Gabriel stepped out of the Tower of Challenges, looking very different. Surprisingly, his name also disappeared from the Tower ranking on its own for some reason.
Axion's name was once again on top of the Rankings, brown on the 99th Floor.
Even though the top name on the tower had disappeared, none of the Two Head Teachers saw that since they were more focused on Gabriel.
Rem was holding a small crystal in his hand. He clenched his fist, crushing that crystal immediately into dust.
****
Eliana was sitting in her chair, looking out the window. She didn't know why, but she was feeling really uneasy today. The sky was also covered in dark clouds since the morning, as if it was going to rain.
"Why am I feeling so uneasy suddenly?" She stood up and walked closer to the window. She just couldn't shake off this feeling as if something bad was going to happen.
She decided to leave her office and take a walk around the campus to ease her mind, but before she could even take a foot out of her office, she felt the crystal in her pocket shake intensely.
She pulled out the crystal, which turned into dust in her hands.
"This..." Without thinking of anything, she rushed out of her office. She needed to activate the Sealing Formation! The crushing of the crystal meant that Gabriel was discovered by Rem!
****
"I suppose that's your real look?" Rem asked, trying to engage Gabriel in conversation. They needed to waste his time since they didn't want him to use a spell to escape before they could seal the space.
Gabriel didn't answer right away. Instead, he observed his surroundings. Even this place was too empty. Other than the Teachers, there was no one here.
"Did you already seal the entire academy?" he asked.
Hearing Gabriel now, Rem couldn't help but feel that Gabriel was really different now. The last time he met Gabriel, he had seen a rebel who rarely listened to commands. But even inside that rebel, Rem could see some fear and some hesitation, as if he was often worried about something.
Currently, that fear and hesitation were missing. It was as if Gabriel had complete clarity now. Moreover, even as Gabriel stood before the two of them, there was no worry on his face.
"We had no choice. It's just a precaution," Rem answered. "We don't want you to attack and kill the innocent."
"You don't want me to attack and kill the innocent... Did the Academy tell the same thing to the Church of Light when you handed over your students to be killed?"
Gabriel didn't care much about what happened in the past with the academy, at least not at this moment. However, he still found this hypocrisy amusing.
"Don't worry. I won't blame the Academy for this hypocrisy." He glanced down at his hands. He was still wearing his golden gloves, but they were now blood red, covered in blood. "We all have a little hypocrite inside us after all."
He didn't forget to count himself in the same batch as well since even he had to make many decisions that countered his stance, especially inside the tower.
Even as he spoke, barely any expressions could be seen on his face.
The two Teachers had also seen the blood covered gloves.
"May I ask whose blood is that?" Rem asked. From what he could remember, the Tower was unique in that thing. No matter how many beasts a person killed inside the tower before they left the Tower, the Tower always cleaned the blood on their clothes.
Not only did the tower heal a person right before they came out, but all their clothes were clean as well. Not even a shred of blood could be seen on a person's clothes, even if that person came out of a bloody battlefield.
That's what made this so strange. Why were Gabriel's hands covered in blood? And whose blood was it? Just who did he kill that even the Tower didn't want to clean?
Initially, Rem's goal was only to keep Gabriel engaged, but at the moment, he was actually intrigued. He had so many questions that he needed answers to.
"This blood?" Gabriel raised his bloody hands.
Rem nodded in response, wondering if there was another battle on the hundredth floor that Gabriel had to win.
Gabriel opened his lips to answer, but he stopped before he could even utter a word as he raised his hand, noticing a beautiful white barrier covering the entire Academy.
He could also feel some Spatial Disturbance in the surrounding area. Since he also knew some Spells of Light that utilize some of the Spatial Elements, he could also sense this change.
Even when Lira told him about the Academy, she hadn't mentioned a single thing about this security mechanism. It was Gabriel's first time seeing something like this.
"You brat, you are done for now!" Yoan, who had been silent all this while as Rem kept Gabriel engaged, finally started speaking.
He burst into a hearty laughter. They had succeeded in this mission of keeping Gabriel engaged until the Formation was activated. Eliana had succeeded.
"Now that the Spatial Entrapment Formation is active, you can't use teleportation spells inside the Academy! You can't escape now!"
"Yoan, calm down. Let me talk to him." Rem placed his hand on Yoan's shoulder to pull the Head of House of Fire back. He didn't want Yoan to instigate Gabriel since it was much better to take him down without a battle if possible.
"No need for that anymore." Yoan pushed aside Rem's hand. "Now that we have the Holy Priest of Darkness in our grasp, he isn't going anywhere. No need to be careful now! Within seconds, all the others will be here as well!"
"Holy Priest of Darkness?" Gabriel tilted his head to the side, slightly confused. Just what were these people talking about? Were they considering him the Holy Priest of Darkness? Did they not know that it was Lira?
"I'm not the Holy Priest of Darkness."
"Nonsense! You think you can fool us now, little brat? We know every trick that you pulled! You can fool Eliana and Rem, but not me!" Yoan refused to believe Gabriel's words.
At this point, almost all the Head Council Members of the Academy were sure that Gabriel was the Holy Priest of Darkness. No ordinary person could reach the top floor of the tower with such ease and release such a dark aura.
"You can't escape now!"
Just as he finished speaking, the other Head Council Members also started arriving, surrounding Gabriel from every side.
