Return of the Runebound Professor-Chapter 698: Old

Garina brought Noah back to Arbitage late in the night. She hadn’t spent too much time looking at his runes, nor had she told him what she’d discovered. The only thing the Apostle had said was something about needing to think about the best way forward. Then she’d dropped him back off at Moxie’s room and vanished without another word.

Noah couldn’t help but notice that she most certainly had not explained anything to Moxie. She wasn’t going to get out of things that easily. Garina would probably be back the following night to resume their training, and Noah had full plans of making sure she followed up on what she’d promised.

But that would come when it came. Right now, he was exhausted. Even more so than usual. It wasn’t even the headache pounding at his temples or the effort he’d spent while fighting Garina. That wasn’t really anything all that out of the ordinary.

Getting killed is pretty common at this point. I didn’t even take that much soul damage this time around. Hell, I only died a few times today. So why do I feel like I’ve been put through a trash compactor?

Noah’s thoughts felt muddled and hazy in his head. He couldn’t really piece any of them together, much less try to answer his question. The best thing he could come up with was that some of the things he’d learned had pushed him farther than he’d gone before.

Any further ideas would have to wait for the morning.

Right now, the only thing he wanted to do was flop into bed — right after taking a shower. The last thing he needed tonight was to die again because he’d gotten into Moxie’s bed without cleaning up first.

***

The following morning brought clarity with it. Not nearly as much as Noah would have liked, but more than enough for him to get right into the swing of things without wasting much time at all.

Moxie had been in bed the previous night when he’d returned, but she hadn’t pressed him for any questions after seeing how tired he’d been. That mercy had burned away with the sun’s arrival.

Fortunately, the promise that Garina would explain everything herself placated her for the time being. It helped that the two didn’t have the free time to sit around chatting for nearly as long as either of them would have liked.

It was day, and that meant there was teaching and training to be done. Their students could no longer afford to have classes on an every-other-day schedule. There was too much at stake… and too many enemies waiting to strike.

Everyone needed to get stronger. freewebnσvel.cøm

And so Noah set out to do just that. It was still early in the day. With time left before class, there was one thing he could handle that he’d yet to quite get the chance for. Vrith’s runes needed to be fixed. She was in the Transport Cannon along with all the other demons, so it wasn’t hard to find her.

Noah rolled up to it with his grimoire slung over his shoulder just a few minutes after waking up. It didn’t take him long to spot Vrith and beckon her over. The look in her eyes told him that she knew what he was here for before he’d even had a chance to say it.

Vrith had probably been waiting for some time.

He had no plans of making her wait for any longer. With no further ado, the two of them found one of the dwindling empty spaces in the Transport Cannon and sat down. Then Noah got to work.

The process was fairly smooth. Vrith was far from the most powerful demon in their group. Her runes weren’t bad for someone who had clawed their way through life using any scraps she could get to advance, but they weren’t anything to write home about.

But in spite of that, she managed to surprise Noah. Vrith didn’t shine in any offensive or defensive capability, but her desires were as clear as crystal. She knew exactly what she wanted. She knew who she was — and who she wanted to become.

The moment Noah tore her runes apart and gave her Fragments of Sticky to break and create a Fragment of Self from, Vrith managed it almost instantly.

She had far more difficulty focusing her intent on creating higher tier runes than she did in creating the Fragment of Self. Noah ended up having to cut her combinations apart four times before their work was done.

He didn’t ask how Vrith had been able to decide so intently on what she wanted to become, and she didn’t offer an explanation. That kind of information was going to be something incredibly close to the heart.

And, unlike many of the other demons, Noah wasn’t particularly friendly with Vrith. She was closer to Aylin than anyone else. But Noah was pretty sure she’d have told them if she’d managed to figure out something truly important that could help the others.

Since she hadn’t, then this was something that only applied to her. Noah didn’t have any interest in prying her personal life apart for no reason, and now really didn’t feel like the time to start up a conversation about who she was as a person.

Instead, Noah just took one final check around Vrith’s soul to make sure nothing was damaged, then slipped out of it to return to the real world. His job with her was done. All of the combat-ready demons had been completely patched up.

Stolen novel; please report.

They were ready to grow without fear of losing themselves to their runes… and should the Inquisition decide to try their hand against any of them, they would find all of their magic strikingly ineffective. 𝐑ἈＮÒ𝖇Ę𝙎

The entire process of repairing Vrith’s runes had only taken him a few minutes at most. At this point, he was becoming something of an expert of modifying Demon Runes. He wasn’t about to go start selling an online course about it, but now that he thought about it, there wasn’t exactly anyone else practicing in the field.

If I’m the only option, even if I kind of suck, doesn’t that make me the expert? Maybe I should write myself a PhD and pin it up in Moxie’s room or something. Then I could make people call me Dr. Vines and refuse to answer to anything else.

Noah suppressed a laugh.

What would that even be called? A Doctorate of Demonology? Actually, on second thought, it would probably give too many people the wrong idea. They’d probably think I’m studying summoning demons instead of fixing their runic issues. As if I don’t have too much attention from the Inquisition already.

That was a sobering thought. There wasn’t that much time before he and Fuyin met to investigate the Inquisition. As amusingly ironic as that was, they couldn’t afford to waste any time in the dwindling days left to prepare.

He had a class to prepare for.

***

“Hm,” Father said, examining the staff in his hands intently.

There was little emotion in that word. His face didn’t so much as twitch as he spoke. It was perfectly flat. Few would have been able to recognize that the noise was anything more than a passing grunt.

But Janice was among those few. She knew Father well. She’d spent so much time with him that she was more than aware just how rare it was for him to have a verbal admission of surprise for just about anything.

To him, this was the equivalent of letting out a slew of swears as he stormed around the room, flinging papers everywhere in a massive tantrum. Father did not simply grunt.

But Janice did not ask if anything was wrong. That would have been a distraction, and Father had made it abundantly clear what would happen if she distracted him while he was working on the Long Night.

He’d been hunched over the weapon in their hideout for the past few days. The only pauses he’d taken had been to briefly eat or drink the meals that Janice wordlessly brought to his side.

It was impossible for Janice to say if Father had been finding any success. The utterance he’d just made was the first sound that had come out of Father since he’d started studying the artifact in the first place… and she didn’t know if that was a good sign or not.

Curiosity burned within her. It urged her to ask Father if she could do anything to help. To see if he’d be willing to tell her even the slightest piece of information about the powerful weapon. But Janice was not foolish enough to indulge that desire.

He would speak when he wanted to. Distracting him while he was working with a weapon older than the very empire they stood in was a great way to get both herself and Father killed — or to end up mistakenly pulling the attention of the Apostles to their hiding spot.

Fortunately, Janice didn’t have to suffer in silence for much longer.

“Hm,” Father said again.

Janice’s eyes widened. That had been two hms within a minute. This was nearly unprecedented.

“Janice,” Father said, his eyes lifting from the staff to land upon her.

“Yes?” Janice asked immidiately. Her voice was a pitch higher than normal. She couldn’t help it. Something was very, very wrong.

“Did you feel anything just now?” Father asked.

Janice blinked. Then she shook her head. “No. I don’t believe so. I was not focused on sensing anything, but I have not noticed anything out of the ordinary. Should I be waiting for something?”

“No. I don’t believe so,” Father said. He turned his attention back to the wooden staff, then tapped a thumb against it. “I believe I have unearthed a surprising side-effect of the Long Night.”

“I… may I ask what it is?” Janice regretted the words the moment they left her mouth. Father did not often appreciate questions.

But this time around, he didn’t seem to mind.

“I would prefer to demonstrate,” Father replied. He rose from where he sat, then held the staff before his body with both hands. “This should help accelerate my research. Theorizing can only take you so far — and the Apostles have been getting a bit too close. It would be good to throw them off the trail for a little while.”

Janice just nodded. She didn’t dare say anything else. Her gaze was locked entirely upon the Long Night. The weapon was ancient. Powerful beyond belief. If Father had managed to figure out how to control even a small portion of it…

I don’t need to finish that thought. I’m about to see the answer firsthand.

Father blew out a breath. His hands tightened around the staff in his hands. Then, for a few seconds, he was perfectly still. Concentration etched itself into his features with deep creases.

Then something shifted.

Janice couldn’t have said what it was. There was no change in the actual air. Her body hadn’t been displaced nor had her runes been affected. There was no pressure, no physical or magical force.

But something changed all the same. It was something that she could only feel deep within her soul, like a distant gong rolling through her very being.

Her stomach lurched up into her throat. Janice staggered as a wave of dizziness and fear rolled through her very being. Bile found its way into her mouth before she’d even realized what happened. She swallowed it back at the last moment, the world reeling around her, and braced a hand against the wall to keep from falling flat on her face.

A sense of immense wrongness wound around her neck like a noose. It was like the gaze of death itself had landed upon Janice’s back.

“What is this?” Janice breathed, unable to stop the question from leaving her mouth as her features went pale.

“A call,” Father replied, lowering the staff. A droplet of sweat rolled down the side of his face. Father, of all people, was strained. “A command.”

“For who?” Janice whispered. “For what?”

What kind of creature could be so powerful that merely calling out to it would strain Father to this degree? Even if he doesn’t yet know how to properly use the staff… I don’t think I want to see whatever it is he has summoned.

“Something old. Older than me,” Father replied, a small smile flitting across his features. The expression never reached his eyes. “I have called on but a fragment the Long Night’s power, but it will be a good test… and I know exactly who to direct its attention toward.”