The shock in the classroom was palpable as Atticus and Zoey walked hand in hand into the classroom.
A tsunami of questions instantly filled the minds of the students. Just what was going on?
Even though they had thousands of things they wanted to say and ask, at the end of the day, they ended up speechless.
Even though the stares of the students were very glaring, Atticus and Zoey completely ignored them as they made their way to their seats.
Zoey's demeanor had long since changed from her blushing and acting like a cute teenager to her usual cold and expressionless face. Regardless of the fact that she truly felt all of that, she was still a Tier One.
She had a reputation to keep. It wasn't just about her; she was the next in line to become the matriarch of the Starhaven family.
Being seen as a love-stricken woman who kept on blushing and acting as though she could do anything for him would tarnish the reputation of the Starhaven family, something they wouldn't take lightly.
Atticus's gaze gravitated towards the seat between Aislan and Eldric and saw that just like yesterday, the seat was completely empty. Seraphin hadn't shown up today either.
'Is he planning something?' Atticus couldn't help but wonder what his plan was. Skip school until the end of the year? That sounded so absurd that Atticus didn't want to believe it.
What if they got paired up to fight in the next division wars? What would he do?
Atticus shook his head, deciding not to think about all these trivial matters for now. Since he couldn't see the boy for now, he couldn't deal with him then.
But Atticus never forgets. Seraphin's brutal beating was completely inevitable.
The expressions of Aislan, Eldric, and the other Tier Ones showed complete nonchalance at Seraphin's absence.
The Tier Ones had always considered themselves competition from day one. Anyone of them suddenly disappearing to them was cause for celebration.
The duo found their seats after a few seconds, the class quieting down. Only the occasional sounds of chatter from the students filled the class.
And after a few minutes, Isabella strolled in and immediately started the class without caring about the absentee.
After 5 hours, the class ended, and Isabella immediately left the class.
Atticus and Zoey, hand in hand, soon followed after she left. After the class, just because of everything that had happened with him kissing her and all, Atticus had spent 30 minutes talking and laughing with Zoey, trying to consolidate everything.
After thinking about it for a bit, Atticus had decided not to push for them to officially become a couple. If he had to be honest, it wasn't too early. They've known each other for a month now, and one month was completely enough for two people to decide if they should be together or not.
But he had ultimately decided against it. He had already pushed their relationship far enough for now when he had kissed her in the elevator.
She was just experiencing everything for the first time. He felt it was better to give her time to get used to everything and, more importantly, her feelings.
After spending time with Zoey, the both of them separated, and Atticus headed straight to the elemental rooms for training.
The days went by fast as Atticus religiously performed his routine every single day without missing a single time.
Atticus enjoyed every single moment he spent in the elemental room. The feeling of being surrounded by an element he had a great affinity towards was exhilarating.
During this time, everything went by smoothly as nothing eventful happened. Just as Atticus had thought, Seraphin hadn't shown up to class again after their altercation.
Atticus had also occasionally checked for Gerald and Sonorous, but he hadn't been able to find either one of them on the academy premises the entire time.
His training went by with no hiccups. Atticus enjoyed every single moment of himself getting stronger. The month went by fast, and during this time, Atticus had been occasionally hanging out with Ember and Kael.
He also spent time with Zoey. The both of them had gotten really close since the kiss. It had already become a normal occurrence to see the both of them walking hand in hand either into the classroom or through the academy's expansive garden.
Although this fact irked many of them, they all practically regarded them as a couple now, even though they really weren't.
Atticus had been trying to make it a normal occurrence for both of them to always kiss anytime they met or hung out, but the girl's shyness had always put a stop to that dream.
But regardless, they had both kissed a few more times after the first kiss inside the elevator.
Time passed, and the day of the third division battles was fast approaching. The students of the academy went into full enmity mode as each of the students started giving each other wary looks, as none of them knew who they would be fighting during the next battles.
And this enmity kept intensifying as the day for the division war approached, with many fights happening around the campus.
The current day was Saturday, and it was the day before the third division battle. Atticus was seated cross-legged with his eyes closed in the middle of… lightning.
He sat stoically on an island that was made of lightning, surrounded by crackling white tendrils of energy.
The sky above churned with dark clouds, fissuring and crackling with thunderous power, casting ominous shadows over the island.
Periodically, bolts of lightning struck Atticus with ferocious intensity, enough to reduce an ordinary man to dust in an instant. Yet, he remained completely unmoved.
That's right, Atticus was currently in the last phase of his training for the day, inside the lightning elemental room.
The lightning elemental room was quite what anyone would have expected, filled with lightning. It was a no-brainer that the room was rich in the lightning element, which was why it was perfect for him to train in. His lightning element was thriving a great deal.
A lightning bolt struck Atticus's form, his whole body trembling. Atticus's face immediately scrunched up in pain as he clenched his fist, lightning crackling around his form.
But Atticus remained completely still as he tried to assimilate the lightning into his body.
With each strike, an unimaginable amount of pain passed through Atticus's body, a pain many wouldn't be able to withstand. But to Atticus, 'It's not enough,' he complained.
Atticus had spent the last 5 years training with Magnus, known to many as the God of Lightning. He had been struck by lightning more times than he could count, and Atticus could never, even for a second, say that he got used to it.
It was like Magnus was psychic. No matter how many times he got struck, Atticus always felt like it was his threshold. It always felt unimaginable, as though only a little more and he would be turned into dust.
Magnus knew exactly what his body could take, and Atticus had absolutely no idea how he always did that. During training with Magnus after he had awakened his element, Atticus's lightning had progressed a great deal.
Atticus had thought it to be normal then, but after experiencing the lightning inside the elemental room, he had thought otherwise.
The lightning in the elemental room felt plain, completely normal and straightforward, while Magnus's lightning felt… special. It felt like comparing a fake to an original.
And unfortunately for Atticus, he couldn't achieve what Magnus had been doing for him here. Magnus had been hitting him with lightning so intense it should be a surprise that he wasn't dead yet.
The level of precision needed to achieve that was something that the elemental training room just could not provide. Atticus would rather not electrocute himself, so he decided not to try it.
After a few seconds of meditation, Atticus finally assimilated the lightning as he released a deep breath.
He breathed in and out a few more times as he tried to regain his composure. He could still feel the lightning coursing through him.
The moment went by peacefully with only the sound of lightning fissuring in the background.
And just as it seemed like this moment would continue, suddenly the sounds of multiple notifications immediately snapped Atticus out of his reverie.
Atticus's eyes immediately snapped open as he couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at the massive number of notification boxes that appeared in front of him.
It was odd because the artifact hardly ever displayed notifications in front of him. It usually only usually sounded, and then he would have to click on his device to check.
Atticus shook his head and decided to check what the commotion was all about. And as soon as his eyes landed on one of the last notification boxes, his eyes immediately widened.
A total of 100 members of your division are dead.
Total Penalty: -100% of your academy points have been deducted."
