Chapter 156: Cold Will
Only three people remained ahead of Alex in the line.
The first two stood stiffly, eyes fixed somewhere past his shoulder, already calculating how far they could step without looking like they were yielding.
Their shoulders were tight.
One of them kept shifting his weight as if the stone under his boots had become uncomfortable.
The third was a girl with bright red hair and matching red eyes.
She stood with her weight settled evenly on both feet, chin slightly raised, and when she looked back at Alex there was no hesitation in the stare.
'Open defiance? She certainly has the gall to stand in front of me like that, I'll give her that much.'
She did not move.
Alex continued walking toward her at the same measured pace.
The crown sat steady on his head along with the black formal attire of the Abyss bloodline on him creating a majestic contrast.
Through the bond he felt Zara's attention sharpen.
The rest of the hall had already parted.
These three were the last obstacle between him and the counters.
The distance between them closed.
The red haired girl held her ground.
Around them the hall had gone quieter again, the earlier whispers thinning into something closer to held breath.
People who had already moved aside were watching to see what would happen when the Third Prince reached someone who refused to clear the path.
A few of them leaned forward slightly, as if proximity might let them hear whatever came next.
Alex stopped one step short of her.
He studied her face for a brief moment.
The red eyes did not flinch.
There was pride there, and a stubborn refusal to be the one who moved first in front of the entire registration hall.
He understood the feeling.
He had used versions of it himself in a different life, standing across from men who thought titles and numbers meant more than the person holding them.
But understanding did not mean he would wait.
Yesterday, during a quiet hour of testing after the formal skills had locked, he had discovered something new.
A thin edge of his Will could be laced with the cold of the Shadow Element and released without fully drawing the element itself.
It was not a formal skill.
It did not appear on his interface.
It was simply a pressure, a directed chill that carried the memory of emptiness and silence.
The same three sensations that defined the Shadow Element, focused into a single narrow point of Will.
He had not used it on a person yet.
He did so now.
'Thanks for being my test dummy!'
Alex released a small, carefully controlled portion of that Will.
The effect was immediate.
An unnatural cold settled over the space in front of him, it was thin and precise.
The red-haired girl felt it first.
Her shoulders locked.
A visible shudder ran through her from the base of her spine to the back of her neck.
The defiance in her eyes fractured for half a second as the cold gripped something deeper than skin.
Her breath caught.
The air around her seemed to thin.
Her balance broke.
She stumbled sideways, one boot catching on the edge of the marked line, and went down hard onto the stone floor.
The sound of the impact was sharp in the quiet hall.
The two people who had been standing just behind her scrambled out of the way at once, nearly colliding with each other in their haste to put distance between themselves and whatever had just dropped the girl.
One of them actually took three full steps sideways before he stopped.
***
'W-what is this f-feeling?!'
Hema Bloodworth hit the floor on one knee and one hand.
Her red hair fell forward across her face for a moment before she shoved it back with a sharp motion.
When she lifted her head the humiliation was already burning in her expression, tight and furious.
'H-how dare he!'
Color stood high on her cheeks.
She glared at Alex's back as he stepped past her without slowing, the look sharp enough to cut if looks could do such a thing.
She could do nothing else.
The residual chill still clung to her skin, and the entire hall had seen her fall.
A few people near the sides of the path looked away quickly, as if eye contact with her might somehow transfer the same cold.
***
'Oh? That worked surprisingly well! Every single day brings a new discovery, especially in a magical world like this!'
Alex did not look back.
He walked the final stretch of open stone and stopped in front of the registration counter.
A young woman with blue hair and blue eyes sat behind it.
She had been watching the entire exchange with an expression that had started at professional neutrality and settled into clear displeasure.
Her hands rested flat on the polished surface of the counter.
The faint glow of active registration formations lit the space around her from below.
She looked at Alex for a long second before she spoke.
"The Curse Bloom Institution strictly prohibits the use of personal status or household influence inside any of its working areas, registration halls, and examination grounds."
"That includes the use of pressure, presence, or authority to clear a path that others are entitled to hold."
Her voice was even, but the edge underneath it was unmistakable.
She had watched the line part for him.
She had watched the red haired girl drop and she was not inclined to pretend she had not seen it.
Alex raised one eyebrow.
The motion was small and almost lazy.
'Well, dad wasn't wrong about them being fair, but...'
He let the silence sit for a breath longer than was polite, then answered in the same calm tone he had used with the door guards outside.
"If anyone here believes I used my authority to move them, they are free to step forward right now and take their place at the front of the line, I will wait."
He did not raise his voice.
He did not look around the hall to make the offer more dramatic.
He simply stated it and left the space open for anyone who wanted to claim the position.
And unsurprisingly, not a single person moved.
The people who had already stepped aside stayed where they were.
The two who had scrambled away from Hema remained at a careful distance.
Even Hema, now standing, only glared harder and did not try to reclaim her spot.
The weight of the kingdom outside these walls, and the practical reality of living under Winterfang and Abyss authority after the registration closed, kept every pair of feet planted exactly where they were.
'Heh... now let's see what she does.'
The blue haired woman's expression darkened by a clear degree.
The professional mask did not crack, but the displeasure underneath it sharpened.
She looked at Alex as if she were measuring how much trouble a twelve year old prince could generate inside a CBI facility on the final day of registration, and the answer she was reaching was not one she liked.
Alex waited, patient, the crown still steady on his head and Zara's quiet presence still solid at his side.
Through the bond he felt a thin thread of dry amusement from her.
'I will say that was quite a harsh move on that poor girl, she did not even expect that from your, but I enjoyed it, so good work!'
The registrar's blue eyes stayed fixed on him.
Somewhere behind them in the hall the whispers had started again, softer this time, carrying the image of the red haired girl standing aside and the Third Prince standing untouched at the counter.
Alex did not look away from her, he simply stood there and waited for her next move.
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End of Chapter 156: Cold Will
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