Chapter 208.

PART 1.

Ritual master Vasu is preparing to perform the ritual ordered by the general. He has put gold, money, pictures of attractive males and females, and a replica of the throne as well in the middle of a square. All these objects represent potential things that a person may covet for themselves.

Once all the runes are drawn, the magic is channeled, a cloud rises from the square, and disappears in the sky. Good thing they performed this ritual in the garden, they would have become the victims otherwise since the cloud would not have any place to escape.

“So, that was the ritual of lust?” asked Raven, ignoring a burst of laughter from Avinash.

“Yes,” said Vasu. “Too bad your friend is not here to witness it, I hear from Professor Krodhatma and Mantar that he is quite good with rituals.”

“Yes, though lust doesn’t seem to affect him,” said Raven.

“Really?” asked Vasu, surprised by this revelation.

“He has been around many females, he is living with a rich mage, he spent time around the throne. But none of these seem to attract him,” explained Raven.

“Maybe his priorities are different? It is only a matter of time a lust is found after all.” Said Vasu.

Avinash bursts out laughing once again, but Raven slaps him and explains his plan.

He stopped laughing after listening to the plan of Raven and sported a horrified look. He avoided becoming a victim. Good thing he stayed inside, just like the ritual master instructed them all.

PART 2.

There is a discussion going on in the headmaster’s office in the Academy. for a change, this discussion does not involve powerplays between the professors. The discussion is about how to run the next year in this chaotic time, as they have faced two invasions in the past year.

How can they bring students here? how can they safely send them back? What if their ships got attacked somewhere in the middle? What if some radicle students dared to sabotage this entire system? Such questions are being debated in this discussion.

“Look,” said Professor Shantanu, “It is clear that the most dangerous part is bringing and sending the students. If we secure that part, then we will have an easier time in solving our remaining problems.”

“I agree with Professor Shantanu.” Said Dhiraj, surprising the professor greatly. He thought given their history, the headmaster would never do that. “The security is important during the transport. Please suggest any methods you can think of.”

“The obvious thing would be to give the ship defenses.” Said Bali. “And I argue that will require weapons.”

“Okay, that is a good suggestion,” said Professor Sultan, “But I do think we should place some of our combat-oriented members on those ships.”

“Do we have enough people for that though?” asked Professor Emelia.

“Of course we do.” Said Bali. “Besides, the older students are no slouch when it comes to combat, they have proven this already.”

“Very well,” said Dhiraj. “We will put some combat specialists on the ships, and give them necessary weapons to defend. Anything else?”

“We need to give a strong message.” Said Corvus, who remained silent during the meeting so far, and thus was ignored by everyone. “Let them know that if any Academy ship is attacked anywhere in the country, they will get a swift and crushing response from the Institute.”

“I agree with this message.” Said Bali. “If we do not project such strength, then we will be considered weak, and all of our measures will be fruitless.”

“Well then. I shall leave the task of crafting a suitable message to you, Professor Bali. Do try to keep the cursing at a minimum.” Said Dhiraj, making everyone laugh.

PART 3.

Hatori has been awake for a while now. He is still experiencing the pain, though his healing runes slowly work to repair the damage, despite his sealed magic. coupled with the pain and a psychotic prisoner across the cell, Hatori is not certain whether staying awake is worth it or not.

At least he is willing to give him all the info he could ever want. “This isolated cell was created for the prisoners who committed the most horrific of the crimes.” Said Kalicharan. “But nowadays, I am the only relic of that real purpose. Judging by your story, it has become a place to put the prisoners with whom the warden is too terrified to deal with.”

“I’m gonna kill that bastard when I get out of this.” Said Hatori, remembering the brutality of his punishment.

“You’re not going out of here, kid.” Said Kalicharan. “I’ve been here for a long time now, and I have not found a way to access my magic, nor a way out of this. I suspect if they ever realize that we’re speaking with each other, they will find a way to stop that too.”

Stolen novel; please report.

“And I suppose this prison is also impossible to break out of as well?” said Hatori with a sarcastic tone.

Unfortunately, the sarcasm is entirely lost on Kalicharan. “You are of course, correct. It is an artificial island created with magically modified steel. It floats in the middle of the ocean, and the surrounding waters are always kept at boiling-hot levels. For a prisoner, the sea is the easiest way, but it is just another trap. The air is impossible. None of us have any access to airships, nor we can build them in our cells.”

“I could have flown away.” Said Hatori with a mutter.

“Ha! Good luck with that. I tried that in my youth, and the only thing which I got was two broken legs.” Said Kalicharan.

“I’ve faced master Zeko and the lightning spirit in his house in the air. I can fly.” Said Hatori.

For a moment, Kalicharan remains silent. if Hatori was able to see him in his cell, he would see his face scrunched up in an absolute rage, before he calmed down. “I still don’t believe you. And I will continue to not believe you until you prove me wrong.”

Hatori remains silent. he has had enough of talking. Another bout of sleep is coming at him, and he feels that his body needs it desperately. “Looks like you’re about to sleep again, kid. Let me tell you the tales of my youth to ease you to sleep then...”

The psychotic experiments and murders Kalicharan did in his youth are quite disturbing to hear, but that is the only thing Hatori has in his current state. So he is lulled into sleep, and Kalicharan mutters the one final thing after hearing the soft snores of the kid across his cell.

“The saddest part is, those crimes were not the reason I was put here,” he grumbled.

It has to be a bad joke. How can he be trapped here with a student of Zeko? Isn’t that enough that he spent such a long time in isolation already?

PART 4.

The armies arrive, and camp outside of the city. They are trying to scare the people and the general with their size. But Sundar is not impressed.

They are so disorganized, that he wouldn’t have needed his apprentice’s plan to take them apart, should he have the necessary forces. And that is the real issue. He does not have the necessary forces.

True, he has combined his forces with Raos, Singhs, and Fernandes family, as well as his reinforcements which remained waiting for a year during the siege. But they are still outnumbered while facing this army.

While the night was normal for these forces, in the morning, they slowly started to devolve into chaos. Anyone who is in charge of any kind is struck by a sudden lust for getting the throne, and this massive army starts to tear itself apart in front of their eyes. The survivors move into the city, where they fight until they reach the castle, and the remaining survivors die right at the doorstep of the castle.

Once it is confirmed that there is only one survivor, the doors open, and he is welcomed inside of the castle. they all made him feel welcome, and they pretended as if they had already accepted him as their king.

He is taken to the throneroom, and Sundar starts to read from a script that Raven gave him. “As the general of this land, I must ask. Are you ready to serve the nation?”

“Yes, I am.” Said the man, feeling quite important. He is also impatient to claim the throne, but he understands that certain formalities have to be observed.

“Very well. then you may claim the throne.” Said Sundar.

Striding to the throne like a king, the surviving general sits on it and assumes the posture of a king. he was expecting them to kneel before him, but when they failed to do this, he demanded: “Why are you not kneeling?”

“Because we won’t have to,” answered Sundar.

“What’s the meaning—” his words are cut off, as multiple chains come out of the throne, and bound his body to it. then, the throne started to consume his body while he was still alive.

His screams are silenced, as everyone watches this horrific scene in front of them. while he is disturbed, Raven is also thinking one other thing.

It is disappointing that his plan worked so well. he expected more from these people. ‘Is that how Hatori feels?’ he wonders in his thoughts.

PART 5.

The men and women, who are running the project to get rid of the current rulers and strong mages, and establish their own order receive the news of what is going on in the Subcontinent with grim silence.

After their success, they did not expect such a huge setback. “It seems we need to bring these civil wars and tensions on the world stage.” Suggests one woman.

“What do you have in mind?” asked one Incubus.

“Why not turn this into world war?” she asked. “It would be easy to do. Though we might need to sacrifice Albion for this.”

“So? Do it.” said another man, who is not an incubus. “It is a small thing to sacrifice that island for capturing the world and bring it under our thumb.”

“Well then, I’ll start working on it,” she said.