Chương 91: Running From Ryland

Ryland viewed the piece of himself through [Omniscience] and didn't find anything untoward about it. It wasn't being used as part of any complicated Glyphtech devices nor was it tied to some kind of Relic or other. In fact, it wasn't even close to the Prime Minister, who had surprisingly already made his appearance at the academy.

"I don't see anything concerning about it yet," Ryland said.

"It isn't even in the near vicinity, as I was expecting. And hoping, admittedly." The Oracle was standing before the group of Enforcers who were one and all shellacked after everything that had gone on. She was berating them soundly, decrying the lengths to which they had gone to in an effort to accomplish their misguided goals.

"And I will send prayers up to the Great Gods," she was saying.

"Asking for them to smite you all, asking for their curses to shrivel your entire order, asking for them to assist those you've so callously treated. Shame on you. Shame on all of you. Shame on your leader most of all for orchestrating and allowing this to occur." The High Warden still looked like he wanted to say something about all that but was clearly holding himself back from doing so. What a respectful fellow.

"Apologies," the Oracle eventually said as she turned to face Ryland.

"I merely wanted to ensure that the Enforcers do not believe that they can escape this without consequences."

"We were doing as we were bidden," the Senior Enforcer who appeared to be the group's spokesperson said.

"Our orders were harsh, but we did our utmost to carry them out as our duty dictated."

"Spare me the speeches. This is not the Royal Court." She dismissed them entirely before coming to a stop before Ryland, who was contemplating bringing in the piece of himself to prove that the Oracle's worries of a Calamity arising were unfounded.

"Please, go on, Ryland." He glanced over. Honestly, he was of half a mind to send the Enforcers right where he had sent Sokolo Dyron. But where the Empyrean-ranked mage would survive more or less, a group whose strongest was possibly not even Titan-ranked yet would find it a lot more difficult to come out alive. So, he restrained himself.

"As I was saying," he said, turning to the Oracle approaching him.

"There appears to be nothing wrong. The only minor worry is that the connection is still overpoweringly strong."

"The connection?" the Oracle asked with a little frown. Her face was entirely visible now, thanks to the fact that she had pulled her hood back. And though her eyes were still blindfolded as per tradition, her brows still spelled out her frown quite well.

"What do you mean?"

"The connection that Sokolo Dyron was using to draw magic through the piece of me. That connection. I believed that [Translocating] him to a different Realm would sever it, but it seems that wasn't the case. It's more powerful than I had assumed."

"Is that a problem?"

"Not particularly. Well, it isn't a problem for me. But once I've absorbed myself, then the power drawn through the connection will grow exponentially stronger within moments. And that may pose a problem for Dyron."

"Well… as you said, that doesn't sound like an actual problem for us, now does it?" Ryland shook his head with a short laugh.

"It does not. Which means we can begin and still get out in time to enjoy all the preparations I helped with." The Enforcers and the High Warden both looked a bit chagrined at that, which was good. Ryland just cast [Translocate] and brought the piece of himself floating before him.

"Necklace" was certainly an apt description from certain perspectives. The thing was indeed long strands that could be worn around one's neck, though it would probably be the ugliest piece of jewellery one could ever fathom. For it was indeed strands of muscle and ligaments, a faint reddish-pink the colour of meat. Well, it technically was meat. Just not edible, if one didn't entertain cannibalistic fantasies.

"See," Ryland said.

"It appears to be rather harmless." The Oracle took a good long time to investigate the necklace. She even murmured out a few spells, golden light emanating off her form and glints of her magic alighting on the piece of Ryland. But nothing really happened.

"I will concede that my worries may not necessarily be something to heed in this instance," she said.

"You don't mind being proven wrong yet again?" the High Warden asked. It appeared he was unable to hold himself back forever. Honestly, Ryland was thankful. He was intending to ask much the same thing too.

"I am not wrong," she said confidently.

"At least, not about what will transpire. And being wrong in terms of time is good. As I've said, my only real intention is to stop anything devastating from occurring. If my being wrong means a Calamity isn't arising, then I will be happy to be wrong a thousand times if necessary." Hmm. Ryland could appreciate that perspective. She was right.

Unlike the Enforcers who were callously dogged in their pursuit of their goals, or Dyron who was just using security and protection as excuses for his own gains, the Oracle was at least sincere. Not faultless, but at least with her heart in the right place. Seemingly. She could perhaps develop a bit more tact and so on. But that was at the less harmful end of faults, truth be told.

"I will take care of this piece, then," Ryland said. Just like with the nail from Nailined Dungeon a few months ago, he began the process of reintegrating the piece of himself back with his being. The problem with reclaiming old pieces of his first body was that he no longer had a form where he was slowly building himself back up again. So instead, just as with the nail back in the dungeon, he created a Glyph from it.

[Achievement Recognized: Glyphic Absorption You have converted a piece of yourself, imbued with the power of aeons, into a Glyph now integrated with your manasoul. A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. Rank up from Adamantine [77] to Adamantine [83]. Reward: Glyph of Banishment. Imbued magic evolves Glyph to Tier [20].] Hmm. Evolved only to Tier [20]. It wasn't terrible, but it wasn't anything amazing either. Not that he needed it to send anyone anywhere.

"All done?" The Oracle had her brows raised in slight surprise. It was odd to see her making those expressions when she was wearing a blindfold.

"You—" Everything started shaking. They all tensed. Ryland frowned as the Oracle twisted around, looking back the way they had all arrived. The Enforcers were all staring like meerkats as well. He could tell their immediate impulse was to investigate the tremors, but they were remaining still out of respect for the more powerful mages present.

"This isn't part of the celebrations, is it?" the Oracle asked dubiously.

"I understand there might be a propensity for things to go overboard, but these tremors are powerful." And unending. It had gone on for a little too long. Ryland used his Soul Glyph of Sundering on the suppression keeping his hearing from listening to too much all the time. The Tier [23] Glyph of Detection was unleashed, and now, a storm of noise erupted inside Ryland's head. He needed a few seconds to parse all the auditory information before he could finally locate the source of the tremors.

It wasn't their source that troubled him. Rather, it was the screams and shrieks accompanying the sounds that had his heart beating faster.

"Something is going on," the Oracle said gravely, clearly having sensed something awful with her own magic.

"Indeed," Ryland said.

"I will go check. I may not return. [Translocate]." His rift opened in a blink and deposited him right where the noise was loudest. He found himself surrounded by chaos. It was one thing to be able to decipher and separate multiple strands of audible information. Wholly another to submerse oneself physically into the pandemonium and hope to make sense of things. Ryland took it all in within seconds. Students were running every which way, many of them not even guided by any Academs or sub-Academs.

Said Academs were themselves battling against the chaos futilely. Labourers were dashing away from work sites, Wardens were desperately trying to get a grip on the chaos, and magic was flying everywhere. There was no point in staring when nothing was clear. He needed to find someone." [Omniscience]," he incanted quickly. Ryland couldn't hold back a curse. There was so much going on, finding his target proved almost impossible. Everything was a mess. Why was nearly everyone throwing spells in every which direction?

Who was the perpetrator behind all this? With difficulty, Ryland managed to locate Acrypha fighting against a… a labourer? He was about to rift straight to her side, even though she was admirably holding her own, but something else caught his eyes. Someone was being taken. Someone familiar. Someone who had— Who had set himself aflame. Screams rang out but Ryland wasn't listening as he rifted to the man with his burning captive.

For all that his hand was on fire too, the so-called labourer hadn't released the struggling boy. He was all too alert.

"You!" he shouted." [Entropic Ingestion]," Ryland replied in answer, his Soul Glyph of Energy burning to life in his spell circle's centre. All the energy around him gathered to one location. Most of that was heat energy, but he was gathering up a lot of the chemical and potential energy too, as well as light and sound. Most importantly, the flames all over Viren snuffed out. All of it gathered in one spot, right on Ryland's outstretched palm.

"A-activate the Relic!" the man screamed as temperatures dropped, as light dimmed, and as his own voice didn't go far." [Void Seal]." Yet, the man's voice went far enough. His spell was already activating, but surprisingly, it wasn't enough. Ryland was actually taken aback. Just as the rifts enclosed both him and his target, the man simply disappeared. Taking Viren with him. Activate the Relic, he had said. What kind of powerful Relic had they gotten their hands on that would have allowed this?

He defused [Void Seal]. While everything was still chaotic, the spray of magic being flung everywhere was dying down. It took a moment, but Ryland was able to note the signs that suggested the man hadn't disappeared alone. The Wardens weren't chasing anyone, several people were petrified in stunned disbelief, and things were slowly calming down. For all the perpetrators of this massive debacle had vanished just as the one bearing Viren had. Ryland's heart was beating very fast.

He didn't want to waste a second longer than he needed to. It was starting to slowly eat away at him that Viren had been taken right in front of his eyes. He tried not to let that sit in his head. If anger was one thing Ryland wouldn't let sway his decisions, then so were things like panic and guilt. After all, he had determined that such emotions were rather selfish. He had to make the right choice, regardless of the circumstance.

And while he could immediately start looking for Viren with [Omniscience], there might be better options. Which he went about finding for the time being. The first person he arrived next to was Alaric. Sadly, the Headmaster wasn't alone. There was a group of people there with him. A group of incredibly powerful mages all surrounding not the Headmaster, but someone else. The person who was obviously the centrepiece behind this entire event.

Of course, appearing right before the Prime Minister of Androvia had certain consequences. The other mages around him all aimed their magic right at Ryland. Powerful magic at that. It was no surprise that everyone surrounding Klyne Faldor was at least Titan-ranked, if not higher.

"Ryland!" Alaric said quickly before anyone unleashed their spells. Not that anyone was going to cast terribly powerful magic when the Prime Minister was so close.

"Alaric," Ryland said. His voice was clipped. Fast. He had already wasted enough time.

"Do you know who attacked? Or where they went?" One of the other mages, a Sentinel, stepped forward before Alaric could answer.

"What is the meaning of this? Headmaster, why is a sub-Academ—" The Prime Minister loudly cleared his throat. This was the first time Ryland was seeing the man, though he didn't feel like taking much in. The same ostentatious getup, the same medals and jewellery, the kind of bearing one would expect from the most powerful figure in not just Androvian but Vyrdian politics.

"I know you," he said. Ryland arched an eyebrow, then turned to the Headmaster.

"Alaric. Answer me now. Before something worse happens." Something worse, Alaric mouthed. The others present were all spluttering at the sheer disrespect of the Prime Minister. But before they could express their outrage, Alaric took advantage of their shock to speak quickly.

"We don't know the details," Alaric said.

"But it appears that some… insurgents sneaked in, disguised as labourers for the celebration program."

"Terrorists!" the Sentinel growled.

"Would-be assassins!" said another with growing fury. A few of the others were dealing with the arrival of more people. One Sentinel was speaking with a gaggle of Wardens, including the High Warden, while another was keeping some Academs distant from the Prime Minister. Several more were busy creating a magical barrier around them all. Ryland didn't pay them any mind, focusing entirely on his goal.

"Where did they go?"

"I don't know for certain," Alaric said.

"But I received a message from a group of Mage Knights who are already on hot pursuit."

"Where?" Ryland asked, trying not to sound testy.

"34th District. Mage Knights Bruten, Ophelia—""Ophelia. Alright, that will be enough. Thank you."

"Ryland, wait! Do you have any idea what happened here? This security breach shouldn't have happened the way it did. Something broke. Something disappeared. And then this happened. We're still trying to find the culprit!" All the others who were looking at Ryland with some amount of hostility, who were only holding themselves back from trying to apprehend him because of the presence of the Prime Minister, looked a little confused.

Maybe they were befuddled at why Headmaster Alaric was almost subservient to him in their current circumstances.

"I think you should ask this man," Ryland said." [Translocate]." A rift snapped open. Several people shouted out in warning, while others erected barriers around both themselves and the Prime Minister.

"We have a magic suppression field," the Sentinel shouted.

"How did you—" The Prime Minister cut him off.

"Is that you, Dyron?" Ryland didn't wait any longer. Things had already spiralled far worse than he could have anticipated. And by the sound of things, it was at least partly because he had decided to absorb a piece of himself." [Translocate]," he cast again, and disappeared.