ShadowBound: The Need For Power

Chapter 775: Oddy Exhausted

After leaving the Headmaster’s office, Liam made his way back through the administration wing with the same calm pace he had carried when entering it, his expression unchanged and his steps unhurried, as if he had not just sat across from a man who had admitted to a decades-long obsession with dark magic.

The halls were quiet around him, the formal stillness of the administrative section slowly giving way to the livelier sounds of the academy as he crossed back toward the student areas.

Anyone who passed him saw only the usual Liam Hunter: silent, detached, and difficult to read. None of them would have known that his thoughts were still arranging Thion’s words into separate pieces, turning each one over quietly to decide which parts were useful, which were dangerous, and which were likely meant to draw a reaction from him.

By the time he reached the library, he had already placed the conversation aside on the surface, though not truly out of his mind. The library was much calmer than the cafeteria or courtyard had been, with rows of shelves rising beneath warm magical lamps and scattered students seated at long tables with books open in front of them.

Some were actually studying. Others were clearly only pretending while speaking in hushed voices. Liam ignored them all and headed toward the section he knew too well now, passing between several tall shelves until he reached the exact place where he had found the unofficial Berserker book weeks earlier.

He stopped in front of the shelf and looked at the narrow gap where the book had once been.

For a moment, he simply stood there.

Then the shadows near his hand shifted faintly.

The old book slipped out of his Void storage without sound, its worn cover appearing in his grasp as if it had been waiting there the entire time. Liam looked at it once, feeling the weight of everything that small, unofficial text had indirectly caused. It had not forced him into the eastern forest. It had not made him fight the Berserker. Those decisions had been his.

But it had been one of the sparks. One piece of knowledge that had connected with his curiosity, then with Charlotte’s warning, then with the frustration he had not properly addressed.

He placed the book back on the shelf.

It slid into place neatly, becoming once again just another old volume hidden among many others.

After that, Liam turned and walked away.

He knew where Dylan would likely be. If Dylan had made it to the library at all, he would not be alone for long. Sure enough, Liam eventually found him seated at one of the wider tables near the middle section, surrounded by Maxwell, Ariana, and Charlotte.

Dylan was standing rather than sitting, one hand on the table and the other moving dramatically as he recounted something with far more energy than accuracy required.

"I am telling you," Dylan said, his voice barely restrained enough for the library, "the little first year nearly called his honor into question and somehow survived. I have never seen such compact suicidal confidence. She looked Liam straight in the eye and basically said, ’Are you not a man of your word?’ I thought we were about to witness either a spar or a funeral."

Charlotte was leaning back in her chair with one leg crossed over the other, smiling like she had already decided she enjoyed the story. Maxwell sat beside her with his arms folded, looking amused in a quieter way, while Ariana had one hand near her mouth as if she was trying not to laugh too obviously in a library. When Liam approached the table, Charlotte noticed him first, her eyes lighting up with immediate mischief.

"Well, well," Charlotte said, turning slightly in her chair. "There he is. Our disappearing shadow prince finally returns to civilization."

Dylan turned with a grin. "Perfect timing. I was just giving them the heroic version of my day."

Liam looked at him. "Your day?"

"I was present. That makes it my day too."

Maxwell chuckled and looked at Liam with a faint grin. "Welcome back. Apparently, you have started collecting first-year rivals now."

"I have not," Liam said, taking an empty seat without much ceremony.

"That’s what all mysterious seniors say before the younger students start following them around for guidance," Maxwell replied. "Give it two weeks. She’ll probably be waiting outside training halls and glaring at anyone who says your name wrong."

Charlotte placed a hand against her chest with exaggerated offense. "Excuse me, I was already doing the dramatic waiting and name-related glaring first."

"You do not glare at people for saying his name wrong," Dylan said.

"No," Charlotte agreed smoothly. "I glare at them for having poor taste in how they talk about him."

Ariana lowered her eyes slightly, smiling despite herself, then looked toward Liam with gentle concern. "Are you all right? Dylan said you sparred right after being called out of the cafeteria. You are still recovering, aren’t you?"

Liam glanced at her. Ariana was trying to speak normally, but the familiar nervous softness around him was still there, that careful hesitation that made her seem as though she wanted to ask more but did not want to overstep. It was not fear exactly. More like a shy concern that became more obvious whenever his attention turned fully toward her.

"I’m fine," Liam said.

Ariana nodded, though she clearly did not fully believe him. "That is good."

Charlotte leaned forward, resting her chin lightly on one hand. "You know, bae, if you keep telling people you are fine when you look like you fought a forest and then argued with sleep itself, someone might eventually stop believing you."

"People already do," Liam said.

"And yet you continue."

"It saves time."

Dylan pointed at him. "See? This is why the first year thinks he is cool. He says things like that with no effort."

Maxwell laughed. "Unfortunately, he does."

Liam let the conversation move around him after that. Dylan continued explaining the spar with Gabby, this time adding his own commentary on Sasha’s shamelessness, Anna’s suffering, and Gabby’s "Asher Two-Point-Oh" potential. Maxwell found that far funnier than Liam expected, especially when Dylan described Gabby’s expression after being criticized.

Charlotte, naturally, focused on the part where Sasha had apparently flirted with Liam and was immediately rejected, calling it "tragic but educational." Ariana mostly listened, occasionally asking quieter questions about whether Gabby had been injured or whether Liam had actually given her advice.

The rest of the day passed more normally than Liam had expected.

They remained in the library for a while, though actual studying was limited. Dylan talked too much, Charlotte encouraged him when it amused her, Maxwell added dry comments whenever the opportunity appeared, and Ariana tried to maintain some sense of academic purpose despite slowly giving in to the group’s atmosphere.

Later, as evening approached, they moved toward dinner, where Sheila eventually joined them. Her arrival changed the energy of the table slightly, not in a bad way, but in a way Liam noticed immediately. Several nearby students glanced over at her with visible respect and warmth, and when she sat with the group, there was a natural ease in how people around them accepted her presence.

She looked less overwhelmed than she had during the ranking announcement, though Liam could still tell she was adjusting to the renewed attention.

Asher appeared not long after, looking as intense as ever and sitting with the group as if doing so was an act of endurance. He and Liam exchanged only a brief glance, but there was no hostility in it. Not exactly.

The conversation in the corridor had not fixed anything between them, but it had shaped the tension into something cleaner. Asher listened more than he spoke, occasionally reacting when Dylan said something stupid enough to force it, and Sheila, Ariana, Charlotte, and Maxwell carried much of the dinner conversation around them.

By the time the day finally ended, Liam felt strangely tired.

Not physically in the same way Nalim had exhausted him.

Something else.