On the top floor of the administrative building, inside Hogg’s office.
Ignatius stood before the massive floor-to-ceiling window, his hands clasped behind his back as he gazed out. The mana fluctuations from the activation of the protective barrier made the glass of the entire building rattle. Outside, a dark red pillar of light shot into the sky, spreading into a dark red dome that descended in every direction along its predetermined path. The entire process, from activation to completion, was swift and precise.
Inside the office stood four cultists in dark red robes. All wore masks, and the staves at their waists glowed with a faint light, ready to cast spells at a moment’s notice. They stood perfectly straight, their breathing shallow, not daring to make a sound.
Several corpses lay on the floor.
The one closest to him wore a black teacher’s uniform, the badge on his chest bearing the mark of the Magic Division; one of his hands was still frozen in a reaching gesture. Two more bodies lay not far away—one was a guard of the administrative building, and the other wore the clothes of a clerk. Both lay on the floor by the door, the blood beneath them not yet fully dry. A few drops of dark red blood had splattered onto the anniversary celebration schedule spread across the desk, the edges of the paper curling slightly.
This office originally belonged to Hogg. The old dean disliked staying in the administrative building, so during the anniversary celebration, a vice dean in charge of logistics had been stationed here. He had been organizing the supply list for the celebration events when the attack occurred.
He no longer needed to organize anything.
Ignatius watched the barrier rising into the sky, the corners of his mouth slowly curling upward. Only the muscles of his face moved; his pale gray eyes remained devoid of warmth. The play that had gone unfinished fifty years ago would continue today.
He had waited for this moment for so long—so long that he had nearly lost count of the years. Back then, he had been only one step away from that stage—but Hogg had come. With his strength alone, Hogg had turned all the cult’s plans and efforts into dust. And so, he had fallen that one step short.
But this time, he would not fail.
He pulled himself from his thoughts and turned to look at the four cultists behind him.
“Go to the mana nodes and keep watch,” he said, his tone returning to its usual calm, as if he were instructing servants to prepare for a dinner party. “If anything goes wrong at a node, do not bother coming back to see me.”
The four men answered in unison and filed out of the room.
The door clicked shut behind them. Ignatius walked to the desk, brushed the blood-stained schedule aside to clear a small space, and pulled a communicator from the inside of his robe.
After a brief crackle of static, an urgent voice came from the other side. “My Lord, the perimeter is under attack from three sides by the City Guard and the Palace Guard. There are approximately four hundred of them, led by two Rank 6 mages. Our defensive lines outside the academy have lost over half their strength. I fear the designated perimeter won’t hold for much longer—”
“Delay them for another fifteen minutes.”
Ignatius hung up as soon as he finished speaking. Four hundred City Guards and two Rank 6 mages were indeed a force to be reckoned with, but once the barrier was complete, breaching it would require more than just numbers.
The ground shook as another explosion echoed from behind.
People were screaming, cursing, and crying out the names of their loved ones. The various sounds were muffled by the pale red curtain of light, echoing repeatedly within the enclosed space.
Meanwhile, the Blood Moon Cultists remaining within the barrier were retreating toward the various mana nodes according to their pre-arranged deployment. Their mission had shifted from “creating chaos” to “guarding the nodes.” As long as the nodes were held, the barrier would not break—or rather, it wouldn't break even if they were lost.
The barrier was more than just a shield; it would continuously drain the mana of every living being trapped within its range, whether they were mages, warriors, or other practitioners. Even ordinary people with no professional talent were not exempt—while they had no mana to drain, life force itself was a form of energy. Though the conversion efficiency was lower, they made up for it in sheer numbers. There were at least several thousand people in the academy now; maintaining the barrier for a few days would be no problem at all.
Materials should serve their purpose.
The pillar of light continued to soar into the sky, dark red mana flows spreading and extending through the air to maintain the form of the light curtain.
He walked around the desk, stepping over the blood on the floor as he headed for the door. His soles made a light tapping sound against the floor; other than that, the hallway was silent. He pushed open the doors and walked down the stairs alone, his staff in hand. The tip of the staff tapped rhythmically against each step. The sound of his footsteps and the tapping of the staff echoed through the empty stairwell like a leisurely overture.
The moment he stepped out of the administrative building, the dark red dome of the barrier filled his vision. Ignatius paused, looking up at the slowly flowing curtain of light as if admiring a masterpiece that had finally been completed.
Then he looked away and walked toward the main road, staff in hand.
The stage was set, and the curtain had risen—and he was going to greet an old friend.
“Hogg, I hope you don’t disappoint me too much... my old friend...”
He had spent fifty years preparing for this performance.
...
The Royal Palace, Magic Tower.
Hogg sat behind his desk, several recently delivered intelligence reports spread out before him. Marz stood in front of the desk, flipping through page after page of his clipboard, his voice growing heavier with every turn.
“In the Seventh District of the Outer City, the squad led by Napa was ambushed. Explosive magic crystals were buried beneath the street; the blast killed two City Guards instantly and injured three others. At least forty Blood Moon Cultists then swarmed from the surrounding alleys. Napa is currently organizing a counterattack and evacuating civilians, but they are pinned down and cannot break free.”
“In the Ninth District, the suppression team Angela was in was also ambushed. The extent of the losses is unclear; communication has been cut for over ten minutes.”
“In the Twelfth, Fifteenth, and Eighteenth Districts, three reinforcement units of the City Guard were attacked to varying degrees while on the move. The nearest unit is blocked two kilometers from the academy, where at least twenty cultists are using buildings as cover to stall them.”
Marz closed his clipboard and looked up at Hogg.
“Furthermore, small groups of Blood Moon Cultists have been spotted outside the main palace gates. Their numbers are small, but they move quickly. The Imperial Guards have already been deployed. The current summary from all locations is that every force attempting to reinforce the academy has been intercepted midway.”
He paused before finishing his last sentence.
“Communications with the academy have been completely cut off for thirty minutes.”
A sharp crack echoed from the desk. The quill in Hogg’s hand snapped in two, the tip carving a deep ink stain into the wood. He stood up and walked to the window.
Outside, several black pillars of smoke were clearly visible in the southeastern sky. Further away, a faint, translucent red glow hung over the area where the academy was located.
“A barrier,” Hogg said grimly.
Marz followed his master’s gaze, his expression shifting. Hogg analyzed the situation.
“A barrier of this scale requires at least seven mana nodes running simultaneously, and it needs a sufficient—” He paused. “A sufficient mana supply.”
“Then the mana supply is...”
“People.”
Hogg finished the sentence for him. The intelligence reports on the desk were swept up by an invisible force, swirling in the air.
“How many people are in the academy right now?”
Marz opened his clipboard and scanned it quickly. “According to yesterday’s statistics, the number of tourists on the first day of the anniversary celebration alone exceeded two thousand. Including students, faculty, and various staff members, a conservative estimate would be—”
“That’s enough.”
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