****
In the mist-covered Paradise of Darkness, Gabriel was like a ghost, moving without making any noise.
Even though Yoan stood near Eliana, Gabriel was still able to kill him without anyone else even finding out. That was made even easier since no one expected him to be skillful enough to be able to kill Yoan in such a short time.
Another thing that came in handy was that the Paradise of Darkness was a spell that was unknown even to the Academy. The Academy heads only knew that their founders had some unique spells, but other than that, they didn't know anything.
They didn't even know that the spell that Gabriel was using was one of those secret spells of their founders.
A spell was powerful enough on its own, but it only became more effective when it was a large-scale spell that no one knew much about. Due to their complete unfamiliarity with the spell, they were only limited to their guesses, being forced to think that the Dark Mist only worked to decrease their vision.
Not even Eliana realized that Gabriel was able to control the Dark Mist to do anything he wanted. He was like a god who could mold the space here.
Before he even attacked Yoan personally, Gabriel used the Dark Mist to close Yoan's mouth. The dark shackles also wrapped around his hands and feet, holding him in his place.
Yoan couldn't even cast any spell. All he could do was struggle as his eyes widened. Without his spells, he couldn't free himself. He couldn't even make any noise. If he wanted to do anything, first he needed to free his mouth.
In his mind, he was even cursing Eliana. Their enemy had captured him, and despite being so close to him, Eliana didn't even come to help.
His struggle didn't last long either as a dark Sphere impaled his chest, passing through his heart and raising his body high in the air.
From the moment Gabriel closed the middle-aged Mage's mouth to the moment of his death, only a few seconds had passed, but those few seconds were like an eternity for Yoan.
His eyes were bloodshot, but he couldn't even scream in pain. His eyes lost their shine, and it was only then that Gabriel released his mouth.
"Hmm?" Gabriel had just finished killing Yoan, who tried to stop him when he went slightly tense. He could sense a presence that didn't belong to the Head Council Teachers.
His figure disappeared into the darkness. As he left, his Paradise of Darkness also stopped. It all happened in such a short time that no one could believe that Yoan was already dead!
****
Gabriel's figure appeared on the Treasure Hall's roof, which wasn't very far from the Tower of Challenges.
He could see a very familiar figure—someone who was watching his battle with the Head Council Teachers.
Even as Gabriel appeared on the roof, there was only silence there.
"Found you." Gabriel broke the silence, finally making the figure turn around to face him.
"Why are you following me?" Gabriel asked. "It's the fourth time I've seen you and the second time in the Academy. Just what are you after?"
Before him, there was no human. There was also no beast. There was only a Dark Spectre, covered in a dark shroud which made it impossible for anyone to even see the Spectre's face. At times, it even felt as if the Spectre had no face at all.
Hearing Gabriel's question, the Spectre lowered his head as if he was disappointed by something.
"I see... So you still haven't..." The lifeless voice of the Spectre reached Gabriel.
It was Gabriel's first time hearing the Spectre's words, who had never spoken before. The voice of the Spectre was completely lifeless, but it was certainly a voice similar to the voice of a man.
For some reason, he found that voice a bit familiar as well. It was as if he had heard that voice many times before, but he just couldn't remember when.
Even in the lifeless voice, Gabriel could sense some disappointment, as if the Spectre was expecting something else instead of the question.
"Wh-" Gabriel spoke again, but before he could even let a word out, the Spectre once again disappeared as if he was no more than an illusion.
"He left again..."
With the Spectre's departure, Gabriel was the only person who was left standing on the roof.
The aura of the spectre was gone, and even he couldn't feel that presence anymore. It was as if it was truly gone.
Gabriel stood on the roof, looking at the Head Council Teachers who were running toward the exit in hopes of catching him.
"It seems they can't sense my aura here."
He was sure that the Head Council Teachers wouldn't be running to the exit if they could sense him. However, he wasn't hiding his aura either, so it was unclear just what was keeping his aura from reaching them.
He observed the roof, mostly sure that it was the doing of the Spectre.
"Hmm?" Even though he couldn't find any formation that could give auras, but he did find something. There was a piece of paper where the spectre was standing previously.
On top of the piece of paper, there was a beautiful golden ring that was keeping the paper in its place, working as a paperweight.
"Is it because of the ring?" He walked closer to the ring that was emitting a special radiance. It was undoubtedly a Numen, but why would the Spectre leave this here? Was it for him?"
He picked up the ring, followed by the piece of paper.
Initially, he observed the paper that had something written on it.
There were only two words written on the piece of paper, and that too with magic. "Keep it."
"Is he giving this to me?" Gabriel frowned, shifting his attention to the ring that was clearly a Numen that wasn't from the Academy. It was also an ownerless Numen.
Despite that, he didn't wear the ring. His suspicious nature prevented him from wearing any Numen without enough information.
Fortunately, now he knew a method to understand a Numen. All he needed to do was just control it!
He bit his thumb and placed a small droplet of blood on the small Numen. As long as he was able to bind it, he could easily get the information about this Numen.
Amongst all the things he learned from Novius and Cylix, Gabriel considered this binding method worth the most. Even though it was common knowledge in this World, he wasn't sure if he would ever know about it if not for those two.
The Binding didn't take long enough as the ring was tied to him. His mind was filled with information about the strange ring.
