Chapter 45: The Power Vacuum

The sun had not yet risen over Bastion Seven when Nurse Clara pushed her medical cart down the hallway of the Vanguard Medical Ward.

The VIP floor was eerily quiet.

"There was something wrong with the doors yesterday, they say. Oh, whatever." hummed nurse Clara.

The heavy iron vault doors at the end of the corridor had been unlocked just moments ago, the security captains claiming a brief "system malfunction" had isolated the wing overnight.

Clara stopped in front of Room 404. She balanced a tray of morning pain suppressants and knocked softly.

Knock. Knock.

There was no answer.

"Is he still sleeping?" she wondered.

She opened the door and stepped inside. The room smelled strongly of fresh medical bleach.

The lights were off. She reached for the switch and flicked it on.

Clara froze.

The hospital bed was perfectly made. There was not a single crease in the white sheets.

"Where is he? Did he perhaps go out for a morning walk?"

Then, her eyes drifted up to the pristine white wall above the bed.

Pinned to the center of the wall by a dark steel combat knife was a single, bloody human finger.

Beneath the severed digit, scrawled in jagged black ink, was the terrifying symbol of the Church of the Eternal Eclipse.

We have the Golden Boy. We demand fifty million credits from Patriarch Hennessey. Await our instructions. Praise the Eclipse.

Nurse Clara dropped her medical tray. The glass vials shattered across the clean floor. A piercing, terrified scream echoed through the silent hospital.

"AAAAAHHHHH!" she screamed as she saw the cut finger of Neville Hennessey.

---

Two miles away, inside the bustling Academy cafeteria, Draven Mordis was calmly cutting into a piece of toast.

The morning sun filtered through the high glass windows. Students laughed and chatted around him, completely unaware of the political earthquake that was about to hit the city.

’They must have found the finger by now.’

Draven took a sip of black coffee. He pulled up his System interface.

[Item: Protagonist’s Halo (Mythic Relic)]

[Status: Ready to Equip]

[Effect: Grants extreme passive healing, heavy stat buffs, and absolute lethal damage against Undead entities. Generates a holy aura of leadership.]

’Equip,’ Draven commanded mentally.

Instantly, a surge of overwhelming, warm energy exploded inside his chest. He felt a phantom ring of blinding golden light attempt to manifest above his head.

The aura of a chosen savior tried to project itself outward.

’Not so fast! Does this skill want to show people that I killed the Hero or something?’

Draven instantly clamped down on it. He used his Vector Manipulation and his sheer willpower to force the flashy energy back into his core. 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

’I don’t need a glowing neon sign above my head screaming to the world,’ Draven thought coldly. ’Hide the visual effects. Keep the passives.’

The golden light vanished. Outwardly, Draven looked exactly the same. He was still just the lazy, average Extra.

But internally, his damaged muscle fibers from his daily training knitted themselves together in seconds.

His breathing felt infinitely deeper. His base constitution had just skyrocketed.

He was essentially unkillable by conventional means, and absolutely no one knew it.

"Morning," a soft voice said.

Draven looked up. Estella took a seat across from him. She was holding a tray of food, but she wasn’t eating.

She stared at him with a highly suspicious gaze. She clearly remembered his midnight excursion and their sudden kiss in the hallway.

Reina and Aegon arrived a moment later, slamming their trays onto the metal table.

"My muscles feel like they are made of lead," Aegon groaned, rubbing his shoulder.

"Instructor Graves’s training schedule is going to kill me before the Midterms even start."

"He is dead, buddy. What are you on about?" asked Draven.

"Ah! But he had designed the training sessions for us. We need to follow them properly." Aegon replied as he got quite awkward talking about the dead professor.

"Sure!" he replied half-heartedly and just nodded as he took another bite of his eggs.

Suddenly, the deafening shriek of the Academy’s emergency siren shattered the morning peace.

WEE-OOO! WEE-OOO! WEE-OOO!

The cafeteria plunged into sudden chaos. The heavy steel blast doors over the exits slammed shut.

Dozens of heavily armed Vanguard Knights stormed into the massive dining hall, their mana rifles raised and glowing.

Guildmaster Seraphina strode to the center of the room.

Her face was a mask of pure fury. She raised her hand, projecting her voice with a sonic spell.

"The Academy is officially on Level One Lockdown!" Seraphina’s voice boomed over the panicked whispers of the students.

"No one leaves this room! Last night, the Vanguard Medical Ward was infiltrated. Neville Hennessey has been kidnapped by the Church of the Eternal Eclipse!"

A collective gasp ripped through the student body.

"The Hero... kidnapped?" Aegon whispered in pure shock. He looked at his hands.

"But the security there is impenetrable. How did a Cult strike team get in without leaving a single trace?"

Reina gripped her fork so hard the metal bent.

"They must have bypassed the wards. If they can take the Golden Boy, they can take anyone."

Estella did not say anything. She slowly turned her head and looked directly at Draven. Her eyes locked onto his completely blank, emotionless face.

Draven did not flinch. He did not smile. He simply put down his fork and wiped his mouth with a napkin.

"Everyone just calm down," Draven said. His voice was perfectly flat and stoic.

"There is no need to panic. The Academy instructors are highly competent. I am sure they will track down the Cult, pay the bounty, and save him. We just need to stay out of their way."

He took another sip of his coffee.

"Guards!" Seraphina barked across the room.

"Begin questioning the students! I want to speak to anyone who interacted with or fought Neville Hennessey in the last forty-eight hours! Leave no stone unturned!"

Two massive Vanguard Knights immediately marched over to their table. They grabbed Aegon by the shoulders.

"Aegon Logcheville," the knight growled. "You had dueled the victim. Come with us."

Aegon looked panicked, but he nodded and followed the knights toward the interrogation rooms.

The guards did not even look twice at Draven. He was a nobody.

’Well, I did use Blank Canvas when I went to meet Neville that day. So, I am spared from the questioning then.’

Draven sat back in his chair.

The world was currently burning around him, desperately searching for a Hero that had already been reduced to ash and stored inside his inventory.