Chapter 95.

PART 1.

“This year,” said the professor in the ritual class in the morning. “We will cover some rituals which are different from the ones which we covered the last year. This will include dance-related rituals, rituals related to combat, and of course, some rituals related to modifications.”

“Let’s start with the first ritual.” With a wave of his hand, a picture appears on the projector. In this image, two mages are bound in chains.

A chain that appears to be made of steel is wrapped around their waist, and another chain that also seems to be made of steel is linking them, going from one chain to another. “What you see on your projectors is the chain duel. This is a very harsh form of dueling, only utilized for the enemies. As you can see, running away is impossible; and therefore it is used for solving grudges.”

“This duel begins when one mage challenges another with the mention of a chain duel. The chains appear immediately, and once the other mage accepts the challenge, they are bound by these chains. Death is the only way out of this duel, though, in some circumstances, the duel has ended without a fatality.”

“Professor, who judges the winning and losing?” asked one student.

“It is currently unknown. It is theorized that magic itself does the judgment; however, this theory does not have wide acceptance. Some people have hypothesized that some other entity beyond humans sends these chains, and judges the duel; but so far, there is no evidence to suggest the validity of this claim either. It is difficult to test what is true or not true since chain duels are very rare. In the four-thousand-long history of our mage world, only 100 of them have taken place so far, which is very low given all the wars and duels which have taken place over the years.”

PART 2.

“Today,” said Professor Dhiraj in the potions class. “I have a dangerous potion for you. my slave—”

“Apprentice!” screamed Sultan.

“My slave,” said Dhiraj, with more force to his words. “Will display a potion to you, and I will explain its dangerous effects; for he does not have the right knowledge to explain it properly.”

“Like hell.” Said Sultan, bringing out an orange-colored potion. “I have all the knowledge to explain this potion.”

“This potion is one of the most dangerous potions you have encountered yet.” Said Dhiraj. “It can bewitch your mind, and take away your control over your feelings. While other options can be used for controlling behavior, this one is especially dangerous. If you use it and are caught, then not only will you suffer the loss of reputation, but you might also end up dead. Not even having the status of a noble will save you from this fate.” Said Dhiraj, looking at the students from noble families.

“This potion, of course, is called a love potion.” Said Sultan, none of his fake anger was present. “If you drink this potion, you will end up in love with the giver of this potion, whether you like them or not.”

“However, this potion must be given repeatedly, since its effects wear off in 24 hours.” Said Dhiraj.

“Professor,” asked Daphne, “How exactly does this potion work for a specific person?”

“You mean, how can the drinker end up loving a specific person, instead of the first person they might see?” At her nod, Dhiraj continues. “Because it contains the strand of that person’s hair.” Dhiraj slices a strand of his hair and puts it in the orange liquid.

“Notice how the shade of the orange changes once the hair is added.” Said Sultan. “Going from orange to dark orange.”

“This year,” said vaporizing the potion. “You will learn how to brew cures for potions like these.”

PART 3.

“This year in the runes, we will talk about the runes which are used in body modification and the significant role of blood in drawing runes.” Said Krodhatma. “Starting with blood.”

“So, blood, aside from superstition, is useful for drawing runes, for it is imbued with magic. This means that the runes drawn with it would work better. However, it does not work with old blood. If you draw blood to carve some runes with it, you better do it quickly before it starts to dry. Also, if you use your blood for your modifications, then the results will be better for you because the chances of your body rejecting these modifications will be reduced.”

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“That would be mad if that happened.” Said one student.

Immediately, she receives the death glairs from the entire class, as the professor loses his cool, and everyone starts running. “No, that would be angry! Not mad, but angry, you hear me!”

PART 4.

As Hatori comes out of class, avoiding the rage of Professor Krodhatma, he is ambushed by some fifth-year and sixth-year students. He is not terrified of this as he once was, and he returned their spells with gusto. His friends try to follow him, but they are lost in the crowd, which seems to be panicking at this sudden combat.

‘How soft these people are. How come Zeko said the Academy is dangerous for everyone? So far, it is dangerous for only me.’ thought Hatori.

Moving out of the confines of the corridor, Hatori comes running into the open ground, where Santosh is waiting for him. He expected a struggling fourth year, who is herded to this ground, but instead, he found his minions struggling to keep up with him.

‘Looks like that display of power yesterday wasn’t for a show.’ he thinks.

“Well, well. Look at what we have here. A young boy getting bullied by these older students.” Said Santosh. “If you promise to accept me as your superior, I’ll stop them, and save you.”

“Save yourself.” Mutters Hatori and Santosh find themselves in the center of a web of lightning; his protective clothing saves him from the shock, but his face was exposed, so he suffered the shocks there.

After he gets over his dizziness, he sees that most of the fifth years are unconscious or dismembered, while the sixth years are at the end of their ropes. “How, how could he be so strong?” says Santosh to himself.

He then motions to activate the ward which they laid here earlier to the students hidden around, who have not participated in the direct fight. As soon as he did that, a loud keening sound assaulted everyone’s ears. Most students who were watching this fight ran away, but Hatori, who is in the center of this deafening sound attack, is unable to think straight, let alone run. When some older students try to fire spells at him, he does retaliate on autopilot, setting one mail on fire, and electrocuting one girl to unconsciousness. He is unable to handle the pain for too long, though, and loses consciousness a few seconds later.

Santosh motions for the deactivation of the ward, and he goes to pick Hatori up with some of his minions. Everyone will be rewarded today for their stellar performance in bringing down this monster.

But before they can pick up Hatori, another sound starts to echo in the ground, that is the cawing of the crows. A large flock descends on the ground, using magic to attack the group. They destroyed the ward and the students who were hidden and were responsible for putting it up in the first place. They made Santosh and his minions back off with some spells of their own, while another group of the flock levitates Hatori and quickly disappears into the sky.

“Dammit!” Santosh shakes off the crows, but his Blasting spells didn’t harm them. the flock disappears as quickly as it came.

For a moment, Santosh stands like a statue. But then, he leaves with everyone, picking the wounded in the way, and leaving the dead ones behind. He must come up with a new plan and must track Hatori down. ‘I can’t underestimate him again.’

PART 5.

This time, Josh is not planning to sit quietly, while Hatori deals with his problems alone. He waits for Santosh to return inside the Academy, having seen the battle on the ground, and the group has to leave because of the sound.

Now, they wait for the enemies, ready to ambush them. But when Santosh returns with many wounded in the toe, he does not have Hatori with him. “Did he kill him?” asked Raven.

“Let’s find out.” Said Shin, remaining calm. Josh admires that since he is panicking quietly inside.

They go outside, and even though there are marks of a recent struggle there and some dead bodies (ignore them) Hatori is not there either. “Where could he have gone?” said Josh.

“We could have sent some yantras to search, but James is missing.” Said Raven.

“Wait, he has been missing since the morning, right after breakfast.” Said Shin.

“He didn’t talk to us at lunchtime either.” Said Raven.

“We’ll deal with that later. For now, let’s focus on finding Hatori.” Said Josh.

“Right.” Shin and Raven agree.

(End.)