323 Disappeared Students
Aware that the current situation could be related to the devourer, Bloed decided to act immediately. He asked Sara to carry Gina (Who was still trembling in fear) and rushed towards a certain place in the city.
One of the few people he knew he could trust right now.
At the same time, he transmitted a message to tell Regina to hurry up to their location.
In the way, Bloed gave the group a quick rundown of the situation. Liu Ying and Sara, who had been embroiled in the incident of Calice City, knew the gravity of the situation. But Aya knew nothing about it, so she heard Bloed attentively.
However, she was surprised when she heard Bloed mention the Blight (Devourers).
She never expected the situation to be so serious.
Five minutes later, the group plus Regina (who had joined them in the way) arrived at a mansion in Academy City.
As though they knew they were coming, two people were waiting for them at the entrance.
They were Charise and Kallevang from the Church of Fate.
"It looks like something bad indeed happened," Charise said when she saw Bloed and the others arrive. She had received a revelation from her goddess that something was wrong, but she did not know the specifics yet.
Bloed did not beat around the bush, quickly explaining the situation and his suspicions to the saintess.
Instantly, Charise's expression changed.
"This is bad…"
She glanced briefly to the trembling Gina with a frowning and curious look. But although she wanted to know more about the girl with abilities over fate, she knew it was not the right moment now.
"Come on, we will need to talk with the headmistress."
Bloed frowned.
"Is she trustworthy?"
Charise was startled. But she soon understood Bloed's concerns.
Judging by the developments in Calice City and Diadel Duchy, Bloed concluded that whoever was behind the Devourers was not a single individual, but a powerful organization.
And when he learned that the healing mages of Academy City were related to that organization, the first person he suspected was the headmistress of the city.
Right now, she was the top suspect in Bloed's list.
But contrary to his guess, Charise shook her head.
"Don't worry, the headmistress of Academy City is one of the few completely trustworthy people around the world. In fact, if the organization behind the Blight is the one I think it is, then she is perhaps one of the people that has fought against them the most."
Bloed was surprised by Charise's words.
At the same time, he could not help but be curious about the organization Charise mentioned.
It seemed like she already knew who was behind all of it.
Ten minutes later, they arrived at the Great Library.
The place was just as majestic as Bloed expected. Thinking about the number of books in it, he could not help but want to spend a few days closed inside, swimming freely in the endless knowledge hidden in the books.
Unfortunately, the current situation did not allow that.
As soon as they reached the library, Charise took out a small stone from her clothes. It was a magic tool known as a communication stone that could be used to send messages to faraway individuals.
Charise infused a bit of her mana in the stone and spoke to it.
"Miss Wave, My name is Charise Amra, Saintess of the Church of Fate. I need to talk with you right now."
A few seconds later, an answer came from the stone.
[Charise Amra? I have heard about you. It looks like you are not here alone, though. What is so important that you came here without an invitation?]
Charise fell silent. She thought for several seconds before mentioning two words.
"Returning Dusk."
Bloed immediately felt the atmosphere changing.
When the headmistress replied, her voice was filled with an unconcealed graveness.
[Come inside.]
Then, a magic circle appeared below the group's feet.
Bloed was startled, but he quickly recognized the nature of the spell.
A teleportation spell.
One second later, they appeared on the top floor of the Great Library.
Two people were waiting for them there.
Bloed recognized both of them. One of them was the owner of the voice, Headmistress Wave, and the other was the willful ex-saintess of Moonlight Glow.
However, Bloed could see neither the cheerful the headmistress had in the welcome ceremony nor the usual dazed expression on Eve's face.
Instead, both of them were looking at the group with grim expressions.
"Explain, what happened?" Headmistress Wave demanded.
"Bloed, tell them about the situation," Charise said.
Bloed nodded. He glanced at Gina, who had already recovered a bit, and started to explain what happened.
When the headmistress heard Bloed's words, her expression changed.
She hurriedly connected her mind to the array covering the city to checked on the situation.
Not many knew about it, but through the array covering the Academy City, Headmistress Wave could feel practically anything that happened in it.
When she fused her senses with the array, almost nothing in the city that could be hidden from her.
But to her surprise, she realized that she could not find the location of several students!
"Ten, twenty, thirty-three students! Bastards! Returning Dusk! How do you dare!?"
"Wave, what happened?"
The headmistress did not reply to Eve's question. Instead, she used all her abilities to find the missing students.
And soon, she found something.
One student had just disappeared from her senses.
"I found you!"
Powerful mana exploded out of her body. The amount of mana was so overwhelming that Bloed had never felt anything like this in his life.
Her mana was even more abundant than Eve's. At least in mana capacity, she far surpassed the Saintess of Moonlight Glow.
Moreover, the pressure coming from her body was so powerful that Regina and Kallevang could not help but flinch.
The headmistress waved her hand, creating a giant magic circle in an instant calling upon endless lightning.
"Where do you think you are taking my student, trash of Returning Dusk!?"
Her voice resounded through the entire city, and her mana made each and every person in the city pale.
At the same time, a healing mage carrying a student turned pale in fear.
When he felt that overwhelming pressure locking on him, he knew he had been discovered!
His reaction was immediate. Clenching his teeth, he bit the poison pill hidden inside his mouth to commit suicide!
Unfortunately, he underestimated the person he was facing.
Just when he bit the poison pill, the endless lightning in the skies descended.
At the same time, time around him came to a complete standstill, stopping the pill from taking effect.
The lightning fell on the healing mage, burning his nerves, muscles, mana pathways, and even the poison of the pill!
But even after receiving such a powerful attack, the healing mage remained alive.
In fact, the student he was carrying was completely unscathed.
It was a display of magic control that would astonish any mage of the continent.
But all of sudden, Wave's expression changed.
A sharp aura appeared suddenly inside the city. The aura then charged towards the frozen healing mage.
Wave reaction was instantaneous. She cast a spell around the healing mage to stop the aura.
However, she soon realized that the aura had zero attacking power.
But when it reached where the healing mage was, it activated something on his body.
And immediately, his soul was eradicated.
"Bastard! How you dare!" Wave's rage shook the entire Academy City. Her mana pressured the city as she tried to find the person that killed the healing mage.
However, she could not find the origin of the aura.
As though it did not exist in the first place.
...
Sayonara. Until when I have free time again :p
