Chương 112: CHAPTER 110: THE IRON GATES RATTLE

The three deafening emergency bell strokes hung heavy over the Royal Academy. Inside the courtyards, total chaos erupted. Hundreds of students dropped their spellbooks and glass vials, running toward the inner residential cloisters in sheer terror. Senior lecturers shouted conflicting orders, trying to herd younger pupils behind the reinforced quartz archways as the sky above turned a tense, static gray.

Down in the basement stairwell, Elder Vane and the department heads completely forgot about inspecting Shin's laboratory.

"The Vanguard is here," Elder Vane stammered, hitching up his purple silk robes and scrambling up the spiral stairs without looking back.

"Seal the administrative archives! Secure the upper treasury!" Valerius and the noble heirs stood their ground at the basement threshold. Inside the quiet laboratory, Shin set down his analytical forceps and wiped his hands with a clean linen cloth. Rudra checked the system map floating in his peripheral vision. Pura army leke aa gaye ek doctor ko arrest karne. (They brought an entire army just to arrest a single doctor.) Shin walked steadily out of the laboratory, passing through the iron doorway.

His twenty disciples fell into step right behind him, forming an organized, disciplined vanguard of their own as they ascended the stone stairs toward the open campus ground. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. They stepped out into the open courtyard. Just past the central gardens, five massive, rune-plated imperial war-carriages came to an abrupt, screeching halt before the academy's grand wrought-iron gates.

The heavy steel-shod wheels ground into the cobblestones, leaving deep gouges in the pavement. CLANK. Rows of heavily armored Imperial Vanguard legionnaires marched into formation, their black iron shields locking together to create an impenetrable barricade across the street. Behind them, mechanical winches hissed with steam as four war-carriages deployed wide, bronze dish arrays. HUM. The dish arrays began to glow with a sharp, distorted silver light.

Invisible waves of mana-dispersion fields swept across the manicured lawns, instantly cutting off the ambient magic in the air and shutting down the floating lanterns lining the campus pathways. The defensive barrier around the central lecture halls flickered twice before collapsing completely under the suppressing frequency. Panic reached a boiling point among the gathered faculty standing along the grand terrace. Then, the massive iron lock on the central gate groaned. CREAK.

A formal imperial override seal blazed on the outer lock, melting the warding spells into sizzling molten gold. The towering gates ground open with a heavy, metallic shriek, parting down the middle. Heavy, armored boots struck the flagstones in a slow, deliberate cadence. THUD. A towering figure stepped through the breached gates into the academy courtyard. He wore midnight-blue plate armor etched with the golden eagle crest of the Imperial Enforcement Bureau.

Over his broad shoulders rested a heavy wolf-fur mantle. In his right hand, he carried a set of heavy nullification shackles forged from black abyssal iron, the links glowing with faint, cold suppression runes. Commander Leon surveyed the terrified students and trembling faculty with hard, merciless eyes before locking his gaze straight onto Shin. Commander Leon raised the iron shackles, his voice booming across the silent courtyard like a clap of thunder.

"By direct decree of the Imperial Crown and the Grand Inquisitor, all research authority in this institution is revoked! Surrender the fugitive surgeon immediately, or the Vanguard will raze this campus to the ground!"