Corvis Eralith
"Capture."
A Bubblespell of pure teal Trucewater collapsed on itself above my palm as I caught this moment in time and space through REtrocurrent.
The sphere of liquid light imploded inward with a soft, almost musical sigh, folding the present into itself like a letter being sealed.
The teal shimmer faded, and I was left standing on the rooftop, the autumn wind tugging at my uniform, the world continuing its indifferent march forward.
As Leòn Leurenzian—the name I had given to my human identity—I strolled the roofs of Xyrus Academy's campus in search of my prey: Kai Crestless.
Prey, really now? I asked myself, surprised to be calling Kai Crestless a prey, even if only in my mind.
The word had surfaced unbidden, a predator's instinct rising from somewhere deep within me. Was this another part of Eralith Asclepius seeping through layers and layers of REmould?
From the novel, I knew that the Asclepius were the greatest hunters of Epheotus once, at least from Chul's biased perspective, and I had already seen many of my flock display related behaviours.
Ayden loved to fish in the Winetail, his eagle's form perched patiently for hours on end, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. Aurora studied each passer-by in the Grand Nectary markets with predatory care, her raven's eyes tracking movements, cataloguing details, seeing everything and revealing nothing.
And now I was feeling a certain thrill, just a whisper, to the idea of hunting an enemy: a similar feeling to the final moments of my fight with the Iron Hydrax, before compassion overrode that.
But for Kai Crestless? Damn, I just felt the thrill of the hunt. Not even a shiver of empathy crossed my mind, only logic realising the grim reality of these thoughts.
The Alacryan spy was a threat, a knife aimed at the heart of everything I was trying to build. He had chosen his path and had sworn his loyalty to a god who saw Dicathen as nothing more than a playground for his ambitions.
There was no room for compassion here, no space for the doubt that usually plagued me.
I shook my head and banished the thought away, focusing back on the task at hand and on my mental map of Xyrus Academy, courtesy of REstringify and REtrocurrent.
The map shimmered at the edge of my vision like a phantom overlay, a ghost of knowledge that had been fed to me by the river itself.
Every building, every courtyard, every hidden corner of the campus was laid out before me, a tapestry of stone and glass and ancient magic.
The blueish tiles of the Academy's rooftops resounded below my feet as I searched for the Alacryan spy.
With Ars Ariamorph, I used sound magic to suppress every sound I made, the vibrations of my steps swallowed by a carefully woven bubble of silence.
At the same time, I used wind magic to strategically move the falling leaves of late autumn to cloak me, guiding them in swirling patterns that drew the eye away from my passage.
And as usual, REmould did the rest to silence my mana signature. The innate cloaking of my form had become second nature now, a reflex as automatic as breathing. I was a ghost moving through the heart of Dicathen's greatest academy, invisible to the senses of all but the most perceptive.
While walking the rooftops like some kind of vigilante of the day, I kept Fiorwato at my side, ready to unsheathe its hidden emerald blade and descend on Kai Crestless should the right circumstances present themselves.
A clean jump from above, Fiorwato's blade through the Alacryan's mana core, and he would have no power to resist my "arrest."
I didn't relish the idea of killing a twelve-year-old, even one who served the Vritra, but I would do it if I had to.
Director Goodsky worked fast, making sure that Leòn Leurenzian would result a true student of Xyrus Academy. In truth, I was actually a personal student of Cynthia, seeing the potential problems with my age and also to make me able to move more freely than the rest of the student body.
I knew that from the novel already, but there, it was just mentioned how influential the Alacryan woman was in Sapinese high society. Now I witnessed it with my own eyes. Xyrus City didn't have a mayor or any other position of sort, the Magic Capital of the World was directly owned by the Glayder family just like Etistin.
But de facto... Cynthia Goodsky was the closest thing Xyrus City had to a proper leader.
I jumped from the roof of a building, landing softly on the next. The dormitories of the first-year scholar mages, I realized, checking the map at the corner of my vision that emerged like a Carnevrenn—the Dicathian salmon—jumping out of the Winetail River.
My target was playing the part of a battle mage student. He slept on the other side of the campus.
I jumped from roof to roof, the wind currents accompanying my steps.
But as I started to hear the voices of various teenagers and the sounds of combat, I halted. A practical lesson put in the open, I realized.
In one of the many courtyards of Xyrus Academy, a class of thirteen-year-olds, I guessed, was practicing spells against a series of targets put at different distances from one another. A classical firing range, but for spellfire instead of gunfire.
A line of students wearing the uniform of Xyrus Academy stood ramrod straight, chanting and casting simple spells of all four elements to shoot at the targets:
Fire bolts, water jets, gusts of wind, and shards of earth flew through the air in a barrage of destruction and wacky control.
Maybe coming here in broad daylight wasn't the best decision, I sighed.
But I had other things to do this day; namely, going to the Pits, to Pitrah, and listening to the Powders' vote.
To avoid being seen by a whole class jumping from roof to roof like some kind of lunatic, I jumped back on the grass of the school grounds. My landing was soft, cushioned by a whisper of wind magic, and I straightened my uniform with practiced ease.
I gave a glance to each student to see if I would discern some familiar faces from the novel, but they all seemed quite anonymous to my eyes, and the same was true for their professor. Just faces in the crowd, young mages learning their craft, unaware of the war that was coming.
No Kai Crestless in sight. Not that I expected to find him there anyway. Director Goodsky made me obtain his schedule, but the Alacryan boy wasn't exactly a model student, skipping classes often and being a mysterious figure across the campus, rarely showing up with other students.
The Director would have taken care of this herself, but all the influence and power she had in Xyrus City also made her a target of political schemes.
Sapinese nobility didn't like a non-noble woman being in such a position of power. Every move from the Director was finely observed by the high society of Sapin, ready to seize the opportunity to bring her down.
"Cynthia's doing so much for you, and that's how you repay her..." I murmured bitterly under my breath.
I heard steps behind me.
"Are you lost, first-year?" a grave male voice, yet still not adult, asked. "Shouldn't you be in your class?"
Turning, I saw a tall boy with a quite muscular build despite his young age. He had black hair and squinted eyes, actually eyes more similar to those prevalent in east Asia back on Earth.
Theodore Maxwell. I recognised him from the novel: one of the members of the Disciplinary Committee alongside Arthur during the latter's stay at Xyrus Academy.
"No, I was just passing by," I said. Not a total lie, but neither the full truth. "I should really be going now."
"Did I give you permission to do so?" Theodore asked, narrowing his eyes even more as he crossed his muscular arms on his torso. He looked like a human, black-haired and thinner version of Chul: all coiled energy and barely contained intensity.
"I am sorry, but I don't think you are a professor..." I said, dumbfounded. There was no Disciplinary Committee yet in the academy. What did Theodore think himself to be? "I don't see why I should list—"
"Because I am your upperclassman," Theodore stated, as if that explained everything. "It is my duty to ensure the safety of those younger than me."
I can see why he was chosen for the Disciplinary Committee... I thought, deciding that it was better to indulge in his antics. Some battles were not worth fighting, and this was one of them.
"May I go, then?" I asked, keeping my voice carefully neutral.
"Not before I ask you a couple of questions," Theodore said, but a new voice stopped him.
Claire Bladeheart, who I suspected was a classmate of Theodore seeing how they should have been around the same age, interposed herself between me and the Maxwell.
"It's you, again!" Claire exclaimed, recognising me. "Forgive Theodore, but he forgets that right now his role is that of tutoring the first-year battle mages, not to importune others."
"I was just asking why a first-year is roaming around the school grounds near the practice range alone," Theodore rebutted, his gaze on Claire who rolled her eyes.
"Fine, Theodore," Claire said, her head pivoting to face me. "Can you tell us your name? Then you are 'free to go,' as Theodore likes to say."
The other boy clicked his tongue at Claire's light teasing, turning to look at a couple of fire bolts being shot by the students practicing, but didn't say anything.
"Leòn," I replied. "Leurenzian. Leòn Leurenzian."
"Never heard," Theodore said, his eyes squinting even more; seriously, how did he do it?
Enough about this waste of time. I have places to be across the whole continent. I can't waste my time with this child's play.
"I need to go, now," I said, my voice carrying a note of finality. "Director Goodsky is seeking me."
I wanted to see if they had something to say if I put the Director's name in between. The reaction was immediate—a flicker of doubt in Theodore's eyes, a softening in his posture.
"Ah! Nice try, kid!" Theodore said, recovering quickly. "That's the oldest trick in this academy—using the Director's name to skip classes, or interrogations in this case. You thought yourself original for coming up with it?"
"Theodore, you are exaggerating," Claire admonished her peer, her voice carrying a note of warning.
"He tried to use the Director as an excuse to avoid us, Claire," Theodore rebutted again, unwavering. "I say this makes him even more suspicious!"
What is his problem? I sighed in frustration, feeling the weight of my impatience pressing against my control. I was that close to using Wind Surfing to glide away on Fiorwato when help came from the sky.
A greenish owl—Avier, the wyvern, Cynthia's bond—flew stationary near my side, looking at Claire and Theodore as if his eyes could pierce their very souls.
"T-the Director's bond?" Theodore asked, through gritted teeth, realising he was mistaken. The colour drained from his face, replaced by a dawning horror.
"I think this is proof enough of Leòn's excuse being truthful, wouldn't you say, Mr. Maxwell?" Claire asked with a smirk as she made me a gesture to get away—which I immediately did.
I walked away, leaving behind me the Bladeheart girl who, with a hand on Theodore's back, forced the muscular boy to return to whatever their duties were.
"I beg you to forgive the kids, oh Great Lord," Avier said as we took distance.
"Don't think about it," I said, completely ignoring the fact Avier was referring to me using a title befitting of Mordain Asclepius himself. "Have you and Cynthia found where the spy might be?"
"I searched myself, Great Lord," Avier replied. "Kai Crestless is currently in his dorm room. Alone."
"Who is his roommate? Or are they," I asked. "I wouldn't like to burst in if innocent students might return and find themselves in this situation."
"He has none, Great Lord."
I smiled at hearing that. Good news. Good news indeed.
—
I stood on the rooftop of the building in front of Kai Crestless's dorm room, the autumn wind whipping at my uniform, tugging at the edges of my human identity.
Mordain shone high above, the god of Djinnic religion, manifestation of Peace—of Fate. Once Kai Crestless would be under my custody, I would truly begin my war against Alacrya.
This was it. The moment I had been building toward since the day I first opened my eyes in this world.
"Avier, ensure no one walks nearby, okay?" I asked the wyvern, who bowed his owl head in acknowledgment.
Each dorm room of Xyrus Academy had a small balcony attached to them. I could jump onto Kai's, silenced by the Bubblespell covering the room, and break in. The balcony was small, barely large enough for a single person to stand, but it would serve as my entry point.
I crouched, considering my options. From the novel, I knew that Kai's rune let him control magical strings of metal magic, making him a lethal mage in enclosed spaces like a bedroom. The dorm room would be a killing field if I wasn't careful, a web of invisible blades waiting to slice me apart.
Channeling magic into my Servo-Hand, I summoned a Bubblespell and enlarged it, inscribing the Article of Balance into its structure.
The Article granted me absolute control over the magic's form, letting me mold spells like soft metal. It expanded rapidly, reaching the size of Berna as liquid light swirled across its surface. I then layered a sound-dampening spell within the orb, sealing off all interior noise.
The matrices merged flawlessly, guided by the soothing harmony of the Articles of Peace.
Lastly, I hollowed out the center; drowning inside my own construct would have been an embarrassing way to die. In magic, a single forgotten detail could ruin everything.
Hoisting the huge Bubblespell over my arms, I stood ready to envelop Kai's room. I waited until Avier gave the sign and then, I hurled the spell forward.
Fiorwato was in my grip, its emerald length humming with sound magic while visible winds enveloped the steel like a cloak of clouds, breathing a life of their own into the blade. I stormed inside.
The Trucewater flooding my nervous system through Inner Current made me react at lightning-fast speed.
Pushed against the wall, an expression of shock and fear on his slithery face, Kai Crestless stood with his arms in front of himself, each finger gripping a long metal string.
"Who are you?!" Kai Crestless shouted, eyes wide in disbelief, sweat beading on his forehead.
He wasn't shouting for help from a professor or another student—curious.
Like a net thrown at a beast, the metal strings approached me on all sides, catching the sunlight coming from the balcony behind my back.
I crouched slightly and sliced with Fiorwato, making the emerald blade slash in a full turn all around me.
I met no resistance, Evascir's smithing proved itself leagues above whatever rune Kai had. The metal strings were cut, and the mana that made them collapsed under the pressure of my own magic, Fiorwato singing with each movement.
I didn't give the Alacryan time to react.
Wind Surfing surged forward, and in an instant, a wind current pushed me onto Kai. My knee connected with his abdomen, causing the Alacryan boy—just a couple years older than me, truly—to cough and bend in pain.
He collapsed backward, falling on the room's floor. I used REmould to liberate all the cloaking effects on my mana signature, letting my power flow unbound.
The pressure of it filled the room, pressing against the walls, the ceiling, the very air itself. Kai Crestless froze in fear below me, the tip of Fiorwato a few inches above his abdomen, ready to pierce his mana core.
"Duels are prohibited without—" Kai made to say, trying to keep the façade of a somewhat normal student.
"Cease the acting, Alacryan," I stated, my declaration causing Kai to go pale. The colour drained from his face, leaving him ashen and trembling. "I know what you are."
Kai tried to fight back, thrashing his arms to produce new metal strings to try and cut me. I didn't do anything to stop his magic; instead, I moved Fiorwato a tiny bit closer to his mana core—just enough that the blade would pierce his uniform and bruise the skin beneath.
"No! Don't do it!" Kai screamed, his voice losing whatever dignity it had.
For Alacryans, magic was the gift of Vritra, what made them worthy in the eyes of their Sovereigns. The unads, the unadorned—those that had not received runes and as thus the Vritra's gift—were treated as less than scum on the faraway continent.
Kai proved it by the primal, religious fear in his eyes.
I gave a quick glance at the room around me. It was pretty barren for a place where someone lived. Other than the bed, the wardrobe, the desk, and all the other furnishings the Academy provided all rooms with, there were no personal belongings in sight.
"I will ask you a couple of questions," I said, my voice cold and steady. "Refuse to answer, and I pierce your mana core. Don't even think you can be faster than me with your magic. And even if you were... you are nothing in front of me."
I made my point clear by shifting the foot I used to pin him down to his neck.
"I won't tell you anything!" Kai shouted.
Did he fear Vritra's retribution more than what I could do to him? In the novel, Arthur struggled to capture Alacryans he could later interrogate—most killed themselves.
Only Steffan Vale was the exception. Could Kai kill himself too? Probably, but I could undo that with REtrocurrent, by Unleashing the Bubblespell I had Captured earlier this day.
"Then I will start by telling you a couple of things I know," I said. "You were sent here alongside a certain Draneeve, right?"
"You—you! Who sent you?!" Kai shouted below me.
"Didn't I make myself clear?" I asked. "I am the one who makes questions here."
I sank my blade deeper into his abdomen, Fiorwato piercing through mana-strengthened skin with ease. Kai moaned in pain, tried to writhe in it, but I held him in place.
"Silence and start to answer my questions, Crestless," I hissed. "Tell me everything about your continent. Tell me everything about Vritra!"
"Where is Draneeve hiding?" I asked, not wasting a single second. "What is he planning? How do you get in contact with him? Are you connected with the Caduchicil? Do you keep a Tempus Warp with you? Other Alacryan artifacts? Answer!"
Fiorwato's tip touched Kai's mana core, chipping it. The Alacryan's mana tried to repair the damage immediately, but my hold over it—my control over Kai's own mana—was stronger even than Kai's himself.
"House Wykes! House Wykes!" Kai screamed. "They are the middlemen between me and the spymaster! House Wykes will receive Highblood status once Dicathen is invaded by the forces of Sovereign Lavinia! I don't know anything about this Caduchicil! I don't even have any artifacts with me!"
I blinked. Once. Twice. Inner Current brought me back to my senses. I would have time to process all of this later. Or earlier.
"How often do you meet with Draneeve or whatever middleman he sends?" I asked. "And what have you talked about in your last meeting?"
Kai gritted his teeth, refusing to answer. Whatever it was, it was important. I had to know it. Fiorwato's tip was now fully inside the mana core of Kai Crestless.
I pressed my foot on his neck, choking the slithery Alacryan before he could say anything.
"A single movement from my wrist, and your mana core is gone," I said, empowering my voice with sound magic. "The choice is yours. Tell me, or lose everything that makes you worthy of your life."
Use Vritra's propaganda against him, I reminded myself. I let him breathe, lifting my foot from his neck.
"I won't tell you!" Kai screamed. "I won't!"
Then, power surged through Kai's body, and in a flourish of steel-grey light, I saw dozens of metal strings trying to stop me in a last desperate attempt to free their caster.
I pierced Kai's solar plexus. A pained, desperate, agonizingly loud scream flowed from his lips.
I moved away from the writhing Alacryan.
"When are you supposed to meet Draneeve?" I asked, but reason had left Kai's body. He rushed at me, tears streaming from his eyes after what I had done to him.
Did I exaggerate? I asked myself, looking at the approaching Crestless, completely unfazed by what I had done to him. He was an enemy and an outsider, anathema to my Dicathen, I could feel only hate and disgust at him.
But right now, he was useless to me. Which meant I would need to interrogate him another way.
"Unleash."
REtrocurrent was triggered, and the next thing I saw was a teal Bubblespell exploding outward and Leòn Leurenzian finding himself on top of Xyrus Academy's blue tiles.