Blood runes

The black-haired boy sat there kneeling for what he thought were hours but were actually mere minutes.

A noise from the adjacent room alerted him and brought him out of his trance. Common sense said he had to hide, but he was beyond caring.

"Ah, there you are." The man exclaimed as his eyes fell on the pre adolescent boy. "I was wondering where the child was."

Chills ran down the man's spine as the boy turned to face him, "That's not a look a boy should have. Did seeing your parents dead affect you that much?"

He failed to notice the aura around the boy as he chuckled maliciously, "Don't worry, you'll be meeting them soon."

As the final fragments of the ki gravitated to his center, the aura around in increased in size. But unlike a normal ki aura that emitted light, this aura seemed to absorb it, to devour that light which gave it a black hue.

Although arrogant, the man wasn't a fool. He noticed the boy's ki center forming as his body exploded with energy. Turning serious, he swiped the blood off his ki sword, pointing it at the boy, "Time for you to die, kid."

The boy understood that the man in front of him was the reason behind his parents murder, the reason behind his nigh unbearable sorrow. He wanted nothing more than to kill the man, to watch as the life left his eyes.

The ki blade of the man dimmed and flickered, "Wha-? You little shit, is this your doing?!"

The boy's glare hardened into something more sinister, the silhouette of a man manifested behind him. His face was like a blank canvas, his features kept flickering and changing as if the assassin's brain was trying to fill in the blank face which he could not comprehend.

He screamed as a cosmic horror set in his mind. His heart stopped before he reached the ground.

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Fayden awoke with a start, he could feel his heartbeat thumping in his ears.

He sighed, "Haah, dammit."

'Father…'

'I'm fine Zeke, it's just a bad dream.'

'...'

Pulling himself out of his bed, the first thing he did was to wash himself. He'd rather not smell like an adventurer's armpit.

'What kind of nightmares tie into each other like a goddamn broken record?'

Nathan was already awake when he came out of the shower.

"You're up early." Fayden commented, walking over to his shoes.

"We have a meeting, remember?" The red-haired boy grabbed his uniform and took Fayden's place in the bathroom.

"Ah yes, the meeting. Definitely didn't forget about that." Fayden muttered to himself.

Once Nathan was ready, the duo left the room, heading out of the dormitory building.

On the way they bumped into Arthur, who, as usual, had students staring at him.

"Morning." Fayden greeted as the three of them began walking together.

Arthur nodded, "Good morning."

"Do you always have this many people staring at you?" Nathan glanced around uncomfortably, it seemed he did not like the attention. That was something Fayden could sympathize about.

Fayden sighed dramatically, "Alas, we are but candles compared to the dazzling glow of the sun."

"Says the white core mage." Arthur deadpanned at him.

"I'm not the guy who beat up a professor and took his place." Fayden shot back.

"It's not like I wanted to be one." Arthur groaned. "I swear if I could dump this job on someone else's shoulders, I would."

"Something tells me Cynthia's intentionally not looking for a new professor."

"You're telling me."

Nathan chuckled, "You two are like brothers."

Fayden grinned, wrapping his arm around Arthur's shoulder. "You bet."

Arthur shook his head, smiling as they reached the door.

Inside, the rest of the DC sat with grim looks on their face.

Faydens grin vanished, "What happened?"

"It's Marcois." Claire said.

'He couldn't have escaped in his condition, so…'

"He's dead then." Fayden took his seat at the table, his companions following his example.

"Was he assassinated so that he wouldn't speak?" Fayden assumed, that was a tactic often used by people in power.

Claire shook her head, "No, it had something to do with the letters on his back."

"The artificers and medics couldn't stop his mana leakage." Curtis explained.

"Mana leakage? Wasn't he unconscious?" Arthur asked.

"It seems these runes are more troublesome than we assumed." Nathan mused. "If it kills the user, why are people still using it?"

"The greed for power blinds rationality, Nathan. These people clearly aren't thinking about their lives," Fayden answered his question. "But if they're aware of this, I don't suppose many will willingly put down their lives unless they have a reason."

"It could be the radical group; their hate for Elves and Dwarves are well known." Arthur added his own two cents.

"HOW ARE YOU SO CALM WHEN A STUDENT HAS JUST DIED!? WE'VE FAILED IN OUR DUTY AS MEMBERS OF THE DISCIPLINARY COMMITTEE!" Theodore slammed his fist on the table.

"And if we don't act fast, more will die." Fayden's words hit Theodore with the force of a sledgehammer. "I'm not saying the lives of the students are insignificant, far from it in fact. None of us knew Marcois, and yes, while his death may have been tragic, none of us should be too affected by it. If you really want to grieve the death of Marcois, we'll have time to do that later."

Claire sighed, "Fayden is right, we are the swords of Xyrus Academy. They need us right now, they need the Disciplinary Committee to handle the sitation."

"And what do you say our first move should be?" Feyrith asked, twirling his wand anxiously.

"For starters, reorganizing and strengthening our patrol schedules."

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That evening Fayden wasted no time in heading to the Training Facility, he and Elijah had agreed on meeting up there after their classes.

While waiting for Elijah to come, Fayden brought out a familiar orb from his dimension ring. Reddish orange flames and black smoke swirled around in the core.

He wanted to try something. Silver runes glowed under his eyes as he tapped into the core with his nacht. The inside of the core was near identical to the throne room of the Pit of Heresy.

And on the throne sat the man himself, the so called Prince of Gluttony. His pupilless eyes stared back at him emotionlessly.

"Honestly, I expected you to attack me as soon as you saw me." Fayden commented, glancing back at the army of nacht beings behind him. He raised an eyebrow, the last time he had seen they there were only in the dozens, not the hundreds.

"..." Beelzebub didn't answer.

"I plan to give your will to someone, a friend of mine." Fayden walked forward calmly. "And I've seen what happens when a will rejects its user."

Beelzebub tilted his head.

"I want you to know something 'Lord of the Flies,' the moment I get the slightest sign that you're rejecting him, I'll come back here." A dark look washed over Fayden's face. "And this fragment of you that remains, shall remain no longer."

A growl escaped Beelzebub's throat, and he swiped angrily at Fayden's face.

Leaning back, Fayden narrowed his eyes, chains manifesting on Beelzebub's arms and legs, shackling him to his own throne.

"On second thought, I'll just keep you sealed here." Fayden raised his arm as more and more chains tore out of the floor around Beelzebub, completely covering him. In the end, all Beelzebub could do was watch.

"Farewell Beelzebub, may our paths never cross again."

The core was steaming with black smoke when Fayden returned. He did not know what kind of consequences this would have on the will itself, but he was willing to take the risk.

"Are you done playing with that orb?" Nico's annoyed voice said from above.

"You're finally here." Fayden stored the core in his dimension ring, standing up to face Nico.

He rolled his eyes, "I've been here for the past five minutes, you were just too busy with that thing."

Fayden narrowed his eyes, "You're the one who's late, we were supposed to meet up by six."

Nico looked away, "Gr-Arthur roped me into a conversation."

"And does he suspect who you are?"

Nico scoffed, "I'm not that incompetent."

"You're imitating someone vastly different than you." Fayden pointed out.

"Someone with a personality as complicated as a child's toy."

Fayden shook his head, this conversation was getting them nowhere, "So, what do you think about Arthur?"

"He's…" Nico trailed off, "definitely changed. He's similar to how he was in the orphanage."

"And?" Fayden said expectantly.

Nico sighed, "He's not the self-centered vengeful asshole I thought he was."

"Wouldn't be sure about the vengeful part, but yeah he's a better man now."

"But, he's also hiding something from me. Something important. He keeps muttering about it when he thinks I'm not listening." Nico looked right into his eyes. "You know what it is don't you? I see it in your eyes."

Fayden hesitated; he did not wish to burden Nico with that information when he had just regained his memories, but he knew he wouldn't back off. He sighed, he might as well tell him.

"Ah," Nico breathed out in realisation, "a god?"

Fayden nodded, "Yes."

"And you have a power similar to this god?" he noted.

"I do."

"Normally that would be suspicious in and of itself, but you've done nothing suspicious in recent memory."

"I'm not a traitor." Fayden deadpanned.

"I know, but this is troubling news." Nico mused. "We need to get stronger."

"It's a good thing you're both in the silver spectrum."

"Mar-Fayden," Nico looked at him seriously, "train me."

Fayden nodded, "I was already planning on that. You, Arthur and Nathan are the ones closest to the white core stage and have the most potential."

"Speaking of potential." Nico fixed his glasses, "I discovered something when my memories came back. An untapped source of power."

Fayden furrowed his brows, he did not expect that, "What?"

Nico stepped back, one of his arms burst into greyish black flames sending chills down Fayden's spine.

'Whatever happens, do not get hit by that.'

'What is that Zeke, why does it feel so familiar?'

'It's nature is similar to whatever was corrupting Aunt Tessia's Beast Will. A diluted version of Nacht, but he's still using mana.'

"That's not all." Nico raised his free arm, manifesting half a dozen spikes of pure darkness behind him.

'That's…'

Silver runes flashed under Fayden's eyes and nacht moulded itself into a sword for him.

"So you have a similar power?"

Fayden nodded, "This is the beast will Noctis gave me."

Nico grinned smugly, "Does that mean I'm a deity then?"

Fayden rolled his eyes, "Don't flatter yourself. At best, you're a half breed."

"What makes you say that?"

"Noctis and Sylvia were both quite non-humanoid. So either you've yet to unlock your beast form, or you're not a pure-blooded deity." Fayden explained.

"I suppose that makes sense." Nico sighed. "But that still means my limits are higher than any other race."

Fayden shrugged, "Sure."

Glancing at the time, he said, "You're free to go wild with your newfound abilities, but I need to start patrolling campus grounds."

"Oh right, Disciplinary Committee stuff. I'm glad I declined."

"Goodbye Nico, we'll talk again tomorrow." Fayden bid him farewell, Void Stepping outside.

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Fayden decided to go to Arthur's patrol route first, and make his way to Kai's route from there. But something felt strange, there were definitely two people in the route, but he did not sense Arthur.

Covering himself in a sphere of sound mana, removing his presence completely. He began Void Stepping towards one of the figures.

As he got closer, he sensed the second being rush towards the first. He recognized the mana signature of the first being to be of Theodore, his colleague. He was facing toward's him, yet unable to see him.

Fayden tensed when a cloaked figure came into view, nigh perfectly hiding it's mana signature as it closed in on Theodore. Fayden waited for the right timing, waiting until the assailant was airborne and about to hit Theodore at the back of his head to Void Step.

The cloaked figure widened his eyes in surprise, as Fayden grabbed his hand right before it could make contact with Theodore.

As if by a stroke of luck, a heavy breeze decided to blow at that very moment, blowing the hood off his head.

"Fancy meeting you here, Kai."