Black clover: celestial king

Chapter 7: Shaping the Sun

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At first, I had been marking safe areas manually—physically touching the ground, objects, or even people with my mana to shield them from Solar Brand's flames.

It worked, but it was slow, impractical in a fight, and honestly… a little ridiculous. Imagine stopping mid-battle to tap a rock just so it wouldn't get incinerated.

That's when it hit me:

Why was I doing it manually when I could just use mana itself?

Mana wasn't just for casting spells—it was an extension of my will. If I could project it beyond my body, why couldn't I use it to mark things from a distance?

That's when I started experimenting.

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Discovery: Using Mana to Mark Safe Zones

Instead of physically touching an object, I released a pulse of mana from my palm, letting it seep into the ground and air around me.

I focused, trying to imprint a "safe" command into the mana itself.

The first few attempts? Disasters.

One time, I marked an area, activated Solar Brand, and watched as the flames completely ignored my command, torching everything in sight.

Another time, I used too much mana, and instead of marking a safe zone, I ended up suffocating the fire altogether, making my spell useless.

But after a week of fine-tuning, I found the balance:

By coating an area in my mana, I could mark it without physical contact.

I could expand or shrink the safe zone with a thought.

The flames would flow around the marked area, treating it as if it didn't exist.

With this technique, I could now control the battlefield without touching a thing.

A big win.

But I wasn't satisfied yet.

Solar Brand still had one major flaw.

It wasn't precise enough.

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The Next Goal: Creating a Solar Sphere

Right now, Solar Brand spread out in a wide, uncontrolled wave. That was great for crowd control, but against a single opponent, it was overkill.

So, I started thinking.

What if I shaped the flames into a contained form?

A ball of celestial fire—something like…

A miniature sun.

A concentrated, controlled Solar Sphere that I could launch, guide, and detonate at will.

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I spent the next several days in the training field, testing different ways to condense the flames.

Attempt 1:

Tried compressing Solar Brand into a sphere.

Result? Instant collapse. The flames couldn't sustain themselves in a small space.

Attempt 2:

Increased mana flow to force stability.

The sphere formed… for two seconds before exploding.

(Note to self: stop testing near wooden dummies.)

Attempt 5:

Focused on stabilizing the heat and mana flow.

The sphere held longer, but still wobbled like an unstable fireball.

Frustrating.

I needed to figure out why the flames wouldn't stay contained.

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That's when I realized my mistake.

I had been treating my magic like normal fire, but Aurora Magic wasn't just flames—it was celestial energy, modeled after the sun itself.

The sun's core was stable. The outer flames moved around it.

I needed to mimic that.

Instead of trying to compress the fire all at once, I:

Created a solid mana core in the center.

Let the celestial flames orbit around it instead of being trapped inside.

I held out my palm, focusing.

Mana gathered in my hand, forming a stable golden core.

Then, slowly, I let the flames wrap around it, rotating like the corona of a sun.

For the first time, the fire didn't collapse.

Instead, it hovered, radiating controlled heat, its flames circling in perfect harmony.

I exhaled.

"Solar Sphere."

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Now that I had the form, I needed to test precision.

I set up three wooden targets:

One was meant to be destroyed.

One was marked safe.

One was left unmarked to see if I could control the attack's movement.

I threw the Solar Sphere at the first target.

Instead of crashing into it immediately, the sphere hovered mid-air, waiting for direction.

I pointed at the marked safe target.

The sphere ignored it, weaving around before slamming into the final dummy, engulfing it in golden fire.

I grinned.

This was it.

Not just raw power, but refined control.

I had finally turned Solar Brand into something that wasn't just destruction—but precision.

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Looking Ahead

With the Magic Knight Selection Exam fast approaching, I finally had a spell that could make me stand out.

A sun that burned only what I wanted.

And soon, the entire Clover Kingdom would see it in action.

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