The Discarded Husband: Lucian Vale - The sovereign Collector

Chapter 9

Lucian Ravencroft ran through the dense darkness of the underground corridor beneath the academy’s main building.

Each step of his shoes struck the stone floor with a heavy thud that drew protests from the bones in his legs.

The wounds from his previous battle were still gaping, some only temporarily patched by the remnants of karma energy.

The resonance inside his chest continued to vibrate violently—as if a war drum were being beaten directly over his heart.

He had no choice but to move while Amara was in danger.

The academy prison block was located in the western wing, buried three levels beneath the frozen ground.

Lucian descended the stairs at a dangerous speed, his hand brushing against the rough stone wall to maintain balance.

He was nearly at the main corridor leading to the isolation cells when his primal instinct jerked sharply toward his mind.

His steps halted instantly before his body passed the final corner.

His breathing grew ragged...

Yet his ears were forced to work, catching an unnatural frequency ahead.

The air in the corridor ahead felt dense and carried a sharp metallic stench.

The silence that greeted him was not natural—rather, it was a stillness deliberately constructed with magic.

Lucian peeked slightly from behind a moss-covered stone pillar.

Fifty elite academy students stood in tight formation, filling the entire corridor.

They did not move at all, their young faces stiff like statues guarding an ancient tomb.

Beneath their feet, a massive magic circle glowed dimly, forming an intricate geometric pattern.

"Mana-Link," Lucian hissed in a very low voice.

Invisible threads of energy connected each of the students’ heart cores into a tightly woven network.

Lucian could feel the vibration of that energy traveling beneath the stone floor, reaching into the depths of the interrogation chamber.

One end of those threads terminated exactly at the iron chair where Amara was restrained in magical shackles.

"Cunning bastards," Lucian muttered, clenching his fists until his knuckles turned white.

This was not merely a defensive line, but a parasitic trap specifically designed to destroy his mind.

If he used his Karma Chains to attack these students recklessly, the energy would flow through the Mana-Link.

All the destructive force of his magic would be redirected straight into Amara’s nervous system through the shackles.

Lucian pressed his back against the cold stone wall, trying to stabilize his racing heartbeat.

He was forbidden from using his karmic authority here, or he would kill the girl who had come to save him.

He had to enter using the method he once used to hunt magical artifacts for Seraphina.

Physical strength.

Nothing else.

He could only take them down one by one from the Mana-Link formation using pure physical force.

Lucian stepped out from the shadow of the pillar with calm yet oppressive footsteps.

"Who are you to dare block my path in this dump?" Lucian asked coldly.

One of the students at the very front immediately drew his longsword without giving a verbal response.

Lucian did not stop walking, his gaze locked onto the student holding the weapon.

SRAAT!

The blade slashed toward his left shoulder at high speed.

Lucian tilted his body... letting the sharp edge pass just centimeters from his skin.

His hand shot forward like lightning, grabbing the student’s wrist and slamming his body onto the stone floor.

KRAK!

The sound of a joint dislocating echoed through the silent corridor.

The student groaned in pain, but Lucian immediately kicked his jaw, knocking him unconscious.

"How many lives must I break before all of you move aside?" Lucian challenged the others.

The remaining elite students moved in unison, activating the Mana-Link circuit more brightly.

Lucian stepped back half a step, his eyes scanning the formation for the weakest nodes.

He searched for specific students positioned at the main intersections of the energy flow.

There were eight strategic nodes he had to take down one by one to collapse the Mana-Link network.

BLAAM!

A fireball exploded right beside his head, sending heat that scorched the tips of his hair.

Lucian leapt sideways...

He rolled across the stone floor and immediately lunged toward the first node.

He blocked simultaneous sword strikes from two students using the forearm of his black coat.

His fist slammed into the solar plexus of the first node with pure physical force.

Bugh!

The student collapsed to his knees, his breath cut off as his digestive system was forced to shut down temporarily.

The first node broke.

Lucian felt the energy threads on the floor dim slightly.

"One," Lucian whispered as he swept the leg of another student attacking from the side.

This was no longer an elegant magical battle...

This was a brutally efficient and cold-blooded physical slaughter.

Every movement Lucian made was meant to disable his opponent in the shortest possible time.

Ice magic suddenly froze the floor beneath Lucian’s feet—causing him to lose footing momentarily.

He used that falling momentum to slide faster toward the second node behind a pillar.

He struck the nerve point between the shoulder and neck of the second node with the base of his palm.

BUK!

The student fell unconscious before he could release his defensive spell.

The second node went dark.

The Mana-Link network in the corridor began to tremble unstably under the uneven load.

Suddenly, Lucian’s left shoulder was torn open by a sharp wind spell from a blind spot he failed to anticipate.

Fresh blood flowed warmly down his arm.

Yet Lucian’s face showed no trace of emotion.

He gritted his teeth and kept moving through the increasingly chaotic barrage of magic attacks.

He took down the third node with a chokehold that cut off oxygen to the student’s brain.

BAM!

The fourth node fell after Lucian slammed his head into the stone wall.

The fifth and sixth nodes collapsed almost simultaneously when Lucian used one opponent’s body as a human shield.

"Move!" Lucian shouted as he threw the unconscious body into the crowd.

The air pressure in the corridor began to decrease drastically as the Mana-Link formation weakened.

However, Lucian’s body was also reaching the limit of the pain it could endure that night.

The ribs on his right side cracked again from a heavy magical strike he failed to fully avoid.

His vision began to sway, and blood started to obscure part of his sight from his temple.

Lucian swallowed the salty liquid rising in his throat and focused the remainder of his strength on the seventh node.

A lightning spell struck his back, paralyzing his nervous system for a single agonizing second.

BANG!

His body was pushed forward, nearly collapsing onto the hard marble floor.

Lucian dropped to one knee.

His lungs struggled to draw in the thinning air.

He looked up... staring at the massive student standing as the seventh node before him.

"You... will not pass," said the giant student, preparing a fist layered with gravitational energy.

"I’ve heard that line before from people who are now rotting in the ground," Lucian replied.

Lucian forced himself back to his feet despite his legs trembling violently under his own weight.

He lunged forward, deliberately entering the giant’s attack range to bait the strike.

The gravity punch slammed into his shoulder...

But Lucian used the pain as an additional surge of adrenaline.

His elbow struck a nerve point in the giant student’s thigh—causing him to lose balance instantly.

BUGH!

The seventh node fell with a heavy impact that shook the stone floor of the corridor.

Only one node remained—the final student standing directly in front of the interrogation room door.

That last student was the core of the entire Mana-Link circuit, now trembling violently.

He raised both hands high, trying to focus all remaining energy toward Lucian.

Lucian moved faster than any spell—he was already in front of the student before the hands could glow.

Lucian broke the student’s arm with a single brutal twisting motion.

KRAK!

The sound of snapping bone rang clearly in the suddenly silent corridor.

The Mana-Link collapsed instantly.

The energy threads exploded and snapped apart simultaneously in the air.

All the remaining elite students collapsed to the floor from extreme exhaustion as their supporting magic vanished.

The massive magic circle on the marble floor dimmed slowly until it completely disappeared.

The corridor returned to darkness and silence.

Leaving behind only the thick scent of blood and sweat.

Lucian stood tall amid the fallen bodies, one hand pressing against the torn wound on his shoulder that continued to bleed.