Lucen turned sharply.
And what he saw made his expression harden.
Aldren Sagewell stood behind him, smiling.
Not the calm, composed smile of the academy's acting vice-chairman.
Not the reserved smile of a veteran professor.
This one was wrong.
Creepy.
Sinister.
Lucen stared at him for a mont, genuine confusion flashing across his face.
"What the hell, Aldren…?"
Aldren's smile only deepened.
"You were right," he said calmly. "Those two aren't 8-star warriors at all."
He glanced toward the hooded n still floating ahead.
"They're only 7-star warriors. Enhanced to emit the pressure of 8-star mana to confuse the enemy."
Lucen's face tightened. Even with the freezing storm of his mana raging around him, a bead of sweat slid down the side of his face.
Sothing was terribly wrong.
But he forced himself to speak.
"…Then who were you fighting?"
The mont the words left his mouth—
Lucen's eyes widened.
His instincts scread.
He sidestepped instantly.
A black-purple sword shot past where his chest had been a heartbeat earlier.
The blade sliced through the frozen air, leaving behind a trail of dark corrupted mana.
Lucen twisted midair and looked.
A new figure had appeared beside him.
The man had removed his hood.
He was large and imposing, with a thick long dark-red beard and shoulder-length braided hair. One of his eyes was dark blue.
The other—
Yellow, with black sclera and a slit pupil like a beast's.
He grinned at Lucen, holding the sword loosely in one hand.
"He's been fighting ."
Dark violet corrupted mana began pouring out from his body.
No—
Not just pouring.
Flooding.
The pressure that followed was monstrous.
Lucen's expression changed imdiately.
Another bead of sweat appeared.
Now this—
This was the true pressure of an 8-star warrior.
The freezing mana around Lucen thickened further. His bluish-white aura intensified as the cold in the sky deepened, frost spreading through the air in violent spirals.
His eyes narrowed with anger.
"So you're the one…"
His voice dropped, cold and sharp.
"The one responsible for this whole ss."
Lucen kept his eyes on the red-bearded man, frost swirling more violently around him as the pressure in the sky continued to rise.
Without looking back, he spoke to Aldren.
"What do you say, old friend?"
His voice was cold, but steady.
"Shall we do it like old tis?"
Behind him, Aldren answered without hesitation.
"Yeah."
A faint smile remained on his face.
"Like old tis."
Lucen nodded once.
Then he drew in even more mana.
The freezing aura around him surged. The temperature plumted further, the sky above Astralis Arcanum turning into a domain of white mist and drifting frost. His eyes glowed brighter, and the pressure of Throne of Winter expanded as he prepared to launch himself forward.
Then—
Spurt.
Lucen's body froze.
A sharp, stinging pain blood from his lower back.
His eyes widened as he looked down slightly and saw it—
A dagger.
Buried deep into him from behind.
And then Aldren's voice ca, calm and almost casual.
"I think I stabbed the right spot."
Lucen slowly turned his head.
Aldren was smiling.
For a second Lucen's mind went blank.
Then rage exploded through him.
"You fucking traitor—!"
He roared and lunged straight at Aldren, his hand shooting out to seize him by the neck. His grip locked tight, veins bulging as his fury burst through the frozen sky.
Aldren, however, looked almost unimpressed.
"Now, now, Lucen. Calm down."
Lucen's eyes were bloodshot with fury.
"You fucking bastard!"
Aldren only closed his eyes for a brief mont, as though disappointed by the outburst.
And then—
Lucen felt it.
Sothing invisible gripped his heart.
His strength faltered instantly.
The fingers around Aldren's throat loosened.
His body went weak.
The icy transformation coating him began to wear off, the silver-blue glow dimming as he started to fall from the sky.
But Aldren caught him.
Lucen coughed blood.
His body trembled in Aldren's hold as he forced the words out.
"What… did you do…?"
While Aldren held him upright, the red-bearded man stepped closer and calmly pulled the dagger out from Lucen's lower back.
Lucen's body jerked violently.
"ARRRGGHHHHHHH!!!"
Pain ripped through him so hard that even breathing beca agony.
His eyes fell on the weapon now resting in Aldren's hand.
It was a long, sleek dagger of deep matte-black tal, needle-sharp and gleaming coldly like obsidian touched by the void. A central groove ran along the blade, filled with jagged crimson runes that pulsed faintly with sinister red light. Near the base were subtle serrations, and the whole blade tapered into a vicious point. The crossguard flared outward in the shape of thorned demonic wings, blackened steel curving like cruel horns, each side centered by a glowing blood-red gem. The hilt was wrapped in dark textured material with swirling abyssal filigree and smaller crimson stones, ending in a poml crowned by another red gem. Even at a glance, the weapon radiated infernal nace.
Aldren lifted it slightly and asked, almost conversationally,
"Was it the right spot, Hidari?"
The red-haired man glanced at Lucen once and replied,
"Hm. Exactly at the mana core."
As Lucen watched, the dagger began to change. The blackened steel slowly lost its abyssal sheen, turning into normal grey tal.
Aldren looked at it with mild satisfaction.
"Looks like the process is complete."
"The dark mana is inside him now."
Lucen tried to move.
Tried to punch him.
Tried to tear his throat out.
But his body would not obey. A burning sensation spread through him from the inside, deep and rciless, and all he could do was twitch weakly in Aldren's grasp.
Aldren noticed.
"You shouldn't move if you value your life," he said. "The dagger was also laced with a special poison from dark emberwood. I made it specifically for you, Lucen."
His smile widened faintly.
"The more you move, the worse it will feel. It won't kill you."
"It will simply keep tornting you."
Lucen's lips trembled with pain and fury.
"Wh… what did… you do…?"
Aldren answered as though explaining a lesson to a student.
"I injected a small amount of dark mana near your mana core."
"You can think of this as… an experint."
Lucen stared at him through blurred vision.
"Why…?"
His voice cracked.
"When…?"
Aldren smiled again, and this ti there was no kindness in it at all.
"I was never with you to begin with."
"The kind and soothing Aldren Sagewell never existed in the first place."
His eyes were cold now. Empty.
"I was always with the Vassel."
Lucen's gaze shook.
Aldren continued calmly.
"As for why… you can think that through yourself."
He lightly twirled the now-grey dagger between his fingers.
"Besides, the blade that stabbed you was given by my master. My god."
"It was laced with the dark mana of a high-rank Abyssal."
"Our experint was to determine whether humans can use and withstand dark mana itself."
He looked at Lucen carefully, almost academically.
"Not corrupted mana. Corrupted mana is simply normal mana tainted by dark mana."
"What I wanted to test was pure dark mana."
His expression held the faintest trace of amusent.
"But it seems even the mighty 8-star Lucen rrith cannot endure it."
He sighed lightly.
"Though I had hoped to try it on the Chairman…"
"But you ca instead."
Lucen coughed again, blood spilling from the corner of his mouth.
"B-bastard…"
His breathing was ragged now.
"Why… attack the academy…?"
Aldren answered without the slightest hesitation.
"It was like hitting three targets with a single arrow."
He raised one finger.
"First, our experint. We needed soone strong enough for it. Soone like you."
A second finger.
"Second, your academy would likely beco an obstacle to our goals in the future."
A third finger.
"And third, the Vassel wanted to weaken Astralis Arcanum itself."
He looked down at Lucen, still held helplessly in his grasp.
"So even after today, your academy will continue suffering from the aftermath."
Aldren's smile deepened.
"A win-win for us."
"Don't you think?"
Lucen's condition was getting worse with every passing second. His breathing had turned ragged, and the burning inside his body only spread deeper, clawing closer and closer toward his core. Even then, he forced his eyes upward and looked at Aldren.
"How…" he said through gritted teeth, blood at the corner of his lips, "how co you don't have corrupted mana…?"
Aldren stroked his white beard thoughtfully, as if Lucen had asked sothing mildly disappointing.
"I don't recall mixing anything into the poison that deteriorates intelligence," he said dryly. Then he glanced toward Hidari. "Do you think the dark mana is doing this?"
Hidari gave a small shake of his head.
Aldren looked back at Lucen, that sa false patience in his eyes.
"Why would you think I would have corrupted mana?" he asked. "I was here to be one of you."
Lucen's face twisted with pain and hatred. "You'll die… Aldren…"
He coughed again, a heavier mouthful of blood spilling out this ti, but he still forced the words through.
"Maybe you'll kill …"
His voice shook, though not from fear.
"But the Chairman is also coming."
His eyes burned with stubborn certainty.
"He will kill you."
From behind, Hidari gave a low chuckle.
"My barrier is unmatchable," he said. "The stronger the person trying to break it, the harder it becos for them to destroy."
Lucen's brows twitched. "But I was here…"
Aldren answered smoothly, "Because we know you ca through the hidden portal under the new statue of that dead man, Zane."
Lucen's eyes widened.
"You knew…?"
Aldren smiled.
"Yes."
The smile was small, but full of quiet mockery.
"You didn't anticipate that, did you?"
For a mont Lucen said nothing. His eyes only darkened as the truth settled in deeper. They had known. They had planned around him, around the academy, around even the hidden ergency route.
Then Hidari spoke again, his tone impatient now.
"Let's go, Aldren. We've done enough here. Let's kill the others and be on our way."
Aldren nodded lightly.
"True."
But the instant the word left his mouth—
Crack.
Then—
Burst.
The barrier surrounding the academy shattered.
It broke like a wall of glass exploding outward, fragnts of translucent force scattering through the sky in a rain of light.
Hidari's expression changed instantly.
Shock.
Aldren, too, looked up in clear surprise.
High above the place where the barrier had just been destroyed, a single figure floated in the air.
He stood there calmly, looking down at Aldren and Hidari.
The Chairman.
Caelum Lysander.
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