Death, Devotion, Dissonance

Endra was momentarily shocked to hear Kent point out that he killed Evin. Though he made sure not to break his poker face, he couldn't help but wonder.

'How does he know that? A random guess?' 

More and more, the conversation was not turning out the way Endra would like. To be fair, he did not expect Kent to talk about all this, but even still, Endra shouldn't be at such a huge disadvantage. With anyone else, he was always the dominant speaker, but it just wasn't his day today.

To regain a bit of control, Endra decided to keep silent until he got things in order.

"Oh, please. Why so defensive?" Kent spoke. "It's not like this conversation needs to be so serious. I'm only trying to help you. Bring some clarity to your mind.. It's okay to be more open."

Kent was not lying, at least in Endra's eyes. But that made it even harder for Endra to believe him. Something had to be going on here.

"Well," Kent sighed. "I thought you'd be more than this. But I suppose that's asking for too much."

At that moment, Endra heard something hum at his back. Startled, he looked back and saw nothing. But he did feel something there. Endra was blocked off from outside. 

Kent started speaking at that moment.

"The Box of Invisible Walls."

At that point, Endra had already filled his core with Air and Fire energies, and was trying to create an explosion under the ceiling. 

"A Conditional Absolute of the Domain Type,"

But Kent was effortlessly scattering any clump of air that Endra would collect.

"That creates up to three thin slides of moving Hard Air in an enclosed environment,"

Knowing that Hard Air guns wouldn't work, Endra created a few illusions of himself. While his copies distracted Kent, he was trying to jump through the ceiling. 

"Which will be called a wall as a whole."

But just before he reached the window, he was met with another 'wall'. Kent casually continued speaking.

"Except gases and other Absolutes, anything which tries to pass through the wall will be slashed to pieces by the moving Hard Air."

Endra had no other choices left at that point. He started creating a portal, damn the consequences.

"Activation Conditions: explain the effects of the spell in one minute after casting (Failure to do so will result in backlash of the mana-core)."

Kent was still explaining, his spell, curiously eyeing Endra, seemingly wondering what he would do.

According to Rith, an accomplished portal caster would've been able to hide the fact that they were creating a portal till the very last moment, but Endra was not that. He cursed himself for not practicing his spellcasting for the past few days, but there was no point regretting it now.

Indiscernibly, he reached for the small pouch of Hermium in his back pocket.

"Walls must be created with at least two meters of distance between them and must not collide with other walls," Kent continued, still calm.

Endra tried his best, but he could not keep the portal hidden till the last minute. The edge of the portal shimmered gold in the air. But even so, he'd still need five more seconds to be able to jump through the portal safely.

"Walls," Kent said and paused, finally realizing what Endra was trying to do.

Endra was immediately struck from below by a force of air so powerful, he momentarily hung on the air, his body taking on the shape of a shrimp. He quickly fell to the ground face first. Soon enough, he coughed up blood. Something was definitely crushed inside him.

"Can be individually disabled by the user, but cannot be moved or recreated," Kent continued speaking.

It took Endra's everything to keep his focus on the portal, but he soon realized it was a foolish endeavor. He found he couldn't even move his body.

"After all walls are disabled, the spell will require one minute to cast again."

The portal had already disappeared after Kent finished his explanation. The Chairman then walked towards Endra and made him sit up.  He pulled out a Talisman from his pocket and put it on Endra's stomach. The paper shone a bloody pink before the pain in Endra's body subsided. 

"Good," Kent spoke. "Your body's not rejecting the Life energies." His voice contained not a single ounce of agitation. The brutal pain he put Endra through was not a noteworthy enough event for the man to show a change of emotions. 

But for Endra, the feeling of death caressing his cheek was still vivid. His life was in the hands of this High-mage now. There was no point in trying to escape. Now, he only needed to do his best to survive. If that involved kissing Kent's ass, then so be it. Someday in the future, Endra would take his revenge. 

"Hmm. You look much better now," Kent hummed. "Are you the type that needs to feel pressure to function at your best?"

"What are you talking about?" Endra asked. 

With another person, he would've been worried about being too rude, but Endra knew Kent wouldn't care.

"The look in your eyes. It's filled with your desire to live. The cold, unflinching determination. It's almost inspiring. Nothing like the look you had when you first came inside the classroom."

Endra felt like he understood what Kent was trying to talk about now. 

"Is that why you ruptured my gut? To reignite my will to live?"

"Well," Kent sat down his own seat and took a sip from his tea. "Not exactly. Like I said, I was trying to give you some clarity. I wanted you to be more open. But since you were acting too cautiously, I gave you a little encouragement."

"What? So you did that to express that you're open for questions."

"Yes."

"Sounds counterintuitive."

Kent waved his hand dismissively. "Everyone hates being forced into things. It doesn't matter if they know that others are just trying to be helpful. They sometimes even try to sabotage the help of others… "It's the same with you. I can see the anger in you. You're plotting your revenge. Perhaps you're even planning to kill me. I don't care for that. What makes you different is that even if you're forced, you will still use the opportunity you're given. You'll still reflect on my words. You're one of the few people in this world that know everyone has something they can teach you."

Endra did not feel flattered by the words. He understood what Kent was getting at.

It was easy to realize something and think you've changed. A person could read a book and understand the life lessons it's trying to teach them. But rarely every they truly changed. 

A teenager can read from a book and learn about how one should listen and be patient, but when their parents talk to them wrong, they'd still snap at them and think they're right. 

It was easy to flaunt one's knowledge and call oneself wise and educated. But what mattered was actually implementing those knowledges. 

Now, was Endra really someone so perfect?

"You're overestimating me too much."

"Bah, take a compliment. At the very least, you'll listen to what I'll say, and not brush it off as nonsense."

'You really want to talk, don't you?' Endra thought. 'Well, in that case, I'll ask you your questions.'

"How do you know I'm not Evin?" Endra asked.

"Bah, boring question. Hence, I can only give a boring answer," Kent waved off his hand. "Experience."

"Experience?"

"Reading expressions, body language, reading your gaze, and then deducing a possible answer. Then asking a few questions to confirm my guess afterwards… and yada, yada, boring, boring."

If Kent was not lying, then Endra just got played. If he just kept playing dumb, he would've been fine.

"Who do you work for?" Endra asked next.

"Many people, really. Too many to list."

'Doesn't want to answer.'

"What did you want from Evin?"

"I wanted him to shake things up a bit," Kent said.

"Why?"

"Hmm… For a shot at gaining independence from the kingdom's royalty and nobility. He'd be its new ruler."

"What?"

Endra was flabbergasted by the news. 

"Eh, don't worry about it. Now that you're in control, it'll never happen."

"Alright… What do you know about me?"

"Ah, now we're getting to the good questions," Kent smiled. 

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