"What are you going to do?"
With Adam's death, the illusion shattered into fragments once more, then instantly reassembled—the same familiar scene, unchanged in every detail. The only thing that had changed was Adam.
And then...
Ardor, loyalty, justice, valor, humility—one fine quality after another was defeated and replaced by Despair. Adam grew more and more numb and unfeeling. The last time he charged into the Mage's mansion he was caught by the soldiers, and then the Mage tortured him with ancient magic for seven days and seven nights, until he became another despair monster—and at last the illusion broke completely, and Adam returned to the soul sea.
The soul sea was flawless white, yet two gray, hideous despair monsters now dwelt within Adam's soul.
They began to fight over the soul, caring nothing for the damage, wanting only to kill each other. Every bite of fang, every tear of claw—all the body's information they ripped away was greedily devoured. By now it was impossible to tell which was Adam's soul and which was a monster mutated by magic.
In the outside world, the Mordo Academy trial was drawing to its close. Mage Ryan and Mage Kino withdrew the runic barrier, dispelled the effects of the magic potions, and gathered the surviving apprentices together.
A month earlier, nearly a hundred people had entered the trial grounds at the same time, yet fewer than forty had survived to this moment. The crowd's feelings were hard to put into words—a complicated blend of joy at having lived through the disaster and hope for the future. Everyone was looking around for familiar companions, and every familiar face set off a fresh surge of delight.
William had survived. In the months he had spent in Adam's laboratory his strength had grown by leaps and bounds; with his already rather excellent aptitude and his fire elemental affinity, his magic ranked among the very best of his cohort. In the trial he had gathered a team of a dozen or so apprentices, shown outstanding leadership, and successfully led his companions out of the trial grounds.
"William, what are you looking for?" A female apprentice gazed at William with admiration and asked him attentively.
William pulled a smile at her. "Looking for someone."
His mind was frantically asking itself: Where is he? Where did he go? How could he possibly be dead?
William was looking for Adam. He refused to believe that dazzling person could die in a trial that was little more than a game to him.
Soon William's gaze had swept over everyone present, and still there was no sign of Adam. His behavior drew attention; his teammates gathered anxiously around him and asked, "William, what's wrong?"
"Did any of you see Adam?"
Adam? The crowd exchanged glances—only now did they realize that Adam was missing from among the survivors. Someone said, "Didn't see him. Maybe he died in there?"
After a moment of silence, someone said with gleeful malice, "I thought he was supposed to be so amazing. Turns out he died in the trial too, hah! With a personality like his, no one would be willing to be his companion, right? He's probably some magical beast's droppings by now."
William found it grating, but he said nothing about it. If Adam was dead, there was no meaning in arguing; if Adam was not, the man who said it would pay the price on his own.
At that point the two Mages came forward and said, "Congratulations on passing the trial. Once you return to the academy you may choose to become free apprentices, or to sign a contract with the tower—but whichever you choose, you have all become qualified Mage apprentices."
"You have one hour to recover your stamina and spiritual power. One hour from now we will return to the tower through the teleportation formation, and then you can begin your true academy life."
After the two Mages finished speaking, they turned and went aside into the mobile house. William hesitated for a good while, then finally could not hold back; he walked up carefully and knocked on the door, saying to the Mage, "Good day, honored Mage."
The door of the mobile house opened automatically, and Mage Ryan looked at William and said, "Good day, apprentice."
"Sir, may I ask—are we really all the apprentices who survived?"
Mage Ryan said, "Of course."
William's expression stiffened. He bowed respectfully and withdrew, his inner voice running on and on: So Adam really is dead.
Mage Kino looked at him and said suddenly, "You know that apprentice called Adam?"
William jerked his head up and nodded again and again to Mage Kino.
Mage Kino gestured for William to come in. William had no time to admire a full-fledged Mage's living quarters; he followed close behind Mage Kino into the interior.
"How... how did he end up like this?" Seeing Adam's condition, William's pupils contracted involuntarily and he cried out in shock.
Adam was in a very bad way—his body was shriveled down to skin and bone, his eyes tightly shut, his body twitching without pause. But the most terrifying thing was the gray breath that kept seeping from his body.
William murmured, "Negative energy aura... a Magefoe?"
Mage Kino looked at William in surprise. "Impressive knowledge."
"Adam and I once fought Magefoe apprentices. Adam wiped out four of them and saved Blan Town." William reluctantly dragged his gaze away from Adam and turned to speak to Mage Kino.
Mage Kino clapped his hands and said to Mage Ryan, who was sitting outside, "So that's it. No wonder that big rat would take such a risk and come all the way to the Mage Continent to kill a little apprentice. The one who died before must have been his junior."
William listened quietly, then mustered his courage and asked, "Mage, could you tell me what's happened to Adam?"
"A Magefoe of full-fledged rank infiltrated the trial grounds. He was struck by a first-rank ancient magic, Soul Rend; negative energy aura has taken possession of his soul. Hmm, I have to say, this little fellow is impressive—for nearly a month he has been fighting against Despair, and there is still no sign of him losing."
But no sooner had Mage Kino's words left his mouth than the gray aura swept out like a storm, and Adam's face contorted and twisted beyond his control. Mage Kino flung William out of the room in one move and said to Mage Ryan, "This—could his soul be on the verge of being destroyed?"
Mage Ryan rose and leaned against the door frame, watching the agonized Adam. Then he said, "Clearly the little fellow can't hold on anymore. You still don't want to kill him?"
Mage Kino frowned and stared at Adam, the metal particles in his hand rising and falling with his unease; clearly he too no longer knew whether he should kill Adam to ease his suffering. After a moment he gave up the idea, because he had noticed something different.
"The ancient magic Soul Rend condenses human despair and soul energy to destroy the target's soul. Its effect ought to be destruction—but look at him," Mage Kino pointed at Adam, "right now he seems to be being assimilated. Have you ever seen a phenomenon like this?"
Mage Ryan's eyes turned a crystalline red; dense runes surfaced layer upon layer within them, and his gaze pierced through Adam's body straight into the depths of his soul. He said in surprise, "Eh, how strange. What did this little fellow do?"
The Mages' curiosity saved Adam's life; they decided to preserve this special 'specimen'—perhaps something interesting could be learned from it.
The runes in Mage Ryan's eyes surfaced into the air, then spread over Adam's body, and the gray storm was bound within a fixed range; no negative energy aura could be sensed from outside anymore. The Mage said, "Looks like we'll have to seal him for now, or he won't even be able to enter the tower's perimeter. The academy enforcers are not so easy to deal with."
William returned to the open ground where the apprentices had gathered, his brows tightly knitted, still digesting the news he had just been given and the scene he had just witnessed.
He knew now why Adam had not walked out of the trial grounds, but he could never have imagined that Adam had actually fought a full-fledged Mage—and lived.
Yet judging by what he had just seen, Adam was clearly in imminent danger—not necessarily death; he might become a captive of negative energy. No one knew better than William the formidable carrying capacity of psychokinesis, and with Adam's talent on top of that, he had no doubt of it. After the previous incident he had looked up basic information on Magefoes and learned how mainstream Mages regarded them; if Adam really did fall, there would not be a shred of hope for him.
Now he did not know how to describe his own feelings. He and Adam had once been locked in a deep conflict—though it was one-sided on his part—and judged by that alone, he ought to feel relieved. But he had also grown strong because of Adam; if Adam died, he would lose his guide on the path of the Psychokinesis Meditation Method.
And deep in his heart there lingered a strange thought he was not quite willing to admit: a person like Adam should not die so quietly and unnoticed.
The apprentices had knowingly seated themselves a little way off from William; anyone could see that his mood was poor, and at a time like this no one was willing to provoke the man who was probably the strongest apprentice now that Adam was gone.
But they could not help gloating and whispering among themselves, out of a very strange notion: the more fallen geniuses the better—the fewer enemies I have, the more resources I can get, the higher I can climb.
William coldly watched and listened to their chatter, and found it utterly ridiculous.
These people would never stop to think about what talent they actually had or how much effort they had put in; they would always pin the blame for their own failure to reach greater heights on someone else, and then be overtaken by more and more people.
He shook his head and flung the tangled thoughts aside. Adam's affairs were no longer something he could involve himself in; all he could do was offer a silent blessing. What he ought to be thinking about now was what choice to make after returning to the academy.
The hour passed, and the Mages walked out of the mobile house right on time. The house shrank at tremendous speed and vanished into their hands, leaving in its place a floating teleportation formation.
After a full month, everyone—Adam included—had returned to the academy once more.