Returning the light to the room, a small wave of applause filled the room as the dark sphere completely disappeared.
He hadn’t cast a powerful spell, but all kinds of dark magic were extremely hard to control even for a diamond class.
His plan had worked, not too powerful for a Bright but special. Something unforgettable.
’’Not too bad.’’ Ms. Trellen spoke as his demoness, already long knowing about his power, but the class had turned into whispers of doubt and confusion.
Being dismissed, Steven sat back down next to Lumiel, who stared at him bored. "You could’ve done better, like in our duel." He sounded disappointed, as if he wanted to see some amazing magic on the jade level.
"Sorry, but anything above the jade class might be too hard for me for a demonstration." He lied straight to his face as if it were just another breath.
Class continued boringly after as the bell finally rang. Steven couldn’t wait to escape outside, but at the door were Lucy and June already waiting for him; he wasn’t able to sneak by and was forced into a discussion.
’’Even we diamond students should stay together in school; there was an attack yesterday too. Only because Edward stopped it could a death be prevented. ’’June yelled at Lucy, who could only scoff.
"Sure, I will stay with Steven then... you can protect the rest of the students." As she grabbed his shirt, pressing herself against him, Steven wanted to push her away but couldn’t.
As June grabbed her by the shoulders, she let her fall hard to the ground. "Oh, aren’t you so much more powerful? How should the weak me protect everyone?" as he grabbed his hand. ’’But Steven and I together might be enough to protect each other.’’
Watching Lucy’s eye twitch, Steven wanted to sink into the ground and disappear forever; sadly, no portal to hell opened below him; instead, he was forced to be pulled around for what felt like an eternity.
As to his relief, the bell rang, signaling the next class is about to start; freeing himself from their grip, he started running away. ’’Gotta go to class; can’t be late again.’’ Not giving them time to catch up.
Jumping down the stairs, his next class wasn’t far away; even though he hated alchemy, right now it felt like a blessing. Sitting down at a table for one, he could finally relax.
As an old man was trying to teach him anything about how to craft a potion, Steven didn’t listen one bit. He only mixed some random ingredients, hoping not to burn down the entire place.
Why spend time crafting a one-time-use potion if he could instead use it to increase his skill or mana capacity forever? It just made no sense for him.
Finishing this painful class, Steven had luck only for June to be in his class, and she was way too shy to approach him when he was alone.
Fleeing into the lunch break, Steven felt a bit like a student again, but there were just too many things to worry about, as he didn’t forget to check the green stone in his pocket every few moments.
Barely escaping Lucy’s careful gaze with an invisibility spell, he found a place to hide as he climbed on a giant old tree and lay down on one of its branches.
Letting out a sigh of relief, he could feel somebody approaching slowly. "Don’t run away, Steven; it’s me," Merency’s voice called out to the only one that didn’t bother him today.
"Continued to lay still," she added. "We made a deal, don’t forget that, so make some place for me and at least act like you don’t want to run away."
Moving barely to the side, Merency lay down close to him, placing her head on his legs. ’’Most of the guards were saying Edwards defeated some monster outside the villa.’’
As she turned her head towards him. ’’But some more said they saw you there too? So what were you doing there?’’ She asked curiously, not a flicker of fear in her eyes.
"We helped each other out a bit; after all, I couldn’t damage it in any way." He answered with the truth, staring up into the green leaves as one of them slowly glided to the ground.
’’You shouldn’t bring yourself in danger... you could’ve just told a guard to help.’’ She spoke while closing her eyes in relaxation, as she slowly drifted to sleep.
There were just too many things he could do only alone, and all of them would only be a burden to him. He wanted to tell her all this but couldn’t; after all, what teacher would tell his students they were a burden?
Hearing her rhythmic breathing, he could feel something turning hot in his pockets. As he took out the stone, its greenish color slowly started to fade away into a dark red.
Letting out a soft smile, he sat up, staring at Merency’s peaceful face as he slowly picked her head up carefully, and with a command of his mind, the wood below it grew fitting to it as if she were still lying on his legs.
Standing up, he jumped down from the old tree, quietly watching the stone turning completely red.
It was his time to go watch some corpses even if he didn’t like to.
After all, the shadow was a piece of someone’s soul.
And if it were to be missing, there might be a way with the help of the body.
Slipping out of the university unnoticed, he stepped into an extremely dark hallway.
The lights flickered overhead as the corridor stretched deeper into the building.
At the very end stood a single door.
Steven slowly pushed it open.
A wave of cold air struck his face.
He stared into the darkness beyond.
"So this is where they keep the bodies..."
His eyes narrowed.
"Time to hunt some shadows."