My duty is done

He was unexplainable.

"Ugh..." groaning, Veronica stood up, her right hand pointing her weapon at Hubert. The other hand used the scabbard of her curved sword as a cane to support her. The rest of the hall masters were in a similar state.

All four hallmasters looked toward him. He was unexplainable, like a mythical being that was told in the stories of children. He levitated with a form like being raised into heaven, his eyes glowed dark but bright.

"Ho-how can he levitate? Impossible! It's something only that of Rank 6 could do," Xillian muttered, still in disbelief. He clenched his magic staff tight, the wood dented in the shape of his hand. A half-red, half-blue stone, shining, was embedded on top of the curved end.

"The important question is, how can we get out of this alive?" Marcus said, his agitation nowhere to be found. His pumped and steaming muscles crushed and cracked the wall of which he got out of, revealing the print of his body shape on it.

"Agreed," June responded, short and direct. Patting the dust off her green short pants as she raised her small frame from the floor.

Hubert looked at them, his expression unusual, cold, and unyielding, his stare still and blank yet piercing. Then he raised his hand, pointing his open palm at them. Marcus and Veronica were in the direct path of his palm.

"Vanitas," he chanted, his tone monotone.

The spell barely came out of his hand, yet the two hall masters knew as their nape hair stood upright while their muscles sprung into action. Marcus dodged toward June, while Veronica to the left, toward Xillian.

Just as the two dodged, the place in which they stood, including the door that led outside, was hit by endless blackness. A line of blackness that was as thin as hair and as short as a piece of grain.

Then the line of blackness expanded, exploding into a ball of darkness and emptiness. That gluttonously ate the entire part where it was present the part of the door, the floor, and even the air. The ball itself couldn't escape its greed, as it too was consumed by itself and disappeared.

It was barely visible when it came, and soundless when it vanished, all in a matter of seconds.

"Is this… Void?" June asked, curious about the scene left by the spell, at the same time, intrigued by such a rare element she never saw before. Her love for research tingled.

"Focus, June, fighting stance," Marcus said sternly, clearly, focus blazed in his eyes.

"Hmph! I shall get back to that later," she pouted, jumping comfortably on Marcus's broad and muscular shoulder. Albeit curious, now, her eyes were fixed on Hubert. 

Then the four hallmasters looked at each other, nodding, readying themselves for the inevitable confrontation in front of them. Their eyes were sharp and determined, reflective of the cold moonlight. 

Veronica's sharpened sword gleamed of the moonlight, along with the aura that enveloped the weapon. Marcus's veins popped out, accompanied by the enlargement of his muscles as his body glowed bright yellow, his aura coming out.

June sat comfortably on Marcus's shoulder, reciting spells in her mind. While Xillian closed his eyes, his lips moved, like a whisper in the cold night carried by stagnant air in the room.

Hubert watched on, his face stern and slightly degrading.

It was fight or die.

"Now!" Marcus signaled, his voice of authority pressuring and deafening.

"Hyacintho Ignem Arcesso!" Xillian finished his chanting, directing his staff to Hubert. A magic circle, its color adopting the color of the stone that sat on Xillian's staff, appeared on its end.

Then came a fire, a blue ball, that, while the air around it shook, stared toward its opponent, Hubert. And it flew like a blur, faster than an arrow being shot from a bow, quicker than a cannon ball being launched by a cannon.

Hubert's black eyes greeted the fire that came at him.

"Nihil," he said, with a tone unlike that of a chant of a spell.

Boom!

Then the ball exploded into a blob, like hitting an invisible wall, just half a step in front of him. Its explosion sent pieces of fire to every corner of the room. But the fire wasn't hot, but consuming, burning and turning into ashes everywhere it touched.

Hubert was untouched, unscathed by the fire and its aggression.

"Take this!" Veronica came from his right hand side, a backhand sword strike prepared.

Her muscles acted, sending the sword flying forward, its swiftness like a vibration of moonlight. The curved sword flew edge first toward Hubert, aiming for his chest.

Hubert turned his head to the right, stiffly. He then raised his arm, aligning his body part with the trajectory of the sword.

"Ha! You think you're so strong that you can block my full strength?" Veronica asked, convinced and prideful of her strength. No way could someone that was weaker to her in every aspect possible block the attack right.

Thud

His finger pinched the blade of the sword, stopping it in a single second, sending a shockwave of wind flying everywhere, carrying with it, the ashes.

Veronica's eyes widened, unbelieving of the situation and predicament in front of her. She had expected the feeling of her sword grinding on meat, but she was proven wrong.

Her attack was useless in front of Hubert's strength, someone she deemed just a weak grade two student of the academy.

Thud

Thud

Thud

The sound was similar to that of an elephant running on the ground, with a speed akin to that of a cheetah. The room vibrated, the air followed, and the ash resonated. Hubert was unaffected, as he was levitating.

Marcus emerged from the curtain of ash from Hubert's left side, on top of his shoulder was June.

June pointed her teaching wand to Hubert.

"Restringere," her spell came in the form of a gray magic circle painted at the end of her wand.

Marcus pulled his right hand back, charging it. His muscles pumped, his veins popped and his bones strengthened for the attack. Then he threw it forward, his spike gloved knuckles aiming for Hubert's face.

"HAAAAA!" Marcus shouted, every strand of his muscles pulling the punch, guiding it toward Hubert's unprotected face.

Hubert was restrained.

His black eyes moved, seeing the incoming punch, yet his entire body did nothing.

Boom!

The punch nakedly impacted him. His head tilted to the side like a toy and his neck a spring. 

Crack

Crackings could be heard as the head straightened itself to the upright position.

Hubert's right hand loosened its grip over Veronica's sword. He raised his right hand and brought up his left hand, his palms faced each other. He then pitted them against each other.

Clap!

Ash and dust flew up, accompanied by the hallmasters, who found their back once again against the wall. The impact was so strong that it felt like cannonballs were shot in every direction.

"N-no…" Xillian muttered, he was the farthest from the shockwave. Yet he sat on the ground, against the cracked wall, his vision blurry, his lips dried and face covered in ash. His staff was thrown into the wall, becoming a part of it.

His vision dissipated, replaced by blackness of his closed eyes.

Hubert levitated, floating as his cold stare observed his opponents. He was the only one in the room who was not on the ground. He emerged victorious over the four hallmasters who laid unconscious.

Suddenly, he glanced behind him, outside the window where the moonlight came pouring in.

"Oh? You noticed?" the headmaster's sounded, coming from a ball of silhouette, flying, hidden in the presence of the moon.

"Haa, I left for a bit of dessert and I found the best treat I could get. Well, I did say you would need to die but it's such a shame, you know?" the headmaster stopped her words.

Hubert turned around, levitating toward her, breaking the glass window that was in his way.

"Not that it matters now," she said, her tone determined and straight, her motive unclear.

Hubert stopped. Under him, the academy's round, with its glorified buildings and yard that was emptied in the middle of the night.

Then he raised his palm toward her, and his mouth opened.

"No, it is my domain alone, go," the headmaster barked.

All of a sudden, Hubert found himself transported into a full and endless white space. A silhouette was visible in the far distance.

"What are you?" the headmaster asked, her tone curious.

Even from the distance, Hubert felt the eyes in front of him as it peered deeply. He dropped his hand, realizing the futile resistance in that space and the strength seeping out of his body.

"You… You are not him. No, you are something much cruel, coming from the deepest of abyss, did the boy- No. You stole him," the headmaster realized.

"My duty is done… Forgive me…" Hubert responded and looked above, the endless whiteness greeted back. The darkness in his eyes drained, along with his consciousness.

His body went limp as he fell to the white floor.