In the left corner of the hall, there was an item that was the least eye-catching out of all the items in the hall.
The hall was filled with Numens and precious Treasures like the Ancestral Staff of Darkness, but despite all that, Noel decided to show this item to the students second.
There was a similar concrete stand before the youngsters, which had the insignia of the Academy carved on it. On top of the plain white stand, there laid a small wooden box.
The square wooden box was only thirty centimeters wide and appeared to be made from ordinary wood that looked like it had already started rotting.
"What's inside the box?" Princess Elia inquired. If it was in a place like this, she was sure it couldn't be an ordinary item at all, no matter how mundane it appeared.
Noel let out a sigh, gazing at the old box with the same curiosity as the other students possessed. "Your guess is as good as mine."
"Even you don't know?" Another student asked, surprised. "Is it such a big secret that only the higher-ups know?"
"Heh, if only. The truth is that even they don't know what's in the box. Not even our Dean knows what's in the box," Noel explained. "That's why I called it a bizarre artifact."
"The box has no lock on it. There is no seal either. Despite all that, it's impossible to open it. Many people have tried throughout the years. Even the Heads of various Churches arrived here and attempted to open the box, but they couldn't."
"Can't you break it to see what's inside? Or is it too precious?"
"Break it? Heh, you think no one tried? The box is supposed to be an ordinary box. We have tested it. However, despite all that, it's impossible to break it. The wooden box might look weak, but even the strongest have failed to leave a scratch on the box. All the rotten marks and scratches you see on the box?"
" They have been there ever since the box was first discovered. Even the strongest of attacks couldn't destroy the box."
There was not a single teacher in the academy who wasn't curious to see just what secrets were inside the box. Unfortunately, they had no way. This was a treasure that they were never going to find out about.
"Could it be that the box is a Numen? If it's a normal box, it should've been destroyed." Caen theorized. "Maybe there is nothing inside at all?"
"As I said before, that's not the case." Noel rejected the notion. "We have tested the box through our Numens. It's not a Numen. That makes us believe that what makes the box so resistant is whatever is inside the box. That's what protects this wooden box and also makes it impossible to be opened."
"If there is a Numen, it's not the box, but what's inside the box," he further explained. "Too bad we will never find what's there."
His answer left many unsatisfied, but there was nothing he could do. If there were a way to open the box, he would've been the first in line to do it. Unfortunately, they had exhausted all their options. They had used all the methods they could to open the box, only to fail.
The mysterious box was no more than a showpiece... A showpiece that highlighted just how little everyone knew about this world. It was a showpiece that basked in the curiosity of those around it. It was the biggest mystery that was impossible to be solved.
"Anyway, moving on..." Noel moved over to another stand, walking away from the wooden box in the glass shell.
Lelin and Gabriel were still left behind, gazing at the wooden box.
This was it... Gabriel knew that this was what his ring wanted. It was as if his ring was pleading for him to snatch the box and leave.
Unfortunately, the timing didn't support him. Now he had three things that he wanted to steal, but it wasn't the time yet.
He turned around unwillingly and joined the group. The ring seemed to resist him moving away from the wooden box, but he ignored the resistance. The ring was like a pet that knew what it wanted but didn't consider the circumstances or the surroundings. He couldn't be that ignorant.
Gabriel joined the group again. There was one more thing he needed to locate... The Eye of Osiris.
Lelin also took a long breath, observing the guards around him. His face looked really impatient, but he also controlled himself, joining the group. It appeared as if both the youngsters were after the same thing.
The group moved over to the next artifact, which was another Numen. It was a small piece of paper that was lying on the stand, protected by the glass.
"The Letter of Yoin," Noel explained.
The stand for this piece of paper was much taller than the other stands, making sure that the paper laid flat on the eye level of the youngsters.
"I'm sure you're wondering why the stand is so tall with this. That's because it's said to be a Cursed Numen. We can't afford to let any of you make a mistake with this."
"A Cursed Numen?" This was the first time many had heard that terminology. The youngsters looked at each other in confusion.
"Yeah. It's a cursed artifact. Even though it's just a letter written by a person, the words on the letter contain the anger, rage, and hatred of someone really special. I can't tell you who it is or why he wrote what he did. I can only tell you a little about the letter."
Even as Noel talked, he avoided looking at the piece of paper even though he didn't need to. The glass was already tinted to some extent where only the silhouette of the paper could be seen but not the content.
"Apparently, the letter only contains three lines. However, whoever reads even one line, dies. In other words, it's a letter that can kill you. That's why it's called a cursed Numen; that is too dangerous. The letter already took many lives before it was secured."
"What is in the three lines?" A youngster asked. Even though he was intimidated by what he heard in the letter, he was also curious about what was written in the letter.
"Young one, that curiosity is what killed many people. Even some teachers at the academy died in the past trying to read the letter. And as you may know, the dead don't talk... Still, there are a few words that we know…."
"Can you tell us the words?" Elia asked the Teacher. Even though she was the Princess of the Empire, even she didn't know about such things that were kept by the Academy.
Noel nodded. "They are only a few words since no one dares to read the entire line now."
"Oh right. Now that I think about it," he especially focused on Gabriel. "One of the words is your name."
"The words we know from the letter are "Karyk, you unleashed..."
After speaking only three words, Noel stopped.
"Unleashed what?" Elia inquired, wondering what was unleashed and who this Karyk was. And who wrote this letter? How did it become cursed? There were so many questions in her head, and she wasn't the only one.
Even Gabriel had these questions at this point. He only knew one person who was named Karyk! The First Human God: the Origin Element of Death and Necromancy. Was 'Karyk' that this letter mentioned the one he knew?
Since this letter was a Numen, it was certain that it was written by a Demigod. But which Demigod and why? The answer was probably in the lines of the letter, but whoever read more than a certain part of the letter died. It was as if no one was supposed to know the content of this letter. Whoever did, they died.
In the Curse of this Numen, Gabriel even wondered if this letter became a Numen because of the Demigod who wrote it or because of the person that it was written to. It was also possible that Karyk kept this letter with them forever, not wanting anyone to see it, which gave this Numen a cursed characteristic.
'That shouldn't be the case. If he didn't want that letter, he would've destroyed it. It became a Numen because of someone who wanted people to read the letter and then die!'
'The one who wrote the letter addressed the letter to Karyk. Maybe the Target of the letter was him? Whoever wrote this letter... It wasn't just a letter. It was most probably a took to kill Karyk, disguised as a letter!'
Gabriel didn't know what happened in the past, so all he could do was guess, but he believed his guess was in the right direction. Even though he heard only three words, the words had the essence of hate and anger in them. He could feel it!
'The letter was written so that Karyk would read it, and then it was cursed so he would die after reading it! Whoever did it... They wanted Karyk to die, and they wanted him to know why he died! That's why the curse only works after someone reads it!'
Was this what killed Karyk? Was this letter the weapon that brought the end of Karyk's Era? Gabriel had the question but no answer. However, there was a gut feeling in his heart that Karyk couldn't be stupid enough not to sense that something was wrong with the letter.
The chances of him dying because of this letter were really low, according to him. However, it was a fierce attempt, no doubt!
"Who could've written it..." He frowned. Most people had questions about the following few words, but he had a question about the writer of this letter.
"There are actions that hurt not just the person doing them, but also those around them," Lelin lazily stated. "This letter was probably written by one who got hurt."
It appeared as if he was talking from his experience when he continued, "The deeper one looks into the past, the more they realize that it was a much darker world than one could imagine..."
Noel was about to talk about but seeing Lelin and Gabriel immersed in their own conversation; his irritation flared up again. Fortunately, he had learned his lesson from his last attempt. He just ignored them this time.
However, just as he was about to explain further, he heard footsteps behind. All the students were already there. And the Guards didn't move. It made him curious who had arrived. It was their turn in this museum today.
He straightened up and looked toward the stairs. The hall became slightly warm as a middle-aged man arrived.
The newly arrived man had blazing red hair and a powerful aura around him.
Through the man's attire, even the students here could recognize the man.
"A teacher from the House of Flames? Are we having a combined class?"
"Strange. I thought the Houses stayed out of each other's path during classes. Then again, maybe this place doesn't count as a class? In any case, it's not as bad to share a space."
"If he brought his class, where are his students? He is alone? I doubt it's for class. He's probably here for something else?"
The students started a discussion amongst themselves, wondering why he had arrived there. Each of them had a guess of their own.
The teacher from the House of Flames arrived on the second floor and stopped barely five meters away from Noel.
"Which one of these youngsters is Caen and Karyk?" The middle-aged man asked.
"Why do you want to know?" Noel frowned. "We are in the middle of the class. If it's not t-"
"I have orders from the Head Council to bring the two to them." Before Noel could even finish his sentence, the middle-aged man explained why he was here.
Before the Head Council's Orders, even Noel couldn't do anything. It was true that the two youngsters would miss the rest of the class because of this, but he had to let them go.
He also had a feeling as to what this could be about. He turned to look at the two youngsters, slightly glad that Gabriel was being taken away. That kid didn't appear interested in the class anyway.
"Karyk and Caen, you two go with him."
"Best of luck, little one." Lelin tapped Gabriel's shoulders, wishing him luck. However, it appeared as if he had another motive behind tapping Gabriel's shoulders.
Gabriel and Caen left with the red-haired man. Caen was unsure what it was about, but if it was others from above, he had to listen. Gabriel, on the other hand, knew exactly what it was about. In fact, he had a feeling that it would be coming. He just didn't expect that it would come this soon.
Even on his way out, he glanced over the entire hall once again, especially locating the Eye of Osiris. He already had the location of everyone else. And with the Eye of Osiris, which was lying in the southern portion of the room, he now knew everything that he needed for his final assault later on.
As Gabriel and Caen left, another discussion started between the youngsters who believed that the two were called by the Head Council because they were thought to be the killers. Otherwise, why would the High Council call them? The High Council wasn't that free.
"Enough talking. We'll be moving on to the next artifact here. We don't have all day. Come." Noel moved over to the next Artefact, trying to stop the youngsters from talking.
Noel also felt like slapping his forehead in frustration. Even now, Lelin didn't appear to be focusing on him. For some reason, he was looking at his own hand.
'Sigh, this kid. Why do I even look at him? Every time I do, he looks more bored than the last time. These spoiled brats with recommendations! If they didn't want to learn, why did they even bother coming here!'
In recent days, no student had irritated him as much as he was now. And that too when Lelin wasn't even speaking anything. He was just immersed in his own thoughts.
'A Mirage... I was right.' Lelin closed his fist again.
Gabriel and Caen followed the middle-aged man out of the Museum. Throughout the journey, the old man didn't say anything.
Caen also didn't speak. He looked really grim, having a general idea at this point why he was being called, mostly because he was called together with Gabriel.
The only thing he had in common with Gabriel was that the two of them stood against Yann and his friends. Moreover, one of those guys was the same one that was killed today.
Since it was only the two of them that were being called, he was sure that it was going to be about that. The High Council was most probably suspecting them since they had some conflict initially.
He wondered if he could actually prove his innocence though. He didn't want to have to go through the test of the Crown only to get his talent weakened. He was sure Yann was going to try to have that happen!
"You seem worried." Surprisingly, it was Gabriel who started the conversation.
"The question isn't why I'm worried. It's why you aren't? I haven't killed that guy. And I'm sure you won't kill him for a small conflict on the street either," Caen stated. "We're both innocent."
Gabriel didn't react much, but he did find that statement quite ironic. Caen actually had the killer right before his eyes, but he didn't believe it. Then again, he was right as well. Gabriel didn't kill him over a minor conflict on the street either.
"At this point, we are under suspicion. And I have a feeling that just our words won't be enough to prove our innocence. If they aren't, we would have to go through the test of the Crown, and that will be bad."
Caen had arrived back in the city to study at the Academy and begin the rise of the Ashton Family once again. And he also had the talent for that. He was a prodigy! But the Crown... That was what scared him, especially since he was innocent.
"Is the test of the Crown so bad?" Gabriel inquired. He had heard only a few things about the Crown of Elisus about it affecting the talent of a person, but was it really to an extent where it was scaring the scion of the Ashton Family?
"Yes, it is," Caen answered. "The Crown of Elisus is the worst thing for the future of a young mage. It checks your soul and your mind to see if you're lying about something. And it's never wrong. However, in the process of testing your soul, it also carries the potential to damage your soul, reducing your Soul Strength."
Ever since the moment Caen arrived at the Academy, he hadn't talked as much as he was talking now, and that too because he was really concerned. Even someone like him was worried.
"Is that so... Something that can see if someone is lying..." Gabriel scratched his temple, trying to see if he had any use for an item like that.
The item was good for interrogation, especially on his enemies. He was also sure that the Crown they were talking about was the Crown he had seen in the museum before leaving. They hadn't reached the part where that Crown was introduced before they had to be called away.
'Each of the Numen in the Academy is precious on its own. Since I'm already stealing three of them, what if... I steal all of them?'
It was unclear if it was greed or preparation for the future, but the more Gabriel thought about it, the more he realized the importance of Numens. If he had them, they could certainly be useful for him in the future.
The two of them were brought to the Central Castle, where the High Council consisting of the Head of each Elemental House, was waiting for them.
All the Head Teachers were sitting on a chair around the table. There were also two more men standing in the distance, one being Yann and the other being Garrick.
Both stood with their hands behind their back.
After bringing the two youngsters inside the room, the red-haired man left, not forgetting to close the door behind them.
For a moment, there was complete silence in the entire hall. In fact, it was so silent that even the sound of breathing could be heard.
All the Head Council Members observed the two new students who had entered the hall.
The silence was broken by the door opening once again as another person made an entry.
Another teacher arrived with a third youngster who was recognized by Gabriel as well. It was the youngster that he and Caen had helped. He was partially the reason they had the conflict with Yann's group in the first place. He was Zale, the young Mage who carried the Element of Earth and was being bullied by Yann.
Surprisingly, the youngster had also managed to clear the test of the Academy, and now he was donning the Attire of a first-year student from the House of Earth.
Gabriel, Caen, and Zale stood right beside each other. The other teacher also left, sending the room back to silence.
Even though Caen was also worried about having to be called here, Zale was the only one who was sweating. He was already very nervous about standing before the Head Council, which was composed of Mages that were said to be strong enough to compete with the Head Priests of the Holy Churches.
"Are they the ones?"
The Head of House of Fire Yoan was the first person to speak as he directed a question to Yann.
"They are," Yann affirmed.
"They are the ones who attacked us out of nowhere."
Not only did Yann recognize the three, but he also blamed everything on them.
"He is lying!" Caen exclaimed. "None of us attacked first! And it was a little back and forth. He wa-"
"Silence!"
Caen tried to counter the false accusation of Yann, who made it seem like they were the ones that were looking for a fight.
Even though it was true that he did provoke Yann so he could have an excuse to fight him, but to say that they attacked out of nowhere? That was a complete fabrication.
Unfortunately, before he could even finish, he heard Yoan's shout. "It's not your turn to talk!"
"I..." Caen Ashton nodded and stopped speaking.
Yoan focused on Yann again. "You can continue."
Yann felt really pleased in his heart to watch Caen be scolded. Even though one of his friends was supposedly cared, he could care less about Hawrin. That boy was no more than a servant for him. If Hawrin's death gave him a path to get Caen and Gabriel in trouble, he felt it was a worthy trade.
"I remember Caen was provoking me, saying that he wanted me to fight so he could have an excuse to kill me! And on the other side, his two goons attacked my friends. I remember Hawrin's lips were bleeding when I decided to retreat since the Royal Carriage was about to arrive. I didn't want to show this bad sight to them, so I left."
"If only I knew that Caen and his friend were so bloodthirsty that they were going to kill my dear friend Hawrin as soon as they got the opportunity! These guys! They are beasts! I'm sure they killed Hawrin together in cold blood!"
Yann walked on a path of lies, but he didn't care. Since he wasn't the one under suspicion, he couldn't care less. He wasn't even in the academy when it happened, after all.
Moreover, he was actually certain that Caen and Gabriel were truly the ones that killed Hawrin. How else would he die within just a day of their conflict, that too when he was in his dorms that could only be accessed by a Mage of Light? It was too much of a coincidence that they were all in the same dorms.
"So they had the motives, and they had the opportunity," Yoan smiled after hearing Yann's testimony. "Do we need any more evidence? I think not. Those three are our main culprits."
"Now that our search has narrowed to only three potential candidates, I believe we can use the Crown of Elisus now." Xinci also agreed.
"Agreed. Our biggest hesitation was that we didn't want to use it on the entire House of Light. But now that we have the ones, we should be able to use the Crown. That way, we can get a final confession and close this case."
" I agree as well. Throughout the years, there has been no death in the Academy. But as soon as these three got admission, the same night, there was a killing. All three of them had reasons to do it, but only two of them had access. I think we found our killers."
One after another, all the Head Teachers were assured that they had the killers. All that was lacking was the final confession, and they could use the Crown.
Only three Teachers still hadn't spoken. Those three were Eliana, Rem, and Lishen. Other than them, everyone else expressed their opinion.
Eliana also knew that their words made sense. Under normal conditions, she would have agreed as well, but one of the supposed culprits was Gabriel. He was the student who was supposed to take the Academy to great heights. His talent was like nothing they had ever seen before.
Since she wanted him to be treated like a normal student to keep his talent a secret, she hadn't informed anyone about his reality. She hadn't even told her fellow Head Council Members. Only Rem and Lishen knew the truth who were present when Gabriel went through his test.
They knew that sending Gabriel to the test of the Crown was a disaster. It could destroy a potential talent forever. And if they were wrong, it was going to become their biggest regret.
Lishen also wondered about the same thing. They both wondered why it had to be Gabriel of all people.
Rem, on the other hand, had a different thought of his own. He was still suspicious about Gabriel because of his aura and his gloves. He knew that Gabriel was hiding something, and it wasn't about the murder.
He didn't believe that Gabriel would kill someone over such a small thing, yet he wanted him to go through the test of the Crown since that way, he could ask Gabriel what he was hiding. Gabriel couldn't tell a lie under that.
That's why he also agreed with the other teachers, even though his actual reasoning was different.
"I agree. At the moment, it looks highly likely that Gabriel and Caen did it. The two should go through the test of the Crown. I suppose the motion."
Eliana frowned. Other than her, only Lishen was the one who hadn't agreed. She was under a lot of pressure at the moment. She couldn't deny the test, or it would look like she was being partial.
Seeing Rem side with the others over the bottom, Lishen also had no choice in the matter. He sided with his friend. Since everyone had the same belief, he went along with them.
"I also think that a test is the only option at the moment. Unless they come forward and accept their crimes," he suggested, taking a meaningful glance as if telling them that if they were culprits, coming forward at the moment was a better option.
"We did no wrong." Caen stood determined. "Just because Yann has an enmity with me, he is tossing the blame on us. I believe it's wrong to destroy our talent over an accusation from a student!"
"As if a killer will ever accept that they killed someone," Yann snorted in response to Caen's accusations.
"Respected Teachers, the Academy is supposed to be a safe space. You shouldn't allow a killer to roam free. Please have them go through the test. I'm sure the truth will come out!" he respectfully addressed the teachers.
Throughout the discussion, Garrick had been silent. He wasn't engaged in the discussion. He just observed the three accused from the beginning.
Surprisingly, only two of the three looked worried in this place. Only Caen and Zale had worries on their faces. As for Gabriel, he didn't have a shred of fear for some reason. In fact, his nonchalant attitude was more suspicious for him…
It was as if Gabriel didn't really care about giving the test of the Crown, not caring about his Talent at all. He wasn't entirely wrong either.
Even if Gabriel went through the test of the Crown, his talent couldn't be affected since it was given to him by the Grimoire. No Numen could ever compare to a Grimoire that came into existence because of a proper god and not because of Demigods.
A Numen couldn't affect the Grimoires like that. Similarly, they couldn't mess with the talent and Soul Strength that was provided by the Grimoire.
Let alone controlling his soul for him to tell the truth, the Numens couldn't even touch his soul that was already protected by the Grimoire.
This was one of the lessons that Lira taught him when she talked about how the Grimoire boosted his talent and strengthened his soul. That was also why Gabriel wasn't really scared of going through the Crown of Elisus. Even if he went through it, he knew he was going to come out unscathed.
Still, if he could, he wanted to avoid it. Unfortunately, it seemed unlikely in this situation, especially since all the Teachers had already agreed to the test... All except one... Eliana was yet to agree.
"Eliana, is there a particular reason for you to be hesitating?" Yoan frowned. "Don't tell me it's because these people are the students from your House."
He was already slightly irritated at how much importance the House of Light was given in the Academy. Even as the Dean left, instead of making him, the most senior mage in the Head Council, as the acting Dean; the Dean selected Eliana to act as a Dean in his absence.
It was finally his time to get back at her and bring the House of Light down a notch.
Eliana took a deep breath, glancing at Gabriel. She had made up her mind. Even though she might come out as biassed, she was going to protect Gabriel. Gabriel was a once in a lifetime Prodigy with his talent. Even though she didn't treat him in any special manner before, she knew how special he was. She couldn't let anyone mess with his talent, especially if it was just an accusation. It was too big a risk to take.
She clenched her fist and was just about to respond when someone intervened.
"Wait." Caen stepped forward.
Everyone's attention turned to Caen.
"Are you willing to accept your crimes?" Xinci asked, believing that Caen was taking the opportunity to confess as she had offered before.
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"I can't accept any crimes since I didn't commit any! I want to say something else." Caen clenched his fist, taking a deep breath. "I am willing to take the Test of Crown if that's what will prove my innocence. I am willing to prove that we didn't have anything to do with the killings and that we didn't plan it!"
" We are being falsely implicated because Yann doesn't like me. I can't let anyone else suffer because of my equation with Yann and his lies! If someone is losing their talent over a lie, I will take that place since it's because of me. One person is better than three when it comes to this loss!"
Caen's proud figure stood before Gabriel, surprising even him.
Caen didn't know him that well, and even then, he was willing to do this? Even on the streets, Caen came to help them. It could've been because of his hostility with Yann, but it still didn't change the fact that he was willing to stand up for them.
Even now, he was willing to step forward to ensure they didn't have to go through the test over such a baseless lie. His determination surprised Gabriel a bit. He wondered just what kind of person this man was. Was he a righteous idiot? Or was he just a good person with principles?
For a moment, Gabriel felt slightly bad, but then again, he remembered something which strengthened his resolve once again.
Once upon a time, even Maya used to be compassionate and caring. But as soon as she saw his Mark, she didn't hesitate to even kill him.
The kindness of this person... The kindness of all the righteous people in the world was only reserved for people like them! If Caen knew that he was a Dark Mage, he would've stabbed him without even waiting for an explanation... Just like Maya did.
Gabriel clenched his fist, closing his eyes as he remembered this. Whatever Caen did... He couldn't let it sway him from his mission! He couldn't risk his mission.
"I will take the test to prove our innocence and that Yann is lying about how the incidents took place that day. I will prove that we didn't plan to kill anyone," Caen declared. "Since I'm proving that, I want the other two to be free!"
Ever since he was little, he had learned that a Mage of Light must always be righteous. As a Mage of Light, they were supposed to protect the weak and innocent. He couldn't let two innocent people come to harm because of him. It was his way of taking responsibility! Just as his father would've done.
Even though he was scared of risking his talent, he was still willing to stand up for what he believed in.
Eliana noticed the determination of Caen, slightly impressed. Through his words, she had a feeling that he was innocent, and in essence, Gabriel and Zale as well, but she couldn't let her own beliefs cloud her judgment.
In any case, this gave her an opportunity to help Gabriel without looking biased. If Caen was actually innocent, it was going to prove that there was no scheme because of that conflict and that killer as someone else. But until then, these three were the only accused they had.
"Alright. I will accept your suggestion. Only you will go through the test of the Crown. And if you can prove that your side is innocent, you'll all be free. But until then, all three of you will be kept in isolation in your rooms under high security."
Eliana made a declaration without even consulting the other members.
"Huh?"
All the Head Council Members were surprised that she came to a decision without taking their input. Even though most of them would have agreed to it, it was still odd.
Unfortunately, they couldn't object since she was the acting Dean. At least they couldn't talk about this in the presence of the students since the Dean's position was dignified.
The Head Council Members weren't the only ones who were surprised either! If there was anyone who was most surprised here, it was Gabriel who had planned for everything except this.
He hadn't expected to be locked! For what he wanted to do tonight, he needed to be outside and not locked inside his room under strict security! This was a disaster for him.
'Calm down. It's not that bad. The test would probably be in the next few hours. I should be free before evening. The plan should be back on track!'
Despite his headache, he still tried to be optimistic.
As if even destiny was mocking him, Eliana further stated. "The preparation for the test might take the rest of the day, so the Test of Crown will be held tomorrow morning. Until then, you won't be allowed to leave your rooms."
As Gabriel was cursing his luck in response, something big was happening in the Holy City of the Lumen Empire.
A very special person had arrived in the Holy City of the Lumen Empire. Even the guards at the entrance of the holy city respectfully opened the special path for the new guests.
Three carriages entered the City, all belonging to the Holy Church of Water.
Gabriel and Caen left the Majestic Castle, being escorted by Garrick while another teacher was assigned to take Zale back and arrange everything. At the same time, Yann also left the castle. He was done with his testimony.
As Yann wasn't under suspicion, no one was tasked with escorting him. He was to go back to his dorms on his own.
Standing at the entrance of the castle, Yann glared at the three youngsters. "I know you murdered Hawrin. No matter how much you act now, you can't hide the truth. The truth will be before everyone by tomorrow."
Gabriel stopped in his tracks, frowning. He turned around, observing Yann.
"Truth will come out tomorrow. No matter how much you lie, our innocence will be proven." As Gabriel spoke, he walked to Yann as if he was lost in his emotions. He stopped barely a few inches away from Yann while Garrick watched from a distance.
He was prepared to intervene in case there was any fighting.
Gabriel raised his left hand slowly. "When we prove our innocence, I hope you'll be there to apologize to us."
He tapped Yann's chest as he continued, "I'm sure at least that much shame should still be left in that corrupt heart of yours."
"Hmph." Yann scoffed. "Child, you could've killed a weakling like Hawrin, but you've still not grown enough to be able to point a finger at me. Go back to where you came from."
He started walking away, not even bothering anymore, especially since his brother was watching everything. If his brother wasn't watching and he wasn't at the Academy, he would've been sure to teach Gabriel a lesson for touching him without permission.
As Yann walked away, he didn't notice that there was a tiny flicker of light on his chest where Gabriel had touched him. It only lasted for a few seconds before it disappeared. Even Garrick didn't notice it since Gabriel had done it in a way in which his body obstructed Garrick's field of view.
Gabriel joined with Caen, and the two youngsters were taken back to their rooms. Garrick assigned Fourth Year Students to guard the rooms of Gabriel and Caen.
The security of the Dorms was intensified even more. There was no way for Gabriel or Caen to get out of rooms without alerting everyone else.
Gabriel walked to the glass doors that led to the balcony, gazing at the lock that was there. Even though no first-year student was supposed to be able to fly, the Academy still locked the balcony. Gabriel was sealed in his own room.
Gabriel pulled out the Spell Book of Light that he had bought from outside. He placed the book on the bed now that he was all alone in the room.
He paced back and forth in his room, thinking about all that had happened today. He was really elated when he killed Hawrin, but only now did he understand that he was very short-sighted with what he did. This thing had become a headache for him, creating even more disturbance.
Instead of keeping the teachers distracted by others, all their attention had now fallen on him.
The more he thought about it, the more he felt angry at himself for not thinking things thoroughly. He let his emotions control him.
"Only five more days... After that, the Ring of Apophis will leave me. And if things keep moving on like this, the next five days will be wasted as well. Argh, I was such an idiot! I should've controlled my anger."
He punched the wall in his anger. Just because he wanted to kill Hawrin, he did so, and he even found reasons to justify his actions. He was realizing just how clouded his judgment had been.
Gabriel was a Spellcasters, but even his own physical strength wasn't strong enough without artificially boosting it with his spells. His punch didn't leave even a mark on the wall. Instead, his knuckles were hurt.
He jerked his fist to relieve some of the pain before casting a minor healing spell on his hands.
"What should I do...? What can I do...? Tomorrow I'll be free of house arrest. But if it's proven that their assumptions about us being killers were wrong, the academy would go into complete lockdown. The security will only be intensified."
"If it's tonight, they still believe that we are the killers. Most of the Teachers would be quite relaxed today. Can I use that opportunity?"
"Or am I once again thinking in haste?"
He had a plan, but that relied on him being able to move freely at the academy, not being sealed in his room.
"If it's haste, then so be it. I will take this hasty decision and leave everything to what comes next."
Gabriel had decided on what he was going to do next. He was going to break inside the Museum tonight itself. He knew it was going to be hard tonight, but he also knew that it would be even harder in the coming days.
"First, I need to find a way out of here.*
He stood before the glass doors, looking outside. Breaking the glass doors was going to leave evidence behind that he left and even alert others with the noise itself. He could break the lock, but it was again the same problem.
If he couldn't succeed tonight, he wouldn't be able to attempt tomorrow since they were surely going to see something was wrong if they saw a broken lock tomorrow.
"I need a way out without breaking the seals."
He knew what he wanted to achieve, but he didn't know how he was going to achieve it. It was a problem that couldn't be solved with sheer strength.
Fortunately, he still had the rest of the day to think about it.
Throughout the rest of the day, he kept pacing back and forth, going through the Spellbook of Light to see if there was any spell he could use.
Unfortunately, it was just a low tier spellbook and didn't have anything in it that could help him. He closed the book and kept it back on the bed.
"Is it really not possible? The Spellbook of Light is useless. If only it were a Grimoire, maybe it would've been able to help... Wait! Grimoire! How could I forget it!" Gabriel's eyes lit up suddenly.
He took off his gloves, revealing the beautiful black ring on his right hand and the two Elemental Marks behind each of his hands.
He was told that his Element could only be sensed by the Heads of Churches and only if they were right before him. Back in his room, he was still safe.
The only way for anyone to notice the dark properties of his Element was if he used his Spells from the Black Grimoire. Just calling the Grimoire out shouldn't have been able to alert anyone.
Despite that, he still cast a barrier of Light at the walls of his room to make sure no Aura left his room, just to be safe.
On Gabriel's commands, the beautiful black ring returned to the form of a majestic Grimoire.
The Grimoire floated before Gabriel as if waiting for his instruction on which page he wanted to open.
For a brief moment, Gabriel just stared at the beautiful yet mighty Grimoire.
"I know you have a Soul... I know you're able to understand me. I really need your help today..."
The Grimoire kept floating before Gabriel as he talked.
Even he wondered if he could succeed, but he didn't give up. The Grimoire was able to change form to a ring on his command. It was also able to turn to the page he wished. That made him realize that the Grimoire wasn't as lifeless as he initially thought.
Lira also said the same thing when she explained why he couldn't access more spells! It was because the Grimoire kept the spells restricted for his own safety! If the Grimoire could restrict him from having access to the spells, it should be able to give him access as well!
"I know you want that wooden box. I don't know why, but I also want that box. I want to get inside the Museum to retrieve that box. For that, I need your help..."
" I know you just gave me two spells to keep my Soul safe, but those two spells can't help me get there! They're not enough! I need more spells! I really need your help this once..."
Gabriel earnestly explained his problems. He understood the reasons that the Grimoire had to keep the powerful spells restricted because it didn't want him to destroy his Soul by using spells that were beyond his capacity so soon, but he needed the Grimoire's help. He knew that if anything could help him, it was the Grimoire.
He also had a feeling that the Grimoire couldn't refuse him! When he was in the museum, he could feel just how eager the Grimoire was for him to get the box! With this help, he could also retrieve the box! He had the perfect bait for the Grimoire. Now all he needed to do was wait… wait for the Grimoire to take the bait.
Around ten minutes passed, but there was no response. Just as Gabriel was starting to like he had failed, he felt a burning sensation in his right hand. His Mark of Death and Necromancy started shining brightly, making him feel as if his hand was burning.
The Grimoire also started shining as it opened... The pages flipped to the second page, which had the first spell… The Shield of Undead. The book didn't stop. It turned to the third page, which had his second spell. He already had access to those pages, but what happened next was what truly surprised him!
The fourth page was revealed. Some words also appeared on the page. Seeing the fourth page, Gabriel really grew excited! He had received a new spell. But that's not where the Grimoire stopped! Against all his expectations, a second new spell appeared as the page turned once more!
Two new spells had appeared in his Grimoire before it, and the mark on his hand stopped shining! He had asked for one new spell, but he received two! And those two spells... He managed to get a glimpse of them. They were…
After the book stopped shining, it landed on the bed before Gabriel.
"So I was right! You can understand me! You do have a soul!"
If Gabriel had a doubt before, he was now sure about this notion that the Grimoire actually had a soul, and it was intelligent. It could understand him and take action accordingly!
"No wonder you managed to take me to a safe place when I was about to die. You saved me at that time."
He was still grateful for the Grimoire, which saved his life twice. However, there were still some doubts in his head as well. If the Grimoire could take him to that bizarre place where he saw those statues, then why didn't the Grimoire of Darkness take the old owner there?
When the Lord of Darkness was surrounded by other Sacred Mages, then why didn't his Grimoire do the same? Why didn't his Grimoire save him? Was this something that only his Grimoire could do?
These questions plagued his head, but he kept his mind on his goal. He had a task at hand. Before it was night, he wanted to read the new spells and understand them, so he didn't make the same mistake.
He had another concern when he asked for the help from Grimoire. The Grimoire was hard to be detected by the enemies unless they were extremely close to him. And even then, the gloves hid its aura. However, the spells were a different matter.
Even though his Element was inherently different from the Element of Darkness, the aura still had some traces of darkness. So whenever he used a spell from his Grimoire, he always carried a risk of alerting every Mage in his vicinity.
As if understanding the concern of his, the Grimoire gave him an extra spell just for that. The third spell he received was exactly that.
He opened the Grimoire and went into the third spell.
"Imitation of the Dead!"
He carefully read the name of the third spell, which was what intrigued him the most. It was the spell that worked on the biggest problem that he had.
It was a low tier spell that couldn't be used for offense. It couldn't be used for defense either. However, its use was something that was even more important for Gabriel than the offensive or defensive spells.
The spell allowed him to Imitate the Dead, but not like the Ring of Apophis allowed him to do. The spell didn't help him disguise. It didn't make him change into someone else. Instead, the spell only worked to imitate the aura.
It was more like a disguise spell that allowed him to imitate the aura of someone else when casting spells. Since he was a Mage with an Element that was much darker, he could use the Imitation of the Dead on himself to make it impossible for anyone to feel his true aura.
The spell not only hid his own aura, but it also hid the aura of his Death Spells and everything associated with those spells.
His biggest problem was being sensed by powerful mages if he used his second Element. However, with Imitation of the Dead, he could use those spells, and no one could sense anything odd.
This one spell gave him free access to use his other Element without being detected. The only flaw with the spell was that it had a time limitation since it was a spell that placed a lot of burden on one's soul. That's also why the spell was restricted for Gabriel before.
The spell couldn't disguise his aura with anyone's aura. It specifically disguised his Deathly Aura with the elemental auras of the people he had killed. He had a choice with that.
Since Gabriel had recently killed Hawrin, he could disguise his Aura of Death with the Aura of Light which was Hawrin's element.
That was just the third spell which was for his protection. It couldn't help him get out of here. For that, there was the fourth spell... The second blessing from his Grimoire.
Gabriel memorized the third spell and made sure to master it completely since it was the most important spell for him.
After spending an hour on the third spell, he turned the page and moved into the fourth spell.
"Undead Switch!"
The fourth spell also happened to be a low tier spell. However, despite being a low tier spell, it was also very versatile, just like the third spell.
Instead of allowing him to imitate his aura, the fourth spell allowed him to change places with an Undead. It was a spell that was easy to understand, just from the name itself. Still, Gabriel went through the description of the spell.
The Fourth Spell allowed him to switch places with an Undead in an instant. It was no less than Teleportation. However, for that, he needed an Undead in the first place. Only if there was an Undead, he could switch places with him.
Despite that problem, Gabriel didn't feel bad. Instead, he had a grin on his face. With the two new spells, he felt that he had completed a set. The two new spells removed his biggest problem and gave him an advantage that he craved for! He now has everything!
"Thank you!" Gabriel thanked his Grimoire now that he knew that it could understand him.
After thanking the Grimoire, he went through the fourth spell, trying to learn it to perfection as well. He had already learned the first three spells, which only left one last spell to be learned.
He spent half an hour more before finally learning the fourth spell. If only he knew what he had achieved, he would've been surprised himself.
The two new spells that he learned were low-tier spells, but they were among the most complex low-tier spells. To learn spells like them, even a talented person took weeks, sometimes months. However, he was done within a couple of hours. And he didn't even know what he did.
After he finished, Gabriel let out a sigh of relief. He looked out the window, noticing that it had already become dark outside. It was around nine at night.
Knock Knock~
There was suddenly a knock on the door, which surprised Gabriel. He made the Grimoire return to the form of the ring before hiding the Spellbook of Light as well. He once again wore his Gloves and checked his reflection in the Mirror to ensure his disguise was still intact.
After making sure that there was nothing suspicious, he opened the door, wondering who could be at this time.
"It's you..." As he opened the door, he sighed in relief.
There was a young girl standing outside the door with a tray in his hand.
"It's been one day since you arrived here, and you're already in trouble." Riya rolled her eyes. "Just my luck that I had to be selected as your advisor when you came here. Anyway, I brought some food for you since you can't leave."
Riya moved Gabriel aside before entering the room. She placed the tray on the bed. "Eat up and rest."
She started leaving as if she had only come to deliver food. However, as he was about to step out of the room, she stopped.
"I heard what happened. I believe you. I don't think you can kill anyone," She earnestly stated. "I'm sure you'll be proven innocent tomorrow. So best of luck."
She left, closing the door behind her. The door was locked from outside again.
Gabriel locked the door from inside as well before gazing back at the food.
It still wasn't midnight. There was still some time, and he was also feeling quite hungry. He went to the bed and started feasting.
Within twenty minutes, Gabriel finished eating and started resting, waiting for midnight. He had all the preparations now. Just the right time was needed, which was when the academy wasn't crowded, and most of the students were already asleep.
For the next two hours, he just lay on the bed, gazing at the roof. For some reason, the time was moving so slowly now.
For him, three hours seemed like an eternity, maybe because he was excited to use the spells. Finally, he could use them safely without worrying about getting an entire army after him.
After tormenting three hours, finally, it was midnight! Gabriel got off the bed and walked over to the windows, glancing at the beautiful moon in the sky. The streets were also quite empty. Only a few students could be seen walking.
"I guess it's time... Time to make sure I get what I'm here for!"
"Come to me!" He raised his right hand. His ring turned into a speck of dark light, passing through his gloves before taking the shape of a Dark Grimoire.
The Fourth Page opened instantly, landing on the Third Spell that he had received.
"Imitation of the Dead!" Gabriel declared, thinking about Hawrin.
The first thing he did was use the Imitation of the Dead for protection. And then came the main part.
Instead of turning to the fifth page, the Grimoire opened the Third Page, following Gabriel's wish.
"Time to meet you..."
"Return of the Dead!"
He finally used his second spell. The spell that he had for a long time but never used, even though he was curious about it, based on its description. Finally, he used the spell that could summon an Undead from the Nether!
A blood-red formation circle appeared on the floor before Gabriel. The entire room was filled with blood-red light. If someone outside were looking toward his window, they would've seen his windows illuminated in red light, but fortunately, no one was looking there.
The Formation came with a frighteningly demonic aura that would've been sensed from a thousand miles away, but the Immigration of the Dead changed the aura with the aura of a Beginner Mage of Light which was Hawrin.
A pitch black door appeared above the red formation, which initially looked like a hologram, but before long, it looked more real than an actual door.
A metallic door was before Gabriel. There was a scythe carved on the door. A pitch black gem was embedded in the middle of that scythe.
The door slowly started opening…
The enigmatic door gradually opened, connecting this world to the realm of the dead. Through the connection, the dark spell selected the closest being in the realm of the Undead.
From the description of the spell, Gabriel had found out that he didn't have much choice in what he was going to summon.
Since it was his first time and his magical strength level was weaker comparatively, he couldn't be more specific in his search. In fact, he couldn't even see into the realm of the undead through the door.
It all depended on luck at this point for him. Despite that, he was still intrigued. Even if it was a random selection, he had ways to use it to get out of the place.
Gabriel eagerly waited to see just who was bound to be his first Summoned Undead. Whoever it was... Since it was Gabriel's first time, the Summoned Undead was supposed to be bound to him for as long as Gabriel lived. That's why the first Summons were always so special.
From then on, Gabriel could Summon the undead whenever he wanted, without using much magical strength.
He didn't know much about the realm of the Undead at the moment, but he had asked Lira about it, trying to understand just what kind of creatures lived in the realm of the dead. He wanted to understand just what his Summoned Familiar could be like.
According to Lira, the most common beings in the Realm of the Dead were Skeleton Soldiers and Zombies. There were millions of them. The stronger an Undead was, the rarer they were in the realm of the undead, and the chances of getting them were also very low.
Based on that probability, Gabriel expected that he was going to receive a Skeleton Soldier most probably. From then on, everything was on his shoulders about how he used the Skeleton Soldier to get out of here. He had already thought of a plan as well. It all relied on his fourth skill.
The doors opened entirely, revealing complete darkness on the other side. Gabriel couldn't see anything on the other end, but he did feel a strange feeling in his body.
It was a strange kind of pain that he felt. "It seems the Spell found an Undead for me. The connection is being established."
Gabriel clenched his fist, bearing with the sharp pain that was only increasing.
"Urgh!" The pain suddenly increased to levels even he hadn't expected. He dropped to his knees as his breathing halted. He had to struggle to even breathe! His heart also stopped beating momentarily.
Clenching his chest, Gabriel tried to breathe even as his vision also started turning dark! He felt suffocated!
He didn't know what this was, but it felt as if he was going to die! The pain was even worse than being stabbed again and again by Hawrin.
He had only one thought in his head at the moment. It was if he was going to die?! He couldn't have imagined, even in his dreams, that he would die from his own spells. Now he understood why the stronger spells were kept beyond his reach! Just the second spell itself was so dangerous for his soul.
He felt as if the connection that the spell was trying to establish was destroying his soul in return. He didn't know why! Why was this happening? Was it really that hard to establish a connection with a mere skeleton soldier?
His body started turning weak as he began to pass out, almost losing hope.
Fortunately, just as he felt that he was going to pass out and die, his ring came into action.
A mysterious dark light started shining all around the ring, slowly surrounding his entire body, helping relieve the pain.
His heart once again started beating, and he was finally able to breathe. He breathed heavily, trying to take as much oxygen as he could. After gasping for breath, finally, he could breathe!
He sat on his knees, huffing as if he had just raced for over a thousand miles at his top speed without resting.
The burden on his soul went down a lot. Now that Gabriel finally felt like he was going to live, he could finally think about this strange phenomenon.
If it was so hard to establish a contract with a Skeleton Soldier, he didn't even feel like imagining just how scary it would've been to try to establish a contract with a stronger being! Even now, the contract hasn't succeeded!
The realm of the Dead... It was a place where most of the Undead was said to be residing. The Undead couldn't access the world of the living, but it was the same for the Living Beings who couldn't access the Realm of the Dead... At least, that was the claim.
There were billions of Undeads in the Realm of Death, but amongst the billions, there were only fifty who ruled the Realm of Undead. They were called Supreme Undead Beings and enjoyed great prestige in the realm.
Most of the Supreme Undead Beings had their own Empires and controlled massive armies of the undead.
Strangely enough, even though there were Fifty Supreme Undeads, there were only forty-nine Empires. Almost all of the Realm of Undead was under their Control.
The Empire of Skeletons was controlled by the Skeleton King, who had the biggest army out of all the Undead Empires. His army contained not only Billions of Skeleton Soldiers but also Millions of Skeleton Mages and Skeleton Grand Mages.
Even the Skeleton King himself was able to control magic to fight! It was said that it was almost impossible to defeat the Skeleton King.
The Smallest Army of all the Undead Empires belonged to the Lich Empire, which had only a hundred thousand warriors. However, despite such a small number, they were still among the strongest Empires. There were many such powerful Empires controlled by the Forty-nine Supreme Undead Beings, but there was still one left... One that was the most unorthodox one here.
It was a Supreme Undead that controlled no Empires. Not only did he control no Empire, but he didn't try to establish one either. It was just one person, but that one person was someone that was enough to intimidate even the strongest of the Empires. He was known as the Lone Undead King.
There were no official rankings of the Supreme Undeads, but if there was one, the Lone Undead King would've been amongst the top.
A horse raced through a desert. As far as the eyes could see, only black sand could be seen.
The white horse created quite a contrast in the Black Desert, but the Horse didn't look like an ordinary horse from the earth.
Instead of one tail, the horse had nine beautiful tails. There were two horns protruding out of his head, but the strangest part was that his entire body was on fire. Deep blue flames were surrounding the horse, not looking as if it was harming the horse in the least.
A figure was sitting on the horse, covered by a black cloak which made it impossible to see his physical features. Even that figure appeared to be unaffected by the deep blue flames...
A terrifying aura of death emanated from the cloaked figure...
The horse that appeared to be talking with the wind started slowing down as if noticing something in the distance.
Around three kilometers away from the blazing horse, an army of around a thousand could be seen as if waiting for someone.
The Army seemingly belonged to the Damphir Empire. While all the Damphirs seemed more or less human, almost all of them had pale skin and dark hair.
All of them possessed sharpened teeth and claws, highlighting their undead heritage. Unlike most of the Undead that lived in the Realm of Death, only Damphirs appeared to have a heartbeat, even though a very faint one that could barely be felt.
Unlike the other Undead, that looked grim and scary; the Damphirs were graceful in appearance, similar to many humans.
This was also one of the reasons they weren't respected much by the other Undead Empires. Despite that, their Bloodline traits made them a terrifying enemy to face, mainly because their speed was inhuman.
Seeing an army of around a thousand, the Cloaked Creature made the horse stop. He jumped down the horse, landing on the black sand.
As soon as he landed on the same, smoke started rising from under his feet as if the black sand was burning his skin. The person didn't appear to care.
The cloaked figure walked closer to the Damphirs. There was not a single weapon in his hand, but still, the Damphirs felt a chill run down their spine as they saw the eyes of the cloaked figure.
The one that was leading the group gulped down, but he stood firm on his ground, even as he watched the hooded figure get close to them.
The hooded figure stopped around twenty feet before the Damphir General, who carried a heavy sword on his back.
The blazing sword still accompanied the hooded figure, who was said to be someone that could strike fear in anyone's heart. Even Damphirs felt scared of him. He was the King without a Kingdom... It was he who was known as the Lone Undead King!
The Hooded figure didn't say anything. He just gazed at the Damphirs with eyes that had not a single shred of emotion in them. Just his gaze itself was enough to convey what he wanted to say.
"Lord Infernal..." The General of the small army respectfully greeted the Lone Undead King, whose extant species was said to be the rarest in the Realm of the Undead. He was an Infernal… the beings that were said to come into existence from the Infernal flames of hell itself.
Throughout history, there were said to be only two Infernals that ever existed. Out of the two, one was already destroyed, wiped off the existence by the Infernal that stood before them.
When it came to the Undeads, he was said to be one of the most terrifying beings. Even the other Undead Kings tried to avoid him if possible. It was unclear if it was because they were scared of him or they just wanted to avoid a conflict since the Infernal Sorcerer didn't have anything to lose, unlike them.
The Infernal Sorcerer didn't have an army. He didn't have any Kingdom. He also didn't have any friends. He was all alone in the world. If he had anyone, it was only his Burning Horse who always accompanied him wherever he went.
The Damphir General was really intimidated by the Lone Undead King, especially since stories about him made him appear like a monster, even when it came to the Undeads.
His eyes subconsciously went to the left hand of the Infernal. It was said that once upon a time, the two Infernals fought each other. In the battle, the Infernal Sorcerer got his left arm damaged, while the other Infernal lost his life.
The Infernal Sorcerer noticed the Damphir General looking at his left hand.
He raised his left hand, revealing a skeleton-like hand. While his right hand seemed to be similar to that of a human, his left hand was no more than white bones. There was no flesh on his left hand as the flesh on it had already burned in the battle he had.
Through his skeleton fingers, the Infernal Sorcerer gestured for the Damphirs to move aside. Even now, he didn't speak. He just gestured for them to move aside.
"Our King commanded us not to let anyone pass through this point. Our Princess is on an exploration there, and until she is there, we can't let anyone get through. Lord Infernal, can you please take another path?"
The Damphir General was still quite respectful. Even though he was worried, he still displayed calmness. If it weren't the Damphir King's command, then he would've let the Infernal Sorcerer pass through. At the moment, he couldn't ignore the King's command just because he was scared.
He really hoped that the Infernal Sorcerer was going to understand his concern and take another path. Not like he had anywhere to be.
The Infernal Sorcerer frowned, seeing no one clearing his path. He didn't ask them to move again. Instead, he turned around and started walking back to the Burning Horse.
The Damphir General sighed in relief. It seemed the Infernal King had agreed to take another route and not escalate the conflict over a small matter.
The Infernal King once again looked in the direction of the Damphirs as he reached the horse. He climbed on the horse.
It was only after he sat on the horse that he removed his hood, revealing his face. Surprisingly, his face was quite similar to the face of a normal human, albeit very pale. He had short dark hair that covered his forehead.
The Infernal Sorcerer had a slender face that made him look like he was in his early twenties, despite him being in existence for thousands of years.
His right eye's pupils were a beautiful shade of light green. As for his left eye... That was the strange part. He didn't have a left eye... If he had, it couldn't be seen. A green fire could be seen in place of his left eye... A fire that was said to be capable of burning anything!
Damphir General grimaced, seeing the Infernal King take off his hood. He was looking straight in their direction. For some reason, the Damphir General felt as if the Infernal Sorcerer was able to see through the hidden depths of his soul.
The Damphir General wasn't the only one who felt that way. It was the case for every Damphir in the army. Whoever looked into his burning eyes they were frozen in place.
While all the Damphirs were frozen, the Infernal Sorcerer raised his skeleton hand, but this time, he didn't ask them to move aside. Instead, he clenched his fist.
As soon as the Infernal Sorcerer closed his fist, a frightening fire started burning the bodies of the Damphirs. Thousands of bodies burned right before his eyes, yet his face remained completely expressionless.
Even as the Damphirs burned, they were still standing in a daze. It was as if they were so lost in the Infernal Sorcerer's eyes that they didn't even feel their bodies being burned.
The Damphirs burned to ashes within minutes, and they didn't even fight back! Where thousands of Damphirs were standing until recently, only ashes could be seen there now.
The Infernal Sorcerer raised the hood again, covering his head.
The horse walked over the ashes of the people that were blocking their path until recently.
Just as the blazing horse passed through the ash-laden desert, a metallic door appeared before them, out of thin air. It appeared right in the middle of their path.
The Infernal Sorcerer frowned at the sight of the strange door that appeared out of nowhere. It was his first time seeing something like this happen. Before he could even think about it, the door opened.
On the other end of the door, the Infernal King could only see a bright light and nothing more!
Thousands of Chains came out of the bright light, shooting straight to the Infernal Sorcerer, who happened to be the only Undead that was closest to the door.
All the chains wrapped around the Infernal Sorcerer, trying to subdue him.
Unfortunately, the Infernal King wasn't an easy target. Even the Chains of the Spell couldn't control him since the soul strength behind those chains wasn't enough.
Let alone being able to pull him closer to the door; the chains couldn't even make him move.
The Infernal Sorcerer held a chain with each of his hands as the flame in his left eye burned even brighter.
The entire chain caught in flames, which weakened the chains even more. However, the real target of the flames wasn't the chains! It was the source of the chains.
For the next few minutes, the Infernal King seemed to have an advantage against the spell chains that were melting due to his flames.
It looked as if he was going to be free while destroying the source of the chains. Throughout the entire event, his expressions remained still, as if he didn't even feel threatened by this much.
Unfortunately for him, just as he was about to win and break the shackles, a mysterious black light came from the other side. The chains that were on the verge of being destroyed became even stronger.
The fire that was burning the Chains started weakening instead as if being subdued by the mysterious energy. The mysterious dark energy seemed to contain the purest strength of Death that was able to overwhelm even his Infernal Flames.
Finally, the Infernal Sorcerer's expressions changed as he felt a terrifying pain all around his body. Even then, he didn't give up. He fought back against the mysterious dark energy valiantly, firmly resisting the spell and the control contract that the spell was trying to establish.
What started as a battle between Gabriel's Soul Strength and the Infernal Sorcerer's flames had now changed to the battle between the Forbidden Book of Necromancy and the Infernal Sorcerer!
The battle between the Holy Grimoire and the Infernal Sorcerer raged on, but somehow the Infernal Sorcerer appeared to be at a disadvantage at this point. Despite that, it wasn't as if the Grimoire was having an easier time either.
The Infernal King felt a terrifying pain all around his body. His body soon felt like it was paralyzed as he fell off the horse. The horse tried to fight back the chains as well, but some mysterious force kept it away. The horse wasn't even able to get close to the chains.
The Infernal King was on his knees on the ground. Even moving a finger was proving to be hard for him as his entire body refused to listen to him. He didn't understand just what this dark power in the chains was, but it was overpowering his soul.
It was as if the mysterious power was trying to leave an imprint on his soul, establishing a link that shouldn't have been established.
The Infernal King resisted as best as he could. After a long struggle, he managed to raise his left hand, grabbing the burning chains. He started pulling the chain toward him. It was unclear just what this mysterious power was, but he decided to give it his all to fight back!
Throughout his long existence, he had never surrendered before anyone! He had carved his own path in the Realm of the Dead, even when things were heard! He wasn't going to surrender now!
Gabriel finally felt some relief from a tormenting pain as a mysterious energy from the Grimoire filled him up. If it weren't for that mysterious energy, he would've been dead by now, unable to breathe.
Even though the mysterious energy was supporting him, there was still some burden on his soul as he felt the resistance even now. The Resistance wasn't as overwhelming as it was when he didn't have the support of the Grimoire.
He was still on his knees while a dark energy protected his body.
Throughout the next ten minutes, he remained on his knees, feeling that resistance, wondering if he was going to fail Summoning a mere skeleton as that's what he believed his first summon could be… unaware of what he was really Summoning…
Gabriel clenched his fist.
"I can't fail! I can't let a mere skeleton defeat me!"
Even though his body was covered in sweat, he was still filled with determination. He placed his fist on the ground before pushing his body up.
He stood firmly on his ground, facing a strange pressure head on. He wasn't going to give up either! The mark on his left hand shone even brighter!
Fortunately, the pressure was going down with each passing second, and ultimately there was no pressure at all. The pressure suddenly disappeared.
Instead of feeling weak now, Gabriel felt as if he was suddenly filled with strength. It was as if his body was back to its original state as if nothing had happened in the last few minutes.
He suspiciously looked at the darkness on the other end of the door as if waiting for something. Right before the pressure disappeared, he felt a strange feeling. It was as if his heart had stopped beating once more, but it was only for a few seconds this time.
He wondered if that meant he had failed. Was that why the pressure disappeared? This one moment was going to decide if he succeeded or failed.
As he stared at the dark space, he saw a hand come out of the darkness.
The hand looked like the hand of a Skeleton. It finally made Gabriel convinced that he had established a contract with an Undead! He believed he had established a contract with a Skeleton Soldier!
His expressions soon transformed as a being stepped out of the darkness. From no angle did that being look like a skeleton! He has a proper face, even though it looked a bit pale. His burning eyes were so alluring as if there was something hidden behind that fire... Something much darker.
Whatever it was that came out of the darkness; it wasn't a skeleton! Other than the left hand, the being had nothing that matched a skeleton.
"You are... my Summoned Undead?" Gabriel asked, frowning.
The person that was standing before him wasn't a human. But he didn't look like any undead species that he heard about either.
Instead of responding to Gabriel, the Infernal Sorcerer looked around, observing his new surroundings. He had a questioning gaze on his face as he observed the new place.
He looked down at his hands as if trying to feel the energy of this place. Even the air of this place was different. It didn't have the stench of the dead. Instead, it was fresh air that made him somewhat uncomfortable. He felt really bizarre, being in a place like this.
As the summoning was completed, the door behind the Infernal Sorcerer closed. He turned around, hearing the sound of the door closing.
He reached out his hand to open the door again, but his hand managed to pass through the door as if the door was just an illusion and not real.
The door disappeared, and so did the formation that was illuminating the room. The Forbidden Book of Necromancy was once again around Gabriel's fingers in the form of a ring. It stopped sending its energy to Gabriel's body as its task was completed. The contract was completed against the wishes of the Infernal Sorcerer.
The Infernal Sorcerer felt suffocated in this place. He wanted to go back to where he came from, but there was no way!
He looked at a different door. Even though the door was different from the door he came here, he still went to the door, about to break it open.
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"Stop!" Gabriel called out, seeing the Infernal Sorcerer reacting like that.
The Infernal Sorcerer was just about to break the door open, but as soon as Gabriel asked him to stop, he felt a strange Restriction around his body, which stopped him from breaking the door.
The Infernal King was infuriated! So it was the doing of the man behind him! It was that man who pulled him here against all his wishes.
The flame in his left eye intensified as he glared back at Gabriel.
He raised his left hand again, making a similar gesture that he did before he destroyed the Damphirs. It was as if he was going to destroy Gabriel the same way he destroyed them… By burning him to cinders.
He was overwhelmed by rage and anger, and only by destroying Gabriel could he feel free!
The Infernal Sorcerer glared at Gabriel, believing him to be the one who had attacked him before! He was enraged. Throughout the time, he still hadn't spoken anything. Let alone speak; he didn't make a single noise either, despite being so angry.
Gabriel frowned, getting a strange feeling from this guy's reaction, especially since he wasn't answering either.
"Who... or rather, what are you?" he asked again, only to receive silence as his answer.
The Infernal Sorcerer pointed at Gabriel as his emotionless eyes glanced at the person one last time before he was going to be destroyed.
Thud~
With a thudding noise, the Infernal Sorcerer abruptly dropped to his knees, holding his head which felt as if it was about to explode. Just as he was about to attack Gabriel, that strange pain filled his head, overwhelming him.
"Are you alright!" Gabriel rushed to the Infernal Sorcerer. "What happened to you?"
The Infernal Sorcerer was his summoned dead. Despite technically being the owner of the Infernal Sorcerer now, Gabriel didn't know much. It was his first time dealing with the Summoned Undead, and they didn't come with an instruction manual.
For a moment, he even wondered if there was something wrong with his spell that was hurting the Infernal Sorcerer.
The pain didn't last long, fortunately. The terrifying pain went away just as fast as it came, giving some relief to the Infernal Sorcerer.
The Infernal Sorcerer raised his head, glaring at Gabriel, who was even closer to him now. He once again tried to attack Gabriel, only to experience that pain again. He once again grabbed his head, clenching his teeth in pain.
Gabriel just watched the Infernal Sorcerer struggle as if he was in pain. He didn't understand why that was happening. The Infernal Sorcerer wasn't answering either for him to know what was happening to him!
There was no way for him to understand why the Infernal Sorcerer was going through this pain. He didn't have even the slightest clue that it was because the Infernal King was trying to kill him. Now that the contract between the two was established, the Infernal King not only couldn't ignore Gabriel's commands, but he also couldn't harm him.
By now, the Infernal King also realized that much after suffering twice. As soon as the pain went away, he didn't try the same thing a third time.
He just stood up, glancing at Gabriel, wondering if he had been enslaved. He couldn't accept it! He wondered what his options were at the moment if he couldn't destroy Gabriel or leave.
He pointed at Gabriel, but this time with no intention to go back. He made a small gesture as if asking who Gabriel was in his sign language.
Seeing the gestures, Gabriel finally understood a few things. It appeared as if his contracted Undead couldn't speak, despite having a body that was so similar to a human. He was an intelligent being, but he just wasn't able to speak despite that.
"I am Gabriel. I am a Mage of Necromancy. I'm also the one who called you here to help me." Gabriel introduced himself. "Honestly, I expected a Skeleton Soldier to be summoned. I didn't expect you to pass through the door. Not that I know what you are, but I'll have to make do with what I got."
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Gabriel had no idea just what a massive feat he had accomplished with his Summon! He believed the Infernal Sorcerer to be a weak Undead, partially because he was so much like a human. He really underestimated the Infernal King!
"Anyway, now that you're here, we are bound together through a contract. Whenever I need help, I can call you for help. That's how these contacts work from what I understand," he further explained, believing the Infernal Sorcerer was confused.
"I'm sure you must be missing your home and want to go back as the realm of the living can be quite uncomfortable for you. But I can promise you, as long as you help me, I'll send you back where you came from! All I need is a little help!"
It wasn't as if he could keep the Infernal King with him always since it took a heavy toll on him. Now that the contract was established, he could call the Infernal King whenever he wanted, so there was no need to keep him in the Realm of Living always and to agitate him further.
Gabriel promised the Infernal King to send him back after they were done with this one task. However, he intentionally didn't mention that he would call the Infernal King again in case he needed more help. They were now connected through the eternal spell!
The Infernal King stood in silence as if trying to understand the situation. Since he couldn't kill Gabriel, that meant he could only help if he wanted to go back.
The Infernal King pointed back before clapping his hands together.
"Are you asking if I'm sure I'll send you back?" Gabriel couldn't understand sign language, especially when it originated from the Undead. He could only take a guess as to what the Infernal King was trying to say.
The Infernal King nodded. Even though the Infernal King was supposed to have a terrifying aura that could spread for miles, no one could sense that aura, even outside the room. It was as if that dark aura didn't exist at all.
It was all thanks to the fact that Gabriel was using Imitation of the Dead, which hid the real aura and used a fake aura so weak that no one even sensed it. Only Gabriel could sense the real aura of the Infernal King, which he believed to be expected for an undead as it was his first interaction with an Undead like that.
The aura felt like a fresh breeze to him. Even though it was the aura of a powerful Undead, he didn't know why, but he felt quite relaxed under the aura, which was hated by everyone else.
"That's right. I promise I'll send you back after we are done. In fact, by morning, you should be back already. So, are you going to help me now?"
Even though Gabriel could just issue a command to the Infernal King instead of asking, he didn't. Instead, he tried to win the trust of the Infernal King since the two of them were going to have each other's back in the future. Because it was their first contract, he didn't want to make the Infernal King hate him.
It was also a good decision from his side, even though he didn't realize it at the moment. He could definitely issue a command to the Infernal King, which he had to follow, but the more the Infernal King resisted the commands, the weaker it could make their link.
It could, in turn, place even more burden on Gabriel's Soul, which was already under a lot of pressure from using two spells simultaneously, both of which were constantly active. By not forcing the Infernal King, he avoided a perilous situation.
The Infernal King made another gesture, moving his hand slowly as if asking what help he needed. The Infernal King hated the fact that he had to deal with a kid, but now that he was here, he could go back faster by helping Gabriel. No matter how irritating it was for him, he agreed.
The Infernal King listened to Gabriel, but so far, it was only that. It was impossible to win the Infernal King's respect by just forcing him through a spell. Gabriel hadn't won his respect… at least not yet.
"I want to steal something..."
Gabriel explained the entire situation to the Infernal King, including the fact that they were at the enemy base. He also talked about his reason for coming here and why they were locked here, including the mission that he had.
"If I want to be able to leave this place, I need to rob the museum. But we can't let anyone know about that either. The Church of Light is right in the city. If they sensed us, we would be surrounded from all sides, and I don't want to face them at this time, especially since all the Academy firepower will also be after us."
"So we need to do it, and we need to do it stealthily," Gabriel explained to the Infernal King, who listened carefully. "To get out, I'll be using the Undead Swap. So here's the pla-"
"Hmm?" Gabriel was explaining his plan on how he wanted to get out, but before he could even finish, the Infernal King walked to the glass doors instead… seemingly distracted by something else.
The Infernal King glanced into the distance as if seeing something which made him frown.
A cloaked figure stood on top of a distant building, holding a scythe in its hand, staring in their direction. No face could be seen on the dark figure, as if there was only the floating cloak.
Gabriel also walked closer to the Infernal King, wondering what he was looking at like that.
He looked in the direction where the Infernal King was looking, noticing a figure standing in the distance. Despite it being dark outside, there was enough light to see the figure, thanks to the moonlight.
Seeing the distant figure, Gabriel was slightly surprised. He recognized that figure as it wasn't his first time seeing that figure. He saw the exact figure on at least two occasions.
It was the same Dark Spectre who was trying to destroy his Spirit before he was selected by the Grimoire. He saw the figure not long after he had died. In fact, that was also the first time he saw any spiritual being in his life. At that moment, he thought that it was the end for him, but the Grimoire saved him.
That wasn't the only meeting that he initially assumed was going to be his last time seeing the Spectre, but it appeared again when it helped him. When Gabriel needed to travel through the river of spirits, the specter was the one who helped him.
He still didn't understand why the Spectre helped him at that time, but he didn't think too much about it. Every time the specter appeared before him, it was for something significant. But why this time?
"What is it doing here?"
Gabriel didn't expect the Spectre to be here and at this time! What surprised him even more was that no one else could sense the reaper other than them. No Mages of Light were here to capture him, despite his frightening dark aura and the Church of Light being in the city!
He could sense the dark aura of the Spectre. Unlike him, the Spectre wasn't hiding his aura. Then why wasn't anyone else able to feel him?
The city was a bastion of Light. It was the Holy City which was heavily protected by the Church of Light. Even he himself could only enter the city, thanks to having the Element of Light and his attire that hid his aura of Death. But what about the Spectre?
It didn't have the Element of Light. It was the embodiment of death itself. For it to even pass through the barrier of light undetected should've been impossible. Yet, not only did it pass through, but it also entered the Academy.
And even if the Spectre was here, it didn't make sense. Why would he come here?
"Could it be because I called an Undead to the Realm of Living? Is it here to stop me? Or could it be for something else?"
"Do you know that guy?" he asked the Infernal King, wondering if the two knew each other, since both of them were related to the Realm of Death in their own way.
It had the highest possibility that the specter was here for the Infernal Sorcerer. The way Infernal Sorcerer looked at the Spectre, it was as if there was definitely some history between the two.
The Infernal King clenched his fist. The being that was usually very calm was showing quite a lot of reaction at the sight of the Spectre now. He didn't answer Gabriel's questions, as if he couldn't even hear the questions.
His body turned into the purest form of flames. The flames passed through the small opening under the glass door, appearing on the other side of the door. It was as if the Infernal King remembered that he wasn't allowed to break the door, which made him choose another way to leave to avoid the headache.
"Wait! Don't!" Gabriel was stunned to find the Infernal Sorcerer leaving. If he attacked or made any commotion, it was going to be quite a headache.
Unfortunately, as the Infernal King appeared on the balcony and looked into the distance, the Spectre wasn't there anymore. He had disappeared.
The Infernal King still blankly looked at the place where the specter was standing previously.
Gabriel sighed in relief, getting a feeling that the Infernal Sorcerer and the Spectre didn't have a good relationship.
Gabriel was less surprised about the disappearance of the Spectre as he had become habitual of it, but what surprised him was the trick that the Infernal Sorcerer pulled.
"And here I was, thinking of a plan to get out."
If the Infernal King could get out through the balcony, then that was better. He didn't have to go through extra steps of his plan to get out of this room, which was just perfect!
"Undead Swap!" Gabriel cast the fourth spell.
As soon as he chanted the spell, his surroundings turned white. He felt a strange spatial pressure around him, and the next thing he knew, he was standing out on the balcony. Meanwhile, the Infernal King was now inside the room.
"It worked!" Gabriel could feel the cold winds of outside brushing against his skin as he basked in the moonlight.
He turned around to find the Infernal Sorcerer inside. "Thank you for the help. However, from here on, I'll have to do everything on my own. Just stay inside the room and don't leave the room even if you can. I'll be right back after I'm done!"
"Oh, and don't burn anything inside the room. Just stay there, and wait. There must be no damage to the property. And in case someone knocks on the door, just don't make any noise or try to open the door! Just let them think that I'm asleep. You understand?"
Even though he was curious about the Spectre's appearance, now that he left, he let it be. He didn't think much about it as there was another important thing for him to do.
The Infernal Sorcerer still felt irritated that a kid was commanding him, but he could only agree since only this led him back home.
"Perfect."
Gabriel looked down from the balcony, noticing a few guards outside the Dorms. Ever since the incident from last time, the security was slightly increased.
Fortunately, it was still less than what it was going to be tomorrow if the Academy didn't find their killer until then, so he needed to take care of the matters tonight.
Moreover, tonight he also had an alibi! There were so many people outside his room, which was sealed, so no matter what happened tonight, he was going to be the last person that anyone was going to be suspicious about.
He used his Ring of Apophis to change his looks once more, but this time, he didn't change himself to look like someone who wasn't in the academy. This time, he used the disguise of someone who was very well known in the academy.
That was risky as well since there was a small chance that the person might come before him, which could create trouble for him, but it was a risk he was willing to take.
The Infernal Sorcerer watched Gabriel transform into another person. Through his right eye, he could see the transformed look of Gabriel, but through his left eye, which was covered by flames, he was able to see through all illusions. Through it, he was able to see Gabriel was still the same, and he was just using the illusion.
"Remember everything I said, and don't leave the room at any cost!" Gabriel commanded the man before he moved closer to the edge of the balcony.
He climbed on the railings of the balcony and jumped off, landing right behind all the guards.
The heavy sound of his feet landing on the ground alerted the guards. They all turned around, alert.
"Lady Eliana!" The men respectfully greeted Gabriel, who was now in the disguise of the person who had the highest authority in the Academy! He was disguised as Eliana! The Head of House of Light! At least that's what the illusion made everyone see him as.
"What are all of you doing at the same place, chattering? Is that how you protect the place? No wonder there is no security here! Spread out and less talking!" Gabriel scolded the people, using the same time that Eliana was known for.
He had seen Eliana enough to know how she behaved. Before these people could ask any questions about what she was doing here, Gabriel scolded them and made them feel like they were caught doing something wrong! The men acknowledged that they were wrong and spread out.
Right before their eyes, Gabriel walked away. Not a single person knew how they were fooled!
While Gabriel had fooled real guards by using the shock factor, there was another set of guards that were also shocked.
The guards that protected the main entrance of the Academy of Elements watched three carriages arrive toward the Academy. As for the beautiful carriages, they were so distinct that it wasn't hard for the guards to know who they belonged to!
"The Church of Water?" One of the guards exclaimed. "At this time? Why here?'
As the guards were confused, the carriages stopped.
The door of the first carriage opened, and a beautiful woman stepped out of the Carriage, dressed in a beautiful blue gown.
"Head Priestess of the Church of Water?" The men were able to understand what position the woman held through the insignia on her chest. But they didn't understand why she was there.
The Head Priestess walked to the guards. "Lady Elora is here to meet the Dean. Please inform the Dean."
"Lady Elora is here to meet the Dean. Please inform the Dean."
Just that one statement was enough to make the guards even more amazed. If a Head Priestess being here was a big deal, then Lady Elora's arrival was even more incredible! Elora was said to be the name of the new Head of Holy Church of Water, after all!
In other terms, she was amongst the six stronger Mages at the moment, all being Heads of various Holy Churches!
"I-is she really here?" The guard asked. To him, it was as if one of the gods had arrived here personally!
"She is waiting inside the carriage. We know the protocol of the Academy. Go and inform your Dean about our arrival. We will wait."
The Head Priestess turned around and started walking back. Generally, she would've simply asked them to let them enter as it was, but the Academy and the Churches had a long relationship, and they knew how each worked. Even if they wanted to barge in uninvited, it wasn't going to be allowed.
Moreover, this city had the Holy Church of Light here. They didn't want to draw more unnecessary attention than they already did by coming to this city since that was detrimental to their cause.
"The Dean isn't at the Academy!" Watching the Head Priestess go back, the Guard hastily informed her, stunning her.
The Head Priestess stopped. She turned around, revealing slight anger on her face. "What did you say?"
The guard took a step back, subconsciously. For some reason, he felt scared before her aura that momentarily became unstable. Fortunately, the Head Priestess soon controlled her aura.
The guards gulped heavily. "The Dean isn't at the Academy. He left the academy on some important business, so it would be impossible for you to meet him here."
The Head Priestess went to the second carriage, knocking on the door.
The door of the carriage opened. The Head Priestess entered the carriage.
After a few minutes, she came out again. She went back to the guard. "It's fine. We will meet whoever is incharge at the moment."
"That would be Lady Eliana. I will inform her about your arrival. Please wait."
The guard hastily rushed inside the academy, going straight to the Castle. That was the place where Dean was supposed to live, but as the acting Dean, Eliana was staying there for the moment.
Even the guard wasn't allowed to enter the Castle without permission. He was stopped by the other guards. After explaining the situation, he was allowed to enter the castle.
Eliana was standing near one of the windows, gazing at the beautiful moon outside that was preventing the darkness from taking over. She didn't know why, but tonight she had a really bad feeling for some reason. She just couldn't understand why that was the case.
Because of that strange feeling, she hadn't been able to sleep at all. She was thinking about going out for a walk, but as she was about to, there was a knock on the door.
She walked to the door and opened it, finding a couple of guards there.
"Did something happen?" Seeing the grim expressions on the guards' faces, she wondered if something had happened. "Don't tell me someone died again?"
"The Head of Church of Water, Lady Elora, is here with her entourage. We were informed that she was here to meet the Dean, but in his absence, she now demands to meet you."
The guard explained the entire situation. If the guards were surprised to find Elora here, Eliana was no different.
"Why would that woman come here?" She asked, frowning.
She hadn't met Elora before, but she had heard some stories about her. She was very young, yet she became the Head of the Church of Water. Her arrival here was like the arrival of the Head of the Church of Light; only it should've been even rarer since the Church of Water wasn't established in the Lumen Kingdom.
The guards remained silent. Even if Elora was here, they were going to be the last person to know why she was here. They were mere Guards, after all. There was no way anyone was going to tell them the real reason they were here.
"Alright, do one thing. Go and wake the others from the Head Council as well. Since it's a Head from the Church, it's only fair all of us are here to meet her," she commanded one of the guards. "Tell them to be here in five minutes."
"As for you." She shifted her attention to the guard who was assigned at the main entrance.
"Allow their Carriage to enter the Academy, but keep an eye on them. I don't want anyone from their group roaming around our academy without us knowing about it. If possible, their carriages should only stop before this castle!"
All the guards retreated after acknowledging the commands.
Gabriel walked through the night, advancing toward the Museum of Artifacts. Along the way, he had once again changed his disguise to look like a senior student as well since they roamed freely without much restriction.
He selected the face of one of the Third Year Students this time, the one that he had seen in the morning when everyone was gathered together.
Eliana's disguise could only attract too much attention for now, which he decided to avoid until it was needed.
Despite it being midnight, there were still so many students who were just roaming freely, most of them being Seniors. Since Gabriel also looked like a Third Year student because of his attire, not many people showed any interest in him.
It was only after Gabriel started getting closer to the Museum that he once again changed his attire and returned to the Illusion of Eliana, not realizing just what mess it could cause in the current situation.
There were rarely any students in his vicinity, and he made sure that none saw him changing his illusion.
Unfortunately, as he stepped closer to the Museum, he saw three carriages coming from the distance, being escorted by multiple guards.
"The Church of Water?" Even though the carriages were in the distance, Gabriel recognized seeing one such carriage before! They were carriages that belonged to the Church of Water! And if they were being escorted under such Security, then could it be that someone special was coming...? Someone like Elora?!
If it was Elora in one of the carriages, then it was a disaster since Elora could see through the illusions of the Ring of Apophis! She could see his true face!
The Ring of Apophis was a miraculous Numen, but no matter how amazing a Numen was, they all had one flaw or another! One such flaw of a Numen like the Ring of Apophis, according to Lambard, was that the illusion didn't work before the Head of Churches because they had their souls bound with the Grimoires!
Gabriel didn't want Elora to see him here as she was definitely going to get suspicious. There was no way she would've forgotten seeing him in the Castle of Lambard with Lira! Moreover, it was also possible that she blamed him for the death of her Head Priestess! Under no situation could he allow her to see him, even by accident!
Moreover, as the carriages got closer, he felt that familiar aura once again! He was sure that Elora was actually inside one of those Carriages! The Head of the Church of Water was here?
He hastily hid behind one of the bushes, taking cover. When he left his room tonight, finding Elora here was the last thing he could've imagined. It was like the destiny was playing tricks on him.
"Out of all the places, she just had to arrive here! Out of all the nights, she just had to select this night!"
For a moment, he even wondered if he needed to abandon the plan tonight. There were too many factors at play here.
"No. I can't give up after coming so far! She hasn't seen him. She can't stop me! As soon as she leaves, I'll continue!"
As Gabriel was talking to himself, lost in his own thoughts, he didn't sense someone approaching him.
"Did you lose something?"
It was only after he heard a voice behind him that he realized that someone was there. Moreover, that voice... He recognized the voice!
"Maya?" He subconsciously exclaimed.
"You know my name?"
The person behind Gabriel was slightly taken aback. Since Gabriel was still using the illusion, his voice felt like Eliana's voice in Maya's ears.
Fortunately, the Carriages had left by now, moving past the vicinity. Gabriel could finally sigh a breath of relief.
He stood up and turned to gaze at Maya. He couldn't show any emotions for now. He had more important things to do. Even before Maya, he needed to play the part of Eliana.
"M-mam?"
Even Maya was shocked to find out that it was Eliana! The acting Dean of the academy. What was even more surprising was that someone so high up knew her name!
"You know my name?" she asked again.
"Of course, I would know. I know all the students of the Academy, you in particular." Gabriel came up with an excuse to control his blunder. "I heard you killed a Dark Mage not too long ago?"
"We need more people like you at our academy! We must kill all those Demons! How dare they exist! Right?"
The more Gabriel talked, the more he realized that he was losing control of his emotions, and at the time, he couldn't afford that! It wasn't the time!
Maya was also taken aback. She didn't know why, but she felt anger behind those words. She thought that it was the anger toward the Dark Mages. Never in her dreams could she have thought that the anger was for her.
There was something even more bewildering for her though. She didn't understand why Eliana knew about it. The Holy Church of Light had asked her to keep it a secret. Then again, she thought that maybe the Church itself told Eliana since she was the head of the academy now. She didn't think too much about it.
Gabriel also realized that if he stayed in Maya's presence for longer, he might do something in anger that he would regret later on. He needed to leave.
"Anyway, I had dropped something. Don't have to worry about it though. I already found what I lost," Gabriel answered. "You should go back to your room and sleep. If you aren't well rested, how will you learn tomorrow? Go back to your Dorms."
"Ah, Y-yes mam."
There was no way Maya could say no to a command that came from Eliana! She agreed and went back to her dorm, giving Gabriel some privacy. Even though she went back, there were still quite a lot of questions in her head. She didn't know what it was about Eliana, but something felt different about her. She just couldn't put a finger on what it was.
Gabriel watched Maya leave. There were so many thoughts in his head as he watched her leave. For some reason, only the bad thoughts came to his head. He remembered the moment he was backstabbed when he was trying to save Maya's mother...
That scene had replayed in his head so many times when he was unconscious after being hurt that he had lost count.
He took a deep breath, shaking his head. He needed to distract himself now! And what better distraction than his goal?
As soon as Maya disappeared from his sight, he came out and observed the surroundings again. There was no one there now. The Carriages had also left by now.
Gabriel finally reached the Museum of the Academy, which was also one of the most important places since it was where the Numens were kept under heavy security.
The Museum was still being heavily guarded. Fortunately for him, since he was in the disguise of Eliana, the guards didn't attack him! In case he had arrived here as a Student at such a time, even he would've been in trouble since no student was allowed to get this close to the Museum at a time like this.
Gabriel knew that this was a crucial part of his plan. He needed to play the part, and he needed to make sure the guards didn't see anything amiss.
He walked closer to the guards, using the same tactic as before. He didn't even give them the time to speak or anything before he started speaking.
"Is Rem still not here?"
What better than one teacher? Two teachers from the Head Council! To make it seem like it was an important matter that couldn't be questioned, he tossed another heavy name.
"When Rem and Xinci arrive, tell them I already went inside. They can meet up inside."
As soon as he finished, he didn't even wait for a response before taking a step forward, as if it was his own place. Since Eliana was the acting Dean at the moment, even the guards couldn't technically stop her.
They were curious about why she might be here at this time, but since other Head Council Members were going to be here as well, they reckoned that it must be something important.
Gabriel was allowed to walk past the guards without raising much suspicion. In fact, even he was surprised by how smoothly it went.
He entered his final destination... The Museum of Artifacts!
The Carriages from the Church of Water stopped before the Dean's Castle.
Throughout the journey, the carriages were escorted by the guards of the Academy to make sure that not a single person from the Church of Water could leave on their own, unaccompanied.
By the time the Carriages stopped, all the teachers from the Head Council had already gathered at the entrance of the Castle to welcome the Head of the Church of Water.
If it were just a Head Priest, the Head Council Members still would've hesitated in giving these guests so much importance, but as it was the Ruler of Water herself who came here, they needed to show her proper courtesy.
Despite that, there were some who were still discontent, especially with the timing of their arrival. The one who was the most irritated was the Head Teachers of the House of Lightning Qin.
"I was having such a nice dream, and I was woken up. Can't these people wait until the morning?" Qin complained to Eliana. "They just had to disturb our sleep!"
"I don't think they wanted to disturb our sleep either," Eliana answered, standing firm with her hands behind her back. "If the Ruler of Water had to come here at this hour, then it must be something important. We should at least listen to her."
"I agree. If they came here, I don't think they came here for a picnic." Rem agreed with Eliana. "Something important must've happened. Something that can make a Ruler of the Church come here herself."
The doors of the three Carriages opened. From the first carriage, there came three Head Priestesses. From the third carriage, there came three more.
"Hmm? Why would she bring so many Head Priestesses?" Xinci grimaced. "Is she here to wage war or something?"
A Head Priest or a Head Priestess was the second in command at a Sacred Church of Element. They were strongest after the Ruler of the Church. Just one Head Priest was enough to defeat hundreds of advanced mages, let alone six.
Not a single person in the Head Teachers Council could understand why Elora came with so many Head Priestesses. Something didn't seem right.
Finally, the door of the middle carriage opened, and a woman stepped out, being another Head Priestess! There were now Seven Head Priestesses here when each Head Priestess was almost on the same level as the Mages of the Head Teacher Council.
"If there is a battle, we would be at quite a disadvantage," Yoan muttered under his breath. "Even though they were inside the Academy, there were only six of them, while there were seven Head Priestesses, but even counting the Ruler of Water herself."
Even Eliana was somewhat suspicious now, but she still had faith in herself! This Academy was their base. Even if the entourage from the Church of Water tried to pull something, they had ways to counter it!
Moreover, the Sacred Church of Light was also nearby. If the Mages of Water actually attacked the academy, it was going to cause an all-out war of the Lumen Empire with the Church of Water, which even the Church of Water couldn't afford since the Academy and the Holy Church of Light were going to fight together on one side!
Moreover, just because the Dean wasn't here didn't mean there were no defenses at the Academy to hold a Ruler of Element back. Also, it wasn't as if the Dean was never going to return. If Elora tried to pull anything here, they were going to burn all the bridges in between.
Another person came out from the second carriage. A beautiful blue-haired woman stepped out of the carriage, donning an exquisite blue gown wrapped around her figure. Her deep hazel eyes observed all the Teachers of the Head Council. She was Elora, the Ruler of the Element of Water!
Elora could feel the unease on the faces of their hosts. She also understood just what could be making them uneasy. She did come with a heavy entourage at such a late hour, after all.
Despite their uncertainty, Eliana stepped forward, reaching out her hand. "Welcome to the Academy, Lady Elora."
"I am Eliana, the Dean of this Academy in the absence of Lord Izen." Eliana introduced herself before turning to the others. "They are the Head Council Members and leaders of their respective Elemental Houses."
"He is Rem, from House of Earth. Right next to him is Lishen, from House of Wind..."
One after another, Eliana introduced all the Head Council Members. Elora greeted them all with great respect.
Surprisingly, her reaction was quite different at the moment than it was in the past when Lambard introduced Gabriel and Lira. Since these people held important positions at an important organization, she did greet them properly instead of ignoring the introductions.
Elora also introduced people from her side, starting from Joan, who was on her right.
Joan was also the closest to her at the moment. Other than Elora, Joan was the one other person who had seen Gabriel and Lira before since she was in Lambard's city with her.
"It's good to be here." Elora smiled. "Is there a private place where we can talk?"
"Of course. I was informed that you came here to talk to our Dean. In the absence of Lord Izen, I might be handling the administration, but the entire Head Council is responsible for the Academy. I hope you won't mind if they accompany us as well?"
"Ah."
Elora seemed somewhat hesitant with the proposal. She just wanted to deal with one person since many uncertain factors could come into play if there were more people in the equation. It was much easier to deal with one person.
"I am afraid I would have to decline the offer. I'm here for something which I am not comfortable telling more people than I need to. I only wanted to talk to Lord Izen about it, but since he's not here, I came to talk to you as I have no choice. Can just the two of us talk?"
The Infernal King was left inside the room all alone with his thoughts.
He just stood near the glass window, gazing outside. It was the world of the living... The realm where an undead like him shouldn't have been. Even the air of this place was disgusting to him.
Fortunately, he appeared to control himself well, despite being in a place that he hated. He didn't try to leave anymore. If all he needed to do was to spend the night in the room, then he was going to do it.
However, he did keep glancing back at the place where he had seen that Spectre before.
Not long after Gabriel left the room, the Infernal King felt another powerful aura getting closer. The aura was strange. It was filled with life, yet it was something that he could feel being quite powerful.
The aura was definitely stronger than what Gabriel had at the moment. He was really curious about just what kind of people there were in this realm and who had that peculiar aura, but he controlled his curiosity.
For someone like him, who often did what he wanted without caring about a single thing, it was quite challenging to stop himself.
The Infernal King didn't know that it was someone who was considered to be something akin to a god in this world. He was sensing the aura of Elora, despite being so far away.
The Infernal King stared at the moon, which was so different here. They also had a moon in their realm, but their moon was quite different. Their moon was a darker shade of red.
The Infernal King was distracted by the moon, but he soon came out of his daze as he sensed another presence in the room.
He swiftly turned around, noticing that the Spectre was now inside the room.
The specter just floated in the air as if observing the Infernal King from closer.
The Infernal King clenched his fist.
"It's you!"
Shockingly, the Infernal King spoke at the sight of the Spectre. His voice was slightly hoarse and made it seem as if he really did have a hard time communicating, but he could at least speak.
Despite being able to speak, there was not a single person who had heard his voice... At least no one other than the ones that were present in the room at the moment.
Without thinking twice, the Infernal King attacked the Spectre, but before he could even get close, the Spectre again disappeared.
The specter disappeared from the room, leaving the Infernal King all alone.
The Infernal King could still feel that presence though. He once again turned to the glass doors, noticing the Spectre standing on top of the same building as before, once again.
The Infernal King was so uneasy for some reason that he was showing expressions that he had never revealed before. It was as if he knew that Spectre! Not only did he know the Spectre, but he also appeared to have an intrinsic hate for the Spectre!
In his anger, he decided to chase after the Spectre and leave the room!
Unfortunately, just as he was about to attempt to leave the room, he felt that dreaded headache again.
Despite the pain, he didn't fall to his knees this time, but he also couldn't leave the room. The more he thought about it, the worse that pain became. Ultimately, he took a step back, breathing heavily!
He was like a caged Bird who wanted to leave but couldn't! He hated it!
The Spectre's figure flickered. The next moment, he appeared on the balcony, on the other side of the glass door.
p The specter didn't seem to be mocking the Infernal King though. It was as if he was trying to tell the Infernal King something.
The Infernal King stepped closer to the glass door, realizing something. So what if he couldn't leave the room? That didn't mean he couldn't do anything else.
The flames in Infernal King's eyes flickered even brighter, getting slightly darker as well. If he couldn't leave the room, he was going to destroy the specter without leaving the room!
He raised his left hand. As if copying him, the Spectre also raised its left hand. As soon as the Specter raised his left hand, a mountain of pressure landed on the Infernal King that pressed down on him!
He was as if the pressure wanted to force him to his knees, but the Infernal King resisted! A dark fire lit up around the Infernal Sorcerer, giving him what seemed like an armor of flames! The flames made him fight the pressure as well.
Despite the pressure, the Infernal King was able to stay standing. Another fire lit up at the moment, but that fire was around the specter! The fire was similar to the fire that burned the Damphirs to ashes. Just like the Damphirs, the Spectre didn't move even as the fire burned around his body!
Surprisingly, the Infernal Sorcerer was so precise in his control of the fire that the fire didn't even touch the floor, leaving no burning marks on the balcony floors.
Even though the Infernal King was trying to kill the Spectre, he still had the help that Gabriel wanted in the back of his mind. Gabriel had told him the plan, and there needed to be no stranger evident left behind that he left the floor. The burning marks outside could've been hard to explain, making the Infernal King only target the Spectre!
If the Infernal King didn't have to be so precise because of Gabriel, someone like him would've destroyed the entire building with the Spectre in his rage, maybe even the whole Academy!
The Spectre stood in the middle of the Flames, not even attempting an escape. However, the outcome with him was different.
The Damphirs couldn't leave because they didn't even know they were being burned. Their consciousness was distracted by the Infernal King, but this wasn't the same with the Spectre. Even the Infernal King couldn't sleep the Spectre's mind hostage! The Spectre stayed there out of his own wish.
"Boom!"
The pressure on the Infernal King only intensified as well. He couldn't help but take a few steps back to balance himself.
The fire around the specter disappeared... There was not even a single sign of the specter being harmed, let alone being destroyed! It was as if even the Infernal Flames failed even to touch him!
The Specter passed through the glass doors, floating closer to the Infernal King.
Eliana glanced back at the other Head Council Members. She was just an acting Dean. If Elora was here with an important request that needed the authority of a Dean, then she didn't feel comfortable handling that herself. She wanted the entire Head Council to be there, so a consensus could be made for them.
"If you're here for a minor matter, of course, we can talk alone." Eliana agreed, but she added a condition. "But if you're here for something that requires me to use the Dean's authority over the Academy, then I'm afraid I would have to keep the Head Council with me. We take important decisions together."
Elora was quite disappointed with the response. If she was here at this time, of course the matter couldn't be small. She needed the help of the Dean of the Academy. With her condition, Eliana had indirectly rejected her offer of talking alone without explicitly rejecting it.
Elora let out a sigh, thinking about it for a minute. "Fine. All of them can be there."
Ultimately, she could only agree. She was here to take their help, and she couldn't do that by forcing them.
"That's great. Please come inside!"
Eliana escorted Elora and the others inside the castle.
The Head Council members accompanied them, quite curious about what Elora was here for. From her response, it was clear that Elora was here to ask for some help from the Academy... And a significant help at that.
Both the groups had eight people in them. The group from the Church of Water was led by Elora, while the group of Head Council was being led by Eliana.
The sixteen people entered the meeting hall where Eliana had declared her verdict about Caen's test in the morning.
The doors were closed after everyone took their seats, with Eliana and Elora sitting face to face.
"We can talk about anything here, and the news won't get out of this room. So you can talk freely."
Elora sat with her hands on the table, gazing at her fingers as if trying to think of the best way to raise this topic. She seemed a bit distracted about something as well.
All the Head Council members waited for her to speak.
After a brief period of silence, Elora finally spoke. "You might be wondering why there are so many Head Priestesses with me outside the Church?"
"That thought did cross my mind," Eliana affirmed.
"A Head Priestess of ours was killed," Elora answered. "Not too long ago at that."
"Hmm?" Eliana and other Head Council members were taken aback. Head Priest and Priestesses weren't ones that could be killed that easily. They were pretty strong, after all.
"A battle with a Head Priest from another church?" Qin asked. "That can explain it."
If a Head Priestess was killed, it could be possible that another Church was involved since they had the strength needed.
"But why would someone kill a Head Priestess from the Church of Water?" Xinci shook her head. "That won't make sense. No Church would do something like this to someone from another Church, especially someone at such a high position."
She further stated, "That makes me think it wasn't the work of another Church."
"You're right. You don't have to guess anymore. We already know who the culprits are," Elora chimed in. "It was a group of two. One of them was a Dark Mage for sure, maybe even both of them."
"A Dark Mage that killed a Head Priestess? Are there still such strong Dark Mages left?x Yann asked. "That's intriguing."
"Surprisingly, it's the second time we are hearing of Dark Mage today. Apparently, a Dark Mage also killed a Priest of the Church of Light in a small village," Rem chimed in, remembering reading about something similar in Hawrin's file. "Could it really be a coincidence? Or could it be that the Church of Darkness is trying to make a return?"
"I'm not sure. But the Dark Mage lured Ruyi behind them. By the time I found out, she was already dead. I tried to find them, but as you might expect, it's not easy," Elora further explained.
"Is that why you're here? How can we help you with that? If you couldn't find the Dark Mage that killed your Priestess, how can we?" Eliana appeared confused. Just how was that related to the help the Church needed? She didn't understand.
"We don't need your help to find them." Elora smiled in response. It seemed as if these people were underestimating her.
She continued, "We will find that person ourselves. I was just explaining the reason for so many to be accompanying me. Apparently they are concerned that the Church of Darkness might be making a return and might target me. So they insisted on accompanying me here."
"So if you were worrying about their presence here, don't be. We aren't here for war," she once again assured Eliana. "As for why we're actually here... It's because we need to borrow an item from your Museum for a few minutes... We only need to use it temporarily. The item won't even leave your museum, that I can assure you."
"If you want, you can also accompany us to make sure we don't do anything else."
Gabriel entered the Museum of Element, entering the ground floor where he had been in the morning. The guards seemed different at the moment, but their positions were the same.
He walked to the stairs. Once again, he could feel the eagerness of his Ring! He was getting closer to what it wanted!
With each step he took, he was closer to his goal, but he still had to take care of the guards. That was his biggest concern at the moment.
He reached the main floor... The hall where the most important of Numens were kept, but as soon as he stepped into the hall, his expression twisted!
The place was different than he had imagined! The guards… All of them were lying on the ground, unmoving! There was not a single droplet of blood on the floor, which made it appear as if they were simply sleeping.
It didn't make sense for all of them to fall asleep at the same time, which made Gabriel assured that either they were dead or they were unconscious.
He also noticed another person in the room—the only person who wasn't lying on the ground.
Lelin was standing near one of the Numens, holding the box that Gabriel wanted!
"There it goes." Lelin was slightly distracted by the box as if he needed all his focus to open the box. And surprised, he even managed to succeed in unlocking the box, which was said to be impossible to open.
Gabriel didn't know why Lelin was here, but he couldn't let Lelin take what was in the box.
Before Lelin could open the unlocked box to reveal what was inside, Gabriel attacked with a spell of light. A sphere of pure energy shot to Lelin. Sensing the attack, Lelin finally came out of his daze. He subconsciously stepped aside, without even looking where the attack was coming from. It was as if his battle sense was just so good.
Unfortunately, it appeared as if he had misjudged this time. Even though the sphere of energy missed him, it did manage to hit the wooden box.
The wooden box flew from the hands of Lelin, falling into the distance.
"You!" Lelin glared at Gabriel. "I told you that you mustn't create obstruction in my path!"
At the moment he was distracted, the box fell to the ground, opened. The items inside the box fell out, being two beautiful crystal orbs. However, one of the two orbs was white. The other one was pitch black.
Still affected by the impact, both the orbs went in different directions. While the white orb rolled to the wall in the back, the black orb seemingly rolled much farther.
By the time Lelin turned around, he saw the box, which was completely empty by now. His eyes roamed the entire surrounding, trying to locate something. He only sighed in relief as he saw the white orb.
Since the black orb was now behind one of the pillars, he couldn't see the black orb. It was as if he didn't even know the existence of the black orb and only cared for the white one.
Gabriel, on the other hand, saw both the orbs. He wondered if the orbs were what the Grimoire was after.
He ran toward the white orb as well while attacking once again. Unfortunately, it seemed Lelin was prepared for the attack this time. He raised his left hand.
"Shield of Purity!" He raised his left hand. A majestic white shield appeared before him, which blocked the attack of Gabriel.
For some reason, Gabriel had already slowed down by now. The closer he got to the White Orb, the more he realized that something was wrong. His Grimoire was reacting much less now. It was as if the Grimoire wasn't after the white orb.
He wondered if it was the Black Orb in the box that attracted his Grimoire in the first place. Despite this revelation, he still wanted to retrieve the white orb! Whatever it was, he believed it could be of use sooner or later, even if his Grimoire didn't want it!
At the same time as protecting himself, Lelin also cast another spell.
"Judgment of Light!"
Gabriel was close to the white orb when around ten floating swords made of light appeared before him. The light of the swords was so bright that it was blinding.
The ten swords flew to Gabriel like they were arrows that left a bow with the intention of killing the enemy.
"Shield of Undead!"
Gabriel had a weak shield of light, but he didn't use it at this point. He was sure that the low-tier shield of light couldn't stop the swords, which made even him feel like he was going to die if he didn't stop them.
Hundreds of Dark Spirits came out of his majestic ring, forming a shield before him within a fraction of a second! The screeching sound of the spirits was so loud that it should've been heard for a long distance. Despite that, even the mages on the lower floor weren't able to hear it.
As soon as Lelin arrived on this floor, he had already cast a spell on this floor to make sure no noise went out of this place.
The Unholy Shield of Dark Spirits gave the best layer of defense to Gabriel. It was the strongest protective spell that he had which blocked the attack of Light. Despite that, it didn't have an easy time. Gabriel didn't use his staff or his Grimoire to cast the spell, so its potential was quite limited with how he used it.
"As expected..." Lelin muttered, seeing the dark spirits protecting Gabriel. It was as if he wasn't surprised in the least. In the meantime, he also picked up the white orb that fit perfectly in his palm.
Elora placed her request before Eliana and the Head Council Teachers. All she wanted was the right to use one of the Artifacts that the Academy possessed, and only for a little while.
The decision was for Eliana to take now. All Elora could do now was to wait. However, she was sure that they were going to agree. It wasn't as if she was permanently asking for the Artifact. She was going to use it here and then return.
"Can you excuse us for a minute?" Eliana left the room with the other teachers to discuss in privacy.
Outside the hall, she discussed with the others if they should give permission.
"I don't think there is any risk in that. The artifact she wants to use isn't a particularly dangerous one. I think we should take her to the Museum right now and let her use it for a few minutes so we can be done with it." Eliana suggested. "We will all be with her. I doubt she will do anything stupid."
"I don't know. We are literally talking about taking her to where we keep all our Numens. I also agree that she won't pull anything stupid, but still... Why should we help her?" Yann asked. "We are supposed to be the neutral party. If we allow her to use something, what's stopping other Churches from coming tomorrow and asking the same?"
"I agree." Qin stood with folded arms, nodding. "If we do it now, it'll establish a precedent, which might become a pain in the neck in the future. It can be a real headache, you know."
Xinci also agreed. "Agreed. If we allow Elora, we'll have to allow other Churches, or we'll look biased."
"We can't just say no to them for such a small request. But I do agree as well. It will establish a precedent," Rem agreed as well. "But I think we won't have to worry about that precedent much."
"Why not?" Xinci asked as everyone looked at Rem, wondering just how he came to that conclusion.
"The Dean isn't here. We are temporarily managing the academy. The decisions we take don't establish much of a precedent that can't be avoided since we don't have the ultimate authority," Rem explained briefly.
"In other words, when Lord Izen returns, if he disagrees with what we did, he can just say that we were wrong. And if another Church comes to ask for the same thing, it can be claimed that we naively acted on our own and we were wrong. Even though it would look slightly bad on our part, but the academy won't look biased."
"I'm sure Lord Izen would have agreed with what I'm saying as well. Since we aren't him, our decisions at the current moment don't hold much of an importance."
As Rem clarified, everyone seemed to finally understand what he was trying to say! They weren't the Dean of the academy. The Dean could say that we acted on our own here since we didn't know better, and he won't have to worry about this precedent.
"I think Rem is right." Lishen also chimed in, and to no one's surprise, he agreed with Rem.
However, he further clarified as well. "Elora came all this far, at a time like this. It won't be good optics if we send her back without agreeing to such a small request. Also, we can ask her not to mention what happened here outside and that it is going to be a one-time thing. That should take care of most of the problems."
"Everyone in agreement?" Eliana asked. For one, she did agree with the proposal, but just to be sure, she wanted to get everyone's agreement.
"Oh, what the heck. We are already up. I don't want this disturbance in my sleep to be for nothing. Just let her do it so we can send her back fast." Qin also voiced his agreement in the end.
Not long after, the others also agreed. !
"If that's what others want, then I also agree. We can help Elora this once."
As everyone was finally in agreement, Eliana entered the hall again. All the House Leaders took their seats.
"We have come to a decision. We can grant your request, but as you may expect, we have some conditions of our own."
Elora smirked. "I expected that. So, what do you want in exchange?"
She believed that the Academy's conditions were no more than the things they wanted in exchange for this
"We don't want anything in exchange. At least not yet. Treat it as a favor. In the future, if we ever need a favor, we want your promise as the Head of the Church of Water that you will do that favor."
"As long as it's within my capacity and doesn't harm or place the Church at risk, I will." Elora seemingly agreed right away.
"Second, you won't tell anyone what happened here since it's a one-time thing. The news that we helped you should only stay with the people who are here. If anyone else gets wind of this, the-"
"Don't worry. We would be the last people to want others to know about this. You don't have to worry about that." Elora agreed to the second condition as well. "Anything else?"
"One last thing." Eliana nodded. She glanced at all the Head Priestesses, observing their expressions before speaking further. "Only you will be taken there. The others must stay in this place."
"Agreed."
"But-"
Seeing Elona agree right away, Joan tried to say something to make her reconsider. She didn't want Elora to go alone. Even though it was the Academy, she didn't feel it was safe for her. However, before she could speak more than one word, Elora gestured for her to stop speaking.
For now, Elora wanted to be done with it. Moreover, it wasn't as if she was scared to go alone.
"Anything else?" she asked Eliana.
Eliana shook her head. "That would be all."
"Shall we get going then?" Elora stood up before everyone else.
Eliana also stood up along with the Head Council members. Elora had a limitation on her that she had to go alone, but Eliana didn't. She was taking everyone with her, just for the safety of that place.
The Head Priestesses were left behind, instructed by Elora to stay in the room and not go anywhere else.
More mages from the Academy were also assigned there to keep an eye on them.
The group left the castle, advancing to the Museum.
Without having the need to call out his Ancestral Staff, Gabriel managed to block the attack using the Shield of Undead.
It was slightly surprising for Lelin to see a spell that used the spirits like that, even though he quite expected Gabriel to be able to block his attack.
The Evil Spirits were immortal in a sense. They were also great at consuming natural energy, which was used by the spells. That made the Shield of Undead one of the best protection spells against magical attacks, despite it being a low-tier spell.
As Lelin analyzed the spell, being slightly distracted, he also picked up the white orb, still not noticing the dark orb.
The Swords of Light didn't penetrate the shield made of spirits.
Gabriel was unharmed. The only change that could be seen was that he was pushed a few steps back.
The Swords were destroyed. Right after, the Spirits also disappeared, returning to the ring. The dark spirits didn't look like they wanted to go back inside the ring. Instead, it was more as if they were forced to return by the ring. The screeching of the spirits disappeared as the Spirits returned.
Gabriel noticed the white orb already in the hands of Lelin. Another thing he noted was that Lelin wasn't even attempting to get the black crystal, as if he didn't even know about its existence.
"Give me that orb," Gabriel commanded. However, this time he also called out his Ancestral Staff as well.
A majestic staff appeared in his hand, strengthening him even more. Now that his identity as a Necromancer was already revealed, he didn't care about calling out his Ancestral Staff.
"I'm afraid I won't be able to do that, even if it's you." Lelin calmly answered. "I came all this way just for this. Do you think I can return it now? Also, I don't think you even know what this is, do you?"
Gabriel tightened his grip around his staff, but that only prompted Lelin to speak further.
"Let me guess; you're now thinking about attacking me to take the key back?" Lelin asked, letting out a sigh. "Although I would've loved to go against someone like you, I am running a little short on time. And If I kill you, he would be quite angry… I don't want to deal with that mess for now. Whatever, maybe next time."
As soon as Lelin finished, a blinding formation appeared under him, which filled the entire place with light. Even Gabriel was momentarily unable to see anything. Despite being unable to see, Gabriel attacked.
Within a few moments, the blinding light disappeared, revealing a completely vacant room where no one could be seen other than him. Lelin wasn't in the room anymore.
Gabriel looked all around, unable to find him anywhere. He looked back at the door, wondering if Lelin had run away. However, that was impossible. How could he leave without being stopped by the guards outside? That also raised another question. How in the hell was he able to enter in the first place without being seen?
"A teleportation spell? But if he had that, why didn't he just the orb last night? What was different today than last night?"
"The only thing I can think of is that we were brought here for a trip... Ah, could that be it?! He must've left a mark here. The teleportation spell can only take him to the marks he left. Either that, or he can only teleport to the places he had been to."
"That could explain why he didn't steal the orbs last night. He couldn't find a way to enter. That also explains why the guards downstairs had no idea about what was happening here. But still, teleportation spell... The tier of that spell... If I'm not wrong, it must be an advanced year spell."
Gabriel walked closer to the black orb that was still lying behind the pillar. Immersed in his thoughts, he was trying to find the answers to his questions.
"That means he will be an Advanced Tier Mage. That will place him in the same league as Lira and the teachers. Just who was that guy?"
He gazed at the black orb which was lying on his feet. The ring was going crazy, asking him to pick it up.
"He came all this way, taking risks of stealing something from the Academy. And even after he got here, all he took was the stuff in the box. He didn't even touch any other Numen here. He also addressed that orb as the key...? Key to what exactly?"
Gabriel bent forward, using his right hand to pick up the black orb.
As soon as his fingers touched the black orb, Gabriel felt something strange. For a moment, his vision turned dark, as if he had lost his eyesight. Some strange scenes started flashing before his eyes.
In one of the scenes, he saw a small girl running. The scene only flashed before his eyes for a millisecond, making him unable to see anything. In the next scene, he saw water... There was water everywhere. It was as if the water had swallowed an entire city.
The third scene seemed even more bizarre to him, where he saw a thousand feet tall lightning beasts... Just a glimpse of them.
In the fourth scene, he saw a black door. There was nothing more. After the brief flashes of these four scenes, Gabriel finally returned to his senses. He gazed at the black crystal before him, picking it up.
His body seemed to be filled with some mysterious energy as he picked up the black orb. He didn't know why, but it felt as if his spirit strength was being replenished by the Black Orb. Not only was his spirit strength replenished, but it also increased.
It was similar to what he felt when he used the Spirit Crystal but only more majestic. Before long, he felt like something had happened inside his body.
His Spirit Strength had increased, achieving a breakthrough. His mana reserves also increased. He had reached the middle stages of Spiritual Strength! He had become a mid-tier Magician, achieving a breakthrough from the beginner level.
In merely two days, he had achieved two breakthroughs!
As he achieved the breakthrough, the orb stopped supplying energy to his body, as if that was all it was going to do, but it still looked as mysterious as before.
"Just like I wasn't attracted to the white orb, he wasn't attracted to the black. That could be why he didn't see it. But still, just what are these things...?"
"This can't just be a stronger spirit crystal. If it were, I would've been attracted to the white one too. I also have Element of Light, after all. These must be the secondary effect of these things. As for the primary effect... It's something related to the word he described them as... a key!"