The glow faded, and the particles were absorbed by her hand. She took a deep breath, her body trembling slightly.
She had no idea what had just happened, but she had a feeling that things were not as simple as she had originally thought.
"Mommy, are you okay?" Seraphina asked, concern evident in her voice.
Lilith, who heard her daughter's voice, forced herself to breathe, to focus. She turned her gaze to Ethan, who still sat on his throne, completely unaware of what she had just seen.
That man…
That power…
Whatever she had witnessed—it wasn't just about Ethan's superpower. It was about how her entire life had just been changed and how she would need to change along with it.
But that would have to wait. Right now, she needed to deal with the situation in front of her.
She needed to erase the glowing particles and bring in a new awakening crystal. But more importantly, she needed to create a story about Ethan's awakening superpower.
After all, the truth was too dangerous.
"Yes, Seraphina, I'm fine. There's nothing wrong," she said, her tone calm.
Her daughter nodded, a slight frown on her face, but didn't push the issue.
"Alright, Mommy."
Lilith let out a small sigh of relief, then she looked towards Ethan, who was now standing on the ground as the Golden Throne, which was floating before, was gone.
Seeing this, she sighed slowly as she extended her influence across the room, subtly altering everyone's perception of what had just happened.
Their minds bent to her will, seamlessly replacing the true events with something more ordinary, more believable so that no one would question the sudden missing memory.
After doing that, she tapped the ring that she wore on one of her fingers, and as she did, a new awakening crystal, which looked exactly similar to the one before, appeared.
But this one did not need to be activated like the other one, which saved her a lot of trouble.
With a wave of her hand, she swapped the old crystal for a new one, collected all the fragments to avoid suspicion, and restored the place to how it was before anything happened.
At the same time, in the minds of everyone, a new memory seem to replace the empty one.
In this new memory, Ethan awakened an S-level superpower called Illusory Manifestation, which is one of the well-known illusion-based superpowers.
That was the story she planted in their heads. It was close enough to the truth to avoid suspicion but far enough to shield Ethan from unnecessary attention.
The priests and examiners who had been in the hall no longer remembered the golden throne, the phenomenon, or the sheer weight of Ethan's power pressing down on them. They only saw what she wanted them to see.
A student with an impressive but ultimately manageable superpower.
Then she looked at Ethan and the Moonshade twins and told them what she had done and to make sure to never talk about the events that had truly occurred.
Once everyone had their story straight, they slowly floated in the air, and then she clapped loudly once.
This caused everyone to come out from their stupor and look towards her, and as they did, everyone's eyes, which had a blank look a few seconds ago, slowly started to change, and a confused expression formed on their faces.
"Okay, everyone, due to the awakening of my son, it caused everyone to fall into a dream, but worry not as nothing is wrong with you and everyone is okay, so please continue with the awakening ceremony."
The priests and the examiner, now unaware of the true events that had taken place, nodded in agreement. "Yes, Lady Nocturne. Thank you for taking care of this, and we will continue with the awakening."
Lilith nodded, and then she looked at everyone before making her way back to the observation room.
Meanwhile, the awakening process resumed without anyone noticing anything.
Ethan, Everly, and Evelyn were speaking quietly, but the atmosphere in the hall had shifted. Ethan's S-rank status had sent ripples through the crowd—some people were impressed, some were trying to find ways to curry up to him so that they could have a powerful backer, and others were skeptical about the whole incident.
But they did not say anything as they did not have any proof to prove their claims.
And then there was Lucas.
He had been standing off to the side, his arms crossed, watching with an expression that teetered between irritation and amusement.
He had been quiet—too quiet. But now, with all eyes still lingering on Ethan, he finally made his move.
Lucas scoffed, loud enough to be heard, then walked forward, his usual pack of followers right behind him.
"So, the great Ethan Nocturne finally awakens. You must feel real proud of yourself, huh?"
Ethan barely spared him a glance. "Should I?"
Lucas let out a mocking laugh. "I mean, of course you should! You're the 'number one student' in everything, right? Naturally talented, top scores, all that bullshit." His smirk widened.
"But you didn't actually do anything for this one, did you? But still, you were lucky enough to get an S-rank superpower."
The crowd stirred. Some people nodded slightly. Lucas was hitting a sore spot—no matter how skilled Ethan was, superpowers were based on luck, not effort.
Everly rolled her eyes. "Lucas, are you seriously trying to downplay an S-rank? You sound desperate."
Lucas scoffed. "Oh, I'm not downplaying it. I'm just pointing out the obvious. Ethan's been 'number one' because of brains, not power.
But now? He's in a whole new playing field." He crossed his arms. "And an S-rank that requires mental and spiritual strength just to function?
Let's be real, that's not something you can just memorize your way through."