Chapter 161 Adam stood on the broken grass. Catherine lay sleeping at his feet. The grinding voice of Valerius faded from the sky. Silence fell over the ruined Academy, but it was a heavy, dangerous silence. Thousands of people stared at Adam. Students, teachers, and Silver Knights looked at him with wide, terrified eyes. They had all heard Valerius’s voice from the sky. Inquisitor Kross pushed through the crowd. His beautiful white coat was covered in gray ash. He pointed his holy silver sword directly at Adam’s chest. The wolf-like man did not look greedy anymore. He looked truly afraid. "You heard the Master!" Kross yelled to the crowd. "Grab the boy! We give the Sovereign to the cult, and the earthquakes will stop! We can save the King!"Adam looked at the scared faces around him. They actually believed Valerius. They believed Adam was the evil ghost destroying their homes. The students picked up heavy rocks and broken sticks. The knights raised their shields. They marched slow

Adam flew straight through the dark red portal. He did not feel the wind. He felt a terrible, freezing cold. The portal snapped shut behind him, cutting off the sounds of the screaming students and the ruined Academy. Adam crashed hard. He hit a solid floor, sliding across a rough, dry surface. He slowly pushed himself up. He looked around. His dark, dead eyes widened at the terrifying sight. He was inside the empty dimension of the Blood Rift. But it was not completely empty. The sky here was not blue or gray. It was a swirling, infinite ocean of dark, boiling blood. There was no sun. The only light came from massive, jagged red lightning bolts flashing in the dark clouds. Adam was standing on a floating island. But it was not an island made of dirt or rock. It was made of giant, ancient white bones. Far in the distance, floating in the center of the bloody sky, was a mountain of dark flesh. It was bigger than a city. It was covered in glowing golden runes. Massive stone chains

The giant yellow eye of the Master stared down from the broken sky. The King of the realm, possessed by the ancient Marquis Valerius, smiled a polite, terrifying smile. "I am not going to fight you here, Adam," the King’s grinding voice echoed across the ruined courtyard. "You are too full of magic. If you explode now, it will ruin my new kingdom."The King waved his hand. The massive red portal behind him began to close. "I will wait for you at the Royal Palace in the Capital," Valerius laughed through the King’s mouth. "Bring your empty cup, Sovereign. Come and claim your crown."The red portal snapped shut. The King, Prince Aurelius, and Kael were gone. The giant yellow eye vanished. The dark clouds rolled away, leaving only a quiet, gray morning sky. Adam stood in the crater of the courtyard. The bright light faded from his skin. He was left completely alone with the terrified survivors. Two weeks passed. Bourbon Academy was quickly rebuilt. The Magic Council and the Royal In

The heavy iron bell of Bourbon Academy rang loudly. It was eight o'clock in the evening. Under General Thorne’s strict new martial law, all students were forced to attend a mandatory study hall in the Great Library. Red-coated guards marched down the aisles, holding long wooden sticks. No one was allowed to speak. No one was allowed to stay in their rooms. Adam Cook walked into the library. His dead, dark brown eyes scanned the large room. The guards pointed him to a small, round wooden table in the corner. Adam sat down. A moment later, another student was marched to the same table. It was Catherine. She looked pale and exhausted. Her bright blue eyes were red from crying. She sat down directly across from Adam. She opened a thick history book and stared down at the pages. She did not say a word. She completely ignored him. Adam sat perfectly still. His hollow mind processed the situation. “She is following my orders,” Adam thought coldly. “She is staying away from me. This is

Adam did not sleep. At exactly midnight, he crawled through the dark, wet stone tunnels deep beneath the Academy. He followed Elias’s clue. He reached the underground water reservoir. It was a massive, dark cave filled with a giant lake of fresh drinking water for the city. Adam’s hyper-focused eyes saw the poison immediately. Floating in the center of the dark water was a large, heavy block of glowing red ice. It was melting slowly. The sick, red blood magic was bleeding into the clean water. If the city drank this, thousands of innocent people would become mindless slaves by morning. Adam did not panic. He swam quietly through the freezing black water. He reached the glowing red block of ice. He placed his pale hands on the melting blood magic. He opened the microscopic Gate of Hunger in his palm. The pitch-black Void instantly ate the red ice. It swallowed the poison without a sound. But as the dark magic rushed into Adam’s chest, a sharp, terrible pain stabbed his heart. Th