Chapter 122: The First Murder; Just The Beginning

Chapter 122: Chapter 122: The First Murder; Just The Beginning

Before Shawn could understand what was happening, a flash of movement passed before his eyes.

Blood sprayed across the classroom. His head separated from his body and fell to the floor.

Even in death, confusion remained frozen on his face. He had not seen the attack coming, much less understood why his classmate had suddenly killed him.

For a brief moment, the entire classroom fell silent. Then the screams erupted.

"Ahhh!" one student cried.

"Someone’s been murdered!" another shouted.

"Calvin, have you lost your mind?!"

"Why did you kill Shawn? What did he do to you?"

The students recoiled in terror. Some stumbled backward, while others rushed toward the exit in a desperate attempt to escape.

Stanley’s expression darkened.

The sudden murder had caught him completely off guard.

Nevertheless, he had spent years cultivating as a martial artist, and he quickly forced himself to regain his composure.

"Everyone, get out of here! Move!" he said, stepping forward, placing himself between the students and the apparent murderer. "I’ll hold him off!"

The students didn’t need any more cajoling in order to act.

They rushed out of the classroom, desperate to put as much distance as possible between themselves and the terrifying Calvin Stone

Once the room had begun to empty, Stanley drew the short blade he carried at his waist and faced the young man. His grip tightened around the weapon.

"Who are you?" he demanded.

"You’re not Calvin. What have you done to him?"

Stanley was deeply unsettled.

He had been watching the entire incident, yet he had not seen Calvin make a move. Shawn had simply approached him, and the next instant, his head was on the floor.

Stanley himself was a 2nd-Star Spirit Platform Realm martial artist.

His reactions were far beyond those of an ordinary person, yet he had failed to detect the attack.

That alone told him the person standing before him was vastly more powerful than he was.

The young man tilted his head, seemingly amused by Stanley’s caution.

"Who am I?" he said, chuckling softly.

"My name is Damon Veil. Not many people know that name, but those who do call me the God of Death."

Stanley’s heart lurched. The title stirred a terrible memory.

He had heard stories about a notorious figure who led one of the most feared demonic organizations in the region.

His face lost its color.

"You’re Damon Veil," he breathed, "the leader of the Bloodshadow Cult?"

"Congratulations," Damon said, smiling as though they were having a pleasant conversation. "You’ve guessed correctly."

The next instant, he attacked. He moved so quickly that his hand seemed to vanish before reappearing beside Stanley’s neck, descending like a sharpened blade.

Stanley’s pupils contracted. His instincts screamed at him to dodge, and he immediately tried to twist out of the attack.

But the difference between their strength was simply too great.

Damon had already reached the 3rd-Level of the Star Sea Realm.

Compared with him, Stanley’s 2nd-Star Spirit Platform Realm cultivation was insignificant.

Stanley had barely begun to move when Damon’s hand was less than ten centimeters from his neck. Death seemed inevitable.

Suddenly, Damon’s expression changed.

"Hm?" he said, abruptly withdrawing his attack and shifting his gaze toward the classroom entrance.

A towering skeletal creature had appeared there.

The creature stood approximately two and a half meters tall, its body constructed from enormous dragon bones.

Its hollow frame radiated a chilling pressure, and before Damon could properly examine it, the puppet had already launched its counterattack. Its tail swept toward him with astonishing speed.

The attack seemed to tear through the distance between them, arriving almost instantaneously.

Damon’s eyes narrowed. He retreated in a flash, narrowly avoiding the strike.

The dragon’s tail slammed into the concrete floor. The impact shattered the hard surface, leaving a massive hole where the tail had landed.

Damon glanced at the damaged floor before looking back at the skeletal creature. Rather than appearing frightened, he seemed genuinely entertained.

"A Dragon Bone Puppet?" he said. "That’s an interesting treasure."

His gaze shifted toward the figure standing behind the puppet.

Mira had arrived.

Her expression was tense, but she showed no hesitation.

The moment she had sensed that her teacher was in danger, she had summoned the Dragon Bone Puppet Xavier had given her.

She had no intention of allowing Stanley to die in front of her.

Damon studied her with an amused smile.

"Mira, I didn’t expect General Victoria Quill to value you so highly," he said.

"She hasn’t even been your master for long, yet you’ve already received a treasure like this for your protection."

He had assumed that the Dragon Bone Puppet came from Victoria Quill. He had no idea that Xavier was the one who had given it to Mira.

Mira ignored his remark and turned toward Stanley.

"Teacher Stanley, don’t just stand there. Get out of here!" she said.

She did not know how long the puppet could hold off a 3rd-Level Star Sea Realm expert.

Although its strength was comparable to that of a powerful Star Sea Realm martial artist, Damon was no ordinary opponent. Every second mattered.

Stanley finally snapped out of his shock.

"Right! I’m leaving!" he said.

He understood his position perfectly. If he stayed, he would only distract Mira and become a burden.

There was nothing he could accomplish against Damon with his current strength.

Without wasting another moment, he rushed out of the classroom and leaped from the teaching building, heading toward the playground below.

Damon made no attempt to stop him.

Instead, he watched the teacher leave with a faint smile, as though the man’s escape had nothing to do with him.

His attention returned to Mira and the skeletal puppet.

"Not bad, Mira," he said.

"That Dragon Bone Puppet is quite valuable. Unfortunately, it won’t belong to you for much longer." He laughed, his voice carrying through the damaged classroom.

"Go ahead and run if you want. I’ll deal with this puppet first, then come after you!"

There was no urgency in his movements. The enormous black barrier surrounding Arcadia Academy was a formation Damon had spent the past two days preparing.

Once activated, it would prevent everyone inside the academy from escaping.

Even if Victoria Quill rushed back immediately, she would need at least twenty minutes to break through the barrier.

Damon considered that more than enough time to accomplish his objective and leave.

After all, Mira was the person he had come for. Everyone else was merely an inconvenience.

Originally, Damon had intended to wait until nightfall before launching his attack.

During the previous two days, he had carefully investigated Arcadia Academy’s teachers and students.

The information supplied by the Lindsay family had proved accurate: the academy had no Star Sea Realm expert among its staff.

He had therefore believed that the operation would proceed without any significant complications.

Then the terrifying lightning tribulation appeared on the hill behind the academy.

The sheer power of that phenomenon had unsettled him.

He could not be certain who was attempting the breakthrough, and the possibility that an unexpected powerhouse might emerge made waiting unnecessarily risky.

He had decided to strike ahead of schedule.

His immediate plan was to seize the Dragon Bone Puppet, then wait until the teachers and students had gathered on the playground.

Once everyone was in one place, he could resolve the situation quickly and eliminate any witnesses or obstacles before leaving.

With the barrier in place, nobody would be able to escape his control.

Or so he believed.

* * *

The playground soon filled with teachers and students from all four grade levels.

Thousands of people gathered in the open space, their voices rising as confusion spread through the crowd.

"What happened? Why has the entire academy gone dark?" someone asked.

"I heard fighting from the teaching building. Is someone attacking us?" another said.

"Who would dare attack Arcadia Academy? Do they have any idea who our allies are?"

"Where’s Vice Principal Johnny? Has anyone contacted him?"

Someone nearby answered, "I heard he went to the back hill earlier. He’s not on campus right now!"

The news only increased the unease.

Johnny was one of the academy’s most important figures.

With him absent and an unknown barrier sealing off the campus, the teachers had no clear idea how they were supposed to respond.

Nevertheless, some tried to reassure the frightened students.

"Don’t panic! The authorities in Valemont will send help as soon as they receive the alert. General Victoria Quill is in the area. She won’t ignore something like this!"

"That’s right! With General Quill here, whoever is responsible won’t get away with it!"

Their confidence helped keep the situation from descending into complete chaos.

Most of the people gathered on the playground still believed the incident could be resolved once reinforcements arrived.

Then Stanley appeared with Mira.

The moment they reached the edge of the crowd, Stanley shouted at the top of his lungs.

"Everyone, spread out and find cover! Don’t remain standing together!" he said.

His warning drew the attention of the surrounding teachers and students.

"The Bloodshadow Cult’s leader has infiltrated the academy!" he roared.

"He has already killed one of our students!"

The words struck the crowd like a thunderbolt.

The Bloodshadow Cult! And its leader was inside the academy?

The expressions of thousands of teachers and students changed at once.

Their earlier confidence vanished, replaced by shock and fear.

If the person responsible was truly Damon Veil, then the black barrier was not merely an unexplained phenomenon.

It was a cage, and they were all trapped inside it.