What... what in the flames was that?!" Finn stammered, his eyes wide with amazement, looking from the furious Darius to the quiet, powerful dagger in Eryndor's hand.
They were not too far from the academy she students passing by watch them and amongst the crowd stood Van Leon Bryce watching them.
Darius, still bleeding, glared at Eryndor with anger in his eyes. "You… you piece of scum! What did you do?!" he snarled, clearly convinced Eryndor had somehow manipulated the blade.
Eryndor could only stare at the dagger, then at Darius, then back at the dagger. His mind buzzed with a thousand questions, but one thing was clear this was no ordinary dagger, it's a ancient mana dagger.
The students in their blue uniform stood there staring at what was going on in front of them. Every eye was now fixed on Darius, whose face was rapidly transforming into a grotesque canvas of sickness. The thin scratch from the dagger had erupted into an angry, blossoming purple bruise, his veins now purple popping out from his face, its tendrils spreading like dark lightning bolts across his temple and down his cheek. He was no longer merely furious; he was terrified, clutching at his disfigured face.
"Poison! " Darius shrieked, one of his eyes was now dark which the purple veins was, his voice raw with panic, pointing a trembling, discolored finger at Eryndor. "You! You poisoned me! This is dark magic! You're using forbidden magic!" His words, amplified by fear, resonated through the stunned crowd.
A collective gasp rippled through the onlookers, followed by a surge of murmuring. The whisper of "dark magic" erupted in the crowd, Eryndor felt a cold, crushing dread. He knew the outfome of this, dark magic was forbidden in the school and anyone who used dark magic during class session or within anywhere in the school grounds would face consequences, it might either end up in expulsion, if you didn't do it on purpose you might be free from expulsion.
"I thought he was normal, how did he do that?" The crowd started mumbling asking themselves tons of questions.
Van Leon who was a powerful mage stared at the injury, he always wore a mask so no one knew he was there, his grey hair falling on his forehead head and concealing his eyes, he focused on the dagger, "hmmm, this dagger is it the cursed one," his gaze then adverted to Darius poisoned face, "that poison isn't from the Dagger, Darius knew poisons like this can be cured in an instant and forbidden spells are the cause of it which can still be used by ones with pure magic, this guy really is smart, what does he gain in getting the ordinary expelled," his eyes then drifted to Eryndor to be sure if he was really ordinary, they was no sense of magic coming from him unlike Darius whose body was surrounded with blue and purple smoke that is the persons mana aura, and his was very strong. Since he had the ability to see everyone's mana aura he could tell by a look if they were strong or not.
"I didn't! It wasn't me!" Eryndor protested, holding up the now inert bronze dagger. "The dagger... it acted on its own! I didn't do anything!" His voice cracked, a desperate plea for understanding against the rising tide of suspicion. He had witnessed the dagger's anonymous movement and who would believe such a tale that the dagger did that by itself? To everyone else, it would look like a deliberate, malicious attack.
The crowd, their faces a mixture of fear and self-righteous indignation, began to side with Darius. Whispers of "He's just an ordinary recruit" and "Always knew that one was trouble" floated through the air, their prejudice against his lack of magic skill fueling their quick judgment.
They had seen Darius, a A class mage, attacked by an unknown force emanating from a weapon held by someone they already perceived as an outsider.
Darius, sensing the shift in public sentiment, straightened, his voice gaining a chilling, theatrical edge despite the spreading discoloration on his face. "He's lying! This low-born peasant just tried to murder a Darius with dark magic! This is grounds for expulsion! He must be kicked out! Now!" He stumbled slightly, clutching his head, the purple veins on his face throbbing visibly, making his accusation all the more dramatic.
Just then, a calm, authoritative voice sliced through the rising clamor. "What is going on here?" Everyone turned. Kaiden, stood a few paces away, his expression grim. Beside him was Julianne, her posture alert, her sharp eyes taking in every detail of the chaotic scene with quiet intensity. They had clearly been observing the confrontation from a slight distance, drawn by the commotion.
Kaiden's gaze swept over the furious, discolored Darius who was now at his knee holding his chest and coughing out blood, then settled on Eryndor, whose hand still gripped the peculiar bronze dagger. His eyes lingered on the blade for a brief second, before returning to Darius's rapidly worsening condition.
"Darius, your injury requires immediate attention," Kaiden stated, his voice firm, brooking no argument. "We'll get you to the infirmary at once, he gave a student a curt nod and a big huge husky male student took him to the infirmary along with the one who he gave the signal." He then turned his steely gaze back to Eryndor. "Eryndor, you will come with me. We need to understand precisely what transpired here. The accusations are grave." His voice lowered slightly, resonating with an unspoken warning that carried the full weight of Ranger law. "We will decide then if this merits suspension or expulsion."
Darius, now whimpering faintly as the poison spread, was quickly escorted away by two other guys. His features were now a horrifying mosaic of purple and normal skin, contorted in agony and vengeful anger. The crowd parted, whispering, their eyes darting between the retreating Darius and the bewildered Eryndor, condemnation clear in their gazes.
"Oh master you are in big trouble," Gloop said.
"I think I am." He replied, Finn looked at him his eyes filled with sympathy. And he followed kaiden to the authorities room.
Meanwhile, Julianne, who had watched the entire scene noted the impossible speed of the dagger, the way it had seemed to move with a will of its own, and the sheer shock on Eryndor's face. She also saw the calculating glint in Darius's eyes, she even noticed what no one noticed, when the dagger wanted to hit his eye and he ducked he intentionally bent his face to the blade, before the blade could even touch him the blue grotesque veins has already started popping out of his finger.
Julianne has the ability to see from afar so she saw the scene, "that guy Is a jerk why is he discriminating him because he is a ordinary, I really don't know why we are in the same class, I won't let Darius get away with this," she said to herself and tailed behind Eryndor.
"Darius!!" Finn gritted his teeth angrily.
"What a trick he performed out there, smart move," Van Leon remarked, he was still aware of what Darius did, "how did he get to know about the spell by the way, I'm curious," he
then left the dispersing crowd heading towards the infirmary.