Episode-738
Chapter : 1455
She pointed at the shield. Legion slammed its body against the barrier. The shield cracked. Valerius grunted, his knees buckling under the strain.
"She's strong," Lloyd noted. "Feeding on the cursed items boosted her power. She's pushing High-Ascended rank."
Lloyd stood on the stage, the only thing between Rubaiya and the barrier. He drew his sword. It was a simple steel blade, but he infused it with his [Steel Blood], turning it black and razor-sharp.
"Rubaiya!" Lloyd shouted. "Focus on me! I'm the one who exposed you!"
"Oh, I haven't forgotten you, Lloyd," Rubaiya said. She looked at him with burning yellow eyes. "I'm saving you for dessert. Legion! Crush him!"
The spirit turned its many eyes toward Lloyd. It lunged.
It was fast. Faster than a creature that size should be. Its jaws snapped shut where Lloyd's head had been a second ago.
Lloyd used [Void Steps]. He flickered out of existence and reappeared ten feet away.
"Is that all you got?" Lloyd taunted. "You're sloppy. You're angry. Anger makes you stupid."
"I am not stupid!" Rubaiya screamed. "I am liberated!"
She cast a spell. Not an illusion this time. A bolt of shadow-lightning. It arced across the stage, scorching the floor. Lloyd dodged, rolling under the attack.
"She's distracted," Lloyd thought. "She's ranting. She's grandstanding. Good."
He needed her to make a mistake. He needed her to overcommit.
"Hey, ugly!" Lloyd yelled at the spirit. "Over here!"
He ran towards the edge of the stage, near the sealed doors.
Legion followed. It slithered over the podiums, crushing them to splinters. It reared up, preparing to strike.
"Now," Lloyd whispered.
He stopped running. He turned and faced the monster. He didn't raise his sword. He raised his hand.
He wasn't attacking. He was triggering a trap.
Earlier that morning, while setting up the "demonstration," Lloyd hadn't just carved a light rune. He had carved a network. A web of [Black Ring Eyes] seals, hidden under the floorboards of the stage.
"Seal of Binding: Activate," Lloyd commanded.
The floor exploded with blue light.
Chains of pure Void energy shot up from the ground. They weren't metal chains. They were conceptual chains. They wrapped around Legion's segmented body. They wrapped around its multiple legs. They wrapped around its jaw.
The spirit shrieked. It thrashed, trying to break free. But the chains tightened. They burned into its shadow-flesh.
"What?" Rubaiya gasped. She tried to pull the spirit back, but the connection was strained. "You... you trapped it!"
"I told you," Lloyd said, walking towards the struggling monster. "I'm an engineer. I build things. Sometimes I build cages."
He looked at the audience. They were watching, wide-eyed, from behind Valerius's shield.
"Do you see it?" Lloyd shouted to them. "Do you see the parasite? It's not a god. It's not a demon. It's just a bug. A big, ugly bug that got caught in a spider's web."
He turned back to Rubaiya. She was hovering in the air, looking down at her trapped spirit. Her face was twisted with fear and rage.
"Let him go!" she screamed.
"Come and get him," Lloyd challenged.
He was baiting her. He wanted her to come down. He wanted her in range.
Rubaiya snarled. She dove. She drew her black glass dagger. She was coming for him personally.
"Perfect," Lloyd thought.
Rubaiya hit the stage like a meteor. She slashed at Lloyd with a fury that abandoned all technique. She was fast, fueled by the parasite's power, but she was sloppy.
Lloyd parried. Clang.
He stepped back. Parried again. Clang.
"You ruined everything!" Rubaiya screamed, swinging wildly. "I was going to cleanse this place! I was going to burn it down and start over!"
"You were going to murder children!" Lloyd shouted back, blocking a strike that aimed for his neck. "There is no 'starting over' from that!"
He kicked her in the stomach. She stumbled back, gasping.
"You don't understand!" she cried. "The pact! The hunger! I had no choice!"
"We always have a choice," Lloyd said.
He attacked. He switched from defense to offense. He used the [Ten-Armed Asura] style. His sword blurred, creating phantom afterimages. To Rubaiya, it looked like he had sprouted ten arms, each holding a blade.
She tried to block, but she couldn't track the real sword.
Slash. A cut on her arm.
Slash. A cut on her leg.
Slash. He disarmed her, sending the dagger spinning across the stage.
Rubaiya fell to her knees. She was bleeding. She was beaten.
Chapter : 1456
Legion, seeing its master fall, went berserk. It roared, tearing at the Void chains. The floorboards cracked. The seals began to fracture.
"It's breaking loose!" Valerius shouted from the audience. "Lloyd, finish it!"
Lloyd looked at the spirit. It was strong. Too strong for his trap to hold forever.
He needed to end this. Now.
He looked at Rubaiya. She was looking at her spirit with a mix of terror and longing.
"Call it off," Lloyd ordered, pointing his sword at her throat. "Recall the spirit. Or I will end you."
"I... I can't," Rubaiya sobbed. "It doesn't obey me. It owns me."
"Then I'll break the ownership," Lloyd said.
He stepped past her. He walked up to the thrashing spirit. It snapped its jaws at him, drool sizzling on the floor.
Lloyd holstered his sword. He didn't need steel for this. He needed will.
He placed both hands on the spirit's slimy hide. He ignored the burning cold. He ignored the stench of rot.
"Black Ring Eyes," Lloyd intoned. "Maximum Output."
He poured everything he had into the seal. He didn't just want to bind it; he want to crush it. He wanted to compress the spirit until it popped.
The blue chains glowed blindingly bright. They tightened. The spirit shrieked, a sound that shattered the remaining windows in the hall.
CRUNCH.
The spirit's form began to compress. It was being squeezed into a ball. It thrashed, it bit, it clawed, but the Void was absolute.
"Go back to hell," Lloyd gritted out.
With a final, sickening pop, the spirit imploded. It vanished in a puff of black smoke.
Rubaiya screamed. She clutched her chest, collapsing onto the floor as the psychic backlash hit her.
The hall was silent.
The blue chains faded. Lloyd stood alone on the stage, panting. He looked at his hands. They were shaking.
He turned to the audience. He lowered the barrier.
"It's over," Lloyd said. His voice was hoarse. "The parasite is gone."
Valerius dropped the shield. The students cheered. It was a roar of relief and adoration.
Lloyd didn't smile. He walked over to Rubaiya. She was curled in a ball, weeping. She looked small. Broken.
"Why?" Lloyd asked quietly.
Rubaiya looked up. Her eyes were empty. "He... he promised. He said if I fed it... he would let me go."
"Who?"
"Bael," she whispered. "The King."
Lloyd froze. Bael. A Devil King.
"Get up," Lloyd said, pulling her to her feet. "You have a lot of explaining to do."
Guards rushed onto the stage. They shackled Rubaiya. She didn't resist. She was done.
Isabella walked up to Lloyd. She looked at him with wide eyes.
"You..." she started. "You just wrestled a demon."
"It was a parasite," Lloyd corrected. "Just a bug."
"You are insane," she said. But there was a smile on her face. A real one.
"I know," Lloyd said.
He looked at the crowd. He looked at Airin, who was watching him with tears in her eyes. He looked at his team—Jamie, Daniel, Tulip—who were looking at him like he was a god.
He felt tired. So tired.
"Class dismissed," Lloyd muttered.
He walked off the stage. He needed a drink. He needed a nap. And he needed to figure out how to kill a Devil King named Bael.
The battle was won. But the war... the war was just getting started.
Lloyd sat in the interrogation room of the Academy dungeon. It was the same room where he had visited Jamie, but the atmosphere was very different. Jamie had been innocent and whiny. Rubaiya was guilty and broken.
She sat on the other side of the table, her hands bound in anti-magic cuffs. She looked like a ghost of the woman who had terrorized the faculty lounge with her grading pen. Her hair was messy, her eyes red-rimmed. She was shivering, even though the room wasn't cold.
"Here," Lloyd said, sliding a cup of tea across the table. "It's chamomile. Good for shock."
Rubaiya looked at the tea. She didn't touch it. "Why are you being nice to me? I tried to kill you. Twice."
"Three times, if you count the roof," Lloyd corrected. "And I'm not being nice. I'm being practical. I need answers, and you can't talk if you're catatonic."
"I have nothing to say," Rubaiya whispered. "It doesn't matter. He will kill me anyway."
"Bael?" Lloyd asked.
Rubaiya flinched at the name. "Don't say it. He hears. He always hears."