Dark Magus Returns

Chapter 1435: Strange Formation (Part 2)

Kelly thought it might finally be her moment to shine.

She didn’t believe this particular location would be the one that revealed everything they were searching for, but at the very least… she could outdo another member of the Dark Guild. Proving her worth, even in small victories, mattered more than she wanted to admit.

As they continued walking, Kelly realized they were heading back into the main Central Academy building. That alone caught her off guard.

Back into the academy?

Had she missed something?

A few moments later, they stepped through the wide, wooden archway that marked the entrance to the main library. The scent of old paper and polished wood hit her instantly. It was a massive space, filled floor to ceiling with towering shelves and organized by disciplines, sections, and even languages.

It was also one of the locations Raze had mentioned in his list of possible hiding spots. Though, at the time, Kelly had considered it a lower priority. If something was hidden here, she assumed it would be between the pages of a book, coded messages, perhaps, or disguised spells. Something subtle.

When she had asked Londo about it earlier, he said he’d already conducted a broad search of the books themselves. He had employed a few scanning spells, ones designed to pick up enchantments or encoded text, but he found nothing unusual.

Now, they were climbing.

The two ascended all the way to the fifth floor, the highest floor of the library. Up here, there were no tomes on magic, no treatises on combat spells or energy channeling. This floor was dedicated to fiction.

Fantasy novels, romance sagas, tales of adventure and legends long forgotten. Stories written for entertainment, not education.

Kelly glanced around.

The floor was completely empty.

Not a single soul.

Even with so many students in the academy during the event, it seemed this corner of the library was all but abandoned. She could count the number of footprints in the dust on one hand.

Right… if I remember correctly, Kelly thought, Raze told me not to focus too much on the library itself. That’s why I left this section to Londo, it was the longest and most tedious of tasks, but also the one least likely to lead to anything.

The reason, Raze had explained, was simple: back when he was still a student at the academy, he had visited this library dozens of times and never once noticed anything out of place.

But still, it had been years since his time here. Things could have changed. And more importantly, there was something else Raze hadn’t accounted for back then.

The magical formation they were hunting, it wasn’t one the academy originally possessed.

In truth, it made Raze doubt himself. Something so vital… surely it had to have been written down somewhere? The answer was yes. And for good reason.

Because even Ibarin, who had been using the formation, didn’t fully understand how it worked.

He had merely copied it.

The spell was too complex for casual duplication. Creating a functioning magical circle wasn’t just about replicating its design. The runes and shapes weren’t just pretty symbols, they were layered instructions, like writing code in a forgotten language.

Every stroke had to be placed in a specific order. Every rune had a purpose. If you didn’t understand their meaning, you couldn’t activate the spell properly, even if you traced it flawlessly.

So someone with deep magical knowledge had to have created the original formation. That meant somewhere, somewhere, a copy or record of it had to exist.

And perhaps, they were close to finding it.

As they approached the back of the fifth floor, Londo finally stopped.

Kelly blinked in surprise at what he was showing her.

A large mirror, mounted to the wall, its frame made of aged silver with delicate carvings that swirled like curling smoke. It looked like nothing more than decoration, something a librarian might’ve hung up to make the space feel less claustrophobic.

She hadn’t even noticed it before. But now that she stood in front of it, something about it felt… off.

Strange, she thought. A mirror? On the top floor of a library filled with fiction? That’s not something you see every day.

“This is the formation I was talking about,” Londo said, motioning to the glass. “It stood out. I thought it was weird for a mirror to have a magical enchantment on it, this is the only one I found like this.”

Kelly gave a small, knowing smile as she stepped closer. Of course, it was strange. Most mirrors didn’t have magic embedded in them… except for all the ones she had already inspected around the academy.

“This magical circle,” Kelly said confidently, placing her palm against the mirror, “It’s probably just a simple reinforcement and barrier spell. Meant to stop the glass from shatter, ”

Her voice caught.

Her breath hitched in her throat.

Because the moment she truly looked at the formation…

She realized she was completely wrong.

It wasn’t like the others.

Not even close.

“I know,” Londo said, folding his arms. “You think I didn’t check the other mirrors on the way up here? I did. All of them. And this one is different. This is the only enchantment I couldn’t figure out. That’s why I’m sure there’s something going on here.”

Kelly’s expression shifted into something far more serious as she studied the formation closely. The structure, the runes, the patterns, all of it. Slowly, it began to make sense. A disturbing sort of sense.

The enchantments on the other mirrors… they were just decoys.

Their purpose wasn’t to protect or reinforce.

They were meant to discourage.

A trick to make anyone who discovered one assume that all mirrors had the same harmless spells. That way, when they reached this floor, empty, forgotten, quiet, they wouldn’t even bother checking.

And even if they did…

No one would understand it.

No one except her.

Because Kelly had been studying these formations. She had access to files, classified research that even most Dark Guild members hadn’t seen. She had worked with Sophie, the guild’s spy-cat, analyzing rare documents, breaking down lost spells.

And this formation?

This one was unique.

“In order to bypass this magical circle,” Kelly said, her voice calm but confident, “and access whatever’s hidden on the other side…”

She looked directly at Londo.

“…you have to use Dark Magic.”

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