"Rejected."
Thorgan was stunned the moment he heard this word from the Velari, and he could not help but ask with an indignant expression.
"Why? Why are you rejecting my title? You’ve never rejected anybody’s title, so why reject mine?"
The Velari snorted. "Why don’t you tell me to give you the position of the clan head along with the title?"
"You want your title to be the Shadow Monarch when our clan is called The Shadowgrave Clan? What would people think when they hear your title?"
"How can a member have words like ’Monarch’, ’Lord’, ’King’, ’Emperor’, or anything of sort in their title? And you even added ’shadow’ to your title."
"You should be grateful I haven’t killed you right where you stand."
Thorgan subconsciously took a step back when he felt the killing intent of the Velari. He looked at Simon, and he saw Simon shaking his head with a disappointed gaze.
He also saw the others give him weird looks, and his lips could not help but twitch.
"And I really wanted to be called that." He mumbled underneath his breath.
"If you want to die, then you can have the title." The Velari coldly said, and Thorgan released a frustrated sigh.
"Then... Son of Shadows."
The Velari stared at him with an even more blank expression.
Not only was his expression blank, his mind was also blank as he stared at the child before him.
"You really do have balls of stell. I’ll give you that."
Thorgan was taken aback. "Again? What’s wrong with that title this time around?"
The Velari raised a brow, and he wondered if Thorgan was truly clueless, or if he was doing this to toy with him on purpose, or if he was just that arrogant.
"You’re in a clan called The Shadowgrave Clan. A clan whose main identity is shadows. You’re just an Initiate. You have not established yourself in the clan at all, you have not built a reputation, you are a nobody in the clan. And you’re calling yourself the Son of Shadows?"
Thorgan groaned while rubbing the back of his head with an annoyed expression behind his mask.
"This is annoying. Just call me Shadow then."
The Velari stared at him blankly for the third time, and though he had the urge to say something, he decided not to.
It just wasn’t worth it anymore.
’This kid... is really annoying to deal with.’
’Well, as long as his title is not a direct confrontation to the clan head, then it’s good. As for those who would not like his title, he’ll deal with it himself.’
The Velari indifferently continued the registration process of Thorgan, and he made sure to ask no other question or waste no time with Thorgan.
Thorgan had truly tired him out.
Thorgan went and stood beside Simon, and he patted Simon on the shoulder.
"I told you, brother. My title would be cool. Even though I wasn’t able to have the Shadow Monarch title, Shadow is still cooler than Broken Halo."
Simon rolled his eyes. "Sure thing. Whatever makes you sleep better at night."
Thorgan chuckled, and he continued having a conversation with Simon as the Velari continued registering the remaining Initiates.
Moments later, every Initiate was registered, and the Velari released a relieved sigh which everybody could hear.
"Alright kids. You have all been registered, and I’m sure you all know where to go to and what to do next from the information gotten from your clan symbol."
"Learn, survive, and rise beyond your limits. Being an assassin is dangerous, but being a member of the Shadowgrave Clan is even more dangerous."
"Now, you may all leave."
Simon and a few other demons bowed at the Velari, then they walked out of the hall in a calm and steady manner.
The Velari watched every single one of them leave, then he leaned into his chair and released another exhausted sigh while looking at the engravings on the ceiling of the hall.
"This batch has a lot of interesting Initiates. Can they surpass the previous batches? And are they going to be the ones that would make the clan to finally replace one of the Six Kingdoms."
" Sigh... Hopefully, they raise the clan to new heights. We need another Demon King aside from the Master."
The Valeri then closed his eyes in the utterly empty and silent Registration Hall.
Meanwhile, after Simon, Thorgan, and the remaining Initiates left the Registration Hall, the stone doors of the Registration Hall groaned shut behind them.
For a moment, Simon thought they had stepped into open air.
A familiar yet not so familiar wind struck first.
It was not the gentle breeze of a courtyard, but a deep, sweeping current that rose from the unseen depths below and rushed past their faces like something alive. It carries with it the scent of cold stone and distant rain.
Then the world unfolded before Simon and the Initiates.
The Hall had been carved into the eastern cliff face, and its entrance was opened onto a broad terrace that jutted over the ravine.
And beyond the edge of the terrace... There was nothing.
Only mist.
It swirled far below. It was silver-gray and endless, and it swallowed the canyon floor whole.
The opposite cliff stood across from the Initiates like a dark titan. It was layered with stone balconies, carved archways, and windows glowing faintly with amber light.
This was not a fortress, but a city.
Stone causeways stretched across the ravine, and it was wide enough for ten men to walk side by side.
Chains as thick as tree trunks anchored them into the cliffs, and they hummed softly under the tension of the weight they carried.
From where they stood, they could see the silhouettes of clan members moving along the suspended streets.
Above and below, platforms floated at different heights, some were anchored to pillars rising from the mist, others were seemingly suspended by nothing.
However, there was one enormous circular platforms hung at the heart of the ravine, and it was connected by four grand bridges. Its surface was etched with dark patterns that caught the fading sunlight.
Simon’s eyes lingered there, and he knew what that platform was called.
’The Central Plaza.’
Even from where he stood, it felt important.
To their left, a tiered district climbed upward along the cliff wall- balconies stacked upon balconies, stairways carved directly into stone, lanterns flickering beneath overhang.
To their right, the cliff descended in layered terraces into the mist.
Simon could see two clan members sparring in an open courtyard carved into a lower ledge.
High above, near the rim of the ravine where the sky widened, towers crowned the cliffs like watchful sentinels. From that height, the world outside would be visible.
From here, it felt very far away.
----
[A/N: Check my comment in the last paragraph to see an image of the clan’s structure. Then re-read the description of the clan to better understand it.]