CHAPTER 21: The Fall of Elder Vane
**ARC 2: COLLEGE DUNGEON TRIAL & ANCIENT CLAN AWAKENING**
The silence in the canyon was suffocating.
Three hundred students, dozens of academy instructors, and representatives from all the major Inner City factions stared in utter shock at the scene unfolding before the spectator platform.
Three blood-robed array masters lay writhing on the stone floor, bound tightly in shadow ropes, while Garron Valerius (his Dantian broken) and Kaelen Valerius (his limbs shattered) groaned in pools of their own blood.
And standing above them was General Ignatius, whose crimson dragon armor and Martial Grandmaster Domain continued to pressure the very atmosphere of the canyon, making the surrounding cliffs tremble with every breath he took.
On the high platform, Elder Vane’s face turned from a pale white to a sickly, greenish hue. His hands trembled violently inside his wide silk sleeves.
"Y-You..." Elder Vane stammered, his voice lacking any of its previous arrogance. "Gabriel... what is the meaning of this?! You bring a wild Martial Grandmaster to attack an Imperial Academy event?! You slander House Valerius with coerced confessions?!"
Gabriel didn't even raise his voice. He took a single, calm step forward, looking up at Vane with deep black eyes that burned with faint golden dragon fire.
"Slander?" Gabriel asked smoothly.
Gabriel flicked his fingers.
BZ—ZZZ-T!
Through the power of his Spatial Realm Mirror, Gabriel projected a fifty-foot-wide, crystal-clear holographic memory screen into the sky above the canyon!
In the glowing projection, everyone in the canyon clearly saw Elder Vane handing a heavy pouch containing sixty thousand High-Grade Spirit Stones to the three blood-robed array masters inside a dark tavern, ordering them to overload the dungeon core and lock the entrance!
"Look!" "It really was Elder Vane!" "He intentionally trapped three hundred of us in a Grade-4 mutated dungeon just to kill House Sterling’s twins!" "Monster! He sacrificed all of our lives for a petty noble grudge!"
Rage erupted among the surviving students and their families! The commoner scholars and neutral guild representatives shouted furiously, their eyes filled with burning hatred toward House Valerius!
Elder Vane’s mind went completely blank. His secret transaction—recorded with absolute, spatial perfection!
"Fake! It's a illusory trick!" Vane shrieked in desperation, drawing his longsword, his Late-Stage Martial Scholar Qi erupting around him as he tried to leap off the platform to escape! "I am an Elder of House Valerius! You have no right to—"
Before Vane could even leap three feet into the air—
BOOM!
General Ignatius didn't even move his feet. He simply turned his dragon-helmed head toward Vane and unleashed a single, concentrated pulse of his Martial Grandmaster Domain!
CRACK!
An invisible, gravitational sledgehammer slammed directly into Elder Vane’s chest mid-air!
"AAAAAAAH!"
Spurts of dark blood erupted from Vane's mouth as his chest armor caved in completely. He crashed violently onto the stone staging area right at Gabriel’s feet, his longsword snapping into three pieces, his internal spirit channels instantly shattered by the crushing domain pressure!
Vice-Principal Oberon dropped to his knees, sweat pouring down his forehead as he bowed deeply toward Gabriel and General Ignatius.
"Senior Grandmaster... My Lord Sterling!" Oberon stammered, his voice shaking with profound respect and fear. "The Imperial Grand Martial College had no knowledge of Elder Vane's heinous actions! On behalf of the academy, I apologize for this grave oversight! House Valerius’s corruption will be reported directly to the Imperial Council!"
Guildmaster Raymond stepped forward, bowing respectfully to Gabriel as well. "Brother Gabriel, the Global Adventurer Guild will immediately freeze all trade assets belonging to Elder Vane's branch line. Justice will be served!"
Gabriel looked down at the bleeding, crippled Elder Vane lying at his boots, then swept his gaze across the bowing academy leadership and the thousands of awe-struck students.
"House Sterling does not seek trouble," Gabriel declared, his voice carrying an ancient, imperial resonance that reverberated through the canyon walls and into the sky. "But if anyone—whether a branch elder or a ruling Duchy—stretches a hand out against my children again..."
Gabriel’s golden dragon pupils flashed violently.
"...I will erase their entire lineage from the map of this empire."
The entire canyon remained dead silent. No one dared to breathe, no one dared to speak.
Gabriel turned back toward his children. Ethan and Elena walked up beside him, their expressions calm, resolute, and imposing.
"Ignatius, Malakor," Gabriel commanded smoothly. "We're going home."
"By your command, Sovereign Master!"
With a majestic sweep of Gabriel's arm, a golden spatial rift tore open in the air. Gabriel, Ethan, Elena, Ignatius, and Malakor stepped into the glowing void, vanishing from the canyon in a flash of divine light, leaving behind a paralyzed academy and a shattered noble scheme that would shake the entire Southern Realm to its core.