Return of the Runebound Professor
Chapter 733: Big, big mistake.

Cold, simmering anger burned deep within Noah. The only reason it hadn’t exploded into a fiery inferno was the fact that Isabel and Todd were uninjured. But that didn’t make it any less hot. It just made it more controlled.

He strode through the streets of campus, his features so flat and fixed that they may as well have been carved from stone. His body was practically moving on its own — it knew what had to be done.

Over and over again, the nobles pushed him. This entire kingdom was so corrupt beyond belief that it was hard to even comprehend. It was one thing for the noble families to flood the markets with fake, dangerous runes to ensure they kept their monopoly over power. It was one thing for them to band together and yet refuse to share research with anyone. It was one thing for them to attempt to go after a Master Rune when there was nothing more pressing to do with their time.

But the Empire was coming down all around them. The alliances that held their families together were crumbling. Countless people had been turned to singing stone by a Rank 8 monster that had popped out of nowhere and vanished as quickly as it had arrived.

This wasn’t just about power anymore. The families were collapsing. Splintering. And, if there had been even a shred of anything resembling proper leadership within those families, their attention should have been fully focused on trying to keep those alliances together. To preserve what they’d been working toward for what must have been hundreds of years.

And perhaps a few of the families were doing that. Noah hadn’t seen hide nor hair of the King Family. The Linwicks — well, they were already done for. Jalen was gone and Father was some ancient menace. They didn’t exactly have anyone else competent still supporting the family.

He didn’t know about the other families either. But the Torrins and the Herrons had made their stance clear. They didn’t give a shit that everything was on a roller coaster straight to hell. All their leadership gave a crap about was trying to get their grubby, bloodstained hands on Isabel’s rune.

Noah’s feet finally came to a halt as he found himself standing in the rattling lift of the Transport Cannon. He looked out over Arbitage as it rattled upward, a moment of silence breaking through the storm roaring in his mind.

A huge portion of the massive Bastion was still nothing more than singing stone. It was hollowed out, any life that had once resided within it now nothing more than a distant memory. That could never be undone.

It was hard to say if Arbitage ever could have been called great. The city was a lie. All of them were. Arbitage wasn’t a school. It was a weapons cache from some ancient war that had been caused just for an experiment.

This whole Empire was nothing more than a botched science fair project. The noble families, for all their scheming and manipulations, were really just nests of ants battling it out in some child’s farm. Noah wasn’t sure if that was hilariously sad or just depressing.

And, at this point, he no longer cared.

The lift rattled to a stop.

Noah stepped out.

Demons piled all around him, hunched over books, meditating, or in the case of Torrick and Edda, scribbling on paper. Tim stood by the control panel, paper plastered across the walls and hanging from the ceiling above him. His hands were smudged with ink and he had a large pile of books stacked up in front of him on the panel.

“Welcome back,” Tim said, a grin splitting across his features. It froze before the words could finish making their way out of his mouth, then went flat as he processed the look on Noah’s face. “What happened?”

“Nobody’s dead,” Noah said. “Yet.”

“I’m in,” Vrith said. “It’s been too long since I had a good fight.”

“Afraid it’ll have to wait a bit longer,” Noah said. “Though probably not as long as you fear. I’m doing this one alone. I don’t need anyone I want alive close enough to get caught in the collateral damage. Tim, I need your help.”

“Always,” Tim said instantly. “What can I do for you?”

“Two things. First, I’m going to need a quick trip to the Torrin Estate. Blancwood, was it? As close as you can get me. I remember they’re protected against spatial magic, so I know the Transport Cannon can’t put me right into the center—”

“Actually, that’s no longer true.” Tim cleared his throat. “I’ve advanced my understanding of spatial magic quite a ways since that was true. Slipping you past some general spatial restrictions is easy enough. I can do it.”

Noah smiled. “Perfect. Then I’m going to need that. And one more thing. I need to find Bird. Do you know where she is?”

“No,” Tim said. “But Lee could probably find her pretty easily.”

Noah paused. Then he grimaced. Of course Lee could. He didn’t know why that thought hadn’t crossed his mind a bit earlier. That was bad. He had to have his wits about him when he headed out. There wasn’t going to be any room for error in this.

“Ah. Don’t know why that didn’t occur to me slightly earlier. I was just with her,” Noah said. “I’ll be right back. Please ready the Transport Cannon on a course for Blancwood.”

“How long?” Tim asked. “And when do you want to leave?”

“Give me an hour,” Noah replied after a moment of thought. “For both. That should be more than enough.”

I’m done playing around.

He was going to need to borrow a few Runes for this.

***

Exal’s fingers drummed against his desk.

There had been no report back from Dayton. Biya had left a short while ago, but he was quite certain she hadn’t betrayed him. There would have been no logical reason for her to do so. He’d already promised her the Master Rune.

But that didn’t explain the lack of response. Dealing with a few Rank 3s while Spider was off, even with the demons under his command, should have been fairly trivial. They’d sent multiple Rank 5s and a Rank 6.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

A deep frown pulled at Exal’s lips. His hand shifted toward a runed bracelet sitting on the table before him. It was Biya’s — given to him so they could easily get back into contact after the mission had been completed. The imbued metal was connected to an identical bracelet that currently sat on Biya’s wrist.

Of course, Exal wasn’t stupid enough to believe that was the extent of the bracelet’s purpose. No gift came without fangs when it was given by the head of another noble house. It would probably dig through his surface level thoughts when he put it on in search of any useful information.

But even in spite of that, Exal considered donning the bracelet. Something sat ill with him. He’d laid everything out quite carefully. Ensured there was more than sufficient firepower. Sending multiple Rank 5s, much less a Rank 6, was complete overkill for two Rank 3s.

Something had gone awry. The task should have been accomplished by now.

Exal rose from his chair. He crossed his hands behind his back as he begun to pace back and forth behind his desk. The room suddenly felt a little too small. This wasn’t right. There had to be—

What am I doing?

Exal caught himself mid-thought. His lips thinned into a flat line. He was the head of the Torrin House. That might not have made him anywhere near the strongest mage within his family, but this… panic was beneath him.

He was not some fledgling child. Exal was a Rank 6 with two runes.

There were a number of potential reasons that could explain they delay in response. Guesswork was pointless. It hadn’t been that long since the mission had started, anyway. No more than an hour or two. Overthinking could do just as much damage to one’s plans as anything else.

I will not dig my own grave. Patience grows greater fruits than any other virtue. Even if something has gone wrong, it does not matter. There will be other opportunities.

Exal blew out a sharp breath. He turned back to his chair, ignoring his increased heartbeat as he forced himself to sit back down and rest his hands on the table before him. His fingers started to tap on the wood. His lips thinned. He interlaced them to stop the nervous twitch.

His foot took their place.

Exal’s jaw clenched. It was like his body was in rebellion against his mind. There was absolutely no reason for this. Such disgraceful action was ill suited for the head of the Torrin House.

Something prickled against his ears, like the faintest shift in pressure. A frown pulled at Exal’s lips. He paused, trying to figure out where it had come from. His room was deep below the ground, isolated from the sounds and distractions of the city above.

Protected from the city above.

Even if someone were to attack the Torrin—

A thunderous explosion shook the ground.

Exal leapt to his feet, his heart pounding harder still in his chest. His chair flew back and slammed into the wall behind him before pitching to the ground and landing with a crash.

What’s going on?

For the sound to be that loud, the size of whatever had caused it must have been positively enormous… or the magic behind it was immense.

Are we under attack? Did Biya betray me?

Exal spun toward the door, only to find half of it missing. He took a step back. Bubbling cubes of purplish-black magic ate through the wood like termites. The door melted away before his eyes, vanishing within instants.

Standing behind it was a ragged man in the clothing of an Arbitage Professor. Dark hair hung around his head like curtains and a massive grimoire was slung over his back like a knapsack.

But his eyes — his eyes were wrong.

They were two starved black holes affixed within his skull, trying to devour everything that dared linger within their sight.

Something clicked in the back of Exal’s mind. His eyes widened in realization. He knew this man.

It was Spider’s pet professor.

“Vermil,” Exal hissed, the pounding fear in his chest turning to amusement. They’d sent a Rank 4 after him. One so weak that his soul didn’t even register in Exal’s domain. “You liked my estate so much that you returned after I let you leave once before?”

“Ah. I’m glad Moxie’s information was right,” Vermil said. “I knew you’d be hiding in the safe room. Just struck me as the type of thing you would do. Where’s the Herron Family Head? I assume you had to speak with her.”

Exal’s eyes narrowed. Vermil knew too much.

That all but confirmed it. The mission had failed.

“Gone,” Exal said. “You overplayed your hand, Vermil. I had thought you were smarter than this. You have played well until now… but you never should have come here alone. No matter what you’ve summoned Spider to do aboveground, you are here. With me. And nobody else.”

Power welled within Exal. He had to move as quickly as possible. Until he knew what was happening aboveground, the most important thing was relocating before any reinforcements could arrive to back Vermil.

His strongest Rune shuddered as Exal drank every scrap of power he could call from it. The combination was one that had been in the Torrin family for a very, very long time. It wasn’t perfect — no Rank 6 was — but it was one of the most powerful combinations in being.

Thorned black vines twisted into the air all around Exal, blurring toward Vermil like a den of snakes. Each of them was filled with deadly poison powerful enough to kill even some of the strongest mages within the Empire with just a single drop.

Vermil tilted his head to the side.

Purple-red magic exploded out of him in an indiscriminate wave. There was no real flow or pattern to it beyond fluctuating waves of power. Jagged arcs of energy tore through the vines heading toward Vermil, shredding them into nothing but fading motes in the wind within an instant.

Pressure slammed into Exal’s chest and drove the breath from his lungs. But there was more than just mere pressure. The very air trembled as something invisible bore down on Exal’s shoulders with the weight of a mountain and tried to drive him to his knees.

And then, far too late, Exal’s domain screamed a warning. Coiling tendrils of power thrashed around Vermil as his domain suddenly blinked into existence and expanded to fill the entire room, quashing Exal’s completely.

“You came for my students, Exal,” Vermil said, contempt and fury filling his pitch-black eyes. “But not just you. Where’s the Herron head?”

Exal tried to reach for his magic, but nothing responded. He was completely blocked off from his runes. Vermil’s domain wasn’t just larger than his. It completely eclipsed his. The truth finally became evident, but it was far too late.

This wasn’t just a normal domain. There were traces of something… more within it. They were so faint that he could barely even pick them up, but there was no mistaking it.

It was a Soul Domain.

And there was only a single way someone could develop a Soul Domain.

“You’re no Rank 4,” Exal wheezed, horror gripping his throat like a clenching fist. “You’re a Rank 6. How?”

“Oh, you know. The usual way,” Vermil said, his words laden with icy fury. “Smashed seven runes together. Really, the result isn’t that impressive. I had to borrow a few runes from some friends. The combination is low-quality at best… but I suppose there’s something to be said for the quality of the materials you work with.”

“You forced yourself to Rank 6?” Exal managed, his skull pounding as air refused to enter his lungs. “That can’t be. A rushed combination like that should have failed.”

“Oh, don’t worry about me,” Vermil said. “It’s only for a little while. I’ll carve it back up when I’m done with you and the Herron head.”

“You can’t exist,” Exal whispered, no longer able to muster the air to do anything more. He slumped to his knees. His skull pounded in pain and disbelief. Vermil’s mere domain was choking him out. “You are impossible.”

“You fucked around, Exal,” Vermil said, crouching to be at eye level with him. “And now you find out. I’m going to ask you one last time. Where is the Herron family head? My Crumbling Apocalypse is not a very stable rune. I did only put it together a few minutes ago, after all. If I have to start cutting pieces off you, I might accidentally take too much off.”

Exal’s eyes flicked to the table, where the bracelet sat. Vermil’s gaze followed his. Then it turned back to Exal.

“That,” Exal wheezed. “It… connects us. A mental connection. We can speak through it.”

“A mental connection?” Vermil asked, delight cutting through his fury. A cold grin split his lips. “Oh, this is going to be good.”