"Excuse me?" Osiris growled, taking a step forward.

"I said no." The grin on Lord Rowe's face widened. "That fury. That desperation on your face. I know it. I recognize it. I breathe it. And now, the tables have turned. I shall serve you the dish you gave me three months ago, Osiris."

"You better stop now, Rowe." Osiris growled.

"You took away my agency, Osiris." Lord Rowe's voice turned dangerous as he stepped into the room, his eyes blazing. "You made me sit at the sidelines while my daughter was turned into an abomination. You denied me my justice. And now, I shall deny you yours."

"You..." Osiris took a step forward, a spell formation blooming to life in his hands.

"Take the shot." Lord Rowe's grin was the widest it has ever been, his teeth bared in glee. "Take the shot, Osiris. Hit me. Give me the justification I need to lock you up in a dark cell forever."

Osiris glared at the man, calculating all possibilities. He couldn't let this go. He could see it in Rowe's eyes.

The man intended to lock Osiris out of the investigation, and use the pretext to look into Noah Webb instead. And as for Galahad, Rowe intended to bury the issue. To only give the appearance of investigation and let the attacker go free. He wanted to leave this incident as a wound on Osiris forever.

Osiris would not allow that. But if he needed to win the war, he needed to lose this battle. And so he stepped back, teeth bared.

"Good." Rowe grinned. "Now get out of here."

He turned to two of the agents. "Escort him out of the academy grounds."

"Yes sir."

And just like that, Osiris was escorted out of his son's crime scene.

Lord Rowe turned to the window, taking in the view of the academy. He breathed in deeply, filling his lungs with the cool air.

"Vengeance really is a dish best served cold."

Cecilia said nothing, simply watching the man.

He turned to her, a big smile on his face. "Lead the way to principal Kael. I believe we have business together."

[][][][][]

Noah blinked, and his vision immediately zoomed out, becoming normal.

He chuckled to himself, moving away from the window. Currently, he was far from the second year Gold-tier dorm, but due to his eyes, he had been able to watch everything that had happened inside the room, reading their lips and filling out the rest from body language.

Fortunately, Lord Rowe had been facing the window, so Noah caught everything the man had said.

Who knew Osiris would be sent home?

A grin appeared on Noah's face at the thought. He'd expected to have to catch Osiris alone on school grounds, but this was even better.

With a grin on his face, he left the third floor of the alchemy building, making his way down to the ground floor.

It was time to pay an old acquaintance a visit.

Moving through school grounds, he found it both easier and harder to sneak around. First was the fact that it was daylight. Everybody could see everybody. There was practically nowhere to hide with the sun blasting light everywhere.

However, because it was daylight, it was not uncommon to see students roaming around. And so he blended right in with the rest of the student body.

He soon got to the shaded part of school, making his way through the trees, and to the fence, climbing over it. Now out of school, he raced down as fast as possible to the road leading back to the capital.

Hiding in the bushes, he laid there, waiting.

A few minutes later, he saw Osiris riding down the road, the man's face calm, but his eyes were cold pits of darkness.

Noah flexed his hand, the spell formation blooming to life above it. He hid it behind his back, careful to not let the light shine through the bushes.

Thinking about it, he found it all ironic. Both father and son would be broken by Soul Pyre, the same spell the father had been using to torture his captives.

The smirk grew bigger on his face as Osiris galloped closer. The moment the man was close enough, Noah shot the spell.

The red light leapt out of the formation, towards the man. Osiris, using instincts honed by years of experience, reacted instantly, dodging the spell.

Unfortunately for him, the spell clipped him on the shoulder, allowing just enough energy to drip into his soul.

An indescribable sense of pain hit him, his soul going up in flames. He yelled out as the world exploded into darkness, his body slipping out of the saddle.

He dropped to the floor with a thud, the horse leaving him behind and continuing on its journey.

Noah stepped out of the bushes, and before the man could recover, cast another Soul Pyre.

Osiris' body seized, his muscles locking in place from pain. The man bit his tongue, his vision going white.

He slowly dissolved into agony, stars made of darkness falling all around him. The pain torched every part of his being, more than anything he had ever felt in his life.

The instant stretched into eternity, and in that moment, he felt something click into place in his soul.

A wave of despair swept over him and in that moment, he wished he'd never felt the change.

Every emotion that seemed to have been missing from his life began streaming back in.

Misery. Agony. Hopelessness. Anguish. Sorrow. Grief.

He experienced a million and one lifetimes, and all had the taste of despair. The light became darkness. All he could see, hear, taste, or touch, was ashes. Damnation. Forever. For eternity.

Finally, he felt his head break the surface of the water. He was no longer drowning. He sucked in a wave of fresh air, filling his burning lungs.

That was when another wave of agony slammed into his soul, and he was pulled under once more.

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