Supreme Hunter of Beautiful Souls

Chapter 151: Return

The runes of the teleportation circle finally ceased to glow as Kael, Erika and Eva's feet touched the sacred ground of the Academy of Azalith.

The arcane reception hall enveloped them with its imposing vastness. Ancient columns stood like pillars from a forgotten age, supporting an enchanted ceiling where magical constellations moved slowly, as if watching the newcomers. It was a silent, reverent, almost sacred space - a place where few returned after braving the depths of the dungeons. And yet, there they were.

The air there was different - lighter, purer - as if the academy itself recognized the presence of those who had defied death and returned. But for Kael, it was more than that. Breathing that air was like swallowing a mixture of nostalgia and unease. Something in the atmosphere seemed charged. Perhaps it was the echoes of what they had left behind. Or the consequences of what was yet to come.

His eyes swept the hall intently, feeling the magical flow pulsing through the living stone walls as if the academy were a sleeping creature. When he turned to Eva, she was adjusting her cloak around her shoulders with an automatic gesture, trying to hide the weariness that her eyes could no longer conceal.

Kael broke the silence, his voice as deep as restrained thunder.

"Eva. What about the girls?"

She paused for a moment. Her body tensed and her face hardened. Her once sharp gaze was now dull, heavy. It was the kind of expression only those who had borne the weight of an entire world for too many days could carry.

"It was... difficult" she said, in a low tone. "Very difficult. When you disappeared, there was no more 'normality' here. They didn't take it well. None of them."

Kael closed his hands, the sound of leather gloves creaking in his palm. Erika looked away, her shoulders shrugging slightly under the weight of what she knew was coming. The silence between the three of them was thick, full of unspoken memories, until Eva continued.

"Amelia..." she let out a long, exhausted sigh. "She nearly broke her own body training so hard. She refused to eat for the first two days. I heard she fainted three times on the third. He's using the Upper Training Arena as a dormitory. She sleeps there, trains there, lives there. And... she's faster. More precise. But also colder."

Kael closed his eyes for a moment, as if to erase the image of the smiling Amelia he remembered so well. Now replaced by a silent warrior, hardened by pain. The image weighed heavier than any armor.

"Irelia, on the other hand... turned into an earthquake with legs," Eva continued. "She started challenging all the swordsmen at the academy. Teachers. Veterans. Anyone. It doesn't matter if they win or lose. Every time someone refused, she got worse. She said that if she didn't get strong enough, she 'wouldn't be able to protect anyone again'."

"That..." Erika murmured, her eyes fixed on the floor - it feels like when I lost my brothers.

Eva nodded gravely, respecting the moment. Then she took a deep breath and continued.

"And Sylphie... she completely isolated herself. She locked herself in that old training room, Kael. The one you hid in the roots of the Arcane Tree. She used advanced druidic incantations to seal everything away. Even I couldn't get through."

Kael clenched his jaw. The memory of little Sylphie, always kind, now locked in her own magical silence, was a dry blow.

"She must be blaming herself," he muttered, swallowing. "For not being able to reach us in time."

Eva didn't reply. But her silence said it all.

Erika looked away for a moment, but it was she who asked, almost without meaning to:

"And... Stella?" This time, the pain was visible on Eva's face. She hesitated. Even Kael turned to listen.

"She's in your room," Eva replied softly, addressing Erika. "Since the second day. She hasn't come out once. She's barely eaten. She sleeps little. She talks even less. When she does... it's only to blame herself. 'If only I wasn't so weak... if only I hadn't been such a burden...'"

Erika bit her lower lip, her face twisted in a mixture of anger and helplessness. Kael lowered his gaze, his expression hardening. A silent maelstrom swirled inside him - guilt, anger, frustration. Not because they blamed him, but because he couldn't protect them from the pain. Even after he had saved their lives, they were hurt by his absence.

"They've lost you, Kael," said Eva, her voice firm but laced with emotion. "Even for just eight days... for them it was an eternity. Every minute without answers, without a body, without hope. I almost couldn't stand it myself. And I'm Eva fucking Sparda."

Kael gripped the hilt of his sword tighter around his waist. His mind echoed with the smiles and promises he had made to those girls. The laughter, the small gestures. The lives he swore he wouldn't let fall apart.

"Then it's time to bring them back," he muttered, his eyes glowing red, like live coals. "Before they're lost for good."

Erika nodded slowly. Her eyes were watery, but there was a spark in them. It wasn't sadness. It was decision.

Eva let out a sigh, and for the first time since the circle went out, she smiled. A tired smile, but genuine. "Welcome back, idiots."

The three of them started walking, leaving behind the magical sanctuary of the main hall. The doors of the academy opened in front of them, as if Azalith herself was greeting them with silent respect.

As they walked through the corridors, murmurs spread. Students stopped. Mages stared. Everyone saw. And they couldn't believe it.

The two heroes who had been presumed dead... were alive.

But something had changed in them.

Kael walked with the calm of a predator - his presence denser, his aura charged with something deep and fierce, pulsing a dark red.

Erika, more lethal than before, her eyes like swords about to cut through any obstacle, moved with the grace of someone who has faced death and come back stronger.

And Eva... firm, tireless, with the expression of someone who has held the cracks in a world that has almost collapsed.

They were back...

Eva's boots echoed through the enchanted marble of the main corridors, leading Kael and Erika in silence. The weight of the information was still there, thick as fog around them. But their steps were firm - each of them closer to the next truth to be faced.

The path took them to a more secluded wing of the academy, where the common halls did not reach. The architecture there changed subtly: the walls took on older arcane symbols, and the air seemed to carry the weight of time.

In front of a dark wooden door with liquid silver carvings, Eva stopped.

"Remember... he's Headmaster Altharion. But he's also the most respected archmage of the last generation. Nothing escapes his eyes for long. If you're going to hide something... let it be convincing."

She knocked twice. The door opened by itself with a faint enchanted creak.

On the other side, the room was large, circular, lined with shelves filled with grimoires, magical relics floating in crystals and enchanted scrolls that wrote themselves. An Academy crest hung from the center of the ceiling, pulsating with stable energy. At the back of the room, behind a table carved from Dark Eldros wood, stood Altharion, smiling as he watched them enter.

Next to the table, standing with her arms crossed, was Lyra. She said nothing as she watched them enter, but there was something in her eyes - a spark of relief disguised as restrained irritation.

Altharion watched them in silence for long seconds before finally speaking, his voice soft as velvet, but laden with relief.

"It's good to see you're alive. We were worried sick."

Kael kept his gaze steady, but didn't reply. Erika, on the other hand, stepped forward. "Yes, sir. We just got back. Barely."

"I imagine you have a lot of explaining to do." Altharion interlaced his fingers on the table. "The circle that led to you broke up in an instant. No tracking worked. The runes that surrounded that dungeon were consumed by a force that no one here has been able to identify. To all intents and purposes... you had ceased to exist on this plane."

Silence settled in for a second.

"So tell me - what happened inside that dungeon?"

Erika took a deep breath. Kael didn't move at all. Eva remained motionless, but her subtle gaze followed the scene with precision. She had made it clear: it was time to protect him.

"We were swallowed up by an ancient ruin," Erika replied, with the calculated calm of someone who has practiced lying. "There was an ancient mechanism, some kind of artifact that activated when we defeated the guardian. We were thrown into the underground levels of a lost civilization, completely isolated. We couldn't make contact. There was no tracking magic. We spent a few hours trying to climb back up, level by level... actually... it seemed to be a time distortion. It was 8 days for you but... for us just a few hours." Erika explained.

Altharion didn't blink. He just listened. A respectful but dangerous silence. "That's interesting..." His hunger for knowledge suddenly arose... "Ancient ruins..." He murmured...

Altharion studied the two of them for a time that seemed far too long. His eyes were not those of a simple archmage. He saw through the layers. The suspicion was there, alive. But he said no more about it.

Lyra finally snorted softly.

"If it were any other pair, I'd call it madness. But with this boy, everything is completely chaotic."

"Chaotic and lucky," Erika replied with a slight smile. "In the right order."

Altharion finally leaned back in his chair. He closed his eyes for a second and spoke less stiffly.

"Welcome back, then. I'd better go and see those girls, we're having problems." he said, smiling.