Funeral

Bellamy, capital city of Ekiya.

It was the year 784, 28th of Ruler.

The sun hung high above the sky at exactly 12:00.

Heat poured into the land of magic. The month of Ruler was searing hot in the midday, and Ekiya, which was situated on the equator of Mundus, had a rough time compared to the other countries. However, the residents of Bellamy, which was widely considered as the greatest technologically advanced city, went on with their days as the sun unbothered them.

Within every archaic, yet gothic building, magical artifacts spewed cold and comfortable fresh air. An artifact that could be considered luxurious everywhere else, was a common thing in Bellamy.

Nobles might be rich and powerful in status compared to the commoners, but in the court of the magic council, justice knew no waver.

Bellamy, when viewed from a great distance, sparked innovation and creativity into one's heart. At the centre of that is the union academy. Opposite to its south, were the noble's district and the king's castle.

At the academy, though the day was bright, the mood was dark. The wide metallic door was crowded with people in dark clothing and arrangements of carriages. From the gate emerged a floating coffin of lustrous black.

The coffin gently and slowly hovered towards one of the many carriages that was different from the others, because it was designed to be accessed easily as it was wide open with no roof whatsoever.

It laid down on the carriage like a feather, and the driver signaled for the horses to depart. The crowd followed suit as they approached their own custom-designed carriage with robust horses.

The road to their destination was clear of obstacles, providing them with a smooth path. When the citizens of Bellamy cast their eyes on the leading carriage that carried the casket, they shook their heads with lament. Some even lowered their torso to show respect to the deceased.

After a while, they came upon a prairie of tombstones behind open iron gates and fences. The coffin alighted from its ride, floating into the gate of the graveyard, escorted by both sides in lines.

The coffin effortlessly found its home among the many graves and settled in. On its head was a tombstone.

The mourners of the dead circled around the grave. Among them, two of different height and gender were a step ahead of the others. They were Caesy and Aelfryn. Their faces stoic.

A man of age walked out of the crowd with a flower in tow. He went past the pair and threw the flower into the grave, stepping to the side so that the other people could honour the dead.

Soon after, many followed his example, as they all came with the same flower the old man had: Caesy and Aelfryn were no exception.

When they had finished with the ceremony, the aged man faced the hole that would soon be in eternal darkness. This man was the high druid of the academy, who was responsible for leading the funerals. With a swift of his hand, the grave converged from the top and welcomed the coffin to its abode.

Gazing at the ground with a sad smile, the aged man roughly spoke, "May you find your place beside the Ancient one."

As if they rehearsed this phrase multiple times, everyone followed his actions. """May you find your place beside the Ancient one."""

They stood in silence for a minute before dispersing, returning to their daily lives. Caesy and Aelfryn stayed for a bit, but they eventually went back to the academy. Leaving the tombstone that was etched with the words, "Kaloum Noctua, A man of strictness and honour."

***

On Firlake Street in the noble district.

At the same time as Kaloum's burial, Coy was reading a letter sent by his father in a beautiful manor with a large courtyard, a fountain, and gardens.

The owner of this manor was Aelfryn. Coy was not surprised by this, as it befit the status of the union headmistress's disciple.

Recounting back to the night, in which he fought the soul gorgers. When Caesy barged into the room and left with them in a hurry, she teleported into this manor and left before telling Aelfryn to accompany him, and keep him hospitable, regardless of the urgent situation that had transpired back at the academy. It showed how high of a regard she held for him… Or his father.

Aelfryn was not in a hurry as he welcomed him dearly. He took him on a tour throughout the manor, whether it would be the ballroom, library, and other areas.

He was now staying in one of the household rooms as he took a liking to the scenery and atmosphere surrounding the manor. Of course, he wouldn't have done such a thing if it had not been offered by the owner in the first place. All in all, it went well considering he was living with someone he was familiar with.

The funeral was scheduled to be held after a day of Kaloum's death, which was precisely the 28th of the Ruler, which was equivalent to July back on earth. Aelfryn left the academy on 27th, leaving Coy to himself. Coy took this opportunity to finish reading the book he didn't finish back at his home, and read a few other books regarding Mundus's geography, political powers, and about magicians and knights; the interesting ones among the bunch in Aelfryn's personal library.

Early this morning today, a letter was handed to him by the Butler, Fram. Surprisingly, it was from his father, and it talked about the issue concerning back home and condolences to the headmistress regarding vice headmaster Kaloum's death.

Putting the letter down on the desk, Coy thought with a smile, 'Nothing much has changed except Luna's training being intensified, and mother leaving for grandfather's Earldom. I won't have to worry much about my mother, she is strong. It's good to hear from father that Luna liked the cat, and how motivated she became. I shouldn't slack off too.'

In the time he spent here, he had the chance to unwind the memories of his childhood. He now remembered almost all of them, which was a good thing.

He got up from the desk next to the tall window and headed for his bed. Sitting on it in a lotus position, he began to circulate his mana.

As if waiting for that, a rough voice cried out, "Don't disturb my research!"

Chóros had not taken a single day off studying the ether in Coy's abdomen. Within a span of a day and half, he had uncovered the main trait of this energy. As he suspected, this energy was destructive in nature, unlike mana.

He continued, "Also, don't try anything foolish with how you circulate your mana. It could lead to mana deviation with but a single mistake, and you are not skilled enough to deter it back to its original path if it were to happen."

With his eyes closed, Coy replied with a relaxed forehead, "Of course, I know my limit."

Coy had been taught by Chóros to use a more efficient way to circulate mana. It was a lot better than the one he used when he was little. No wonder he was the vampire king's teacher.

In a hurried voice, Chóros mumbled, "Just tell me when you feel saturated with mana in your core. You can create your first mana ring and advance to the second circle, as for casting spells… You can cover that when you go to the academy," before becoming silent.

With a bitter yet eager heart to do mystical wonders, Coy went on with his mana circulation, like a robot tasked to mass produce.

***

2:27 am.

Eerie ashen cold traced over the tombstones in Bellamy's loom graveyard.

Crooked trees loomed above the green, damp ground. This graveyard was named as such due to its unique shape of the trees.

In fore of one of the tombstones, the floor breathed for an interval of 2 seconds, and a thumping sound echoed with each breath.

A few breaths later, a plain hand gushed out of the ground, followed by another hand, then a head, a torso, and legs. It was a man with a dark suit and mid obsidian hair, which drops of sand nestled upon.

The man's chest rose up and down evenly, not tired by the difficult ordeal he had been through.

'Thankfully my body is of high quality because of my rank which boosted my physical durability. This wouldn't have been feasible if I was physically weak.'

He glanced at the tombstone with his eyes lost. Bitterness swelled up his throat.

"This is merely for the sake of our kingdom…. Yes."

Muttering such words, he covered any signs of the grave being dug out before picking up pace.

'I can only trust him on this one. Even though the plan to fake kill me went without any issues, that was because of Caesy's absence. We have to hurry before she figures out the truth… We have to root out those treacherous mongrels occupying our land.'

He went deep into the graveyard and chanced upon a crooked tree that was scarred by a single claw. He bent in front of it and dug the ground with his ashy hands. The wet and grassy earth was pushed out of the way before a green earring came to be. Kaloum picked it up and scrutinised the earring.

'So this thing will temporarily change my mana signature? If this was to be made public, the world would go into chaos due to people faking their unique mana signatures.'

He equipped the earring and mumbled, "With the authority given by the true maker of Doppelgänger, I ask you for your guidance."

As he said those, the green earring momentarily unleashed a wave of chilly smoke around Kaloum's body, before seeping inside him.

When it was done, Kaloum checked his brown mana core, which was surrounded by 7 highly condensed rings, and saw that they emitted a mana signature vastly different from his. It was a success!

'Hehehe, this is a brilliant work of art! I can't wait for him to lead us under the new banner of our lost kingdom… Of course, by being under me as his master!'

With such insidious thoughts carved into his mind, tens of dark lances were conjured as he spread them in all directions, destroying the landscape: tier 4 spell, lances of the dead. He then used the tier 6 spell, Illusion beyond deception, as he made his already fake mana signature change into two and scattered them around the surroundings, so that whoever came here to investigate would assume it was a fight between two necromancers or grave robbers.

Looking at how the place turned, a smile found on Kaloum's thin lips. With ease, he circulated his mana as he cast yet another tier 6 spell, Wings of the night. Pure dark wings of mana rooted out of his back, each one hazy and three meters long. He didn't waste a single second as he soared high above the clouds. While he was casting spell after spell, not a single magic circle formed as he was casting tier 4 spell, Obscure, before every spell to veil their magic circle. The advantage of the Obscure was that when it was being casted, the spell itself showed no magic circle. Due to that, it was a spell you can only know of being activated by sensing the fluctuations of mana around the person who invoked it.

Looking down at Bellamy, his brown eyes softened as he thought of reclaiming back his land. Not a moment passed before they turned red with blood, his face morphed into an ugly one. Hatred and rage were evident on his visage.

'Never would I have thought I would fake my own death, damn it! If only those treacherous bastards didn't bite the hand that fed them. Hmph, spoil yourselves with the short peace you have, because you won't be able to do so later on.' Harbouring such feelings, Kaloum left Bellamy.