"I will make sure that your worst fear comes true"

Author Note:

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Award Ceremony.

Julian witnessed Asta and the others, as well as the Wizard King, enter the room.

Everyone paused what they were doing and formed a line.

The appearance of the Black Bull members in the room, particularly Asta, enraged the nobles.

The Silva siblings were amused to see Noelle in such a location.

"Let's start the Valor Ceremony," Wizard King said as he took his place.

Leopold of the Crimson Lions was promoted from Junior Magic Knight to 5th-class Intermediate Magic Knight.

Sol from Blue Rose was promoted to 3rd Class Intermediate Magic Knight.

Annie from Blue Rose was promoted to 4th Class Junior Magic Knight.

Due to the missions Asta and Noelle completed, they too were 3rd-class Junior Magic Knights, while Yuno was a 2nd-class Junior Magic Knight.

They didn't have a ceremony as they had already received their promotions at their base.

Nebra and Solid Silva from the Silva Eagles were promoted to 3rd-class Senior Magic Knights.

More people were promoted when it was finally time for Julian.

Everyone present was shocked when Julian from Black Bulls was elevated to the rank of senior Magic Knight in fourth class.

Normally, he would have been promoted to 5th Class, but retrieving the Floating Stones, getting rid of all the Rift Hounds, which were considered high-class mana beasts, and the books that showed race records gave him enough starts to get one level higher.

Wizard King read out all the difficult missions that Julian had completed while gauging the mood of the Magic Knights in the room.

Knowing some of the missions Julian completed and how challenging they were, Nozel, Charlotte, and Fuegoleon knew his rank was merited for his efforts.

When Asta and Yuno learned of Julian's achievements, they clenched their fists.

Although they saw each other as rivals, they saw Julian as the most formidable obstacle in the way of their dream.

Unless they surpassed him, reaching their dream was impossible.

"Great work all of you. You can enjoy the banquet I have prepared and get along with the rookies of this year ." Julius said leaving the room.

At the Banquet hall, Julian introduced Leopold to his other friends. Yuno left that group and stood in one corner talking to Annie with a smile that he rarely showed.

While Julian and the others were eating, he started to hear some comments that made Julian's mood get sour.

"Why did the Wizard king invite the filthy rats here? Seeing them makes my blood boil "

" Look the way that peasant Rat is eating, I don't sense a single drop of mana from him. They just reached the end of the dungeon by pure luck. I could have done that sooner ".

Julian kept note of the people who were making the comments.

Klaus was amazed at how Asta heard from one ear and removed from the other.

The Golden Dawn members began insulting everyone who went to the dungeon even their own squad members.

Mimosa was insulted for getting injured while Klaus was for not being a proper supervisor and undeserving of his rank.

Noelle seeing her siblings approaching got her trauma awakened and wanted to leave but going against her inner voice, she stood there to confront them.

But the confrontation didn't get as expected as one of them threw a glass of water on her face and kept insulting her till she could almost broke down.

The people in the hall watched this without stopping while some even laughed.

" There is no need to listen to these people Noelle. " Asta stepped into the conversation holding Noelle's hand firmly.

"When I saw these people here I thought that they would be amazing but all of them are the same….useless trash who hind behind their status."

"Listen here …you don't get to decide who stays and who goes ..!!!" Asta shouted with anger looking at everyone present.

He didn't get to finish as Alecdora from Golden Dawn attacked him with Sand Golem.

" That's enough you filthy rat! nobody gave you permission to speak. Shut up! "

Asta took out his Demon Dweller sword and destroyed the sand golem.

" I won't shut up.!!!

Listen here all of you I am gonna gain merits and become the wizard king and make you eat those words " Asta shouted.

" Stop spouting nonsense you piece of shit " The Silva siblings shouted and joined the fight.

Before the situation could escalate further the entire hall was enveloped in terrifying pressure.

The Golden dawn and Silver Eagles members dropped to the floor suffocating, they tried seeing the source of pressure and found two red-meaning eyes with a monster behind them which sent a chill down their spine.

"Seems like you all are forgetting about my presence here…

You all are insulting my Squad and Squad Members in front of me…

Typically I would have done something to make you never do it again but I am letting you all go this time considering the occasion….." Julian increased the mana pressure making people release a discharge from their mouths.

The people who were not directly under the effect of the mana pressure looked at Julian with fear.

"I will say this last time….

If any of you insult my Squad members, interfere in my Squad's personal life, or try to harm them…..I will not care if you are a noble, a royal, or the King himself.

I will make sure that your worst fear comes true …"

Suddenly a different pressure emerged in the hall countering Julian's pressure.

A black phoenix and a silver eagle released their cry.

The clash of the aura made everyone in the hall covered in sweat.

" What do you think you are doing to my squad members ! " said Nozel entering the banquet hall.

" Teaching your squad members how to be humans. You clearly didn't do it so I had to do it for you" Julian said increasing the pressure even more which started pushing back Nozel's mana pressure.

" Are you challenging me, you commoner? " Nozel's cold voice reverberated in the hall.

"Challenge? Please do not make me laugh.

Julian irritated Nozel by saying, "You should be grateful that I'm going out of my way to teach your singlings some manners."

Charlotte, who was able to handle the situation, laughed as she observed the action.

Julian had the guts to stand up to a captain.

'Yami's squad member, for sure.''

" PUT AN END TO THIS POINTLESS CLASH!" As soon as Fuegoleon released his pressure, the image of the Lion appeared.

It appeared as though three beasts were engaged in combat.

The walls and windows began to crack as the entire space began to tremble.

'I knew he was trouble… I knew it!!

I shouldn't have come here' Annie panicked.

Julian paused for a few seconds before withdrawing his mana pressure in order to respect Fuegoleon.

As the pressure was withdrawn, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

Only Sol was unaffected as he was not the target and Charlotte erected a pressure shield around them.

The people who were not under the direct influence of Julian's mana pressure decided to stay away from him.

"The wizard king invited them here, so they must deserve some credit, so who cares about their background," Fuegoleon explained.

"I never expected to hear such things from a Royalty."

It appears that the Vermillion household has softened. Furthermore, why should I acknowledge some insect far beneath me?" Nozel replied.

"Oh! "Seems like you, like your siblings, need a talk," Julian responded, ready to act once more.

But the silence was broken when a messenger rushed into the hall, shouting.

" Urgency! the city is under attack! "

Julain concentrated on the messenger while taking one last look at the people on the floor.

The messenger explained the situation while someone used magic to create a map of the city.

There was always a detection barrier around the city, making it impossible to attack it under normal circumstances.

When someone uses large-scale magic, the higher-ups are informed, making it impossible to do so unless one of the higher-ups betrayed them.

Furthermore, someone has isolated the entire castle, making it impossible for the captains to detect anything outside.

Charlotte, who had previously ignored the chaos, became serious and joined the conversation.

She attempted to use her communicator, but it had stopped working.

"What are the magic knights doing patrolling?" "How come they haven't informed us?" she inquired of the messenger.

"They've all vanished, and there's no one to protect the civilians."

Everyone who heard that felt a sense of urgency.

When Asta saw the situation, he bolted to save the citizens, and Leopold followed.

Fuegoleon took command and assigned positions to everyone, with Julian assigned to the center.

Charmy emerged from under the table, removing a floor tile, and began munching on the food that had been left untouched.

She secretly contacted Lucis and sneaked into the castle with his assistance an hour before the meeting began.

She could hear people's voices from below the floor, so when she learned about the attack, she decided to stay in the castle to protect the Chefs and her delicious food.