Return of the Runebound Professor-Chapter 672: Pandemonium

Noah slid out of the Transport Cannon, magic already flowing out to pump through his body by the time he’d risen to his feet. He had no idea how many demons the cult had sent after his people. He cast his domain out to scan over his surroundings before he’d even managed to get his bearings.

The room around him was stuffed full. Demons and humans alike had packed into it. His domain drifted over all of them within moments. Then his hands lowered and he blew out a breath.

There were a lot of people here — but all of them belonged. He didn’t pick up on any unfamiliar presences. No cultists were present… but just about everyone else certainly was. All of his students, both demon and human alike, had gathered in the tower.

None of them had been killed. There wasn’t any indication that anyone had been seriously injured either. Noah doubted it was their intention, but it brought him no little amount of relief.

But it wasn’t just his students that were waiting for him. Moxie and Brayden and Silvertide stood within the sea of faces, as did Bird. Even Ulya was among their number. She’d taken up guard near the edge of the tower, flanked by her puppet, face pale.

Everyone really was here. The only ones that weren’t were Karina and Contessa. But Noah wasn’t worried about that. Mascot was watching over them. They were probably the safest of everyone here.

It took Noah a split second to process that information — and another one for a frown to crease his lips.

If everyone was here, then it meant that the demons had almost certainly gone after them. The cult had known every single one of his allies. Not just his closest ones, but even the ones he’d worked less extensively with.

Og’s words rung through Noah’s head. They’d tried to test everyone close to him… and he didn’t like that much at all.

“We’re all fine,” Moxie said before Noah could say anything. She didn’t even bother asking if he and Lee had also been attacked. At this point, it was fairly obvious that nobody had been spared the cults’ attention. “Alexandra was injured, but she got a healing potion quickly enough to avoid any complications. No losses on our side. Complete losses on theirs.”

Even though Noah had already determined that himself, he gave Moxie an appreciative nod. “Thank you. No survivors to interrogate, I take it?”

“I tried,” Moxie said grimly. “I didn’t get much from the one I spoke to. They’re stubborn and completely caught up in their own bullshit to the point that they’ll die for it. It seems we’ve somehow garnered the attention of some insane idiots. They weren’t very good at their jobs, though.”

“Worse than that. They were terrible,” Aylin said. “I’ve seen more dangerous demons at Rank 3 than these ones.”

“They were rather inept,” Vrith agreed with a frown. “Their reaction speed and coordination… if I hadn’t known better, I might have assumed they were drunk or otherwise impaired.”

“Hey. They were kind of strong,” James said through a yawn. “I was feeling kind of cool about managing to beat a demon too, you know. No need to quash my dreams that hard.”

“At least you got to fight some,” Yulin muttered. “They didn’t even think me worth attacking.”

“I think I killed the one after you,” Alexandra offered, but it was clear she was just trying to make the other girl feel better. Yulin hadn’t been Noah’s student for long — and that was valuable information in itself. The demons likely hadn’t judged her a threat.

“All of you did great by surviving. Defeating an assassin, especially a demon one, without preparation is nothing to scoff at,” Noah said through a relieved chuckle. “Especially with regard to the students. No compliments for you, Silvertide.”

“That’s just cruel,” Silvertide said with a wry smile. “Do you know how difficult it is for a man like me to heave himself out of bed in the middle of the night to kill some idiots trying to squeeze their way through the imbuements on my room? Damn near woke Tyler up. Can’t have that. Big lad needs his rest to perform in top shape.”

Now that I think about it, I don’t think I’ve seen Tyler in any real action. If Silvertide has trained him, I’d imagine he’s quite the menace. Maybe we should just have them both start showing up to our classes. If there’s any other teacher I can trust, it’s Silvertide. Nobody is more concerned about Isabel and Todd’s health than he is, and he’s already learned about Garina. He hasn’t sold us out yet, so I doubt he ever will.

“The demons really weren’t all that smart,” Bird said. “I was expecting more. Idiots showed up right as I finished showering. They died much easier than I had expected… but more importantly, I think it’s clear they had information on us. Personal information. Enough to know who we were. Not enough to know not to fight someone when they’re already in a combat-ready state.”

Noah fought to keep a straight face. He wasn’t so sure he succeeded.

She fought them naked, didn’t she? What have I done to the poor woman? Actually, no. This isn’t on me. It’s the book. This is the book’s fault. Not mine. I am not taking credit for the creation of the Naked Marauder.

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“It seemed like they had a general idea of our powers,” Todd said. “The ones that came after me and Isabel had an anti-imbuement sword. Basically killed all the protections I had on our room.”

“A Mageripper?” Silvertide blinked in surprise. “Truly?”

“You know what it is? I’d never even heard of them before,” Todd said. “Didn’t realize there was something that could completely take out an imbuement like that.”

“Magerippers are rare. They were created during the Long Night and most recently utilized in the war between the families,” Silvertide said with a frown. “They’re specifically made to counteract Soldiers who rely heavily on the Imbuements on their armor. If they brought one to fight you…”

“They definitely knew,” Moxie said. Her lips thinned in anger. “This was no random attack, though I think that’s apparent already. Arbitage isn’t under attack. We are.”

“But why?” Brayden asked. “Is this something to do with what you did in the Damned Plains?”

Noah thought for a moment before shaking his head. “No. I don’t believe so. That wouldn’t make much sense. I don’t think any of the Demon Lords in the Damned Plains hate us enough to do something like this. Sievan certainly wouldn’t. We’re on good terms.”

“The Auction, then?” Moxie wondered. “That’s pretty much the only opportunity here. It seems like there’s a pretty good chance this might have something to do with this Orlen guy. We did kind of screw up whatever it was he was going for.”

Noah resisted the urge to curse. Of course, their best source on Orlen had gone and vanished. Linestra couldn’t answer any questions for them when she was missing… though it hadn’t seemed like she’d known all that much in the first place.

Orlen definitely does seem like a very likely option here. We know shitall about him and I’ve kicked his beehive a few times. If there’s anyone with unknown abilities that might not be much a fan of me, it’s him.

Need to make sure, though. The only thing worse than not knowing who your enemy is deciding it’s the wrong person and getting distracted from the real threat.

“Can anyone think of anything else?” Noah asked. “There’s a very significant chance that this is somehow my fault. In fact, I’d go as far to say it definitely is, but I don’t want to dismiss another possibility if you can think of one.”

Dull chatter broke out through the room. It continued on for a minute, but none of them grew any closer to a theory than they had been when they’d started talking. They simply just hadn’t had interactions with anyone that would have connection to a cult that had somehow managed to gather personal information on all of them.

“Could it be we have some form of leak?” Bird asked. “Someone could be feeding an enemy information.”

“No,” Noah said simply.

“How do you know?”

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“Because I trust everyone in this room,” Noah said with a shrug. “Well, to varying degrees, but still. Nobody here has a reason to sell us out. And everyone here is smart enough to know just how stupid of a move that would be.”

Ulya nodded intently at that.

“I could interrogate everyone to make sure,” Aylin offered. “It wouldn’t be difficult, and there’s no reason to object to it. I would know immediately if someone was lying.”

“That’s fine with me,” Todd said. “Just keep your questions on topic. I think we’re all pragmatic enough to not give a shit about a cursory check. Good way to rule out some Shapeshifter bullshit or the like.”

“Can’t hurt,” Moxie agreed. She chewed her lower lip for a second. “But I don’t think it’ll turn anything up. We should still try, but any other ideas?”

“Tillian didn’t get attacked,” Alexandra pointed out. “He isn’t here. I don’t think an Inquisitor would get taken out by a demon that easily.”

Noah considered that for a moment, but Yoru beat him to a response.

“He was not aware of our location, so he would not know to come here. He may have been attacked,” she said. “Eline and Revin are not present either.”

A grim thought struck Noah. It clearly hit Moxie at the same time, because the two of them glanced at each other as one.

“You don’t think Revin was responsible, do you?” Moxie asked.

“It can’t be ruled out. This is just the type of shit he’d love,” Noah said. “James? Thoughts?”

“Definitely possible,” James said with distaste. “But he isn’t here. Revin always pops up after his bullshit pranks. The fact that he hasn’t makes me think it isn’t him.”

Noah thought for a few moments. Then he blew out a sigh and shook his head. “There’s no point going round in circles about this. It’s late and we have a lot to cover tomorrow. Aylin, would you be so kind as to quickly make sure we’re all in the clear?”

The demon nodded. He made his way around the room without any further ado, quickly asking several basic questions to everyone that stood within it. Within a few minutes, he was done — and the results were as Noah had expected.

None of them had been a traitor. Og’s group had managed to spy on them in some other manner. Noah didn’t know what it was, but he’d be damned if he sat around wasting time when there was more than one way to deal with a threat like this.

“Right,” Noah said. “Everyone’s safe, but we can’t let this throw us off. It’s given me a lot to think about… and a lot to focus on. We have a lot of practice and training to catch up on. Everyone, go get some rest. Stay in groups and don’t go anywhere alone for the time being. We’ll regroup and get back to practicing tomorrow. Our overall goals have not changed. Having some crazed demons tossed into the mix with the nobles really doesn’t make much of a difference at all.”

A round of understanding nods passed through the room. Everyone here was more than experienced in working under stressful environments. A few stray cultists were not going to stop their progress…

And Noah’s thoughts had already drifted well beyond the immediate threat of the demons to whatever it was they represented. Og’s words still rung in his head.

His eyes narrowed. Even though he hadn’t had a chance to action on it yet, he hadn’t missed what Og had called him.

A False Herald.

That sounded eerily close to what Grim had called him. He’d thought the title was just something that the book had come up with. Now he wasn’t so sure. That was going to have to be a conversation in the very near future.

But the first thing he was going to do was get some sleep to clear his head. But once that was done, he had some holes in his learning to patch up.

Uncreative, huh? We’ll see what Og thinks after I’ve figured out how to use my rune properly. No more distractions. Tonight, I confront the damn book and see what all that Herald shit was about. And the morning after that.. I’m figuring out just how far I can push Unstable Pandemonium’s power.