The King of Sky Cross
Jace Abernathy tapped his finger against the marble table and tried to suppress his scowl as he looked at the ticking clock.
He was seated on a wooden high chair draped in black velvet, armrests cushioned for his comfort. The luxury spent on this single chair raised an eyebrow even after living in the Atrazark estate, and Jace was once again reminded of what type of person Le'garde was. A living Demigod that personally fought in the Great War, who drained lakes, diverted rivers, risen mountains and blotted out the sky. A walking cataclysm that singlehandedly held the Churches and Royal Family in check with his mere presence. Sky Cross was his trophy, his prized possession, so the man would hold nothing back on flaunting it.
Indeed, Le'garde couldn't give a damn about raising the next generation. It was all about the recognition, the power he commanded over the Continent by holding its future in his hands. Everybody knew it, but none could call Le'garde out on it. His progress onto Sovereign was unknown, but he was surely close to Level 100. That would make him superior to the Augustus Sovereign and on par with the Sun, Wind and Earth Saint's. The possibility of his advancement was none existent however, since no party on the Gaia Continent, or the entire world, would allow the rise of a rogue Supreme. Any individual seeking to gain such power would need to be supported by at least four Gods to survive the attempt, and neither the Orthodox nor Secret Gods had stable enough relationships for that. Well, the Ark Covenant had the power to endorse Le'garde...
Shaking the thought from his mind, Jace looked at the clock again and was reminded of the reason behind his displeasure. Le'garde was running late to his own meeting by more than ten minutes, and the other teachers and faculty present were also beginning to become agitated. All except for Kieran Durnoff, who merely observed everyone with frigid eyes. Jace could never figure out what the old man was thinking, despite several years of working together. It was made stranger considering Durnoff had been a mentor for him, and the person to recruit Jace into Sky Cross in the first place. Amongst all the teachers, Kieran Durnoff was an enigma that never revealed his cards and never formed relationships with his peers. Perhaps the only one who knew anything about the man was Le'garde.
Jace grimaced as the major clock hand struck six, making Le'garde fifteen minutes late. To his left, Ferris Lindt pounded the table with his fist and angrily exclaimed, "Where in the seven hells is the Headmaster? He arranged this meeting out of the blue, disrupting our schedules, but refuses to show himself! Is he trying to waste our time?!"
Everyone looked at the Elf and murmurs began to fill the room. "Maybe he has been delayed by something important?" one faculty feebly offered an excuse. Vera Quadreign scoffed in response and flicked back her black hair, fixing a cold stare at Durnoff. "What could possibly delay a Sovereign for so long? Do you perhaps have an idea, Mr Kieran?"
Seeing everyone turn towards him with suspicion and apprehension, Kieran Durnoff let out a long sigh and placed his clasped hands against his mouth. "The Headmaster did inform me of the possibility of him running late before the meeting began. However, the matter should have only taken a few minutes at most, so I am in the dark about this as much as the rest of you. And before you ask, I was not informed of what task the Headmaster might be delayed by."
Everybody broke out into grumbles as a Second Year teacher threw their hands up in the air. "This is hardly the first time the Headmaster has played truant on us!" he exclaimed. "For all we know, this was just an elaborate prank he decided to pull on all of us on a whim. Well, I have important matters to attend to, so if the Headmaster is too busy to appear then I'm afraid I am too-"
"Please calm down, Mr Jaren. This is indeed a genuine meeting, not a prank"
As the cool voice filled the room, Jace turned in his seat to see a tall man with navy blue hair and purple highlights standing in the doorway. His hawkish eyes and hooked nose gave him the appearance of constantly sneering at everything, and his eyes did nothing to counter the notion. Even now, Jace could see the casual arrogance seated deep within them, eyes that never actually saw anyone as people.
At long last, the Headmaster had arrived.
Mr Jaren stared at his boss for several seconds, his mouth open like he wanted to say something. In the end however, he simply closed it and sat back down. Le'garde stalked his way around the table, scanning the faces of everyone present as the click of his shoes echoed on the wooden floor. Lindt's unabashed anger, Quadreign's thinly veiled scorn, Jaren's fearful discomfort, Durnoff's aloofness...and Jace's own front of impassiveness. The Headmaster's gaze lingered on his face a touch longer than the others before he completed his circle around the table and took the seat of honour. "My apologies, ladies and gentlemen, for my tardiness. An urgent matter came up, one requiring my personal intervention. But now that we are all here, let us commence the meeting."
He spoke lazily for a man that just stood up a room of some of the most powerful Ascenders on this side of the Continent. Everyone in this room was a Grandmaster at the least, with Kieran representing the peak as a Mythic. Yet Durnoff showed no displeasure, merely bowing his head in acknowledgment to the callous excuses of Le'garde. The relationship between the two was a source of much mystery in the Academy, with some rumours saying the old man was a relative of Le'garde, or some sort of slave forced into total submission. The former was incredibly unlikely, as Durnoff belonged to an old and credited line of Magi. Plus, the Sovereign's House had been annihilated in the Great War, and Le'garde had never bothered to rebuild it or sire more offspring. The latter rumour though...
Not much was known about the magic Le'garde had at his disposal. Having an SS Rank Core meant he number of Skills he could possess would be quite numerous, and only a handful were known. Le'garde was confirmed to have a dual Gravity-Metal Affinity, a mix no one else in Orvonia was recorded as having. With no precedent for such an Affinity, it was very difficult to try and predict his attacks. Any reports of his fights during the Great War had also been lost or destroyed by Le'garde after its end, with only the Churches and those who also fought in the Great War still possessing knowledge about the Sovereign's battle style.
His most famous feats were therefore concentrated in the Fifth Era, rather than the Fourth. Establishing a school on the crater of the bloodiest battle of the Great War, forcing concessions from both the Churches and Royals, gathering the most talented from every generation and nurturing them into absolute monsters, accepting any Race and turning a blind eye to heathen students, turning the once-barren lands into one of the biggest trade hubs on the Continent...All of these achievements had caused Sky Cross to develop independently of the world around it, almost like it's own nation. This had caused Le'garde to acquire a title amongst the Gaian citizens, and even abroad.
The Mage King of Sky Cross .