Chapter 317: The Shattered Shield
As soon as Evelyn reached the entrance of the academy, her eyes turned golden. A huge crack was spreading across the luminous light blue globe that surrounded the entire academy grounds.
Looking beyond it, her eyes widened at the sight before her. There were not ten or twenty. No. At least a hundred darkrots had gathered just outside the academy barrier.
"By the gods....how did so many get here?"
Professor Lupin stepped up beside her, staring in disbelief. The other professors who had rushed over stood frozen as they took in the scene.
Students had begun to crowd the entrance as well, and shock barely captured the weight of what they were witnessing.
Damien, Cece, and Edward pushed through the sea of people, finally reaching Evelyn.
"How?" Cece gasped.
Edward and Damien exchanged grim looks before their attention shifted past the mass of darkrots.
"The portal," Evelyn, Damien, and Edward said in unison.
Far behind the creatures, a massive portal swirled violently, nearly human in size. More darkrots continued to pour through, an endless stream, as though an army had been summoned for war.
Before anyone could react, the darkrots standing at the very front raised their arms once more. Darkstones pulsed in their grasp, oozing malevolent energy.
"Quickly! All lumens and sorcerers form shields and reinforce the barrier!" Professor Seira and Headmaster Charles roared in unison.
They were a second too late.
The darkrots unleashed another devastating attack. A thunderous explosion tore through the grounds, the force of it vibrating beneath their feet. The luminous globe fractured further, cracks spreading wildly across its surface.
Then came a sharp, dreadful crumbling sound.
With a deafening shatter, the barrier collapsed, leaving behind a massive, gaping hole.
"Repair the barrier immediately! Professors, protect the students!" the Headmaster bellowed, his eyes blazing bright red.
Professor Leo, Dante, Seira, and several others stepped forward without hesitation, taking their battle stances.
An instant later, the darkrots surged inward like a black tidal wave, flooding through the breach. Dark spells streaked through the air, colliding violently with the defenders standing before them.
Humans chanted spells to protect themselves while vampires elongated their claws, ready to attack the intruders. Some of the Lumens under the professors’ protection used their powers to close the barrier, while others joined the fight to defend the academy.
Damien, Cece, and Edward stuck close to Evelyn, ready to defend her. Since they had just returned from the market, they still carried the swords they had taken for protection before leaving.
But before any of the enemies could come close to Evelyn’s group, to everyone’s surprise, members of the Ignis Blades and King’s Guards appeared out of nowhere and clashed against the Darkrots. They were the warriors left by Ivan and Iskara to protect her for exactly this kind of situation.
Professors and students were taken aback by their presence, but they couldn’t relax just yet. The Darkrots kept pouring in as if someone had left a tap running.
Evelyn’s heart hammered against her ribs as magic burned in her chest to a painful degree, pleading to be set free to wreak havoc upon the creatures. However, with Damien, Cece, and Edward blocking her, she couldn’t afford to be reckless.
"Let me through, all three of you!" Evelyn demanded.
"No, Evelyn! You just recovered! We cannot let you push yourself like that again!" Cece replied as she took down a Darkrot that had slipped close to them.
"Cece! I can handle them! I need to do something to close the portal, otherwise this will never end!" Eve argued.
Damien sliced a couple of them down and added, "Your body cannot handle so much power if you use it now, Evelyn! Remember the healer’s words at the palace! We cannot risk it! Didn’t you promise Ivan that you’d take care of yourself?"
It was true. Before they left Dracoria Palace, Ivan had called for the royal physician to examine her. After a close inspection, the physician told them that the more she used her powers, the greater the toll they would take on her weak body.
She had been asked to limit her magic as much as possible so her body could slowly adapt. She needed training to strengthen her physical form in order to use her powers to their full potential, but how much training was enough, they were still unsure.
Eve huffed with restraint, having a hard time keeping her magic suppressed. With so many Darkrots nearby, her instinct to destroy them was calling to her, and she was finding it nearly impossible to hold back.
"Please! Let me! My magic....it’s demanding to come out! I-I cannot hold it in any longer!" Eve spoke with great restraint. All three of them turned slightly to look at her; she was sweaty and worn out, clearly struggling to hold back the tide.
In that brief moment of distraction, a Darkrot suddenly lunged at Damien. Before he could react, another man appeared and used a hand-blast to throw the Darkrot away.
Their eyes widened in surprise to see that the figure was none other than Prince Rowan. His body glowed with a red energy.....an unusual colour for a Lumen, but they couldn’t complain, as he had just saved Damien from a lethal blow.
"Well, well, well, if it isn’t my elusive partner, finally deciding to join the fray," Damien commented with a smirk.
Rowan glanced at him with a small smile before turning to attack more of the creatures.
"Of course I had to," Rowan replied. "I still need you to help me get through the exams."
Damien let out a small chuckle before looking back at Evelyn over his shoulder. "Just hold back a little longer. Step in only if you see us being pushed back."
Evelyn clenched her fists so tight that her knuckles turned white. She finally managed to reply, as she didn’t want any of them to be distracted by her and end up getting injured or worse.
"I....I’ll try. Now please....concentrate....ahead!"
They could tell how much she was fighting her instincts, and all they could think of was ending this quickly before she would be forced to use her powers.
On the other side, Dante, Seira, and the others also fought hard. They maimed and clawed anyone who tried to approach the students, aided by the elite squads of both the Prince and the King.
"Ah, brings back memories, doesn’t it, Professor Seira?" Dante commented with a maniacal grin as he fought next to her.
"It sure does. I’m just not sure if they count as good ones," Seira replied while blasting off a couple of Darkrots with her potent spells.
"I must have missed one hell of a party," Leo added, a wide grin plastered across his face as he tackled a bunch of Darkrots with brute strength.
"I’d say you missed a hell of a show, Leo....but this isn’t far from what we witnessed in Dartmouth," Dante replied.
The battle raged on, and everyone fought with everything they had. Amidst the chaos, however, a group of darkrots remained outside the shattered barrier strangely.
Eve, already struggling to contain the magic within herself, felt a familiar pulse of dark energy from outside the barrier. It was the same energy she had felt in Dartmouth and at the mountain when she visited her mother’s grave.
All at once, her golden eyes turned toward a scream that ripped from the throat of one of the King’s Guards. She watched in horror as a huge creature tore the man apart with its sharp claws as if he were nothing.
Her eyes widened, and she whispered, "No! A Nocthrax..."
It was the very same creature from hell that Valen had turned into. But to her horror, there was not just one, but three of them being summoned from a circle created by the Darkrots who had abstained from the fight.
That time, Ivan had been the one to fight the Nocthrax alone. But now, with three of them, there was no way anyone could defeat these creatures without proper training or specialised weapons.
Not only were they incredibly fast and powerful, but they also regenerated their limbs instantly, unless struck with pure light magic.
Furthermore, Eve remembered that their claws could corrupt anyone they touched, just as Valen had tried to corrupt Ivan during their battle.
Students and professors who had been pushing hard against the invaders began to fall back at the sight of the grotesque creatures. After seeing the royal guard torn into pieces like rice paper, their courage broke.
Soon, the academy turned into absolute chaos. People screamed and fled for their lives while the three Nocthrax launched themselves through the barrier to tear more victims apart.
They caught two more of the King’s Guards, shredding them before heading straight for the students.
Just in that moment, something in Evelyn finally snapped.
Her restraints were broken, and she was... angry.
So. Very. Angry.
All at once, the power she had been holding back for the sake of her loved ones surged exponentially. Those still fighting felt the fine hairs on the napes of their necks stand up as the air grew heavy with a static charge. Then the ground trembled, and Evelyn disappeared from behind the protection of Damien and the others.
