Damned Healer-Chapter 137: I’m Not Gonna Explain

The moment Niara returned from where she’d come and reached the staircase again, the inscriptions there lit up and teleported her away.

Back at the library...

"?"

Niara and Darian heard several voices inside, speaking loudly. That was weird—this was the outermost library, and hardly anyone came here.

Niara didn’t see that Elder from before, so she headed toward the voices. When she got there, she saw three Elders talking. One had a purple eye; another had claw marks tearing through his clothes across his chest.

"Fucking bastards... who do they think they are, judging the people here? Think everywhere is as peaceful as their damn universe?" Niara and Darian heard that as the Elders turned toward them, noticing their presence.

That Elder from earlier was there too. He narrowed his eyes and said, "You held out longer than expected. At least you came back alive and in one piece, so you must’ve gained something from the test... better than nothing."

"Hm? No, I made it to the end," Niara said flatly, then asked, "What happened here?"

"Don’t talk nonsense." The Elder scoffed and pulled out his badge. Everyone who entered the test had their progress recorded.

He checked... and his eyes bulged.

"H-how..."

"Who cares. What the hell happened here?!" Darian cut in, sensing something bad.

The other Elder, the one with the purple eye, spat, "Nothing that important—just two dumb newbies causing trouble."

"The two who just got here? They’re from my family. Where are they?" Darian asked quickly.

That Elder stared at the slug, surprised, then scoffed. "Those two refused to cooperate with their Summoners. We tried to convince them, but they attacked us. So they were taken to the dungeon."

"What?!" Darian’s face darkened.

Niara caught on to something and asked, "Their Summoners... were they raised by the Academy?"

The three Elders focused on her, then nodded silently.

Niara murmured in her mind, ’Darian... these Summoners are like me... this is a big problem.’

The slug’s eyes changed. He locked onto the three Elders. "What exactly is different about those Summoners?"

"That’s internal Academy business and concerns those two Mannaz. You’ve got no right—" The Elder stopped mid-sentence.

He swallowed hard.

He turned to look at Niara and Darian. Both of them were staring coldly, sharp as blades. Niara because she understood very well what was going on; Darian because he knew Lucy and Lucius all too well.

"When are they getting out?" Darian asked, eyes locked on the Elders.

"They’ll stay for just one day, to reflect. After that, if they accept the situation, they can return. But they’ll still have to pay a fine."

Darian replied, trying to stay calm: "I want to see those Summoners. Where are they?"

"That’s not happening," the purple-eyed Elder said flatly. "They’re special and can only leave with their partners."

’Niara...’ Darian spoke calmly in her mind. ’I never told you before, but I saw your past. I know a bit of what you went through. How are these Summoners like you? Are they mutants?’

Her eyes trembled.

She had never stopped to think about it, but Darian always knew things he shouldn’t have been able to know. He said he saw her past? If he really had that ability, everything made sense now.

At the same time... he had seen something she wished no one would ever know—not even herself.

After a sigh, she answered, ’No. I’m a little different because of my mutation. But there are people who... lost everything... they’re just puppets of the Academy.’

After Niara said that, Darian’s mind connected a few dots. Why would those two have acted that way?

Lucy and Lucius had learned about this universe from Darian. They knew about the Risen and the goal of saving the Mannaz. They also knew how dangerous this place was... the Risen were only one of many threats.

Both of them were really smart—way smarter than him, even. No matter what happened, those two should’ve kept calm and waited for Darian to show up—he’d told them he was coming, after all.

’Puppets... so these "children of the Academy" can be controlled? By who?’ Darian asked the golden question.

’The Leader of the Academy. He’s the one in control of everything,’ Niara said with absolute certainty.

Darian scoffed, ’I see... so there’s no way this ends well.’

He’d asked himself a few times now: how could there be so many traitors among the Summoners, Elders, and Spiritual Guardians?

There shouldn’t even be 5% of the Spiritual Guardians in the nest. Only the weakest ones were there, the ones who weren’t worth much... and yet, there were almost two dozen traitors. Their schemes had been perfectly coordinated. And now, Darian already knew that the galaxy’s defense — and maybe even its offensive — had been set up to fail completely.

Something like that could only happen if a lot of powerful people were in on it.

Why would the twins reject something so hard and even react aggressively? That wasn’t like them.

Darian thought fast. They were both young, but not to be underestimated. Maybe whatever they were asked to accept was a one-way street.

Knowing Darian would find them eventually, they probably acted that way to leave a message.

’Niara, I trust them,’ Darian said calmly. ’Because I already explained a lot to them, they must’ve picked up on something really wrong. I’m sure they refused to bow to this Academy Leader, and that’s what started all this.’

She nodded. She didn’t know those two yet, but she could already tell that between the three of them, there was a unique family spirit.

"Perfect, I’ve been dying to test that new martial art," she said, locking eyes with the slug on her shoulder.

The whole conversation had taken just a few seconds, but the Elders still heard those last words and looked confused.

The slug nodded, and Niara moved her hand to her waist and pulled out her emblem. With a quick flick...

*Crack*

She broke it.

Immediately, an alarm rang through the Academy.

That was the emergency signal all Summoners could use. Something serious going down inside the Academy? Breaking the emblem here meant everyone — even the Leader — would get the alert and head straight over.

"Have you lost your minds?! What part of what we said didn’t you understand?!" one of the Elders said, stunned.

Another shouted, "Doing this without a reason is a big deal!"

"Fuck off," Niara spat, her scales spreading across her body. "Back off, or I won’t hold back."

The Elders swallowed hard, feeling real danger coming off her.

Were they planning to kill someone? What the hell kind of madness was this?

Fast footsteps echoed through the library.

Dozens of figures rushed in. Behind them, even more people arrived and stopped in confusion, surrounding the area.

In seconds, hundreds of figures had piled into the space.

Niara stepped back, her eyes locking onto someone.

A very tall, thin man, covered in black fur. His gray eyes locked on her, emotionless.

"What’s going on here?"

He spoke in a dry, cold voice, and everyone turned toward him. He was the Leader of Celestia Academy. A highly respected Mannaz, once a Summoner with a partner who had eight rings.

But after he stopped being a Summoner, the Mannaz had no power except for his knowledge. And in front of Niara, no Mannaz could afford arrogance. But... there was absolutely no fear in this man’s eyes.

"I’ll get straight to the point."

The slug’s voice was cold on the Dragoness’s shoulder.

Darian’s eyes were darker than ever. This was the first time he’d seen the Leader — and the moment he arrived, Darian’s Curse surged to the surface. His karma was so black and thick that even a Risen Chief seemed like a joke in comparison.

Everyone could feel a storm forming. Niara and Darian locked eyes with the Leader, who stared right back at them.

Darian went on, slowly: "Release my little brother and sister. Then, turn yourself in as a traitor."

"WHAT? ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR DAMN MIND?!" one of the Elders roared.

"You got any proof of that?!" another asked, shocked.

"I’m not gonna explain myself. That’d just mean playing into his game," the slug replied, snorting. "Someone with that much status and that many contacts would have everything covered. Trying to play politics here would be a joke, right?"

Darian said it while looking straight into his eyes. The Leader’s face didn’t change, but Niara felt a subtle glint of mockery coming from him.

She spread her wings, and all her scales lit up with a fierce glow.

"You either cooperate peacefully," Darian finished, "or don’t blame us for going all-out."