"No, no, when it comes to the most unsuitable piece of trash here, that would be you!"
A twisted and cruel smile hung on Solid's face as he held a wine glass and walked step by step towards Noelle.
"Right, Noelle!"
Those eyes, somewhat similar to Noelle's but full of malice, stared fixedly at her.
"Let me help you sober up, you disgrace of the Silva family!"
He raised his wine glass high, and the liquid inside tilted, about to spill over Noelle's head.
This was no longer mockery; this was blatant humiliation!
Noelle's body stiffened, her pupils suddenly constricted, and she didn't even dodge, watching helplessly as the wine glass drew closer and closer to her.
Time, as if, was infinitely slowed down at this moment.
However, that glass of wine, in the end, did not fall.
"Buzz—"
A slight, almost imperceptible, abnormal sound.
The wine, the moment it left the rim of the glass, solidified into an irregular ice crystal in mid-air.
Immediately after.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
Bone-chilling coldness erupted fiercely from the center of that wine-ice!
White frost, at a visible speed, spread wildly up Solid's arm that held the wine glass!
"Wh-what?!"
The sinister smile on Solid's face instantly froze.
He only felt an extreme coldness instantly invade his limbs and bones through his arm, as if his blood was about to freeze.
"So… so cold!"
His teeth began to chatter uncontrollably, and his whole body shivered violently.
In the blink of an eye, a thin layer of frost had already covered half of his body.
A figure had, at some point, already stood in front of Noelle.
It was Lorne; he didn't even turn to look at Noelle, but simply gazed calmly at the so-called royalty and nobles before him with eyes as cold as ice, devoid of any emotion.
"Relying on belittling others to gain that pathetic sense of superiority."
Lorne's voice was not loud, but it clearly reached everyone in the banquet hall, like a sharp ice pick, piercing through the superficial calm of the scene.
"Trampling on the dignity of others, even blood relatives, to display your so-called nobility."
He slowly scanned Solid, Nebura, and the surrounding Magic Knights who were whispering and full of disdain.
"You all…"
Lorne's lips curved into a highly contemptuous arc.
"Are truly pitiful, pathetic, and sickening trash."
"…"
"…"
The entire hall fell silent.
Everyone was stunned by Lorne's words.
A commoner!
A lower class person from the worst Magic Knight Squad, the Black Bulls!
How dare he?
How dare he speak such rebellious words at the Magic Knight Squad headquarters' commendation banquet, in front of so many royals and nobles?!
"You… you lowly commoner!!"
The first to react was Solid.
He endured the bone-chilling cold, his other hand trembling as he pointed at Lorne, his entire face contorted with anger and cold.
"You dare… you dare to… to me…"
"Shut up."
Lorne uttered two words indifferently.
An invisible magical power fluctuation spread out, and the frost on Solid's body suddenly thickened, blocking all his subsequent words in his throat, leaving him only able to make trembling "clucking" sounds.
"That's enough, you rude fellow!"
An angry roar, like a sudden clap of thunder!
Alecdra of the Golden Dawn Magic Knight Squad could finally no longer tolerate it.
As a noble, upholding class dignity was an instinct ingrained in his bones.
Lorne's words and actions had completely crossed his bottom line!
"A commoner like you, even breathing here is a sin!"
Alecdra's grimoire automatically flipped open with a rustle, shining with a yellow light.
"Not to mention speaking! Get—out of my sight!"
Boom!
On the floor of the banquet hall, countless yellow sands emerged out of thin air, instantly converging into a giant sand arm, grabbing fiercely towards Lorne!
The momentum clearly intended to heavily injure or even crush Lorne directly!
"Lorne!"
"Be careful!"
Asta and Klaus exclaimed in unison.
Asta had already instinctively reached for his demon-slayer sword.
However, facing this violent sand magic, Lorne didn't even move.
He just… casually glanced at Alecdra.
Just that one glance, and not even the grimoire at his waist had opened a single page!
"Crack—"
The temperature in the air suddenly dropped to freezing point.
Countless rhomboid ice crystals condensed and formed out of thin air in front of Lorne.
They shimmered with a chilling cold light, forming a crystal-clear ice wall, precisely blocking the path of the sand arm.
Bang!!!
Yellow sand and ice crystals collided with a crash!
But the anticipated scene of the ice wall shattering did not occur.
Instead, the violent yellow sand, the moment it touched the ice wall, was rapidly frozen by the extreme low temperature!
Frost, at an incredible speed, flowed upstream along the sand arm, spreading wildly towards Alecdra behind it!
"Th-this… what is this?!"
Alecdra's pupils constricted violently.
He completely couldn't understand what was happening before his eyes!
Why was his sand magic frozen?
Why was the opponent's magic activated so quickly?
Most importantly… why wasn't he using a grimoire?!
This was illogical!
This was simply impossible!
Fear, for the first time, crept into the heart of this noble elite.
He wanted to retreat, to interrupt his magic, but it was all too late.
The soul-reaping frost, following the frozen yellow sand, had already caught up to his body!
"Eternal Ice Coffin."
Lorne calmly uttered four words.
The moment his voice fell, countless massive ice prisms condensed out of thin air in the air around Alecdra!
These ice prisms, with him as the center, rapidly closed and joined together!
"No—!"
Alecdra only managed to let out a scream of terror and despair.
The next second, a giant ice coffin radiating eternal coldness, formed with a crash!
His entire being, along with the horrified expression on his face, was completely frozen within this crystal-clear ice coffin, motionless, like a lifelike sculpture.
Silence.
The entire banquet hall fell into a deathly silence.
You could hear a pin drop.
Everyone widened their eyes, staring in disbelief at the ice coffin radiating terrifying coldness in the center of the hall, and the black-haired young man standing in front of it with a calm expression.
One strike.
Just one strike.
Without even using a grimoire.
He completely sealed Alecdra Sandler, an elite First Class Intermediate Magic Knight of the Golden Dawn Magic Knight Squad?
What kind of monster was this?!
"Gulp."
Someone, he didn't know who, swallowed with difficulty.
The sound was particularly jarring in the silent hall.
"You… you fellow…"
Nebura Silva looked at Alecdra frozen in the ice coffin, then at her brother Solid, who was still trembling, and her face finally changed.
That royal arrogance was replaced by terror.
Her hand holding the wine glass trembled slightly.
"You lowly commoner! I think you're tired of living!"
Solid finally recovered somewhat; he forcibly dispelled some of the cold from his body with magic, but his body was still stiff.
Humiliation and anger made him lose his reason.
"You suicidal fool! How dare you lay hands on us!"
He roared, making his grimoire suddenly flip open in front of him, and powerful magic began to surge violently.
"It seems I need to teach you a lesson, to make you remember!"
"That's right, Solid!"
Nebura also reacted, the terror on her face replaced by ferocity.
"To dare to strike at royalty is a crime punishable by death! Today, you will be executed on the spot here!"
Her grimoire also unfolded accordingly, and misty magic began to swirl around her.
The two siblings of the Silva royal family were preparing to attack together!
The air in the banquet hall instantly tensed to the extreme.
A larger conflict was on the verge of breaking out.
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