With her nails firmly embedded in the tree's sturdy trunk, and a vibrant cyan flowing aura enveloping her feet, Karnella stared intensely at the encircled pair.

With a quick move, she leaped from the tree and landed in front of Dariu and Naylu.

"You really thought you could escape me?"

Now faced with the immense presence of an enraged Arcadian Lojius, Naylu began trembling once more. Dariu however, managed to keep his composure.

From a distance on a branch tree stood a red-eyed crow, silently observing the scene.

"Now then, how shall I punish you?" Asked Karnella as she gently moved her fingernails through Dariu's face.

"With all due respect, madam. Looking at you from this close of a distance is punishing enough," provoked Dariu.

"Insolence!" Karnella shouted as she scratched Dariu's face, leaving five bloody marks on his left cheek.

"I'm afraid mere injuries will not suffice to quench my anger," she asserted. "I shall keep you trapped here until night, then enjoy watching you be slowly devoured by the beasts."

"You mean Kornos' beasts?"

"What?" She exclaimed, her eyes widened.

"The night creatures, and even the animals watching us during the day, they are all under his spell, aren't they?"

"How on earth do you..."

"I didn't know, actually. I had my suspicions, and you just confirmed them," he said.

Naylu stood in awe as he watched Dariu untangle the mystery.

"You knew from the start why we were tailing you, didn't you? It was obvious that you would notice the rat near your door. All you had to do was connect simple dots to realise what we were up to."

"What on earth are you rumbling about?"

"To be honest, I was fully aware that you weren't the beast tamer. The rat appearing suddenly close to us and then leading us right to your door was way too convenient—a clear trap to misguide us. However, I didn't have the slightest idea of who it could be. That is, untill today."

With raised eyebrows, Karnella stood in place as she listened to Dariu.

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"What happened today is that I learned that Lojia compensates those born with deformities, and what is a better compensation for a blind man than the vision of those he can control? It was a wild guess, really. But I thought I'd risk it and use you to confirm it."

The observing crow suddenly took off, and flew away from the scene.

The amazed look on Karnella's face soon turned into a giggle.

"I must admit: you're clever, boy. But I'm afraid that's not enough to save you from me."

"You're right, I can't save us. But that's not my job."

Abruptly, Karnella swiftly turned around and conjured a Dhoshyl, blocking an oncoming Yadaishi projectile.

From afar, beyond numerous trees, concealed among leaves and branches, Silas stood with several Yadaishi orbs surrounding him.

***

Four days ago, in an empty classroom after classes, Dariu met up with Silas and disclosed his plan to access the library.

"Let me get this straight, you want to provoke a teacher in order to reveal the true beast tamer? How does that work again?" Inquired Salis.

"Well, I'm not entirely sure how beast taming works, but what I'm certain of is that they can't be commanded out of the Arsha, and it's impossible for anyone to have an Arsha that envelops the whole academy."

"So the way you think it works is that the beasts are given certain commands inside the Arsha, and then they act upon them without the interference of the Lojius."

"Exactly, and one of the commands has to be luring away anyone who's suspicious of the beast tamer's identify. That's why the critter led us towards Karnella."

"Following this logic, a beast's vision cannot be shared unless they enter the Arsha once more."

"Yes. If one command is to lure away any suspicious students. Another command got to be the reporting of anything important occuring inside the academy. We must exploit that in order to find our target."

"And this important occurrence of yours is the confrontation of a teacher?"

"Yes."

"You do realize how crazy you sound right now?"

"I know that all of this is based purely on speculations, but based on everything happening so far, I can't be mistaken."

"What's all of this has to do with me, anyway?"

"Confronting a teacher is too great of a task for the two of us, we will need help. And frankly, you're the only one I can trust."

"Trust? What a stupid thing to say, we've only met once."

"And during that one time you saved my life. That's enough for me to trust you."

"You're a madman, Dariu. Leave me out this," he said as he was about to walk away.

"You can't tell me you're not curious about what's in there, Silas."

Silas halted.

"Why would they make such a daring rule if it didn't contain anything of value? Believe me, Silas. No matter what's inside there, I'm sure it's worth it."

Silas sighed.

"What do I do?"

"Well, first of all, we need someone with a high Nayum to learn a tracking spell in these upcoming days to cast it on a certain spy."

"I know someone."

***

This was not the plan, you crazy bastard, remarked Silas.

From afar, Karnella lowerd her Dhoshyl and extended her other hand, launching numerous projectiles in the direction of Salis.

Silas jumped from the tree accompanied by his orbs. Karnella's projectiles hit the tree and the surroundings, causing a massive cloud of dust to form.

Her gaze fixed forward, Karnella stood for a moment as if she was confirming Salis' demise. Abruptly, she turned around to check on the pair, and to her surprise, they were already in full sprint with each in a different direction.

Before she could do anything, another projectile came flying in her direction and hit the ground to her side. Others quickly followed and formed a smokescreen around her.

"Dhormu!" She uttered, pushing away the dust to get a clearer vision.

The duo had already vanished from her field of view, but she could still sense them.

"Greyush!"

"Greyush!"

"Greyush!"

Three consecutive shouts reached Karnella's ears, followed by another three: "Raya!"

A Lojius can only sense Lojia using their Arsha, rendering individuals without this power completely undetectable. In the rare circumstance of a Lojius depleting energy due to intense spellcasting or nearing exhaustion, they seamlessly become invisible.

It was a gamble that the three of them had decided to attempt: to completely deplete their reservoir using Greyush and numerous orbs of Raya, utilizing the stock of stones they had accumulated over several days.

Amidst countless lights of Raya scattered through the air and with stoneless gloves, Dariu, Naylu, and Silas ran as fast as they could away from Karnella.

In the moment that followed, their daring plan had worked: Karnella could not sense them.

Furious, Karnella began incantating, "Ranta Pirlu Tina Nordu," she then made a half crouch and waved with her hands above her feet, "Sigus."

A cyan aura formed around her feet. She then stood up, positioned one leg behind the other, and executed an inhumanly big leap towards the trees. Gripping a branch with her nails, she skillfully launched herself toward another tree, stepping on its trunk sideways then launching herself again. With agile movements reminiscent of a monkey, she continued to swiftly maneuver through the leaps.