I sat at the canteen, noticing the collar around Malia and Sara’s necks and Sara’s bruised cheek. Malia looked down, picking at her food and as soon as I faced them, they both looked up, not surprised that I wasn’t wearing one.

Jace sat opposite Malia and Naz sat opposite Sara. I sat next to Malia, taking her apple like always. Malia rolled her eyes, reaching for her apple but I slid my hand behind her neck, sending an electric signal through her collar. She gasped, feeling a slight sting before the collar fell off.

“You don’t need to wear that stupid thing.” I gritted my teeth, watching her rub her soar, red neck. 

“Why didn’t you both retaliate?” Jace clenched his jaw, also angry.

Sara came next to me, turning around so I could take hers off too. 

“I did. I told him my father will be furious and he smacked me knowing my father doesn’t care about me.” Sara pouted, rubbing her cheek.

“Does it hurt? We can go to the nurse if you like?” Naz furrowed her eyebrows, staring at the apparent mark on Sara’s cheek. Sara shook her head no, going back to her seat with the collar off.

Just in time, Allefin sat next to Jace with his tray of food and a collar around his neck. He looked pale.

“You tried to zap it off didn’t you?” Naz sighed, shaking her head.

“The collar doesn’t allow me to use mana. It shocks me when I activate it.” he grunted, adjusting it. 

I chuckled, leaning over the table and zapping it. Allefin flinched back in pain before the collar fell off his neck. 

“Thanks.” he groaned, rubbing his neck.

“If the principal asks, just tell him Zeref took it off for you.” I smirked, biting into the apple.

Everyone nodded in understanding except Malia who had zoned out.

I looked at Malia who was deep in thought, her hand still on her neck. I was about to ask her what was wrong but Jace had already voiced my thoughts.

“Malia? Are you okay?” he questioned, looking at me to see if I knew. I shrugged.

She looked up at me, her hand finally dropping from her neck. “That collar… I’ve worn it before. The same exact model.”

We all automatically huddled in as I held the collar in my hands, looking at the black designs and the clear crystal in the middle.

“What do you mean?”

“Ranveer. He was the fire contestant. He had me wear one and it shocked me when I tried to use my mana.” she replied, glaring at the collar in my hands.

“Fire contestant?” Sara said in confusion. Oh I forgot she was out of the loop.

“Wait, who is Ranveer?” Allefin mirrored Sara’s facial expression.

Naz stood up, grabbing Sara and Allefin while pulling them both up.

“Your cheek looks really red. We should get it checked out. Allefin, why don’t you go take her to the nurse?” she nervously laughed. Allefin hesitantly agreed, taking Sara’s hand and leaving.

I turned back to Malia as she took the collar from my hand. Naz sat back down, listening intently.

“These black engravings are in some foreign language but this symbol means Um and then that symbol is a B. Umb…”

Umbra.

“When did you learn to read ancient languages?” Jace looked surprised but Malia turned pale.

“U-Uh I think my dad got me lessons when I was young.” she shrugged.

“I think it’s Umbra.” I sighed, tired of my constant encounter with them. I looked up at their faces to see confusion so I continued.

“It’s an organisation that I have encountered a few times. They used to work for the light contestant but since I killed him off, they may have found a new leader. 

“They are making fake mages like the one we encountered while at the Elven Kingdom so they can form an army. The first fake mage I encountered was the necromancer; he was quite powerful, maybe a C ranker at most. I killed him off and found information about Umbra’s fake mages scheme.

“Then Umbra took over land that was owned by the bank. That’s why we went to the Elven Kingdom, to take my assets back. From there, I destroyed their research facilities that they set up. 

“I was able to squeeze information out of some of the researchers there. They told me that Umbra made a deal with the demons. In return for a method to remove the anti – demon barriers, the demons would have to let Umbra experiment on them.

“That leads me to my next point. The incident from a couple days back with the rumoured School Monster. It was actually Peter.” I explained.

“No way… That weak Peter? That flimsy one?” Jace gasped in shock.

“Yeah. I was surprised at first too, but I could sense the demonic aura he was giving off. I didn’t know how he was able to become a demon so suddenly but it was definitely Umbra. All the points add up to that conclusion.

“If they can make an army of Peters, it would be a very difficult battle for us. I alone at full power could kill a couple thousand but the numbers could be overwhelming. That’s why I need you guys to get stronger. I don’t want to have to worry about you guys during a war.

“Umbra is getting stronger constantly and now I think they have made me a target since they know I am the lightning contestant. They probably want my skills and seat.”

“Well that’s stupid. Surely they’d stay out of your way knowing the power you have. I mean, you’re a demon hybrid for god’s sake.” Naz rolled her eyes.

“And dragon.” I added quickly.

“What?!” they all said in unison.

“Long story.” I smiled.

**

We walked down the halls, noticing there were no students in sight. Everything was dead silent and I knew it wasn’t a good sign. I looked down at Malia who appeared to be looking into the passage in front of us.

“Malia?-” before I could say more, Malia ran forwards, spin kicking into nothing.

Surprisingly, a grunt was heard before a man appeared and fell back from Malia’s kick. 

Invisibility??

Naz gasped as many men dressed in uniform appeared around us, taking off what looked like glasses, which made them invisible.

How did Malia sense them so quickly?

They didn’t hesitate nor give me time as they all pounced on us.

“Naz, move back!” Jace yelled, pushing her behind him before spurting out a gush of water while punching one.

Malia ran up to me, pushing herself up over my shoulder while spinning me around and kicking another invisible guy who had tried to pounce up from behind me. 

“Be careful.” She said as she activated her mana, her fists glowing red like hot iron. 

She wasn’t using mana this whole time? Then how did she sense them?!

I smirked knowing my power was limited with my eyepatch but I knew I could still make damage. I fought by Malia’s side, taking on men from her back. They were definitely not students but were fairly young.

I swung my fist down on a guy with blue hair as he crashed his head into another one of his accomplices and they fell back like dominos. 

Unable to sense them, I relied on Seikuken’s range. The spell I had relied on so much before had finally become a skill and the range had expanded to a radius of 3 meters all around me.

I parried another blow, while Malia threw a right hook to the man’s chin, making him crash through one of the class room windows.

Jace protected Naz and held his own at the same time, using the Kick boxing techniques I taught him, mixing it with his water magic.

“Combo move?” Malia smirked at me and I nodded, smiling.

‘Gravity Zone!’ 

Immediately the men froze, still unable to move, letting Malia dance around and knock out all of them in a flash. 

It was a technique that allowed one to cover a distance in a literal ‘flash’. It took decent amounts of mana to execute each time and drained stamina quickly.

The bodies dropped like flies as my spell deactivated, Malia high fived me smiling before checking up on Naz.

“You guys go on ahead. I’ll finish them off.” I said, as the trio nodded at me walking on.

I didn’t want them to ever kill. That burden was only mine; I wouldn’t let kids like them get blood on their hands for no reason.

Using Gravity Mana I broke their necks one by one before burning their carcasses to ashes. I disposed of the ashes chucking them into a portal designated for a random location.

The School barrier was a very powerful spell that was amplified with the use of runes in the school building. It was impossible for these hired assassins to get into the school without an alarm going off.

That could only mean someone must have let them in. The only one with that authority was the Principal.

Things were going to be complicated. Who knows how many more moles this man must have brought with him and what were his schemes? Was he working for Umbra too? What is his end goal?

I had to tell the others..

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep