Black clover: celestial king

Black Clover: Celestial Cycle

Chapter 6: Refining the Sun's Mark

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For most mages, magic was something they learned—a skill honed through repetition. But for Elios Solhart, magic felt more like something he had to tame.

His Aurora Magic was a force of nature, shifting with the sky, evolving with each cycle of the sun and stars. And now, with the Magic Knight Selection Exam approaching, he had to bring it under control.

No more burning everything in sight. No more collateral damage.

If he wanted to stand out, he needed to master Solar Brand.

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The problem with Solar Brand was simple—it didn't care what it burned.

I had figured out how to create a safe zone around myself, but controlling the flames beyond that was still a mess.

I needed to adjust:

Step 1: Control the radius.

Step 2: Control the intensity.

Step 3: Control who or what it affects.

Easier said than done.

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Day 1: Controlling the Radius

I started by limiting the range.

Standing in the middle of the training field, I called out:

"Solar Brand!"

The golden flames burst outward, but I immediately pulled back, trying to compress them into a smaller circle.

Result?

Instead of a wide explosion… it turned into a focused fire pillar.

Not bad, but not what I wanted.

If I couldn't control the spread, I'd end up burning allies in a real fight.

I needed more precision.

I spent hours testing different methods—releasing magic in pulses, splitting the energy into multiple bursts, even trying to shrink the flames before they could expand.

By nightfall, I could finally keep the flames within a three-meter radius.

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Day 3: Adjusting the Intensity

The next issue? Firepower.

Right now, Solar Brand was all or nothing. If I activated it at full strength, it would incinerate everything. If I held back too much, it would fizzle out.

I needed to balance it.

So, I focused on adjusting the mana output.

Instead of activating the spell at full force, I tried channeling smaller bursts.

I held out my hand.

"Solar Brand."

A small, controlled wave of fire spread out—not an explosion, just a gentle ripple of heat.

I stepped back and increased the output slightly.

The flames brightened.

A little more mana—

The grass caught fire again.

I sighed. Still too much.

Over the next few days, I experimented with different methods:

Channeling the magic through my fingertips instead of my whole palm.

Layering mana output to create a steady flame instead of an instant burst.

Trying different stances to see if movement affected the spell's flow.

Slowly but surely, I learned to control the intensity—turning Solar Brand into something I could scale up or down at will.

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Day 7: Selective Targeting

The hardest part was making the flames ignore what I didn't want to burn.

So far, Solar Brand treated everything as an enemy. If I activated it in battle, I'd be just as much of a threat to my own squad as I was to my opponents.

I needed to make it differentiated.

This was where my Aurora Magic came into play. My magic wasn't just light and fire—it was celestial energy.

Which meant it should be able to recognize things.

I flipped open my Grimoire, looking at the runes on the Solar Brand spell.

What if… instead of just releasing energy, I marked what I wanted to stay safe?

I knelt and placed my palm on the ground.

I focused—not on creating fire, but on imbuing the earth with a "safe" marker.

The ground glowed faintly, the light disappearing beneath the surface.

Then, I stood up and activated the spell.

"Solar Brand!"

The golden flames rushed outward—but this time, when they reached the marked ground, they split around it, flowing like water around a stone.

I grinned.

It worked.

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Over the next week, I refined the process.

Step 1: Before activating the spell, I would mark safe zones using small bursts of celestial energy.

Step 2: When the spell activated, the flames would flow around those zones instead of destroying them.

Step 3: Eventually, I could mark specific people to be immune to the flames as well.

It wasn't perfect yet, but it was progress.

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Final Test

To see how much I had improved, I decided to test my control in a mock battle.

I created three wooden dummies and marked only one as "safe."

Then, I took a deep breath.

"Solar Brand!"

The golden flames burst outward—but this time, instead of burning everything, they swerved around the protected dummy, incinerating only the two targets I intended.

I exhaled.

I had done it.

Solar Brand was no longer a wild, uncontrollable force.

It was now a weapon I could wield with precision.

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Looking Forward

With only a few weeks left until the Magic Knight Selection Exam, I had finally gained a spell that made me stand out.

I wasn't just another fire-user.

I wasn't just another mage with raw power.

I was a tactician, a fighter who could control the battlefield.

And when the time came, I would show everyone exactly what I was capable of.

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