{Bloodlust}

"So~ who's going to die first," Curtis laughed sarcastically. Powerful bloodlust exploded outwards like a rippling shockwave, the world screamed in silence.

The Spellbook blew open from the table.

A crack, a ripple. Time froze, the blast of frost, the chilly winds that locked the air. Limbs imprisoned, barriers crystallized.

The library now a world of ice, glistening in violent and indigo. Ice lotuses bloomed around every masked person. Each petal turned inwards, the sharps end pointed towards them.

A little more, a few centimetres more—

The blood masked man had his head tilted upwards, a frozen spike up his throat. His limbs were incapacitated, ice petals directed at his torso, feet grounded to the floor. One move and he'd be stabbed or— one command and the spikes would stab him.

"Adolf," he tried to squeak.

"Move away," Curtis shot a death gaze at Adolf, the only person to have not been bound by the ice spell.

Adolf was the one holding Ruth. And with two contradictory instructions. His choice?

He parted ways from Ruth, shaking. Once he was a small distance away, an ice formation quickly consumed him. Now like the rest, he was imprisoned in an ice lotus.

Curtis looked to the first floor. The archers all bound by ice, shivering, not because of the cold, but at his gaze.

Sending chills down their spines.

He was the source of it all, ice growing from beneath his feet, extending out like vines, climbing up towards the upper floors, restraining anyone that was involved. With {Zephyr Sensing}, even those who were out of sight were hit by the spell.

"Now, I wonder who's behind the mask?" Per command, the ice petals shrunk. The blood masked man relaxed his neck. Exhaling deeply, he seemed to look too relaxed.

Curtis didn't think much and walked forward.

"You're.. you're foolish to think that I.. I've not learnt my lesson!" he jeered. With a surge in strength, he hardened his muscle and broke through the first layer of ice.

Before, when they remembered that when were stabbed by the ice, the expected frostbite would settle in. This time, he came prepared, wearing a long-sleeved shirt, underneath concealing a coat of armour enough to fend off against the strongest tyrant-class creature attacks. With this, he didn't need to worry about being stab because— he couldn't be stabbed.

He slammed his arm into the ice. It broke, barely, damaging the shape, the tip only chiselled slightly. And his armour, dented. He could feel the bare metal pressing against his bones.

More ice came forth to restrain him.

They were like steel vices, he tried to force himself free but, it was inevitable. Truthfully, It wouldn't be a far fetch to say that the ice was as solid real steel.

'What kind of ice is this?!'

This spell was a composite of ice and artificial purple gem grains, with the gems imbedded inside ice to give it strength. An ice alloy of sorts.

"You know, you were mistaken— I wasn't the mage back them," Curtis confessed in a deep bone-chilling voice. Taking off his bloody mask, what appeared was the face of a man. Ellis hadn't mentioned about the person's hair colour or facial features, but from the way he called out to a person named 'Adolf', he was certain that this was the mastermind. "Paladin was it?"

Paladin shuddered. From the corner of Curtis' mouth, there was a small upwards curl.

"Good," seeing as he did dare to reply, that had to be it. Even if this wasn't the person Ellis mentioned, it wouldn't matter anyway. The most important thing here was that everyone was safe. Curtis turned to the other mages in the hall, "So everyone her will be the eyewitnesses ri.."

Curtis noticed that everyone was staring at him as if a ghost or—

A grim reaper?

Deathbringer... ?

He wasn't serious when he said he would kill though...

The moment some of their gazes met his, they fainted. The girls especially. More so, some of them started to cling to their mentors or the closest boy beside them.

"Um..."

'What?'

Frankly speaking, Curtis should have asserted more control over his magic-induced bloodlust. From his evocation just now, similar to {Wind Sensing}, he felt that he was already adapt enough to flexibility manipulate and direct the spell onto specific targets.

'I don't have time for this.'

Suddenly remembering, Curtis turned to Ruth who had her head dangling down, still seated upright but, unconscious. Her hair pulled over to the front, covering her face. She— fainted?

"I'm sorry about just now," Curtis, gritting his teeth. Placing his hand on the table, an azure seal appeared, "Professor Liam, when the guards arrive, put mana into this to undo the spell," Curtis then pulled a mana crystal off his necklace, constructed a tiny ice shrine, and placed it inside. It was to continue supplying mana into the spell, maintaining the imprisonment of the ice lotuses.

Professor Liam had a befuddled expression at first but nodded.

Curtis made a sympathetic smile.

"Thank you," Curtis brushed Ruth's hair to the side, her face was pale, lips were drained. Besides that, there were no injuries.

First, Curtis tried to gentle shake Ruth awake. No reaction.

Adolf who couldn't move could only watch. His gaze never left Curtis.

"She's out cold," Curtis was worried about the mental effects of {Bloodlust}. Pulling her upon his shoulder, he made her piggy-back-ride on him.

He proceeded to the exit hastily. Turning back just before he reached the last step of the spiral stairs, he looked towards the hall one final time. Everyone had their gaze affixed to him like fishes— he wasn't fish bait, was he?

'There's no point thinking about it now..'

Now, what would happen the next time they met? Curtis would still need to come to the library after all...

Moving to the counter where the librarian was, Curtis saw the librarian looking at the two ice lotuses incapacitating two masked people in awe.

Curtis told him to call the guards.

The male librarian then pointed at the two guards lying at the floor.

'Oh, they're out cold, from {Zephyr Sensing} I thought they were sea slugs.. maybe because I was panicking?'

"I can send an emergency SOS signal," looked like the librarian wasn't effected by {Bloodlust}. He looked at one of the masked men, in his handheld a device.

"Got it," Curtis quickly grasped his hint and pulled the device out of the ice, passing it to the librarian.

"So it was you after all," the librarian said while inputting the code to finalize a distress signal. It was a device that relayed signals, not one that transferred voice.

The library had never been attacked, and nobody expected so. The shortcut for the SOS function wasn't readily prepared.

"Thank you," the librarian finished relaying the signal. Then looking to where Curtis stood, he just, vanished.

|

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Cordelia who was still shivering slowly slid over to Kelp's side.

Kelp looked— blank, as if soulless. He kept repeating an apology over and over, "For-give me, forgive me.." in a barely audible mutter.

Cordelia shook Kelp by the shoulder.

Kelp turned to look at Claudia for a bit, his dull empty eyes peered into hers. For a moment Claudia wanted to push him away, but Kelp turned away, continuing his excessive apologies.

Seeing that, Cordelia assumed it was best to leave Kelp to himself. She got up, commanding her jelly legs to walk towards Merlin, right across the hall.

He had his head tucked between his knees.

"Merlin."

Merlin raised his head to Cordelia. His face was pale, further highlighted by his lighter coloured blond hair. "Why... why did Cur.."

Cordelia forceful shut his mouth by placing her hands over. She felt an urge to puke hearing—that name.

Merlin stared at Cordelia in confusion.

She shook her head, to shake away the queasy feeling.

Remembering something else, Claudia gazed at the small ice formation enshrining a mana crystal, and the brilliant shimmer of the blue seal.

A movement caught her eye. Darting towards the direction of the stairs, together with the familiar librarian, a few guards were rushing to the hall. No, one of them was a knight.

In Haital, the difference between a guard and a knight were their rankings. Knights being a step above guards.

The knight present slid her visor back, revealing two pairs of verdant eyes. Seemingly dissatisfied, she took off her entire helmet, releasing her gorgeous, shining russet hair.

She was a female knight leading her current squad of 5 guards. She was in her mid 20-s

Examining the library, entranced with ice and frosty flowers. Purple gems sparkled inside, glittering like the midnight stars; the energy pulsing from within as if it was itself— a living thing.

Who would have ever thought that one could witness such a beautiful scene without needing to go to High Peak Kingdom? To see ice covering an entire library, and at this scale..

"Knight Greene," one of the guards called out, nudging her awake with his words.

"Guards, go ask eyewitnesses and see if they know anything."

Greene then walked towards an ice lotus. Seeing the red mask on the floor, she picked it up, over the table was a peculiar map of Haital, buried in ice.

She then looked up at the person incapacitated.

From the mask, this must be—

"Relay, squad 13, confirmed the involvement of Zen," Greene spoke into a communication device.

Zen is an abbreviation. The real name is Zenixis Organization. Nobody knew why an underground organization would want to pick out such a complicated name to even pronounce.

"From the looks of it, every suspicious person has been detained," a guard came back replying.

"Complete subjugation of the group, report," Greene added.

"Number," a voice came back, Harold's voice.

"Seven," Greene took a brief moment to count the ice lotuses present. Including the two out in front of the library.

"Professor Liam!" Cordelia suddenly shouted at the top of her lungs, rushing at him. "Not yet!"

"No, not yet."

Greene turned to Cordelia, then at the supposed Professor Liam who was reaching towards a glowing circle engraved onto the table. His hands now only a few inches above it.

"Has the area been confirmed safe?"

Ignoring Harold's call, Greene dashed forward. Even at this short distance, she knew she wouldn't be able to make it. Whatever Professor Liam was about to do, she felt that it would spell disaster.

From the desperate shout Cordelia made, she expected it to be too late.

However, Professor Liam quickly retracted his hand, registering Cordelia's voice.

Greene halted to a stop and held Professor Liam's hand, tightly.

"There are still some more at the upper floors, and," Cordelia who arrived told against his impulsive action earlier. "Professor, if you release them now, the knights won't be able to deal with them all at once."

Professor Liam's near blunder managed to snap Cordelia back on track.

"Upper.. floor?" Greene felt a shock. Her eyes followed the ice ivies crawling up the pillars to the first floor, seeing other white-masked men imprisoned in ice, archers.

"Investigate the upper floors, make sure no one gets out!" Greene ordered in panic. If there were even one or two Zen members still loose, it would become a huge danger to everyone here. She shouldn't have reported the confirmation of total subjugation so early.

She gritted her teeth at her mistake. Holding the communication device, she had no choice but to notify the others it in hopes of reinforcements.

"There are more yet to be noted," Greene spoke coldly.