The irony was suffocating. I had spent so long searching for her, and now she was dragging me to detention. I could feel her mana, it was vast, like an ocean, but there was something dark at the edges of it, something that felt like the "Void" I carried.
We arrived at the heavy, dark-wood doors of the Principal's Office. She shoved me inside and slammed the door, the sound echoing in the silent room.
"Sit, now, tell me why a boy who hasn't shown up for class in a week suddenly returns just to assault his classmates. And don't lie to me. I can smell the jasmine perfume you're using to hide that lab-scent, 'Zenni'."
Elicia said like what I remembered, walking around her desk, which was piled high with reports on student drug overdoses
The air in the office was thick with the scent of old parchment and cold wax, the high stone walls lined with thousands of leather-bound volumes that seemed to press inward. It was a room frozen in time, a medieval sanctuary that felt more like a tomb than an office. I stood there, motionless, my gaze fixed on Elicia. The sister who used to tuck me in and tell me stories of the stars had been replaced by this ferocious, cold-eyed demon in a scholar's robe.
The contrast was staggering. The warmth that once defined her mana had been sharpened into a razor-edged authority. I was paralyzed by the sight of her, the hunter from my body was aching with a mix of relief and terror.
I think that I was still dreaming, so I used inspect on her to confirm it was real.
Elicia Rynd
Skills: Divine Regeneration
Vitality: 100
Strength: 150
Defense: 100
Agility: 50
Mana: 100000
Divine Regeneration- heal any wounds in less than a second, can regrow back body parts, organs, bones and manipulate skin tissue, cure all diseases and viruses.
I even brushed my eyes to see my appraisal skill carefully. Yes, it was definitely her, but she changed, she left for a few months now her progress was stunning, being called an offspring goddess and the principal of Sisiphon Magic Academy was no joke.
The office felt like a tomb of lost memories, filled with the heavy scent of old parchment and the oppressive chill of a medieval study. The walls were lined with thousands of books, their leather spines cracked with age, looming over us like silent witnesses. I couldn't stop staring at her. My heart was a chaotic mess, the sister who used to tuck me in and tell me stories of the stars was gone, replaced by this ferocious, cold demon in a Principal's robe.
"Hey, are you even listening? Zenni!" she snapped, her voice like a whip-crack against the stone.
I snapped back to reality, my mind still tangled in the past.
"Yes, big sis…"
The words slipped out before I could choke them back. The nickname was a reflex, a ghost of a childhood where she was my entire world.
Elicia's eyes flared with a sharp, dangerous annoyance. She slammed a stack of papers onto her desk.
"Whom are you calling big sis? You are incredibly disrespectful to address your Principal like that. Keep up this act and you're expelled before the sun sets. I have enough trouble with the Alchemist Guild without a first-year delinquent adding to the pile."
She was so close, yet she looked at me with nothing but contempt. I knew I couldn't reveal Eirene yet, not with her mana so volatile and the Academy crawling with spies. I had to play the part of the broken boy.
I stood up abruptly, the chair screeching against the floor, and dropped into a deep, desperate bow.
"Please, Principal Elicia! Don't expel me! Please! I... I will change! I was just scared! The lab, the drugs... I didn't want any of it!"
I cried, my voice cracking perfectly to imitate Zenni's desperation. I let the tears well up in my eyes, using my control to make them shimmer and fall at just the right moment. It was a fake expression, a perfect imitation of a boy on the brink of collapse, but the pain behind it, the pain of being forgotten by my own flesh and blood, was entirely real.
Elicia froze. The ferocity in her crimson eyes wavered for a fraction of a second as she watched Zenni tremble. She sighed, rubbing her temples, the mask of the crimson eyed Principal slipping just enough to show the exhaustion underneath.
"Sit down, Zenni, just... sit down. You're a mess. You smell like a jasmine garden trying to hide a chemical fire, and you're shaking like a leaf."
The air in the office grew heavy as I leaned into the performance of a lifetime. I wiped the fake tears with the back of my sleeve, making sure my shoulders trembled just enough to look pathetic but determined.
"I quit, I was in the slums... doing the right thing. I have a little sister out there, and I saw what that filth was doing to families. I had to protect her. I want to be a great sage, someone who can actually stand for something, so I came back to change my life. I don't have the Dust anymore. Check my robes! I'm clean!"
I said, my voice barely a whisper before rising with a rehearsed passion. I held my arms out, offering myself for a search I knew she wouldn't perform. Elicia stared at me, her crimson eyes searching for the Zenni mask. The mention of a little sister seemed to strike a hidden chord, for a fleeting moment, the crimson eyed Principal vanished, and the protective older sister I once knew flickered in her gaze. She looked down at the silver key she had been holding, her knuckles whitening.
"A sister, very well, Zenni. If that is your dream, I will not be the one to snuff it out. Keep the key. Consider it your first 'sage's task.' This campus is rotting, and I need eyes where mine cannot go."
Elicia murmured, almost to herself. The hardness in her face crumbled, replaced by a weary sort of pity. She gestured toward the door, her voice regaining its professional coldness.
"Go. Get to your afternoon classes. If I see you in this office again for anything other than that ledger, you'll be out on the street before you can say 'little sister' again."
I bowed deeply, suppressing the urge to smile. I turned toward the door, my hand on the heavy brass handle, ready to vanish into the hallway.
"One more thing, Zenni," she called out. Her voice was different now, softer, laced with a strange, haunting suspicion.
The room seemed to drop several degrees as the words left my mouth. Elicia's eyes, usually so sharp and calculated, widened in genuine shock.
"Based from your records, your skill is still not registered, care you tell me what is your human skill was?" Elicia said calmly
I knew that Zenni had a human skill known as Light Magic, it is the same skill that was possessed by White Flower herself, but I hijacked his body, so I needed to make the drug dealer's life more amusing, to be a cool kid rather than the cold and edgy kid from the class. So I shared my cover up story of my own skill and presented it to my big sister.
"Principal Elicia, I have a human skill known as blood manipulation, trust me, I'm good at this." I bragged about my skill with a gnarly expression.
Elicia raised an eyebrow once more, her crimson eyes were illuminating the daylight, then she commented.
"Blood Manipulation, you have that skill? Zenni, in this academy, that power is considered worse than worthless, it's a death sentence. It is a suicidal art. You'll drain yourself dry before you can form a single shield. You won't last a day in the upper-tier trials."
Elicia repeated, the name of the skill sounding like a curse in the sterile air of the office. Her expression shifted from suspicion to a grim, pitying disbeliefShe leaned over her desk, her voice dropping to a warning hiss. The Council views blood mages as unstable, and the mortality rate for users is nearly absolute. Anyone who possesses this skill is considered a liability. If the Board finds out, they will definitely expel you."
I didn't offer a verbal rebuttal. Instead, I let a small, confident smug play on Zenni's lips. I reached into the top tier bragging within my core, pulling just a microscopic fraction of my S-rank essence. I didn't even need to break the skin, I forced the iron in my pores to manifest, condensing it into a perfect, swirling sphere of deep crimson liquid that hovered just above my palm.
It wasn't a crude splash of gore. It was a masterpiece of fluid dynamics, rotating with such precision that it looked like a polished ruby.
I flicked my wrist, tossing the blood-sphere toward her. It didn't splash. It drifted through the air like a bubble of heavy mercury. Elicia instinctively reached out, catching the sphere in her palm. The moment her skin touched it, the blood didn't stain her; it remained a solid, pulsing orb, warm and thrumming with a rhythmic heartbeat that matched my own.
"It's only suicidal if you don't know how to lead," I said over my shoulder.
I didn't wait for her reaction. I pulled the door open and stepped out into the hallway, the heavy oak thudding shut behind me. I could almost feel her staring at the sphere in her hand, realizing that the worthless first-year she just scolded was manipulating the most difficult element in existence with the ease of a master.
"Damn your cold, Eirene, pull that stunt out of your eldest sister, is just pathetic." Plasma bantered
"Shut up."