Chapter 387: Old Lovers "Ugh..." Torrent exhaled sharply as he watched the Velkin clone’s body unravel. It wasn’t a clean disappearance. The cursed limbs rotted into black dust first then the corrupted mana evaporated like steam, and then what was left... a limbless, scar-covered woman, collapsed toward the ground. Torrent moved without thinking and caught her before she hit the rubble. Her skin was still discolored with patches of corruption scattered across it, but the natural warmth of human complexion was returning rapidly. The curse inside her was fading. Her breaths were short and uneven with each one weaker than the last. She stared up at Torrent with a mixture of exhaustion and clarity, as if remembering something important at the edge of her fading consciousness. "Damn that bully..." she whispered hoarsely. "I’m about to die." Torrent opened his mouth, but no words came. He held her a little tighter, lowering her gently onto his lap. Her eyes trembled, then slowly focused... and recognition struck her like lightning. "Torrent... is that you?" The Grand Mage’s stoic expression cracked for the first time since the calamity began. His lips quivered, and he forced himself to nod, swallowing as if the motion hurt. "Last time we saw each other, we were, what... fifty? Sixty?" Vera asked weakly. "And now you look like a young adult. Is this the secret you’ve been hiding from me all this time?" Even on death’s door, Vera’s tone carried that same dry, haggy sarcasm she’d always had. Torrent felt something tighten in his chest, but he didn’t let it show. "Sorry..." he muttered, biting down on his lower lip. "Hah..." Vera chuckled weakly. "I’m not jealous. But if you could turn yourself into a youngster earlier... maybe our sex would’ve been better." Torrent looked personally insulted. "You said it was nice." "It was nice," she corrected with a roll of her eyes. "But it could’ve been better." Torrent blinked a single annoyed blink. Vera smiled and tried to lift her hand to touch his face, but her body didn’t respond. She didn’t have arms anymore. She stared at the empty air where her hand should have been. "...After getting injured like this, I hid myself," she continued quietly. "I thought I was too hideous to stand next to you. You always looked so perfect. So composed. So... powerful." Torrent’s jaw clenched, but he remained silent. "The only reason I joined Boss," she went on, "was because she promised me a new body once the job was done. A beautiful one. I wanted to impress you. I wanted to walk up to you with pride again. I wanted us to go back to how we were." Her breathing grew shallower. "And as I die here now," she whispered, "just this one time... let me be selfish." Torrent’s heartbeat thumped in his ears. "I don’t want you with anyone else. Not even those professors flirting with you behind my back. If you move on, I swear I’ll come back and haunt whoever she is for the rest of her life." Vera’s lips trembled and her eyes glassed over. "I... l-l-love... y—" Her voice cut off. Her head fell forward onto his chest. Vera died in his arms with her breath fading like the last flicker of a dying candle. Rain, Flare, Sybil, Sylvia, and the other students watched quietly. For a moment, Rain expected Torrent to cry. But nothing changed. Torrent’s face was perfectly blank as usual... not even a single muscle twitched. He simply placed a hand over Vera’s cooling forehead, closed her eyes, and exhaled through his nose. Then he stored her body gently into his storage ring. "Let’s go hunt for more survivors," he said. The students remained silent as they nodded and followed him. Rain’s eyes softened because she could at least understand the pain of having someone you loved die in your hands. ’Even if he doesn’t show it... it must have broken something inside him,’ she thought. They walked away. ... Azel stood over Velkin’s true body or what remained of it. The Heaven-Cutting Slash had nearly taken his life. Only a perfect, instant Reversal had saved him. Even now he could feel the phantom pain from where the attack had sliced him in half. His divinity had drained heavily because of that but hey, at least he survived. The ash drifted around his feet in a dark circle and only the corrupted core remained, glowing like a malignant heart. "Damn... I nearly died back there," Azel muttered, wiping blood off his jaw. "If I didn’t reverse the attack the moment it hit... I’d be dead for good." ’Spamming Reversal won’t be easy.’ He crouched and picked up the core. Black corruption scalded his hand, burning his skin but the divine energy around him reacted instinctively, carving out the darkness and suppressing it like crushing a parasite beneath a boot. "Nice," he muttered. "I wonder what I can use this for." A familiar system chime rang into his ears. [Ding! The Orb of True Corruption can be fed to the Dar Tribe!] Azel blinked. ’Damn... those Dars will eat about anything.’ He shook his head and tossed the core into his inventory. ’Should I scavenge a bit more before heading to the Academy? If they had something this powerful lying around... then there’s no way this place is empty.’ He cracked his neck. "Yeah... I’ll scavenge." He turned around and began scavenging the whole tower. ... In the ruins of a broken-down café in the Academy Marketplace, Nari sat cross-legged beside Aria. Across from them sat a middle-aged man wearing a professor’s coat. He was handsome or rather, he would’ve been handsome if his face wasn’t half-melted. Deep burn scars warped his jaw, cheek, and nose, twisting his lips into a painful shape. The man shifted uncomfortably, adjusting the tattered coat around his shoulders. His disfigured mouth twitched when he tried to speak. "You... you already know what you need from me," he said quietly. Nari crossed her legs more comfortably and tapped the table with her fingertips. "Yes. In exchange for fixing your face, you’ll disable the barrier around the Academy." Aria rested her chin on her hand, watching the man with interest. The professor nodded. "We’ve already signed the soul contract. If I lie or betray you, my soul burns." Nari smiled sweetly. "I’m glad we’ve come to an agreement. I won’t kill you, of course—" Her smile turned colder. "—but the people inside that barrier are another matter. Don’t talk about our deal to anyone." The professor blinked in disbelief. "Why would you assume I’d say anything?" Nari stood and walked around the table to him. She stroked the ruined side of his face with soft fingers. He inhaled sharply as cursed energy seeped into his skin. The burn marks began evaporating, the melted flesh smoothing out and the bones began to realign. Color finally returned to his face. Within seconds, a perfectly symmetrical, handsome face stared back at her. The professor touched his cheek with trembling fingers. "I... can’t believe it..." "Just don’t try to kiss Professor Mynes again," Nari said, pulling her hands back. "Or she might disfigure you beyond repair next time." The professor flinched. "Sure... sure... I’ll take down the barrier by tomorrow morning," he muttered, rising shakily to his feet. "Then you’ll let me join your band. I want to wreak havoc too."