The ash mixed into the snow petals drifting through the ballroom, filling the setting with a subtle wave of charm and tranquility.

However hidden beneath the serene atmosphere was a palpable state of gnawing tension, almost as if a daunting battle was about to take place.

The scar-faced man looked down on Professor Windsor calmly, before moving to survey the wound inflicted on his arm by Gungnir.

He appeared somewhat unbothered by the wound, treating it almost as trivial as a minor injury which contradicted its gruesome state.

He turned his gaze back to Professor Windsor, his eyes deep and curious.

"It's only been four minutes. Help sure arrived a lot quicker than I expected."

Professor Windsor remained silent, prompting the man to proceed with his monologue.

"Judging by your attire and formal demeanor, it would be wise to assume that you are a professor from this region's theosophy academy.

"Makes sense why you were so quick to react, as you all are well known for treasuring the lives of your little Apprentices. I'm sure you must not have wanted them to lose their lives like this, as it is to my knowledge that there is a group of them in attendance today."

He let his gaze drift towards Aamiya in the corner, prompting Professor Windsor's grip on Gungnir to tighten while Princess Adele's gaze became extremely cold.

He tilted his head back with a spurious smile, a smile that made his scar-filled face look a lot more scary and insane.

His expression caused a jolt of unease to pulse through the bodies of the barricaded survivors, reactions to which he simply shrugged off.

"Anyways, our job here today is done. We are pulling out."

His announcement of an abrupt redraw elicited expressions of shock and surprise from the crowd, as a clash between him and Professor Windsor was anticipated by almost every present in the hall.

One of the robed men to his side stepped forward respectfully, wanting to offer a quick question.

"Sir, but what about our brothers and sisters still in the mansion?"

"Oh them?" Shrugging his shoulders, he said, "Don't worry about them. They are all dead anyways, what use would their lifeless bodies be to us?"

The subordinate nodded and stepped back respectfully, almost as if this was the norm within their organization.

Bloody Independence was just that type of group—they revered the strong and despised the weak. They believed that surviving a battle signified your strengths and that losing your life was a declaration of weakness and insignificance.

It didn't matter if they were fighting someone stronger than them, weaker than them or on the same level, so long as you managed to survive, you are strong and if you died, you were weak. It was just that simple.

This was why both the scar-faced man and his two subordinates didn't display any form of sadness and regret at the passing of their colleagues, as the moment they lost their lives was also the moment they were deemed dead to them.

The survivors observed this with conflicting thoughts, as they couldn't understand how one could claim to be a group when the deaths of their peers were treated so dismissively.

The man and the last remaining two turned to leave before being held back by a calm but oppressive voice.

"And who gave you the permission to leave?"

The scar-faced man turned to look back at Professor Windsor as he noticed Gungnir in the process of being coated by bright red flames.

"Listen I already told you we have achieved our goal, are you really interested in more bloodshed?" He sighed at the oppressive aura emanating from Professor Windsor as if the latter aimed to burn down the entire villa. "You probably won't be able to maintain Gungnir for more than a few extra minutes since it's a projection formed by your Runic Invocation. Are you sure you can take me on without the use of one of your most important rune abilities? I'm already on the Second Layer of the Crest of Wrath so I can pretty much assure you that unless you decide to bring down this entire villa by making use of Hail Mary, you will be unable to capture me.

"But that also entails that you would have to risk the lives of your students and everyone here. Now tell me, is such a gamble worth it just to catch little ol' me?"

Professor Windsor maintained his threatening stance but was inwardly contemplating the risks and benefits of the present situation.

As the scar-faced man had said, Professor Windsor would indeed have to start the fight on the backfoot if they were to clash, as he had already made use of two of his most important Runic Invocations which were Smoke Transmission and The King's Armory.

If they were to confront each other he would primarily have to depend on his three other battle-oriented runes which were Hail Mary, 8-Rings of Holocaust and Sentinel of Soot.

The only problem was the former two were vastly destructive and could lead to collateral damage, with Hail Mary housing enough firepower at the Ash Priest level to bring down the entire villa. As for the Sentinel of Soot rune, the Invocation mainly allowed him to be encased in battle armor made out of hardened cinder and ash, primarily providing help in defense rather than offense.

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This meant that he would need to accept the deaths of many, if not all of the present survivors if he would have a chance to apprehend the scar-faced man, a choice he wasn't really fond of making.

His thoughts drifted towards his students, causing his grip around Gungnir to lessen significantly as the flames swirling around it began to extinguish.

The scar-faced man looked towards the scene with an agreeing nod, before turning around and vanishing into thin air with his two remaining subordinates.

The tension surrounding the venue vacated with their disappearance, as a lot of people could be seen collapsing in relief while others could now ease their tense nerves.

Professor Windsor remained standing in a guarded position for a few moments more, thoroughly confirming their retreat before allowing himself to relax.

A round of cheers erupted through the enormous hall as he allowed Gungnir to be dismissed in a rain of sparkles, as both he and Princess Adele made their way toward the survivors.

Suddenly Professor Windsor's heart began beating twice as fast, as his face creased into a painful frown while his skin suddenly began to burn and wilt away.

His body also began to heat up, making it look like the reticent professor was being assaulted by an intense case of raging fever.

His temperature had gone well beyond what was considered normal for a living person, as the steam currently drifting out from his body was comparable to that born from a steaming hot faucet.

He buckled over in pain, and everyone could only watch in horror as his skin cracked open and puss flowed out.

Princess Adele reached over for him before his body hit the ground while Aamiya rushed over with a worry-filled expression.

"Big sis, what's wrong with the professor? This doesn't seem normal, is he okay?"

Yves also made her way in at this time and upon spotting the commotion, also moved towards the scene.

Both she and Aamiya crunched over their now unconscious Professor, gazing at him with worry as Princess Adele moved cold energy into his body.

"Yes, he is don't worry. He is currently enduring his Tribulations at the moment, that is why he is in such a state."

Yves looked confused while Aamiya expressed her puzzlement.

"Tribulations? What's that?"

Princess Adele had a brief look of realization before shaking it off. "Oh, I forgot you all are still only freshmen. Don't worry about it then, this is something that would be taught to you at an appropriate time."

The two girls looked a bit confused but decided to listen to the Second Princess, as their main concern now was about how to ease their teacher's pain.

Yves also moved her hand to his forehead, sending a gentle stream of cold into his body to alleviate some of the heat.

He looked like he had been thrown into boiling hot water, causing his skin to become a shade of red from all of the heat and tension.

This scene drew the attention of most of the attending parties, as they all circled over with mixed expressions of worry and fear.

Baron Cohen as the officiator of the event stepped forward from behind the wary nobles, leaned over and offered his thanks.

"Thank you for buying us time until help arrived, Your Highness. Because of you most of us were able to survive with only a few minor injuries.

"I do hope the professor is going to be alright?"

Princess Adele regarded him with a calm smile, all the while maintaining her act of first aid on the professor.

"Yes, he will be. This is just a regular case for people like us, so he will most likely be alright. And as for me giving aid, don't mention it. It is what I should do."

Baron Cohen flashed an amicable smile before offering a bow in gratitude, before moving back towards the discussing crowd of nobles.

The tense atmosphere had been mostly alleviated, so most of them were now chatting leisurely about the ordeal as this wouldn't be the first or last time they would be caught in these types of situations as the higher elites of society.

The evening once again looked tranquil and peaceful, as the silver lunar moon spared no effort to cast down a gentle stream of moonlight through the now vacant roof.

Almost everyone was taking the moment to relax before help from the island-city authorities arrived, as the event had been one big rollercoaster of emotions. Everyone, except Aamiya.

Her lake blue eyes continued to survey the scene attentively, which was why she didn't miss the moment when one of the surviving staff lunged towards Baron Cohen from behind with a plain silver dessert knife.

"Damien now!"

She suddenly yelled a signal with a loud voice, startling the gathering of nobles while calling Yves and her sister's attention to the scene.

Immediately her soft voice rang out, Damien leaped out of an isolated corner close to the baron before anyone could react, delivering a roundhouse kick to the bloodshot waitstaff which sent him flying across the ballroom.

His fast reactions made it seem like he had anticipated the attack, following which he calmly turned around and offered Aamiya an enthusiastic thumbs up as if to say thank you for a job well done.

...

Elias continued to stand facing the dead body of the robed assailant in front of him, oblivious to the happenings going on within the main banquet room.

His eyes could only take in the image of the decapitated body in front of him as the smell of blood and smoke continuously drifted through the air.

He had long dismissed his Finger Lines rune, leaving him as the lone figure standing within the burning corridor.

His expression was blank and his eyes vacant, as if continuously doubting the scenes and images existing right in front of him.

He looked down at his hand with an unfocused gaze as he proceeded to ask a question in a shaky voice.

"Lars did I—did I just kill someone?"

Lars floated close by, his voice hoarse and emotionless.

"It would seem so."

Lars' admission seemed to be the last straw for Elias as he immediately then lost his balance and stumbled back in panic.

His eyes were pain-stricken as he slumped down weakly as if he had lost every last bit of willpower he previously had.

"I committed murder. This—this cannot be real, I must be dreaming. Right, I must be. Lars say that I'm dreaming. Please, say it."

Lars maintained his distant expression, his words cold and direct.

"No, you are not."

Elias gazed long and hard at his brother, before covering his face with his palms.

"How can you act like this is okay? How can you act so... so unbothered after this."

He sounded broken and tired as if he had lost sight of who he was.

"We were raised in the church to treasure and see life as something that was valuable and worthy of protection. What we—what I just did, goes against everything we were taught!"

For the first time, Lars shifted his gaze away from the headless body in front of him and shot Elias a cold glance.

"And so? What of it? Would it have been better if you had let her kill you? Would you have felt better if you were the one lying down on the floor headless right now?"

Elias's face broke into confusion, as he did not understand why his brother was being overly hostile towards him.

"You know what, I am becoming quite sick of you acting like a naive and oblivious saint. When you made the choice to go down this path, what did you think would happen? Did you think it would be all sunshine and rainbows? That maybe you wouldn't have to get your hands dirty at one point or the other?"

"Why did you think Father Bernard never wanted us to get involved in this life? Why did you think Sister Marie was adamant about confirming if you were so sure of your decision before coming here? How come the principal made the orientation speech seem quite ominous and finally, why have all of the academy professors been emphasizing the importance of a strong will and sound mind? Did you ever stop to ask yourself why?

Lars laughed sarcastically, his voice laced with venom.

"You know for someone as smart as you, you can also be quite dumb and naive, Eli”