Chapter 162: Lost Princess

Chapter 162: Chapter 162: Lost Princess

Theon turned his gaze toward the newly opened dungeon, and his expression grew serious. The entrance yawned in the distance like a wound in the earth, dark and patient, and a faint chill drifted out of it that he could feel even from where he stood. It crept along the ground and settled against his ankles, cold enough to sharpen every ache in his body.

*At this rate, I need to get stronger.*.

His jaw tightened. *Even a barrier created by an undead being was enough to stop me.* The memory sat heavy in his chest, a weight that refused to shift no matter how he breathed around it. His hand curled slowly into a fist, the knuckles pressing white against his skin, his nails biting into his palm. *If I cannot even break through something like that, how am I supposed to protect the people around me?*

His injuries from the previous battle had limited his strength, and he knew it. Every movement carried a dull ache beneath it, a quiet reminder of how much the fight had taken from him. His shoulders felt stiff, his breath came shallower than it should have, and the power inside him moved sluggishly, like water pushing through mud. But that was not an excuse he could keep relying on. Excuses did not shield anyone. He needed to become stronger. Much stronger.

A slight movement brought him back to the present.

Lazaria’s body began losing strength. Her weight sank into his arms, slow and gradual, like a tide drawing back from the shore, and her eyes closed. Her breathing softened into something quiet and even. She had finally lost consciousness. Theon caught her before she could fall, adjusted his hold with great care so that her head rested safely against him, and flew toward Ifrith.

"Take her. She needs to rest."

Ifrith received Lazaria carefully, as though she might break. "Understood."

"Take her back to the Imperial Dormitory."

Ifrith nodded. "Right."

Theon then turned his attention toward the instructors and students gathered below. Several of the instructors were already looking at him, and their expressions made it plain that they wanted to say something. Questions were gathering behind their lips, heavy and impatient, and he could feel the weight of them pressing up toward him. Theon understood immediately. He did not want to answer questions right now. Not with his thoughts still tangled around the barrier and the dungeon.

He turned toward Ifrith. "Announce that the academy instructors and students successfully exterminated the monsters."

Ifrith glanced at him, one brow lifting slightly.

Theon continued, his voice level, giving nothing away. "And take some of the powerful monsters as evidence. Make sure they’re brought back."

A smile spread across Ifrith’s face, easy and amused, as if the whole matter were a game he had been invited to play. "As you command, master."

He raised his hand. The bodies of several powerful monsters began floating into the air, massive shapes lifting as effortlessly as leaves carried on the wind. Their limbs hung slack, their shadows sliding across the ground as they rose. The instructors and students were transported alongside them, most too stunned to say a word. Some clung to the air as if it might drop them, gripping at nothing, and others simply stared at the ground falling away beneath their feet, their faces pale and their mouths slightly open.

As the group prepared to leave, Silver’s gaze shifted toward Leon.

Leon was among the students. He noticed her staring, and a strange pressure settled over him, heavy and cold, like a hand resting on the back of his neck. The fine hairs along his arms rose. He slowly turned his head. Silver was looking directly at him, and she did not blink.

"Found you." She said.

Leon’s expression stiffened. He immediately turned his face forward and held it there, doing his best to avoid attracting her attention again. He kept his shoulders rigid and his breathing shallow, as though stillness alone could make him disappear. His palms were damp, and his heart was pounding hard enough that he could feel it in his throat.

Theon noticed the exchange. He glanced toward Silver, then at Leon, and read the whole situation in the space of a breath. He chose not to interfere. Whatever lay between the two of them was theirs to deal with, and he had enough weighing on him already. His attention returned to the destruction below, to the broken ground and the ruined hillsides that stretched out beneath the group.

"Silver, you should get going."

Silver waved her hand.

The surrounding vegetation responded immediately. Grass spread across the damaged ground in a green tide, closing the fractures one by one, knitting the torn earth back together as though it were cloth being mended. Trees grew back where they had been torn away, trunks thickening, branches reaching upward toward the light again. Broken branches restored themselves with soft cracks and rustles, leaves unfurling along their length. Flowers pushed up through the soil in small bright patches, and a fresh scent of damp earth and growing things rose into the air. The destroyed landscape returned to its former condition, and the scorched, shattered ground vanished beneath a living blanket of green. Within moments, the battlefield looked as though the devastating battle had never taken place.

Theon surveyed the area, letting his gaze travel across every restored hillside and every quiet stretch of grass. "Right. This is good."

He turned toward the others. "Let’s go back now."

The group began flying toward the Imperial Dormitory. For a brief moment, everything seemed peaceful. The air was calm, the sky was quiet, and a gentle breeze brushed past them, cool against faces still stinging from the fight. The tension of the battle finally began to loosen from their shoulders. Somewhere in the group, a student let out a long, shaky breath. Theon felt his own muscles ease a little, the tightness in his back unwinding by degrees, and for a moment he allowed himself to believe the worst was behind them.

Then, when they were only a few meters from their destination, the sky changed.

A massive black-hole-like phenomenon appeared overhead. The entire sky darkened, the daylight draining away as though something were swallowing it whole, and the surrounding air grew heavy, pressing against their lungs. The breeze died at once. Every sound seemed to fall away, leaving a silence so thick it rang in their ears.

Theon stopped.

"What is it? What now?"

He stared at the enormous distortion, and something inside him sank. It spun slowly against the dimmed sky, vast and lightless, and he recognized the feeling it stirred in him far too well. A cold dread crawled up his spine, familiar and unwelcome.

"Not again."

Ifrith looked up, and his expression changed immediately. All the easy amusement drained out of his face, leaving it hard and unreadable.

"No." He said.

His voice was unusually serious, and that alone made Theon’s stomach tighten. In all the time Theon had known him, Ifrith had met danger with a grin. Seeing that grin gone was worse than any warning.

"That black hole..." Ifrith kept his gaze fixed on it. "They’re actually coming here themselves."

Before Theon could ask what he meant, a gigantic figure emerged from the darkness.

The being possessed enormous wings resembling those of the devil, spread wider than the sky seemed able to hold. Their edges curled like torn shadow, and every slow beat of them sent a wave of pressure rolling outward, rattling the air itself. Horns extended from its head, curved and jagged. Its appearance was unmistakably demonic. Multiple tails moved slowly behind its body, coiling and uncoiling with lazy confidence, and an overwhelming aura spread through the sky, so thick that even breathing felt like an effort.

And it was not alone.

An entire army emerged from the black hole. Countless demonic figures filled the darkness behind their leader, rank after rank of them, silent and waiting. Not one of them spoke. Not one of them moved out of line. Their stillness was somehow more frightening than any battle cry could have been.

The being surveyed the surroundings. Its gaze passed over the battlefield, then the academy instructors, who went rigid beneath it, their hands frozen halfway to their weapons. Then it moved to the students, some of whom could not bear to look back and turned their faces away, trembling. Finally, its attention settled on Ifrith.

Yet it was not truly looking at him.

Its eyes were fixed on the unconscious girl being carried nearby.

Lazaria.

Theon felt it the moment he understood. His arms tightened around nothing, because she was no longer in them, and the emptiness of that made his chest go cold. His body was still weakened from the last battle. His strength was not what it should have been. And now something far worse than a barrier or a horde of monsters was staring at the girl he had just told to rest.

The being’s expression changed. A faint smile appeared on its face, slow and certain, the smile of someone who had waited a very long time and had no doubt left about the ending.

Then it spoke.

"I have finally found you."