Lead Demon

Cloaked

Cloaked

The man in the long robe from yesterday walked into Harrington's office and slammed the door shut behind him. He was in a rage. In his fury, he slammed his palm

down on Harrington's desk.

"Harrington! Look at what you have done!" The man had moved so close to Harrington that their faces were pratically plastered together as he ranted. "Cruz has actually taken in the Son of God of the Hall of Wealth as his student. Now that everyone knows about it, the winning edge of the dispute between the deans is starting to shift in Cruz's favor! And last night, so many students were fighting each other to death in Victory Academy! You are the one who has been taking care of all business in the academy, and this is something that all the students are well aware of! It has only been three days since the start of the semester, and so much has happened already! You no longer have the upper hand in this game. What are you going to do?"

Harrington was no longer as anxious as he had been when he was frantically trying to deal with things a moment ago. He sat back in his chair, somewhat calm and nonchalant.

"Yes, Ron is the Son of God, and Mr. Cruz had become Ron's teacher. You are getting anxious only because you have one thing less to threaten me with. Let's see… what if I simply disregard my personal safety. If life and death no longer mean anything to me, what will you all do then?"

With a sharp look in his eyes, the man's expression was fearsome as he questioned, "What will we do? We always have a way to get what we want! You have to

become the dean, or you should prepare yourself for whatever consequences await you. You are a member of our family so you should do something to contribute to the family! The philosopher's stone belongs to us!"

Harrington was indifferent to the threats of the other man and simply replied, "Don't worry. I know that. I will get the philosopher's stone for you."

"Hmph! Let's hope you can really deliver what you say you will!" With that said, the man left Harrington's office in a rage, slamming the office door shut behind him.

With a long sigh, Harrington stood up and walked over to the window. He looked down at the endless stream of students and teachers, then he descended through the air the square below.

The academy's meeting square was just a short distance away. Right then, there were fifty or so dead bodies laid out on the square. These bodies were all covered with white clothes, which were stained red as blood seeped through them. Hundreds of teachers were interrogating students, who were bound and on their knees.

"How's the questioning coming along?" Harrington asked Diana with a frown.

Diana's first response was a bitter laugh, then she reported, "Nothing has come out of the questioning. This whole thing is incredibly strange. These students all have one thing in common."

"A commonality?"

"Yes. The students who fought each other to death all had grudges, and they were all presidents of societies in the academy! Last night, they suddenly felt an unbearable sense of resentment rising within their hearts, but even they themselves were unable to clearly explain the kind of feeling they had. With that air of resentment, when they would encounter another person undergoing the same emotional change, both parties would fight till a winner emerged. Some of these fights ended up with both parties perishing, which I suppose is to be expected."

Hearing what Diana said, Harrington was greatly taken aback. How bizarre! It was so overwhelmingly bizarre that it was frightening! If it had been just one or two students they were talking about, then it would be fine. But with hundreds of students at once, it was impossible for this to be purely coincidental.

"I'm suspecting the use of magic. Someone has used such a magic to make them wage wars against each other, where they would not stop till they fought each other to death." With a grave look, Diana said, "I just can't figure out who on earth would use magic to do such a thing, and what exactly their purpose is."

Harrington was in deep thought. This was a kind of magic, and it was dark magic, but he had already guessed as much.

"Deputy Dean, for something like that, we must enlist the help of the Mages Mutual Association. They are sending someone over to help us search for clues," Diana said. "Magic like this is really beyond all of our comprehension. No teacher in this academy is able to make sense out of it. I think it will take a knowledgeable and learned mage to be able to find some clues."

When Harrington heard her suggestion, he nodded. Even he could not wrap his head around it.

***

Meanwhile, Ron had arrived at a dirty and messy research lab. The lab was very big, around 2,000 square feet. There were jars and bottles randomly lying all over the floor. The walls were colorful, which was most likely the result of Cruz's research work. There were also all sorts of materials that Ron did not recognize, but from how they were all brimming with energy, he could tell that they were all worth a lot of money. It turned out that the money Cruz had been siphoning off the academy all these years was being spent on rare ingredients. He was really obsessed with potions.

"Ron, I have developed this potion based on my research of the Spiritual Energy Potion. I have refined it with the addition of magic crystals of the Dragon Stone, black-crown grass, and strong, perennial roots. The effect is more than fives times stronger than that of the Spiritual Energy Potion!" At the mention of potions, Cruz would always go a little mad.

Ron nodded and took a bottle of colorful potion from Cruz. The moment he opened the bottle, he was caught by surprise by an awful stench that was even more revolting than the [Spiritual Energy Potion]. He passed the potion over to Coles for a prior tasting.

"Master, this potion is indeed much stronger that the Spiritual Energy Potion. I don't see anything wrong with it." Coles said.

Ron nodded, took the potion from Coles and downed it in one gulp. Instantly, all the magic spirits in the research lab were devoured by Ron.

"What an amazing sight! Though I've seen it so many times, I still can't seem to stay calm at the sight of it," Cruz muttered to himself in awe.

"Not bad." Ron was somewhat pleased. "In the future, you shall do everything within your means to provide me with this potion!"

Cruz flashed a fawning smile at Ron and said, "Ron, I will always have potions for you! But getting these materials provde to be quite difficult, and I still have many formulas that I previously came up with, but now, I have no means to brew them."

Ron rolled his eyes. This terrible old man was up to no good again! "I have no money. You can forget about asking me for it!"

"This time, it is not a matter of gold coins, but rather, that some of these materials are very rare. I would need to find the ingredients themselves.”

Ron looked at the piles of ingredients all over the floor of the lab. With a frown, he said, "All of these things here are not enough?"

There was a solemn look on Cruz's face as he shook his head. "No, not enough. It is far from enough!"