Chapter 58: The city of tests and ranks

For some reason, there was a strange itch in his ears right now.

"Chirp?"

He wondered if someone was talking about him right now. He thought about his master and if he were the one thinking about him.

Nyx considered the possibility that his master had gotten in another trouble right now, but he could tell he was having fun somewhere through the shared emotions.

Their connection was strong enough for him to feel the happiness, sadness, pain, and grief that his master felt. He could tell everything that was going on in his heart, but he did not make it obvious to him.

To Nyx, his master was the only thing he had in this world right now and even though he did not like that his master was a small, weak, dumb human, there was nothing that he could hate about him.

He wanted to, but spending the last few months with him had made him realise just how dumb his master actually was.

"Chirp. Chirp chirp chirp."

He would jump into trouble to save others, he would do stupid things for others, he would make the beasts and creatures fall in love with him and then break their hearts by not bringing them along, and he would do so without hurting them.

He was strangely skilled at handling beasts. He was a strange human, and that strange human was, thankfully, having fun wherever he was right now.

"Him? Oh, he’s in the whimsical inn right now."

"Chirp?"

"Ah, hahaha. It’s a pretty and fun place. You should go there someday as well."

"Chirp."

While his master was having fun somewhere outside the academy, the little Phoenyx was with the headmaster, inside the deepest part of the academy, doing something that had not happened in a long, long, looooooooong time: a system upgrade.

They were working right now.

"Chirp chirp chirp. Chirp? Chirp chirp."

"Ptfff? You’re saying he’s a dumb one? Haha, sure, sure. He’s dumb~."

The entire academy, its different schools of taming and arts, the different facilities that were present here, and essentially everything that fell into the vicinity of Stanox was operated by a highly adaptive, almost sentient system.

It watched, recorded, learned, and maintained the different elements of the academy. It looked after the creatures that were present on the epic mountain, and the system can be compared with a Dragon’s brain.

In fact... It technically was a dragon’s brain.

"Chirp."

"Oh, you have to access the internal spatio-temporal interface before you... ah, you figured that out?"

At the very core of the academy in a place that was not available to anyone but the headmaster of the academy and the people who they allow directly, existed the conscious will of a perished dragon.

It was structured in a complex manner that most beings of current times would not be able to understand.

When they caught her, they did not know who she was or why she knew the swordplay that the damned bastard who killed their master had used at that time.

Elision had made it their mission to deal with that one, and it was not only because the killer had ended their master’s life.

No. If it were just that, the grudge could have been calmed down over the years. But the reason they were still so anxious to find the perpetrators was because of the things that they stole from them: their records, their secrets, as well as their lifeblood.

They took away what made their organisation so fearful without anyone in the world knowing the truth. And till this day, they had maintained the illusion that they still possessed what people believed they possessed.

But they knew the truth. They knew what the appearance of this woman meant. They knew if that bastard was out there teaching others, then he must be spreading the truth around the world, and they cannot have that.

If they are caught, it will be over. So, as the supervisor forced open Snow’s mouth, he did not have remorse or pity for the unknown woman, he only had rage and anxiety.

The insect worm inside the glass container sensed the warmth inside of her mouth and as it uncoiled itself into the shape of a millipede, with its hundred and fifty venomous legs, it crawled inside of her mouth.

The insect would make a home inside of her brain and over time, it’d take control of her entire being. There was no way to deal with this insect.

It was a special creation of their guild, a masterpiece that was born atop a pile of six hundred who lost their lives during the experiments.

"Ughhhh!"

There was no way to resist. The worm had already crawled inside her mouth and through her nose, it would make its way to the head.

"Hmm? She fainted."

"She couldn’t handle the shock. Huh. Good."

Snow fainted just as the one holding her head felt a strange static pass through his hands.

It was small enough to be overlooked, but they were convinced they had her now.

So, there was no need to stay here any longer.

"Announce retrieval. All units present on the Mayn grounds are to evacuate immediately."

The announcement was obvious. But the fact still remained...

"Can we really get out, sir?"

"We must. At least, one of us must."

They had implanted the control worm inside her so anyone at the base of their organisation can control it now.

Still, they needed to make sure there was someone who made it out of here so that they can report the higher ups about the situation here.

The Theocracy would be standing in their way, but, it was exactly for moments like these that they had prepared their hidden cards.

"Contact Head priest Garam."

"...!"

The subordinate was surprised. But, the surprise could not outshine the surprise that Spot had as they reached the young prince’s personal room.

< "What... in the hell..." >

The prince was supposed to be a young boy. Far from adulthood, not even an adolescent.

And yet, the entire room was filled with books that not even the old scholars of the Citadel can comprehend.

It was less his personal room and more a Secret Chamber made for High Tomes, Grimoires, Ancient texts hand carved on stone and wood, Spellbooks written in blood, Elemental encyclopaedias, diaries on black magic, occultism, sorcery... underneath one of the finest illusions placed on a seemingly normal room, there was a museum.

There were handwritten notes on each of these books, something you do not see anywhere around the world. The writings, most likely of a young hand, were smooth enough to mock the old calligraphy masters of Theocracy.

As they arrived in this room, they had at least understood one fact: the young prince was no ordinary boy.

< "Could he be a witch?" > Spot wondered with her logic, tying their findings to the strange sprinting incident.

But if he were a witch, there would be stories around the castle. Strange stories that are native to the birthplaces of the witches.

< "He’s a Polymath like us." > That was Andrew’s conclusion as he saw the two sides of the room, a cold place of learning and a childishness that had decorated the place in pink and gold.

The prince was born a truth seeker. The Prime targets of true demons and gods.

They tied the loose ends with this discovery. Now, they knew for a fact that there was a higher entity involved in this case.

But that also meant they needed to hurry. In fact, they might very well be late by now.

< "We have to get the Red mage and his master." >

Andrew needed to see his employer now. It was time to reveal his findings to him.

Similarly, the red mage needed to carry out his mission from the princess efficiently.

-OoooooooOoooooooong!

He already knew the Elision bastards were moles, rats and fucking rabbits when it came to hiding.

He knew about the secret that he did not know about, he knew there were gaps in their defenses, but he also knew that he was a powerful entity.

"Supervisor!"

By the time the sons of Elision came out of their dens to escape, they found a strange net of energy covering the entire castle.

The energy was red. Crimson.

If one looked closely enough, they’d see something resembling ants that had made this dome.

"That... bastard..."

The assassins saw dread and death as they watched this scene.

The rumors were true.

What they were seeing before him was a spell that only his kind can conjure. Spells that are earned through great sacrifices to the demonic entities.

Spells that are dread animated.

Dread... that was made only, and only for them.

They weren’t going to escape this. Hell they knew they would be tortured till their souls were screaming to go to the demons that they were sold to.

The red mage was reaper. And the spell was a curse. The moment their bodies were exposed to the surrounding of this dome which was slowly spreading out from the castle, the ants that they were seeing would invade their bodies and souls from any angle.

They would start eating away at their flesh, soul, and mind until only tattered pieces, just enough to keep them alive, would remain of them.

There was no escaping this spell. So, the best course of action for most who were fast enough...

"Hail the Shadow Lord."

Suicide.