"What needed to be done," answered Master Vauxall in an evenly loud voice.
"I'm sorry patriarch, but Ginx had gone too far," said Sir Mat Helsing as his patriarch came close enough.
"I said to wait for my orders," he snarled at his grandson.
"So you actually knew about his treachery," said Master Vauxall, his rage returning. "You knew and kept me in the dark! If anything had happened to my student—"
"I had my reasons"
"And I demand them."
Master Vauxall had just annihilated a group of masters and a grandmaster, killed them all like nothing, and Ashviel wondered if he was going to take on his old friend too.
Lord Blue Beard heaved heavily. He walked up to Ginx's ashes then turned his head to Master Vauxall.
"He was a tool," the lord began, "a pawn in the hands of the Libra mages. Under normal circumstances Vauxall, you know I would have killed him, no matter what. Then again, I thought, what if Libra was a pawn too, and the controller of that pawn was a puppet himself to Von Vlit?"
Master Vauxall's eyes instantly widened with realization of the possibility. "Yet, you could have told me. I could've found a better solution."
"You might have, but your rage is the problem. You could have plunged yourself in it and then annihilate all the Libra mages, drawing attention to yourself."
Master Vauxall still had a tint of anger in his voice. "You can say that, even after I waited for centuries."
"Only a century ago, you obliterated a society of mages in your furious rampage."
"I was gravely offended, and the apotheosis was not yet found then."
"I would have done the same if any of my students fell in danger, particularly this type of student. I'm sorry for not telling you, it was a gamble and I did not know it will turn this bad."
Master Vauxall laughed hard, and one would find it hard to believe that only some minutes ago, he was an irate mage. "A gambler you have always been, Blue Beard. "
They chatted casually as they returned to the academy, relating tales of events they had witnessed to the days event. The students followed behind, talking in low tunes among themselves. The lord suddenly went grim. "Even so," said he, "your students are no longer safe with me."
"I see," replied Master Vauxall. "Libra is senseless, and with my students still here, they will keep sending their men till you are forced to kill them all."
"So, what are you going to do now?"
Master Vauxall chuckled and smiled enigmatically. "Keep your friends close, your enemies; closer."
The lord turned at him in disbelief. "Vauxall, you don't mean —."
"There is no better option."
"How about Tudor, how will you take care of him?"
"It is not for no reason I am known as the Lord of shadows. I can always erase my doings."
"I trust you can."
➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖
That night at the academy was a gloomy one. The three sat by the fire at the academy hall with thoughtful expressions. There were all alone, as the remaining students were in their quarters already.
Ashviel stared emptily at the fire. He was especially sad, as he attributed the disaster to himself.
"I am the cause," he started, his voice brittle with emotions. "Sir Ginx, the villagers, they all died because of me. If only I was never born, if only!"
"Yeah, if only," said Kael. "But you are born already, and you can cry all day or you can get a hold of yourself."
"What do you mean?"
"You have done nothing wrong. Think again, what could you have done? Whatever it is they are after you for, I believe it is worth protecting. Don't get down in the dumps because of this, there's still more ahead." Though Kael spoke to encourage, he had no way of preventing his voice from becoming shaky, and it soon appeared that tears might stream out of his eyes.
"Still," said Ashviel, "I feel responsible for —"
"Quit it!" snapped Kael. "Have you forgotten the promise? Do you disregard our pledge to take down all the bloody bastards of this world?"
"I haven't, how could I possibly forget the vow?"
"Where then is your will?"
He turned to Kyra, who had her mind buried in deep thoughts. She was visibly downcast - clearly the most disconsolate of the three, with her face enveloped in her hands. Her reddish-brown hair, which she had so much taken care of, was now disheveled, pouring down to cover the parts of her face her hands had failed to conceal.
"Kyra," he called her gently but she did not seem to hear the sound. He called her again, this time jolting her as he held her by the shoulder.
"Eh?" she asked, lifting up her face.
"If you are thinking about Ginx, then know that he was a dead man already, whether it was by Master Vauxall's hand or not."
"I know," she replied with little care. "Why else would Libra send a grandmaster and three masters for a single knight? "
"What do you mean?" asked Kael.
"They were going to kill him after the deal was done. Dead men don't sing, dead men don't bite," she concluded.
"That is horrible," said Ashviel.
"Ginx was not only a traitor, he was also a fool," she said.
Ashviel noticed that even Kyra no longer addresses him with his title.
"I admired him a lot," she continued with a quiver in her voice, "and I came to resent the other knights for his sake. He is a disappointment, unworthy of mention."
Kael felt than she might get sad if they continued about Ginx. "What's the Libra anyway? I know they are rogue mages, but I did not expect a grandmaster among them." Ashviel also became attentive, as the name had always rung in his head too.
"Rogue mages that somehow opened their circuits but have no master usually join societies. There's one great society, Capricorn Prime, I don't know if you know about it."
Her two companions stifled their dry laughter at her comment. How could they not know about Capricorn?
"Some feel Capricorn exerts undue authorities, so they decide to join unpopular societies like Libra. Libra is the largest of these societies. Though they have no definite overall leader or base, they are present in almost every society, even in the Capricorn domain. They are usually used by wealthy nobles to commit atrocities, since they are not rich themselves."
"So they are pawns?"
"Not exactly, at least not all of them. They are seen as unruly aggravators by Capricorn, due to their lack of order and general controller. Their major strength lies however in their number and versatility."
The mention of Libra further reminded Ashviel of the woman mage who had tried to take him away back at the wasteland. She was, as Kosrov said, a new member of the society. He wondered how she had learned magic, and why, after becoming a master, she chose to join Libra. She had died sadly by his side. A shame he did not even get to know her name.