Episode-739
Chapter : 1457
"He's not here," Lloyd said firmly. "This room is shielded. Valerius put up the strongest wards in the kingdom. Not even a Devil King can listen in."
Rubaiya let out a shaky laugh. "You think wards stop him? You think walls stop him? He is in my head, Lloyd. He has been in my head since I was eight years old."
Lloyd leaned forward. "Tell me. Start from the beginning. How did a slum orphan end up working for a Devil King?"
Rubaiya took a sip of the tea. Her hands were trembling so much the cup rattled against her teeth.
"I was dying," she began, her voice hollow. "The plague. The one that swept through the lower districts twenty years ago. My parents died. My sister died. I was alone in the gutter, coughing up blood. I was waiting to die."
She looked into the tea, as if reading her future in the leaves.
"Then he came. He didn't look like a monster. He looked like a gentleman. A noble in a black coat. He offered me a hand. He asked if I wanted to live."
"And you took it," Lloyd said.
"I was eight!" Rubaiya cried. "I wanted to live! I would have taken a hand from a skeleton if it meant not dying in the mud!"
She took a deep breath. "He healed me. Or I thought he did. He gave me the spirit. Legion. He said it was a gift. A guardian. He said it would make me strong."
"But it wasn't a gift," Lloyd guessed.
"It was a curse," Rubaiya said bitterly. "The spirit... it kept me alive, yes. It ate the sickness. But then it got hungry. It needed mana. Life force. At first, it was small things. Rats. Birds. But as I grew, it grew. It needed more."
"So you fed it," Lloyd said.
"I had to!" she sobbed. "If I didn't feed it, it started eating me. It ate my memories. My emotions. The pain... it was unbearable. Bael... he taught me how to feed it. How to transfer the hunger into objects. Cursed items."
"The sword," Lloyd said. "The locket. The pen."
"Yes," Rubaiya nodded. "I didn't want to hurt the students. I tried to use animals. But Bael... he demanded chaos. He said if I didn't create chaos, he would let Legion consume me fully. He would turn me into a husk."
She looked at Lloyd, tears streaming down her face. "I was a slave, Lloyd. A battery. I hated every minute of it. I hated hurting them. But I didn't want to die."
Lloyd looked at her. He felt a mixture of pity and revulsion. She was a victim, yes. But she had made choices. She had chosen her life over others. Over and over again.
"You could have asked for help," Lloyd said. "Valerius adopted you. You had a family."
"Valerius?" Rubaiya scoffed. "He saw a prodigy. He didn't see the monster on my back. If I told him, he would have exorcised the spirit. And the spirit is my life support. If Legion dies, I die. Bael made sure of that."
"So you were trapped," Lloyd said.
"I am still trapped," Rubaiya whispered. "Even now. He knows I failed. He knows I am talking to you. The contract is broken. And the penalty for breaking the contract is..."
She stopped. She couldn't say it.
"Eternal torment?" Lloyd guessed.
"Worse," she said. "He doesn't just kill you. He takes your soul. He keeps it. In a jar. On a shelf. Forever."
The room went silent. Lloyd felt a chill. Soul jars. That was... efficient. And horrifying.
"Okay," Lloyd said. "We know the motive. We know the master. Now, the network. Who else is working for him? Is there anyone else in the Academy?"
"I don't know," Rubaiya said. "Bael keeps his toys separate. We don't talk to each other. But... the dealer. The woman in the market."
"You said she was your illusion," Lloyd said.
"She was," Rubaiya admitted. "But the supply chain... the raw materials... they came from somewhere. Bael has a supplier. A merchant who deals in cursed artifacts. If you find him, you find the pipeline."
"A name," Lloyd demanded.
"I don't have a name," Rubaiya said. "Just a symbol. A crate arrived once. It had a mark on it. A red eye."
"A red eye," Lloyd noted. "Like the Eye of Horus?"
"No," Rubaiya shook her head. "Like a target."
Chapter : 1458
Lloyd stood up. He had what he needed. Rubaiya was a pawn. A tragic, dangerous pawn. But the player was Bael. And Bael was out there.
"What happens to me?" Rubaiya asked, her voice small.
"You go to the capital," Lloyd said. "To the Royal Prison. High security. Anti-magic cells. You'll be safe from Bael there. Maybe."
"Safe?" Rubaiya laughed bleakly. "There is no safe. Not from him."
"We'll see," Lloyd said. "I've beaten demons before. I'll beat him too."
He walked to the door. He paused.
"Rubaiya," he said. "For what it's worth... I'm sorry."
"For catching me?"
"For not catching you sooner," Lloyd said. "Before you hurt anyone."
He left the cell. He walked up the stairs, leaving the broken woman in the dark.
Lloyd emerged from the dungeon into the bright sunlight of the Academy courtyard. It felt wrong. The world should be darker after a conversation like that.
He met Valerius and Isabella by the fountain.
"Well?" Isabella asked. "Did she confess?"
"Everything," Lloyd said. "She was a slave to a Devil King named Bael. The cursed items were her way of feeding a parasitic spirit."
"Bael," Valerius paled. "The Lord of Lies. That is... a significant escalation."
"It explains the sophistication of the curse," Lloyd said. "And the cruelty. Rubaiya is going to be transferred to the capital. The Royal Police are coming for her."
"Captain Zafer is on his way," Isabella confirmed. "He is... thorough. He will get her to the anti-magic prison."
"Good," Lloyd said. "She needs protection as much as we need protection from her."
An hour later, a heavy iron carriage arrived at the gates. It was black, reinforced with steel, and covered in warding runes. It was a mobile cell.
Captain Zafer stepped out. He was a grim man with a scar running through his eyebrow and a perpetual scowl. He looked like he had seen every crime ever committed and was unimpressed by all of them.
"Professor Ferrum," Zafer grunted, shaking Lloyd's hand. "I heard about your... demonstration. Flashy. But effective."
"I like clarity," Lloyd said.
"We've been hunting this 'Shadow Merchant' for months," Zafer admitted. "Cursed items popping up all over the city. People dying of mana drain. We couldn't catch her. She was a ghost."
"She was an illusion," Lloyd corrected. "Literally. Rubaiya used her spirit to project a false identity. She sold the items to herself, essentially, using middlemen like Daniel."
"Clever," Zafer spat. "Evil, but clever."
He gestured to his men. They brought Rubaiya out. She was shackled, her head bowed. She didn't look at Lloyd. She didn't look at anyone. She looked like a woman walking to her execution.
"Into the wagon," Zafer ordered.
They loaded her in. The heavy doors slammed shut. CLANG.
"We'll take it from here," Zafer said. "She won't escape."
"Be careful, Captain," Lloyd warned. "Her master... he doesn't like loose ends."
"Let him come," Zafer touched the hilt of his sword. "I have a warrant for him too."
The carriage rolled away, surrounded by a squad of mounted police. Lloyd watched it go. He felt a sense of closure, but no victory. A teacher was gone. A student was traumatized. And a Devil King was still out there, probably laughing.
"It is over," Isabella said, standing beside him.
"This battle is over," Lloyd corrected. "The war is just starting."
He looked at the Academy. Students were coming out of their dorms, blinking in the sun. They were safe. For now.
"I need to go home," Lloyd said suddenly. "I need to check on my own defenses. If Bael can infiltrate the Academy... he can infiltrate anything."
"Go," Valerius said. "We will handle the cleanup. You have done enough, Lloyd."
Lloyd nodded. He walked towards the stables. He needed a ride. And he needed to think.
Rubaiya's story had shaken him. The idea of being a slave to a spirit... it was a nightmare. It made him appreciate his own spirits—Iffrit, Fang Fairy—even more. They were partners. Friends. Not parasites.
"I need to be stronger," Lloyd thought. "If I face Bael... I need to be ready."
He mounted his horse. He looked back at the Old Tower. Mina was there, probably organizing the notes from the investigation.
"I'll be back," he whispered. "I promise."
He rode out of the gates. The sun was setting, casting long shadows across the road.
Lloyd Ferrum was tired. But he was also angry. And an angry engineer was a dangerous thing.