Dark Magus Returns - Chapter 1484: The Weight of Silence

Chapter 1484: The Weight of Silence

After the brutal events of the day, the Central Academy students did not scatter to celebrate like the rest of the participants and guests. Normally, after an event, they would return to their dorms, or slip away to one of the academy’s private training facilities—places that only they had the privilege of accessing. While other academies feasted, mingled, or enjoyed the nightly festival, Central’s students would push themselves harder. They would spar, study, and train until exhaustion.

Enjoyment was for the lesser. At least, that was the belief they had been taught.

But now… things were different.

The group moved together as one, drifting through the lively festival streets. Lanterns glowed warmly above, laughter and chatter rippled through the air, and vendors called out, advertising skewers, dumplings, sweet pastries, and fried meats. The air smelled of roasted spice and sugar. Yet for the Central students, the sounds and smells seemed distant, muffled by the dull ringing of defeat.

It wasn’t just the loss. Losing was bitter enough, but they all sensed something far worse—a hollowness inside them, an emptiness that went beyond disappointment.

For the first time, the invisible hierarchy that had always hovered over them, with Kayzel at the top, had crumbled. They had all lost. All of them. No one was spared. And in that shared failure, they clung together, as though afraid of being left alone.

As they walked, guests and strangers greeted them kindly.

“Well fought!” one man said cheerfully.

“Central was incredible, but Wilton… Wilton was just better this year. Any other year, and you would have taken the crown!” another reassured.

The words were meant to comfort. Instead, they felt like salt in an open wound. The polite congratulations, the sympathy disguised as praise, made their chests tighten. They forced thin smiles, but the heaviness in their eyes told the truth.

Eventually, they found themselves at a long stretch of food stalls. The festival lights gleamed on colorful banners, and families bustled about with trays of grilled meat, steaming bowls of noodles, and sweet candied fruits.

The Central group sat together on an empty bench, a line of weary faces side by side. Vendors brought plates of food, setting them down with polite bows. Yet not a single hand reached out. Bowls steamed untouched, meat cooled, and sweet buns went stale.

Silence weighed over them.

Kayzel raised his hand slightly. He muttered, his lips moving to cast a silence spell. But nothing happened. His eyes narrowed.

Kelly noticed. With a flick of her wrist, she cast the spell for him. The shimmer of magic sealed them off from the outside world, allowing their words to remain private.

Kayzel’s shoulders sank. “I wanted to ask you all something,” he said quietly, staring at the untouched plate before him. “The healers mended our wounds. My body feels fine. But… do any of you feel it? Mana. Can you feel it in your cores at all?”

The others looked up, startled. His words settled into their stomachs like stones.

“I’ve been drained before,” Kayzel continued. His eyes were shadowed. “I’ve emptied myself completely of mana in battle. But this… this feels different. I’ve never felt so empty. So… disconnected. I had to ask if it was the same for you.”

Nannan’s face paled. She closed her eyes, searching inward, but the silence in her body was absolute. “I can’t feel anything,” she admitted. “Not even a spark. I can’t use my trait anymore either. That’s never happened before.”

Their unique traits required mana to manifest. Until one awakened a core, most never even realized if they possessed an affinity. For her trait to vanish—it was as if something fundamental inside her had been stolen.

“Do you think…” Bones leaned forward, his voice low. “Do you think it was the Wilton students? That white-haired one, Raze?”

Kayzel shook his head slowly. “No. This… this feels different. It wasn’t them.” He lifted his gaze, meeting theirs for the first time that evening. “It was the pills. It has to be. And if you want proof…” He tilted his chin toward Kelly. “She never took one. And she’s the only one here who still has her magic.”

Silence followed. Heavy. Unforgiving.

They remembered the surge of energy when they had swallowed those small, glowing pills. The violent rush of mana that had flooded their bodies. It had been intoxicating, overwhelming. Power unlike anything they’d ever known. Of course such strength came at a cost.

“Shouldn’t we… talk to the Grand Magus about it?” George asked cautiously. His voice trembled. “He was the one who gave them to us. If anyone knows what’s happening to us, it’s him.”

“No.” Kelly’s reply came sharp, immediate. She sat forward, her eyes flashing with urgency. “That’s the worst thing you could do.”

The others blinked at her. “What do you mean?”

“Can’t you tell?” Kelly said, her voice dropping lower. “From the way he looked at us, the way he spoke? The Grand Magus is obsessed with winning. That’s all he cares about. We lost. Do you really think he’ll care what those pills did to you? He knew. He knew, and he gave them to you anyway. Your lives, your futures, your mana—it didn’t matter to him. All that mattered was victory.”

Her words were a blade cutting through the last threads of denial.

Nannan rose to her feet, fists clenched. “And what about you?” she snapped. “You didn’t even use the pill. If you had, maybe—just maybe—we wouldn’t have—”

“We would have lost,” Kayzel interrupted firmly, his voice like iron. The table fell silent.

He met each of their gazes in turn. “No matter what we did, no matter how hard we fought, that white-haired boy would have defeated us. And I agree with Kelly. The Grand Magus knew all along what those pills would do.”

His words stripped away the last of their excuses.

The silence pressed heavier than before, filled with the weight of realization. They had been used. Tools, nothing more.

Footsteps interrupted their thoughts. Staff members approached—three of them, moving with stiff precision. Kelly dropped the silence spell at once, not wanting to give away that they had been speaking privately.

One of the staff stepped forward. His expression was neutral, unreadable. “I hope you have enjoyed your evening,” he said, his tone flat. “But unfortunately, the principal wishes to see you all. Now.”

The students’ hearts sank in unison.

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