"If he willingly signs a mana contract," Atticus's cold declaration resounded through the hall, and in the next instant, the scene suddenly became eerily quiet.

It was as though those present were trying their hardest to comprehend the implications of his words. None of them expected those words.

A mana contract.

The same contract that binds the contracted for life and would instantly end the life of said individual if he/she breaks the words written in it?

That same contract!?

Gerald's processing speed seemed slow as he tried to process what Atticus had just said. But in the next instant, as soon as he came to this realization, Gerald's eyes blazed as the golden light encompassing his form flared, an intense wave of heat sweeping across the area.

Gerald's voice once again boomed, "Never!" as he took a step closer to Atticus. "You would turn my brother into a slave!?" He seethed as he inched closer to Atticus.

"He's one of the important heirs of the Stellaris family! Do you want to start a war!?" Gerald screamed, his voice laced with absolute fury.

Despite the fact that Gerald was from the Stellaris family, he had always been a completely chilled guy.

In fact, if not for Atticus's shocking actions, Sonorous would have focused his shock on Gerald's current behavior. It was completely unlike the Gerald he knew.

Hearing Gerald's words, Atticus couldn't help but raise an eyebrow in slight shock.

Atticus had never been one to speak much, especially when he was speaking to someone who was clearly stupid, but Gerald's stupidity had piqued his interest.

"There is currently an ongoing war, a war so intense that our entire planet is being threatened. And you think that two hegemons of humanity would go to war because of a bunch of 15-year-olds fighting? Are you really that dumb, or is this the height of the Stellaris family's stupidity?"

Gerald's form froze, "What" he muttered, completely speechless.

Even Sonorous's eyes widened slightly, the both of them not believing their ears. It would have been completely understandable due to the current situation that Atticus had insulted him personally, but did he really just insult the whole Stellaris family?

The anger that blazed within Gerald was so intense that he unknowingly went supernova as a wave of scorching energy was shot outwards in every direction.

The air around Atticus and Sonorous seemed to distort, the scorching wave phasing through them, leaving them completely unharmed.

Atticus had been a really good distance away from him, enabling the wave that reached him negligible as the attacker didn't even try.

Sonorous turned to look at Gerald with narrowed eyes, 'He's lost it,' he thought with a small sigh.

'I guess there's no going back now, let's see how strong he really is,' Sonorous turned his gaze back at Atticus as he scrutinized him from head to toe.

After the intense battle back at the academy entrance test, Atticus and Kael had been seen as the most talented in their generation, and this title extended to even the third years.

Amongst the third years, there was no one among them who entered the academy while they were at the Advanced+ rank.

Despite the fact that each of the heirs of the tier one families that attended the academy had more or less transcendent talents, not all of them were equal. Some were still more talented than the others.

The last time this happened was during Avalon's time. He had been the only one in their generation to achieve this feat, which just goes to show how much of an achievement it was. This was exactly why the other families had no doubt that Avalon would achieve the paragon rank.

Some students might have been on the cusp of breaking through, but no one had been in that rank. And yet, Atticus and Kael had achieved this.

During their first year, none of them had been able to display the strength they both displayed during the test.

And because of this, many of them were not happy, especially the third years. The rankers of the third year had been the strongest students in the academy, the stars, where everyone's focus had been.

But that all changed when the title 'best in the generation' was given to Atticus and Kael.

This feeling intensified when the video of Atticus brutally burning those third years spread throughout the academy.

It painted the picture that the third years, who were supposed to be the pillars of the academy, the strongest, were below the genius duo. Many of them were pissed.

Which was why they were all looking forward to the leader's summit, where they would be able to put them in their place. And in all of this, Sonorous was no different.

Where better to learn about the enemy than in direct battle?

The seething and bloodshot expression on Gerald's face suddenly morphed, his expression abruptly becoming stoic.

Although it seemed as though Gerald suddenly turned to normal, Sonorous, who wasn't far away from him, knew better than to believe that nonsense. He knew Gerald was seething.

Gerald suddenly let out an exhale, massive amounts of steam erupting from his nostrils.

Gerald suddenly muttered under his breath, the air in the room changing.

"Red sun."

Instantaneously, the blinding golden light emanating from the gem embedded in Gerald's head started to change color.

The golden radiance transformed into a crimson glow in the next instant.

A crimson-like aura snaked its way from the gem, spreading across Gerald's form as the initial golden aura turned crimson.

The air became heavy, and the temperature in the hallway tripled in an instant.

The aura surrounding Gerald was so hot that the ground began to melt, turning into a pool of lava beneath his feet.

'So, this is the Stellaris secret art,' Sonorous thought as he gazed at Gerald's current form.

He had immediately created distance between them, also manipulating the sound waves to encompass his form like an impenetrable barrier.

But despite this, he could still feel how hot it was. This was the first time he was seeing Gerald use this power.

It was an ability only available to the main line of the Stellaris family, one that Seraphin clearly wasn't strong enough to learn yet.But Gerald had no such restrictions.

Gerald took a step towards Atticus.