Episode-735
Chapter : 1449
The illusion started instantly. The roof disappeared. Lloyd was suddenly standing in a jungle. Vines were wrapping around his legs. Tigers were circling him. The sky turned blood red.
"Impressive," Lloyd said calmly. "Visuals. Auditory hallucinations. Even tactile feedback."
He didn't move. He didn't draw his sword.
"You cannot fight what isn't there," Rubaiya's voice echoed from everywhere at once. "You cannot hit a ghost."
A tiger lunged at him. Its claws tore through his chest.
Lloyd didn't flinch. The claws passed through him like smoke.
"It's not real," Lloyd said. "My brain thinks it is. My nerves think it is. But my soul knows better."
He activated his [Black Ring Eyes]. The jungle dissolved. The tigers vanished. He was back on the roof.
Rubaiya was standing ten feet away, looking surprised.
"How?" she hissed.
"I have my own tricks," Lloyd said. "Your illusions rely on mana manipulation. You hijack the senses. But if I cut the connection..."
He snapped his fingers. A pulse of Void energy rippled out. The air cleared completely.
"No more games, Rubaiya," Lloyd said. "Surrender. Or I will make you."
Rubaiya glared at him. "You think you have won because you saw through a parlor trick? You arrogant boy. You have no idea what I am capable of."
She raised her hand. "Legion! Feast!"
The air behind her darkened. A massive, grotesque shape materialized. It was the leech spirit, but fully manifested. It was the size of a carriage. Its mouth was a gaping maw of spinning teeth.
It shrieked. A sound that made Lloyd's teeth ache.
"Kill him," Rubaiya commanded.
The spirit lunged. It didn't use illusions this time. It used mass. It used teeth.
Lloyd drew his sword. He reinforced his body with [Demon Gate: Second Gate].
He dodged the lunge. The spirit smashed into the stone floor, cracking the roof.
"You're fast," Rubaiya noted. She pulled a dagger from her sleeve. It was a curved, wicked blade made of black glass. "But can you fight two enemies at once?"
She charged. She moved with the grace of a dancer. She was fast. Faster than a scholar should be.
Lloyd parried her strike. Sparks flew.
"You're good," Lloyd grunted, pushing her back. "Assassin training?"
"Survival training," Rubaiya spat. She spun, slashing at his legs.
Lloyd jumped back. The leech spirit attacked from the side, trying to latch onto his arm.
Lloyd kicked the spirit in its fleshy side. It felt like kicking a bag of wet sand.
"Gross," Lloyd said.
He was fighting a two-front war. Rubaiya was relentless, her dagger seeking any opening. The spirit was a tank, absorbing blows and coming back for more.
"I can't kill her," Lloyd thought. "I need her alive. I need her to confess. I need to clear Jamie's name."
He needed to disable her.
He waited for an opening. Rubaiya lunged again, aiming for his throat.
Lloyd sidestepped. He didn't strike with his sword. He struck with his hand. He used a precise, open-palm strike to her shoulder.
Crunch.
Rubaiya gasped and dropped the dagger. Her arm went limp.
"That's a dislocated shoulder," Lloyd said. "Give up."
Rubaiya stumbled back. She clutched her arm. She looked at him with pure hatred.
"Never," she whispered.
She whispered a word of power. The leech spirit exploded. Not into gore, but into a cloud of thick, black smoke. It covered the roof in instant darkness.
"Smoke bomb?" Lloyd coughed. "Really?"
He waved his hand, using a gust of wind from a simple spell to clear the air.
The roof was empty. Rubaiya was gone.
Lloyd ran to the edge. He looked down. He saw a figure running across the courtyard, moving towards the woods.
"She's running," Lloyd said. "Good. A running enemy makes mistakes."
He didn't chase her immediately. He needed to secure the scene. He needed to make sure she hadn't left any traps.
He picked up her dropped dagger. It was coated in a green liquid. Poison.
"She tried to kill me," Lloyd realized. "She really tried to kill me."
He felt a cold knot in his stomach. He had underestimated her ruthlessness. She wasn't just a disillusioned teacher. She was a killer.
"Game over, Rubaiya," Lloyd said to the wind. "You just lost your cover. Now you're just prey."
He turned and walked back to the stairs. He had unmasked the monster. Now he just had to catch her.
And he knew exactly where she was going. She was going to her backup plan. To her real master.
The hunt was on.
Chapter : 1450
Lloyd didn't chase Rubaiya immediately. He let her run. He let her panic. A panicked enemy led you to their safe house. A calm enemy led you into an ambush.
He waited until nightfall. Then, he went to the woods.
He tracked her easily. She was sloppy. She was injured. She left a trail of broken twigs and disturbed leaves.
He found her in a clearing near the edge of the Academy grounds. She was waiting. She had set up a ritual circle. Candles burned with blue flames.
"Trying to call for a ride?" Lloyd asked, stepping into the clearing.
Rubaiya spun around. She held her injured arm. She looked pale, but defiant.
"You followed me," she said. "Foolish."
"Persistent," Lloyd corrected. "It's one of my best qualities."
"You think you have won," Rubaiya sneered. "You think because you know my face, you have power over me. But you are wrong. I am not just an illusionist, Lloyd. I am a weaver of reality."
She stepped into the ritual circle. The blue flames roared higher.
"Legion," she commanded. "Ascend."
The leech spirit materialized again. But it was different. It was larger. It had grown armor plates made of bone. It roared, a sound that shook the trees.
"Second phase?" Lloyd asked, drawing his sword. "Okay. Let's dance."
He charged.
Rubaiya didn't move. She just smiled.
As Lloyd swung his sword at the spirit, Rubaiya vanished. She didn't teleport. She just... ceased to be there.
Lloyd stumbled. "What?"
Suddenly, he felt a sharp pain in his back.
Schlick.
He looked down. A blade was protruding from his chest. A black glass blade.
Rubaiya whispered in his ear. "I told you. I am an illusionist. The woman in the circle was a fake. I was behind you the whole time."
Lloyd coughed. Blood spilled from his lips. He dropped his sword. He fell to his knees.
"You..." he gasped. "You killed me."
"I did," Rubaiya said. She pulled the blade out. Lloyd collapsed face-forward into the dirt. He twitched once, then went still.
Rubaiya stood over him. She wiped the blade on her robe.
"Pathetic," she said. "The 'White Mask'. The hero. Just a boy playing soldier."
She kicked his body. It was heavy. Dead weight.
"You should have stayed in your tower, Lloyd," she said to the corpse. "You should have stuck to your toys. Now look at you. Food for the worms."
She looked around. No witnesses. The forest was silent.
"I need to hide the body," she decided. "I can't leave him here. If they find him, the investigation will never end."
She dragged Lloyd by his feet. She pulled him deeper into the woods, towards a ravine used for dumping magical waste. It was a deep, dark pit filled with failed experiments and broken golems.
She pushed him over the edge.
Lloyd tumbled down into the darkness. He hit the bottom with a sickening thud.
"Goodbye, Professor," Rubaiya said. "Class dismissed."
She turned and walked away. She felt a surge of triumph. She had won. She had eliminated the only threat. Now, she could complete her mission. She could bring the Academy down.
She walked back to her dorm, humming a little tune. She washed the blood off her hands. She slept like a baby.
At the bottom of the ravine, in the pile of garbage and bones, Lloyd's body lay broken and still.
For about five minutes.
Then, the body dissolved.
It didn't rot. It melted into a puddle of silver liquid. Then the liquid evaporated into mist.
And from the shadows of a nearby tree, the real Lloyd stepped out.
He was perfectly fine. Not a scratch on him. He was holding an apple. He took a bite.
"Wow," Lloyd said, chewing. "She really enjoyed that. She kicked me. That was rude."
He had used Echo. His Doppelganger spirit.
He had sent Echo into the clearing disguised as himself. Echo could mimic flesh, blood, even the sensation of death. It was the perfect decoy.
"She bought it," Lloyd said to the empty ravine. "She bought it hook, line, and sinker."
He had needed confirmation. Absolute, undeniable proof of her intent. If he had just arrested her, she could have claimed self-defense. She could have claimed it was a misunderstanding.
But stabbing a man in the back and dumping his body in a pit? That was pretty hard to explain away.
"Attempted murder," Lloyd listed. "Conspiracy. Use of forbidden magic. Illegal dumping. She is going away for a long, long time."