Bell slowly walked out of the loft.
His footsteps were light.
As if treading on cotton.
Tia stood at the staircase entrance.
She was still holding Horn.
The madman had woken up, cowering in a corner, clutching the spent cylinder, his eyes fixated on Bell with fervent intensity.
“Where’s Cecilia?”
Tia’s voice was calm.
But Bell detected a suppressed tremor in it.
“She left.”
Bell didn’t stop.
He walked past Tia, heading straight downstairs.
Tia froze.
She turned, watching Bell’s retreating back.
His back was straight.
Yet, for some reason, she felt as if that back was bowed under an invisible weight.
“Why…”
A hint of a sob was in Tia’s voice.
“Why did you let her go?”
Bell stopped.
He didn’t turn around.
“I have my reasons for letting her go.”
As his words fell.
He continued downstairs.
Tia remained standing there.
Her fingers tightened, liquid magic silver flowing and then solidifying at her fingertips.
She wanted to ask.
To ask what that reason was.
But she didn’t speak.
Because she knew.
Bell wouldn’t tell her.
“Lord Bell!”
Horn suddenly shrieked.
He scrambled up from the corner and stumbled towards Bell.
His monocle was shattered, his face smeared with blood, but his eyes shone with frightening intensity.
“What you told me to do! I did it all!”
Horn’s voice trembled.
Not from fear.
But from excitement.
“I followed your instructions and adjusted that cannon’s frequency to the soul coordinates of an otherworldly soul!”
“I succeeded!”
“I really succeeded!”
Horn grabbed Bell’s sleeve.
His grip was strong enough to tear the fabric.
“So…”
He swallowed.
“So, what you promised me…”
“Divine knowledge.”
“You’ll teach it to me.”
Bell looked down at him.
This useless club president.
This monster, whose body was filled with countless soul fragments.
At this moment, the expression on his face was like a child promised candy.
“I will give it to you.”
Bell nodded.
“But not now.”
He pulled his sleeve free.
“First, return to the academy.”
Horn paused.
Then, he nodded frantically.
“Good! Good! I’ll wait! I’ll wait as long as it takes!”
He clutched the cylinder as if it were his life.
Bell turned.
Tia followed behind him.
The three of them, one after another, walked out of the bell tower.
...
The Academy Plaza.
It was a mess.
The ground was covered in cracks and charred marks.
The air was thick with the acrid smell of burnt mana.
But there were no corpses.
No bloodstains either.
Only a few shattered dirt puppets lay scattered on the ground.
Leovet Victor stood in the center of the plaza.
His robes were stained with blood.
Not his own.
It belonged to the three White Tower Councilors.
“Alright.”
Leovet Victor clenched his fist.
His knuckles cracked sharply.
“It seems no bigger fish will be caught.”
He raised his hand.
Two fingers pressed together.
He pointed towards a white robed figure in the distance, clutching a severed arm and attempting to flee.
“Wind Sovereignty: Void Sever.”
As his words fell.
The white robed figure’s body was sliced into countless pieces, as if by invisible blades.
A mist of blood erupted.
He didn’t even have time to scream.
Leovet Victor retracted his hand.
He looked up at the sky.
His cerulean eyes blazed with dazzling light.
Eyes of Truth.
“Xuan Shi.”
Leovet Victor’s voice was cold.
“Seen enough?”
“If you’re too scared to come closer, then get lost!”
Mid-air.
An invisible rift shimmered faintly.
Immediately after.
Crack.
The rift shattered.
The surveillance magic was forcibly severed.
Leovet Victor scoffed coldly.
He slowly descended.
The moment his feet touched the ground, the surrounding instructors gathered around him.
Headmaster Griffin’s face was pale.
He had almost completely drained his mana to maintain the spatial barrier.
“Leovet Victor.”
Griffin panted heavily.
“Those three fellows…”
“Dead.”
Leovet Victor cut him off.
“Two were torn apart by me, one was sliced.”
He glanced around.
The students lying on the ground were still unconscious.
But their souls had been forcibly bound by Signia’s water chains.
“No need to act anymore.”
Leovet Victor said.
“The situation is settled.”
Griffin paused.
Then, his expression changed.
“Three-Dimensional Severing.”
His voice was soft.
But mana fluctuations instantly erupted.
Several spatial rifts appeared out of thin air.
The rifts, like blades, precisely cut into the magic array on the ground.
Snap.
The magic array shattered.
The alchemical dust embedded in the floor cracks instantly lost its luster.
Orville sighed in relief.
His body swayed, almost losing his balance.
“Damn it…”
He cursed.
“I almost thought we were doing it for real.”
Margaret also retracted her mana.
She waved her hand gently.
“Vastness of Nature: Release.”
As her words fell.
The scene in the plaza was like a drawing erased by a rubber.
The students lying on the ground vanished.
The souls shaken out of their bodies also disappeared.
Only a few guests who came for the Academy Festival remained, along with some dirt puppets Bell had temporarily created.
The guests’ faces were ashen.
What they had just witnessed was a true war.
A power capable of destroying a city.
Altan stepped forward.
He cleared his throat.
His voice was amplified by magic.
“The Academy Festival will officially begin tomorrow.”
“All guests who came to assist, please proceed to the reception hall to rest.”
The guests awoke as if from a dream.
No one dared to ask another question.
...
The White Tower Society.
Headquarters.
In a dark secret chamber.
Xuan Shi sat on the throne.
His face was hidden in shadow, his expression unreadable.
But his fingers were lightly tapping on the armrest.
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
Each tap was like a beat against a heart.
“Twelve Councilors.”
Xuan Shi’s voice was soft.
“Three are dead.”
“And countless peripheral members were annihilated by the Duke Lucas family’s army.”
He stopped tapping.
“This time.”
“We lost.”
The secret chamber was silent.
No one dared to speak.
Xuan Shi stood up.
He walked to the window.
Through the narrow window, the distant Royal Capital could be seen.
It was brightly lit.
“For a short while.”
Xuan Shi said.
“We cannot contend with the academy anymore.”
“How can someone like Leovet Victor exist in this world?”
He turned around.
His eyes, hidden in shadow, glowed with a ghostly green light.
“But it doesn’t matter.”
“Time is on our side.”
“That woman…”
Xuan Shi paused.
“Cecilia Lucas.”
“She will return alive.”
“And.”
He smiled.
His laughter was like fingernails scraping glass.
“She will surely bring something even more interesting back with her.”
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