"Are you Max, the one who took away the Sword of the Sword Sovereign?" Isabella asked as she stopped a short distance from him. Her voice was calm, yet there was unmistakable curiosity beneath it. The surrounding flames rippled faintly as she stood there, her presence serene but not weak.
Max raised both hands lightly in a gesture that was almost casual. "I suppose that would be me."
There was no boastfulness in his tone. He spoke as though the matter was neither grand nor trivial. Yet the weight of that event was well known throughout the outer halls. The Sword Sovereign's inheritance was not something ordinary disciples could approach, much less claim.
Isabella studied him carefully. Her gaze was steady and probing, as if she were attempting to peer beyond his outward calm and into the depths of his foundation.
"How did you do it?" she asked quietly. "How did you make the sword submit to you? Even with my Imperial Bloodline, I could not accomplish that."
