Viola finally finished purifying the dark aura.
"Finally," she shouted and laid on top of a bed.
Melissa immediately went to work on the wound, and it healed immediately.
"I feel better now." Sabina says with a grin and gets up but immediately sat back down with a frown on her face.
"You still need to rest. You had to endure this for a week." Melissa said.
"I'm fine. I'll keep watch." Sabina said.
Feeling sleepy, Viola went to sleep almost immediately. That shows just how tired she is.
She wanted to talk to everyone and ask what happened while she was in a coma, tell them that she will be studying for the Dragon's test.
Melissa went to rest up on a bed as well but not to sleep.
But before she could relax, Viola woke up immediately. "Someone's here."
That shocked the others as they quickly grabbed onto their weapons.
Viola is shocked. "How did they get so close?"
"No clue but let's not worry about that right now. We're gonna have to fight." Sabina said.
The door burst open to reveal the cream-haired boy that everyone recognizes. He is carrying a chain and begin swinging it around on sight.
"Selim?"
Unresponsive, he threw it at Sabina who quickly dodged it.
"Oh, you're really gonna pick up on our fight? Fine!" She grabbed her weapon and started advancing towards him. She can't put her mind to it but something is wrong with him. He doesn't seem normal.
Putting that in the back of her mind for now, Viola had to run and warn the rest of the patients in the infirmary and check out the rooms only to find all the adults collapsed and the students and children standing there dumbfounded upon seeing her.
She suspected it for a while now. The barrier wasn't just the building but affected every adult inside the academy.
*
Alabaster and Boris were surprisingly unaffected when they entered the building. Boris came officially as a doctor while Alabaster just decide to tag along. Through Ramiro, they saw what happened and were confused as to why they avoided this. After some investigating, the two men tried to wake them up but it is pointless.
"We should get rid of the barrier." Boris said. "It seems that the conditions to it are that it affect women or adults. It seems to spread to major buildings except the colosseum." He then observes their condition.
"This is quite a high-level ability that even I couldn't pull easily." Alabaster says in admiration as he looked around.
"This is no time to be sitting put. Someone could be in danger right now!"
"But they would be suspicious if they saw us unaffected. The worms must have tricked the magic into believing we must be children. "
"Do you know to break it?"
"I do but it will take some time." Alabaster rummaged through his things and pulled out a strange looking brush. "I am going to need a lot of space for this."
Boris looks stunned, "I thought you can't use magic."
Alabaster looks smug, "The fundamental rule of magic is that it exists everywhere, organic or inorganic, evil or benign." he explained, "I may not be able to channel it anymore but that doesn't mean my items can't."
*
Viola and Melissa help evacuate the infirmary. Everyone in it are competitors in the tournament. The uninjured ones led the injured ones away. The only option they have is to go to the dormitory. Thankfully, it isn't far away. There are more injured people than uninjured people so everyone had to leave and protect them.
Viola noticed Melissa looking through the medicine cabinet for something. "What are you doing?"
"Theseus is physically fine yet he's not waking up. I'm just looking for something that will wake him up. We need all the help we could get." She said.
Viola watched the fight and it looks like Sabina is in trouble. Impatient, she grabbed the blue blade and cut in the middle of the fight. Using the blade, she cut the chain, shocking everyone. It wasn't her power; it was the weapon.
What the
"When did you get so strong?"
"That wasn't me." She replied with a stunned tone.
She and Sabina tag team and attack Selim but he is faster, agile and far more reactive than the two of them which made it harder to even focus or predict where he will attack next. Viola is shocked that her sister's friend is the assassin. How could she have known? He is her friend. She would be devastated to find out.
Sabina suddenly gasped in pain and coughed violently. Viola rushed to her side and shielded her which resulted in a bad cut on her back. She watched as Melissa join in and grabbed a sword to attack Selim. Just how strong is he?
She held up the sword and stared intensely before attacking him. However, he made quick work and grabbed her by the throat.
"Mel!"
Selim's eyes appeared glassy and monotone and grabbed onto the sword to finish her off.
Then out of nowhere, Nathaniel basically shot through the door like a cannonball and punched Selim in the neck, knocking him out cold. Everyone had to flinch at the unmistakable sound of a broken neck.
"Finally!"
"What the-, Nate?! What in the... how did you?" Sabina stammered.
Nathaniel massaged his wrist. "I was separated from the others and then-" he noticed Theseus before continuing, "then this dog came out of nowhere and brought me here."
"A dog?"
Everyone looked over at Theseus who finally woke up.
"Why do my muscles hurt?"
"I had to heal you. Your flesh regenerated but it regressed your body. You are going to need some exercise to get your body back in shape." Melissa explained while she is healing Violet, ignoring her own injury.
"Wait! What happened here?!" Theseus shouted. He is shocked to see Melissa and Viola and despite being happy to see them, he knows that mentioning it is not important right now especially seeing them all in bad shape.
Sabina tiredly pointed to Selim who is on the ground. Nathaniel observed him. "He's alive. Just injured. Good. At least we can interrogate him."
Theseus is confused but then realized something and checked his nonexistent pocket. "Dammit!"
"What?" Sabina said irritably as she struggled to get to a bed.
"The scrying orb is gone!"
"Wait, you found it?!" Viola shouted.
"I found it and talked to Amaryllis while I was in the empty space." he explained, "She told me that it's been a week since we last talk before, we teleported to the empty space. She didn't believe that Selim is the assassin but an accomplice. This all started after she left after all. Apparently, he is responsible for a couple of things like Viola's coma, blinding Nate and even took part in Sabina's accident. He has been taking us one by one so that Leon would be defenseless."
Sabina and Nathaniel look especially angry as they stared at him while Violet hid her ire. This all made sense now.
"She says that Selim tried to find ways to keep us out but not kill us. It is a girl name Rana who is responsible. I was just about to ask more about her when I started to face someone from a barbarian tribe and she warned me about him. I... lost the ball and to him."
"The barbarian tribes are formidable." Nathaniel commented, "Whatever the case, Rufus and Leon are still stuck in there."
"There's something you should know. There are barriers around the buildings and only the adults are affected." Melissa said while tossing some fresh clothes to the boys. "Everyone else is at the dorms so we should meet them there now. Go get changed then we'll have to leave."
Sabina is weak but was supported by Theseus, Viola is carried by Nathaniel while Melissa is healing her from behind.