His voice, representing a sharpness and confidence, echoed through the air.
"You may begin,"
responded the head committee member from their higher-up seat. From where they sat, they looked down at Henry from above, and whispers floated through the air, audible only to them.
"Henry Malckoy... I remember this boy. Isn't he the one who chose curse magic recently?"
an unidentified figure whispered.
"He is. And I heard he's a bit skilled in this path, managing to submit a theory in just six months. It seems the rumors are true."
"Oho, interesting."
When the head committee gathered, there were at least ten or so people who comes to prove their theory. While some managed to prove their theory and graduate, others failed and had to retake the test again.
At Henry's request, a thin-looking man was soon dragged into the hall. The man was already chained by his hands and legs, and afterward, the few guards who dragged him in placed him in a chair and bound him tightly to it.
"Huh? Where am I? Hello? Anyone?"
The man had his head wrapped in a dark cloth, preventing him from seeing anything in the surroundings.
"You're a prisoner who massacred an innocent family, so I won't ask for forgiveness for what I'm going to do."
Henry held a small bottle in his hand—a tiny vial he could toss and catch with one hand. Inside the bottle was a dark, liquid-like substance.
After opening the bottle, Henry whispered a spell into it and slowly guided the dark substance out. Then, his hand moved and aimed at the thin man chained to the chair. The dark substance followed his guidance and floated toward the man like a cloud of smoke.
The dark cloud entered the man through his nostrils and absorbed into his body. Within a few minutes, tiny purple spots began to appear across his body, gradually becoming large enough to be seen from afar.
Seeing the purple spots, Henry cast a Basic Air spell toward the man. As a result, the man suddenly started to scream.
"Arghh, it hurts! It hurts! Stop burning me!"
His voice faded into the air, but none from the high seats or the audience, who had come to observe the process, showed any emotion or sympathy for him.
"Basic curse spell: Tenfold Touch. It immensely increases the sensations someone feels in their body. Even a slight breeze would feel like a sharp knife peeling against their skin. You'll have to endure the pain for a bit until I finish my preparations."
Henry extended his hand forward, and from the tip of his finger, a dark liquid dropped.
"Oh, seems he already bonded with the curse magic."
"Indeed. To prove his theory, he needs to cast advanced curse magic, so he must have undergone the binding ritual before graduation."
The head committee whispered as Henry continued his work.
Not all members of the academy's committee stayed within the academy at all times. Only when a theory was being proven would all of them gather to witness and judge the process. Because of this, some were completely unaware of the identity of the student they were judging and some of the events happening inside the academy.
The dark liquid fell through the air. Using his other hand, Henry calmly controlled the dark substance, drawing a mysterious magic circle and sending it toward the chained man.
The dark circle wrapped around the man and was absorbed into his body within a minute. Then, across his skin, circular patterns appeared, resembling the ones Henry had drawn in his magic circle.
After the circular pattern became visible on the man's body, Henry cast another spell using curse mana. The same as previously, the curse manifested from his fingertip. Since he was already bound to the curse mana, he didn't need to draw from the surroundings or an external source—he could generate his own curse mana from his body.
'Cry of Malice'
An advanced curse spell was cast from Henry's fingertip. The liquid transformed into the shape of an eerie mouth, wide open, with dark teeth, and floated toward its victim—the man bound to the chair.
As it neared the man, the dark mouth slipped into his ears, and a mark resembling an open, sinister mouth appeared near his left ear. One of the drawbacks of curses was that some advanced spells, once cast on a victim, left visible signs on their body, which could sometimes help identify the spell used. In this occasion The reason Henry chose a curse like this one was precisely because the visible mark confirmed that the advanced spell had indeed been cast on the victim.
"Now, show them what you do."
Henry's whisper was heard only by himself as he gazed at the man, his pulse slowly increasing.
Once the advanced spell Cry of Malice successfully took hold of the man's body, the magic circle that Henry had previously drawn began to glow.
"Ugh, Argh..."
The man began to struggle in his chair, screaming in agony.
"It hurts! My heart feels heavy! No... don't kill me, I still have jail time left!"
The glowing process, along with the man's screams and thrashing, continued for a while—watched by the audience with unbothered gazes.
After a short period, the glow of the circle slowly disappeared, and the man returned to silence, breathing in exhausted gasps.
Extending his hand forward, Henry cast a spell from the air category, sending a wave of wind toward the man chained to the chair. It was the same spell he had cast earlier, and the air wave blew toward him at the same speed. Despite that, the man showed no pain and did not scream in distress.
Lips curled upward on Henry's face, and a smile appeared as he looked at the head committee, awaiting their judgment on his theory. Of course, he already knew what the result would be, since he had clearly proven its effectiveness.
"Curse suppression... it does seem effective. But... I remember this theory had been proven once by someone else."
One of the pillars in the head committee raised his voice, which could only be heard among themselves.