These past days, Astrophos was able to heal perfectly and as the day of the arrival of the Grand Mages, he remained at the inn so as not to accidently make his mana signature appear at the bakeshop. He was meditating inside his room when he felt it, a distortion in the air and the presence of another person inside his room.
"Diligent as always but you can't even rise in ranks even after all of that hard work." Arean held his chin high with both of her hands crossed on her chest after she intruded in the man's room.
Astrophos opened his eyes and did not give much reaction at the other's appearance. He had already gotten used to it, ever since they were still apprentices the woman has been too proud just like Siron. The only difference was that, Arean only becomes haughty in front of those who were weaker than her and cowers in front of those who were much stronger and superior than her.
In Astrophos's case, he belonged to the first. They were actually of the same age and entered the Magic Tower at the same time but Arean was fast learner and adapted easily until she was taken in by one of the Grand Mages at that time. Thus, she became stronger in a short amount of time which undoubtedly got into her head.
"I never thought about that," was his only answer because he was not in the mood to chat with the woman. "So, are we leaving or not?" He raised his brows and waited for the woman to answer but what met him was an icicle that flew towards him.
He managed to dodge the attack but it seems that the woman was not satisfied, "You think you can talk to me like that just because we are of the same age, mind you, I'm in a higher position than you."
Those words were followed by several more icicles that attacked him. He dodged and defended against relentless assault but his room was not spared. The walls, the floor and even the ceiling were riddled by holes after each attack she made.
"Stop! Are you planning on destroying this place? Grand Mage Alastor won't be happy if we keep him waiting!" Astrophos shouted amidst the confrontation then the icicles suddenly melted. He let out a breath after Arean stopped her attacks.
Her eyes were narrowed in his direction as she gritted her teeth, "Consider yourself lucky. Come to the municipal hall, we will be waiting for you."
Astrophos watched as the woman's body melted like ice as the particles were blown by the wind. The commotion attracted some people and even the inn owner came up to see what was going on. He was almost passed out when he saw that the room was full of holes but after Astrophos assured the owner that he will pay for the repair of the room, he was relieved.
The tall structure loomed above Astrophos as he stood outside of the building. He had passed through this place so many times before but this was the first time that he felt intimidated by its size. Without no other choice, he stepped in to face these people and be done with it.
He was led to where the three guests were resting, the person leading him knocked on the door and opened it for him. Astrophos took a step inside then the atmosphere changed. He felt an invisible force pressing on him but he ignored it until he heard the click of the door closing behind him.
Large drops of sweat appeared on the side of his face and he could feel that his body was starting to tremble but he still continued to walk forward. This much pressure was no match to what he had experienced three days ago. After he was a few feet away from where Grand Mage Alastor was seating, he stopped and placed his hands behind his back.
The invisible force disappeared followed by the sound of clapping but Astrophos was still busy calming his heart. "Impressive that you were able to withstand that pressure," Grand Mage Alastor looked at the man with interest and his smile appeared genuine for a short while.
"I was merely pushing myself too hard." Astrophos was unable to accept the praise and he did not want to be associated with the man longer than what they had come for.
"Hmmm, is that so. Well, I get that you are shy but next time you should be glad that I am even given you praise." The message behind those words were clearly received by Astrophos so he could only bow his head and apologize. "Now that you are here, please give us an account of what happened to Grand Mage Jagan and to Siron as I am saddened by both of their passing. Grand Mage Jagan had been a good friend of mine while Siron was a talent that the Magic Tower values and then this tragedy suddenly happened. What a shame, so please enlighten us."
Astrophos actually doubted the man's words. With Grand Mage Jagan's personality, he would never get along with Grand Mage Alastor and he heard rumors that it was this man who caused the former Grand Mage to leave, but he can't be sure. He took a short glance at the other two who were with them in the room, Grand Mage Meliore was a woman of principle, similar to Grand Mage Jagan but most of the time she was not in the Magic Tower so he was a bit surprised to see her here.
"High Mage Siron has used dark magic and when it was revealed, his mana core has been corrupted which caused him to be overtaken by the dark mana. He went berserk and caused destruction, and in the end ended up killing Grand Mage Jagan." He briefly told them what happened purposely leaving out some details but he already prepared himself once they asked him what happened to Siron.
"Then what happened to Siron? We were informed that he was killed by someone, have you seen who killed him?" Meliore was the one who asked the question, since she was only interested in knowing who killed Siron, well the three of them were curious.
"He was killed but I didn't see who killed him. I was injured during the fight and decided to step away from the battle to recover then Grand Mage Jagan was pierced through and then Siron was attacked but I wasn't able to see who attacked him. Everything happened so fast that when I tried to see who it was, the person was already gone." He said all of it while minding his expression because he did not want to give away anything. He might be labelled as a traitor after these but it was already his fate ever since he decided not to report to the Magic Tower after the incident.
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