"Qamara, you…" Nylian looked at his daughter with confusion. "What happened inside?"
"Father…" Qamara looked at the man and softly said, "If anything, Adam made sure that I was safe inside. He did everything he could to protect ."
"What?" Even Lenna, her mother, couldn't believe her ears.
Qamara thought that it would be better if she could just show it to everyone instead of telling them. She walked towards Sabrina, ready to comply with her requests.
Sabrina faintly smiled at her. "I will first ensure that your mories haven't been altered, okay, love?"
"Yes, Councilor." Qamara respectfully nodded.
Sabrina then touched the elf's forehead. Following that, a warm and radiant light covered her head. This continued for almost a minute before she retracted her hand.
She then looked at all the councilors present and confird, "Unaltered."
Sabrina then turned to Qamara and said, "It will be convenient for you to extract the mories by yourself. If I were to do that, it might hurt you."
"I understand." Qamara nodded and then perford a simple hand seal.
Rank 1 Spell: mory Strand!
Following that, she magically extracted a handful of ethereal white strings from her head, each one a mory of what had transpired inside the Duskfall Manor.
Of course, she made sure to not extract any embarrassing mories where she was dancing with Adam, holding his hand, or staring at his profile for extended periods of ti.
Sabrina Benton weaved a set of hand seals and perford a spell of her own.
Rank 3 Spell: mory Projection!
The spell covered all of Qamara's mory Strands and then broke it down into fine particles. Following that, the magical particles spread around, forming a rectangular projection.
Finally, Qamara's mories were projected for all to see. Of course, since these were her mories, everything was shown from her point of view.
Everyone watched silently and attentively as her mories were being projected. anwhile, Adam's lips curled up into a faint smirk.
Everything that had happened today, except for the unexpected and temporary alliance with the Duskfalls as well as the sudden zombie outbreak in the underground chamber, had gone according to his plan.
From the beginning till the end, everything had unfolded exactly like he had expected them to. It was a surreal feeling, having predicted everything before they had happened, and shaping them to his advantage.
He felt as if he was the grand puppeteer, pulling onto the strings of all these people that had surrounded him and making them dance to his tune.
Although, at the mont, he was on the ground and everyone else was standing over him, he was, in fact, the true victor. He was the player. They were the pieces.
In his first battle against the Cult of Bones, he had co out on top. Of course, major credit for that went to the mysterious person who sent him the letter, warning him about the trap.
Till now, he hadn't learned the identity of that person, however.
anwhile, everyone around him watched Qamara's mory Projection. They saw her and Adam enter the masquerade ball. They saw him conversing with the Duskfall couple.
So people were shocked to see the sudden stand-off between the Duskfall couple and Adam and how easily the latter had immobilized them with the help of his serpents.
Much to their shock and horror, the people then learned about the mysterious cult that had allied with the Duskfall couple, the Umbra Thieves, and the Red Fists, helping them establish the human trafficking ring for the past several years.
They witnessed how the Duskfall couple and Adam and Qamara temporarily ford an alliance to deal with the mbers of the cult. They saw the bloody ritual where dozens of won were sacrificed. Then they saw the fight against the zombies.
Finally, the mory Projection ended when Sabrina Benton and her n descended from the hole in the ceiling of the underground chamber.
All the people that had gathered showed varied emotions. The vast majority of the guests—the ones that weren't invited to the underground chamber—couldn't believe that such horrific rituals were taking place in the Duskfall Manor.
The VIP guests who indulged in all the sins in the private lounges in the manor as well as the bloody ritual hung their heads low, unable to refute anything. They were filled with terror, knowing what awaited them now.
Sabrina Benton's n were filled with awe and respect witnessing Adam take charge.
Although they couldn't see much through Qamara's point of view in the underground chamber when the main battle had started, after finding the corpses of the fourteen cultists earlier, they were now sure that Adam had single-handedly dispatched all of them.
The ard forces of Ravenfell respected strength above all else.
Once the projection ca to an end, Sabrina Benton looked toward Daniel Ranzenberg and flatly stated, "Councilor Ranzenberg, you may release the boy."
Daniel Ranzenberg emotionlessly got to his feet and allowed Adam to stand. The latter gazed at him with displeasure before turning his attention toward the Lord Marshall.
Sabrina deeply looked at him and declared, "Adam Constantine, I hereby declare you not guilty of the charges brought against you!"
Adam pressed his hand to his chest and lightly bowed, "Thank you, my lady."
He then walked passed Ives Ballard, winking at him and taunting him with a light smirk, and approached Sabrina Benton. "Before I leave, I'm gonna hand these two over to you," he said.
With a simple hand seal, a large portal was ford in his shadow. From it, the red and yellow snake were summoned. Except, they looked much fatter than before, almost as if they had swallowed sothing.
"Spit them out," Adam ordered in snaketongue.
"But what about our paynt?"
"Paynt! Paynt!
"Find Su'kis," said Adam. "There's more than enough food for the three of you." He was hinting at the rest of the mbers of the Red Fists who hadn't been turned in. They would beco food for the three serpents for their services rendered.
The two snakes looked at one another and then nodded. Then, they spat out the Duskfall couple that they had swallowed earlier. Thanks to Fern being poisoned and Altan running out of mana, it was very easy for the serpents to deal with them.
After spitting out the couple, the snakes went back through the portal they ca from.
Adam pointed at the unconscious Duskfall couple who were covered in strange liquids and stated, "I hope they die, Councilor."
Sabrina Benton didn't reply, indifferently staring at Adam, her thoughts a mystery.
"If there's nothing else, I will take my leave," Adam spoke slowly. "My mana reserves have been depleted and I'm too tired from tonight's battle. If there's nothing else, I'd like to go ho and rest."
Sabrina looked deep into Adam's eyes and then silently nodded.
No one dared to stop him from leaving. While most gazed at him with respect, so displayed spite and resentnt. Qamara, for one, had extrely complicated emotions churning in her heart as she watched Adam's departing back.
anwhile, Ives Ballard gazed at Adam with blatant hostility. He would never forget the embarrassnt he had suffered at his hands tonight. Besides, now that it was evident that Adam was truly innocent, there was nothing he could do about it.
Suddenly, his expression froze for a split second and a peculiar light flashed in his eyes. He gazed at Adam disappearing past the estate gates and couldn't help but faintly grin.
He then looked at his fellow Councilors and solemnly stated, "The ergence of a new criminal organization known as the Cult is a very pressing matter. I would like to convene an ergency council eting."
Sabrina Benton gazed at the man with narrowed eyes for a few monts before nodding. "Very well."
After instructing her n to deal with the aftermath of the Duskfall Masquerade Ball, the councilors headed towards Council Keep.
…
Constantine Manor, Uptown Quarter.
The house was completely empty except for Adam who had just now arrived after a gruelling battle. It was intense for him, both ntally and physically.
He arrived at his study and poured himself a drink. The youth walked toward the high, arched window and gazed at the twin moons in a daze.
"Everything went smoothly tonight," he mumbled as he took a sip of wine. "Those cultist bastards have been taken care of. Well, for now, at least."
The next mont, his eyebrows furrowed and he muttered, "But the mastermind… the one operating the cult's operations in Ravenfell, Olin Barrett… Where did he go?"
As he was about to take another sip of the wine, his hand suddenly paused. Right at that mont, a cold voice echoed in his study room.
"Looking for ?"
Adam's heart sank. He slowly turned around and saw a pale-skinned middle-aged man with a receding hairline sitting cross-legged on the high-leather chair, and looking at him with an amused smirk.
Rank 3 - Mana Vortex Magus, Olin Barrett!!! Experience tales at My Virtual Library Empire
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