***ETHEA'S POV***
Its been a while since I told Hamil my orders…thankfully, around ten minutes later, the announcement was heard, but it wasn't exactly how I expected it to be said…and that voice that came out of the announcement wasn't Hamil's, instead it was Sherry's. if that was the case, it would mean that Sherry was healed.
[Attention all guards of the Academy! This is an urgent announcement. Demon Cultists have invaded the school and are releasing Skinwalkers throughout the campus with the intention of capturing all of the students in the school dorms. We urgently request that all available guards proceed immediately to the student dormitories to ensure the safety of our students. Your quick and decisive action is critical in safeguarding the well-being of the students.]
I already knew that Skinwalkers were involved in this whole situation, but the moment Jo showed me a picture of a severed head of a skinwalker, I did not take into consideration that this was simply just a distraction.
The Demon cultist are planning on capturing as much students as they can…with that said, I can't help but be angry at myself for being so incompetent.
If Hamil and Sherry choose to report about the main issue being that the student dorm was in trouble, it could only mean that those two would quickly make their way to the student dorm themselves to help in the situation.
Us on the other hand are being held up by these fucking skinwalkers here in the school entrance. Their ability to turn into the faces of teachers and employees were starting to wear out and their true ugly forms were already revealed…still as they did reveal their true forms, they only got more difficult fighting off one by one…
There are around thirty skinwalkers remaining in the entrance, acting as a decoy…there should still be other skinwalkers in the school as well, but that doesn't matter, what I have to focus on is the actual goal of these demon worshipers.
The manpower in handling the skinwalkers here in the entrance are barely holding on since it was the night shift. Not a lot of strong guards remained in the school, most of them had already gone home…these Demon Worshipers know how to pick the date...Fuckers.
"...Hmm." Even if I did finish the situation here, I doubt I could be fully fight the demons at my state. Half of my mana has already been depleted…but if I try to call for outside help, maybe the situation could still be resolved.
The only problem is, if they can respond on time…
The police are barely strong enough to handle mana-related situations since most of the people that are employed there are just normal citizens, but the knights of the kingdom on the other hand are a whole different call. Some of them are quite strong and capable, but their ability to respond to a situation in a quick event like today's terrorism is not their strong suit. They'll make it here by the time the sun would rise and by then, the demons would have already escaped.
I could try requesting for an assistance towards a guild, because not only are they capable of handling difficult and specialized problems involving demons, but their ability and confidence towards a situation like this could easily be resolved, but that would only be possible if the situation benefits the guild at all…and from the looks of it, their benefit here is the trust that they could gain from the academy…but would they even be capable of responding to my call at this time of night? Their resources towards their capable hunters are barely available since most of the hunters are always in the gates, hunting and growing…the chances of them quickly coming to our aide are just as much as that of the possibility given by the knights of the kingdom.
What I'm dealing with now are demons worshipers. Theres a possibility that even an S-ranked demon would be involved in this high-stake situation…I need to get the most capable group I know of…
As I ponder to the few possible choices, I came in view of the moon that was shining down on me with such glow…
'...the moon….!'
Then all of a sudden, there was another group that had the capability of responding to my call as quick as that of my request in this dead of night.
"Jo! Keep the skinwalkers away from me for a second, I'll try to call for help." I said as I kept on battling the skinwalkers while pulling out my phone from my storage space.
As I did so, Jo came rushing in with his sword and pushed away the skinwalker that was in front of me.
As he successfully removed the nuisances, I brought out my phone and quickly searched through the contacts that I had in my sim.
Scrolling down to the dozens of contacts I had, I finally was able to pick the one number that I had with me since the day I came to this school.
***MARTHA'S POV***
Martha had just come home from school… having been covered in sweat from training on her free time and being mentally exhausted from reading the book that her father gave her…and to some avail, She was able to progress with what the book had in store despite it being a difficult book to decipher.
Through her progression with the book, she learned one new neat skill and because of it, her arsenal of skills had just increased.
Now that she was at her dorm, she quickly decided to take a bath so that she could rinse off every dirt and sweat that was on her.
A few minutes later, as she came out of the bathroom fresh and clean. She dressed herself in her comfortable pink pajamas and quickly dived on the bed to rest…
The day was quite a hassle, as not only were the lectures in alchemy hard to follow, she heard rumors that some first year was able to get into the student counsel…betting on that news, she could hardly ever figure out who it was as there was not that much people who are even capable or fit to be a member.
Even Ranzy herself who had interest in joining the student counsel was also shocked by this news.
There wasn't even an announcement towards their recruitment, so that could only mean that this student was recommended by a teacher…
"Hmm, I wonder who the new member is?" she mumbled as she stared at the ceiling.
She herself was also a bit intrigued with joining the student counsel, but since it really didn't have any merits aside from school credit, her time would only be wasted from always watching over the school, and she would also lose her precious training time in the training center.
If the time did came that a teacher would recommend her, she would likely refuse the offer. She knows how valuable her time was, and being a noble, she could not waste any moment of it to the little cooperation she could provide to the school system. She would rather waste all the possible free time she had on training.
"..." the worries of the day were slowly getting faded away as her mind was slowly drifting into a restful time…but before she could rest in her slumber.
*Boom*
Out in the distance, an explosion could be heard in the same direction as her school.
"!!" She quickly awoke from her trance and looked to the window.
But as she stared at the window, she was met with a cold gaze from a bearded man who was seemingly leaning by the side of her dresser.
"!!" she could not help but instinctively jump from the bed to ready herself in a fighting position.
She quickly brought out a few magic circles out to her back, ready to fire at the man.
But as she did so, the bearded man could only ever stare at the scene outside of the window…never changed by the situation or the fighting presence that Martha had shown.
"Who are you!?" Questioned Martha in a rather loud tone.
"..." but the man remained silent and out of care for her presence.
"...You are Dottingham…and as a Female offspring of the Dottingham lineage, you must have already been gifted with the book of fate by your father. Am I right?"
"!! Having heard those words, she could not help but be surprised by his intel…
"Your at the age of learning the book…just like how your mother did." as the bearded man said this, Martha could not help but shiver in fear as the relation of her mother was brought out by the man.
"W-what?" she was curious…and afraid.
Her mother has not been said by any other stranger other than her family members…yet for her to hear her mother be spoken of by a stranger who intruded her room could only mean one thing for her…and that was Danger.
To even know of her mother's existence was probably a threat to Martha
"Who are you? How do you know about the book? How do you know about my mother!?" Martha tried to claim any sort of information from the man, but in response, the man could only ever sneer at her as if he wasn't obligated to care for the questions she asked.
"..." The man only raised his hands to her direction and casted a large magic circle.
".…Cry." as he said this, a stormy blizzard of ice came out of his magic and made its way to Martha.
*SWOOOSSHHHH~~*
"!!" in response, Martha quickly fired her fire lances to counter the ice blizzard.
*Pew*
*Pew*
*Pew*
*Pew*
But to no effort, the magic of the bearded man simply overpowered her's like it was nothing. So slowly, the blizzard was not only extinguishing all of her attacks, but it was also devouring the room in its frost.
Seeing as how she was losing at the battle, she had no other choice but to use the blessing given by her God.
"..." as the frost started to devour her fingertips, she chanted her prayer to her God in her mind.
It took a few seconds and her body was quickly engulfed by flames and the mark on her chest began to glow. It was the same transformation she received back when she was at the class rumble event, fighting against the orc.
With her present power, she gave all that she had to defend against the bearded man.
"Fateful Fire" She casted the new skill that she had learned from the book and by doing so, a great big circle of magic came in front of her…and mindful rise of fiery air began to blow out of the circle and was countering the very blizzard that the bearded man was throwing.
In her increase in power, she was able to counter the magic that the bearded man was giving out. But because of her transformation, her room alone was not safe from the burning heat coming from her body and skill.
With half the room burned and the other half frozen, the two were at an impass.
"Hmm…" The bearded stayed the same as he glared at the view of burning form that Martha had revealed.
Understanding the situation, the man choose to do the unexpected.
With his other arm, he casted another magic circle but this time, instead of a blizzard that came out, a crystallized spear of icicles began to form and with it, he aimed it at Martha.
But Martha had to exactly the right skill to counter his attack as well.
As the man silently threw the spears, Martha countered it with her fire spears.
The moment the two elemental spears collided, it created a burst of explosion that not only caused the room to break into pieces, but the force of the collision threw Martha right on the wall.
*Boom!*
As she smashed herself on the wall, she fell and hit her head first, causing her to lose focus of the situation.
Meanwhile, the bearded man on the other hand remained unscathed by this.
"Hmm…not enough, I'll come back again. So for now, I implore that you move to the next step of the fateful path given to you…"
As he said this to the barely conscious Martha, the man approached her and reached out for her hand…as he did so, he mysteriously was able to bring out the 'book of fate' from Martha's storage ring. And he began to cast a certain spell on the book…
As he tampered with the book, Martha could hear the sounds of chains rattling to her ears and by the next moment, she came back in focus.
But as she regained her consciousness back, what she remained to see was but the visage of a drifting white snow flowing out of the window.
And right by next to her was the book of fate…
'Read me…learn me…learn fate…learn'
"?" as she slowly got back up on her feet, she heard the the words…
The words of the book…
Telling her to read it…
As for some reason, this was the first time that she had ever heard such a voice…and hearing those voices made her feel fear and temptation by their command…by their words, she had already forgotten about the bearded man who intruded her room just a second ago.
"...What is going on?"
To her curiosity, she reached out for the book…
And by the moment she came in touch with just its leather cover…
"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!"
"AAAHHH!!"
"Waahh!!"
She heard the screams of a woman…a man…a child…all at the same time.
"Wha-!"
In fear of those screams, she pushed the book away out of instinct.
"W-what?"
'Learn me….learn my fate…learn your fate…fate…fate'
And again, she has heard the voices in her head.
At first the book was screaming at her…but by the second time it allured her with their voices, she was tempted…and little by little, she slowly approached the book.
".…" As the book laid on the floor, She stared at it with an unconscious expression of fear.
She could not tell what to feel at that moment…but she was tempted to grab the book.
When she reached for the book, the moment her fingers touched the leather again, she was meet with a more fiercer command instead of a scream.
'.…Open me.'
"Ah.." the moment she heard this, her consciousness faded and her body moved to open the book…
But before she could open it halfway through, the door of her room exploded and revealed the visage of her brother's figure.
"Martha!" he screamed and dashed to her direction as fast as he could but he was not fast enough, so he used his bow and he fired an arrow to push away the book from Martha's hands.
*Pew~*
*Thud*
The book fell away from Martha and Liam quickly approached his sister to hold her.
He thought that maybe there was going to be some struggle from her sister, but to his surprise she remained calm…
Too calm for comfort.
"Martha?"
"Hnn~"
From her response, it seems like she was unconscious from the moment she held on the book the second time.
"...That book nearly got her." said Liam as he glared at the book with such hate.
When he stared at the book, he noticed that it was still in fine condition, no marks or scratches at all despite it having been hit by his arrow.
He knows full well that the book was the main culprit in this situation as he too was a Dottingham…he was also allured by the book's voices as well, but because he didn't have that much strong affinity with the book of fate for his weaks eyes, he wasn't as influenced by it.
"...This is a bad time for her to act like this." he said as he began to lift her up and placed her to one of the sofa's who miraculously survived the fight between Martha and the bearded man.
With that known, Liam has to stay in this room so that he could protect his sister while waiting for Arthur and Licia to come together and try to make a plan to survive the whole situation that was happening at the school dorm.