Sybil floated down and landed beside the fallen woman, gently lifting her into her arms.

Even with her neck crushed and her body twisted unnaturally, there was something peaceful about the way she rested.

Her hands were folded near her chest, as if she had been praying or simply waiting for help that never arrived.

Sybil's jaw tightened as she stared at the lifeless face.

There was no rage in the woman's expression. She had died terrified, but her corpse looked oddly serene, and that made Sybil's chest ache.

Sybil dropped the woman on the ground and closed her eyes.

She turned her eyes toward the noble.

His upper half lay twitching weakly in the dirt.

The lower half was a few feet away, kicking feebly as corrupted energy stitched through the flesh.

She had assumed cutting him in half had ended him, but she guessed human curses clung to life far longer than regular ones did.

Even now, his fingers twitched like broken claws dragging toward her.

"Motherfucker," she muttered, the anger returning instantly.

She grabbed the upper half by the back of the neck as easily as picking up a stuffed toy, then seized the lower half by the leg.

His remaining lung released a strained groan as she lifted both halves into the air. "I'll make sure you get killed as painfully as possible."

With a powerful burst of wind, she shot upward. Air curled around her as she streaked toward the area where Torrent and the others had been working.

They had already cleared out the curses and evacuated the last batch of civilians.

She descended sharply and dropped both halves of the noble's cursed body.

They slammed into the ground hard enough to create two identical craters, dust puffing up around them.

"What happened?" Rain asked immediately, stepping forward as Sybil landed.

"It's that guy that ran off earlier," Sybil answered. "He turned into a curse."

Torrent floated over to the body with an unreadable expression.

The upper half was still twitching with his mouth opening and closing like a fish on dry land.

Torrent crouched beside him with his arms folded behind his back.

"What was it you said before?" Torrent asked, staring into the noble's corrupted eyes. "You wanted to run away, didn't you? But even after all that talk, you still crawled right back here."

He extended a single hand, and invisible pressure wrapped itself around what remained of the noble's limbs.

Torrent wasn't rushing this.

He wanted the boy to feel every second of regret.

The pressure increased slowly making sure his bones cracked and his flesh buckled.

The noble wheezed a breath filled with bubbling corruption.

"Hehe… She's coming…" His voice warbled as his body twitched violently. "And when she comes… she'll avenge me… because she lov—gluk—!"

He didn't finish. His body seized and fell still.

The cause wasn't Torrent's slow torture.

It was Velkin's will.

A pulse of corrupted energy burst through him, exploding his heart and freezing the remaining nerves.

Every student tensed as a figure appeared several meters away, framed by drifting ash.

Velkin stood with her sword strapped across her back.

"I have to say," she began, brushing a loose strand of hair behind her ear, "you all sure are slippery. Using your magic to throw me off your scent was a smart little trick. Though sadly for you, it made you much easier to draw out."

Her gaze drifted to Torrent, and she blinked twice in genuine confusion. "Hey… have we met before?"

Torrent raised a brow. "I don't think so."

"Well, your face is familiar." Velkin tilted her head. "You look like one of my ex-lovers. Imagine being nearly a hundred years old and still terrible in bed. Just tragic."

For a split second Torrent's jaw tightened, but he said nothing.

Inside, however, he wanted to scream.

'She told me she enjoyed it.'

Velkin cracked her knuckles. "Anyway. If you stand down now, I won't kill you in front of your precious students. I'll kill them first, then kill you. So really, you don't have many good options."

Torrent snapped his fingers to teleport everyone… but nothing happened. His expression shifted as he looked up and around.

Thick fog-like corruption wrapped the entire area, swirling like invisible chains.

"Your teleportation won't work here," Velkin said with a smug grin. "I've already sealed this place. You're in my favorite killing spot."

Her aura exploded outward, an oppressive wave of murderous instinct that hit the students like a cold blade pressed to their throats.

Several fell to their knees, choking on fear.

The air itself seemed to constrict around their noses.

Rain didn't move. After what she had survived in her first life, Velkin's killing intent felt like a mild breeze.

"Rain, barrier!" Torrent yelled.

Rain immediately pressed her palms together, summoning a radiant holy shield around the students.

The golden dome glowed with holy energy, resisting Velkin's aura far better than most mortal barriers could.

Velkin smiled mockingly. "How cute."

Torrent rotated his neck, his body vibrating with rising psionic power.

"As a professor, I'm responsible for the valuable ones first. And since I'm the real Grand Mage here… why don't you bring your real body out?"

Velkin paused.

Her smirk faded… then she burst forward.

Torrent met her halfway.

Velkin swung her sword downward, a curved arc of corrupted force ripping the ground apart behind her.

Torrent countered with a psionic kick, the air around his foot distorting with force.

The two attacks collided before they even touched, producing a shockwave that shattered nearby windows and cracked open the earth.

They clashed again and again.

Their movements blurred into streaks of color, landing blows with force strong enough to collapse weakened buildings around them.

Torrent ducked a horizontal slash, spun, and drove his elbow toward her ribs.

Velkin blocked with her knee, twisted, and attempted to pierce his shoulder. Torrent swerved aside and drove a psionic shock straight into her sternum, sending ripples of compressed air tearing backward.

It was as if they knew each other very well…

Velkin grinned, unfazed. "You've gotten stronger since your pathetic performance yesterday."

Her skin began bubbling grotesquely.

Two clones tore free from her body, landing on either side of her, their faces were identical but hollow-eyed.

They rushed Torrent simultaneously but before they could attack, both were split in half by invisible slashes of compressed air.

Velkin grabbed both twitching halves and shoved them into her mouth, chewing wetly.

The sight made several students gag.

She didn't stop… She consumed them fully.

Her veins pulsed violently, darkening as raw power flooded into her body.

Still hungry, she snapped her fingers, and the corpse of the noble shot into her hand.

She swallowed him whole without a second thought. The corrupted energy in her body intensified until it writhed under her skin like living black fire.

A twisted smile crept across her lips. "I finally have enough power to do this technique."

Torrent's expression tensed.

He recognized the stance.

Velkin raised her sword high, corrupted wind spiraling around the blade like a cyclone.

"Heaven–Cutting Sla—!"

Her body jolted suddenly.

A thick line of blood erupted across her chest.

She stumbled, gasping in confusion as her knees hit the cracked stone.

"Who the fuck is attacking my main body…?" Velkin muttered, her voice trembling as her vision blurred.

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