บท 126: Fair
"You're back?"
Marco, loitering around the same spot, frowned and looked around before focusing on the parasite. He knew the man's secret identity, but he didn't seem annoyed to 'serve' a parasite.
It was all thanks to Nader Coach, which Arthur was feeling more and more grateful towards.
"I wanted to inquire about something."
"Sure."
Marco lit up something strikingly similar to a cigarette and leaned against the wall. He kept looking at the passing civilians, though his ears were perked and his attention was focused on Arthur.
"I heard there's an auction."
"Yes. An underground auction for Black Market traders.It's clandestine, but many aristocrats or influential 'parties' like to attend. Why do you ask? If you have something to sell, it has to be quite rare. The auction doesn't accept second-grade items."
"I see. To whom must I go to register an item? And do I have to give it immediately?"
"I can help you with that. As for the rules and whatnot, I'll explain them…"
Nemia Academy, Alchemy Laboratory
Sonia Ma was staring down, her eyes on the black-haired youth sitting on a big bronze chair. The Black Priest was chained and had a collar around his neck. His eyes were half-open, his face sickly pale and his mouth was opening and closing as if he wanted to say something.
There was a fair amount of blood on the ground and on his clothes. The blood, the nasty injuries riddling his body, and his hollow eyes clearly indicated that he had been severely and brutally tortured.
The Principal took out an exquisite book with a golden and metallic cover. It let out a faint and majestic brilliance, but the eye-catching thing was the big sun symbol on its front, colored black and with gems around it.
"I'm not sure how you've managed to seal it, but you and your organisation will not have the final words this time."
The woman snorted angrily and walked away.
"Madam!"
She was stopped by a lanky and tall man wearing a long grey coat and a pair of round silver-rimmed spectacles. He was the only Alchemist in the academy and the person in charge of the laboratory.
"What should I do with him?"
"Prep him up. He'll be leaving us soon."
She then glanced at two massive corpses trapped inside an equally massive transparent container filled with water.
"Those two as well."
"What? B-but I'm not done with them."
"You'll get them back soon enough." She calmly said before walking away.
3 Days after the heist.
West of the Campus, near the coast.
The inevitable meeting with the parasite had finally come.
The Principal met up with him in a secluded and quiet area. She was accompanied by Melissa Crimson, who didn't look too pleased to be there.
After they waited for a bit, light footsteps could be heard, followed by the appearance of a blond-haired young man.
Sonia didn't seem fazed that the parasite possessed a student. She faintly smiled and approached him, "One body and a sword."
As he heard that, he frowned and retorted, "Two bodies and a sword, that's the agreement."
"Coercing two students to infiltrate the Vault and steal the Phoenix Feather and a book. Was that also part of the agreement?"
"I coerced no one. You're acting based on assumption."
"Oh no… not at all." She rebuked while letting out a mocking scoff.
"We have Teresa's Moon's statement. The fact that I was willing to ignore all of that and come here to give you what you want is the limit of my patience. I hope that, with this, it will be over and you'll leave my academy. I don't want you here."
The youth, after inspecting the contents of the ring, shrugged his shoulders,
"You act as if I'm the plague itself. It wasn't me who stole the Alchemy Scripture or caused all of this mess."
"Be that as it may, you did have some hand in it."
Sonia turned her head and motioned Melissa to bring out the captive.
The Dean harrumphed and took out a device with a button on top of it. When clicked, it let out a weird buzzing sound before causing the space itself to shatter and reveal the weakened Joshua Boulard.
"Here is the fucking bastard. Alive and breathing."
Melissa kicked the youth with enough force that blew him near the parasite.
"You stole the records about the Circle of Damnation and you want the Black Priest. It has become clear that you have a feud with them."
The parasite looked back at the Principal, who was giving him a provocative and all-knowing smile.
"So?"
"It was just an observation."
"..."
He let out an annoyed grunt and walked over to Joshua, briefly inspecting him before glancing at Sonia and Melissa.
They were standing there, in total silence and thoughtfully looking at him.
"How can I be sure you won't attack me?" He asked with a tone filled with suspicion.
"Why would we do that?"
Sonia seemed perplexed rather than surprised or amused by his expression.
The Dean, however, had her brow furrowed as she realised something. She stomped on the ground and quickly removed her eye-patch.
Her hidden eye was yellow-ish and the pupil was vertical slit, similar to that of a dragon.
When the System Appraisal took effect and she saw the basic information of the target, Melissa looked astonished.
"It's not him! It's not-"
Her voice was drowned by a loud rumble and a light tremor originating from the campus. Sonia, caught off-guard, waved her staff and shot to the sky whereas Melissa rushed.
"H-help me… fuck!"
Feylord instinctively raised his hand and unleashed a burst of fire, which did nothing to Melissa. Just as her fist was about to strike him, a silhouette rushed in-between them and stood in front of the Dean.
Just as the fist connected, Melissa felt a strong electric shock that made her groan and fall to the ground. Although she recovered relatively quickly, her surprise deepened when the ashen-haired Teresa came to her view.
"You… why are you here?"
Teresa scratched her head and apologetically bowed her head,
"I'm sorry, madam. I really want to fight him, you see…"
She paused for a bit then added, "He promised we'll fight after this."
Teresa then lifted Feylord's body and put it on her shoulder, "A-ah! Please tell the Principal that I'm leaving the academy. I've got nothing left to learn and I want to return home. Sorry about this!"
The demon girl sprung into a mad spring, soon disappearing from Melissa's view.
"Damn!"
Left alone and weakened, the woman punched the ground in anger but that only made the pain more excruciating. She had attacked Feylord with the intent to kill, but by hitting Teresa, the magical earring reacted accordingly and electrocuted her.
…
Sonia flew straight back to the campus and noticed the small crowd of students and teachers right outside the library.
She didn't stop to ask them, choosing to directly head inside and see what was happening.
The moment she entered, she was stupefied to see the upper part of the staircase, right where the guardians were stationed, to be literally missing.
It wasn't as if something destroyed the place, there was only a blank space instead of stairs or the floor.
It was similar to the effect of the Void or a black hole. The barrier protecting the Vault was destabilized and missing a huge chunk of it. What was worse, when she rushed to the Vault, over half of the maze-like tall walls were gone, though the sealed prizes were intact, fortunately.
"..."
The Principal's face turned ugly when she stopped next to the place where the Alchemy Scripture was supposed to be. The reinforced magical glass was shattered and scattered on the ground, and the vicinity was utterly devoid of any Mana.
The place was empty and 'withered'.
It didn't take long for Sonia to process what just happened. The Alchemy Scripture she had labored to get back was gone once again, and the perpetrator was the parasite.
Noticing a closed envelope near her feet, she bent down and retrieved it. She was unimaginably angry, but she didn't lash out verbally or physically. In fact, she was eerily calm and composed.
'You used me so I used you. Fair. You can get your beloved scripture at the underground auction in Ilexset.
Best regards, the newly-appointed teacher, Khalil.'
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