REINCARNATION OF THE STRONGEST WAR HERO

The air felt heavy with tension in the corridors of House Smith. Whispers started to spread. Servants would lower their gaze and walk slowly whenever Logan passed by them.

"He shattered Darius's ribs with a palm strike."

"At nine years old? Without mana?"

"No elemental affinity… no access to magic… then how?"

"Is he even human?"

And as always, fear gave birth to stories.

"Maybe he is using something wicked or some forbidden technique. Or worse—he could be practicing black magic."

[Black mages are sinners. They worship demons and wield wicked spells. Some are Seers, able to glimpse fragments of the future. They don't just use mana to cast magic. They can use curses, wrath, souls, and blood as well.]

But they didn't affect Logan's movement in anyway. He still maintained his calm and composed demeanour. Talking behind the back would always be there. Sometimes trash talk, sometimes praises and sometimes even astonishment with fear. Like now.

He had become a contradiction. A boy with no known magic, no political favor, no noble mother's bloodline. And yet, the same boy had defeated Darius Smith—heir of the house, favored son, tri-elemental prodigy.

Not with tricks. Not by accident. But with terrifying control. Though many didn't want to accept this reality. They preferred explaining this as trickery or treachery.

But everyone could feel the change no matter what they told themselves.

The balance of power had shifted.

Lord Rudeous's Study – That Afternoon

The fire crackled softly. Outside, snow blanketed the world in white. And inside. The air was heavy with growing tension.

Abraham was standing awkwardly with stiffness. And while he spoke, his fingers were trembling slightly.

"This… isn't natural," he said. "My lord, please listen."

Rudeous remained silent, staring at the garden outside, through the window, which was bathed in snow.

Abraham paced. "A boy with a sealed core shouldn't be able to do this. No magical enhancements. No spells. And yet—he shattered bones with a mere punch. It will be a mistake to brush it off as just talent. I am sure he has something up his sleeves. Something dangerous."

Rudeous finally spoke with a flat voice. "Such as?"

"There are many wicked people who uses black magic," Abraham said urgently. "I think, he might be—"

"He might be my son," Rudeous interrupted calmly. "And he won a duel. One that Darius demanded."

"But what he did is impossible to achieve!" Abraham insisted. "He didn't just defeated Darius. He broke his ribs. With just a punch. That's not possible for any normal human without using mana."

Rudeous turned toward him with a calm and unreadable expression. "And that's why you think he's a threat."

"I think he could become one. And even if he means no harm… others won't see it that way. The capital. The Stevens family. What happens when they learn a boy with a sealed core broke their heir in a duel?"

Rudeous kept staring at the fire for a while, Logan's expression still lingering in his thoughts—calm, quiet, without ego.

"I'll handle it," he said at last.

Mirena's Quarters – That Night

The flames danced in the hearth, casting tall shadows against the walls.

Mirena stood there with rage burning inside her. In the next room, Darius lay swathed in bandages. Totally silent and humbled now.

"How could Rudeous dismiss this?" she hissed. "A public humiliation, brushed off like a scuffle in a nursery!"

Adlan, her cousin, watched from the side. "Be patient, sis. Don't act ra—"

She cut him off. "Do you think they'll forget what happened? That nobles and guards who watched my son bleeding before a child? My son—the heir—defeated by a half-blood with no magic!"

Adlan frowned. "So what do you intend?"

Mirena turned, crossing the room in swift strides. She unlocked a drawer and withdrew a pendant—an iron charm etched with red runes that pulsed faintly in the firelight.

Adlan's eyes widened. "That's a Veiled Circle relic… You promised never to use—"

"I know what I promised," she said coldly. "But promises are for safe times. This is war."

"There are eyes everywhere, Mirena. If someone learns you've kept contact with the Circle—"

"They won't," she snapped. "There's a man in the lower district. A 'healer'—so they say. But he owes us. He served the Circle before going into hiding. Show him this and he will do us a favour in return."

"You want him to kill the boy?"

"No." She smiled wickedly like a devil. "I want him to test that boy. Agitate him. See what he really is. And if the child dies in the process?"

She paused, then said softly, "Then we call it what it is—an accident. An unstable child with an unnatural condition. It won't be questioned."

Adlan hesitated. "And if Logan survives?"

"Then we'll know for certain," she murmured, "what kind of monster we're dealing with."

Logan's Chambers – Later That Night

Moonlight spilled in slanted lines across the floor.

Logan was sitting in a cross-legged position beneath the frosted window. Breathing slowly in a particular way. It felt like an art, like a rhythm.

He sank into meditation, guiding his Qi with focus. His meridians letting it slide through his whole body.

He recalled the duel while meditating.

The power he'd shown. The gasps. The silence afterward.

"I should've held back more," he whispered.

But he hadn't. Because Darius wouldn't have stopped until someone bled. He knew that. And Logan refused to be the one left bleeding.

Even so, the consequences were unfolding fast. Servants hesitated near his door. Alice watched him with worry—not for herself, but for him.

She didn't want him to be in more trouble because of his talent.

But Logan? It didn't bother him at all.

Outer Courtyard – Few Nights Later

Snow blanketed the world in silence. Not peace. Just quiet. The kind that buried secrets and softened screams.

A hunched figure crept through the outer courtyard, wrapped in woolen layers. A satchel hung at his side, clinking with tools and bottles.

He was walking slowly like each step was a measured one.

Then he stopped beneath a dark tree at the edge of the estate.

His eyes scanned the shadows.

Right then….

A voice came, quiet and smooth from the black beyond the hedges.

"I am here."

To be continued…