A wall of flesh seems nothing new especially for Eden who had personally been trapped inside of it until one of the guard golems aggressively tore him away for some odd reason. But seeing it pulsing and wrapping around Daniel, their very own dorm president who is completely engulfed by the disgusting pink mass with red veins all around it. No matter how one sees, that’s obviously some sort of flesh of a being.

Arthur and Eden truly are speechless while feeling the ground shifting as they felt the whole structure moving. Yet they are a lot more confused and nervous about what's happening. Although it does make sense if they are indeed inside a golem. But how big is it? They don’t know but they had to do something about Daniel’s current condition.

“Arthur…” Eden called the other boy in front of him.

“It couldn’t be that the senior is… the “Golem’s Heart”… right?” the raven asked. Hearing what Eden suggests, the blond boy looked at him with concern clear on his tired face.

“Nonetheless, we had to get him out” Arthur said, stepping closer to what is practically a pillar of flesh connecting the ceiling and the floor engulfing the red-haired senior of theirs - leaving his head poking out with an anguished expression on his face.

“Oi oi, are you serious? Don’t go cutting the damn prefect” Eden warned, responded with Arthur’s heavy sigh. He was about ready to chop off the flesh when the whole infrastructure shook and made the two boys lost their footing - causing them to stumble to the floor. It was quite enough to send them both flying around when it shook more as if the whole structure was a ball tumbling down the hill. Feeling like their bodies now actually being pulled back by the gravity as the whole room rotated 180 degree.

“Ahhhh!!!” Eden screamed, only to feel his arm being tugged by a strong grip and stopping him from plummeting to major injuries. Eden looked up and saw Arthur hanging with his sword stuck in the marble floor-turned wall from the room shift.

“Dammit, at this point, we won’t be able to help anyone let alone get us out of here!” Eden said.

“Don’t waste your breath stating the obvious. If only this thing would just stop for a moment!” Arthur said. That moment, the two boys almost lost their grip when they heard a very loud series of explosions and a sound of a loud crashing noise which made them brace themselves on reflex.

An inhuman roar made the two boys look and for a moment, fear overwhelmed them when seeing the black shadow rising from the floor beneath them - like a corrupted spring at first until they saw the glittering like stars were pouring into the space and enveloping them before receding back. When they opened their eyes, they saw the whole room trashed with bits and pieces from multiple broken golems littering the floor.

Cough! Hack!

As if reacting to the sound of someone coughing their lungs out, the black shadow retreated and out of nowhere, an icy platform appeared right underneath Eden’s feet which he quickly hopped on after feeling Arthur’s loosening grip around his forearm. Arthur himself, pulled out his sword from the solid surface and jumped down to the platform - a little confused but relieved that he doesn’t have to hang around tiredly with his sword.

“Huh… We are saved…” Arthur sighed - only to quickly hear the familiar female voice berating him.

“I merely gave you a footing. Don’t let your guard down. It’s not over yet” Aediva’s voice as if reverberating in the same space despite the fact that she was nowhere seen. They looked to where they saw the black shadow that’s now disappeared to who-knows-where. They didn’t even notice.

“Aediva?! Are you alright? Where are you?” it was frantic, his voice, for some reason. The thing is, that black shadow earlier really gave Arthur an unsettling gut feeling. Just what on earth was that?

And now, somehow, they’re actually hearing Aediva’s voice in their heads. The second the two boys noticed it, they gave each other a strange look as if what they’re experiencing was something abnormal.

“... Focus” as if sensing their troubled hearts, Aediva’s voice firmly echoed in their heads.

“The both of you had to do without me” her next statement almost felt like a solid punch to the face.

“What?! Dude, you just got in!” Eden shouted, particularly to one in front of them but to the voice in his head as a response to her rather… odd statement. They were just together a while back and now she’s gone?!

Then they heard a sigh, a weak one at that.

Outside, those silver eyes stared blankly at the gargantuan being standing idle in front of her tiny self. In comparison, she's probably a tiny bug for the golem that’s probably tall enough to tower over the castle dorm itself. She coughed, kneeling on her knees with the ice sword as her only support now that she was back alone outside without Cath at her side.

The earth rumbling along with the movement of the giant golem made out of earthen bricks that was torn off the very castle dorm of the Efren students. Soon enough, the vision of what she saw back at the underground lab facility would’ve been realized. If she failed.

What a day. Just when she thought she was getting somewhere, she was sent back to the outside elements.

Cough. Hack.

Aediva instinctively covers her mouth, feeling the chilling cold touch of the fluid coming out from in between her lips. She looked at the slowly crystallizing patch of deep red on her palm.

“The phylactery is in the red room…”

Eden’s eyebrow furrowed deep when he heard what she said. This time, her voice seems… weak.

“Aediva?! Are you… Are you okay?!” Eden screamed despite the girl not being in front of her.

It was a harrowing seconds of silence until Aediva answer, “…I’m fine. Get that dorm leader and the phylactery out. I’ll support you however best I can” and then complete silence. Eden looked at Arthur who gave him a pensive look before drawing his sword in a defensive stance while glaring right behind the raven.

“Eden. Find the phylactery” Arthur’s voice was stern and commanding which leaves no room for their normal bickering when Eden spots the over a dozen golems entering the room. Just how many golems are there in this place?!

“The red room… She couldn’t mean it’s this room right?” Eden asked, alert as Arthur stepped forth readying with his sword and a defensive stance.

“Just search it as quickly as you can. I’ll hold these golems back” Arthur said - a determined gaze set firmly in his eyes before he charged ahead with fiery golden aura. In the meanwhile, Eden hopped off the platform that’s not far off from the ground and scrambled around the fleshy space that was definitely a room before… this.

There are just so many questions in Eden’s mind at that moment.

Especially the part where Aediva said, the phylactery is in the red room. Well, he is technically in the red room right now. Eden’s scramble for some phylactery search came to a screeching halt when he was almost squashed by a golem’s towering body.

The raven male braced for a world of hurt but nothing happened. It was then that Eden noticed a familiar black shadow ripping the golem apart. The sound that he heard that time when he was dragged out of his confinement in the flesh. Eden’s attention turned towards a small clicking noise against the floor and he saw a wand rolling towards him. Not just that. His ruby orbs looked at the clear blue vial of potion.

Wordlessly, he took the wand and potion before gulping it all down in one go. He almost felt his body tensed when feeling the surge of mana swirling in his stomach. Gods, that almost made him lurched.

Eden ran. Avoiding the golems being thrown all around the room and for a moment, he looked back at the fleshy pillar at the center. He was too distracted to notice but now that he felt a semblance of his strength returning to him, he saw the golems were actually protecting the pillar itself.

The young man grasped the hilt of his wand ever tighter as his forehead creased into a frown.

“So much for no altruism” he sighed.

Every second that passed, it felt a bit too heavy for people who were watching from afar. The sound of people from the youngest to the oldest who came there to attend the Orbelesia Grace, the sirens from the ambulances and humming from the magic barriers clashed into a storm of sensory overload. Zayen didn’t really notice how long he had been sitting at the bedside where his twin sister still lay unconscious.

His fingers balled into a trembling fist, willing himself to not go and charged straight into the red zone. Kazbel knows how much he wanted to drag the damn bitch who caused Zielle’s demise in the first place.

“Zielle…” the young half-fae murmured.

“...”

He sighed when he felt the tremors yet again. To think that someone made a giant golem out of all things and wrought chaos that ruined the very first event of the year. Zayen gulped as he felt chill running down his spine - his mint-coloured eyes glancing at the persistent ice that still remained on Zielle’s abdomen.

Moments passed and the girl who had been unconscious for hours stirred. The stool which he was sitting on went tumbling when he rose at the sight of his sister’s awakening.

“Docto-”

Zayen’s words died in his mouth when feeling the cold sensation around his wrist. Similar coloured peepers stared at each other.

“Za…yen…” Zielle murmured her brother’s name weakly.

“I-I’ll go and find the doctor!” he said but that smaller hand gripped tighter at his wrist - forcing Zayen’s attention to Zielle’s face. Her dry cracked lips trembled as she tried to speak.

“... Help her…”

Zayen almost snarled when hearing what his twin was saying.

“Are you joking?! She was the reason you even got hurt!” Zayen barked - ignoring the fact that his voice was loud enough to make other people in the emergency medical tent turning their heads to their bed.

“... Please…” Zielle sighed - responded with a confused blink from her sibling. Her lips turned slightly upwards in an attempt to smile but she looked more wincing than smiling.

“... It’s… a cold place…” she said, grimacing as she recalled her memories.

“What is?” Zayen asked. A second passed and his eyes widened in realization.

“... Oi… Did you… You used your empathic link on that tramp--”

Zielle coughed, a raspy sound erupted from her throat. Zayen was about ready to pull away but found himself rubber-banded back by Zielle’s strong grip.

“She saved me,” Zielle said.

“She hurt you,” Zayen quipped.

“... Wrong. Rachel hurt me” the girl corrected Zayen’s statement. A bitter smile tugged at her lips.

“... Help her…” Zielle practically was pleading at that point - her grip was loosening from Zayen’s wrist.

‘... Help her. For her journey was lonely and arduous.’

Panic took over Zayen for a moment when he saw Zielle let go of his wrist - fearing for the worse. Only after the doctor and nurses came, did he manage to calm down when they confirmed she is in stable condition. He stood there in silence - his gaze lingering at the patch of clear ice covering the wound that’s clearly healing from the magic oozing from the ice itself.

He raked his fingers against his hair. Zayen let out a heavy sigh.