Chapter 76
Clink.
The sword fell from the knight commander's hand.
Something bitter climbed up his throat.
His gaze got blurry while his mind was in a mess.
"What did you say?"
"The Princess is gone???????"
His voice cracked at the end.
Professor Serbian had an ashen expression.
The knights were completely silent.
Princess Lyana Rotherham....
The person they had vowed to protect with their lives,
the purpose for which they had trained with their blood and sweat—
and now that person was gone.
She had passed away.
A hollow sensation crept in.
Silence dominated the atmosphere.
Only Arnold's muffled sobs resounded.
Serbian broke the silence in a hollow voice.
"We are going to Solar City. This bastard needs to be investigated thoroughly."
He said this while sitting beside the unconscious mage.
Rage boiled inside him, but he suppressed it, though his body reacted otherwise.
Crack.
As soon as he put a hand on the mage's ribs,
they cracked.
Haaaa.
He sighed and took a long breath, trying to calm himself down.
The urge to cut him into thousands of pieces ravaged him.
Huffff.
Huffff.
He tried to control his disheveled breaths.
Homeright was watching from right behind him.
Tap.
Serbian's hand was held by Homeright.
He looked at him.
Homeright looked devastated.
"Hold it in. We need to get the information out of him. Otherwise, Zain and the others' deaths would be meaningless."
Serbian's eyes became bloodshot.
His whole body trembled.
A small earthquake began, sending tremors throughout the jungle.
Haaaaa.
Haaaaa.
Homeright put his hands on his trembling shoulders and applied pressure.
His breathing became a bit stable after a while.
The tremors subsided.
Serbian conjured a rough mana spell and slowly pushed mana into the mage's core, which was now half black.
The black mana was trying to fuse the core with the heart, which was also in the process of turning black.
Serbian closed his eyes and suppressed the urge to blow him altogether.
Mana danced and rapidly advanced toward the junction of the core and heart.
Serbian had difficulty locating the exact point to cut off the connection.
He tried to remember the details Ashvin had described.
Mana ignited and tried to devour the black veins reaching into the heart.
But he was still a step away from severing it completely.
Haaaa.
He opened his eyes and gave up.
Forget it.
He doesn't need sophisticated care.
He decided to cut it all apart.
Mana took the shape of a spear.
It cut through every black vein and mass,
severing every connection.
The mage's body convulsed uncontrollably.
His mana pathways began exploding.
"Serbian."
"Serbian."
"Stop."
A hand landed on Serbian's neck,
and he felt a chill.
Homeright was pointing a fire blade at his neck.
"Stop it right now, or he will die."
Serbian had difficulty understanding his words.
This bastard needs to die anyway, he thought.
But Homeright didn't lower the blade.
He reluctantly let go.
The mage's body was torn open, veins burst everywhere.
He was bleeding nonstop.
"Hand over the holy amulet."
Serbian slowly calmed down and looked at the scene in front of him.
For now, I guess this will have to do.
He felt a bit better after venting.
He took out the holy amulet but didn't hand it over, instead starting to heal the external injuries just enough to keep him alive.
Homeright lowered the blade, while Arnold watched the mage with a cold glint in his eyes.
When they reached Solar City and heard the news about Zain and the students, it brought them no relief—they were even more distressed.
Serbian looked at Arnold.
He was busy carving patterns into the mage's body.
It was like a switch had flipped.
He had tried to sew the mage's mouth shut to silence him, but Sevile intervened.
Magnus shook his head while ceaselessly trying to heal him enough to last through the investigation.
Tuck.
Arnold put the instrument down.
The walls were covered in blood—some dried, some still fresh.
He looked at Sevile.
"You can start questioning him."
Sevile looked at the mage's condition and sighed.
He was barely conscious at this point, his whole body riddled with bizarre, symmetrical patterns of cut flesh and skin.
Arnold was known for his kind personality,
but the scene in front of them made them question that judgment.
He had personally requested to investigate the mage.
"As a member of the Blackthorn family, I am well versed in investigation."
He had asked for Theodore's permission through the communication crystal, and it had been granted.
"Will you be okay?"
Sevile asked, concerned.
He knew Arnold hated the sight of blood.
"I always flinched at the sight of blood whenever my father taught me these things. I would try to run away, but he still made me watch and asked me to remember.
At that time, I hated my father and ran to the academy. I thought I had finally found the true joy in life teaching the students.
And now those precious children are lying helplessly fighting between life and death.
All because of that bastard."
His eyes turned fierce.
"And right now, I couldn't be more grateful to my father. Thanks to him I will be able to cut that bastard apart thoroughly."
He spoke in a cold tone.
Sevile couldn't understand him before,
but now he understood everything.
Arnold Blackthorn—
second son of the Blackthorn family, who wasn't cut out for politics.
The Blackthorn family was in charge of the Royal Knight Brigade and the Royal Forces.
And he belonged to such a family.
Only naive people will believe he was an innocent young man.
Behind his mellow appearance there was Blackthorn blood raging inside.
And now someone had waken up that beast.
He could only blame his luck.
Sevile shook his head.
I am in no position to say anything, because I am similar.
He turned to the mage and began writing a spell.
If Arnold had broken the mage physically,
now it was Sevile's turn to break him mentally—and turn him into a puppet.