CHAPTER 10: MURDER

Thud

Sam's body fell lifelessly to the ground, a crimson pool slowly forming beneath him, drawing the attention of the students and other staff that were present in the hall.

As they Witnessed the gruesome scene before them, the whole hall was stunned into silence. All activities paused for a moment as if everyone were under a powerful time spell.

The one responsible just stood over the body of Sam, his gaze focused on the corpse, with blood dripping off his shimmering black dagger. Raising his head, he scanned the crowd with an indifferent look.

Noticing his remorseless gaze, a shiver went up the spines of some of the students, cold sweat gliding down their shocked faces. Some students even began to take little steps backwards, as if to indicate that they didn't want to be anywhere close to the man before them.

Then suddenly, a roar of anger jolted them out of their daze.

"Where are you bastards running to?" The voice resonated throughout the hall, anger evident in its tone.

"Someone just murdered one of our colleagues in our presence, in this sacred hall, and instead of you all making attempts to neutralize the threat, you're all taking steps back in fear, Sander won't stand and watch such cowardly display."

Stepping out of the crowd, the source of the voice came into view, causing most attention to fall on him.

The owner of the voice was a young man of imposing stature, clad in a white attire that signified his status as a seeker, he stood over two meters tall, sporting dark red hair that complimented his flaming red eyes, which seemed to blaze in fury, perhaps they were truly ablaze.

Stomping forward towards the murderer, his hands began to glow as if imbued by some sort of power, causing the temperature around him to increase by a few degrees.

Finally stopping in front of the murderer, staring him down, his imposing stature bearing down on him, he began to speak.

"Juta, how dare you?" Did you seriously think yo-"

Swish

His voice was cut short, as a dagger flew from nowhere and pierced through his throat from behind.

He didn't even get the chance to look behind him, before Sam's murderer, whose name was Juta rushed towards him with shocking speed and stabbed him through his heart.

Sander's figure then began to sway, then slowly, his body fell to the ground.

Seeing Sander's huge figure fall helplessly to his death caused a wave of shock and fear to hit those who were present.

Finally, a female student couldn't take it anymore, turning in an attempt to run away from the hall, she had moved just three steps from where she was when a student standing beside her suddenly pulled a dagger from nowhere and stabbed her through the neck, ending her life.

As if a signal, some of the students suddenly began pulling dark daggers and slaying their colleagues in the hall, leading to a Pandemonium of massacre.

***

In the already-filled arena, murmurs of anticipation swept through the audience, suddenly the loud gong of a bell reverberated throughout the space, signalling the twelfth hour, meaning there were just thirty minutes left till the start of the exchange.

Upon hearing the bell sound, the hushed conversations became a bit louder, as the audience anticipated the event even more.

Amidst the murmurings, there seemed to be a sudden shift in the ambience of the atmosphere, as certain individuals in the crowd seemed different from their usual selves.

The chief priest from the temple of divinity, already present in the auditorium, looked around, his gaze narrowing a bit as he felt somewhat apprehensive and anxious, bringing his hands together in a prayer gesture, he murmured under his breath. "O lord, let thy visions guide and protect me."

In the VIP section, just two of the dignitaries were already seated, with the rest still making their way to their arena. Maria, the ambassador of the Sanctum of Healers was the third to arrive at the arena, moving towards where she was to sit, she saw Otto.

Getting up to his feet to greet her, Otto offered Maria a hand like any gentleman would, smiling, he greeted her, "Good afternoon, Lady Maria."

Accepting his hand with a smile, Maria greeted back, "Good afternoon Otto."

As she was about to have her seat, with the help of Otto, she suddenly furrowed her brows and withdrew her hand from Otto's grip hastily.

Staring at Otto cautiously, "she asked, what did you do?"

Otto, seeing her reaction, began to smile eerily. He then said with a tinge of dark glee, "Oh, nothing you have to worry about, I just planted a seed."

Maria and Otto's interaction caught the attention of the other ambassador present, who was Doggen, the ambassador of the forge of smiths. Doggen watched on in curiosity, his gaze fixed on Otto, with his brows slightly furrowed.

"A seed?" Maria asked in confusion.

As Maria was still wondering what Otto meant by seed, tiny green patches began to appear on her flawless skin from her hand, reaching towards her neck.

Seeing the patches, Maria gasped in shock, as she raised her other hand to the spot and cast a soft white glow on it, in an attempt to heal herself.

Haha, "it's futile madam Maria," Otto said with a maniacal laugh.

Finally seeing that something was wrong with Maria, Doggen asked, his tone filled with anger. "What did you do Otto?"

"I just said it, didn't I?" I said I planted a seed." Otto said, his tone even and unhurried, as he stared at Doggen as if he were a fool.

"Don't play with me Otto," Doggen said, his patience running thin.

Ahhh. Maria's pained scream suddenly got Doggen's attention, and he quickly turned his gaze from Otto to Maria, the sight before him sent shivers down his spine, as he stared in shock.

Maria's body had gone from being filled with small green patches, to thick brown solid patches all over her body, with tree branches extending out of her skin, some of the branches were thin, while some of them were as large as what one could find on a mature tree, with green leaves sprouting out of some of the branches.

Abandoning his spite with Otto, Doggen rushed towards Maria who was squirming in pain on the ground, confusion and fear colouring his features.

"Maria, are you okay?" Doggen asked, his concern evident in his tone, as he attempted to rip out one of the branches from her body, causing Maria to scream in pain, tears streaming down her once delicate features that were now filled with wooden patches.

Otto watched on in amusement, with a savage grin. Then he spoke up, "It's useless, she's going to die."

"SHUT UP!" Doggen roared, without even looking back at Otto, his only concern at that moment was helping Maria.

Haha, Otto's voice just rang out in amused laughter.

Hold on Maria, I'll get you help, Doggen said. As he was about to lift Maria, something strange began to happen.

Maria's skin began to pale, as if she was losing blood, seeing this, Doggen began to panic even more, and then the branches caught his attention.

The branches that were once a healthy brown colour now seemed to have a strange red hue. Noticing this Doggen's blood went cold, and he quickly realised that the branches were sucking Maria's blood.

But it was already too late, within seconds, Maria was rapidly drained of all her blood, and her once fair skin now reassembled a dried husk, with the green leaves that were at the tips of the branches now blood red.

Maria's squirming suddenly stopped, as her lifeless body lay in Doggen's hands.

Still holding Maria's corpse, Doggen was in a state of shock, he stayed like that for a few seconds, before he carefully dropped Maria's body.

Standing up, his expression warped in fury before his voice rang out intensely.

"OTTO!" Doggen roared, his fury palpable, raising his hands, his muscles bulged as if threatening to tear through the weak fabric he was clad in.

With a powerful stomp, Doggen closed the distance between himself and Otto in a flash, his infuriated gaze focused solely on Otto, as he raised his fist and brought it down at Otto's face rapidly.

Otto just stood, his expression calm and relaxed, as if not worried about the fact that a giant man was fast approaching him with the intention of landing a blow.

Otto, then raised his hand to block the strike, a sight that would look funny to any bystander if they were to witness it, but suddenly Otto's hands were wrapped in wood.

When Doggen's fist finally hit, Otto's wooden hand effortlessly blocked the strike causing a gust of wind to swirl around them.

Tsk tsk tsk, "Do you seriously think you can best me in combat?" Otto asked mockingly.

Doggen maintained his infuriated gaze at Otto, not breaking eye contact.

"You're just a blacksmith, and I'm a great mage," Otto added.

"You might be a suguden, but you're still just a blacksmith, not one who's trained to be a combatant, if it were someone from the barracks or the citadel, it might have been a very different case, but being a blacksmith as you are, it's quite convenient."

"Well not that it matters, since you're going to die anyway," Otto said with a slight chuckle, as he met Doggen's gaze.