"This is stupid."
"Waste of time! I told you all! This question is a waste of time!"
"Hey, I didn't have a problem with your questioning! It's my turn! I will ask whatever the hell I want to ask!"
"Now you all see why I can't stand this man? I've been voting to kick him out of the council for years but you guys never agree!"
"Oh?! It was you! You were anonymously voting to kick me out! How dare you, you vile woman!"
Contrary to my expectations, the council of Grandmasters didn't erupt into chaos because of my out-of-the-box answer.
No, not even close.
In fact, they began arguing among themselves.
More than that, they were fighting like a toxic family that couldn't stand each other but also knew that they were going to live together forever.
"What the hell?" I frowned, turning to look back at Juliana.
For the first time, I wasn't disappointed.
Even Juliana seemed bewildered hearing the Grandmasters banter like siblings that were barely tolerating each other enough to not go for the kill.
She sensed my gaze and turned to me. Her eyes hardened but she shrugged confusedly.
Thankfully, right then, a thundering voice that could have very well been capable of crumbling mountains to dust, drew our attention:
"Stop! Just stop you all! We have two prospective Cadets here!"
Finally, the back and forth between the Venerables came to a halt and a guilty silence quickly settled over the Questioning Hall.
Some of the Grandmasters awkwardly cleared their throats while others mumbled some things that could be counted as half-hearted apologies.
The resonant voice spoke again:
"Not to mention we have yet to hear his reasoning."
With that, the familiar pressure of their gaze was back on me. Even though all of their faces were shrouded in darkness, I could practically feel their disapproval and disinterest.
One of them spoke dismissively in my direction. "The theory you chose to support, while interesting, lacks a concrete reasoning behind it."
"In fact," another one added, "the theory that a Portal opens when mass death occurs has been disproven not just once but twice in the last decade alone."
"Yes," the gentler woman chipped in a soft tone. "There are just too many counters to deny that claim."
A buzz of whisper rolled over the room, their voices mingling together as each one of them started giving their own opinion on why my suggested theory was wrong.
It went on until the owner of the resonant voice, whom I was assuming to be the leader – or at least the most sensible of the bunch – asked them to quiet, giving me a window to explain myself.
I sighed.
I noticed I had been sighing a lot ever since I gained my past life memories. And it had not even been a week.
I'd need to do something about my stress.
Things were calm now, but in the future it would actually be a headache to deal with stuff.
Sucking a sharp breath, I began. "The theory that a Portal to the Spirit Realm opens when there is a high death toll in the vicinity is true. But it's only half the truth. I'll put my argument, and counter yours. Then you all will see what I mean."
I paused, giving them a chance to speak their minds, and when they didn't, I resumed.
"We'll take major events from history to support the base of my claim. A few hundred years ago, there was no Southern Safe-Zone. There were small tribes – all independent. When the first Southern Monarch finally united the tribes and established the Safe-Zone, there were many revolts and riots. As a result, there were countless deaths."
I paused again, letting my words sink in.
"You all know what happened next, right, Venerables? There was a calamity. A Phase-5 Portal opened and what came out into our world for the time ever was an Ancient Spirit."
I made an expansive gesture to back my point with a bit of flair.
"That wasn't the first or last time, though. During the War of Kandara, when blood and fire was overflowing the city, a Phase-4 Portal opened. And after my family ended the conflict in Ishtara, which resulted in the death of thousands, there was a Phase-4 gate again."
I threw my hands forward.
"Take any war from history and you'll see that it always ended the same way. A Portal opened in the middle of the battlefield. In fact, the first ever Portal opened in the midst of World War Three!"
"That is a valid argument," a voice as old and worn as it was fine and smooth admitted. "But as we said earlier, there is no pattern here. Sometimes Portals appeared in the middle of an ongoing war, sometimes it didn't even happen until months after the war was over. Plus, their ranks were always random at best. How is it any different from a Portal opening in the middle of a calm street?
If there is no pattern, then it all comes down to chance."
I nodded in acknowledgement. "I knew the wise Venerable would pose this question. For that, I have a wild theory to propose of my own."
It was then I sensed it. I had their full attention. If not completely trusting that I would be able to persuade them, then they were all at least curious.
Curious to see where this was going.
I smiled and raised a finger before speaking:
"Suppose the reality we live in is a long sheet of cloth. It's laid out in an open space, flowing one direction to another. Now imagine a force stretching the sheet from both directions. At first nothing happens. But ever so slowly that force grows stronger, and so does the strain on the cloth. At last, it becomes so unbearable that the fibers rip open in the middle of the sheet, tearing a hole in it.
That hole is a Portal. A crack in the fiber of our reality."
"And that force?" the stern woman asked in her characteristic sharp tone from behind the shadows before answering her own question "I am assuming that is the death toll? As the deaths of people stack on, the force straining the reality grows. Is that it?"
I grinned. "Correct, Venerable."
"But that still doesn't answer my question," the old voice retorted in response. "There is no pattern to the phenomenon. Last night a Portal opened in my bath. What war was fought there?"
A wave of amused grunts and suppressed laughter echoed throughout the room. But I stayed silent and smiling.
"You're looking at it all wrong, Venerable. It's not the matter of where, it's the matter of when. The deaths in your vicinity stacked over the years. And just last night, maybe a person died across the street or a hospital near your home. That tipped the balance enough for reality to crack open."
There was a bit of a pause before the Grandmasters began musing and murmuring in consideration. That alone went on for a few minutes, before I heard the stern voice.
"It's an interesting theory," she said. "But there are still many variables and counters. For starters, there is no way to know how many deaths open up a Portal. Also, what affects its rank? Are a hundred deaths enough to open a Phase-1 portal? And if they are, how does a Phase-2 portal even open?
There should only be Phase-1 Portals after every hundred deaths."
"Therefore," another voice added. "We have discarded this theory–"
Before they could complete their sentence, however, I interrupted them. This was breaking a rule — speak only when spoken to — but I didn't care.
I knew they would like to hear what I was going to suggest next.
"I know it's true that there are many variables. But I can answer some of those doubts, Venerables."
There was an abrupt silence. They were contemplating whether to rebuke me for speaking without permission or satisfy their curiosity.
They chose the latter. Humans are naturally curious creatures, after all.
The resonant voice sounded a bit doubtful, "Proceed."
I smirked.
"Remember the cloth analogy I gave you all? I told you to imagine it flowing from one direction to another. To tear a hole in it, you would need to apply an equal force from both sides. Basic physics."
I raised my hands and created a wide gap between my palms as if giving them visual measurements.
"But the distance also affects the outcome. For example, if the two forces have a lot of gap between them, the hole that'll be torn open won't be very big. It'll also require a lot of power. But if the gap between them is short, the hole will tear open with relative ease… and it'll also be big."
The stillness that followed in the room was not out of confusion or deliberation this time.
It was a silence born out of stunned shock. A shock so severe that even the most brilliant minds in the whole academy were too dazed to grasp the meaning behind my words immediately.
But given eventual time, they did speak.
The first to break the stillness was the old one out of them. His grandfatherly voice, previously laced with experience and wisdom that comes with age, was now instilled with shaky distress.
"Wait, you're suggesting that… what leads to the opening of a Portal… are not only the deaths that happen before it's opened but also after it opens?!"
While others were still too shocked to voice their opinions, I beamed and clapped my hands together in excitement.
"Yes!" I exclaimed. "There are many things I'm not considering here, and many variables I'm incapable of accounting for… but yes. This is the framework of the theory I'm suggesting. If hundred deaths happen over the span of ten years, the portal that'll open will be weak and will cause much less destruction.
But if it happens in quick succession, like in a week, the portal that'll open will be powerful. In turn, it will cause much more destruction."
There was silence again. But I knew there were gears turning in their heads, thoughts storming to make a mess, countless arguments and counters happening.
In the end, the voice of a person that sounded so even and clear before, came in a weak protest.
"Y-You are saying that Portals transcend time? That they are not only affected by what has happened but also what will happen?! Impossible!"
Even through his frail disagreement, I could feel the lump growing in his throat.
That was the voice of someone whose belief and worldview was on the verge of shattering. Not quite there yet, but also passing the point of no return.
I grinned, enjoying myself a lot more than I was supposed to for some unknown reason.
"Why not, Venerable?" I asked rhetorically. "Portals already transcend space. They connect one dimension to another. Why can't they… transcend time?"
Because the concept of space is something we understand better. In fact, there were many Awakened who could control aspects of space.
But there were very few who could control even a fraction of the powers of time. Time is subjective, and as such, it is mostly beyond human comprehension.
Suddenly I wanted to look back at Juliana. Her Origin Card… She was one of the few people in the world who could control time. Her innate ability even granted her the power to stop time later in the story.
Truly an overpowered character.
There was another roll of murmurs and grunts. But eventually, everyone fell into silence once again.
"We see," the resonant voice said. I heard him draw a deep breath, perhaps postponing on thinking about my theory. "That will be enough, Cadet Samael."
Heh. Cadet Samael, huh? That meant I passed.
Well, even if I did badly during this test, I still would've passed. My Origin Card was strong.
The Academy wouldn't have let go of someone like me.
Everyone thought the admission process was fair. It wasn't. At the end of the day, the Academy only saw how useful you could be to them.
The stern woman sounded much dimmer when she spoke now, "Do you have a recommendation letter from your father?"
I winced.
Did I?
If I had that, I would've shown it to them from the very start!
There would've been no need for me to go through this questioning session!
If I had a letter of recommendation, I would've been accepted into the Academy without going through any tests! Without even needing to pay the admission fee!
I resisted the urge to curse that pig of a father of mine and shook my head. "I don't."
"Okay," the old man said. "Go to the Admission Counter. They will tell you your admission fee there."
As soon as he was done speaking, I heard a loud click like that of a button, and almost immediately, the world around us twisted and blurred.
Just like when we got here, the darkness veiled my vision and I felt disoriented. And though I was less nauseated than the first time, it still felt like I would puke any moment now.
Fortunately, I didn't and the world around us took form again. The scenery shifted as both Juliana and I found ourselves standing in the middle of an empty hallway.
We were standing right in front of the door of room 42, lecture hall B – the same room from where we were whisked away to the Questioning Hall.