Smiley grit his teeth as the chaotic red energy cut into his foot, but he continued to suppress any sign of it. He grown used to pain, and even mocked it, thinking it paled in comparison to the workouts he’d put himself through on a daily basis.
Though nothing could compare to the parasite when it dug into his neck, which was placed there by Sylvia, the so-called parasite queen. It was his own little inbuilt kill-switch, keeping his life in their hands. As if being trapped here wasn’t enough.
Smiley leaned against the wall while watching the world crumble. Blazing fires swept through the forest, only stopped by rifts of void, pockets of frozen time and other areas where the temperature reached absolute zero. Other teachers ran out wearing temporal robes, finding the trail of markers leading to the teleport area, but none of them turned back to see Smiley by the wall. His presence was masked by the sense of danger spreading through the realm.
Those fools. Smiley thought. He knew how far it was to the teleport staging area, about a five-minute sprint, but after fifteen minutes no one had returned yet. But seeing more leave was a good sign, the faculty were getting nervous.
As for seeking a warp charge, he guessed they must have a teleport gateway somewhere in the academy, so it was obvious why they didn’t make an ill-fated attempt at rushing to the staging area, and as he watched one of the safety markers get swallowed in a sea of flames he wasn’t worried in the slightest. It just meant that others wouldn’t return from the teleport staging area, and with no concerns about them returning and saying he never even went there, he stepped away from the the wall, did some pushups to make himself seem exhausted, and entered the academy again.
As he walked towards the courtyard he noticed a trail of safety markers leading along the side of the path he had traveled, but the patterns on his temporal robes were still waving frantically no matter where he stepped.
In the courtyard, no more students were present. They had all abandoned it, leaving only a trail of markers into the administration building.
Maybe I waited too long. Smiley thought. He dashed across the courtyard, following the trail into the building and up the stairs to higher floors.
Finally he heard signs of life, hushed whispers in the hallway outside the headmaster’s office—Norgrim’s abode.
As Smiley turned the corner, eyes lit up with hope.
“He did it! The demon did it!” A student called. All heads turned his way, but he only met their gazes with a cold glare.
They did nothing to save him, and now he was supposed to save them? It was sickening. An intrusive thought flashed through Smiley’s mind, an idea to pull out the warp charge and cut it to pieces before their eyes. But he didn’t hate them enough to him to seal his own fate with them.
As he walked by their cheerful faces, he remembered a thankful smile he once received when slaying treants at Losla. Genuine smiles of gratitude were so alien that it made him suspicious. He thought that no one was truly thankful; a smile was just the tool of the cunning to latch onto him. Though he couldn’t help but feel a twinge of guilt, as he had caused all of this. Nevertheless, his face remained cold, his glare disdainful.
Evelynn stood outside the door of Norgrim’s office, and her once-bitter face had turned to a gentle smile as she saw a sign, a hope approaching.
“You did it?” She asked.
“I have a warp charge.”
Evelynn held out her hand, expecting him to hand it over. But Smiley fought against his instinct to submit to her higher level, grit his teeth, and pushed out words that were almost too hard to say.
“How much is it worth to you?”
Evelynn’s mouth dropped. Her brows furrowed in anger. All the students went quiet and stared as they felt a thick tension fill the air.
“You dare? Bargain for it?!” She yelled.
Evelynn wouldn’t entertain such an idea. She raised her hands up at her sides, and shadows emerged from her feet, spreading across the floor.
Smiley felt her killing intent and jumped away, raising his sword and preparing to fight. The shadows of flowers, plants and trees appeared, each swaying in an imperceivable wind. Smiley positioned himself behind other students, and the shadows spread over them, coating their bodies in shadowy leaves, but harmlessly so.
Shadow forest? Smiley thought, wondering what her ability could do. But a figure emerged in the shadow forest, a human one, lashing out desperately and trying to claw at his feet. He sensed that if those shadows touched his body, he would share the same fate as that pool soul. Smiley dashed further back, not letting it touch his body and planning his attack.
“Stop!” Norgrim yelled from behind the door. He had sensed everything and slammed the door open.
The ambient mana surged then disappeared, leaving no traces behind, and no unusual shadows. Norgim applied his full mana control, and anyone trying to manacraft failed, unable to keep their mana fixed and attuned as it slipped from their fingers before signs of it could materialize.
Evelynn frowned, and tried to explain herself. “He wants to bargain for the warp charge.”
“Is this true?” Norgrim said with a disheartened frown while looking at Smiley.
Smiley’s eyes narrowed. “Freedom for freedom. I want this bug out of my neck, then I’ll leave unharmed through the portal. Is that so much to ask?”
Norgrim pursed his lips and his eyes trailed across the students, not wanting to let them stay here any longer or to kill someone in front of them; it would certainly lower morale. There was also the chance of harming the warp charge. But for just a single moment his eyes landed on Smiley’s boot, causing him to raise a brow and whisper to Evelynn. Evelynn couldn’t help but glancing at the boot too, but she kept her mouth shut.
“We wholeheartedly accept. Step into my office. Eve, bring Sylvia.” Norgrim said to both of them. Evelynn nodded and went to Sylvia’s laboratory.
Sylvia was still packing up her research, and in the middle of her room, a monster’s body twitched on a stone slab as tiny bugs crawled across it. At first, Slyvia didn’t accept the request to come with Evelynn, and kept stashing things away, but after Evelynn explained further, she grit her teeth and left her precious experiments behind.
Smiley scanned the room for threats as he entered, but Norgrim had dispersed the ambient mana completely, making it safe from any magical traps.
As Smiley stepped into Norgrim’s office, it was different. Norgrim’s table was pushed against a wall, his carpet rolled up to the side, and in the middle of the room was a circle filled with runic engravings, cut into the stone floor. It seemed that it had always been there, hiding beneath the carpet. At its side, the runes connected to a pedestal which undoubtedly was where the warp charge would sit.
“We’ll let you leave, unharmed and free. But do you really have it?” Norgrim asked.
Smiley closed the door behind him, stepped away from Norgrim into a corner of the room and raised his hand, and with a sly smile, he made something appear but it wasn’t a warp charge. A shiny blue skull appeared in his hand.
Smiley raised a brow and tilted his head to the side, surprised that Norgrim didn’t try to snatch it away as soon as it appeared—but he sensed nothing. No mana and no tricks. Norgrim only raised a brow, confused for a moment, but knowingly nodded the next, understanding the level of mistrust that Smiley had for them—it was zero.
After stashing the skull away, Smiley made the warp charge appear, but only for a glimpse, which was enough to satisfy the headmaster. Norgrim’s eyes lit up with a smile as he watched its red and blue energy dancing for a moment before it disappeared back into Smiley’s inventory. In Smiley’s possession was their hope, perhaps their only hope, of escape.
Norgrim could have easily killed Smiley and taken it, if not for the unstable red energy on the boot. If the warp charge was dropped, it could respond and unleash more voids, killing the students, breaking the warp charge and cracking their only portal in the process. Plus, it would look bad if other students had to walk past his corpse before entering the portal; perhaps they would defect, many didn’t feel safe around the other students even before the event. Unfortunately, there was no sign of the love-magic succubus student who enchanted Smiley the first time he arrived there, so his only tool was a promise, and the price to pay for the charge was small.
“I’ll grant you your freedom, and I promise no harm will come to you. And rest assured, since the mirror reality is crumbling there’s no need to kill you. They won’t be able to trace your mana signature back here if ‘here’ doesn’t exist, so it’s fine.” Norgrim said with a nod.
Smiley nodded, but didn’t relax his tense muscles. Lies always sounded the best when you wanted to believe them. The door opened and Evelynn rushed in with Sylvia.
“Hello. Ready for another operation?” Sylvia grinned. She seemed to be the only person enjoying this. Smiley glared back at the short girl for a moment, then pointed at Norgrim and Evelynn.
“You two leave. No one enters until Sylvia exits again.”
Evelynn was about to raise her finger in disapproval but Norgrim put a gentle hand on her shoulder, pointed to the door, and they both left without a word.
“Get this over with. And do it quickly unless you want the reality to collapse first.” Smiley said coldly, took off his temporal robe and leaned over the table as he bit down on the flashy robe, uncaring if his gnashing teeth would damage it or not.
“It shouldn’t take long. Try to relax.” Sylvia shrugged and trailed her delicate fingers on the back of his neck, interacting with her hateful creation.
First it started with a grunt of pain, but screaming shortly followed. Outside the office, Norgrim put his hands in his pockets and gave up a wry smile as the students looked on in fear, and he wondered if this was much better than passing a dead body on their way to freedom.
The bug unlatched itself from the nerves in Smiley’s spinal cord and burrowed its way out through the spinal column. His body trembled with pain and his head swirled in agony. Fingernails ripped out as his hands tightly gripped the desk, left in the wood as a memento. The agony caused his eyes to roll back into his head, and time seemed to stretch into eternity, but only minutes passed.
Smiley didn’t pass out this time, though his arms still trembled as he pushed himself off the desk and took some slow deep breaths.
“It’s done.” Sylvia said, and showed him the bug. “Hello?” She tapped his shoulder with a smile. “Meet your little friend.” In Sylvia’s messed up mind, she thought after spending so much time with the bug, he would have befriended it. Though nothing could be further from the truth.
Smiley slowly opened his eyes, strings of spit trailing from his mouth. He stepped closer and slowly reached out, gently placing his hand under hers.
“Hello.” He whispered, wrapping his fingers under hers.
*Crunch!*
He clenched her hand, stopping her from pulling it away. But Smiley wasn’t satisfied. He brought his other hand down in a fist, slamming it into hers and sending a splatter of green everywhere.
“Hey, you asshole!” Sylvia yelled, gritting her teeth. Smiley took a deep breath and smiled as his body recovered.
“You would’ve done the same thing.” He whispered.
Sylvia frowned as she held a pile of goo in her hand. She took a moment to wipe it on the wall and went to the door.
“Wait.” Smiley said, stopping her from opening it.
“What? You want another friend?”
“Watch this.” Smiley said, hoping she would be intrigued enough to keep the door shut.
The warp charge appeared and placed it on the pedestal. A trail of runes lit up, traveling down the side and lighting up the circle on the floor. The runes began to spin around each other as a single point of nothingness cracked open into a crackling portal.
Norgrim sensed the mana, and the door to the room opened as soon as the portal did. Thankfully Sylvia was in front of it, giving Smiley just enough time to give up a disdainful grin.
“Wait! There’s something on your—!” Norgrim yelled.
But it was too late. Smiley’s only bargaining chip was out, sitting on the pedestal and ready to be plucked away by whoever wanted it, so he slipped through before Norgrim could finish his sentence.
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