Episode-722
Chapter : 1423
Professor Horg wiped sweat from his forehead. "By the stars. What was that? A localized animation error? A curse?"
"It was aggressive," Lloyd said, standing up. He pulled his spike out; the steel dissolved back into his skin before anyone noticed. "Too aggressive. That thing wanted blood."
"We must report this to the Headmaster," Horg said. "We need to check the supplier. Maybe it was a bad batch of oak."
"You do that," Lloyd said. "I'll handle the cleanup."
As the instructors hurried off to file paperwork—because in academia, paperwork followed near-death experiences—Lloyd knelt back down beside the destroyed dummy.
He looked around. The coast was clear.
"Activate," he whispered. "[All-Seeing Eye]."
His vision shifted. The world became a wireframe of energy and matter. He looked at the dummy's shattered chest.
The mana core was broken, but there was something else. A residue.
It looked like a slime mold made of shadow. It was coiled around the fragments of the core, pulsating faintly. It wasn't just dark magic; it was... alive.
"Parasite," Lloyd whispered.
He watched closely. As the mana in the core faded, the shadow-residue began to move. It detached itself from the crystal shards. It slithered through the wood grain like a worm.
It was looking for a new host.
It reached the tip of the dummy's wooden finger, which was touching the grass. The shadow seeped out of the wood and into the earth. It moved through the soil, heading toward...
Lloyd tracked it. It was moving toward a rack of spare practice swords a few feet away.
"Oh no you don't," Lloyd hissed.
He slammed his hand onto the ground in front of the moving shadow. He channeled his Void energy, creating a small, localized seal. A barrier.
The shadow hit the barrier and recoiled. It hissed—a sound only Lloyd could hear in his mind. It tried to go around. Lloyd expanded the seal.
Trapped, the energy writhed. It looked angry. It looked hungry.
"It's not a spell," Lloyd realized, his heart pounding. "Spells fade. Spells are static instructions. This... this is hunting. It's a virus. A magical virus."
He understood now. Valerius had said the curse was spreading. That it adapted. This was why. It wasn't a blanket curse cast over the school. It was an infection. It jumped from object to object, corrupting the enchantment, draining the user, and then moving on to a fresh battery.
"It eats mana," Lloyd analyzed. "It uses the object's own function against the user. The training dummy fights. The pen writes. It inverts the purpose."
But the most terrifying part was how it moved. It was seeking. It had intent.
"It's sentient," Lloyd thought. "Or semi-sentient. Like the Golem Heart, but malicious. It's a bio-weapon made of mana."
The shadow, realizing it was trapped, did something unexpected. It evaporated. It simply dissolved into the ambient mana field, dispersing like smoke in the wind.
"It can hide," Lloyd noted. "It can go dormant until it finds a new host."
He stood up, deactivating his eye. The headache returned instantly.
He had a clue. A real clue. This wasn't just a traitor sabotaging things. The traitor had released a living plague into the school's armory.
"If this gets into the main mana well," Lloyd thought, looking at the huge tower in the center of the Academy, "it will infect everything. Every wand, every light, every door lock. The school will turn against us. The building itself will try to kill the students."
He needed to contain it. He needed a quarantine. But he couldn't just tell everyone "Hey, there's an invisible shadow virus eating your wands." They would panic.
He needed a sample. He needed to catch one of these shadow-worms and study it. He needed to figure out its biology—or necrology.
"Mina," Lloyd thought. "I need Mina. And a really strong lamp that can seal a genie."
He turned and walked towards the Old Tower. The morning wasn't boring anymore. It was terrifying. But at least now, he knew what the enemy looked like.
It looked like nothing. And it was hungry.
"Class is dismissed," Lloyd muttered to the empty field. "But the homework just got a lot harder."
He walked fast. He had to update his team. The war in the shadows had just entered the classroom, and Lloyd wasn't going to let his students become collateral damage. Not again.
Chapter : 1424
Lloyd stood in the faculty lounge of the Royal Academy. It was a very serious room. The walls were covered in dark wood. The carpet was thick and smelled like old dust. There were paintings of old men with long beards staring down at everyone. It was the kind of room where fun went to die.
Lloyd hated it immediately.
He was there to meet his new colleagues. The "Special Response Team" for the curse investigation. Headmaster Valerius had hand-picked them. Lloyd hoped they were better than the furniture.
"Professor Ferrum," a voice said.
Lloyd turned. Standing there were four people. They looked like a diverse group of adventurers from a bad storybook.
First was a woman with sharp eyes and a notebook in her hand. She looked like she was calculating the cost of the air they were breathing. This was Rubaiya. She was the Professor of Magical Theory and Strategy.
Next was a woman who looked like she floated instead of walked. She wore a dress that cost more than Lloyd’s first car (if he had a car in this world). She had a smile that didn't reach her eyes. This was Tulip. She taught Diplomacy and Social Etiquette.
Then there was a man who was looking at his own reflection in a silver tray on the table. He had blonde hair that was perfectly styled. He wore a sword that looked like it had never cut anything but cheese. This was Jamie. The fencing instructor.
Finally, there was a man who looked like a brick wall that had grown a mustache. He stood perfectly straight. He didn't blink. This was Daniel. The instructor of Discipline and Order.
"Hello," Lloyd said. "I am Lloyd. I like long walks on the beach and not dying from curses."
"We know who you are," Jamie said, flipping his hair. "You are the one who caused a scene in the library. Princess Isabella was quite upset. I, of course, would never upset a princess."
"Good for you," Lloyd said. "Do you want a medal?"
"I have several," Jamie replied seriously.
Rubaiya stepped forward. "Professor Ferrum. We have been assigned to assist you. However, I have reviewed your preliminary reports. They lack data. You claim the curse is a parasite, but you offer no mathematical proof."
"It's a feeling," Lloyd said. "And also, I saw it eat a training dummy."
"Feelings are not facts," Daniel boomed. His voice sounded like rocks grinding together. "We need procedure. We need rules. If we are to fight a curse, we must do it by the book."
"The book is on fire, Daniel," Lloyd said. "The curse eats books. That's the problem."
Tulip laughed softly. It sounded like wind chimes. "You are all so intense. Perhaps we should discuss this over tea? Or perhaps wine? Tension is bad for the skin."
Lloyd looked at them. They were stiff. They were formal. They were in the Academy. If they tried to solve this mystery here, they would spend three weeks filling out forms and arguing about protocol.
"No tea," Lloyd said. "And definitely no forms. We are leaving."
"Leaving?" Daniel frowned. "It is school hours. We cannot leave the grounds without a permit."
"I am the permit," Lloyd said. "We are going for a field trip. To 'The Broken Wand'."
"That is a tavern," Rubaiya stated. "A low-class establishment frequented by students who skip class."
"Exactly," Lloyd grinned. "The best information is found where the ale is cheap and the people are loud. Follow me. Or stay here and stare at the paintings of dead old men."
Lloyd walked out. He didn't wait. He knew they would follow. Curiosity was a powerful thing. Also, he was technically their boss for this mission.
They walked through the Academy grounds. Jamie complained about the mud getting on his boots. Daniel complained about the lack of marching formation. Rubaiya complained about the inefficiency of walking when they could have used a teleportation circle. Tulip just smiled and watched everyone.
They arrived at 'The Broken Wand'. It was a noisy, wooden building on the edge of the campus. It smelled of roasted meat and beer. Lloyd loved it.
He pushed the door open and walked in. The place was packed. Students were laughing, drinking, and playing cards. When they saw the five professors walk in, the room went silent.
"Carry on!" Lloyd shouted. "We are just here for the nachos! Or whatever the fantasy equivalent of nachos is!"