Episode-968
Chapter : 1935
He felt the red light in his mind again. It wasn't just blinking now; it was burning. The connection he had placed on Airin—a subtle protective seal he had woven into her shadow without her knowing—was under attack. Something was trying to break it. Something dark and hungry was tearing at her defenses.
"Hold on," he hissed through gritted teeth, his voice sounding foreign to his own ears. "Just hold on, Anastasia. I’m here."
He didn't care about the dizziness. He didn't care about the guards shouting in alarm at his sudden appearance. He gathered his momentum, the ground beneath him splintering as he launched himself forward.
He wasn't running anymore. He was hunting.
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—-
Lloyd appeared in a crowded market square, three miles closer to the Academy.
The sudden displacement of air caused a shockwave. Fruit carts overturned, sending apples and melons rolling across the cobblestones. Horses reared and neighed in terror. People screamed as a nobleman materialized out of thin air, his boots cracking the pavement upon landing.
"Watch it!" a merchant yelled, shaking his fist. "You crazy fool!"
Lloyd ignored him. He ignored the chaos he had caused. He didn't even see the people. To him, they were just obstacles. Static in the signal. Blur shapes that were in his way.
He looked up. The Academy was closer now. He could see the gleam of the sun reflecting off the Crystal Greenhouse. But now that he was closer, he could feel something else.
His enhanced senses picked up a signature he recognized. It wasn't just a generic threat like a thief or a bully. It was a cold, oily feeling in the air. It tasted like rot and old blood on his tongue. It was a frequency of magical energy that shouldn't exist in the human world.
It was the feeling of the Abyss.
Cultists.
The realization made his blood run cold. If it had been a random criminal, Airin might have been safe for a few minutes. She was smart; she could talk her way out of trouble. But the Cultists... he knew what they did. He knew about their experiments. He knew how they viewed people with special magical cores not as humans, but as batteries to be drained and discarded.
They wouldn't just kill her. They would use her. They would break her down piece by piece until there was nothing left but a husk.
"Move," he ordered himself, forcing his legs to work harder. "Move faster."
He pushed his body to the limit. He didn't wait for his Void energy to recharge naturally. He forced it. He burned his own physical stamina to fuel the jumps.
Crack.
He appeared on top of a clock tower, startling a flock of pigeons.
Crack.
He appeared on the bridge leading to the university district, scaring a fisherman half to death.
Every step drained him. His lungs burned as if he had inhaled fire. His muscles screamed in protest. The world around him started to tunnel, his vision narrowing until all he could see was the destination.
But as he moved, his mind wasn't on the pain. It was on her.
He remembered her face in the library when she told him about the dream. He remembered the way her voice trembled when she said the name of their son, "Yohan."
She was the only person in this entire universe who knew the real him. To everyone else—to Rosa, to Amina, to the King—he was Lloyd Ferrum, the genius, the warrior, the strange nobleman. They respected him, maybe even loved him, but they didn't know him.
But to Airin, he was Evan. He was the man who liked his coffee black and hated mornings. He was the man who worried about paying the rent. He was the man who had failed to protect his family once.
I promised, he thought, the memory of the dream echoing in his mind. I promised I would always find her.
If she died... if he let her die again... it would break him. It wouldn't just be grief. It would be the end of everything holding him together. He knew, with terrifying certainty, that if he lost her today, he would burn this entire kingdom to ash just to warm his hands on the fire.
He stepped through the void one last time.
Crack.
He slammed into the ground on the main cobblestone path leading to the Academy gates. The impact created a crater, sending dust and stones flying.
The two guards at the gate jumped, lowering their spears in panic.
Chapter : 1936
"Halt!" one of them shouted, his voice shaking. "Who goes there? This is restricted gro—"
Lloyd didn't slow down. He didn't even look at them. He didn't have time for explanations or authority. He didn't have time to show a badge or speak a name.
He simply waved his hand. A gust of invisible force—a kinetic pulse from his Void power—swept the guards aside like dry leaves in a storm. They flew into the bushes, unhurt but terrified.
Lloyd sprinted through the open gates. He wasn't the polite Professor today. He wasn't the clever Lord who played political chess. He was the soldier who had burned down enemy bases to save his squad. He was the Commander who had walked through hell and come back.
He ran across the perfectly manicured lawn. Students scattered, dropping their books, staring in shock at the blur of motion tearing through their campus.
"Professor Ferrum?" someone called out confusedly.
Lloyd didn't hear them. His eyes were locked on the Crystal Greenhouse.
It looked peaceful from the outside. The glass glistened in the sun. The flowers inside looked vibrant. But Lloyd’s special vision, his [All-Seeing Eye], flared to life, and the pretty illusion fell away.
He saw the truth.
The greenhouse was covered in a shroud of dark mist that normal people couldn't see. A heavy, complex barrier had been erected around it—a containment field designed to keep sound in and help out. It was high-level magic, the kind used by the Seventh Circle's elite.
Inside that barrier, he could feel a bright, desperate flare of energy. It was Airin. She was alive. But her light was flickering, spiking with fear and adrenaline.
He reached the heavy glass doors of the greenhouse. He grabbed the handle and pulled.
Locked. Not just locked, but sealed with magic.
The handle was cold, biting into his hand with a magical frost. The barrier was solid, a wall of shadow that separated him from her.
"Open," Lloyd roared.
He pulled his arm back. His fist began to glow with a dark, metallic sheen as he activated his [Steel Blood]. He didn't bother with a spell to pick the lock. He didn't look for the counter-rune to dismantle the barrier. He decided to use brute force.
He punched the air directly in front of the door.
BOOM.
The shockwave hit the invisible barrier. The air rippled like water. A spiderweb of cracks appeared in the dark mist, but it held. It was a strong shield, designed to withstand a siege.
"Open!" he screamed again.
He hit it a second time. His knuckles split. Blood ran down his hand, mixing with the glowing steel of his skin. He didn't feel it.
He could feel Airin’s panic on the other side. He could sense the hostile presence of the intruder—something cold, slimy, and arrogant. The thought of that thing touching her, hurting her, drove him into a frenzy.
He pulled back for a third strike. He channeled everything he had—his Void power, his physical strength, his desperation. The air around his fist distorted, heat waves shimmering as he compressed the space around his hand.
He wasn't just going to break the door. He was going to shatter the building.
"I said... OPEN!"
He swung.
Just as his fist connected with the barrier, he felt a spike of energy from inside. It was bright. It was blinding. It was the feeling of sunlight exploding in a confined space.
Airin was fighting back.
The realization gave Lloyd a split second of hope, followed by a new wave of urgency. If she was fighting, she was cornered. If she was using her power, she had no other choice.
His fist smashed through the cracked barrier. The dark mist shattered like glass. The recoil shook his bones, but the path was clear.
Lloyd didn't walk through the door. He didn't open it. He crouched low, his leg muscles coiling like springs, and launched himself upward.
He wasn't going to use the door. He was going to rain down on them from above.
He leaped toward the glass roof, his arm transforming, shifting, preparing to become a weapon of mass destruction. The Professor was gone. The husband had arrived. And he was going to make sure that whoever was inside that greenhouse regretted the day they were born.
—
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