Chapter 61: Against the Inquisitors

The wreckage of the corrupted construct smoldered, its darkened core fizzling out as remnants of eldritch energy flickered against the cold stone. Elias barely had time to let out a breath before the first figures emerged from the ruined hallway beyond. Clad in deep black robes, their faces hidden beneath shifting veils of shadow, they moved without a sound, their presence an unnatural weight on the air. There was no mistaking them—Academy Inquisitors.

Kierian's posture tensed immediately, his sword flicking to the ready. "They sent high-level combat mages."

Marco's scanner beeped rapidly as he analyzed the new enemies. "This isn't just a retrieval unit. These readings—Elias, they're augmenting their mana signatures with an external source."

Elias clenched his fists, his gauntlet pulsing as it adjusted to the new energy in the air. He could feel it—something was off about them. Their movements were too smooth, their presence too unnatural. The energy they carried wasn't their own. It was something else. Something old.

Lira twirled a dagger between her fingers, eyes locked on the nearest figure. "So, they're cheating. Great. I hate cheaters."

One of the Inquisitors lifted a hand, and the shadows around them breathed. The darkness coiled and stretched, warping the already dimly lit chamber into something twisted, reality bending at the edges. Elias's visor flickered as it recalibrated, trying to keep up with the shifting space.

Then the Inquisitor vanished.

Elias barely had time to react before a void-wrapped blade sliced through the air, heading straight for his throat. His body moved before his mind did, his new armor reacting faster than his instincts. His left gauntlet snapped up, catching the blade mid-strike. The impact sent a jolt of foreign energy through his systems, making his HUD flash red, but his grip held. The Inquisitor lurched, trying to phase out of the hold, but Elias twisted, using his kinetic absorbers to redirect the force, sending his attacker flying across the chamber.

Cecilia darted forward, closing the distance between herself and another Inquisitor before they could cast. Her daggers flashed, striking at the shifting veil of shadows, but instead of cutting through flesh, her blades slipped through empty space. She barely had time to register the lack of contact before a pulse of mana sent her skidding backward. She flipped mid-air, landing gracefully, but her smirk was gone. "Yeah. That's going to be a problem."

Ivy's bowstring twanged, an arrow piercing the air toward another enemy. At the last second, the Inquisitor melted into the shadows, the arrow striking nothing but empty space. A second later, they reappeared behind Ivy, a hand raised, crackling with dark energy.

Elias moved without thinking, his armor surging forward with enhanced propulsion. His boots slammed against the ground as he shoulder-checked the Inquisitor, sending them crashing against a nearby pillar. Before they could recover, Ivy spun and fired a point-blank shot straight into their chest. The force sent them tumbling back, but they twisted unnaturally, regaining their stance in seconds.

Reinhardt stepped forward, cracking his knuckles. "I hate magic like this."

Lira narrowed her eyes. "They're phasing between dimensions. Their bodies aren't entirely here. That's why they're so hard to hit."

Marco groaned. "Well, that's just fantastic."

Elias's mind worked rapidly. These weren't just elite mages—they were hybrid combatants, infused with something more than just mana. They weren't phasing in the normal sense. They were utilizing an external power source, something that wasn't natural to this world.

And then it clicked.

"They're using the same energy as the corrupted constructs," Elias muttered, staring at the flickering mana signatures surrounding their bodies. "Their power isn't their own. It's been… grafted onto them."

Kierian's expression darkened. "Then they're not just Academy forces anymore. They're something worse."

The lead Inquisitor finally spoke, their voice distorted beneath their hood. "You tamper with forces beyond your understanding. Solmara should have remained buried."

Elias let out a dry laugh. "Yeah? Well, I don't take orders from dead men in robes."

The air around them shuddered as the Inquisitors attacked in unison.

One blinked forward, a curved dagger made of pure void slicing toward Elias's midsection. He sidestepped, deflecting with his gauntlet, but the moment he made contact, his armor flared with warning alerts. The energy from the blade was trying to corrupt the system, bypassing physical resistance entirely.

Lira intercepted another strike before it could reach Marco, her daggers moving so fast they blurred. She managed to force the enemy back, but not before the shadows coiled around her ankles, trying to drag her down.

Reinhardt didn't bother with finesse. He barreled straight into an Inquisitor, ignoring the magical distortion, grabbing them by the hood, and slamming them into the ground hard enough to crack the stone. The impact was powerful, but instead of crushing the enemy, their body shattered like glass, reforming instantly a few feet away.

"Yeah, that's not annoying at all," Reinhardt muttered.

Cecilia disappeared into the fray, reappearing only to strike at the few openings they found, but each time, their blades met resistance that wasn't entirely physical. Even when they made contact, the wounds sealed almost instantly, as if reality itself refused to let them die.

Elias dodged another strike, his mind racing. He needed to disrupt their phasing ability. If they could just anchor them fully into this dimension, they would be vulnerable. His gauntlet flickered as he recalibrated his disruptor settings, adjusting the energy field around his suit.

"Marco, I need you to adjust the output on the mana disruptors—set them to frequency shift mode," Elias called.

Marco blinked. "That'll cause a localized feedback surge—"

"Exactly."

Marco muttered something under his breath but didn't hesitate. His hands flew over his interface, rerouting the output of the experimental disruptors they had been working on earlier. A second later, a low-frequency pulse spread outward from Elias's suit.

The effect was immediate.

The Inquisitors staggered, their forms flickering violently as their phasing destabilized. For the first time, their physical bodies were fully anchored in place.

Ivy loosed an arrow, and this time, it struck solid flesh. The Inquisitor reeled back, coughing darkened blood. Cecilia's dagger followed a second later, burying itself in their side. The shadowy veil around them flickered out completely, and when they collapsed, they didn't get back up.

Lira grinned. "I think we just found our opening."

Reinhardt charged forward, taking advantage of their hesitation, his hammer crushing through two more before they could fully recover. Kierian moved in perfect tandem, his sword cleaving through another before they could escape back into the void.

Elias launched forward, using his new armor's full thruster output, closing the gap between himself and the lead Inquisitor in an instant. The enemy raised a hand, dark tendrils writhing outward, but Elias didn't stop. His gauntleted fist connected squarely with their chest, sending them hurtling across the chamber and slamming into the far wall.

The remaining Inquisitors, seeing their leader fall, hesitated for the first time. And in battle, hesitation was death.

House Null didn't waste the opportunity.

A minute later, the battle was over. The last enemy fell, their robes torn, their bodies broken against the ruins of Solmara. The shadows that had once protected them dissipated into nothing.

Elias took a slow breath, his gauntlet's hum fading back to normal. He turned to the others, scanning for injuries.

Kierian sheathed his sword. "If they were here, it means the Academy knew exactly where to send them. This won't be the last."

Elias exhaled. "Then we make sure the next time they come—" He tightened his fist, the Vanguard Core pulsing within his suit.

"—we'll be ready."