Magical Soul Parade - Chapter 294: A Puzzling Move

Chapter 294: A Puzzling Move

Beside Althea, Malakor went rigid. His face turned stony and cold as he stared at Preceptor Odette, and even his beast let out a low, vibrating growl that mirrored the fury it felt through its master’s link. Malakor’s hand found the back of its neck and pressed, steadying it — or steadying himself through it.

The power difference was something he clearly knew, even through the rage. There were two Preceptor-level figures within fifty meters of him right now. Whatever he was feeling, he kept it locked inside his chest and stood still.

Elias, for his part, barely reacted to Odette’s statement. His gaze flicked over her black disc with a brief flash of recognition before settling on her face.

“​”Odette,” he said, omitting her title. “I have a matter to settle. I did not expect to find you presiding over this outpost.”

Preceptor Odette’s mouth curved slightly. “Odette? Just ’Odette’?” She tilted her head, her grin widening. “You seem to have forgotten something, Elias. You aren’t a Preceptor anymore. You’re just a sentinel. You don’t get the right to address me by my name as an equal.”

Elias’s face went cold. A deathly, absolute stillness settled over him. Even Odette seemed to falter for a moment, her smile wavering under the weight of his gaze. She cleared her throat and straightened her posture, her expression turning into a deep, slighted frown.

​”Address me properly,” she snapped.

​”Preceptor Odette,” Elias said, his voice devoid of emotion. “I have come to settle a matter regarding the girl. I ask for your permission to proceed.”

​Odette glanced over at Althea, then back at Elias. “The girl? You mean Althea? I’m afraid I’ll have to disappoint you. She is my student. I’ve taken a personal interest in her development.”

From the beast’s back, Althea blinked.

Your student…?

She had very clearly, and very explicitly declined Preceptor Odette’s offer earlier in the morning. The conversation had not been ambiguous. And yet here was Odette, describing her as her student… What game was she playing at?

Althea’s confused eyes found Malakor’s. The Feraxian Lord glanced back at her, his earlier fury still in his eyes, mixed now with a sharp, reassessing look — the kind that asked, without words, how much she had known of her “master’s” move to let his Arcanist brothers and sisters die.

But Althea simply stared back honestly. She didn’t bother trying to explain anything at all. If Malakor truly believed the assumption that was clearly written on his face, then he would have made a move by now.

Their attention was drawn back to the two powerhouses’ discussion again, just as Elias spoke:

“So you know that about her as well,” he smirked coldly. “Then you should understand that preventing me from taking her is equivalent to standing in the way of the Ossuary itself… I trust you understand what I’m saying.”

Odette frowned and paused immediately. The playfulness vanished from her face. She had been fishing for information, trying to gauge and clean what she could of the specifics behind why Elias sought Althea. She seemed to already know it was at the behest of the Ossuary directly. But seeing the way Elias had phrased his response, it seemed the Ossuary’s involvement in getting Althea went much deeper than she’d originally thought.

She moved her disc to the side, clearing the path.

​”If it’s the Ossuary’s business,” she said, her voice now guarded, “then who am I to interfere? Take her. She was a bit too headstrong for my liking anyway.”

Elias nodded once. He knew exactly what she had been doing, but he simply didn’t care about her games at all. He urged his sword forward, his eyes locked on Althea.

She watched him approach like an executioner. Her heart thudded in her chest, knowing fully well there was nothing she could do.

In the first place, why was she wanted by the Ossuary? Just what was it about her that warranted such a level of importance?

’…equivalent to standing in the way of the Ossuary itself,’ Elias had said. What was she to the Ossuary? Or rather, what was it that she had that the Ossuary wanted? And what did that have to do with the stripping of Elias’ title too?

The questions rapidly turned in Althea’s mind as she watched Elias take his careful time heading for her like she was a cornered prey.

As he passed by Odette, his lips parted slightly as if to whisper something silently to her.

But before he could speak at all, both he and Preceptor Odette went rigid abruptly.

Right there, between the two of them, perfectly still, appearing out of nothing at all, as if it had always been there… the Husk floated.

It was intact. Not a mark on it. The uncanny smile on its face was gone, replaced by a full-blown, insidious grin that stretched from ear to ear.

The creature spread its arms wide, and instantly, a burst of spatial chaos erupted from its body, spreading outward like cracks on shattered glass.

In the blink of an eye, Odette and Elias reacted, their Ossuarist level instincts kicking in instantly, though how they reacted differed entirely.

Preceptor Odette dropped straight towards the ground like a meteor, hurtling downwards at an abrupt velocity that defied all logic.

Elias, on the other hand, turned straight towards Althea and clenched his fist tightly.

The space in front of her thickened corporeally, creating a physical barrier that saved her and Malakor from the worst of the Husk’s attack. The spatial cracks still traveled toward them, but the restricted space acted like a thick sludge, slowing the destruction down enough for them to flee.

Elias only held the effect for a beat, just long enough for Malakor to snap out of his shock and steer the avian-feline beast away. They immediately darted into the distance, narrowly avoiding the spatial collapse behind them.

Althea’s head whipped backwards as they sped away, locking onto Elias’ figure in the sky with a mix of shock and confusion in her eyes. Elias had actually saved her. Not only that, he hadn’t even bothered to defend himself while doing it. He took the brunt of the spatial blast from a close distance and came away from the encounter spitting a mouthful of blood.

Why?