(Arin's POV)
The warning sirens wailed like the death throes of a colossal beast, slicing through a night sky now stained with thick black smoke.
From the direction of the Academy's main gate, pillars of magic fire began to rise high, painting the eastern horizon a horrific blood red. The vibrations of the explosions traveled through the ground, shaking the soles of our shoes as we stood frozen in the quarantine area.
"Iron Blood Sect..." hissed Selena Rhyms.
The Headmistress's face, which minutes ago had been filled with cold business calculation, now transformed into the mask of pure rage befitting a war general. The mana aura around her churned wildly, causing pebbles on the ground to vibrate and float.
"Karim!" ordered Selena without turning. Her voice contained absolute authority that brooked no argument. "Take command of the inner gate defense! Activate the Guardian Golems and barricade all access to the student dormitories! Do not let a single black-robed intruder touch the children!"
"Yes, Your Excellency!" Karim struck his chest with a fist, then ran crashing through the crowd of other instructors, shouting combat formation orders.
Selena then looked at me, Elena, and Edna. Her gaze softened slightly, yet the urgency did not diminish.
"The three of you, stay here. Focus on this plague. If the enemy is using disease as a pathbreaker, it means the number of victims will continue to rise. Arin, ensure no student dies a foolish death by becoming an iron statue. That is your task."
"Understood," I answered briefly.
"Grandmother!" Elena stepped forward, her face pale but her eyes burning. Her magic staff was already gripped tight. "Let me come! I am a Second Circle Mage now! My ice magic can..."
"No, Elena!" cut Selena sharply.
Strong winds began to swirl around Selena's body, lifting her robes into the air. It was Fifth Circle Magic: Flight.
"You are not ready to see real war. Your duty here is to help Arin and guard your friends."
Without waiting for further argument, Selena stomped her foot.
BOOM!
Her body shot into the air like a rocket, leaving a trail of fierce wind. In seconds, her figure had disappeared to the east, toward the center of the explosion where the sky glowed red. She went to fulfill her duty as one of the elite mages of the Lion Kingdom, the last shield separating order from chaos.
I stared at her disappearing back, then shifted my gaze to Elena who was biting her lip, holding back frustration.
"Save your energy, Princess," I said while patting her shoulder gently. "Your grandmother is right. Our war is not there. Our war is here, on these stretchers."
I turned to face Doctor Edna who had returned to her professional mode.
"Doc, how much Antibiotic Type B do we have left?"
Edna checked her medical bag with hands that trembled slightly yet remained deft. "Twenty small bottles. The rest are still in the forest warehouse with Ghislain."
"Enough for first aid," I muttered. "Let's work. Tonight is going to be very long."
(Three Hours Later - Class B Dormitory Emergency Medical Post)
The initial chaos had subsided, replaced by a gloomy and exhausting medical bustle.
The spacious dormitory courtyard area had now been transformed into a makeshift field hospital. Tents were erected with earth magic, illuminated by balls of light floating dimly. The smell of antiseptic, blood, and the distinct rusty metal aroma of the plague hung thick in the air, making stomachs churn if one was not accustomed to it.
I sat leaning against a pile of wooden crates, chugging warm sugar water given by one of the students. My hands trembled from exhaustion. The adrenaline effect began to recede, leaving a body still recovering from routine blood donations feeling incredibly heavy.
Around us, our small team worked like a well-oiled machine.
Doctor Edna moved from one patient to another, injecting Type B (Standard) Antibiotics into students showing early symptoms of coughing blood or rust patches on the skin. Her syringe moved fast and precise, not letting emotions interfere with her performance.
Meanwhile, Elena Rhyms proved she was not just a spoiled princess.
"Temperature rising again! 41 degrees!" shouted a medical assistant.
Elena immediately ran toward the patient. She placed both hands on the forehead of the violently shivering student.
"Cold... Cooling Touch," whispered Elena.
Soft blue light emanated from her palms. Not freezing ice, but a precisely controlled cool breeze. She absorbed the fever heat from the patient's body, acting as a living human compress. Sweat soaked Elena's forehead, and her face looked tired from constant mana usage, yet she did not complain once.
"Good work," I muttered softly, chewing dry bread to replenish energy.
"Mr. Arin..."
A weak voice called me.
I turned. On a folding bed not far from me, Tom Garius was looking at me. He was Baron Garius's son, patient zero who nearly became an iron statue earlier.
His skin still looked pink and sensitive, like a baby's skin newly grown after a burn, because the rust layer on his body had fallen off completely thanks to the Premium Antibiotic. However, his breathing was regular.
I forced myself up and approached him.
"Do not move much, Tom. Your muscle tissue just regenerated. You are still fragile," I warned, sitting on a small chair beside him.
Tom tried to smile, though his lips were cracked. Tears welled in the corners of his eyes.
"Thank you..." he whispered hoarsely. "I... I can feel my hands again. I thought I would die."
"Thank Grandmother Selena who dared to take the risk, and the rotten mushrooms that saved you," I answered casually, trying to reduce the tension.
Tom shook his head weakly. "No... you were the one who poured it. I saw you fighting everyone for my sake."
I waved my hand. "Forget it. Save your praise. I need something else from you, Tom."
My face turned serious. My detective instinct took over.
"Tom, you were the first patient. This plague did not just appear out of thin air inside an isolated dormitory. This bacteria needs a host to enter."
I looked into his eyes sharply.
"Tell me. Where did you go during the winter break? What did you do before returning to the Academy?"
Tom frowned, seeming to think hard amidst the remnants of his headache.
"Holiday..." he mumbled. "I... I went with four roommates. We went to the East District."
"East?" I immediately remembered the direction of the explosion and sect attack tonight. "Where specifically?"
"Oakhaven Village," answered Tom. "A tourist village at the foot of the mountains. My father said the scenery is good when it snows. We rented an inn there for three days."
"What happened there? Did you eat anything strange? Bitten by an animal?"
"No..." Tom shook his head slowly. "Everything was normal. The food was good, the inn was clean. But..."
His eyes suddenly widened, as if remembering something forgotten.
"But what?" I urged.
"The last day... when I was shopping for souvenirs at the village market," Tom swallowed hard, his face paling. "I bumped into someone. He wore a thick black robe, his hood covering his face. It was very strange, even though the day wasn't that cold."
My heart pounded. "And then?"
"He bumped into me. Quite hard. I wanted to get angry, but when he turned slightly... I smelled it."
Tom trembled. "The smell of scrap metal. A very stinging smell of rust, like dried blood sticking to metal. And he... he coughed right in my face. A wet and terrible cough."
"Did you see his face?"
"Not clearly... but I saw his chin. His chin... was gray. Like iron."
Tom closed his eyes, his breathing starting to race from panic.
"After that, he disappeared into the crowd. The next day, on the trip back to the Academy, I started coughing. My phlegm was reddish-brown. I thought it was just a bad flu due to the cold air... until my friends started coughing too."
I fell silent, leaning my back against the chair. The puzzle pieces finally arranged neatly, forming a horrific picture.
I stood up, walking quickly toward the map table Karim had spread out before he left. My eyes scanned the geographical location.
Oakhaven Village. Located right on the main logistical route of the Capital's East District.
And tonight, the East District was being attacked all out by the Iron Blood Sect.
"Damn it..." I hissed. "This is no coincidence."
Elena, who had just finished treating a patient, approached me, wiping sweat from her forehead. "What is it, Arin? You look like you just saw a ghost."
"Worse, Elena," I said, pointing at the map. "This is military strategy."
I looked at Elena and Edna who also approached.
"Tom and his friends... they were not random victims. They were biological time bombs planted intentionally."
"What do you mean?" asked Edna confusedly.
"Think," I explained quickly. "The Iron Blood Sect planned an attack on the Capital tonight. But they knew Lion Academy has many young mages and knights who could be sent as reinforcements. So what did they do?"
I drew a line from Oakhaven Village to the Academy.
"A week before the attack, they spread the disease agent in a nearby tourist village. They infected students on vacation. These students returned to the dorms, brought the bacteria in through the gates, and spread it to their roommates."
"They made students into plague carrier vessels..." whispered Elena in horror, covering her mouth.
"Exactly. The goal was to cripple the Academy from within," I continued. "When the main attack happened tonight, the Academy was busy dealing with the plague, panicked, and quarantined. We could not send help to the Capital because we ourselves were dying."
"Softening up," muttered Edna, a medical term for weakening body resistance before a major infection attacks. "They softened the enemy defenses with disease before the physical attack."
Horror enveloped the three of us. This was not merely blind terrorism. This was a biological warfare strategy planned meticulously and cruelly.
"If this theory is correct..." my voice lowered. "Then this plague is not only in the Academy. They must have spread it also in..."
BANG!
The medical tent door slammed open loudly, cutting off my sentence.
Cold night wind blew in, carrying the smell of thick burning smoke and the aroma of fresh blood far stronger than before.
Everyone turned in shock.
In the doorway stood a figure.
Selena Rhyms stood there.
Her appearance was far from neat. Her blue silk mage robe was scorched at the bottom. Her silver hair, usually perfectly styled, was now messy, unraveling wildly. There was a torn wound on her left temple, dried blood sticking to her pale cheek.
However, her eyes still burned. Those golden eyes radiated an aura of cold victory.
"Grandmother!" Elena shrieked, about to run to hug her.
Selena raised a hand, stopping her granddaughter's steps. "I am fine, Elena. Just a small scratch from magic shrapnel."
Selena walked with a slight limp toward the center table, then poured water into a glass with a slightly trembling hand. She drank it in one gulp.
"What is the situation, Your Excellency?" asked Edna anxiously. "The sirens stopped. Did..."
"We won," cut Selena, her voice sounding flat, without euphoria. "The Royal Knight Troops and Academy Mages succeeded in beating back the wave of attacks in the East District. The enemy retreated into the forest."
Sighs of relief were heard in unison throughout the tent.
"But..." Selena put down her glass roughly. "This is a victory of ashes."
"What do you mean, Grandma?" asked Elena confusedly.
"The enemy retreated, but they left a 'gift'," Selena stared at me sharply. "Thousands of soldiers on the front lines... civilians hiding in bunkers... they started coughing blood. The plague is not only here, Arin. The plague exploded throughout the East District post-war."
I nodded slowly. "Poor sanitary conditions, open wounds, and physical exhaustion. That is the perfect incubator for these rust bacteria to spread faster."
"Military hospitals are full," continued Selena in horror. "Priests ran out of holy mana. Knights who survived enemy swords are now threatened to die rotting in barrack beds."
Selena walked closer to me. This time, she did not look at me as a student, but as a strategic partner.
"Arin," she said seriously. "Your medicine. That Antibiotic Type B. How much can we mobilize now?"
"If the Shadow Servants worked fast packing the Antibiotics, then four thousand bottles can be sent immediately. The rest might still be in the fermentation process in the forest," I answered quickly.
"Enough for the initial stage, they are deft servants," Selena nodded, her business and political brain starting to spin fast. "Listen carefully. This is not mere humanitarian aid. This is a stage."
Selena looked at Elena and me alternately.
"We will send that stock to the East District in the name of the Rhyms Family. We will promote this as 'Post-War Recovery Formula'. We do not promise instant cure like magic, but we promise stability."
I smiled thinly. "Smart choice. Antibiotics take a few days to kill the infection totally. If we use it in the middle of war, soldiers will die first before the medicine works. But as post-war maintenance medicine? That is perfect."
"Exactly," Selena smirked thinly, though her face was tired. "We will save thousands of lives ignored by the Church due to manpower limitations. And when they recover... the Rhyms Family will hold control over the sympathy of the people and the military."
The plan was perfect. Capitalistically cruel, but medically life-saving. A dirty yet effective symbiosis.
However, before we had a chance to discuss shipping logistics, the atmosphere in the tent changed drastically.
The air suddenly felt heavy. So heavy it felt like gravity increased twofold.
This was pure pressure from the presence of someone whose soul had been forged by thousands of battles. A physical aura so dense it pressed on the lungs.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
Calm and authoritative footsteps were heard from outside. The guards in front of the tent moved aside without being ordered, their bodies stiff in trembling respect.
The tent flap was opened by a hand wrapped in a rough steel gauntlet.
An old man entered.
His body was tall and large, towering nearly two meters. His hair was military-cut white, his face filled with countless scars. He did not wear luxurious armor, only a dull field military uniform and a thick brown coat draped over his shoulders. At his waist hung a simple longsword without decoration.
But his eyes... those gray eyes were as sharp as a newly honed sword.
Douglas Smiths.
Supreme Commander of the Lion Kingdom's Armed Forces. One of the three strongest humans in the kingdom. A Grandmaster Tier Aura User.
"Commander..." Selena straightened her body, respect clearly radiating from her attitude. Even Edna and Elena bowed slightly, intimidated by the old man's aura.
Douglas did not smile. His eyes swept the room, passing me, passing Elena, and stopping on the recovering patients.
"Good work, Selena," his voice was heavy and deep, like grinding granite. "I heard you led the northern sector defense well. And..." he glanced at the medicine bottle on the table, "...you have found a solution for this damn poison?"
"We are working on it, Commander," answered Selena diplomatically. "This is a prototype from the academy research team."
Douglas nodded slowly. He walked closer to Tom Garius, looking at the new skin growing to replace the rust.
"Interesting. Not magic, but it works," mumbled Douglas.
Then, he turned to look at Selena and all of us. His expression did not show the relief of victory. On the contrary, his face was murky with suspicion.
"Commander?" asked Selena carefully. "Is there a problem on the front lines? I heard the enemy retreated."
"That is the problem, Selena," answered Douglas softly.
He walked toward the strategy map hanging on the tent wall. His rough index finger pointed toward the East District.
"They attacked with full force. Explosions everywhere. Plague spread. But..." Douglas narrowed his eyes. "When my main troops arrived... they retreated. Too fast and too neat."
Silence.
"They did not fight to the death as usual," continued Douglas, his voice lowering into a suspicious growl. "The attack in the East... felt empty. Deadly, yes. But it lacked strategic weight to conquer territory."
I frowned. "You mean..."
Douglas turned to me. The Grandmaster's gaze made my knees slightly weak, but I held it.
"Young man," said Douglas. "If you want to beat someone unconscious, you do not slap their cheek hard so everyone sees. You hit their solar plexus when they are off guard."
Douglas looked back at the map, his hand clenched.
"The attack in the East District... and the Plague in this Academy... everything was too 'noisy'. Too conspicuous."
"Diversion," whispered Elena, her eyes widening.
"Correct, Little Lady," Douglas nodded. "My old instincts say... all the chaos tonight was just bait. They kept us busy looking East, busy taking care of the sick, busy putting out fires."
Douglas turned, staring outside the tent, toward the darkness of the night blanketing the capital.
"The question is..." whispered Douglas, his voice sending a chill down all our spines. "If they made a commotion this big in the East just to divert our gaze... what are they actually targeting elsewhere right now?"
In the distance, the central tower bell struck midnight.
And for the first time that night, I felt that the victory we celebrated... might just be the beginning of a true defeat.