Throne of Magical Arcana
chapter-53

It was very late in the hot and suffocating night, but even then there were several people wearing black robes quietly walking on the streets. Aside from them, only a few drunkards were loafing around aimlessly. However, Lucien and his companions did not lower their guard at all. They had to be very careful to avoid the night watchers of the church. Those church watchers were like hounds wandering at night, chasing after the scent of evil. The black gloves those watchers always wore were the shared nightmare of every sorcerer in Aalto.

After ten minutes, Philosopher stopped and said to Lucien in a low voice, “Mr. Professor, we’re here. The passage is in the house.” The house was sitting on the boundary of the Noble and Aderon Districts, looking pretty plain, even old, and was enclosed by a few dilapidated buildings.

Each of them examined the house separately to make sure there was no magic trap in the building, while Lucien used Bat Screaming and secured the surroundings. Then they followed Philosopher and entered the house.

From the thick spider web hanging down from the girder and brushing his forehead, Lucien could tell this place had been abandoned for a long time. “Some beggars used to stay here overnight. But recently, all the beggars in Aalto went missing.” Philosopher said casually when he was walking.

Neither Lucien nor White Honey replied. Only Smile asked out of surprise, “All missing? What’s possible for the beggars to do? Where could they have gone?”

“I have no idea as well, Owl,” answered Philosopher, “Some said this had something to do with the evil creature.” While Lucien and White Honey remained silent.

When they came to one of the bedrooms, Philosopher started removing some old crates which were hiding a secret entrance behind them. Cold wind came from the passage, but the air smelled fresh. That meant it was being used pretty frequently.

“How does Philosopher know the secret passage? Is he one of the nobles?” Lucien felt a bit confused. However, obviously, he could not ask that directly.

When they all came into the secret passage, Philosopher prudently closed the entrance behind them. Lucien noticed many magic circles on the ceiling.

“Philosopher,” Smile noticed them as well, “What are these for?”

“Don’t worry about it. In case of emergency, the magic traps will be activated to destroy the passage.” Philosopher answered with a smile.

“I like your prudence.” Lucien commended in his pretended harsh voice.

“I agree. I’m feeling more assured now.” White Honey smiled.

…………

Another ten minutes later, Philosopher, Lucien, Owl and White Honey climbed out of the secret passage from a dark corner. Under the cover of the shadow of the tall trees, soon they came in front of Baron Laurent’s old three-floor house.

Beside the iron gate of the house stood a guard wearing a set of plain leather armor. Compared with the many guards on the other nobles’ properties who were wearing silver chainmail, the single guard here was clearly showing the family’s decline.

“Only one guard is here. We can go in there directly.” Smile proposed.

“Leave this to me.” Philosopher took a step forward, “Leave this to an apprentice from the School of Astrology.”

“I agree. Philosopher can handle this.” Lucien nodded under his hood.

“Then let me help you, Philosopher.” Smile came closer to Philosopher.

……

Luke was yawning in front of the big iron gate, complaining about the Baron in his mind.

“Party, party and party. Baron Laurent doesn’t even have enough money to pay us guards. Ten Nars every month for standing here the whole night? Come on… The old Baron was paying my grandpa and dad twenty Nars a month!”

A sudden owl hoot interrupted Luke’s thought, since it sounded a bit weird. “Go and catch your mice! You nasty thing!” Luke swore.

Luke couldn’t see anything in the darkness. However, when he turned around, he suddenly saw a ghost in a black robe standing a few steps away from him.

Before Luke opened his mouth to scream, he saw the ghost’s face under the hood: except for the two eye holes, its nose, mouth and ears were blurred together.

The ghost slowly raised its head. It was looking at Luke through the two dark holes, in which there were countless stars. The stars were shining like a dream.

“Stars…” Luke murmured. All of a sudden, he felt completely relaxed, as if he was facing the person who he trusted the most in the world.

Philosopher clearly knew that Luke had been hypnotized. Walking closer to Luke, Philosopher whispered in his ear, “We are Baron Laurent’s guests. Open the gate and let us in. Be quiet. Don’t let other people know.”

“Yes, sir.” Luke slightly opened the gate following Philosopher’s command, “Please, sir.”

Carefully, Philosopher, Lucien, Smile and White Honey went through the gate and headed toward the house.

After they went in there, Luke did not close the gate. Instead, he turned around and started guarding the gate with great passion as if his chest was on fire! He did not know why, but he wanted to do more for the mister.

…………

The house’s wooden door of the house was tightly locked, and the heavy curtains were also tightly drawn. In the big hall, a number of naked or half-naked men and women were having intercourse. Men’s gasps, women’s groans, a sweet aroma and the smell of certain fluids were mixing together. The hall was warm, even hot.

On the couches, carpets, and even on the long table, pairs of man and woman, man and man, woman and woman, were moaning during coitus. They were having sex as if they were totally crazy. Some women’s dresses were rolled up around their waists, while some other women were completely naked, and men were humping them like beasts.

Only one person in the licentious sex party was totally different. It was a middle-aged man in a silver robe. He did not join these people. Instead, he raised his hands up and closed his eyes, as if he was enjoying the moans and was listening to someone talking to him. His face looked extremely excited, lightened with ecstasy.

Black mist gradually rose up from the crazy people and slowly gathered behind the middle-aged man. The man was standing in the center of the pattern of an argent horn drawn on the altar, from which many silver lines stretched out and enclosed the shadow. Then the shadow became darker and darker, mixing with the colors of pink and black. Gradually, it turned into a tall and big shadow with two horns on its head.

“Are you ready for my power?” The shadow suddenly spoke.

The middle-aged man, Baron Laurent, answered in his lunatic tone, “The Great Master of Argent, the forever lasting silence, I’ve given my soul to you. Please, please endow me with your power!”

Slowly the shadow approached him and started entering his body, bit by bit.

Laurent’s face contorted. Obviously, merging was not a very pleasant process. However, the pain was suppressed by the ecstasy shining in his eyes.

“No one can stop me now. No one can stop me from regaining the glory of my family anymore.” Apart from the ecstasy, there were also tears in his eyes.

…………

Outside the house, Lucien and the other three apprentices did not intrude obtrusively. They first had to make sure there were no magic circles or traps around.

“Mr. Professor, it will take at least half an hour to eliminate all the magic traps here.” Philosopher said to Lucien.

“No, we can’t.” White Honey sounded nervous, “We’re relatively late, and I can feel the demon already. We only have up to ten minutes. Ten minutes later, the demon will arrive in its complete form. Then we will be too late.”

“Going into the hall directly will also cost us lots of spiritual power as well to deal with the traps.” Smile turned to Lucien, “Professor, you must have some more powerful spells that can eliminate all the magic traps at once.”

All the three apprentices were looking at the mysterious sorcerer. Similar thoughts came in their mind. Although they all knew that the sorcerer was very profound, none of them ever saw in person how powerful the mysterious Professor was.

“Is Mr. Professor a real powerful sorcerer?”

“How powerful can he be?”

“Is he even stronger than White Honey’s mentor?”

Lucien knew clearly what they were thinking. He was prepared. Under their gaze, he answered with confidence, “No problem, Smile. I’ll handle this.”

Lucien came close to the wall of the house and pressed both of his hands on it. Moving his lips silently, Lucien started casting the spell.

Invisible waves spread out of Lucien’s hand. The waves hit the wall instantly and were reflected back. The following waves thus became different.

In Philosopher, Owl and White Honey’s eyes, nothing happened. They exchanged worried glances with confusion but did not say anything.

Suddenly, White Honey felt the earth was shaking.

“Are you trembling?” Philosopher asked her at the same time.

“Not me.” She answered with surprise.

“Look!” Smile was pointing at the building, “Look! The whole house’s shaking!”

White Honey and Philosopher immediately looked in the direction of the house. The old three-story house was shaking forward and backward, and the movement was becoming fiercer and fiercer. They could hear the glasses were shattering.

“Earthquake?!” White Honey wondered.

“No, it’s the house itself!” answered Owl.

“Mr. Professor?” Philosopher looked at Lucien and was shocked.

Lucien’s hands were still pressed against the house’s wall. His whole body was shaking along with the building. His lips were still moving.

“The house’s gonna collapse!” White Honey took a step back.

Philosopher could not believe his eyes, “Even a third circle spell Fireball could not completely destroy a whole building at once! What is this spell?!”

“What… is… this…!” Doro, the owl, was standing on Smile’s shoulder, yelling.

No one noticed when the raven caught up with them again. It almost fell down from the tree once more, because of the sudden shaking.

“What’s the circle of this spell!” The raven cried as well.

Only Lucien knew it was just an apprentice spell, the Professor’s Oscillation Hand. The spell could detect the frequency of vibration of a building and created a resonance to destroy the construction. It worked the best with bridges!