Chapter 27
Edrin looked toward the board.
Professor Ashvile was busy drawing a complex formula and explaining mana execution.
He then looked beside him.
Azek's seat had been empty for a week now.
When they tried to ask the professors, the only answer they got was that he was currently in isolation due to infection.
Any other information was kept tightly under the wraps.
There had been only brief announcement that a monster sample was mutated and had lost control. But everything got resolved due to professor's timely intervention.
He shook his head and focused on the class.
Although he was worried, he was more concerned about not missing anything, because he hoped to help Azek after his return.
Professor Methilia, who was originally in charge of this class, had taken emergency leave.
Although he had his suspicions, he chose to ignore them for now.
Curtains slowly moved in the cool wind.
Vivian was cleaning her sword while sitting on a chair.
Adrian was reading a letter.
Tuck.
He put down the paper.
"What did Mother say?" she asked.
"She is worried, but the situation on the northern front isn't stable."
He slowly looked toward the bed.
Azek was lying there.
It had been a week, and he hadn't woken up — or rather, he couldn't wake up.
Cardinal Magnus was seated beside him, slowly channeling a healing spell into his body.
The external injuries had already healed.
But internally, he was in a critical state.
His mana core was on the verge of breaking down.
Right now, holy power was barely holding it together.
The poison core was trying to seep into the mana core.
If they allowed that, it would only be a matter of time before his body became a contamination source itself — like Methilia.
Adrian's eyes were bloodshot. He hadn't been able to sleep properly ever since the day the East Tower exploded.
His biggest regret was letting Azek go alone to the meeting.
If he had been there with him, maybe things wouldn't have turned out this way.
But deep down, he knew that even if he had been there, nothing would have changed.
Azek was a Willowheart.
And they never backed down in front of an adversary.
They had been late to the battlefield due to Theodore's spell separating the battlefield from the rest of the academy.
When the spell cracked in a few places and they seized the opportunity to enter, he saw his son in a miserable state.
He had almost broken down while holding his son's hand.
Vivian never uttered a word. She only took her sword and helped deal with the aftermath of the battle.
When they tried to find the person who caused this, her condition left them in utter helplessness.
Methilia had been taken to the Church.
Cardinal Dominius had arrived almost instantly after the incident and taken her into custody.
The Pope had entrusted him with a holy artifact.
After the cause had been eliminated, her condition stabilized slightly, but they didn't know how to deal with her.
If it had been a simple matter of ending her life, it would have been done immediately.
But just touching her mana core resulted in disaster.
In the emergency meeting afterward, her death sentence was put on hold. Cardinal Dominius bound her with holy chains using the artifact and took her to the temple.
They couldn't leave her in the academy under any circumstances.
But Azek — the main reason they were able to overcome this disaster — was in shambles.
He was currently teetering between life and death.
His mana core was damaged beyond repair,
and the contamination source was trying to take over his body.
The Willowhearts had personally requested support from the royal family, and the Pope had come down to examine him personally.
But even he couldn't do anything.
He wrote a healing spell and bound Azek's mana core so it wouldn't immediately explode.
But nobody knew how long it could hold against his deteriorating condition.
Magnus had been personally stationed by the Pope to remain beside Azek at all times.
Diaz had been studying every material available on healing a damaged mana core without rest.
Vivian put her sword down.
She felt restless, unable to do anything for her brother. So she wiped her sword again and again in an attempt to distract herself.
Although her brother was not the smartest one in the room — always quiet and a bit reserved — he had self-esteem and dignity like none other.
When he couldn't wield the sword — the proud symbol of the Willowheart — he didn't give up. Instead, he focused on his studies harder than ever.
When he attempted the magic academy exam, nobody even thought he would get accepted. But he went anyway, despite his lacking talent.
And now that unassuming person lay helpless in bed, fighting for his life.
Because he had saved them all from disaster by putting his life on the line.
Even Vivian hadn't realized that tiny body contained such willpower.
And right now, she wished for nothing but to cleave down the person responsible for all of this. She longed to unleash the frustration gnawing at her heart and kill every last one of them.
While her brother was struggling, she had done nothing but watch from the sidelines.
She slowly walked toward the bed and placed her hand on Azek's wrist.
The temperature was slowly turning cold.
A chill gripped her heart.