Chapter 310: Mark of Tenebris
Samantha’s knuckles turned white against the shaft. Her eyes dilated, the iris briefly swept over by a veil of absolute darkness.
She ground her teeth together as a familiar, heavy pulse echoed in the back of her skull.
"It’s pulling me again..."
She’d felt this feeling before in battle. Back in Tenebris.
While the lusterless spear was quite powerful, at times, it seemed to have a will of its own.
And the moment her intent shifted toward destruction, the weapon demanded more.
The remaining three constructs lunged simultaneously, closing in from every direction.
Samantha tried to execute a sweeping parry, but the inky shadow bound to the spear answered too aggressively.
Instead of a controlled crescent of Umbralis, a jagged, violent wave of absolute darkness erupted from the blade, slamming into the concrete floor.
BOOOMMM!
The resulting shockwave tore through the reinforced flagstones, shattering two of the mechanical constructs into piles of twisted scrap metal and flung the third several feet across the formerly pristine yard until it smashed against a basalt pillar.
In the center of the dust cloud, Samantha dropped to one knee, gasping for air.
The spear remained planted in the cracked stone before her, its tip humming with a faint, low vibration that sounded almost like a deep pulse hammering through the ground.
Black veins of Umbralis were visibly crawling up Samantha’s forearms beneath her mesh sleeves, receding agonizingly slowly back toward her wrists.
"Backlash," Nadia said, her hand moving instinctively toward the hilt of her own blade.
"No," Conrad said, placing a gentle hand on Nadia’s arm to stop her. "I don’t believe there will be a need for that."
Down below, Samantha forced herself to stand. Her hands were trembling, but her gaze remained fierce and undeterred.
She looked at the broken constructs, then down at her hands.
Again," Samantha called out, her voice rough, her chest heaving unsteadily.
Nadia looked at Conrad.
"I think she has reached her limit for the day. If that thing creeps up to her neck once more..."
"Let her try once more," Conrad said quietly. "Observe."
Nadia blinked, looking back down.
Samantha wasn’t gripping the spear with brute strength anymore.
She was adjusting her posture, breathing slowly and forcing her heart rate down.
She closed her eyes for two full seconds, letting the unnatural cold seep into her skin without resisting it.
When she opened her eyes again, the black veins on her arms had completely disappeared.
She took a slow, deliberate step forward, raising the spear into a simple, basic thrusting stance.
Nadia raised her hand again, signaling the wall operators.
A single, heavily armored mechanical construct dropped into the ring with its shield raised, its rims glowing a bright blue.
A split second later—Samantha moved.
This time, there was no explosion of dark mana, no shattered flagstones.
Instead glided across the cracked stone like a ghost, the spear trailing behind her in a whisper of motion.
As the construct raised its shield to block, Samantha flipped the spear in her grip, striking the edge of the shield with the butt of the shaft.
A tiny, precise needle of Umbralis passed through the metal, piercing the internal power core behind the plating.
The mechanical construct froze instantly, its blue light turning pale grey before it quietly tipped forward and crashed to the ground, entirely disabled without a single mark on its outer armor.
Samantha stood over it, breathing evenly, holding the spear loosely at her side.
On the terrace, Nadia let out a long breath, a genuine smile touching her lips.
𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚
"Well. How about that."
"Remarkable," Conrad murmured, adjusting his glasses back over his eyes.
"She didn’t try to suppress the weapon’s nature this time. She simply aligned herself with it."
His eyes narrowed slightly.
"That isn’t basic Umbralis control, Nadia. I daresay this is...incredible."
"Is she safe to go back to the academy?" Nadia asked, leaning against the rail once more.
Conrad remained silent for a moment, staring at the dark spear in the young girl’s hand.
Physically? Yes," Conrad said softly.
"Psychologically? She is intact. But the spear has anchored itself to her. Wherever she goes, the shadow of Tenebris will follow."
" The Council must be made aware that she cannot be separated from the weapon without risking severe damage."
"Good," Nadia grinned, tapping her baseball cap.
"Because I’d hate to be the one to tell Whizen we lost his best spear candidate right before the Festival."
An hour later, workers had cleared the courtyard of debris.
Samantha had retired to the Varas armory to pack her belongings and prepare her travelling credentials.
On the terrace, Nadia stood alone, watching the automated repair drones work on the cracked flagstones below.
Hearing the soft, unmistakable rustle of fabric behind her, she turned as Conrad stepped up to the rail once more, carrying two fresh cups of hot tea.
He handed one to her without a word.
"You know," Nadia said, accepting the cup, her fingers brushing against his, "you could have told the Council and the Videntis about your final verdict three days ago and saved us both hours of paperwork."
"The Council and the Videntis prefer absolute certainty," Conrad replied smoothly, taking a small sip from his cup.
"And you enjoy watching constructs get smashed into pieces. I saw no reason to deprive you of the entertainment."
Nadia let out a sharp laugh, shaking her head. "You’re getting bold in your old age, Darklight. Careful, or people might think you actually have a sense of humor beneath that librarian facade."
"I assure you, my humor is entirely academic," Conrad said, his expression completely calm, though the corner of his mouth twitched slightly.
"Though I must admit, watching you attempt to explain the intricate inner workings of Tenebral deadzones to the board yesterday was... moderately amusing."
Nadia turned, leaning her side against the rail, looking up at him with a mischievous tilt of her chin.
"Oh? You think you could have explained it better? Half those old fools were falling asleep until I brought up the dead zone expedition charts..."
"Well, they were falling asleep because you used three separate terms to describe the spatial rifts we discovered," Conrad noted dryly.
"Naval terms at that...And to the best of my knowledge, the board consists of scholars, like myself, Nadia...not naval captains."
"Well, the captain got the girl ready for Pyreptar," Nadia said softly, her silver eyes turning warmer as she looked at him.
"And the scholar made sure she didn’t lose her soul in the process. We make a decent team."
Conrad met her gaze through his dark-tinted glasses.
For a brief second, the quiet, distant demeanor he always maintained seemed to soften.
"We do," he said simply.
Nadia held his gaze for a moment longer before taking a drink of her tea and looking back out over the sunlit mountains.
"Get back to your books, Conrad. I’ll handle her final transit clearance."
"Try not to break any more floorboards on your way out," Conrad murmured, turning and disappearing back into the shadows just as silently as he had arrived.
Nadia smiled into her teacup, tilting her cap low against the wind.
"Ah, damn it...why..."
*****
Pyreptar Academy looked exactly as Samantha had left it—and entirely different.
She saw the massive iron archways flanked by towering marble statues of its founders that still stood guard over the plaza.
But the atmosphere surrounding the grounds had shifted dramatically.
Where quiet groups of students usually walked carrying books or sparring gear, the plaza now bustled with activity.
Banners of dark velvet, crimson silk, and silver embroidery hung from every arch and balcony.
"Huh..."
She stared at all the fancy fare in disbelief.
"I wonder how Em is doing amidst all this..."
High-end shuttles and armored diplomatic escorts lined the wide stone avenues, unloading crates of specialized equipment, official crests, and uniformed retinues.
Samantha walked through the pedestrian checkpoint, her single travel bag slung over her shoulder. At her back, wrapped tightly in layers of heavy, rune-treated leather bindings, rested the Tenebris spear.
The leather bindings were a gift, courtesy of Maestro Nadia Varas and the Praesagius, capable of containing the nascent power of the nebulous spear.
To an ordinary observer, it looked like an oversized, leather-wrapped staff or a heavy quarterstaff.
But as she passed through the perimeter security field, scanners along the archway flickered wildly, glowing a deep, troubled violet before settling back to gold.
The guard at the gate—a Novice enforcer in black plate—glanced at her credentials, then looked up at the wrapped object on her back, his brow furrowing.
"Name?" he asked.
"Samantha, Talented." she replied quietly. "Class A-2"
Samatha pulled her jacket tighter against the autumn breeze as she stepped onto the main thoroughfare.
The academy felt familiar, but her perception of it had altered irrevocably.
Where she had once seen simple stone walls and shadowy courtyards, she now felt the weight of every shadow.
Dark spaces beneath the grand staircases felt almost hollow to her, like shallow pools of water she could reach into if she wished.
The pulse of Umbralis flowing through the school hummed at the back of her mind like a faint, distant song.