CHAPTER 59: BLACKLISTED

"While I was moving towards the Glaskow kingdom road from Gemburn, I sensed high concentration of dark mana radiating from a certain location. When I moved to inspect, I saw a bloodbath! Student Ames was like a fiend, slaughtering the villagers and enforcers trying to stop him!" Garth spoke in a solemn tone.

"When my team and I intercepted him, it was already late! We tried to subjugate him, but he was too powerful! One of my officers got injured and is still undergoing treatment!"

"Finally, after a long struggle, he escaped and we gave chase to the pit of remorse. He killed the enforcers at the gate. His dark energy dissolved the barrier and he moved inside. when he cornered him at the edge of the pit, he jumped inside, and his state is unknown from that moment!" Garth concluded his report.

"How did you take possession of the bodies? They should be under the jurisdiction of the Gemburn military!" Davina questioned, skeptical on that matter.

"Since we arrived earlier on the scene after losing Ames, we retrieved a few bodies for proof and inspection, leaving most of them untouched. The military is unaware of our intervention!"

"The father of the girl before you, has been taking his last breaths when we arrived, and from him we got to know what Ames had done to this innocent girl! But unfortunately, we couldn’t save him elder Davina." He replied.

Just then a wave of mana pressure fell on Garth. His hairs stood up, he was being observed, any lie he spills will be sensed by the one he was being observed by.

"What were you doing in Gemburn?" Blaze’s voice ringed inside his ears, the voice full of pressure and skepticism was shaking up his senses. He was being questioned by an Archwizard, he had to carefully speak each and every word.

"It’s not right to use pressure on a dutiful officer headmaster! I was the one who sent him there!" a calm and collected voice came from Acheron.

"And why did you send him when you have a special officer of yours, vice headmaster?" Blaze asked in a low and calm voice, but a bit intimidatingly.

"I had sent mine on a special mission, and I needed a few materials for my research urgently, so I asked elder Boris to lend me some help! Isn’t it elder Boris?" Acheron looked at Boris with a smile on his face.

"Yes headmaster! Vice headmaster asked me lend him my special officer! And since it was vice master himself asking, how could I reject!" Boris nodded his head in affirmation.

All the others kept their silence. They felt quite the pressure upon themselves seeing the tension between the two heads.

"I think I’ve cleared your doubt headmaster! I hope you’ll spare officer Garth now!" He shrugged his shoulders and with a calm smile asked Blaze to release the pressure upon Garth.

Blaze scoffed; after Acheron saying himself, and Boris confirming it, he was helpless and couldn’t stretch the matter more. He released the pressure and Garth finally sighed in relief.

"I can understand your anger, Blaze! He was your cherished disciple. But what has happened cannot be turned back. Reality is cruel. His crimes are not small. Setting your differences aside, we have to take a collective decision on this matter!" Angus interjected between the two as he spoke in his slow and raspy old voice, easing the tense mood and indirectly asking Blaze to control himself.

Blaze let out a deep sigh. He calmed himself down and looked towards Angus.

"I apologize for my behavior master!" he slightly bowed as he apologized. "What do you suggest master?"

"According to the rules of the tower, the punishment for his crimes is death sentence; his circles have to be broken and he should be banished to the pit of remorse." Angus said.

A trace of pain and sadness flashed in Blaze’s face upon hearing his master.

"But since he fell in the pit himself, for now his name should be blacklisted in the tower’s records. Any further action as well as the final decision rests on your shoulder, being the headmaster."

Blaze went into thought, he contemplated on the matter. though Ames was his disciple, he couldn’t act bias, the crimes he had committed were inhuman. The proofs were present in front of all and even he couldn’t deny them. though he was sure that the matter was not that simple, he still decided to do what was right in that moment.

"Ames will be blacklisted in the records of the tower as a dark wizard. Since his life or death is still unknown, four teams of tower enforcers are to be dispatched immediately to the pit of remorse! Guard the region and upon any spotting of him, he’s to be detained and brought to the tower as a criminal of the highest grade immediately!"

"Master Zeus! You are to investigate the whole case separately and present a report to the council in a month from now! you are given free hand and no one can interfere in your investigations, even me!" Blaze announced.

Zeus stood up and saluted with his fist on his chest and bowed as he accepted the command.

Acheron grinned and nodded at Boris as the other responded in same. They felt ecstatic upon being successful in their scheme.

Blaze stood up and moved towards the back room, where the exit was present. All the others stood up as Blaze left. Angus followed behind Blaze, with slow steps and supporting himself with his cane, he walked to Blaze, who was waiting for him to arrive.

"Master!"

"What’s the matter Blaze? Something troubling your mind?" Angus asked upon seeing Blaze waiting for him.

Both of them walked out of the room, moving along the corridor. Blaze casted a silence spell around them and started speaking his mind.

"I think the matter is not that simple master! Ames isn’t such fool to leave so much evidence even if he did do such crimes! I think Acheron is involved in it somehow!"

"I have told you many times Blaze, take that book away from Ames and seal it in the tower treasury! That book has always been a target of those greedy eyes!"

"I apologize master! But I didn’t want to hinder his research! He would have brought a revolution with his research! I think I got greedy in that matter too!"

"What are you thinking now?" Angus asked in a serious voice.

"I want the red corps to act with Zeus in this!"

Angus was shocked. But he still asked Blaze in a calm tone. "You know the consequences of their inclusion! They go to any length for completing their mission! You may have to pay quite the price for that!"

"I’m ready for that! If Ames really has gone to the dark side, then I’ll kill him myself. But if he’s being framed, then those who are the real culprits, I’ll tear them limb by limb and burn their hearts in hellfire!" Blaze gnashed his teeth in fury.

Angus sighed and nodded at his request. "Alright! I’ll dispatch two members then!"