Chapter 467 153 - Plan in motion (part 1)
"Let me go."
The dark-skinned girl with gray hair and eyes glared up at the towering figure of a cold-faced gold-haired woman.
"No."
The gold-haired woman responded indifferently, unbothered by the carnage happening behind her back.
Although she wasn't caring about anything, the gray-haired girl certainly was.
"Bellcephora, those are my students...! Let. Me. Go!"
Aspakeony growled gritting her teeth, watching in horror how fifteen first-year students were showcasing a splendid show of magic, far above the strength of average magicians – and still were losing to two fire sages facing them hand in hand.
"Those are only some summon-type spells inhabiting corpses. What's the big deal?"
The woman called Bellcephora shrugged her shoulders and sighed without looking back.
"They are self-aware! They have a conscience! They have every right to stay alive!"
The gray-haired necromancer called out with tears in her eyes and struggled fruitlessly as shackles made out of whitish mana crystal were chaining her down to the ground while also stopping her from using any spells.
"The success of my lady's plan doesn't depend on them."
Bellcephora responded indifferently.
"You...! You blind buffoon! They are the summon spells of the boy that the young princess has chosen! They would eventually aid him in completing her plan! That's the same as being essential for the plan!"
Aspakeony growled, furiously pulling on the crystal chain that had no chance of breaking just with her physical strength alone.
"No. They are not. My lady shared her will with me. That boy will die if he will continue using magic, and she doesn't want that. Even if those people here didn't lure them out to kill them, I would have dealt with them soon enough."
The gold-haired woman declared, causing the gray-haired necromancer to freeze in place, staring at her with her mouth open.
*WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO*
The joint attack of two fire sages exploded into the sky as a massive pillar of the raging inferno reached and evaporated the clouds.
When the fire has subdued, there were only seven people wearing burnt uniforms left. Standing.
"!!!!"
Aspekeony felt as if her heart had broken in half.
Sentinels or not, corpse puppets or not, those were her students.
The students who were taken away from the Academy, and who she followed in order to save.
But with the appearance of Bellcephora, the proxy of presence – the closest being to god that their mana-filled world had – taken away her magic and forced her to watch them die.
"You are lying...! Even if the second princess doesn't want Zoemi to use magic anymore – she would not want to kill anything or anyone! I know how she was when she was alive! She was a kind and gentle girl, and would not...!"
Aspakeony tried a different approach, as she spoke another three puppets died in the unforgiving fire burning white with its hellish heat.
"You knew her when she was alive. Do you know what happened to her after she died? After her true power awakened and she was thrown outside of the time and then pulled back to the beginning of all creation? You speak with the experience of living through mere millennia – my lady was forced to live in solitude for eons. Do not even dare to suggest that you know her."
When the gray-haired necromancer paused, overwhelmed by more deaths, the gold-haired woman scoffed, for the first time changing her indifferent expression. Her face was twisted with disdain and disgust.
"Bellcephora...! Please...!"
Aspakeony cried, biting her lips so hard that blood started dripping down her chin.
"What plan does she have?! She is now so powerful that she can do anything! Why does she need Zoemi for?! And why does she need those children to die?!"
The gray-haired girl wield as another puppet was claimed by the flames.
"You alone would be enough to complete anything too! Stop this! Or let me so I can stop them!"
She continued, but her words fell on deaf ears.
"...both me and my lady are far from omnipotent... there are things that neither of us can do – my lady reversed times so many times trying to save herself... She failed every time. You are not aware of it, but this is not the first time the two of us have had this very conversation. I am tired already, and I stopped carrying. Ah. Close your ears."
"..."
Bellcephora's response ended up shutting Aspakony up.
And then there were only two puppets left...
---------
"(Thitreen, Teenfif – we can...!)"
"SHUT UP! WE DON'T HAVE CONTACT WITH MASTER AND THOSE FUCKERS ARE AFTER ALL OF US! RUN! GET SO HIGH INTO THE SKY OR SO DEEP INTO THE GROUND THAT THEY WILL NEVER FIND YOU! THAT'S AN ORDER!"
The free-roaming sentinels called out to the moss-green-haired boy and the amaranth-haired girl, but the boy roared at them as his body shone like copper as the flames crushed against him.
"(But if we all attack them together...!)"
"THEN WE WILL ALL DIE! IDIOTS! WITHOUT CONNECTION WITH MASTER, YOUR MANA DOESN'T REGENERATE! ONLY THE TWO SENTINELS THAT ARE GUARDING HIM COULD USE MANA FROM NATURE, SO AS LONG AS YOU CAN NOT DO THE SAME – JUST FUCK OFF AND RUN!"
The other sentinels in their innocence tried to be helpful, but that only sparked more anger from Thitreen.
"Boss... I cannot regenerate man without drinking blood... and I've already spent my mana... just... leave me and run too..."
Teenfif, the amaranth-haired girl whom Thitreen was protecting from the flames with his own body, spoke up in a shaky voice.
"Shut up, it's Thitreen. Moron."
The moss-green boy scoffed at her without looking back.
"...boss... everyone else is dead... our old gang members... the corpse puppets that were born from the monks... There's no reason to sacrifice yourself for me... please... save yourself..."
Teenfif muttered, trying to crawl closer to Thitreen, but it was far too difficult to do with both legs and left hand charred into stumps.
"I told you to shut up. I am not going to leave you."
The moss-green-haired boy scoffed and narrowed his eyes as the flames finally subsided.
"Aww. Look at the little corpse puppet, they are so in love~ In your place, I would be cursing that master of yours. If he wasn't so convenient to put all the blame on, we would never attack you."
A handsome crimson-haired man waved his hand, chasing the remaining flames away, approaching the pair.
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