Chapter 24: Lady Vera
From the moment my feet crossed the threshold into the chamber deep within the smaller spire, the air itself changed. It grew thick and oppressive, pressing down on my chest until every breath felt like dragging stones through my lungs. The room was alive with darkness, not the empty kind that simply lacked light, but something far worse.
Evil spirits stirred in the shadows, their low, rasping whispers brushing against my skin like icy fingers. I could feel them coiling through the air, circling me, tasting my presence with invisible tongues.
The scent of old decay and burning sulfur hung heavy, mixing with the metallic tang of tempered steel that seemed to seep from the very walls. My heart hammered in my ears, but I forced myself to stay steady. This was Devil Blade Academy. Weakness here would get you killed before you even drew your sword.
"Dabara… who have you brought to me?" The feminine voice drifted out from the deepest corner of the room, smooth as silk yet edged with something venomous. It echoed softly off the unseen stone, carrying a lazy curiosity that sent a chill racing down my spine.
My instincts took over in a heartbeat. I immediately unsheathed Anki, the blade singing free from its scabbard with a clear, ringing tone that cut through the whispers of the spirits. The hilt felt alive in my grip, warm and humming with protective energy, ready to defend me against whatever lurked in the gloom. But Dabara reacted faster than I could finish the motion. His palm slammed against the flat of my blade with precise, unyielding force, pushing it back down before I could raise it even an inch higher. The impact jarred my arm, but I held firm, breathing hard as the evil spirits around us seemed to pause, watching.
She gazed at me then, I could feel the weight of her eyes even without sight. It was a lazy stare, dripping with pure disdain, as if I were nothing more than an insect that had wandered into her web by mistake. The pressure of that look settled over me like a cold weight, making the air even thicker.
"A blind cat!" she spat, her voice sharpening with sudden fury.
Her face twisted, I sensed the shift in her aura instantly, a violent flare that made the evil spirits hiss louder. Two demon souls materialized beside her in the darkness, their forms towering and grotesque. Both had their faces wrapped tightly in ragged pieces of cloth, hiding whatever horrors lay beneath, but their bodies told the story: huge, rippling muscles corded with raw power, veins bulging like ropes under taut skin. Their massive fingers gripped long spears, the tips gleaming with deadly intent and pointed straight at my throat, ready to strike me clean through in a single thrust. The air around them crackled with killing intent, the spears humming faintly as if eager for blood.
"Lady Vera, chill," Dabara said quickly, his tone careful but firm. "I have brought this one straight from Daveron."
But she just gazed at him, not giving a damn about his information. Her attention stayed locked on me, the disdain rolling off her in waves that made my skin crawl.
"This one belongs to Madam Helga," he said once more, his words deliberate.
That made her tweak, just a tiny flicker in her aura, a momentary pause that rippled through the room like a stone dropped in still water.
"Liam, don't move!" Anki spoke sharply inside my mind, the voice urgent and laced with warning. "She can sense me."
Immediately without warning she was upon me.
Lady Vera blurred across the chamber in a streak of motion I barely tracked, her fingers closing around Anki's hilt like iron clamps. She pried the blade from my grasp with effortless strength, tearing it away before I could tighten my hold. She held it up then, turning it slowly in the darkness, studying the blade carvings with careful, deliberate movements. I could hear the faint scrape of her nails tracing the runes, feel the way her aura probed the sword's essence.
"An ego spirit," she said, her voice softening with genuine curiosity for the first time. "How did you attain it?" Her expression changed, I sensed the shift, the way her interest sharpened like a newly honed edge.
But anger swelled within me, hot and uncontrollable, flooding my veins like liquid fire. "Give it back!" I raged. The words exploded outward, spreading in powerful waves of echoes that bounced around the room, shaking the walls and stirring the evil spirits into frantic hisses. The chamber trembled under the force of my voice, the whispers turning to startled shrieks.
I moved fluidly, every muscle responding without thought. I could feel the silent flow of violent energy already vibrating within me, building like a storm ready to break. "Echo Palm!" I activated.
I dove in without hesitation, the back of my palm whipping upward in a precise arc to slam into Anki and knock it free from her grasp. The blade spun upward into the sky like a fluid dance, catching what little light filtered through the gloom.
In the same seamless motion, I drove both palms straight into her abdomen, putting every ounce of that vibrating energy behind the strike.
"Liam, stop!" Dabara tried to intervene, his voice sharp with alarm as he reached for me.
But Lady Vera just smiled, a wide, unhinged grin that carried the edge of someone slipping into psychosis. My palms drove straight into her guts next, connecting with solid force. At the exact same time, I leaped high, stretching my hand desperately toward the spinning Anki, fingers straining to reclaim what is mine.
"Heee… you're truly amazing," she spoke, her voice trembling with mad delight, like someone lost in a fever dream.
Immediately she grabbed me by the leg, her grip like a vice. She slammed me straight into the ground with brutal power. The impact cracked the stone beneath my back, sending shards flying and driving the air from my lungs in a painful whoosh. Before I could recover, she swiftly hooked Anki kicking it into the far wall with a ringing clang that echoed through the chamber.
Then she came down on me like a falling mountain, her knee driving hard into my right shoulder, breaking the joint clean from its socket with a sickening pop that sent white-hot agony exploding through my entire arm.
I bit down hard on my lip, tasting blood, refusing to let even a single scream escape my throat. The pain was blinding, but I held it in, chest heaving.
"Be a good boy," she said with that same terrifying smile, her voice dripping with mock sweetness.
"You said this one belongs to Helga," she asked, still staring down at my struggling face as I writhed beneath her.
"Yes," Dabara answered quickly. "I found him with the Daverons, but he declared Helga as his owner."
"Ahhh… he is a slave," she spoke, the words carrying a note of realization. She stood from my body then, her anger finally calming as the weight lifted off me.
Immediately I moved toward my sword, still embedded in the wall. My right arm hung useless, flapping limply at my side with every step, sending fresh spikes of pain shooting through me. I used my left arm to reach out, fingers closing around the hilt, while my right foot braced against the stone for leverage.
With a savage yank and a grunt of effort, I pulled it free, the blade sliding out with a metallic scrape that rang like victory.
I then stood by the corner like a cat, crouched low, body coiled and ready, Anki gripped tightly in my left hand despite the agony in my shoulder. The position made her laugh, a wild, echoing sound that filled the room.
"Just like a little kitten," she said, amusement clear in her tone.
Dabara then stepped in front of me, positioning his body as a shield. "Lady Vera, calm your excitement. He is just a child," he said, his voice firm yet respectful.
"Hahaha! Helga… is this what you have been hiding all along?" she said, staring straight at me where I stood behind Dabara. "Breciline is about to shake."
She pointed her fingers toward the door without another word.
My body lifted off the ground against my will, pulled upward by an invisible force that wrapped around me like chains. The door slammed open with a thunderous bang that shook the entire corridor. I was flung outward, tumbling helplessly corner to corner through the twisting halls of the spire, slamming into walls and spinning wildly until I crashed straight through one of the windows of the outer dorm. Glass shattered around me, the cold outer air rushing in as I hurtled toward the ground.
I slammed hard into the stone courtyard outside, the impact jarring every bone. The force popped my dislocated shoulder back into place with another sickening crunch, the joint snapping into alignment amid a fresh wave of agony that nearly stole my breath.
Finally, the pain tore free from my control.
I let out a raw scream, clutching my throbbing shoulder as I rolled onto my knees, chest heaving and vision swimming even in blindness. Sweat mixed with blood from my bitten lip dripped down my chin.
"That vile bitch!" I screamed in rage, the words ripping from my throat as I bit my lip again, hard enough to draw more blood.
The outer dorm courtyard echoed with my fury, the distant clashes of training blades fading into the background as the steel-gray sky of Devil Blade Academy pressed down on me.
Anki lay beside me on the ground, humming softly with concern. My right arm still burned, but it was functional again. I pushed myself up slowly, knees trembling, every muscle screaming in protest. Lady Vera had made her point crystal clear in those few brutal moments "she will be watching!".