BXBX NOVEL Chapter 43 Eluard's New Ideas
"Ah, you have finally come, my dear academy master.", Dartex greeted with a mocking tone, "I have been dreaming of this to happen on the day I felt your aura from the volcanic grassy plains. And those undead, yes! The art you have beautifully crafted, I-"
Eluard cut off his craziness.
"Dartex Deluminas, you are bound to repay for the atrocities you have committed."
Dartex laughed, "Isn't this problem started by you, my dear academy master? Without your efforts, Aludia might still be in a more peaceful state than before."
Eluard's heart wavered, but the mask emboldened his self-confidence.
"True, but my intentions were rather not evil, not until you and the Otherworld decided to interfere with my business."
Eluard primarily set the undead beings to chase the human poachers who were running away from his clutch. What he didn't expect was that his spell would be used against his back.
"That's what you say, but the public will not think so.", Dartex grinned.
"You might be underestimating my powers here, human.", Eluard let out a domineering aura that forced Dartex's head to hit the ground, "Allow me to remind you what force you are reckoning with."
Dartex gulped. He didn't expect Eluard to suddenly overwhelm him.
Eluard snorted, "Yes, you may have corrupted the Creed's holy army and is intending to spread whatever lies you and your demonic masters may have come up with, but the truth won't matter in the long run. What matters is that the Heavenly Magic Academy will be the victor on this new era of war."
The Creed was the perfect faction to antagonize the Heavenly Magic Academy. As for why Eluard thought of this, it could be attributed to the knowledge he gained from Earth.
"It is only a matter of time when I gather my forces and you soon shall taste defeat. As a famous saying from before has said, history is written by the victors."
...
Dartex remained silent. He was unable to come up with a rebuttal to Eluard's quote.
They could brainwash the public that Eluard was the evildoer, but Eluard could do the same against them as well.
Whoever won the fight was the one who sided with the truth. Such was the reality of life.
"Still not convinced? Well, maybe it has something to do with the voices in your head.", Eluard reminded which shocked Dartex to the core.
"How do you know?!"
"Someone from the Otherworld put a demonic whisper spell upon you. Don't ever think that such a measly secret can be hidden from me.", Eluard's words frightened Dartex, "I have the power to see through everything about you, Dartex Deluminas. Do you want me to give it a try?"
He held his head in pain, "Ah, stop! No!"
Whispers audible only to him started surfacing within his head. It made him insane, blurring out his mind, preventing him from thinking properly.
It was akin to a drunk person hallucinating while walking on a path under the night.
Images of a demonic creature with a long serpentine tail and disfigured beauty were displayed in his eyes.
"Dar…tex…", the demonic creatures slowly hissed.
The two horns protruding from her humanoid head elongated and twisted themselves like a bull's horn. Her calm black eyes turned wicked and red, charming Dartex in all sorts of ways.
Dartex started to succumb in the demonic creatures' hand, sending whispers that tried to indoctrinate his feeble mind.
Eluard narrowed his eyes, 'Demonic whisper, huh?'
His eye of fidelity was able to see through deeper yet more peculiar things now which didn't happen before.
Twisted line of sight. Flashing blinding lights. A nightmarish experience that could make anyone mental. That was everything Eluard saw from Dartex.
What a strong hypnotizing spell. Even a grandmaster magus of Dartex's level was unable to come up with a counter to it.
Apart from it, he noticed an ethereal figure. A spirit, pure and golden, untainted from the corruption that the demonic whisper incurred.
Its thoughts were good-willed and innocent, yet unfortunately, it was trapped in the demonic whisper's imprisonment. It contained Dartex's true self, the one that he wasn't able to show to the world.
'There's a blurry past of his. I cannot see the events clearly, but I can say that it was traumatizing for this guy. No wonder he fell to the dark side.'
Eluard realized that this man wasn't a true evil wizard. He was someone who was a lost soul, picked up by the demonic creatures and was used to do their bidding.
A fallen genius.
Seeing this, Eluard lifted his left hand and grasped it firmly. At the same time, the whispers vanished out of existence, relieving Dartex of his suffering.
[ Demonic whisper suppressed temporarily. Please note that utilizing powers out of your current power-level while inside the academy will use the magic crystals stored in the academy resources. ]
'You didn't tell me this yesterday. Weren't Elder Flock's powers suppressed as well?'
The system presented an updated description of the mask of the magus, answering Eluard's question.
[ Mask of the Magus ]
[ The long-lost mask of a renowned wizard. It has a consciousness of its own that will affect the wearer's mindset and personality. ]
[ Special Effect: Prideful Reminiscence ]
[ The previous owner was once the greatest magical cultivator that ever existed. Its lofty personality still exists today. Can suppress the strength of any being into the lowest possible power-level. ]
Eluard was surprised, 'You're updating its description now? What kind of system are you anyway?'
He didn't expect that the system would 'enhance' itself as time passed by. Or maybe this was a result after finishing tasks, or ascending to a higher power-level.
Eluard then nodded in understanding.
On the other side, Dartex breathed haggardly, then looked up and saw Eluard's left hand glowing in a golden hue.
"You-, did you just-?", his eyes were crystal clear, unlike the previous instances where it was muddled and empty.
Eluard attempted to make a compromise, but the system said otherwise.
"Confess, and I might make up my mind of sparing you, Dartex Deluminas.", he hesitatingly replied.
Dartex knelt on all fours, "Heh, why do you sound like those bastards from the Creed, eh?"
Eluard released his suppression of the demonic whisper.
"It seems like you will be spending a little more time here. Enjoy your stay while it lasts."
He hurried out of the area and returned to the academy. Dartex's cries of help echoed as the voices returned to haunt him again.
…
Eluard arrived in the main hall. For some reason, the mask emitted a bloodlust the moment Dartex compared the academy to the Creed.
'It must be because the mask has a pride of its own.', he thought.
Being equated to a lowly cult was a huge disrespect to the academy so the mask retaliated and urged Eluard to teach Dartex a lesson. He didn't know if it was a good thing or not, though he knew that he won't be able to come back there for a while due to the mask's gloomy aura.
The system disturbed his thoughts, prompting him to head to the classrooms to teach the students today. Eluard mused about what topic would he be teaching this time.
His mind worked its wonders, concluding that he would be discussing the importance of variation in one's offensive and defensive spells.
Dartex's battle against him and Elder Flock produced new ideas in Eluard's mind.
For example, there were certain spells that Eluard wouldn't be able to counter easily like Dartex's Cataclysmic Firefall. Water and ice were helpless against it, and despite the earthen dome's strong resistance against fire, the surrounding environment wasn't spared from the ravaging firestorm.
If it happened somewhere else isolated, then Eluard would ignore it; but that was an area blooming with life turned into an apocalyptic state due to his incapability to protect the things around him. It was a devastating outcome he didn't want to happen again.
On the other hand, things might have turned out differently if he utilized the dark mana element's strong absorption property. Dartex's spell could have been nullified and wavered his morale.
Back to the main topic, Eluard thought that one should have a good number of spells for each situation.
One cannot simply rely on a fireball to resolve all sorts of problems that might arise while adventuring in the wild. What if a fire mage stumbled upon an ice-elemental beast?
What if their offensive spells were useless in front of the unbreakable defense that the enemy displayed?
Running through this line of thought, Eluard came up with another lesson as well and that was the importance of physical fitness.
Just because one was a mage didn't mean that they have to forget everything about their physique. After all, mana coursed through one's body, and the body was the foundation of everything.
If it was strengthened after conducting multiple exercises in a week, wouldn't it improve the flow of mana inside their body as well?
Moreover, they have the option to run if they used up all of the mana stored inside them. It was better to have a slim chance of escape than pant in place and die an untimely death.
Eluard was getting to a good point in his imaginative arguments when he realized someone was running towards him.
It was Emi, albeit in a rather distressed state.
Fear was plastered all over the little girl's face. Tears streamed from her eyes as she whimpered.
This angered the academy master. Who would dare to hurt such an innocent child inside the academy?
Did the senior brothers and sister have something to do with this?
He approached Emi and asked her.
"Emi Moon, what happened to you? Why are you running and crying all of a sudden?"
Eluard's cold voice was warmth to Emi's ears. She stared at his aloof figure floating above the ground and ran over to embrace him.
"A-academy master! The-they are fighting all over the canteen!", she cried.
"Emi tried to talk them out of it but they pushed me around the corner so I ran away!", rubbing her face on Eluard's robe, "I was scared, I thought they were going to kill me back there…"
The entire academy grounds trembled slightly. Fortunately, Emi was preoccupied with her crying so she didn't notice it.
"Emi, bring me to them. I'm going to teach those brats a harsh lesson today."