Aiden continued this way, touching the heads of the refugees. He did so for around 30 people without finding any abnormalities, and continued till he was now in front of the Head of the academy.
Their eyes met as Aiden placed his hands on her head. Of course he found nothing abnormal but he couldn’t let the knights lead her outside since she was there in case an enemy was hiding in the midst of the refugees.
Aiden pulled his hands away and backed up a little, "Stand up!!"
Aiden spoke and she did just that standing on her feet. Her disguise was perfect; he couldn’t tell the difference between her and another female wolfkin physically. The only reason he knew was because of her mana, and for some reason Aiden could tell it was suppressed.
Aiden placed another hand on her head, and already the rest of the refugees were starting to whisper amongst themselves, thinking Aiden had found something.
"Sit over there" Aiden spoke, instructing her to sit in an empty space. "There’s nothing wrong with her; she has a sickness I’ll have to take care of later" Aiden mouthed as he continued to the next person.
He placed her in a spot where she could easily react if he found something. Not that he was worried for himself, but if there was actually an enemy in their midst, he wouldn’t sit all the way in the back, so if another explosion were to go off, more than half of the refugees would be affected.
Aiden continued forward hoping nothing went wrong, but when had that ever happened? He was a little confident; the Draken Empire must have thrown everything at them, and hopefully all of the refugees were clean.
He moved from one refugee to another, gently placing his hand on each person’s head, and again and again the screen appeared with a familiar message.
[Normal]
[Normal]
[Normal]
[Normal]
Aiden continued with nothing unusual happening, and soon he had already examined over fifty refugees without finding anything. Just when he thought it would continue this way, he placed his hand on the head of the rabbitkin in front of him.
[Effect Identification]
[Condition: Mind Control]
[Condition: Explosive Alchemy]
[Description: The target’s thoughts and actions are controlled by an external source; the control can be maintained over a certain distance.]
[Description: Alchemical explosive fused with the target; once activated or certain conditions are triggered, it activates and detonates, causing severe AOE damage]
[Shit, this is bad. The enemy must be among the refugees; they must have sneaked in during the commotion, and might be right here. You need to protect yourself immediately]
’I need to maintain my composure; she isn’t making any move. Look around for anyone that might be suspicious’
The woman in front of him looked completely normal; her eyes were clear, her breathing steady, and there wasn’t the slightest hint that she was being controlled.
If she was under mind control, then the enemy was nearby and among the refugees, but there was no way he would have cleared them yet, so the person was going to be among the others still in the hall. With Zero also looking, Aiden’s eyes immediately swept the hall.
[Found someone suspicious at the back, he’s...shit shit shit!! Spell casting!!]
Aiden’s eyes shot towards the back of the hall as he also noticed it: a man wrapped in a dirty cloak with his head lowered was among them, and hidden behind another refuge, he had already begun casting spells.
Aiden didn’t hesitate for even a second; he immediately pushed the beastkin away towards the Head Mage, who was already on her feet as she noticed almost at the same time.
"BARRIER!! EXPLOSION!!" Aiden shouted at the top of his lungs
The Head Mage dashed forward with breathtaking speed; even Aiden couldn’t see her movement as she appeared in front of the rabbitkin who still had no idea what was happening.
The disguise around her body shattered into countless particles of mana, revealing her actual appearance: a beautiful woman with long black-silver hair, black eyes with smoky eye shader around her eyes.
She wore black robes embroidered with silver patterns, and before Aiden could turn around, both of her hands were already stretched forward towards the rabbitkin.
"Advance Barrier, Dark Barrier, Mana Barrier"
Almost simultaneously she cast three types of barrier around the rabbitkin. There was no way she would sacrifice the lives of everyone to save a single refugee; coupled with the fact that she, Aiden and the Crown Prince was inside the same hall, she couldn’t take any chances.
An enormous wall of barrier covered the rabbitkin like a tiny square dome; almost at the same time, Aiden stretched both his hands forward.
[Sanctuary]
Golden light burst out from beneath his feet as he infused even more mana, covering the entire hall in a warm golden glow as instructed by Zero. As the sanctuary expanded, the glow touched everyone in the hall and then another screen appeared.
[Effect Identification]
[Condition: Mind Control]
[Condition: Explosive Alchemy]
[Effect Identification]
[Condition: Mind Control]
[Condition: Explosive Alchemy]
With his sanctuary expanded and touching everyone in the hall, his Effect Identification worked like Aiden was touching them making it possible for him to notice two more.
’Two more of them, one of them is the person casting the spell and the other is... Heading towards me.’ Aiden immediately pulled backwards stretching his hands forward.
[Divine Barrier]
Instead of covering himself with a barrier, he covered the refugee with a barrier; the golden shield wrapped itself tightly around the refugee’s body like a cocoon.
Almost at the same time, the spell activated, and both of the refugees’ movements were halted as their bodies began to glow, releasing a blinding light that covered the entire hall, followed by a loud deafening sound.
*BOOM!!*
The first explosion erupted with terrifying force, slamming against the Head Mage’s barrier. Cracks spread across the barrier, breaking through two of her barriers, but the force was contained as the last barrier held.
A split second later, the second refugees exploded as well; Aiden’s divine barrier surrounding the refugees absorbed the blast, preventing the explosion from breaking out. Still, the floor and walls trembled violently.
Dust filled the air, and several benches were blown apart. As the shockwave echoed throughout the building, the knights had already rallied in front of the Crown Prince, taking him outside of the building, and the rest of the refugees were running towards the entrance, which was also the only exit.
Aiden couldn’t see due to the smoke, but he could sense exactly where the man was, and he wasn’t moving; the same with the Head of the magic academy. Both of them stood on alert.
When the dust finally began to clear, not a single refugee outside the barrier had been harmed; even the building held on.
Only a few chairs and tables were destroyed in the process, and at the back of the building, close to the walls, Aiden’s eyes landed on the culprit.
Behind Aiden and the Head of the academy, knights had gathered together, numbering around 20, all of them fully armed but they couldn’t rush in; after all they had witnessed both explosions.
"You have nowhere else to run; give up," She spoke as she stepped forward towards Aiden.
"What’s the plan?" She mumbled as she stood by his side.
"There’s no way we can take him alive for questioning; he has the same type of explosive rigged into his body. I’m sure he’ll be looking for a good time to close the distance and detonate. Since we know nothing about the spell, he could be able to detonate it in an instant," Aiden replied.
"So we have no choice but to kill him while keeping him from exploding. Since your barrier is better than mine, you take care of the barrier, and I’ll try to stop him," she said.
The man slowly raised his head, and for the first time everyone saw his face clearly. His eyes were bloodshot, his lips were split from biting them too many times, and a twisted smile stretched across his face as if everything happening around him was the best thing in the world.
"Hehehe... HAHAHAHAHAH!!" The man burst into laughter; the sound echoed throughout the hall, making some of the knights tighten their grip on their swords.
Aiden swallowed as a smile formed on his face. He knew the man in front of him was ready to die, but he wasn’t afraid because he knew the explosion couldn’t take him out in a single blast unless the man was closer, and if the man got closer, his [Divine Barrier] would stop the explosion.
"You think you’ve won?" The man laughed, his shoulders shaking uncontrollably.
"The glorious Draken Empire never loses...we are the Emperor’s hands, his eyes, his will, and we will enact his vengeance on this Kingdom." He slowly spread both of his arms.
"GLORY TO THE EMPEROR!!"