The people wearing black robes started to kneel next to the Grand Master and Layren while they convulsed on the floor.
'What the fuck, I can't leave them alone with these crazy people.'
I try to hold their heads so that they stop hitting them on the floor and place them on their side so that they don't choke on their saliva while the people around them stand watching everything.
"What the hell are you looking at?" I yell at them, but only expressions of confusion without answers are expressed.
The Body Rune Hanzor is still activated and with it, I can see their life force being drained by something dark in their hearts.
Using my ability to manipulate the shadows I try to remove that darkness from their hearts, but they don't respond to me. I keep trying until their hearts stop beating.
'What the fuck, that oracle must have killed them with that spell.'
I get up to go after the oracle, but for a brief moment, something propels life force back at them.
'Am I dreaming?.'
But again, the same boost takes over, faster and faster until it is constantly boosting vital force in their bodies until they rise as if nothing had happened.
But now darkness is not only part of the heart, it has also taken the whole heart.
"A miracle."
"The divine bless."
"The founder must be guiding us again."
The people wearing black robes start to cheer and the few who were not kneeling decide to kneel.
The group was not large, made up of around 15 people, but it was still dangerous not to consider them a threat since they must be direct friends of the Grand Master.
'I should probably get out of here soon, who knows what's going to happen now.'
Through the same door I entered, I sneak out while everyone is distracted admiring what they saw in front of them. As soon as I get to the door I start running back to my room.
---
--- Layren Point of View ---
"Why did he run?"
"Where did he go?"
"We did something wrong?"
"Should we go after him?"
Everyone started to wonder the moment they noticed Gremory running from the room.
But then the Oracle returned through the same door she had left.
"You guys haven't done anything wrong, he's just confused." She spoke while removing the hood from her face, showing a face so beautiful that it didn't even look real as if it had come straight out of a painting.
'She didn't look like that a minute ago...'
"Then, we succeed Oracle? We did everything as instructed." The Grand Master Kluster Bhuor asked.
"Yes, everything went according to plan, I told you that the prophecies are never wrong! By making the supreme sacrifice of offering your souls, you have become one with me and have acquired immortality."
"With you? We thought we would follow the next Great Hero to walk these lands." One of the hooded men spoke while taking off his hood, he was the Marquis Jaquis Elum, currently responsible for the city of Zimirt.
"You will, I am just the intermediary between you and him. Gremory has just arrived in this world and is confused, soon he will understand his purposes, and then he will come to us. At that point, I will stop being just the intermediary, and you will become one with the master.
The people around began to express discontent and started whispering among themselves.
"Forgive me the question, Great Oracle, but wouldn't it be easier to just explain it to him?"
At that moment the oracle moved at such a rapid speed that even the eyes of the trained warriors present in that enclosure were unable to follow. She took the Marquis Jaquis Elum by the neck using only one hand and started pressing him against the wall while he groaned trying to breathe.
"YOU ARE JUST AN BUG, LEARN YOUR PLACE. The master's desire is the master's only, and we have no right to influence his decisions, everything will happen as it always has in due time." She spoke while releasing a threatening aura that put pressure on even the Grand Master Kluster Bhuor, paralyzing everyone where they were.
When the Marquis's face started to turn blue, she finally decided to drop him on the floor. He fell and started coughing over and over.
'I thought she was going to kill us now... Too bad, I don't want to die, but it would be fun to see my father dying at least.'
"Don't worry, just follow my orders and everything will be fine in the end. After all, I know exactly what the master wants." She spoke addressing everyone present.
'All this talk of the master again, I thought I would feel different after that, but everything is the same.'
"I think we should finish today, we have a lot to do now." The Grand Master spoke to the Oracle while sweat fell from his face.
She looked at him with disdain and replied.
"Yes, get out of here and make sure no one sees you all."
Everyone started to leave little by little, while my father and I went through the back exit.
"Let's go to the arena now, I want to test something." My father spoke.
I just agreed with the head and followed him.
The castle has dozens of arenas, there was one in the region where we were. But Kluster decided to go to the arena located on the highest floor of the castle, it was the busiest and only the highest-ranked mages were allowed to train there. These people are rarely in the castle at the same time and much more rarely are they fighting each other in the arenas, so it ended up becoming just the main square of the castle.
'He wants public watching us?'
In the arena, there were no physical protections between the people present and the arena itself, but there was a dense magical barrier that prevented any spells from passing through it, making it the perfect place to fight and relax.
Kluster placed some targets in the center of the arena and moved away.
"Now, I want you to attack a fireball with everything you have." He spoke from a distance.
'For me to be ashamed again for not being strong enough?'
"Are you sure? There are a lot of people watching." I asked.
"Yeah."
'Let's go with everything then.'
BOOMM
I use a fireball aiming at targets, the targets are completely evaporated from the face of the earth and a huge burst gets everyone's attention. Everyone looks at the location of the explosion and to everyone's surprise, not green, but purple smoke is rising in the wind.
'My flame... Is it.. Stronger?'