Spirit's Ascension

"Insolence," Someone shouted directly beside the first elder.

"You dare speak with such audacity in front of us," he continued.

Cole didn’t falter under the man’s words; he just stood his ground as gallantly as he could without appearing disrespectful.

"Calm down the second elder; he hasn’t said anything wrong," the first elder intervened, his voice not showing any signs of anger at all.

The second elder was just about to continue when he heard those words, but he could only shut his mouth and hold his anger in.

"So, young man, why did you say you feel no remorse for murdering a fellow student?" the first elder asked upon turning back to look at Cole.

Seeing the attention shift back to him, Cole slowly breathed out to compose himself.

"There’s no reason for me to feel remorseful when I only ended the life of an evildoer."

"Moreover, he has been expelled from the academy."

The First elder was just about to ask a follow-up question when he was interrupted by another shout from his side.

"You ignorant prick, who are you to determine what is actually right or wrong? Who are you to call someone an evildoer?"

"Were you the one that expelled the student?"

The more the second elder spoke, the louder his voice got and the more enraged he became, but Cole still didn’t buckle under all of that pressure. He stood there valiantly.

"I know he is an evildoer because he is in coalition with an organization that killed multiple people and he himself kidnapped kids and sacrificed them. So tell me elder what is he?" Cole spoke with increasing fury.

The second elder was silenced for a while as he ruminated about what Cole said; he wanted to retort, but he just couldn’t find anything to say.

"Hmmm," the first elder exhaled sharply.

"I can see that you are very confident in your words, but enough confidence doesn’t cut it," the elder said.

"Are we supposed to just take your word for it and you about the fact that the student was expelled?"

"An ex-student of this academy will always be a student, and moreover, it hasn’t been officially documented in the academy records."

Cole listened to the elder’s words with a weird expression on his face; it was obvious that he didn’t agree with what the man was saying.

"But that isn’t fair elder," Cole spoke up again.

From that moment, he was then cut short by the man he had previously followed to arrive here.

"You may go out for now; the council will make a decision," the first elder said.

Hearing that, the man that just finished speaking turned around and slowly began leading Cole back out of the hall.

Outside the hall, most people that came along with them earlier have left to do other things, leaving just a few extremely interested ones or people with a specific mission.

Among those people was Wilce; he stood outside there with a look of anger and frustration. Not far away from where Cole had two teammates.

They had found their way to the hall not too long ago to wait for the final verdict. They stood separate from the others to show their different opinions.

When he got outside, Cole scanned all around to see those who were actually there. While scanning, he spotted his teammates waiting for him, which immeasurably brought some warmth to his heart.

But only his teammates looked at him with a warm smile; on the faces of others were strong frowns and disgust.

Despite not wanting to be too affected by others’ opinions, he still felt a little bit of pain seeing others look at him that way.

"Who are they to judge, none of them actually knew what happened," he thought to himself.

It all felt like he was only trying to console himself since he knew that if they actually knew what happened, they would probably act the same.

"Discrimination in spirits really runs deep."

Cole was forced to wait just outside the hall for the elders to make a decision, but time went by, and there seemed to be no response to others’ opinions.

To Cole, on the other hand, due to being so close to the inside of the hall, he could feel the tension and pressure in there.

"They are really finding it hard to come to a conclusion," Cole thought.

Inside the hall, the second and third elders pressured the first elder to do their will, but due to the first elder’s status, he was able to resist a bit.

The two sides pushed and turned until they finally came to a consensus.

"Do we really have to do this?" the first elder muttered while shaking his head.

Having made a decision, the elder immediately sent a message to the escort outside, prompting Cole’s reentry.

Upon getting back to his previous location, Cole looked at the elders with a serious face, ready to hear the final verdict and their conclusion on his case.

"We have ruminated deeply on the case and come to a conclusion," the first elder said.

Maybe to cause an increase in the tension that is in the air, the first elder paused for quite a bit of time after saying that before saying something else.

"From this moment forth, Cole Bremont is currently under probation and has a week to get solid proof or he will be permanently expelled."

Cole listened to the judgment closely, taking in every word and phrase to get the full scope of it all before he heaved a sigh of relief.

"That shouldn’t be too hard," Cole thought. He had expected them to decide on killing him or expelling him immediately, but the judgment seems light.

Knowing what might have occurred within that time he was outside, Cole looked up at the first elder with eyes filled with appreciation.

"Thank you," he muttered.

He wanted to say something more, but Cole was distracted when he felt something invade his body before vanishing without a trace.

"You may leave," the first elder said with a nod.

Cole wasted no more time before turning around and speeding up to leave the hall as soon as possible.

The instant he got out of the hall, Cole immediately felt something was wrong.

He slowly felt his balance wobble and his vision darken, and before he knew it, he was heading for the ground.

"That bastard elder," he managed to say before blacking out.