The Attempted Murderer

One of the other students immediately interjected.

"What do you mean about that hot head being involved?"

Aayla glanced at Jacki. "When this young lady and I were leaving class, we saw Lysander Foryl and his friends having a rather angry talk with another group outside the stair case windows. A Disciplinary Committee member arrived just before we left."

The glow around the severely burned student flickered for a second.

"Are you sure that Lysander Foryl is involved?"

"No, I haven't actually seen anyone fighting, but it's still a possibility."

The professor's face turned grim. Lysander Foryl was a top figure in his generation of the conservatives. He specialized in fire and lighting type magic. Not to mention that his family served the top magical family, the Sarrasak. If any student would have an artifact or spell that does this type of damage, then it would be him.

He was fearlessly causing trouble all the time due to the protection of his uncle. If Lysander Foryl dared to go this far, then he had much stronger backing than just Professor Foryl. Perhaps the Sarrasak or another of the main conservative key figures are involved.

"You all need to leave. Now."

"And where do they need to go, professor?"

A sudden chill went down Aayla's back. The fighting was still going on the other side of the building, but it was less intense now. The furious shouts had turned into pained screams and mocking laughter. When did that happen?

"What's wrong? You all were having so much fun talking about me before. Go on, continue."

A young man with flaming red hair and a vicious sneer walked around the corner of the class building. The professor kept focusing on his patient, but turned slightly to keep this dangerous arrival in his sights. Above them, the golden barrier thickened.

"Hehe, so no one's interested in talking anymore. Whatever. You f***ing cowards. Step aside, I have business with that lump of coal. I'm sick and tired of seeing his stupid face on campus all the time. It's about time to take out the trash around here."

"This lump of coal is a patient right now, Mr. Foryl. If you have a complaint with this patient, then I will be more than happy to take note of your grievance after I get them in stable condition."

The professor's attempt at calming the situation only made things worse. Lysander's face warped with demonic fury. Aayla slowly started gathering her mana. He never went this wild at the residence hall. How come he's so confident going up against a professor or committing murder? He must have some trump card up his sleeve.

"Huh? Are you deaf? I said to step aside!"

A bright orb formed in Lyse's hand. Stifling heat radiated off of it. The grass and trees nearby started to steam. Drops of sweat instantly evaporated from Aayla's face. Her throat suddenly felt parched. Aayla blocked the intense light with her hand. She could barely see a glint on one of Lyse's fingers.

In an instant, the original wall of earth grew larger and encompassed the group. The atmosphere under the dome suddenly returned to normal again. The air no longer felt parched and heated. Two more barriers formed under the golden one.

Aayla bit her lower lip. If it's been about an hour since she started treating the burn victim, then the other classes should have started already. Even if the professors somehow missed the start of the fight, more should have already arrived by now. What's going on?

"So, you're not going to step aside? That's fine. You commoners annoy me just as much as those foreign rats do."

"That mana –! Students, protect yourselves!"

Before Aayla could completely raise her shield, the earthen wall was smashed to smithereens. In an instant the barriers all shattered like glass. The red gemstone flashed. Suddenly the world spun in a bright light.

Aayla's vision slowly returned. She blinked to refocus her eyes. No bones felt broken. Her clothes were a little toasty but other than that she was fine. There was a slight difference from before. The red gem's color seemed richer.

She lifted her pounding head to look at the source of mocking laughter echoing in her ears. A large cone shaped region in front of Lyse was scorched. Aayla had been blow off to one side by the force of the blast. Two managed to get behind the professor. The other students were blown away like Aayla was. Several of them had severe burns as well.

The professor stood tall in front of the first victim. The entire area behind him was safe, and his patient remained somewhat stable. The two who managed to hide behind him started to pour mana into the professor's healing spell.

"Lysander Foryl! What is the meaning of this?! An artifact of such strength is forbidden on campus for students. Attempting to murder your classmates is a serious crime, even for you!"

"Eh, what are you talking about professor? I'm just protecting myself from some treacherous foreigner and the lowly commoners who helped him attack me. They're the ones who attacked me first, so it's obviously alright if I kill them all in self-defense, right?"

Several faces turned various shades of white, red and purple. White from the fear that Lyse would use his connections to make that lie the 'truth'. Red and purple due to anger at his blatant lie and disregard of life and laws.

Aayla looked down at her bracelet then at Lyse's ring. The New Moon Bracelet had probably absorbed mana from the artifact's attack just now. The mana on the scorched earth felt similar to the mana from the patient's body. So, Lyse did attack them.

For now, there were more important questions. The professor looks worried about that artifact. Lyse won't hesitate to kill, and the professor needs to protect the other students. How much mana did Lyse have left? Could he still use the artifact?

Aayla stayed low to the ground. She heard Lyse's footsteps as he walked towards the wounded students. Taking a deep breath, she put her hand on the ground and started tugging at the fire element mana that scorched the earth. The Full Moon Bracelet still absorbed it like crazy before Aayla cut the connection. How much could the New Moon Bracelet absorb?

If Lyse was confidently approaching the professor, then he still had something up his sleeve. With her pitiful knowledge of spells, Aayla's best chance was to get close, drain Lyse's counterattack of mana, then beat the heck out of him with her fists.

That arrogant jerk set his eyes only on the professor and his first victim. Aayla patiently waited as Lyse got closer to the professor. She was a bit far away, so no one noticed as she steadily got back to her feet. Lyse raised his hand again, and an orb of light flickered on his hand. The orb was much smaller and dimmer than the first attack.

"Hehe, how lucky for you all. Or should I say as expected? Cockroaches are difficult to kill after all. But this much should be enough to finish the job."

**********

Marc smiled as he watched the chaos unfold at the practice fields. The neutral faculty and security forces struggled to separate the conflicting sides. Progressives versus conservatives, nobles versus commoners, nationals versus foreigners.

Either way, no faction would look good due to this incident aside from the neutrals. That faction had already splintered due to the disappearances of the break. Now, it was time let the other factions fight. The True Order would seem much more appealing as they dragged each other down into the muck. He hoped that the headmaster loved this little gift that the True Order prepared.

It was nothing much. He merely stoked some blazing tempers to their boiling points. The first spark came much earlier than expected, but this would cause a ripple effect across campus. No, the entire nation. If Nafriton University, one of the most stable institutions in the land, started to slip into chaos then others would be greatly disturbed.

The two main sides were still too furious right now. As soon as they showed signs of calming down, one of Marc's new recruits would stir them up again. Hehe. This was too easy. With Professor Rosewall keeping an eye on Lysander, Marc could act as he pleased for a while. He glanced at the young lady next to him.

"Corrine, how are the other surprises going on campus?"

"Unfortunately, most of them fizzled out. The 'sparks' weren't good enough. However, a couple show promise to give the headmaster and faculty a serious headache. Especially the one near Classroom Building 1. There were a couple of large explosions there that damaged the building."

"Excellent."

Marc turned back to watch the chaos. Wait. Explosions at Class Building 1? That's where Lysander's first class was this morning. With those little gifts from the Sarrasak, Lysander could easily cause such explosions. Professor Rosewall should be there right now.

Normally, Professor Rosewall would quickly stop a public disturbance to maintain the conservative faction's reputation. If Lysander attacked a foreigner would Professor Rosewall stop him? With rising conservative hatred towards foreigners and Lysander's new gifts… Darn it. He made a mistake.