Chapter 143: A Strange Message

Sieg's hands tightly gripped the mass of flesh in front of him, refusing to let go no matter how much it tried to stab him with its bone spikes.

"You won't be able to kill me!" Odette, the captain of the Abyssal Gate, emerged from the writhing mass of flesh, screaming and struggling to break free from Sieg's grasp.

"Perhaps not, but we can certainly destroy your ability to think," Hugin's cold voice rang out. Smoke gathered around him as the smoke demon transformed into an intangible state and rapidly surged into the mouth of the face that had grown from the mass of flesh.

Inside the mass of flesh, the smoke morphed into a formless, omnidirectional meat grinder that shredded every bit of flesh it touched.

Bones were crushed, and flesh minced. The smoke demon's ability to permeate even the smallest of crevices ensured the complete annihilation of the mass in Sieg's hands.

"I will not die! My master has granted me the ability to survive even without a soul. As long as a single piece of flesh bearing my will exists, I can revive. My life is endless! How many times can you kill me?"

The flesh mass let out a piercing, shrill scream that echoed through the corridor of the Gap. Hugin stared coldly at his "nemesis," someone with whom he had crossed paths many times before.

Though he didn't consider their relationship to be one of friendship or camaraderie, seeing this fellow who had been well acquainted with the void now reduced to such a grotesque state filled him with an inexplicable irritation.

"Wait, no! My master, where have you gone? You said you would preserve my essence within you. Why can't I feel you anymore? Why can't I see those things anymore? Where have you gone? No, no! I don't want to die! Aaaaaah!"

Suddenly, Odette, who had been arrogantly proclaiming his immortality, began to scream in panic.

He could no longer sense the presence of his master, the being that had housed his consciousness and granted him infinite lives. No matter how much he called out, the entity that had given him a new form of life in his darkest hour, allowing him to witness the power of life itself, had vanished.

The smoke demon's relentless assault continued. Without a soul, without the great being that had housed his consciousness, and with his entire body destroyed except for the mass of flesh in Hugin's hands, Odette's consciousness began to fade.

As he felt his consciousness blur, the fear of death grew and spread through what little remained of his mind, consuming everything left of him.

Though his void-corrupted form was, in a sense, immortal, loss of self-awareness was no different from death—and was perhaps even worse than being a self-aware undead skeleton "Seems like your deity doesn't care about you as much as you thought. What a pitiful creature," the smoke demon's mocking voice echoed from within the mass of flesh.

"No, no! I don't want to die! Master, save me! Save me!" By the time the mass of flesh had been reduced to little more than a hollow shell, what remained of Odette's consciousness could no longer sustain coherent thought.

His mind had crumbled, leaving behind only repetitive phrases that he could no longer even comprehend.

Finally, the smoke demon ground even the outermost layer of the mass of flesh to dust. Odette, along with his will, had been completely eradicated.

"Thanks for coming when you did. Otherwise, I would've been stuck dealing with this thing for a long time," Hugin said, recalling the smoke demon into his lantern.

"I'm just doing my job. I came as soon as I realized I couldn't reach you. That mass of flesh's vitality was truly bizarre. Its regenerative abilities surpass that of any other void creature I've seen. The only way to 'kill' it would have been to destroy its consciousness."

"Even after fighting the void for so long, we still don't know much about it, do we?" Hugin shook his head and pulled out his communication crystal, quickly scanning the flood of messages he had been unable to check during his battle with Odette.

"The 'deity' he mentioned must be the Font of Life, Erphine. Not only did it manage to survive destruction, it even seems to have gained renewed power. We really did underestimate him.

"As for the void, it's true that our understanding is still limited—humanity's understanding as a whole is, too. Aside from Roland, the great sorcerer who came closest to understanding the Void's essence, later generations have made remarkably little progress. But one day, I'm sure its secrets will be known to us all."

After examining the remnants of Odette's flesh, Sieg made a few idle speculations.

"You'll probably live to see that day, but I won't," Hugin said offhandedly. He didn't have the long lifespan of a dragon. Frowning, he quickly read through the urgent messages on his communication crystal.

Sieg gave a wry smile, unsure how to respond. Hugin's statement was fact, after all.

Hugin silently read through the increasingly urgent and severe messages: the winter wolf packs were becoming more aggressive, the city was overrun with flesh-like root networks and creatures, a quicksand barrier had appeared around Stevenson Academy, and requests for highly destructive weaponry were pouring in.

The severity of the situation far exceeded his expectations. Although he had sensed something was wrong when Odette suddenly appeared in the Gap and launched an attack, it wasn't until he read about the speculation that Selwyn had used the Silent Forest—a curio beyond even most strategic-level ones in strength—did he realize the full scale of what was happening.

Frowning deeply, Hugin continued reading with a heavy heart. A sense of foreboding surrounded him as he began to run, knowing he had to take immediate action to mitigate the damage.

By then, Sieg had also noticed the messages. The situation was far more serious than he had imagined. Without hesitation, the two of them began rapidly traversing the Gap. It might be too late, but they had to try.

"Huh?" Hugin, who had started reading the messages earlier, let out an involuntary gasp of confusion. Despite his experience and composure, he couldn't help but widen his eyes in surprise. The content of the last message was unexpected good news.

"We underestimated him, too" Sieg said wryly, a hint of amusement in his voice as he slowed his pace. He had seen that final message as well.

"Yeah, he handled it perfectly. The careless folks at Stevenson Academy of Magic will be very grateful to him, I'm sure." Hugin also slowed his pace. He truly hadn't expected Wang Yu to be able to handle such a massive problem.

"They definitely will. Even if they don't offer any rewards to him, my position as a professor isn't just for show. But..." Sieg, pleased with Wang Yu's significant contribution, was planning to discuss appropriate compensation with the academy headmaster—only to frown. He quickly recalled some past conversations he had had with Wang Yu.

Given Wang Yu's personality, would he really appreciate a big show of gratitude?

"It's about the magicians in the academy—their bodies have been altered by some microorganisms. The alterations were extremely subtle, and magicians, who aren't known for their physical strength, would have a hard time noticing these hidden changes. The detection arrays in the academy only target mana, void, and fighting spirit—not biological parasites."

Avia sat next to Wang Yu, explaining the information the Nightblades had gathered from the magicians of Stevenson Academy who had gradually awakened after the barrier was lifted.

Avia had managed to return to Wang Yu's side once the high-purity void energy had dissipated thanks to the Lady of the Night's concealment.

She understood what Wang Yu was trying to do when she saw him at the center of attention. He didn't want to be in the spotlight, and neither did he want her to be, either. Hiding Avia's existence was the surest means of protecting her.

However, for once, limited as she was by her age and experience, even the mature Avia missed something that Wang Yu didn't.

"We've all been constrained by our transcendent powers. Some of what Erphine said does make sense. Our abilities have left us arrogant against non-supernatural threats."

Wang Yu nodded. He had initially found it hard to understand how Stevenson Academy of Magic could be so easily surrounded by a quicksand barrier without any resistance.

After hearing Avia's explanation, he realized why. Erphine's strategy—and indeed very existence—was a deadly blow to Stevenson Academy of Magic, whose defenses were largely against transcendent threats.

Magicians were essentially natural magical arrays powered by magical vortices that served as the core and source of their magic. Their bodies would be gradually influenced by the steady flow of mana; this principle governed the development of gesturing and posturing during spellcasting.

Every magician had mana flowing through their body, even if they didn't specialize in physical augmentation.

The tiny parasites that Erphine had created served to alter the structure of their bodies, etching seemingly harmless patterns into their muscles, blood vessels, and bones to form biological "runes."

Those changes would have occurred subtly and gradually. Once the final rune was etched out, their own bodies would have powered the arrays created by the parasites—the arrays that ultimately gave rise to the quicksand barrier around Stevenson Academy.

That was how the quicksand barrier had formed, and why no one had stopped it from appearing so abruptly. Neither did Erphine have to worry about the mana source for the barrier. Hundreds of magicians' worth of mana was more than sufficient to power it in full.

The subsequent appearance of the Silent Forest curio further eliminated any possibility that the academy's autonomous defenses would have blocked the quicksand barrier.

Wang Yu shook his head. This plan simply couldn't have been countered without foreknowledge. It was a checkmate that resulted from a disparity of information. If not for unforeseen variables, Stevenson Academy of Magic would already have been sucked into the void and destroyed.

"Professor Lanchester likely formed the core of that void array," Avia said sadly. She had an idea as to why she and Wendy had been locked in his study.

None of the other magicians seemed to know what had happened. Weber Lanchester's actions all but confirmed that he was the mastermind behind the incident.

His goal had likely been to protect Avia and Wendy, but in reality, it had all been meaningless. If the entire academy had been dragged into the void, neither Avia nor Wendy would have escaped that fate.

"Don't take it too hard. You didn't do anything wrong. This has nothing to do with you." Wang Yu patted the girl's shoulder, not offering any excuses for Weber. While there might still be some advisor-student bond between him and Avia, that didn't lessen the magnitude of his crimes.

As far as Wang Yu was concerned, Weber Lanchester was an outright scoundrel. Wang Yu didn't know who Weber wanted to resurrect or what his hardships were.

There could be no reason important enough to justify bringing disaster upon the entire academy. Even so, he had done it, and he had paid the ultimate price as a result. Wang Yu suspected the old man had turned to ash along with Erphine's body.

Avia nodded. "I'm just worried about Wendy..." She wasn't unreasonable; she understood her teacher's mistakes clearly. She just felt some regret over the passing of this old acquaintance of her mother's, who had also been her advisor for some time. But above all, she was worried about Wendy, who always seemed so carefree.

Wang Yu clicked his tongue. This world was still as messed up as ever. Everything seemed to happen in an instant, and death was never far away.

"Wang Yu!" A shout from afar made Wang Yu lift his head. Seeing who it was, he waved to indicate he had heard the call.

Edward ran over from outside the academy, his armor and sword still stained with the blood from assisting the Nightblades' special ops team in exterminating the fleshy lifeforms that had overtaken the sewers.

"How are you? Are you alright?" Edward asked as he reached Wang Yu, looking at his tattered leather armor. Wang Yu had sustained no visible wounds, but...

"I'm fine, just a bit weak," Wang Yu replied. His injuries had been healed by the massive outpouring of life force from the final explosion that destroyed Erphine's body. However, the excessive healing, coupled with his already overtaxed body, left him in a prolonged state of weakness that would only heal with time and rest.

"You were amazing—a true hero, or so I've heard," Edward said with a smile, punching Wang Yu's chest lightly. It was clear he was thrilled with Wang Yu's monumental contribution.

"Honestly, Avia and I can only take half the credit for this. As for the other half..."

He took out the Star Tarot he had dug up from the ground outside Stevenson Academy of Magic and showed it to Edward.

Edward's eyes widened. "So that's how it is. No wonder you suddenly disappeared—you must have used this to get in. But how did you get this tarot card in the first place?"

"I found it outside the academy, buried less than three meters from where we were standing."

"But that's... Did Charles foresee what was going to happen? He's been out of contact for so long! If he had reached out to us more directly..."

Wang Yu nodded. "I'll mention his contribution to Captain Hugin and the Professor. He loves rewards, after all."

"Haha, true. That guy is probably showing off somewhere right now."

"Yeah... huh?" Wang Yu was about to nod in agreement when a hint of confusion arose in his mind. The ripples he always kept active suddenly detected some text appearing on his communication crystal.

There was no trace of magic, only some extremely faint fluctuations in the void, almost undetectable by any means.

Without drawing attention to himself, Wang Yu read the words that had appeared on the crystal.

"Hello, Mr. Wang Yu. I didn't expect you to actually succeed in stopping this plan targeting Stevenson Academy of Magic. Charles' faith in you was indeed justified. You are the most important variable in this tapestry of fate.

𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

"You may have disrupted certain plans—but it's also possible that this failure was a setup for future plans now set in motion.

"I'm also a friend of Charles'. I know that speaking to you like this might not seem sincere or trustworthy, so let's have Charles introduce us. That should be enough to earn your trust.

"Charles is currently sleeping soundly at his family's estate. Go find him. My only request is that you not tell people about Charles burying this tarot card—and don't mention it to him, either.

"Finally, I want to express sincere admiration to the Lady of the Night. She's a generous deity, and a truly changed one. Unlike Erphine and that supposed Warlord, she has managed to break free from her chains. It's funny, really. While I do support you on an emotional level, like Charles, I still can't see how you'll be able to best the challenges ahead of you. Still, you've already surprised me once. Can you defy fate again?"

The message ended. The words on the communication crystal gradually faded away.

"What the hell...?" Wang Yu was puzzled. Just what was this all about? He really would have to have a serious conversation with Charles, it seemed...