Return of the Runebound Professor-Chapter 688: The audacity

The rest of the class passed by. And, by some miracle, nothing of any true note happened. Fuyin might have been a relatively chilled out Inquisitor — so long as one didn’t happen to be in her way — but Noah had still hadn’t expected her to get on very well with a bunch of demons.

In an ideal world, he never would have had to find out. The absolute last thing he wanted was an Inquisitor sitting around anywhere near his students. Unfortunately, the idea of telling the poor woman to go sit in the trees like a child in time-out felt so rude that even Noah couldn’t quite bring himself to do it.

He’d spent the rest of class on eggshells. He watched her warily as he absentmindedly spouted off some bullshit to show he was still “teaching”. Noah wasn’t even entirely sure what he was speaking about. His thoughts were elsewhere. Fortunately, his mouth seemed to have a mind of its own. It kept filling in words for him. Sure, they were almost all certainly a load of crap, but he was pretty sure they seemed insightful at surface level.

It seemed to be enough for Fuyin — or, at least for her not to question what the hell it was he was talking about. She just sat there quietly until the class had ended and the transport cannon started calling them back to transport cannon, where Tim was waiting with Torrick and Edda.

Then, just like that, one of the oddest classes that Noah had ever taught was done.

And their work for the day had somehow only just begun. The moment everyone had returned, the formerly quiet class burst into motion. Dozens of questions about soul shaping bombarded James almost instantly.

Human and demon alike crowded around him, each jostling to try and wring answers from him. It didn’t take long for Torrick and Edda to join in. The two of them definitely had no clue what the line of questioning was even about. They just wanted to be included.

Noah took the opportunity to slip away. Moxie and Lee followed after him as they all headed back toward the T building. Everyone was safe, and they all had something to focus their attention on learning for the time being. The three of them weren’t needed at the moment.

The brief silence during the walk home bought Noah time to organize some of his scattered thoughts. The noble families were moving faster than he had hoped. It wouldn’t be long before they got more blatant about trying to kill Isabel. She was pretty safe in the company of the other students, but he couldn’t rely on that forever.

Fixing up all of the demons’ runes takes top priority right now. I need all of them in fighting shape for the worst case scenario. In the meantime, any information I can get about demonkind in general from the Inquisition will probably be instrumental. They’ve had so much time to study them. Anything I can get from them should let me glean bunch of information about how runes work, not just for demons, but for humans as well.

But he had three days before Fuyin came knocking. And three days was quite a bit of time. It didn’t seem like much, but he’d had a number of massive advancements recently. Between the physical training Garina had given him, soul shaping, and the new powers he’d squeezed out of Unstable Pandemonium by using it in conjunction with his pattern…

I’ve got a lot to review. Three days is more than enough to make some big steps forward in solidifying my grasp on these new weapons.

***

Time passed. Noah, Lee, and Moxie all spent pretty much every waking moment they had practicing. Each of them had their own projects to work on, and they were all determined to advance as much as possible.

It was only a matter of time before someone made a move. None of them had any clue who that someone would be. But, between the Inquisitors, Orlen and his potential cult of demons, Father, and the noble families, there was really no shortage of idiots that could toss the match into the dry hay surrounding them all.

When the following day dawned and control of his magic returned to him, Noah wasted no time in heading over to the Transport Cannon. He pulled Violet aside from the others, readied one of Sticky’s copied Fragments of Self in his Grimoire and, without wasting another moment, they took a trip into her soul. frёeωebɳovel.com

It took less time to fix Violet’s runes than it had to get her up to Rank 3 back when they were in the Damned Plains. She’d clearly come to understand herself now far better than she once had. After only around ten minutes of work, they were finished.

Violet was freed from Decras’ influence.

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Noah hadn’t wasted a second. He’d wished them luck, told Vrith he’d be back the following day to repair her runes, and set right back off to get back to work. His plans for the rest of the morning were already set.

Unstable Pandemonium was calling him. Noah set up in Moxie’s room — which had been conveniently vacated, as both Moxie and Lee were out practicing themselves — and got to work testing out his pattern once more.

His ultimate goals were twofold. The first and most important was getting a good grasp of just what Unstable Pandemonium truly was so he could repair the Rank 5 Rune. It was still far from flawless. But, if all went his way, that fact would be remedied by the time he met Fuyin in two days.

His second goal was to prepare himself for the next Rank 5 Rune. Noah was well past the time where he could just ruminate on a single rank 5. There were too many threats. Too many opponents well above his weight class, and that was just within the Empire.

And so Noah trained. His bow danced across the strings of his violin as he drew on Unstable Pandemonium, and his senses delved deep into himself and his soul as he observed how it responded to his call.

It was odd. Without Garina actively trying to murder him, understanding his abilities was simultaneously easier in some ways and harder in others. The pressure made it easier to observe the rune, but it was hard to replicate the frantic need to improve that came with someone actively gunning for your throat.

Fortunately, Noah had made so many new advancements that he was still at the stage where any practice would still glean progress. He found his control of Unstable Pandemonium improving by leaps and bounds as his understanding of the rune continued to increase.

Noah could feel the rough spots on the rune more and more clearly. Chaos was such a fascinating power. It was, in theory, the lack of a pattern. But even that had a certain pattern to it. It wasn’t a pattern that his mind was used to comprehending, but he could still tell it was there — and if he could figure it out, he was confident that he could remake Unstable Pandemonium in its true form.

Time continued to slip by. Hours passed and the evening was upon Noah before he even knew it. He’d been playing the violin for the past hour without pausing once. Unstable Pandemonium’s power didn’t even infuse its strings anymore, having long since run dry, but he could still feel the echoes of the rune’s power in his mind. And as long as he had a good idea of how it would react, he could continue to practice.

Noah’s song came to an end and he prepared to jump right into another one. Then he paused. The corner of his mouth twitched. Something felt off. He let his eyes drift open, blinking at the sudden light.

He wasn’t alone.

Standing across from him was Garina. The Apostle’s head was tilted to the side and her lips pulled up into a smile. Her pale skin stood out against the rising moonlight spilling through the window and her dark hair spilled around her face like the cloak of a wraith.

Noah nearly jumped out of his own skin.

“Shit! When did you get here?”

Garina’s hands came together in a quiet clap, palms never quite touching. “I’ve been here for a while, Noah. I even tried saying something a few times, but you were so absorbed in that song that you completely missed me.”

You have to be kidding me.

“Seriosly?”

Garina smirked. “It was a good song. Rather haunting, but beautiful. Much better than the one you were playing when we fought yesterday. You learn fast.”

“I don’t have a choice. Too much is at stake.”

“Good. Stakes are the best motivator. Now, shall we?”

Noah blinked. “What do you mean? Why are you here?”

“To train you, of course,” Garina said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. “Have you forgotten the situation we’re in? An Apostle could decide to show up and properly test you at any point — and you’re nowhere near strong enough for that yet. So I’m going to be streamlining your practice. I believe you’ve got a few more days until you go paying the Inquisition a visit, do you not? That’s plenty of time.”

Noah stared at her. He didn’t know how Garina had managed to figure out what they were planning. She was definitely hoping he would ask. Her eyes glistened in amusement as she observed Noah.

The bait was more obvious than cheese in a mouse trap. And so, Noah ignored it entirely. He wasn’t about to turn down Garina’s help. She was probably the only person in the entirety of the Arbalest Empire that he couldn’t afford to say no to.

Even ignoring the Apostles, she’s a terrifying warrior. If I learn even a fragment of of what she can teach me, then even the strongest Rank 6s in the Empire aren’t going to be able to do shit against me. That might be a tall order… but I can’t turn down the chance to get stronger.

“True enough,” Noah said. “I didn’t realize your schedule was so free. Thought you’d be stuck with Revin or something.”

“Trust me,” Garina said, her smile falling away and turning into a grimace within a split second. “I don’t want to spend more time than absolutely necessary with Revin. This is a much-needed change of pace.”

“Teaching me is that fun for you?” Noah grinned. “Wow. I’m honored. That’s really sweet of — wait.”

Garina smiled. “Yes?”

“You just want to kill me to let off steam, don’t you?”

“What? No. Of course not,” Garina drawled. “And don’t worry so much — we’ve still got time until the morning. You’ll have your magic back in time to do everything else you need to do. The night is basically free. Why waste it?”

“You’re lying. You definitely just want to kill me.”

“Yes,” Garina said simply. “Yes, I do. So, are you coming or not?”

Noah sighed. He scooped his gourd up and wrote a quick note to Moxie using a quill and some paper on her desk before turning back to Garina. “Yeah. I’m coming.”

Garina smiled. “That’s what I thought.”