The Leviathan System

Chapter 29: Turnabout is Fair Play

Silas watched himself fly through the air in what felt like slow motion. He regretted not being able to wipe the smug look off Damien's face, but he knew his friends would do it for him. The man was not going to escape justice regardless.

After hearing Lyra scream, "Nooooo!!!" suddenly, he stopped flying away from his body. He watched as his head flew in reverse of its original trajectory and reattached itself to his body. He was alive again.

Technically, he had never been unalive, since he was conscious the whole time but you could probably consider yourself to have died if you were decapitated.

In his peripheral vision, he saw Lyra, a look of terror on her face and her hands outstretched. She must have used to time affinity magic to rewind time. He felt a wave of gratitude for Lyra saving his life, but he would thank here later, when his life was not in danger.

Wondering how he was able to perceive the effects of Lyra's magic, he supposed it was because they had soul linked in the past. Getting ready for time to start again, Silas came up with a plan of what he was going to do to survive this time around.

When time resumed, Silas make venomous eye contact with Damien. He used a skill he had been holding in his back pocket. A skill he wouldn't even consider using an another person, but for Damien, a man who tried to kill him multiple times, he would make an exception.

Silas activated his skill 'petrifying stare.' He watched as Damien progressively turned to stone, his body freezing in place, and his eyes widening in shock and horror.

The fight being over since Damien was no longer able to fight, Silas turned away from Damien's petrified form. The university official supervising the duel stormed up to him, his face twisted in anger.

"You have violated the rules of this duel by killing your opponent. I will be bringing this matter to the headmistress immediately!" the official bellowed in his ear.

Silas, feeling no remorse for his actions, looked the official in the eyes. "You didn't see it, but Damien decapitated me. My friend has a chronomancy affinity, so she rewound time."

"Otherwise I would be dead. Besides, he's not dead. He can be revived. You wouldn't have been able to revive me, and I highly doubt you would be reprimanding Damien the way you're reprimanding me right now," Silas said.

The official sputtered, "Th-that's not true! All students are equal in this university."

"If you really believe that, then I feel sorry for you," Silas said. With that, he walked away, with his friends falling into step beside him.

Lyra still had a look of shock on her face from witnessing him his head get cut off.

"What happened?" Jace said.

"Damien cut Silas's head off," Lyra responded.

"What? Then how is he still alive?" Rowan asked.

"I rewound time to bring Silas back to life," Lyra said.

"Just when I think that guy can't get any worse," Nadia said. "That dude blows."

"I couldn't agree more," Silas said. "And thank you, Lyra. I owe you my life."

"Think nothing of it," Lyra said. "I just couldn't stand the idea of Damien killing you."

As they walked, the official's shouts grew fainter and fainter, his words lost in the growing distance between them.

They all hung out in Silas's room waiting for the inevitable summons from the headmistress. Rowan was sitting on his bed watching Nadia pet Steggie, his dog sized stegosaurus familiar.

"He's so cute. Unlike someone else I know," Nadia looked at Rowan.

Rowan just sighed and rolled his eyes. Lyra was doing an inventory of the contents of her pocket dimension, specifically the alchemy ingredients.

Jace was tapping at the glass of the jar that contained the purple slime. "I shall name you Goopy," he said. "What's up Goopy?"

Jace's eye widened for a few seconds and then he turned back to his friends. "Whoa. Goopy talked to me in my head. He called me a big dumb idiot."

"Tell us something we don't know," Rowan said, laughing.

"Shut-" Jace began to say, when there was a knock on the door.

An envelope was shoved under the door with Silas's name on it. Opening it, he read it and said, "It's the summons we were waiting for. It says I have to talk to the headmistress Vaunsguard immediately."

Silas stepped into the headmistress's office, unsure of what he was going to say. He just knew he was done being pushed around and ignored.

The room was grand and imposing, with towering bookshelves lining the walls and a massive, ornate desk at the end of the room.

The headmistress sat behind the desk, her gaze fixed upon Silas as he approached. Her expression was stern, her lips pressed into a thin line of disapproval.

"Mr. Blackwood," she began, her voice cold and authoritative. "You stand accused of killing a student during a sanctioned duel. What do you have to say for yourself?"

Silas met her gaze with indignation. "I didn't kill anyone, Headmistress. Damien can be revived."

"I see. How did you manage to petrify him in the first place? I've never heard of such a spell," she said.

"That's because it's not a spell. It's a beast ability. The basilisk has it," Silas said.

"How is it that you're using beast abilities?" The headmistress asked.

Silas thought before he spoke. The more his secrets got out, the danger he was in. "Would you be willing to agree not to tell my secrets anyone other than you and I?"

"Hmm, I can tell you have something up your sleeve, so out with it. What are you scheming?" she said.

"It's not a scheme. Just an agreement with a little magic to bind it. That way I know I can trust you," Silas said.

"A magic spell that enforces an agreement. Interesting. Fine, I'll agree to that. I don't need to divulge your secrets to make your life a living hell. Which, if I don't like how this conversation goes, I assure you I will," she said.

"Let's shake on it," Silas said, a smile making its way onto his face.

"Very well," she said, extending her hand.