The classes for today were cancelled, which they had planned to do from the start. The students were too tired after the test. It would be cruel to make them sit for hours of classes with a sore body.

But now there was another reason to cancel classes. Three students were stuck inside the labyrinth. It had been fifteen minutes since the door closed on its own. They did manage to break it, but the barrier was still there.

Most of the professors in the academy were there, and….. Rose, too. She stayed there, even though the test was cancelled and everyone asked her to leave.

But they couldn’t force her. They had the authority and duty to treat everyone equally, but in front of the sole heir of an archduke, they could only request her to leave.

“Professor Vincent, can I try?”

Vincent looked at her, and didn’t say anything. The professor struggled to do anything, so what could a student like her do?

But underestimating her was foolish, and they needed anyone’s help to break the barrier.

“Don’t push yourself too much.”

“I won’t.”

Rose walked forward and put her hand on the barrier. Her eyes glowed as the barrier shook. It formed some cracks and as it was about to break; the barrier resealed

She tried again, but the same thing happened. She stepped back and smiled at her own failure.

It was made perfect to negate her mana and power.

Whoever was behind it knew her power well and made a proper plan against it.

“I was never going to break something that even the most esteemed professor couldn’t.”

The professors couldn’t figure out if that was a compliment or a backhanded insult, cause they couldn’t make a dent in it.

After that act by Rose, the instructors were even more determined to break the barrier, to save the students and their ego too.

But again, nothing happened.

Professor Ian and Vincent also failed, only being able to make some cracks. And the strongest of them all, the Headmaster hadn’t arrived.

All they could do now was pray. Hope the students survive on their own.

“Never did I imagine this to happen. We are supposed to protect them, but our plan to do something new has put them in danger.”

“If I knew this was to happen, I would have never pushed anyone to do this.”

Vincent said. He felt the most guilt because this was his idea.

“Hmmm…Why is everyone here looking all sad?”

Everyone turned to the source of the voice. And there she was, the person supposed to be in the surveillance room, with a wine bottle in her hand.

Professor Jade, one of the youngest and strongest professors of Arcadia, was here. Her jet black hair was tied to a bun. The dark circles under her purple eyes were clear of her unhealthy sleeping habits.

“Were you assigned to be at a liquor shop?”

Vincent said, looking at the bottle.

“Oh, this……it was my lunch break and an evening wine does wonders to my body.”

She replied, clanking the wine.

“Does this seem like a joke to you?”

Another professor said, mocking her attitude.

“Yes, this is a joke to me. The Professors of Arcadia failed to destroy a barrier, and all they can do is vent out their frustration to another person. It’s a joke of your strength and capability as a professor.”

She accessed the whole situation just by a quick glance. Her words were sharper than a knife and struck everyone.. Even if she was in the room, the accident would happen anyway.

“Yes, we are pathetic. But you could get past this barrier with that magic of yours easily, right? If you hadn’t left, then you could have gone inside and possibly save those kids”

The man retaliated. He had given up on bringing them back alive.

Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

Jade didn’t argue with that. She knew her mistakes.

Jade gave the wine to Vincent.

“You better keep that safe.”

Her hand touched the barrier. The surrounding mana got smaller and smaller, to the point her presence couldn’t be felt anymore. And soon she disappeared from everyone’s sight.

******

Felix jumped to the side and dogged her rain of attacks. It felt close to reaching him, but always slipped by him. Her moves were predictable... she was making them predictable.

Each of the woman’s attacks was aimed at grabbing his head or punch his stomach.

‘She really wants my eye’

Felix, however, couldn’t go on the offence. It was already hard for him to dodge. If he attacked and missed, the momentum wouldn’t let him dodge. And blocking her punches wasn’t possible.

But he had to do something. He was being pushed back to where Lim and Tyson were. If she got near, and he dodged, it could hit the other two.

Tyson was asleep, and Lim was still puking. Having to use [Blink] two times, one for getting Tyson away from the heel and the other for escaping.

At first, Lim planned to use [Blink] and teleport out of the labyrinth, but the barrier around this floor blocked his ability.

‘Lim needs time, and Tyson.. he needs a healer as soon as possible.’

They did manage to get him back, but he wouldn’t survive longer because of the state he was in.

“Come on, treasure of Valerius. Show me why they call you a treasure.”

Felix wasn’t confident at fighting her head on. He was a spearman, and close combat was his forte. He learned to fight bare handed as well, but against a woman of this calibre,

‘One mistake and my guts will spill out.’

But he had to attack. He wasn’t ready to lose his eye, though he hated it.

So, while dodging all, he started jabbing, quick and light. Some landed, which didn’t do much. Only the boom sound echoed in her body and the room.

“Again, what’s with this tickling technique of yours? Do you plan to make me laugh at death?”

She smiled, but was a bit annoyed at not being able to land a hit. Her punches were getting quicker and once she started kicking, Felix was in trouble.

Some attacks grazed the skin on his arm. But even that much contact tore his skin and gave a sensation of burn in the muscles.

Felix kept dodging and throwing light jabs. But the boom explosion stopped, and the punches felt like cotton. He was running out of mana.

“That isn’t enough to kill even an ant.”

She said and threw a punch at his stomach, but Felix didn’t dodge.

The first attack was a fake, and the other was aimed at his neck.

“Oh, you read my move”

She said and threw a kick, but Felix couldn’t dodge this time. His mind sensed it, but his body was heavy to follow.

The kick struck his arm as he hit the wall.

Bam

“Arghhh.”

He groaned in pain and coughed blood as the pain coursed through his body.

‘I need……. to get up…. faster.’

He quickly stood up and dodged a kick, coming right for his face.

“You still got some life left in you.”

The mana around her body turned darker. She had her fill of fun and was getting serious.

Felix’s left hand was blue. The bone on his arm was broken. Despite all that, he didn’t feel much pain. Maybe it was because of the adrenaline or some nerve had been damaged.

‘What should I do now?’

Felix had used most of the techniques he knew. He had one more left. It could do some serious damage to her, but needed a distraction.

He looked back as Lim was wiping his mouth. He got near him and whispered,

“Any spell that can keep her in place for two seconds?”

“I got it.”

Lim nodded.

“I don’t like being left out of a conversation, you know.”

Mana swirled in her hand and turned into a ball. Then, slowly, it started morphing into a sword. She was about to end it all.

She swung her sword and a wave of black blade similar to Lim’s wind blade moved towards the three.

Felix quickly grabbed Lim’s staff and stuck the wall. The vibration created from it was somewhat enough to push out the wave coming at them. But it was parried properly to the side and made a cut on Levi’s shoulder and on Tyson’s hand.

“Hmmm.. Your [Art]? I wonder what it is?”

The woman said. She hadn’t expected it to be parried.

“If you tell me what it is, I might let you go alive.”

Felix shook his head and passed the staff to Lim.

“My number one rule in life is not to trust a bi*ch like you.”

As he said that, the veins in his right hand started to pump up, an abnormal amount too.

“Good motto, but she doesn’t seem to agree with us.”

Lim said. The smile on her face was gone.

She stretched her hand to strike again. Before she could strike downwards, wooden vines sprouted out from the ground and caged her whole body.

It was [Bind] Lim’s art which had reached its max potential. If that was used on someone on his level, they would have a hard time getting out, but for her-

“I don’t like branches stuck on my clothes.”

The spell broke apart in two seconds, but those crucial seconds were enough for Felix.

He was already near her when the braces broke. She swung her sword to cut him in half right down the middle. He moved to the left, but it still managed to lodge onto this shoulder.

But before it was cleaved off, Levi’s punches reached her ribs.

Boom

The force behind the punch threw her to the wall.

Bam

Dust formed where she hit the wall and not just that the ceiling above her collapsed on top of her.

‘That’s gotta hurt.’

That was the best he could do. He had done everything he could.

‘But that isn’t enough to kill her.’

That much he knew.

He staggered towards Lim.

“What’s with that face?”

Lim was surprised, but at the same time glad Felix had something up his sleeve.

“That attack was good….. But I don’t think she’s dead”

“No. But I bet it broke her glasses.”

The dust started to go away. She stood up, throwing away her shattered glasses and wiping the blood off her nose.

Most of the ribs were broken and she could hardly walk because of the bone poking through her organs.

The playful aura was gone. Her mana was darker than before. It covered the entire room and the lights on the entire floor were engulfed by it.

Felix was already tired, and the aura made it more difficult to breathe.. His vision had become blurry.

She picked the sword and dashed towards Felix. Killing Tyson wasn’t in her priority anymore.

Felix, however, didn’t move. His body had given up.

Wind blades moved towards her, but she slashed it easily. The power behind it was far too weak to even scratch her. Lim also was drained.

Felix watched the sword about to slash the neck. It pressed against his neck and then-

Bam

Like before, she was sent flying not to the wall but across the whole floor.

“Took you long enough”

He said, before losing consciousness.