Chapter : 1451
He looked up at the edge of the ravine. Rubaiya was gone. She thought she was safe. She thought the ga was over.
"Oh, Rubaiya," Lloyd whispered. "The ga hasn't even started."
He had her now. She would let her guard down. She would make a move. She would contact her handlers.
And when she did, Lloyd would be watching.
He climbed out of the ravine. He moved silently through the woods. He felt a grim satisfaction. It was a risky gambit. Echo had taken a lot of damage, which ant Lloyd had a headache, but it was worth it.
"Now for the fun part," Lloyd thought. " The haunting."
He walked back to the Academy. He went to his tower. He changed his clothes. He drank so coffee.
He waited for morning.
He imagined the look on her face when he walked into the faculty lounge tomorrow. It was going to be priceless. It was going to be the best mont of his life.
"I love being a ghost," Lloyd grinned. "It's very liberating."
The next morning, the faculty lounge was quiet. Rubaiya was there early. She was making tea. She felt light. She felt free. The thorn in her side was gone.
She humd as she poured the hot water. She imagined the chaos that would ensue when Lloyd "went missing." The panic. The fear. It would be delicious.
The door opened.
Rubaiya didn't look up. "Good morning, Daniel. Is the armory secure?"
"The armory is fine," a voice said. "But the coffee pot is empty. Who drank all the coffee?"
Rubaiya froze. The teapot slipped from her hand and shattered on the floor. Hot water splashed her boots, but she didn't feel it.
She knew that voice.
She turned around slowly. Her heart was hamring against her ribs like a trapped bird.
Standing in the doorway, holding an empty mug and looking annoyed, was Lloyd Ferrum.
He wasn't dead. He wasn't broken. He wasn't at the bottom of a ravine.
He was alive. He was wearing a fresh suit. He looked bored.
"Lloyd?" Rubaiya whispered. Her voice was a croak. "You... you are here."
"I am here," Lloyd said. He walked over to the coffee pot and shook it sadly. "Tragedy. Absolute tragedy. Soone brew a fresh pot, please."
He looked at her. He smiled. It wasn't a nice smile. It was a shark's smile.
"You look like you've seen a ghost, Rubaiya," Lloyd said. "Rough night?"
Rubaiya stared at him. Her mind was racing. I killed him. I felt the blade go in. I felt him die. I dragged him. I dumped him. How?
"Is it... is it really you?" she stamred. She reached out a hand, then pulled it back, terrified that her fingers would pass through him.
"Flesh and blood," Lloyd said. He pinched his own arm. "Ouch. See? Real."
He walked closer to her. He stepped over the broken teapot.
"You made a ss," Lloyd tutted. "You seem nervous. Guilt complex?"
"I... I am just surprised," Rubaiya managed to say. She was regaining her composure, forcing the mask back on. "I thought you were... out. Investigating."
"I was," Lloyd said. "I investigated a very interesting ravine. The view was terrible. But the company was... enlightening."
He leaned in close. He invaded her personal space.
"Co with ," Lloyd said softly. "We need to talk. About... curriculum."
He grabbed her arm. His grip was iron. He steered her out of the lounge, past the confused stares of the other professors.
He dragged her into a small, empty supply closet down the hall. He kicked the door shut and locked it.
The space was tiny. Intimate. Terrifying.
Rubaiya backed up against a shelf of mops. "What do you want? Why are we here?"
"Cut the act," Lloyd said. His voice dropped the playful tone. It was cold. Deadly. "I know what you did. I know what you tried to do."
"I don't know what you an," Rubaiya said, her eyes darting around for an exit.
"You stabbed ," Lloyd said. "In the back. Literally. You dragged through the woods. You threw in a pit. Do not insult by denying it."
"You... you survived?" Rubaiya whispered. "How? The blade... it was poisoned. It was lethal."
"I am hard to kill," Lloyd said. "And you are easy to fool."
He stepped closer. He was looming over her.
Chapter : 1452
"No matter how many tis you try," Lloyd said, his voice a low growl, "you cannot kill . I am not a man you can erase, Rubaiya. I am a problem you cannot solve."
Rubaiya trembled. She felt small. She felt powerless.
"What are you?" she asked. "A demon? A monster?"
"I'm a teacher," Lloyd said. "And you just failed the final exam."
He leaned down, his face inches from hers. He activated his [All-Seeing Eye]. His eyes glowed.
"And I can still see it," Lloyd whispered. "That ugly parasite behind you. Hiding like a baby that wants its mother's attention. It's scared, Rubaiya. It knows I can hurt it. It knows I can unmake it."
Rubaiya gasped. He saw Legion. He saw through her disguise, through her lies, through her soul.
"You..." she choked out.
"I own you," Lloyd said. "I have the evidence. I have the witness. I have your life in my hand."
Rubaiya stared at him. The fear in her eyes began to harden into sothing else. Desperation. Survival instinct.
She stood up straighter. She pushed back against the fear. She was a survivor. She had climbed from the slums. She wouldn't let him break her.
"You think you have won," Rubaiya said, her voice shaking but gaining strength. "You think because you are alive, you have the advantage. But you are wrong, Lloyd. You are playing a ga you do not understand."
"Enlighten ," Lloyd said.
"You are one man," Rubaiya said. "I am part of sothing bigger. Sothing older. The Seventh Circle is not just a cult. It is a tide. You can build your walls, you can play your tricks, but the tide always cos in."
"I like the beach," Lloyd said. "I can swim."
"You are making a gamble," Rubaiya hissed. "A gamble with a tough opponent. You think you can blackmail ? You think you can use ? My masters do not tolerate failure. But they also do not tolerate threats."
She stepped forward, trying to regain so dominance.
"If you expose ," she said, "you expose yourself. You reveal your power. You beco the primary target. Not just for , but for them. The Curators. The Princes of Hell. Do you really want that attention?"
"I already have their attention," Lloyd said. "I'm just making sure they know I'm waving back."
"You are a fool," Rubaiya said. "A brave, stupid fool. Your life is the only thing which will be lost here. You cannot save everyone. You cannot even save yourself."
She reached for the door handle. Lloyd didn't stop her.
"Leave," Lloyd said. "Run back to your masters. Tell them the Ghost of Ferrum says hello. Tell them I'm coming for them."
Rubaiya opened the door. She looked back at him one last ti. Her face was a mask of bravado, but her hands were shaking.
"Watch your back, Professor," she said. "The shadows have teeth."
"So do I," Lloyd replied.
She fled. She walked down the hallway, her steps fast, her head down. She looked like a woman who was running from a fire.
Lloyd watched her go. He leaned against the mop shelf. He let out a long breath.
"That went well," he muttered.
He had terrified her. He had rattled her cage. Now, she would make mistakes. She would panic. She would lead him to the others.
"She thinks she threatened ," Lloyd thought. "But she just confird everything. She's scared. And scared people are predictable."
He walked out of the closet. He went back to the faculty lounge. He poured a fresh cup of coffee.
The other professors were chatting about the weather. They didn't know that a war had just been declared in the supply closet.
Lloyd took a sip. It was hot. It was bitter. It was perfect.
"Round two," Lloyd whispered to the steam. "Let's see what you've got."
He sat down at his desk. He pulled out a piece of paper. He started to draw a new plan. A trap. A trap for a whole nest of rats.
The investigation was over. The hunt was beginning. And Lloyd Ferrum was the only one who knew the rules.
Lloyd Ferrum sat in his office in the Old Tower, staring at a diagram on the wall. It wasn't the schematic for the Aegis suit. It wasn't a battle plan for the goblin war. It was a diagram of a leech. A very, very hungry leech.
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