The next day, Sylutia and Carmilla left the cave, preparing to rendezvous with their two teammates.
However, they hadn't gone far before they were stopped by that Blood Clan member who had disappeared for so long.
“Your Highness, you’ve made me look everywhere for you.” His violet-red eyes held a hint of sinister charm as his gaze locked onto Carmilla as she emerged.
“But... why does your aura feel so weak? And so unfamiliar?” He couldn’t sense any Blood Clan presence from Carmilla at all.
“Did you use some special secret technique? Something to hide the characteristics and aura of a Blood Clan member?”
Neither of them answered him. Sylutia simply raised her hand, and strands of silver threads materialized around her, completely enveloping both herself and Carmilla like a silver sphere.
“You dare to resist?” The Blood Clan Baron’s figure flashed through the air before plummeting downward, his hidden claws easily tearing apart the silver sphere.
Logically speaking, as a Fourth Tier facing a Third Tier mage, this should have been an effortless victory. Unfortunately, he had left early that day and hadn’t witnessed what happened to Viscount Norin. If he had, he wouldn’t be so arrogant and careless.
As the silver sphere of threads shattered, a sharp silver sword blade thrust out. Its body was covered in intricate patterns, and it sliced clean through the Blood Clan member’s wrist.
The sudden, searing pain jolted the Blood Clan Baron awake. He immediately transformed into a blood shadow to escape, then hovered in midair, looking down at the two below.
Carmilla was now extremely weak, only at the Second Tier. The young woman beside her was merely Third Tier, but the silver sword in her hand gave him a faint sense of danger.
Now, he began to take things seriously.
Blood churned and twisted as his severed wrist regenerated and healed. Then, a dark red blood orb formed in his hand, pulsing like a heartbeat.
“Thump.” When the blood orb contracted, a strange pulse spread through the air, causing Sylutia’s blood to stagnate. Carmilla stumbled, her heart twisting in agony.
The Blood Clan spells she could easily resist before were now terrifyingly dangerous for her.
Seeing this, Sylutia didn’t hesitate. She pressed her finger against the badge on her chest. Violent air currents rose, and seconds later, black feathers danced as the phantom of a massive griffin materialized, shielding them both.
The griffin then soared into the sky, charging at the Blood Clan member at top speed. Its wings spread wide, and dark golden patterns flickered across its feathers before it accelerated further.
Caught off guard, even with his rapid movement, the Blood Clan member couldn’t dodge the griffin’s lock-on. The griffin’s sharp claws left deep gashes across his body, nearly tearing him apart.
But these seemingly horrific wounds couldn’t kill a Blood Clan member outright. Ten-odd seconds later, the Blood Clan member reappeared in the air, intact, though his face was noticeably paler.
He could indeed reconstitute his body, but there was a cost. He couldn’t do it as easily and casually as the Fifth-Tier Viscount Norin.
In the sky, the griffin traced a massive arc. As it turned, air currents clashed, its sharp eyes fixed on the Blood Clan Baron below. It let out a long cry, flapping its wings. With each beat, the swirling winds in the sky grew more violent.
Finally, the spinning currents seemed to solidify. As the griffin dove again, it left a long, rippling trail of air in its wake.
At the griffin’s front, the rapidly advancing air was compressed into a triangular arrowhead, hurtling toward the target—the Blood Clan member.
Facing this, the Blood Clan Baron sensed trouble. He twisted his body, turning into a streamlined blood shadow, thinking that with his rapid position changes, the diving griffin, at such high speed, would be unable to adjust its trajectory and would be forced to strike at empty air.
But reality was different. The black griffin accelerated a second time during its dive. White air trails tore from the tips of its wings. Its speed increased by thirty percent, and then, in mid-flight, it accelerated a third time. By now, the Blood Clan Baron could no longer lock onto the approaching griffin.
The originally black griffin transformed into a streak of white light, its speed reaching terrifying levels. Like a flash of flowing brilliance, it swept past, its body and wings alone tearing the Blood Clan member into a spray of blood and fragments.
Half a minute later, the griffin’s speed gradually slowed, and its form began to fade and dissipate as its power was exhausted.
It was then that Sylutia took Carmilla’s hand and appeared in the air again, gazing down at the scattered blood mist below.
These blood mist particles were still slowly gathering together. Seeing that the Blood Clan Baron was about to recover, she thought for a moment. Reaching out her palm, she used intangible force to control the blood mist, pulling it into a vortex and absorbing it all. Finally, a blood-red gem slowly condensed into being, and within it, a twisting, struggling figure could be seen.
[Blood Essence Gem] (Fourth Tier · Rare): A purified and condensed crystallization of a Fourth-Tier Blood Clan’s blood. The victim’s soul is also sealed within. It can be used for high-level rituals or as sustenance for beings capable of absorbing the power of ‘Bloodline.’
During the final days of the Blood Dynasty, internal strife was endless, and methods for targeting and absorbing one’s own kind appeared frequently. The secret technique of condensing a foe into a ‘Blood Essence Gem’ was mastered by the royal clan.
Carmilla looked at the gem in the young woman’s hand, her expression one of surprise and admiration.
“Hedra learns quickly. I’ve tried this secret technique before, but the gems I condensed were slightly inferior in quality.”
“Uh, actually, it was just a flash of inspiration.” Sylutia looked at the gem in her hand, suddenly feeling a bit troubled.
After all, it was a living being. Having it just devoured like this felt a bit cruel. She should have just killed it and been done with it. Why trap its soul inside a gem?
Oh well. She’d seal it in the pages of the Picture Book for now and feed it to that Evil Eye later. Maybe she could trade it for some strange treasure from the Astral Plane.
She put the gem away. By now, Carmilla had grown accustomed to the various strange methods Hedra displayed.
Half a day later, the two met up with Kaelan and Jegas. Carmilla then explained the entire situation to them.
“At that time, I felt something was wrong with my body. I started developing some unusual traits. Later, I realized these traits were exactly like those of a Blood Clan member.”
“I suspected someone had secretly placed an unknown curse or used a secret potion on me to turn me into a Blood Clan member, which made me very uncomfortable at the time.”
“Since I wasn’t clear on the specifics, and I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to explain myself clearly if I reported it, I tried to undo the transformation on my own. I rented a place outside the academy to brew some potions.”
“Later, probably because they discovered I was trying to save myself, those two Blood Clan members found me and chased me all the way, until I finally escaped into this secret realm to hide.” Carmilla explained, using the excuse she had just thought up.
Though there were still some questionable points, their goal was to retrieve Carmilla. Verifying the truth or falsehood of her story would be handled by other professionals from the ‘Review Hall.’
A few days later, the four found a residual spatial rift within the secret realm. They reactivated the communication device, letting Burne outside the realm activate the magic array. The array pulled the four through the spatial rift, and they returned to the surface of the continent.
Seeing that everything outside was normal and that no other Blood Clan reinforcements had arrived, the group breathed a sigh of relief. Under Jegas’s lead, they quickly left the area.
Two days later, the group returned to Gras College. The tracking mission had finally come to an end.
What followed was the tedious process of investigation and verification. During this time, the four gave their respective accounts of the process and their experiences. Since Sylutia was from an outside academy and wasn’t convenient to participate, she could only wait at the college.
Ten days later, a slightly weary Carmilla walked out of the Review Hall. She told Sylutia that she had been cleared of suspicion and could resume her normal classes and studies.
“Actually, there were some people in the Review Hall who were skeptical of my story at first. Luckily, Instructor Kuland came by and spoke up for me. On top of that, they couldn’t prove I had any traces of Blood Clan characteristics, so it just fizzled out in the end.”
“You’ve been through a lot.” Sylutia embraced her to comfort her for a moment. Then, the two went to visit that instructor again.
Arriving at the quiet office, the old man smiled as he listened to their thanks. He had them sit down, asked a few simple questions, and then let them leave.
After the two had gone, Jegas walked over from the adjacent room.
“Is that it for the investigation, Instructor Kuland?”
“You should have been able to guess. Carmilla’s identity is that of a Blood Clan member.”
“Yes, I already knew the outcome when I saw that note,” the old man said as he brewed a cup of tea for the man in front of him and placed it on the table.
“But why?” Jegas asked in a slow voice, looking at the tea leaves drifting in the water.
“Why, you mean letting Carmilla go, not exposing her identity?”
“First, although she concealed her identity, she never harbored any malice. When faced with this life-and-death crisis, she chose to escape alone, not using the academy’s connections or her status to do evil.”
“Second, since she has fought with the personnel sent by the Blood Clan Royal Court, that means she has already broken with them and cannot go back. Why would we need to hunt her down to the bitter end?”
“Finally, she has a very good friend. That young woman named Hedra is now the Chief of Tetis College, and she even advanced using a ‘Mithril Astronomical Clock.’” He added extra emphasis on the last part.
“Mithril Astronomical Clock?” Jegas’s tone rarely shifted.
“So that’s how it is... That doesn’t seem so surprising anymore.” His attitude began to change.
“His Majesty of the Clock School once said that his successor must advance using the Mithril Astronomical Clock. If they can reach Fifth Tier within ten years of advancing, they will be qualified to inherit his teachings and be accepted as a personal student.”
“This standard attracted many geniuses from Tetis College in the past. Unfortunately, many failed, and as time went on, fewer and fewer people mentioned it.”
“But some people are different. You and I should both understand this. To struggle and fight against a Fifth-Tier Blood Clan noble at the Third Tier—that is a remarkable display of talent and power.”
“She has a very high chance of becoming that rare exception. And once she truly becomes that person’s student... in the future...”
“Perhaps she will ultimately be the one to command the entire Mage Alliance.”
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