Inside the academy’s basent, there were many sections—an underground library, storage rooms, and even old prison cells.
The prison area had been built long ago, back when cri rates were much higher than they were today. Now, most of it was abandoned, but so areas were still used for secret activities.
Between the prison, storage rooms, and library, right in the center, Elara’s clone floated in mid-air. His eyes were closed as he focused deeply on refining his essence stone.
A sphere of pure purple energy slowly ford around him, pulsing with power. Finally, after what felt like forever, he opened his eyes.
"Finally… it’s ti for the middle stage," he muttered, feeling a sense of accomplishnt.
But the mont he opened his eyes—
"Yo!"
Esdeath’s face was right in front of his, her expression completely blank as she held up a victory sign with her fingers.
Elara’s clone was stunned. His focus almost shattered, nearly ruining his entire refinent process.
"How did you get here?" he asked, his voice filled with anger.
"I’m not alone," Esdeath replied casually, pointing to Ethan, who stood a few steps behind her.
Ethan’s face twisted in rage. "To think you’d do sothing so shaless… Tell , where is Violet?" His voice was cold and sharp, filled with barely contained fury.
Elara’s clone was still in the middle of refining his essence stone. He couldn’t move, let alone attack. If he did, all his efforts would go to waste. Under normal circumstances, he would have killed these two without hesitation.
But he had Violet. And as long as she was in his hands, Ethan wouldn’t dare do anything reckless. The only real threat here was Esdeath.
Esdeath folded her arms and smirked. "I know where she is. Go to the prison section and find her. My job is done here. Freeing her is up to you."
Ethan didn’t waste a second. Without hesitation, he turned and ran toward the prison section, his heart pounding with urgency.
anwhile, Elara’s clone kept his focus on his refinent, but his eyes stayed locked on Esdeath.
"Now, why did you co here?" he asked, smirking. "You’re not the hero type, are you?"
Esdeath gave a sweet, polite smile, but her words were like poison.
"Of course not. I’m here to rob the hell out of you."
Elara's clone was silent for a mont before he chuckled.
"You’re talking big about robbing when you don’t even know if you’ll make it out of here alive," he said with a smirk.
Esdeath tilted her head slightly, looking amused. "Oh, but I do know. You’ve already contacted your main body, and it’ll be here any minute now," she said casually.
Elara's clone’s confident expression stiffened.
Esdeath started pacing in a small circle, scratching her head dramatically.
"Oh no, oh no! I know that you can’t store your most valuable resources inside your storage essence stone right now. It would drain too much of your ntal energy, and you wouldn’t want that while you’re refining your essence stone, right?" she said, feigning panic.
She was absolutely right.
Storage-type essence stones could store almost anything, but the more powerful the object, the more ntal energy it consud also costs more mana when storing or taking out things. Right now, Elara’s clone was already using a huge amount of his concentration to refine his essence stone. If he tried to store sothing too big, it would weaken his focus and possibly ruin everything.
"But the basent is so big! By the ti I find your stuff, your main body will be here. Then I’ll be in trouble!" she said, pretending to be frustrated.
Elara’s clone smirked. He enjoyed seeing her looking so helpless.
But then—
Esdeath suddenly stopped moving. Her expression changed, and a slow, wicked smirk spread across her lips.
"Let make a guess, What if The most valuable stuff would be in storage room number 14?" she said, her voice filled with certainty. "Huh?...but There are so many storage cabinets there, but what if the one I’m looking for… is the blue cupboard with a small eagle statue on top?"
Elara’s clone froze. His face paled instantly.
Esdeath grinned.
"Oh, what if you have places a strong barrier around it, That also acts as a password type lock?," she said, pacing back and forth.
She tapped her chin again, pretending to think hard.
"What could the password be…?" she mused out loud, then clapped her hands together. "Oh! Let guess—it’s your daughter’s birthday, isn’t it? 1407?"
Elara’s clone’s face drained of all color. His body stiffened as if he had been struck by lightning.
"H-how… how do you know that?" he stamred.
Esdeath was absolutely right.
Elara had stored his most valuable resources in that exact place. He had even placed a space-type barrier on it, which acted as both a lock and a transporter. This way, he could access his resources anyti without needing to store them in his storage essence stone, avoiding unnecessary ntal strain.
But for Esdeath to know not only where it was but also the exact password… that was sothing he never expected.
For a mont, Elara's clone was completely stunned. But then, suddenly—
He started laughing.
"Hah! Do you really think you can outsmart ?" he sneered. "I’m the owner of that storage. I don’t need to open it manually like so common thief. I can summon everything inside it with just a single thought!"
"The pasword thing i only used so that if anyone else found it by chance, they shouldn't open it and they'll end up reporting , The principal hahaha.."
His eyes glead with confidence as he prepared to retrieve all of his treasures.
But the mont he tried—
His expression changed.
His confident smirk faded, replaced by confusion. His body stiffened slightly, and his fingers twitched as if trying to grasp sothing that wasn’t there.
Esdeath, who had been watching him closely, grinned.
"What’s wrong?" she teased, tilting her head. "You can’t get them?"
Her smirk deepened as she folded her arms across her chest.
"You think this is so kind of movie where I’ll reveal all my plans and then give you the chance to stop ?" Her voice was full of amusent.
"Of course, I already took it all. I didn’t even leave a speck of dust behind."
-----------------
Outside the academy, Lilith stood victorious.
The battlefield was covered in blood and dragon corpses. The once-mighty red dragons had all fallen. Only Vaelthara, the Dragon Queen, was still alive, but she was in no condition to fight anymore.
Lilith, now back in her child form, was barely standing. Her body was covered in wounds, and exhaustion weighed down on her like a heavy chain. The only thing keeping her on her feet was her sword, which she used for support.
She closed her eyes for a brief mont, mories flashing through her mind—
A promise.
A promise she made to the hero before his death.
"I will protect the peace of the kingdom," she had told him back then.
But now, looking at the destruction around her, she sighed.
"I couldn't protect it this ti… but I hope that from now on, everything will finally be at peace."
A tired smile ford on her lips.
She exhaled a long, weary breath.
"I can finally rest in peace."
But then—
A voice whispered in her ear.
"That's right, Ms. Lilith… rest in peace."
Her body relaxed at the words, as if accepting them.
But sothing was wrong.
That voice—
Her eyes widened.
It was Elara.
And he was standing right behind her, his sword already swinging toward her back.
"You!—" Lilith tried to move, but she was too slow.
The sword sliced through the air—
Swishhh—
Blood splattered.
Lilith’s eyes went wide, not in pain but in shock.
Not because Elara had turned out to be a traitor.
But because she wasn’t the one who got stabbed.
Soone else had stepped in front of her.
It was a won but totally opposite of how she looked.
Tall, muscular, mature looking with dark skin and short hair.
Maruti.
The sword had pierced her left side, just above her abdon.
She coughed violently, blood spilling from her lips.
"That motherfucker teleported here?… to die?" She gritted her teeth, her voice filled with anger and disbelief. "Fuck you, Naked man!"
Her knees buckled, and she fell to the ground, clutching her wound.
Not far away, Kaelith had seen everything.
She had been rushing toward the battlefield to help her mother, but now—
Her feet froze.
Her heart stopped.
Her eyes widened, and tears spilled down her cheeks uncontrollably.
"Maruti…" Her lips trembled, barely able to form words.
Lilith, still struggling to stand, smiled bitterly.
"You should have let die… I can’t fight him in this condition."
Maruti let out a weak, pained laugh, her voice slurred.
"Fuck… who wanted to save you…?"
But her words were gibberish, no one understood what she said.
Elara smirked, his expression filled with twisted amusent.
"She’s right," he said, his voice mocking. "Your actions don’t change anything."
But then, suddenly—
His expression shifted.
His brows furrowed, and his eyes narrowed.
"My clone is in danger?"
A silent signal from his other self had reached him.
"I need to hurry."
He turned away from Lilith and Maruti.
Instead of finishing them off, he set his sights on the strongest opponent here (At least right now)—
Kaelith.
Raising his hand, he pointed it at her.
"Ti Cutting Edge."
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