Spectre | Shall We Begin?

As Kora peered into the ice-cold blue eyes, the eyes looked back at Kora with the same intensity. He promptly took out the talisman provided by the Ralvuzeth and tried breaking it to send the signal, but before Kora could call for help, an ice-spike impaled his palm, as the talisman flung away to another corner of the bed.

"Shit!" Kora furrowed his brows but still remained calm and thought rationally on how to deal with this absurd thing.

He couldn't help but yell, "What is this creature?" But the creature only stared back with curiosity. Kora yanked the ice-spike away as the Tiran Spirit Mark glowed brightly, healing his wounds with his Qi.

It was incredibly chilly, and Kora had to constantly pour his Qi along his body to protect himself from the freezing cold.

Kora glanced at the talisman, lying on the ground, from the corner of his eyes, as he took a step slowly towards it.

Fushhhhh!

Another Ice Spike pierced his leg, as Kora stopped his movements completely. He could tell the creature didn't want him to call anybody. He slowly bend down and removed the spike, healing his wounds within seconds.

His mind was working at top gears to find how this creature entered the Academy and what does it wanted from him, but none came to mind. A frown perpetuated his face, but he was still calm.

"What do you want?" Kora tried to converse with it but he didn't get any response back as the blue eyes kept staring at him.

Kora couldn't tell the cultivation level of the creature and neither the type of race it belonged to. He could only see two sapphire eyes staring at him as he outstared back.

Except for Kora, everything in the room froze into a block of ice, even the bed, Kora was standing on, has become an iceberg. Kora was still supplying his Qi to protect himself from freezing to death.

"So you are here huh?" He heard a voice from behind him as a figure he was familiar with appeared behind his back. Kora craned his head, narrowing his eyes,

"Felecia?"

Felecia kept looking at the eyes, "Sorry about the hassle," She smiled apologetically, flicking a chock of hair behind her ear, "Spectres like human meat and, this one is no different... "

"Spectre?" Kora looked back at the two eyes with a puzzled expression, "Aren't they supposed to have a body, a figure, or something?"

Felecia smirked, "Oh? This one is special, it has hunted down all the anguished, sorrowful spirits that appear in the Pocket Realm every year after thousands of students die making it much stronger than other Spectres. After eating so many spirits, it has developed powers with which it can take any form, but it insists on being ice-blue-eyes." She expressed genuine amazement with raised brows and curled lips.

"Is that why it is roaming in the Academy?" Kora felt a migraine coming. He could have almost died to a Spectre, even if he did nothing as Spectres were known to have a liking towards human flesh and they ate dolor spirits to grow stronger.

When a person died with a lot of grief, their spirits cannot enter the rebirth cycle and roam around the human lands, making it infertile, and spooking people out with their poltergeist abilities. Luckily these spirits were a power source for Spectres, who were cannibalistic spirits, hunting their own kind to become strong. But as their powers increased, their hunger extended to humans and they would regularly eat humans to satiate their glutton desires.

"A mistake, but hey, you were not in danger," Felecia replied with a shrug as Spectres cornered their prey completely before incapacitating them, and she would have appeared before any of that happened.

"I could have died... " Kora sighed and grumbled but became visibly relaxed as Felecia was next to him and he knew, she had the situation under her control.

"Could have been my fault," Felecia turned her face away in embarrassment, "I was taking it out of the Pocket Realm, to release it in the forests so that it could hunt whatever he likes, but it just changed its mind and blasted off to your courtyard,"

A debauched grin crept up Kora's face, "Someone has been naughty, and is in a dire need of a punishment, eh?"

Felecia bit her lips sensually, waved her arms, and destroyed ice structures all over the room, "Sorry, I am busy right now, maybe next time," then ruefully smiled.

A light cough escaped Kora's mouth, "Anyways, Isn't it useful? Why release it? It could be a good pet?" Kora was slightly interested in this unique Spectre that wanted to make him its snack.

"It could... "Felecia sighed as she reminded Kora, "But you need to know it likes human flesh and that might be a problem to all the people in the Academy who can't protect themselves... "

Kora continued with a nod, "So you throw it in the forest outside the Academy?"

"Yes, and there it can hunt whoever it wishes to, and when we need it the next year, a talisman is attached to it, that tells us its location."

"I see... " Kora left it to Felecia to take care of it, as Felecia nodded, and waved her arm in an arc, vertically, forcing the eyes, to drop on the ground palpitatingly.

She took out a small black cube in her palm, which had several golden formations inscribed on it. She kneeled slightly as the black cube sucked the sapphire eyes inside, like a vacuum.

And as soon as the eyes were sapped into the cube, the temperature of the room rose to normal.

"I never thought Her Majesty would take a liking to you... " She put the cube in a small pouch and turned around to look at Kora who smiled embarrassingly, at the word, 'liking'. It was more like blackmailing, he wanted to say, but it was better to not let Felecia know about certain things.

She glanced up at the ceiling and knitted her brows after seeing the formations, "Why?" She muttered to herself, rather than asking Kora. At Felecia's confused look, Kora replied, "It must be because she doesn't want me to bring in girls at night so that I could focus entirely on my cultivation."

Felecia paused and gawked at Kora, "Plausible," a low giggle escaped her rosy lips.

Since the formations were there to spy on Kora, he knew Felecia wouldn't accompany him in this room, and further, Felecia also had her own matters to deal with, so before Felecia took her leave, Kora inquired, "What happened to Erisna?"

Felecia sighed slightly and with an apologetic expression she replied, "Dead."

"What?" Nobody would have died in the last test, so how did she die? Kora was shocked and squinted his eyes at Felecia.

"You were not there when the results were announced..." Felecia gently massaged his shoulder, maybe to comfort him, or to comfort herself, guiltily, that she didn't have the authority to save someone just because she wanted to, "Those who didn't make it to the top 10000 were given another chance..." She bit her lips while looking down, avoiding Kora's inquisitive gaze.

Kora's contemplated while looking at Felecia, as he queried, "So you mean, replace the ones in the top 10000 by killing them?"

"Sorry... " Felecia made a sorrowful expression before vanishing in thin air.

"All that investment for nothing?" If Kora was any other man, he would have screamed, grudgingly at his bad luck, but-

Kora chortled in the end, he was true to his nature. He didn't have any relation with Erisna, it would have been different if his wife was killed who fulfilled his carnal desires, but Erisna was not his wife, just a tool he coerced, that got snatched before he could even subdue the weapon, completely.

Although slightly disheartened, Kora was not discouraged when his efforts were not rewarded. With that, he lay on the bed, thinking about plans to get out of the Queen's clutches, unbothered by Erisna's death, and Felecia's guilt, though he knew, Felecia was a strong independent woman, who could manage herself.

***

The just-risen sun shone softly on the city streets, bringing with it a flurry of early-morning activity as Kora moved towards a particular building while wearing light sky blue colored Academy robes assigned to him by the same Ralvuzeth.

Soon a tall building with multiple floors appeared in his vision, as he walked the streets of the Academy.

The Academy was a city in itself with several buildings to teach many things to the students ranging from alchemy to forgemastery, formations, to martial arts, and even helping in cultivation. Each building in the center of the Academy was dedicated to one particular subject, but Kora's destination was different, as the newly admitted students had a week to get used to the Academy life, after which they will have to choose their interest and eventually become professionals.

A five-story building, white in color, stood proudly without a single speck of dust, in full glory.

He could hear some hush discussions from the people around him, walking on the streets, but as usual, he ignored them all and entered the building with large strides and a wide smile, that was as fake as a three-dollar bill.

No guards were there as the entire Academy had formations, along with professors available at all times, and it was one of the safest places in the Kingdom with so many powerhouses living in a small area.

As soon as he entered a woman, who looked to be in her forties was sitting behind a counter. Kora saw two hallways on either side but since he came here for the first, he didn't know the directions.

Walking up to the counter, he leaned further to ask for direction as the woman guided him to the hall he was looking for.

He trod towards the foyer, through huge open gates as he glanced around only to notice a podium at one end of the lobby, while several small round tables with chairs glossed around them, scattered all over the hall as multiple crystal chandeliers lit up the entire gallery.

Upon his entrance to the lobby, he clasped the attention of all the people grouped up, chattering, and gossiping. Ignoring them he chose one of the empty tables and looked at the podium waiting for the event to begin...

"Hello?" He heard a masculine voice from his right side, turning his head, he looked at the man with a neutral gaze. The man had silver hair, azure eyes, just like Kora's, as he wore tattered robes, with lots of dust and dirt on them. In fact, his hair could barely be called silver, instead, it should be smoky grey. The man seemed to have mined for his entire life and only now got the opportunity to see sunlight. If not for the fact that the man's eyes held unshakable confidence, Kora would have taken him for an excavator.

"How can I help you, Your Highness?" A sharp glint flashed past Kora's eyes.

"Interesting..." uttered the man, brows raised, lips curved up "Do you wanna play a game?" He asked with a small smile.

Kora's lips curved up, amusingly, "What kind of game does the Third Prince, Ezreal wishes to play?" He noticed, Ezreal's wings were missing but was not surprised. Just like demonic transformation, Fairies had their own transformation, but women, like the Queen, Scarlet, and, Arcene, would usually show off their wings proudly, unlike men, who preferred to keep them hidden.

"A simple game..." Ezreal chuckled and took out two decks of cards, "I prepared this game when I was young." Ezreal facepalmed, "I am still young though," A low chuckle rolled off again. Kora accompanied Ezreal.

Ezreal lightly coughed, "Anyways, the game is simple..." He exhibited an extremely friendly smile.

He handed both the decks to Kora to look at, amicably, and Kora quickly glanced at each card to make sure there was nothing wrong with them, upon handing them back to Ezreal, he nodded, to which Ezreal curved his lips up slightly as it was unique for him notice someone who was this calm even after knowing his real identity.

Ezreal started shuffling both the decks one by one as Kora's keen spiritual senses analyzed for any kind of trickery but he didn't find any, Ezreal's eyes twinkled as he felt Kora's senses invading his personal space, but didn't call him out. He started placing each card facedown on the table, one by one, and only then did Kora retract his senses, "Cards are ranging from 'Ace' to 'One', Each type of card has four suites- Fire, Water, Wind, and Earth." Ezreal kept up his same friendly smile and continued, "A total of 56 cards, four of each kind, meaning each card is unique, in both the decks, respectively" At Kora's nod, he added, "We will take turns flipping over two cards at a time," Another nod followed, "When a player makes a match, they keep both of those cards, and get another turn to flip two cards."

"What if they don't find a match?" Kora asked although he knew where Ezreal was going, "They return both the cards to their original position, facedown as the opponent gets their turn,"

A titter escaped Kora's mouth, "Sorry to break your bubble, Your Highness, but you can't beat me in a memory game... "

"What if I did?" Ezreal smirked, "How about we make a bet?"

"What kind of bet?" Intrigued, Kora couldn't help but ask. If the bet was favorable, he would even sell his soul to the devil.

"A simple one," He replied nonchalantly, "You will owe me a favor if I win,"

At his proposal, Kora asked with absolute confidence, "What if you can't?"

"I shall owe you a favor," Ezreal puffed out his chest as he put the last card on the table.

"Shall we begin?"