"Where have you been?" Elliot asked weakly when he opened the door for me. I could hear his stomach grumbling as he went to sit on his bed.
"I met with Senior Ethan and discussed about the spell I was working on."
"What spell?" asked Arman who was pulling at Cat's arms to wake him up.
"It's the mana spell I mentioned before," I told him.
"Oh, have you finished it? Can I give it a try, too?" he asked with interest, letting go of Cat who curled up in his bed once more.
"I'm afraid it's still at the experimental stage. We haven't perfected it yet, though the theory is quite sound, if I do say so myself."
"It's good then?" Arman's fine brows raised.
"I believe it is plausible, so does Senior Ethan. In fact I am currently testing it on myself right now," I continued. "Still, we would need to test it further before we could use it in earnest."
"I could help test it too!" Arman suggested, raising a hand. "The more test subjects, the faster you get results, right?"
"Not exactly..." I said skeptically.
"C'mon, if you used it on yourself, then it's as good as done, right?" he insisted. "besides, didn't you say I can awaken any time now? At least this way, you can check how much more mana I need and guess when it would actually manifest!"
"Hmm... You do have a point there... but are you really sure about this?" I asked him hesitantly.
"No problem," he replied, placing his fists on his sides, "I know that everything you do is fool proof! What could possibly go wrong?"
"W-well..." I sighed, "a lot, actually..."
"Oh, come on, Patrick! You should believe in your self more!"
"Well... if you insist..."
"Will this take long?" asked a morose Elliot.
"Just three minutes," I assured him. "In the meantime, why don't you try waking our little Cat up."
"Got it," Elliot replied, just as we heard a soft knock on the door.
Elliot turned to open it instead and found Lycan smiling shyly at us.
"I-is Cat up yet?"
"Good, you're just in time to wake him up," Arman called out to him as I began to chant the spell.
Interesting enough, the mana I exhausted earlier when I cast the spell upon myself, have almost been replenished, and it hasn't even been 10 minutes since I left the top floor. It must be due of the mana rich air coming from the students residing in the dormitory.
"Okay, I've set your spell to siphon 5% mana from the air for every breath you take. I shall end the spell, in about 10 minutes. How do you feel?"
"Hmm... I can feel a soft, fresh breeze gently gathering around me..." he frowned in concentration, "How would I know if I had enough? Isn't 5% too small?"
"Don't worry, 5% would be adequate," I assured him, "I also devised a fail-safe formula that would automatically stop the spell before your mana core manifests, or at least we hypothesize that it would. I only set a minuscule amount of mana intake to ensure this, so there's no need to worry."
"Okay, you lost me there!" Arman laughed. "I'll just take your word for it!"
"Take what?" asked a yawning Cat who finally woke up due to Lycan's persisten shaking.
"We all good now?" Elliot moaned by the door.
"Right, we better go to the dining hall before Elliot dies of hunger!" Arman said with a laugh.
"Woah! I feel like I'm walking on air!" Arman exclaimed as we left the dormitory and passed along the path around the building towards the dinning hall.
"That's because there's more mana out here in the open, coming from the plants, wild life, and students around the campus."
I take a deep breath and feel the mana rush inside me as well. I guess I would need to calibrate the amount of mana intake to keep it at a steady, uniform rate after I refill my cores again.
"Ugh... I can't wait to get to the dining hall..." mumbled Elliot.
"Next time, remember to put aside twice as much food in your pouch to make sure you don't go hungry," Arman suggested while patting him on the back, "and make sure to leave some for emergencies."
"I can't help it," sniffed Elliot, "you know I go weak when I don't eat..."
"Speaking of eating, didn't Aunt May tell us she'll cook something special for us to make up for the broken oven," I reminded him.
"I wonder what she plans to cook?" Elliot smacked his lips.
"Maybe it's a roast turkey!" Cat pipped in. "Or maybe a whole roast pig! Or a roast cow!"
"Ugh... you're making me even hungrier," Elliot sighed, "at least it looks like the ovens are finally fixed, I could smell the food from the dinning hall already..."
I took a deep breath and smelled fresh baked bread in the air. We were all looking forwards to a heavy lunch when we turned the final bend and saw a group of people blocking the way.
They were seniors, judging by the number of diamonds on their left coat pockets. They all stared at us, as if they were waiting for us to appear, and in the middle, towering over the rest, was the familiar faces of the Grand Knight Lucifer and his companion Grand Knight Nero, whom we met in the infirmary yesterday.
My stomach suddenly began to churn.
"Oh, good morning, seniors," Elliot greeted them respectfully. "Why are you gathered here? Is something the matter?"
"Arrest them."
My eyes bulged as the seniors approached us.
Looking around, I realized that there were no other students in the vicinity, even though the dining hall was only a stone's throw away.
"What's going on?" Cat asked, his voice shaking. "Aren't you our seniors from the White Knights?"
I looked at the group closely and recognized a few of the eight seniors accompanying the two grand knights.
"Why are we being arrested?!" Elliot spoke up, standing his ground. "What did we do?"
"You are being arrested for the incident in the infirmary," the grand knight replied.
"What? What happened in the infirmary?" Elliot insisted.
"The details are confidential."
"What are you talking about?! We've been in the dormitory all night!" Arman exclaimed as he stood behind Elliot's imposing bulk.
The seniors hesitated as our friend stood in a defensive stance, as did Lycan who silently stepped forward to protect us.
"Can you at least tell us what the matter is?" Elliot insisted.
"Just follow us peacefully if you truly are not guilty," Grand Knight Lucifer said coldly. "Your group are all under suspicion of collaborating with the culprit."
"Where's Darius?"
All eyes fell upon me.
I saw a senior step back, sweat dripping from his chin though the temperature seemed to have dropped considerably.
I tried to calm myself by taking deep breaths.
Grand Knight Lucifer stepped forward, then, his eyes locked onto mine.
"You tell me," he replied. "He disappeared before sunrise before the incident was reported."
"What incident?" Arman shouted in frustration. "Why can't you just tell us what the hell happened?!"
"This is what happened."
Our attention was called by a familiar, arrogant voice.
We turned around and saw Senior Nigellus walking towards us from the path from the woods, followed by his crew of fanatic vassals.
I was surprised to see his sickly appearance – the pallid skin, the wild, sunken eyes and cheeks, the dry lips that sneered at us in anger... It looked like he was trying to copy my image!
"Woah, what happened to you?" Arman called out to him. "Are you here for another challenge?"
Senior Nigellus simply smirked and stepped aside, and from behind him, came seniors Will and Henesey, holding on to the limp arms of a tattered looking student between them.
"You bastards!"
The loud scream escaped my lips before I noticed it.
I tried to run towards them, but arms were suddenly around me, keeping me from reaching him.
From reaching my Darius whom they dragged in their accursed arms.
"Don't, Patric! Don't go to them!" Arman sneered in my ears.
I tried to stop myself like he asked.
I kept my eyes on Darius' unconscious image.
His swollen face.
The tattered blue overcoat he was wearing.
The soiled under shirt.
The trail of blood between his bare thighs.
I bit my lips to prevent myself from chanting a spell to kill the bastards in front of me.
"We found him near the academy gates, he must have been trying to escape after the act."
"What act?! What are you all talking about?!" Elliot bellowed out loud.
"Oh, you still don't know?" Senior Weis sneered from the crown prince's side. "Your friend here just killed Prince André."
Suddenly, the world fell silent.
Nothing seemed to real.
Nothing seemed to make sense.
"What the hell are you talking about?!" Arman spat out.
"Darius assassinated the second crown prince, André after poisoning him," Norbert answered.
"Where is your evidence?! What's the motive?! How could you just treat him this way?!" I demanded.
I tried to move forward again, but Cat's arms wound around my waist and Lycan stepped in front of me.
"We have the evidence right here," came Grand Knight Lucifer's voice.
I turned around and saw him holding up a tattered piece of blue cloth. It matched the blue overcoat draped over Darius' shoulders.
The same lush blue overcoat he wore when he first arrived in the academy.
"This was found in Prince André's room in the infirmary where the students him this morning, mouth frothing, and soaked in his own blood from a stab wound to his gut," Grand Knight Nero informed us.
"That cloak was lost in Senior Nigellus' private residence!" Elliot tried to explain. "You can ask Prof. Nov – "
"What other great excuses do you have?!" Senior Norbert interrupted in a mocking voice. "You're obviously covering up for your friend! I tell you, Grand Knight Lucifer, they are all accomplices of this murderer here!"
"To think that you would use such lame excuses after killing my brother!" Senior Nigellus followed up, gasping for breath, as if the mere act of talking took a toll on his health. "Do you expect the professors to take your side again?" he added. "Too bad, they are all in the infirmary with the rest of the guards, taking care of my brother's dead body."
"You're a bastard and a liar and you know it!" I cursed at him. "Let Darius go!"
"Why don't you come and get him?" he answered back, looking down at me.
"Please, Senior Nigellus, at least let us take him to the infirmary!" Elliot pleaded.
Arman turned to the two grand knights at our back.
"We're willing to come with you, as long as you help our friend Darius!" he cried out. "He deserves to get a fair trial!"
"Take them." Grand Knight Lucifer give the command.
The seniors with him came closer and took hold of Elliot's arms first. They also approached Arman and Cat who were still holding on to me. Stopping me from attacking the bastards in front of us. None seemed to want to go to Lycan, but the big senior stood still once they got Cat in their custody.
"Now, let Darius go!" I shouted at the crown prince's group.
Senior Will and Senior Henesey sneered at me as they let my beloved fall to the ground.
I was suddenly running to his side, taking him in my arms.
"Darius? Darius?" I called to him, touching his bruised cheeks and bloody forehead, my eyes blurred by the tears streaming down my face. "Darius, please be alright..."
"Well, what do you know?" Henesey taunted me. "I never thought a dried up goblin could shed tears!"
His companions all laughed.
I kept my temper, still touching Darius' swollen face as I crouched over him, covering him from their mocking eyes as I softly chanted a rewinding spell under the din of their laughter.
His complexion only improved a little, but at least he stirred and opened his eyes.
"Darius!" I called out to him once more.
"P-Pat...rick..." his voice was but a whisper. "I-I'm... sorry..."
"Don't talk, Darius, don't talk... everything will be alright now..."
It was all I could say.
I had no idea what would happen next. I know that the empire's crown prince wasn't someone we could go against.
It was his word against us.
And I know that he had everything planned to make us suffer miserably for daring to oppose him.
Slowly, I stood up, lifting Darius in my arms. I turned away from the crown prince's crowd of mocking bastards. I clenched my jaw, lest a spell to kill them there and then slipped my lips.
I took a step, two steps, towards my friends who are now being held by Grand Knight Lucifer's group, when Senior Nigellus spoke once more.
"Did I tell you to leave?" he said coldly.
I stopped in my tracks.
"As someone who's always spouting nonsense about the rules in this academy and the law of the empire, you seem to have forgotten something," he said in a gasping voice.
"What do you mean?" I asked through clenched teeth.
"Do you know what the consequence of killing royalty is?"
My eyes widened as I turned to face him.
Senior Nigellus held out his hand, a dirty red sword of flame materializing in his palm.
I cowered before him, trying my best to cover the body I was carrying, yet his blade passed through my left flank and found its mark.
Blood spilled into my arms as it flowed out of a gaping hole in the middle of Darius' chest.