Khan's fury reached its peak the moment he saw that same grin still plastered across Lucas's face. The arrogance in it was like a blade across his pride, and he could no longer contain himself. With a roar that carried his anger, he hurled the blazing sphere of fire straight at Lucas. The flames screamed through the air, twisting violently, scorching everything in their path. The heat grew unbearable, forcing the nearest spectators to stumble further back, shielding their eyes from the brilliance of the inferno.

The fireball was no illusion, no conjurer's trick. It carried the destructive force of a grandmaster's cultivation, a power capable of reducing a body to nothing but ashes. The crowd gasped, some even crying out as though they themselves were about to be consumed. A young man muttered in horror, "That's the end of him… no one can stop that."

Yet in the center of that chaos, Lucas did not move. His hands remained calmly folded behind his back, his posture loose, his expression maddeningly unconcerned. His grin deepened slightly, and his eyes followed the approaching blaze with a lazy amusement, as though he were watching the antics of a spoiled child rather than a threat to his life.

The fireball thundered forward, closing the distance with terrifying speed. It was only when it came within a few short meters that Lucas finally stirred. He did not lift his arms in fear, nor did he attempt to evade. Instead, he merely let his Qi surge forth, subtle and precise, invisible to most eyes yet crushing in its control.

The flames met that unseen will, and in that instant, their furious advance faltered. The raging fire twisted violently, the ball of destruction thrashing as though caught in a vice. The air cracked with the force of resistance, heat bursting outward before being dragged inward, pulled apart strand by strand. Lucas's Qi pressed down on it with calm mastery, suffocating the inferno until it began to unravel.

The fireball shrieked, its roar dwindling to embers, and in a single breath it collapsed entirely, dissolving into a puff of harmless sparks that scattered across the square before vanishing.

Silence swept through the crowd like a wave. Where moments ago there had been terror and awe at the sight of Khan's power, now there was only shock, wide eyes, and gaping mouths.

Selene was the first to break, her laughter bursting out, sharp and triumphant. She clapped her hands together and said with a smirk, "So much noise, only for your fire to end like a candle in the wind."

Lira followed with a light, almost mocking laugh of her own, her fear transforming into pride as she stepped slightly forward. "To think the great prince of Lechia cannot even singe a hair on him. How pitiful."

Even Nyx allowed a faint smile to touch her lips, her eyes glinting with satisfaction as she added softly, "It seems arrogance is not only yours to display."

Their voices rippled through the crowd, turning murmurs into whispers. People looked at Lucas now with stunned disbelief, some even forgetting to cheer for their prince. The impossible had happened before their eyes, and they struggled to comprehend it.

Lucas, however, remained where he stood. His posture never changed, his hands still folded neatly behind his back. Only the faintest sneer curved his lips now, a trace of disdain directed at the man floating above. He looked at Khan as though nothing had happened, as though the deadly inferno had been little more than a gust of hot wind.

Khan's face twisted in shock and confusion. His breath caught, his chest heaved, and his eyes darted as if searching desperately for an explanation. He had felt the suppression of his flame, the suffocating weight of Qi that was not his own. Yet no aura radiated from Lucas. There was no hint of rank, no surge of power that he could sense. It was as though the man stood outside the very rules of cultivation.

"How..." Khan's voice caught in his throat, and he clenched his fists tightly. He could not comprehend what had just occurred.

For all his training, for all the pride he held as Lechia's heir, Khan had never encountered someone so unreadable. He knew Lucas had to be a grandmaster as well, but there was no sign of it. No aura, no pressure. Nothing but that infuriating grin.

What made it worse was the truth he could not deny. Even though Lucas was two whole stages lower than him within the same realm, the sheer volume and density of the man's Qi dwarfed his own. That unseen tide was heavier, sharper, more unyielding than anything Khan had felt before. And with each realization, a pit opened deeper in his chest.

The crowd waited in breathless silence, eyes darting between the trembling fire sparks fading into the air and the calm figure of Lucas, who had undone it all without lifting a finger.

And Lucas? He stood rooted in place, a sneer upon his face, his eyes glinting with mockery that burned deeper than any flame.

Khan's pride would not allow him to stand still beneath the sneer of another man, especially not one who looked younger, calmer, and far too self-assured for his liking. His jaw tightened as the murmurs of the crowd reached his ears, each whispered doubt a thorn in his pride. With a sharp growl, he thrust both hands forward, summoning fresh flames that burst into existence with a thunderous roar. One after another, he conjured fireballs, each larger and hotter than the last, their colors deepening into a furious crimson mixed with searing white.

The onlookers staggered backward again, the heat so intense it licked at their skin from afar. Mothers pulled their children close. The people of Lechia had seen Khan's power before, but never in such a raw display. His flames were his pride, his birthright, the very symbol of his cultivation, and no one dared question their lethality.

Yet Lucas remained where he was. He did not leap aside, nor raise his voice in defiance. His calm grin lingered, and as the first of Khan's fireballs streaked toward him, he merely exhaled slowly, his eyes half-lidded with amusement. With the same subtle motion as before, he let his Qi unfurl, not in a grand release but in a precise wave of control. The fireball froze mid-flight, its furious roar strangled as though clutched by invisible chains. Then, before the crowd could blink, the blazing orb collapsed into itself, compressed into nothing more than a spark that fizzled into the air.

Khan's eyes widened in disbelief, but before he could speak, he hurled another. Then another. He refused to be made a fool of. Each blazing mass tore through the air like falling stars, lighting the capital's streets with their radiance. But no matter how many he cast, the outcome never changed. Lucas compressed them all into nothing, his Qi smothering their flames with effortless ease.

And all the while, Lucas chuckled. His laughter was not mocking in words, but its very sound carried a sting sharper than any insult. It was the laughter of a man unshaken, of someone toying with what should have been a deadly assault. His voice carried clearly through the square as he finally said, "Is that truly all you can muster? If so, you should have stayed in your golden carriage."

The crowd stirred. Some gasped, others whispered nervously, but many found themselves watching Lucas with eyes that no longer doubted. Even the girls, who had been uneasy at first, now stood straighter, their gazes shimmering with pride. Selene folded her arms, a smirk dancing on her lips as she muttered, "I knew he was reckless, but I didn't expect him to humiliate a powerful prince so easily."

Lira's eyes glowed with excitement, and she whispered back, "Reckless or not, he looks untouchable."

Nyx said nothing, but her lips curved faintly, her gaze fixed on Lucas as though memorizing the image of his calm defiance.

High above, Khan's composure began to fracture. His chest rose and fell heavily, his face slick with sweat, though whether from exertion or embarrassment none could tell. Never before had anyone...let alone a man who looked younger than himself...reduced his fire arts to ash with such casual indifference.

His mind churned frantically. What is he? The suppression of his flames was not something any ordinary grandmaster could achieve. Perhaps, he thought, the stranger was hiding his true cultivation. Perhaps this was not a grandmaster at all, but something greater. His thoughts leapt to the Ascendant realm, that lofty height which few in the world ever reached. The idea clawed at his mind, terrifying and infuriating all at once.

But he dismissed it just as quickly, shaking his head in defiance of his own doubt. No, it could not be. To reach the Ascendant realm required decades, often centuries, of cultivation. The young man before him bore no signs of that age. It was impossible.

His best guess, his only rational explanation, was that Lucas was indeed a grandmaster of the third stage, equal to himself, perhaps with some hidden technique that allowed him this terrifying control.

The realization twisted like a knife in Khan's chest, and still Lucas chuckled beneath him, hands calmly clasped behind his back, the sneer upon his lips refusing to fade.

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