He became Aurelia's shadow. She practiced the sword. He played the harp by her side. She frowned. The smiled. He
01:43bent over backward to make her gentleman.
01:45All she had to say was such a gentleman, and from that moment on, I became an obstacle in his
01:49way.
01:50Today, three senior apprentice block my path. Lysander stands next to them. He says it to my face.
01:54Aurelia is brilliant. She's beautiful and kind. She is the only one worthy to be my mate.
02:00Vester, if you actually care about me, break the bond!
02:02The three seniors turn to stare. They are not here to mediate. They are here to witness my humiliation.
02:07Cedric speaks first, talking down to me from on high.
02:10Vester, Lysander is the direct heir of Jormagard. There isn't another bloodline like his in the entire northern frontier. Face
02:14reality.
02:15Dragging this out only makes you a laughingstock. You two were never a match.
02:18Orlando chimes in a soft voice.
02:20It's not your fault. It's a matter of bloodline. If you truly love him, set him free. It would be
02:26best for everyone.
02:28Gabriel cuts to the chase.
02:29The heir of Jormangel is destined for the highest nobility, and Auraria is a daughter of the phoenix.
02:35It's fate!
02:36The whole tower is dying to celebrate their bond ceremony. Standing in their way just disgraces you.
02:41Word after word, sentence after sentence. Then they just wait in Lysander, waiting for my tears.
02:47He turns his head. Won't even meet my eyes. He agrees with every single word.
02:52Seven years. I bled my magic into him, drop by drop. I turned a cold, dead stone into a living,
02:58breathing man.
02:59And now they demand I hand him over. If he will not keep faith, then he forfeits the right to
03:04exist.
03:04The meteoric iron dagger sinks into Lysander's chest. I drive it beneath the breastbone, straight into his Lindwarf core crystal.
03:10The one place no hand had reached in seven years. Those amber eyes, always so arrogant, widen in shock and
03:15pain.
03:15Vesper, you, what did you?
03:18He stares at me from, really stares, as if the wound had finally taught him where to look.
03:22I steady my grip, twisting the blade deeper. The meteorite edge crushes his core into dust.
03:27Not a chance of survival.
03:28Archmage Malduz mentioned it in a lecture once.
03:31The nine lives of a Lindworm? Just a myth.
03:33But the core? That's their fatal weakness.
03:36At last, one of Malduz's lessons proves useful.
03:39Why wouldn't I? What I gave shape to, I can also destroy.
03:42If I want you dead, then you die.
03:44Blood runs down the hilt. Covers my fingers.
03:48Lysander tries to speak. He only chokes on blood.
03:51The light leaves his eyes. His body hits the floor.
03:54He shifts back to his true form, a massive silver white serpent.
03:57Its scales go dull at once, stripped of all their glory.
04:00It coils across the floor, taking up half the room.
04:03I don't blink. I watch until he stops twitching.
04:06I rip the dagger out. Walk to the center of the room.
04:10Drop to my knees. I start carving into the floor.
04:13Deep in the tower's restricted vault lies a book, The Chronicle of Primal Blood Rites.
04:16I copied a page from it in secret and hid it in my room, studying it in silence for seven
04:21years.
04:21The Devourer's Gift. A 3,000-year-old taboo.
04:25No tools required. No setup needed.
04:27Just one caster. And one formidable sacrifice.
04:30I finish the last rune. I slice my fingertip open.
04:34Let the blood drip into the center.
04:35I drag Lysander's corpse into the circle.
04:38My blood spreads out. It lights up every carved line.
04:41The whole array blazes with dark gold light.
04:43I've never seen a color like it.
04:44But every vein in my body hums.
04:46Lysander's serpent form lights up.
04:48First the scales. Then the muscles.
04:51Finally the bones.
04:52Everything breaks down. Bit by bit.
04:54It melts into threads of dark gold energy.
04:57Ripped straight from his corpse.
04:58Flowing right into me.
05:00The threads sink through my skin.
05:02Hook into my bloodstream.
05:03The moment the first thread enters, something explodes in my head.
05:06A memory that isn't mine.
05:08Locks deep in my soul since the day I was born.
05:10It cracks wide open.
05:12I see a creature.
05:13It eats stars.
05:14Swallows light.
05:15Devours the laws of reality.
05:17It has existed since the beginning of the world.
05:19The first predator.
05:21The primal devourer.
05:22I always thought I was worthless.
05:24My magic was pathetically weak.
05:26Ever since I entered the tower at 12.
05:28I ranked at the bottom.
05:29I thought I was born broken.
05:31But now I realize I was wrong.
05:33Basic magic is useless to me.
05:35Everything the tower taught me is worthless.
05:37Something in me had lain dormant since birth.
05:39Seal behind an appetite no ordinary magic could feed.
05:42Lysander, the heir of Jormungandr.
05:45The only sacrifice to break the seal in 3,000 years.
05:48I smile.
05:49So that is the truth.
05:51Lysander's body vanishes completely.
05:53Every drop of his energy floods my veins.
05:55The shackles that bound my magic for seven years collapse, one by one.
05:59When the last of the dark gold vanishes into me, I rise with an archmage power in my bones.
06:03All that's left is a dried ritual ray and a pool of blood.
06:06Not a single trace of Lysander.
06:08Like he never existed at all.
06:10I rise to my feet and roll my wrist.
06:12My joints crack.
06:14The door bangs open.
06:15Maldwa stands in the doorway.
06:17Arolyia cowers behind him, eyes red and body shaking.
06:20She clutches her golden phoenix.
06:22The three seniors flank them, faces pale with terror.
06:25How could you?
06:26You killed him and then you devoured him!
06:28She breaks down sobbing.
06:30Maldrus unleashes his full Archmaster era across the room.
06:34Vesper, what you did in this room defiles the tower.
06:38Yet you also performed a forbidden ritual.
06:41By my authority you are cast out and remounded to the Abyss.
06:44His power crashes down on me.
06:46Seven years ago, this would have crushed me.
06:49But now, I'm an archmage.
06:51I hold the power of the primal devourer.
06:53I straighten and meet his gaze.
06:55Killing my bonded creature?
06:56Mentor Lysander wasn't a human.
06:58He was a familiar.
07:00I hatched him from a shell seven years ago.
07:02Tower Code Volume 7 Chapter 3 Section 11.
07:04A familiar's life belongs to its hatcher.
07:07Your language, not mine.
07:09Maldus chokes on his own words.
07:11Aurelia suddenly cuts in.
07:12Tears already gathering as if on command.
07:14Her voice trembles with practiced grief.
07:17Even if he was just a familiar, you were together for seven years!
07:21Do you feel nothing?
07:22He was the heir of Jormagon!
07:24That bloodline was irreplaceable and you just destroyed it!
07:28Irreplaceable or not, he was mine.
07:30He wanted to go with someone else, so I killed him.
07:32I glare at her.
07:34You care an awful lot about what belongs to other people.
07:37Do other people's belongings always catch your eye?
07:39Aurelia goes white.
07:41The phoenix in her arm struggles.
07:43She grips it tighter.
07:44The bird pecks at her wrist.
07:45How dare you!
07:47Maldus snaps.
07:48He knows I have him cornered on the rules.
07:50But Aurelia's tears matter more than his own laws.
07:53He cannot accuse me of murdering a familiar, so he pivots.
07:56Fine.
07:56The familiar was yours.
07:58But your mindset is dangerous.
08:00You performed a forbidden ritual.
08:01You have shown open malice towards Aurelia.
08:03Someone like you is a threat to this tower.
08:05I sentence you to three years in the abyss.
08:08The three seniors actually flinch.
08:10The abyss.
08:11The deepest forbidden zone beneath the tower.
08:14Toxic magic.
08:15Poisoned air.
08:16Feral beasts.
08:17Most apprentices don't last three weeks down there.
08:20So that is a sentence.
08:21Death.
08:22Draped in formal language.
08:23A flash of satisfaction crosses Aurelia's eyes.
08:26Then she fakes a worried look.
08:28Mentor.
08:29Surely there is another punishment.
08:30The abyss will kill her.
08:31Please.
08:32Not that.
08:33Her mouth says the words.
08:35Her feet don't move an inch.
08:37My word is final.
08:39Take her away.
08:40The tower guards step forward.
08:42I will walk on my own.
08:44I head for the entrance.
08:46Passing Aurelia.
08:47I stop.
08:48I lean in and drop my voice to a whisper just for her.
08:50Hold that bird close.
08:52I may decide I'm hungry.
08:55Aurelia freezes.
08:56She hugs her bird tighter.
08:58Pure terror in her eyes.
08:59I walk to the edge of the abyss.
09:01Black mist rolls up from the dark below.
09:04I jump in.
09:05And let the abyss swallow me whole.
09:07I hit the bottom of the abyss.
09:08Blood.
09:09Rot.
09:10The stench from hundreds of feral beasts.
09:12Old bones under my boots.
09:14Green eyes flashing in the shadows.
09:16Growls echoing from every direction.
09:18The primal devourer in my veins wakes up instantly.
09:21It feels no fear.
09:22Only hunger.
09:23A forbidden zone.
09:25Looks more like a grand feast.
09:27I crack a smile.
09:28A spike armored boar charges first.
09:30Bone plates hard as steel.
09:32Tusk's meant to shred metal.
09:33I don't even use magic.
09:34I sidestep.
09:36Drive my bare fist into its ribs.
09:38Crack.
09:39The boar slams into the rock wall.
09:40Bone gives way.
09:42It dies instantly.
09:43The devourer doesn't just give me magic.
09:45It remakes my body.
09:47I press my palm to the boar's chest.
09:49Dark gold breads rip from its corpse into me.
09:51Core, bloodline, energy, I take it all.
09:54The corpse crumbles into an empty husk.
09:56Not a bad start?
09:57Over the next few days, I hunt my way through the abyss.
10:00Shadow panthers give me speed.
10:02Rock shell lizards leave toughness in my bones.
10:05Toxic bog toads try their poison on me, and my blood devours that too.
10:08The magical concentration is higher than I expected.
10:11I stalk through the abyss like an apex predator.
10:13Grading my prey.
10:14Everything in my path runs for its life.
10:17My power surges to Archmage, level 2.
10:19Every day, I grow stronger.
10:21I just killed a two-headed wind serpent.
10:23As I reach for its core, I sense movement above.
10:26I hide my aura.
10:27Melt into the shadows.
10:29Up on a rock ledge.
10:30Maldus, Aurelia, and the three seniors.
10:33Standing inside Maldus' protective ward.
10:35Without it, the toxic air would destroy their lungs in minutes.
10:39Aurelia hugs her golden phoenix, her dress somehow still spotless.
10:42She holds a silk handkerchief to her nose, staring down into the dark.
10:46Mentor, the dark magic down here is dreadful.
10:48Do you think she's even alive?
10:49I'm worried for her.
10:51She's resilient.
10:52She'll survive.
10:53A little suffering might finally teach her her place.
10:58Aurelia strokes her bird's feathers.
11:00That's a relief.
11:02It is still such a tragedy that his bloodline was lost.
11:05If he were still here, my phoenix could have joined with him.
11:08Their cores would have resonated beautifully.
11:09The phoenix lets out a sharp cry, backing up its master.
11:13Don't waste tears on him, Aurelia.
11:15Lysandar was rare, yes.
11:16But your phoenix is pure blood.
11:18Its future reaches even higher.
11:19Exactly.
11:20Vesper is selfish and cruel.
11:22She killed Lysandar.
11:23What a loss to the whole tower.
11:25You have a heart of gold.
11:27Stop wasting your pity on her.
11:28Aurelia nods softly.
11:30Then, she raises her voice.
11:32I just think, maybe she's broken down, lost her way.
11:35If she just came out and apologized, Lysandar is gone.
11:39But Mentor is generous.
11:40He'd give her a second chance.
11:42She doesn't have to suffer here.
11:43From the shadows, I listen and wait.
11:45The phoenix breaks free from Aladia's arms.
11:48It spreads its wings and dives for my dead serpent.
11:50Pure arrogance in its eyes.
11:52It thinks the kill is unclaimed.
11:54A glowing golden light trails from its claws as it swoops down.
11:57So it comes down after all.
11:59Before its talons hit the serpent, I burst out of the shadows.
12:02The phoenix senses danger.
12:04Tries to pull away.
12:05Too late.
12:06My right hand snaps around its throat.
12:08Its screech cuts off.
12:10It thrashes wildly.
12:11Golden fire erupts from its feathers, trying to melt my arm to the bone.
12:14But a pulse of dark gold energy instantly snuffs out the fire.
12:17What are you doing?
12:18Let him go!
12:19Let him go!
12:20Vester!
12:21Don't you dare!
12:23I slowly tighten my grip.
12:26I look up at their faces.
12:28Everyone is frozen solid.
12:30Your bird came to steal my kill.
12:32Why shouldn't I take it?
12:33Snap!
12:34Its neck cracks cleanly under my grip.
12:36The phoenix goes limp.
12:38The light in its eyes dies.
12:39The golden glow fades.
12:41I toss it in the dirt.
12:42Aurelia's scream rips through the abyss.
12:44Her face turns white.
12:45Her knees buckle.
12:47Cedric barely catches her before she falls to the ground.
12:50My phoenix!
12:51You really killed him!
12:52Tears spill over.
12:53Her finger points at me.
12:55No sweetness now.
12:56Only hatred.
12:57He was my destined mate!
12:59How dare you!
13:00How dare you!
13:01Mentor!
13:02She killed Lysaner!
13:03And now she killed my phoenix!
13:05Aurelia throws herself at Maldus' feet.
13:07Maldus' face shifts from cold indifference to murderous fury.
13:11That phoenix was a pureblood.
13:13Handpicked for Aurelia.
13:14Raised on the tower's premium resources.
13:16Years of investment.
13:18Worth far more than Lysander had ever been.
13:20The cornerstone of his entire master plan for Aurelia, and the student he cast into the
13:24abyss to die, has just snapped its neck as if it were nothing.
13:26His archmaced aura explodes.
13:28His magic pours out.
13:29A giant hand made of raw art power hangs above me.
13:32It slams down.
13:33He is trying to kill me.
13:34I will grind your soul into ash.
13:37The hand hasn't even touched me yet.
13:38The pressure already cracks my bones.
13:40The primal devourer roars awake.
13:42I dig my heels in to hold my ground.
13:45I look up at him.
13:46Grind my soul?
13:47For a phoenix?
13:47Mentor, am I not your student, Toos?
13:49Seven years of questions boiling over.
13:52Something flickers across his face.
13:53It vanishes.
13:54Buried by absolute rage.
13:56Shut up!
13:56You murdered your bonded beast!
13:57You slaughtered your sister's familiar!
13:59And now you play the victim?
14:01She wanted Lysenar.
14:02You forced me to give him up.
14:04Her bird swoops in to steal my kill.
14:05And now you want me dead?
14:06Since the day I walked into this tower at 12 years old, she had the best of everything.
14:10Every mistake, every unfairness was mine to bear.
14:12Because she's more talented?
14:14Because her tears matter more?
14:15Because she's the chosen one in your eyes?
14:17Then what am I?
14:18You pulled me out of an orphanage.
14:19Was this the plan all along?
14:21Was I just a stepping stone?
14:22Was I always supposed to die the second she needed me to?
14:24Answer me, Mentor.
14:26Dead silence.
14:27The three seniors don't say a word.
14:28Everyone knows.
14:29It's an open secret.
14:31But no one ever ripped it open and forced them to face it.
14:34Aurelia stops sobbing.
14:36Her eyes dart around, showing the fear of being exposed.
14:39Muldrus's face twists.
14:40My words strike a nerve he refuses to face.
14:42Taking me from the orphanage might have started as real pity.
14:45But year after year, beside Elyria's talent and fortune, my mediocre gifts lost all value to him.
14:49My worth had been decided long ago.
14:51Whatever served Elyria best.
14:52And now, the tool in his hand has turned on him.
14:54Silver tongue.
14:55One twisted fact.
14:57His tone is hard, merciless.
14:58He tries to cover the wound I have carved into his pride.
15:01What you have done is beyond forgiveness.
15:03The last shred of loyalty I had for this place?
15:05It burns out completely.
15:06Then as of today, I owe neither you nor this tower anything.
15:09We are done.
15:10Done?
15:10You think a lowest rank apprentice gets to decide when this ends?
15:13This abyss is your grave.
15:14The magic hand glows brighter.
15:16The power spikes.
15:17Enough to level the entire bottom of the abyss.
15:19The shockwave alone cracks the ground under my boots into a spider web.
15:22I can't take this hit head on.
15:24My eyes lock on the phoenix corpse.
15:25Broken neck.
15:26Fainted gold.
15:27The primal devourer roars with hunger.
15:29This pure blood core is stronger than Lysiater's.
15:32No time for a full ritual.
15:33I grab the bird and shove it against my chest.
15:35Dark gold threads rip out of the corpse.
15:37They flood straight into me.
15:38Pure phoenix essence explodes in my body.
15:40Every vein burns.
15:41My power surges.
15:43Archmaster level 3.
15:44Level 4.
15:45Peak.
15:45Three leaps.
15:46Three heartbeats.
15:47Maldius's magic hand is still dropping.
15:49I lift my head.
15:50I point a single finger.
15:51Dark gold energy pools at the tip.
15:53It isn't magic.
15:54It's the devourer's source.
15:56Older.
15:56Stronger than everything.
15:57I flick my finger.
15:59Maldius's peak archmist attack shatters like glass breaking from within.
16:02Soundless.
16:03Everything fades into a thousand specks of light glistening across the abyss.
16:07The abyss falls silent.
16:08Five faces staring down at me.
16:10I'll never forget their expressions.
16:11It's the look people wear when their world shatters before their eyes.
16:15I don't hesitate.
16:15I launch myself from the bottom onto the ledge.
16:18Cedric.
16:19A blast of dark gold energy slams them into the rock wall.
16:22They go limp before they hit the ground.
16:23Aurelia crashes to the dirt.
16:25Paralyzed by fear.
16:26Maldus the man who just tried to kill me is frozen.
16:28His eyes are wide with disbelief.
16:30I walk up to him a full head shorter.
16:32He takes a step back.
16:32Mentor do you remember what you told the orphanage mage from the day you brought me here?
16:37Aurelia was next to me.
16:38Three years older.
16:39You adopted her from a top tier noble family the year before.
16:42You said she had the phoenix mark.
16:44A once in a century prodigy.
16:45Seven years.
16:46I woke up two hours early every day to study.
16:49She slept in.
16:50I stayed up four hours late every night to research.
16:52She went to galas.
16:53In every magical trial I placed at the absolute leg top.
16:55You said she never even sat for an event.
16:57Seven years hatching and you tossed me like rubbish.
16:58I hatched into the air of Yorma Mangahar.
17:00And today?
17:01Today you tried to kill me for her phoenix.
17:03Maldus' lips tremble.
17:04Vesta, I...
17:05I press my hand against his chest.
17:08Your turn.
17:08The devourer wakes up.
17:10Not death.
17:11An archmage does not fear death.
17:13This is worse.
17:14Total erration.
17:15His magic?
17:16Everything that makes him an archmaster.
17:18Pulled out.
17:18Thread by thread.
17:20Turned into dark gold energy.
17:21Drawn into my veins.
17:23I do not devour him completely.
17:25I let him live.
17:26I strip him of everything.
17:27Magic.
17:28Affinity.
17:29Rank.
17:29I leave him breathing.
17:31For a man like Maldus, life without magic is worse than death.
17:35I pull my hand back.
17:36He collapses.
17:37His hair turns white.
17:38Deep wrinkles carve into his face.
17:40His eyes go dim.
17:41He looks up at me.
17:42I look down at him.
17:43Tell me, Maldus.
17:45Who betrayed whom?
17:46Aurelia is still on the ground.
17:48Too terrified to make a sound.
17:49I pick up the phoenix corpse.
17:50Most of its energy is gone.
17:52Even dead, its flesh and bones still have value.
17:54The three knocked out seniors?
17:55Not worth my time.
17:56And then there's Mardus.
17:57A few bounds up the abyss walls.
17:59I grab the bird by the wing and leap upward.
18:01And I land dead center in the tower's main plaza.
18:03The senior mentors and apprentices are crowded together, panicking over the power spakes from below.
18:07Was that Archmaster energy?
18:08What happened?
18:08It came from the abyss.
18:09Do we have an intruder?
18:10If the archmist is handling it himself, we should be fine.
18:13I drop from the air, holding a dead bird in one hand, pouring out massive dark power without restraint.
18:18Is that Vesper?
18:20She got out of the abyss?
18:22Is that the phoenix?
18:23That power?
18:24Peak Archmaster?
18:25No way!
18:26She's only been down there a few days.
18:27Vesper!
18:28What are you doing here?
18:30That phoenix, what did you do to Aurelia?
18:31Where is the Archmaester?
18:34I toss the bird on the cobblestones and sweep my gaze across the plaza.
18:38Every apprentice flinches when I look at them.
18:40The Archmaster?
18:41You mean the man who abandoned me to that place?
18:43He tried to kill me.
18:44I pause.
18:47So I took everything from him.
18:49Lies!
18:50How dare you slander the Archmaster?
18:52Tivadar and the other mentors flare their magic, getting ready to take me down.
18:56Don't believe me?
18:57Go look.
18:58He's on the edge of the abyss.
19:00If you hurry, you might just save his life.
19:02They feel my power.
19:03That cannot be faked.
19:04As for the rest of you, I glare at the mentors, especially fixed on Tivadar.
19:08You all agreed to throw me into that abyss.
19:10I move, fast as lightning.
19:11Three strikes land before anyone can react.
19:13The shields of Tivadar and the other two mentors who approved my sentence shatter, piece by piece.
19:18One by one, they collapse onto the ground, out cold.
19:20Silence.
19:21Even the senior mentors don't have time to lift a finger.
19:23As of today, the Tower of Ashes belongs to me.
19:26If any among you object, step forward.
19:29No one.
19:29No one bows.
19:31But the first one drops his head.
19:33Then the second.
19:34The third.
19:35One after another.
19:37Every one of them lowers their head.
19:38Two guards drag Aurelia into the plaza.
19:41Her pristine image is ruined.
19:43Her dress is torn to shreds.
19:45Covered in dirt and blood.
19:47She drops to her knees.
19:48No fake tears this time.
19:50Please.
19:51I was wrong.
19:52Just leave me alive.
19:53Her voice cracks.
19:55She crawls towards me.
19:56Reaches for my robes.
19:58I give her one look.
19:59She freezes.
20:01It was me.
20:02I was jealous.
20:03I only wanted Lysomir for his bloodline.
20:05I shouldn't have let my phoenix go after you.
20:07She chokes on her sobs, stuttering.
20:09Please.
20:10We studied together for seven years.
20:12Just spare me.
20:12I'll do anything.
20:13I'll leave the tower.
20:14I'll give up the title.
20:15Daughter of the phoenix.
20:46I'll radia.
20:46Lysander was mine.
20:47Seven years.
20:48I raised him from an egg, little by little, and you just expected me to hand him over?
20:51Did anyone ask whether I was willy?
20:53I did.
20:53Old man.
20:54You kept Muldrus preaching about Avodia, the daughter of the phoenix, the tower's golden
20:57hope.
20:57Everyone had to protect her.
20:58Did you forget?
20:59At 12, my control scores exceeded hers by 12%.
21:02At 14, I undertook my first solo mission.
21:05I nearly died bringing back a toxic Magrosa from the Blackwood Ridge.
21:08You said adequate.
21:10Then you spent 20 minutes praising Alaria for picking a lavender in the garden.
21:14At 16, I volunteered for a beast hunt on the Ebis Rim.
21:17You said our radia was a better candidate.
21:19She backed out.
21:21Said she had a headache.
21:22The hunt got canceled.
21:23You never brought my name up again.
21:25Those jerks his head up.
21:26His cloudy eyes are blank.
21:27He has absolutely nothing to say.
21:30I stare at his blank face.
21:31The last trace of pity in my chest dies.
21:34You all forgot.
21:35I didn't choose to be like this.
21:36You made me this way.
21:38Your favoritessness taught me that resources must be taken.
21:41Your sentence taught me that stepping back means getting crushed.
21:44Your attempt on my life taught me that weakness is a sin.
21:47If you hadn't squeezed every drop of humanity out of me, if you hadn't thrown me in the
21:50abyss to die, I'd still be the quiet little Vesper, keeping her head down, begging
21:55for fair treatment.
21:56You created the monster standing in front of you.
21:59Utter silence.
22:00Just Auraria's muffled sobs.
22:02The crowd is barely breathing.
22:04They understand now.
22:05I wasn't born cold.
22:06They made me this way.
22:08Their bias, indifference, and cruelty.
22:10Strike by stroke, they forged me.
22:12I square my shoulders and turn away, not looking at their faces.
22:15You admitted your sins.
22:16Now it's time to pay.
22:18Aurelia.
22:18She looks up.
22:19Your apprentice status is revoked.
22:21Your magic is sealed.
22:22Just enough to keep you alive.
22:23You will live at the bottom of the abyss, where your terror will draw out the lesser beasts
22:27to serve as target practice for the apprentice.
22:29You will live.
22:30That much, I will guarantee.
22:32But you're going to spend the rest of your life in the abyss where you tried to bury me.
22:36All the color drains from her face.
22:38She knows exactly what that means.
22:40She opens her mouth to beg.
22:42I don't give her the chance.
22:43Maldus.
22:44For the sake of the one useful thing he taught me, volume 7, chapter 3, sectional 11, he gets
22:49to stay in the tower.
22:50Stripped of all privileges, reduced to the lowest servant in the tower.
22:54A former archmist, scrubbing floors and handing out rations.
22:57The rest of you keep your lives.
22:59For now.
22:59But this tower will never drag anyone down again.
23:02Starting tomorrow, advancement will be earned under my rule alone.
23:06Fewer rewards, harder trials.
23:08No exceptions.
23:09All resources go through me.
23:11I walk toward the main spire.
23:13I don't look back.
23:14Only one thought remains.
23:16What I will hunt next.
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