Psycho smirked as he finally found what he was looking for. He already knew the exact location of the map, but he needed those fools to distract Zilean and his cronies, so he had feigned ignorance despite being the one deducing that the map was found in Zion Academy. After all, he couldn't afford to allow anyone else other than him to get their hands on the map, not even that biggest fool, Shadow.

Psycho wasn’t exactly sure if Zilean knew where the map leading to [Catastrophe] was hidden, not that it mattered at this point of time. He had come to the logical conclusion that the map would be found in the Headmaster's Office since the aide of General Stormfury who hid the map turned out to be the 1st Headmaster of Zion Academy, Professor Warren Gaia.

It was believed that the World Class weapon is still currently in his possession, for only he could keep the dark powers of [Catastrophe] in check. However, that was several decades ago and back then, Professor Warren was already an old man aged over 60, so he should have passed on by now, making the World Class weapon an easy picking.

Psycho could only chuckle to himself at how easy it was to steal the map by combining his intellect, cunning and psionic powers. However, Psycho wouldn't dare to take all the merit. Those fools from Night Wing had been a great help in dealing with annoyance from any resistance. Psycho was thankful to them for their sacr-no, contribution, though he couldn't care less if they were dead. Fools are dispensable after all.

As Psycho continued walking down the aisle, map in tow, he could sense quite a few strong auras ahead. It was not worthy of his concern since they were too far away and were too much trouble to deal with. Suddenly, Psycho picked up 2 unique auras nearby that didn't feel…human. Psycho licked his lips in delight as he walked towards them.

Adeline and Kai were still resting up from their tough battle earlier when they heard muffled screams from the hallway outside. Kai could only barely see a shadow being mangled and flung away like a ragdoll before hearing a "thud" sound. To Kai's horror, a heavily bloodied body of a City Guard dropped right in front of him. Kai jumped back in shock, how could someone be so gruesome?

As though signalling impending doom, Kai could hear the sound of footsteps nearing the library entrance against an eerily silent background. Calming himself, Kai instructed Adeline, "Whoever's coming isn't friendly. Let's combine our powers and take him out in an ambush!"

Adeline nodded as she cast the Expert tier [Surging Waves] spell towards the entrance, Kai supplementing it with the equally strong [Lightning Current] spell. The intruder which they were expecting appeared at the right time, as the electrically charged wave rushed towards him. To their horror, the wave was suddenly sent charging towards them. Both Kai and Adeline jumped for the 2nd floor as they barely avoided their own combination magic.

Kai muttered, "What's going on? A [Reflect] spell?" Adeline shook her head, "No, it doesn't seem so. Our attack was forcefully pushed back by something invisible. A telekinetic barrier maybe?"

The intruder, who had messy white hair and wore a creepy, smiling mask, answered, "Not bad, being able to deduce that I'm a psionic magic user. Your combination wasn't bad, just simply not strong enough to overcome my barrier."

Suddenly, both Kai and Adeline felt as though their bodies were being crushed by a giant hand. Kai could barely resist as he didn't activate his mana armament in time to counter this telekinetic attack and he could tell that Adeline was experiencing difficulty as well. Kai immediately mustered all the mana he could to activate his Luminos, erasing the grip on Adeline and him as both started panting upon being released.

The intruder, who was Psycho, commented, "A human Luminos user? You'll make an interesting specimen, together with your girlfriend. Now, sweet dreams…" The last thing Kai saw before plunging into darkness was Psycho's spinning pupils that lured him into the darkness.

Shadow was getting a little impatient. He'd been walking along hallways for about an hour but he couldn't discover anything that looked like a secret contraption to hide the map. Moreover, thanks to Violet's Enigma Ability that connected him to his men, he could tell that only 5 out of 20 remained.

Suddenly, he felt a shiver down his spine as he jumped out of the way. A light beam struck his past location, leaving behind a smouldering black patch. Shadow turned around only to find himself face to face with the strongest individual of Zion Academy, Headmaster Zilean.

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Shadow smiled nervously, "Looks like I've pretty bad luck. Time to execute Plan B." Shadow quickly drew several kunai from his pouch on his waist, throwing them at the Headmaster. Zilean simply erected a barrier in an attempt to block the kunai, which brought a smile on Shadow's face.

It turns out that Shadow had concealed his fire magic within those kunai, which are designed to explode upon contact thanks to the Expert tier spell [Explosive Touch]. The kunai exploded upon contact with Zilean's barrier, creating a huge smokescreen. Shadow seized the opportunity to throw more kunai at the Headmaster, who was wiser to dodge them this time, leaving the kunai scattered all over the place.

Shadow winced when he sensed another of his men being killed, leaving behind only 4 buffers. Deciding to end the battle quickly, Shadow swiftly performed a seal with both of his hands, channelling his mana to activate his [Summon] ability. Moon and Skull answered his calls dutifully, though Psycho seemed to be occupied.

Skull grumbled after teleporting to Shadow's location, "Darn, I was so close to ripping those two apart, what bad timing to call me in Boss!" Moon replied in a calm tone, "You can't be as unfortunate as me, losing one of our buffers to the Lightning Saint. At least I discovered his Enigma Ability, so the loss of one life was worth it."

Shadow groaned, "What? I thought I told you that the plan was to team up against either Headmaster Zilean or Lightning Saint Ray? Why did you face off alone with that monster?" Moon shrugged his shoulder before replying, "Who's our opponent? The Headmaster for real? What can he do exactly?"

Shadow answered grimly, "Don't underestimate the old geezer, he can…Oh shit!" as he warped away immediately.

In a second, both Skull and Moon's chests were pierced by light beams as Shadow reappeared in another location. The 2 collapsed on their knees, with bewildered expressions. How could a spell hit them so quickly without any warning?

As their fatal wounds started closing thanks to the [Body Substitution] ability used by Violet, which meant 2 more sacrifices were made, leaving another 2 more alive, Shadow explained, "The old geezer has the craziest ability of all, the ability to stop time! When he does so, he does whatever the hell he wants with minimal obstruction since most would be caught off guard. Luckily, I can tell when he's about to activate his Enigma Ability, [Time Freeze]. When his eyes start glowing green, put up the strongest barrier you've got or you would all die from his magic!"

Zilean chuckled, "Seems like you know a lot about me already, I can save on the introductions then. It's a pity that I can't kill you all so easily for trespassing on my school property. However, I do not tolerate those who threaten the safety of my students!"

The Headmaster's magic pressure started rising rapidly as he stared at his opponents fearlessly. As his eyes glowed green, all 3 Night Wing senior executives started erecting their strongest barriers, but to their surprise, Zilean simply disappeared the next instant. Just as they were about to drop their barriers, suddenly, Shadow pointed upwards and said, "Watch out!"

A gigantic fireball was crashing down towards them and the trio quickly retaliated with their own spells. Shadow shouted, "Eat this, [Purgatory Flames]!" as black flames erupted from his hands towards the fireball. Moon muttered, "[Titan Fist]." as he conjured a gigantic rock fist from the ground and sent it flying towards the fireball. Skull hissed, "[Shadow Torrent]." as the ground was covered in darkness before innumerable dark spikes shot from the ground towards the fireball.

Their combined attack destroyed the fireball easily, however, before their attack could reach Zilean, he disappeared again, appearing behind the trio. Zilean quickly cast the Grandmaster tier [Heaven Buster] with his staff, creating an enormous beam of light that desecrated everything in its path. Shadow quickly responded, shouting, "[Purgatory Flame Storm]!" as he created a tornado of black flames that clashed head-on with Zilean's Light spell. The 2 attacks were unrelenting, as they both sought to consume the other.

Seizing their chances, Moon and Skull attacked Zilean from both flanks, with Moon throwing a [Titan Fist] from the left and Skull casting [Void Beam], a Master tier Darkness spell which concentrated the power of darkness into a beam, from the right.

To their surprise, Zilean simply pierced the staff that was still casting [Heaven Buster] onto the ground and spreading his hands apart, he cast 2 Master tier spells simultaneously, [Tornado Vortex] towards Moon's [Titan Fist] and [Light Buster] towards Skull's [Void Beam], neutralising the 2 offensive spells instantly.

Shadow snickered, "A monster indeed, casting 3 high level spells simultaneously, as expected of a Sage tier magician." Zilean replied softly, "You're not bad too, young man. With a fusion element constructed from fire and darkness, on top of an interesting Enigma Ability that allows you to teleport yourself and others, a pity you walked down the wrong path."

With a free hand, Shadow quickly threw a kunai towards Zilean, who couldn't dodge as he was still channelling mana through his [Heaven Buster], Zilean simply moved his head out of the path of the kunai. As the kunai flew past Zilean, suddenly, Shadow teleported to the location of his kunai and used it to slash Zilean across his neck.

Recognising that his Enigma Ability would take too long to activate, Zilean could only attempt to dodge the attack, barely escaping with just a nick on his right shoulder. Zilean swiftly jumped backwards with his staff, but suddenly, he felt immensely weak as he dropped to one knee. Zilean thought, "What's going on…" as he wiped the blood off his wound, only to realise that the weapon he was struck by was poisoned. Zilean tried to perform healing magic, but it was futile.

Shadow laughed, "Mwahahaha! You finally fell for it! This poison is an extremely rare one, for it attacks one's mana system, creating disturbances and preventing you from using your mana properly. Now, you don't stand a chance against us when you can't even form a single spell properly. Get him!"

Moon and Skull jumped to attack Zilean, but suddenly, the ceiling above them collapsed, revealing a mysterious armoured figure among the debris…