Chương 190

Mr. Stone dropped them off at a private service entrance used for bringing in bulk supplies of alchemical reagents, far from the prying eyes of the main gates. The coachman looked relieved to be rid of them and their dangerous cargo, tipping his hat with a nervous twitch before taking his Pegasi back to the stables. I feel bad, since I strong-armed him into coming with us, but if we had used brooms, we would have had to make some tough decisions about the prisoners.

"Pauline, you can handle these guys, right?" he asked, and she nodded grimly, using her shadows to drag the unconscious men away. Out of the fourteen smugglers they fought, six escaped by boat, four died from their wounds, leaving only four to interrogate, along with the dozen or so who had stayed within the village. Not that Orion expected them to know everything, since they were at the very bottom of the totem pole, but even grunts would know more than they did.

Pauline disappeared soon after, taking the prisoners into the Sanctum's depths, where they would be interrogated with all kinds of methods. Once, that might have been enough to make his stomach turn, but now he only hoped they got everything out before breaking their minds.

"Dorian, Luna, go back to your homes," Orion continued.

"If anyone asks, we went for a flight to clear our heads after the lessons. Say nothing about the lake, or what we found there." A stubborn look flashed on Luna's face for a moment before Dorian tugged her away.

"Come on, our moms will be wondering where we are." She clearly wanted to join, but watching Orion carefully levitate the floating crate made her give in. That left only Orion and Selene.

"She's expecting us," Selene whispered as she headed toward the entrance. She looked like a ghost, her skin pale and waxy under the moonlight, but she also radiated a strange new energy. Whether because she'd leveled up or because he'd shown her that not all her predictions were bound to come true, he didn't know, but now was not the time for that conversation, even if he had no plan to let her slip back into avoiding him once they were finished.

"Then we shouldn't keep her waiting," he replied. It was still early in the evening, and the sun had just set, so most people were still out and about. However, by taking one of the furthest staircases, they managed to avoid most of the crowd and ignored the curious looks they received as they ascended higher and higher with the floating box. Eventually, they reached the seventh floor, and Orion felt a quick tingle when he stepped on it, indicating the wards had identified him and were allowing him through.

The Moon Chamber looked just the same as the last time he saw it, which was barely more than twenty-four hours ago. I wonder how many people get to visit this place that often. I bet most witches never do. High Priestess Seraphina stood by the central pool, gazing up at the crystal dome where the moon tracked its slow path across the sky. She didn't turn as they entered.

"The threads of fate are vibrating," she said calmly, though with a hint of sadness.

"A sour note is tainting the symphony. I assumed it was distant thunder. I did not expect it to be so close." Orion stepped forward, finally placing the crate on the silver flagstones. Clumsily, he offered a half-bow, unsure how formal he should be, since he had seen the woman just the day before. Selene mirrored the gesture, bowing even lower.

"We bring both bad and good news, High Priestess," he said.

"Evidence of the enemy operating in our land, and an example of the weapon they plan to use against us." Seraphina turned then, her eyes fixing on the crate. She paused for a moment, but it was more of a reaction than Orion had ever seen from her.

"Show me," she commanded. Orion unsealed the crate, removing the nails they'd used to keep it secure, and lifted one of the canisters out, holding the glass vessel up to the moonlight. The silver liquid inside swirled angrily. In the high-mana environment of the Sanctum's core, the substance seemed to ripple, pressing against the glass as if trying to break free to consume the feast around it. If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

"We found them at the bottom of the Blind Man's Bluff," Orion explained, keeping his report clinical.

"A group of locals was smuggling it in from the subterranean waterways, and given the state of their village, I believe they've been doing so for a while. As far as I could tell, this is a liquid mana-phage that destabilizes magical constructs on contact, and they seem to use it to coat bolts from their crossbows, though I don't think its uses stop there." Seraphina moved closer and reached out her hand.

For a moment, the air around her fingers shimmered, and Orion felt the Field shake in response, though he couldn't sense the structure needed for an actual spell. The liquid in the jar recoiled, hissing and bubbling violently, as if warning her away.

"It is definitely hungry," Seraphina observed, her expression unreadable.

"But it is artificial. It lacks a soul or intention, driven only by a chemical instinct to destroy." She looked at Orion.

"You said they used this against you?"

"They did, indeed," Orion confirmed, and even Selene nodded in support.

"Pauline might be able to tell you more, since she had her shadows disrupted when they came into contact with the raw liquid, but I had a lot of trouble finding a way to affect this. Containing it turned out to be more about giving my spell enough structure so it took a while to burn through it, though I imagine more powerful magic will be able to resist even better." Seraphina hummed, the sound melodious enough to sound like a song.

"And it was the villagers who were using it. You are certain?" For the first time, Selene spoke up.

"I have sensed their presence for a while, although only recently was I able to pinpoint their location. I watched them long enough to be sure it was the locals." A shadow crossed Seraphina's face. It wasn't fear, as Orion doubted beings like her felt fear the way regular humans did, but it was a deep, tired concern.

"Greed is one of the strongest forces. It causes men to turn against their land, work against it, even, all in the hopes of getting more. Always more." She murmured, sounding sad and resigned, as if it was her own fault that the villagers had been lured away with promises of wealth. Turning to the side, she called, "Asteria."

Several moments of silence passed, long enough that Orion wondered if he was supposed to go get his mother, when the woman in question appeared by the side of the Moon Chamber, dressed in her full regalia as a Veil Priestess. Her face was set in a mask of professional stoicism, but her eyes lingered on Orion a second too long, betraying her concern.

"High Priestess," Asteria said, bowing.

"Take this… filth," Seraphina ordered, gesturing to the crate.

"To your laboratory, and study it. I want to understand its limits, its composition, how it was made, and how to neutralize it. This is a high secret, for now. If word of this gets out, panic will cause more damage than the poison ever could, especially since we still do not know the full scope of the threat it poses."

"I understand," Asteria said. She levitated the crate, encasing it in a bubble of intricate, multi-layered shielding that looked sturdy enough to stop a siege engine. Seraphina turned back to Orion and Selene.

"You have done the Coven a great service tonight. You saw a rot we were blind to and excised it. But hear me well: today's luck will not always come tomorrow. The world is increasingly dangerous, and taking risks will only pay off for so long."

"We understand," Orion said, bowing his head. She's telling us to do our best to prepare for what's coming. I already planned to do that, but having the High Priestess's explicit permission will be helpful.

"Go," Seraphina dismissed them and turned back to the moon. The next few days blurred by as Orion followed the request to stay out of trouble while his mother worked, mostly because he had plenty to do inside the walls. He spent the mornings in lectures, tolerating the dull theories with only mild annoyance, trying to translate what they taught into what he knew would work.

He spent the afternoons in the library, cross-referencing the sigil they'd seen on the black ship with ancient trade agreements, but to his frustration, he didn't have much success, aside from vague similarities with languages found in old trade ledgers. And in the evenings, he found himself drawn back to his old laboratory on the far wing of the fourth floor. It was mostly as he had left it, and the small library he'd accumulated had been left untouched. But at the same time, there were ghosts here now.

He ran his finger along the dust on his workbench, taking note of all the clear spots. A mug still sat on a side table, stained with tea dregs that were weeks old, and a blanket was folded haphazardly on the cot he kept for late nights. Selene had lived here during his absence, probably longer than anyone realized. Just next to the window, a trail was visible in the thin layer of dust, indicating she had paced back and forth for quite a while.

She must have been terrified of what she was seeing, he realized with sadness. It humanized the mystery of her behavior and helped explain the blankness he'd seen in her eyes. She was a teenage girl who had witnessed many tragedies without being able to do anything and had hidden in her best friend's room because it was the only place that felt safe. He sat on the table, looking out the window at the city of Silverpeak below. I can't let that future happen, he vowed. But I can't stop it alone either.

On the morning of the fourth day, Asteria finally stepped out of her lab. Orion was sitting at the kitchen table, nursing a cup of mou when she walked in. She looked like she hadn't slept in seventy-two hours, and her hair was pulled back in a severe bun, but there was a new energy in her eyes that told him she had experienced a breakthrough of sorts. She sat down across from him, silently accepting the cup of tea that Pauline poured for her, then took a long sip, closing her eyes and exhaling.

"It's bad," she said bluntly.

"How bad?" he asked, not needing to question what she was referring to.

"Very bad," Asteria said, staring into her tea.

"It's a masterwork of alchemy, probably beyond even Elder Yue's abilities, but it's clearly unnatural. It works by undermining the structural intent behind magic, and the less magic present in a spell, the more quickly it will collapse." She looked up at him.

"Your assessment was correct. Basic spells are all fueled by intent, and the liquid hijacks that, short-circuiting them. Anything below Tier Three dissolves instantly on contact."

"And above Tier Three?" Pauline asked.

"Tier Three spells have enough density to resist it, but they still degrade quickly. You can fight, but not for long, as it will require much more mana than usual."

"What about destroying it?"

"Tier Four is required for that," Asteria said grimly.

"Only a Tier Four spell can produce enough raw power to overload the liquid's capacity and burn it away. And even then, it takes effort." Orion felt a shiver of fear run through him at that. There were maybe twenty people in the entire Sanctum who could cast Tier Four magic, if you included all the retired witches and those capable of collaborative magic. The rest, the thousands of acolytes, guards, and mid-level witches, were essentially defenseless. It was time to stop messing around.

I need to teach my method to others. Now.