Guilt and Punishmen

by Sophia Schmidt

  "There are no gods. I know that all too well. Use his real name instead of that pompous title." The First Queen hated how easily men handed out godhood. The Great Mother, as humans and beasts alike referred to the planet's will, was the closest thing to a god she had ever met.

  At the same time, it was the most indifferent and uncaring being she had ever interacted with, only thinking about the bigger picture and ignoring the single individuals, even the Guardians, unless they served to its purpose.

  "This evening, Ilyum Balkor has attacked all the six great academies at once. Thank the g¡" Another glare made Meron curse at his own stupid tongue.

  "Thank heavens the number of casualties is low, at least for those that followed Linjos's protocol. The Earth and Crystal Griffon didn't though. Almost all the Professors died during the attack."

  "Why should I care?" Tyris snorted, making the room tremble.

  "I told you royal idiots centuries ago to follow Leegaain's advice and reform the nobility and academy system, but it was never the right time. Famine, internal strife, the royal baby. Any excuse was good to postpone your duties.

  You and your ancestors have made your bed, now lie in it."

  "Your Majesty, your subjects, innocent kids at that, are dying at the hand of a madman! You must do something!" He stood up, hurt by her indifference and most of all, by the truth behind her words.

  "A madman? What if it was your family to have died for a practical joke? What if everything and everyone you loved had been defiled, gutted and left to be burned alive? What would have you done in his shoes?"

  Her eyes were reduced to two fiery slits brimming with mana.

  Meron didn't reply. The only way not to prove her point was lying, but she would notice, making his effort useless.

  "Please, think of the children. They are innocent!" He played his last card.

  "Innocent? Rotten apples from rotten trees. Wasn't Balkor a child too? What about all those that died that day and keep dying up to date because nobles value their status more than human life?

  "My answer is still no. I will not solve the problems that you created by ignoring my advice. Otherwise I might as well take back the throne and do your job for you. By letting so many monstrous acts slide, you have created a monster.

  Think about it, the next time someone asks for a royal pardon."

  Before King Meron could reply, he found himself back in his bedroom. His sudden appearance almost made Sylpha stab him out of surprise.

  "The first day has yet to pass and so many died already." King Meron sobbed, seeking comfort in his wife's embrace.

  "We are alone. Our goddess has forsaken us."

  ***

  Lith spent an awkward supper. All of his companions were having a hard time letting his blunder slide.

  "Thanks for saving my life, man. Yet I would have appreciated more concern for my well-being and less for academic research." Yurial sighed, knowing it was like talking to a wall.

  "You guys are blowing this story out of proportions. I wasn't concerned because there was no need to. I'm the best diagnostician I know, besides Manohar. I had triple checked you two from head to toe and removed every single drop of poison.

  What was I supposed to be worried about? The softness of your pillows?"

  Being scolded by his friends didn't bother him as much as Solus's mind pouting did. She was supposed to be on his side, not theirs.

  "Believe me, no one appreciates your professionalism as much as I do, but if you don't want to end up like Manohar, you must learn to shut up from time to time." Phloria kept playing with her food. The near death experience had made her lose her appetite.

  "Phloria, do you realize we are at war?" Lith stared intently at her.

  "That poison could save our lives in the future, I had to try to butter up Vastor while I still had the chance. Now everything is lost. Sorry if I prioritize keeping you guys alive rather than coddle your feelings." He snarled loud enough for everyone to hear.

  They looked at him, realizing that maybe Lith was a jerk, but a jerk with a damn good reason.

  "You really sound like mother." His words reminded Quylla of the creepy lesson Lady Ernas had imparted her before leaving. About how and where to strike humans and beast alike to inflict the maximum pain.

  "Your bedside manners are terrible, but thanks for saving my life."

  "Thank Friya instead. She almost fainted to keep you two alive until our arrival."

  "Thanks, Friya. You are the best sister I could hope for." Quylla embraced Friya, relieving the cold grip she always felt clenching her soul and making Phloria's gut twist in a knot at the same time.

  She still couldn't forgive herself for forgetting about Friya when they were still in the mine. She felt like the worst sister ever.

  The mood in the makeshift canteen was gloomy. A few students that had ignored Linjos's orders and got out of the town had died during the attack. Many others had been gravely injured and because the poison hadn't been promptly cleansed, their lives were hanging on a thread.

  A sudden wail followed by sobbing coming from the infirmary told them that another one didn't make it. A small boy ran from the field hospital, hugging M'Rook and hiding his face into the thick fur.

  The Ry let the kid be, gently stroking his head with his muzzle.

  "Poor kid. His friend must have succumbed to the poison." Solus said.

  "Yeah. Something that damages the mana core is unheard of since we faced those parasites. Now you understand why we need a sample of that poison? We cannot trust anyone for our survival." Lith was still angry at her.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.webnovel.com for visiting.

  "Did you really have to bargain over your friends' still recovering bodies? Why didn't you store all the poison instead of half if it's so important?"

  Solus knew he was right, but she didn't want for Lith to keep trampling the feelings of his companions without even a tinge of remorse.

  "Because Vastor knows of the plague and the role I played in it. Because by giving him that half, I once again proved my value and showed my alleged loyalty to the Kingdom. It will earn me merits and points. As simple as that."¨C

  Solus sighed.

  "In times of peace, I would be right. Right now, we are at war with death itself though. My mindset is a liability. I hope that Phloria manages to help Lith keep his humanity. It's in moments like this that I feel he is slipping away."¨C

  Unlike the others, Lith wasn't scared. On the contrary, he was very calm. In his mind, the other students were just tools. He planned to use them to raise his status or as sacrificial pawns. He only cared for those at his table.

  Some of his plans creeped Solus out.

  "Long time no see, Scourge." Kalla appeared beside them, making the group flinch.

  "You have changed a lot from our last encounter, Kalla." Lith replied without stopping to eat.

  "Yes, and so have you. When this is over, we have much to talk about."

  Kalla disappeared after fusing with the shadow of their table, leaving Lith eager for a new lesson about true Necromancy.

  "Scourge?" Yurial asked.

  "Yeah, it's a long story." Lith sighed, suddenly not so happy anymore. He hated being forced to share bits of his past.

  After returning to their room, Lith told them about his first encounter with Kalla and how magical beasts had named him "Scourge". He told them only the truth, but omitted all the parts about true magic and learning Necromancy from the Byk before her evolution.

  "Why have you never told us magical beasts can talk?" Phloria felt a little hurt by his lack of trust.

  "Because they trusted me not to." He replied.

  "Also, because you wouldn't have believed me. Unlike Phillard, usually they are very careful about who they talk to. They probably would have kept silent, if not for the emergency." The memory of the Kroxy made them shudder.

  Everyone was dead tired, so they decided to go to s
leep early. They needed all of their strength for the attack that would come the following day.

  Everyone was flabbergasted at Lith's pajamas.

  "Are you really going to sleep with your uniform on?" Because of the mixed accommodation, Yurial had brought a thick nightgown.

  "It's more practical this way. If anything happens, I don't have to waste time changing. Also, thanks to its magic, the uniform is always spotless, so why not?"

  "You really are like my dad." Phloria laughed. "Every time he comes back from the battlefield, mom always complains about how hard it is to make him sleep without his uniform on and the sword on the bedside."

  After everyone had their turn mocking Lith for his paranoia, they turned off the lights. Lith had waited all day for that moment.

  He took the shotel out of the pocket dimension, using Invigoration to start collecting data about its pseudo core and how the mana crystals interacted with the spell matrix structure.

  He had just started taking notes, after testing and probing the internal structure, when Solus warned him.

  "Watch out! Someone is getting up."¨C Cursing his bad luck, Lith put everything back in the pocket dimension, pretending to be asleep. There was almost no light in the room, but he was still able to see.

  "False alarm. Quylla went to Friya's bed. Probably she is too scared to sleep alone tonight."¨C Lith was still sighing in relief when everything went crazy.

  Someone was pulling the blankets, cuddling up to him.

  "Make a little room for me, jerk." Phloria's whisper sounded like thunder to his ears. He quickly used Hush to prevent the others from noticing what was happening.

  "Are you crazy? What do you think you are doing?" Keeping his hands under control was a mammoth task. He couldn't stop his mind from picturing her naked body that, for some reason, he had never managed to forget.

  "Don't worry. I used all the spells you taught me to move unnoticed. It happened during the mock exam. Do you remember it?" Her hands caressed his hair, causing his hand to tremble and his nether regions to go into an uproar.

  "Of course I do, but I don't think you should be here." He kept whispering despite both of them knowing of the Hush spell.

  "Then when would be the right moment? So many people died today. Quylla and Yurial barely escaped death. What if I die tomorrow?"

  Solus was so envious of Phloria. Even if she had a body, she would never be so decisive.

  Phloria's words made sense, so Lith embraced her while trying to kiss her, finding two unexpected surprises.

  "After mocking me for it, are you wearing your uniform too?" He said with her hand pressing against his mouth.

  "Your reasoning was flawless. Also, what did you expect? That I would jump on you in my birthday suit? You really have a perverted mind." Lith didn't reply, stopping his attempts for intimacy.

  "Sorry, but no kisses. I don't know if I would be able to hold myself back if we start." She blushed violently, searching for his embrace again.

  "I'm not ready for that. I just want to sleep beside you, not with you. Is it fine with you?" The sweet scent of her hair was driving him insane.

  "No problem." He lied through his teeth, counting backward from one hundred while reminding himself of their age gap.

  Contrary to his expectations, Phloria fell asleep almost instantly. Hours passed, Lith had constantly to keep himself in check while whining for all the lost time. There was no way he could study Orion's sword in that situation.

  Then, a loud explosion shook the house to its foundations. Inhuman and human screams filled the air. Everyone got up in a rush, something was clawing through the walls and the ceiling at the same time.

  Chapter 214 Hidden Agenda

  Something was swarming the house from all directions, making it tremble like during an earthquake.

  "They are disrupting the dimensional spell that keeps the house together!" Quylla yelled, running along with Friya to the bathroom to change their clothes.

  "If it keeps like this, the place will either implode or explode. We need to get out of here and fast!"

  "Ready when you are!" Phloria, like Lith, only had to take out her shoes from the dimensional amulet to be ready for action.

  "I really hate being the fifth wheel!" Yurial rushed to the other bathroom, cursing his own bad luck. He knew that Friya and Quylla weren't romantically involved, but after seeing Lith and Phloria sleeping together, he would have paid his weight in gold to switch places with Quylla.

  His blood was boiling to the point that he craved to kill some undead, just to blow off some steam.

  "Every time Phloria makes a move on me, something happens. If it wasn't for Balkor being on a schedule, I'd say the universe is c*ckblocking me!"¨C Lith thought, checking the outside hallway.

  It was full of students. Some were panicking so much, they were running around while still wearing nightgowns.

  The communication amulets came back to life once again.

  "To all students, we are under attack. Return to your rooms immediately. If the necessity arises, a Warp Step will lead you to safety. Please, be ready to defend yourselves. To all students¡"

  Linjos's hologram was the wake-up call they needed. They all went back to their rooms, dressing up as fast as possible.

  When the tremors intensified, a Warp Steps appeared in the middle of the room as promised, leading them to the Town plaza. The moon was still high and the sky was clear, allowing them to witness the horror unfolding around them.

  The black creatures were back, but this time their numbers were beyond calculation. Thanks to his heightened sense, Lith could see that they were not the same as the last time. They had a lipless mouth, filled with multiple rows of fang-like teeth and a single red eye shining in the middle of the forehead.

  The mystical bindings were still restricting them, but they were simply too many compared to the defenders. Each beast and Professor would kill dozens of undead and hold back twice as much, yet many still managed to bypass them.

  They were getting closer to the students by the second.

  "F*ck waiting!" Phillard the Kroxy yelled in outrage.

  "You hatchlings wait here and prepare to fight. I'll try to slow them down as long as I can."

  Those present were panicking to the point that even a humanoid alligator 2.5 meters (8'2") high had managed to go unnoticed. Phillard took his axes and charged forward. His fighting style was crude but effective.

  Each swing of his weapons would cleave several creatures in half at the same time. Those that managed to regenerate would have their head bitten off and gulped down. After that, the corpses would quickly fade away.

  "Man, you taste like sh*t, but I had worse and lived to tell the tale!" The Kroxy laughed merrily while slaughtering everything that dared to come close to him.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.webnovel.com for visiting.

  Even when he missed a target, his weapons would make spikes of earth or ice erupt from the ground, impaling those that had managed to dodge, making them easy marks for the following attacks.

  Lith didn't like that situation at all. Linjos had clearly placed all the students at the center of the arrays to better protect them, but at the same time, if the enemy managed to get past all the defensive lines, they would be trapped without a way out.

  "Something isn't right. Solus, can you spot where Scarlett, Ryman, and Kalla are? Why are they not taking part in the battle? They are supposed to be our heavy artillery." Lith thought.

  "Sorry, I can't. Either they are hiding or they are too far away." Solus replied. ¨C

  Countless creatures kept swarming out of the forest surrounding the mining town. Lith noticed Colonel Varegrave standing on a roof with Captain Kilian right next to him. When they finished chanting, several dozen fireballs with a radius of ten meters (33 feet) rained from the sky like falling stars.

  Each of them produced a loud explosion, turning the army of creatures into chunks of meat a
nd black gas. When the smoke from the explosions dissipated, a new wave of undead entered the array.

  "How are we supposed to fight against so many of them? Where is the Scorpicore? Where is Linjos?" Varegrave yelled in desperation.

  ***

  Scarlett, Linjos, and the most powerful individuals of both the forest and the academy were watching the fight from a distance. Linjos and Scarlett were deep in a coded conversation that made sense only to the two of them.

  "Why are we still here?" Protector growled. "The cubs need us!"

  "Patience, Protector." Scarlett's tone was calm and confident.

  "If we rush in, we would just follow the enemy's script. Remember that this is still the first day. What do you think of the enemy's plan?"

  "What plan? He is trying to beat us with sheer numbers. Those creatures are mindless!" Protector snarled.

  "My point exactly." Scarlett nodded. "They would make a great vanguard to exhaust us before the final attack, yet he is sending them out now. Our enemy is supposed to be a genius, yet his plan is apparently idiotic."

  "Scarlett is right." Linjos chimed in, seeing that most of the Professors didn't seem to trust the Scorpicore's wisdom.

  "If Balkor keeps his cards hidden, we must do the same. At least until we understand his endgame." None liked the idea of using the students as bait, but it was the only option they had to force the god of death to reveal his hand.

  ***

  Watching the battle unfolding in front of his eyes, Lith felt helpless. He had a very limited number of options. Joining the fight would be his last resort. Because of the witnesses, he couldn't go all out.

  Even if he did, the enemies were just too many. The second option was to provide cover fire for his allies. The last one was running away.

  "F*ck Linjos!" He yelled making the group huddle up.

  "We need a contingency plan. Friya, you are the best dimensional mage among us. How far can you Warp us away?"

  Friya pondered for a while before answering.

  "I could get us back to the academy, but it's too risky. There is a zone of the forest I'm the most familiar with since I spent most of my mock exam there. It's about ten kilometers from here. Is it okay?"