Enid dropped the earth barrier and let go of Caroline.

  They both stood back up on the battlefield without a scratch.

  They walked to the spot where “Howard” had blown himself apart and found a crater.

  His body was gone.

  “That demon… is he dead?” Caroline asked.

  Enid pressed her palm to the ground and spread her earth-sense outward.

  Sure enough, she quickly picked up a moving patch of space that refused to be read at all.

  That had to be “Howard,” still running.

  “No,” Enid said. “I can still feel that warped stench. He didn’t die, he slipped away somehow.”

  Caroline stared. “After taking that much damage, he still had enough in him to fake his way out with a blast?”

  “That isn’t human anymore.”

  Enid stood and brushed dust off her clothes. “Strictly speaking, he’s demonkin now.”

  “Have you ever dealt with demons up close, Caroline?”

  Caroline shook her head. “I’ve studied a lot of demon arts and curse theory, but I’ve never seen an actual demon.”

  “After the Demon King was defeated, most of them were wiped out. The only ones left were a few pure-bloods hiding in the far northern ice.”

  She hesitated, then asked, “And that ‘soul possession’ you mentioned, what is it?”

  “If that really was Howard’s body, where did his soul go?”

  “I can’t explain it properly,” Enid said. “My memories in that area aren’t complete.”

  “As for the original Howard, I can’t promise he’s still alive.”

  Caroline wanted to press for more, but she caught a subtle shift in Enid’s face.

  Enid’s complexion drained fast.

  Cold sweat beaded on her brow, her eyes shut tight, and her brows knit as if an invisible weight had dropped onto her shoulders.

  Caroline’s stomach lurched.

  Whatever she was about to say died in her throat.

  “Enid, what’s wrong?” she asked quietly. “Are you feeling sick?”

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  “Are you hurt, do you need me to get you to the medical wing?”

  Enid gave a small wave, refusing.

  Then she started coughing, and Caroline watched her cough up a terrifying amount of blood.

  “This is…” Caroline’s voice snapped into focus. “Hold on, I’m checking you for a curse right now.”

  She reached into Enid’s mana flow and tried to map the pattern.

  Even Caroline couldn’t find the ancient warped curse inside Enid, all she could sense was Enid’s body flipping between strong and weak like a broken signal.

  Caroline had never seen anything like it.

  She made the call immediately and moved to haul Enid up, hooking Enid’s right arm over her own shoulder.

  After the coughing fit, Enid finally caught her breath and tapped Caroline’s shoulder, asking her to let go.

  Caroline refused. “Don’t move.”

  “I’m taking you to the medical wing, just hang on.”

  “Cough… I’m fine,” Enid said, voice thin. “Let go, please.”

  “And your grip is terrible. My arm’s about to pop out of its socket.”

  Caroline finally released her, but she let go too suddenly.

  Enid couldn’t steady herself and dropped to one knee.

  Caroline started to speak, but Enid cut in first.

  “Really, don’t worry about me,” Enid said. “This is an old problem.”

  “We have bigger things to handle tonight.”

  “I need you to notify Antonio immediately, and every dean still on campus.”

  “Tell them to raise alert levels and double patrols. I’m sure the demons hiding in the academy are going to move tonight.”

  “I’m going after ‘Howard’.”

  Caroline shook her head. “No.”

  “You know how bad you look right now. If ‘Howard’ ran back to his base, going alone is suicidal.”

  “We go back together and…”

  Enid cut her off, both hands on Caroline’s shoulders, steady and serious.

  “If we lose his trail, finding him again will be a nightmare.”

  “I can track demon taint. Only I can keep on him.”

  “So I’m asking you, do what I said.”

  Caroline tried to argue, but the force in Enid’s expression pinned the words in place.

  Then Enid softened, just a little.

  “I’ll leave markers,” she said. “Follow them and you’ll know where I went.”

  “Move, now. ‘Howard’ won’t give us much time.”

  In the end, Caroline gave in.

  She summoned several spell hummingbirds to carry urgent messages, she trusted the other deans would recognize her emergency birds and come running.

  Caroline herself decided to find Antonio in person.

  After warning Enid again not to charge in alone, she turned and sprinted off for help.

  Once Caroline was far enough away, Enid spat up another huge mouthful of blood.

  She’d been forcing herself upright the whole time, just to make it look less serious than it was.

  The curse backlash chewed at her nerves.

  Compared to the Enid she half-remembered, pushing out that many high-circle spells was progress, but the strain still hurt like hell.

  Still, she couldn’t drop here.

  She’d promised Antonio she would do everything she could to help, and she believed this was part of whatever plan he was running.

  Only an elf like her could sense that warped demon taint.

  She had a job to finish.

  Enid swallowed the urge to keep coughing blood, endured the pain, pulled in mana to refill what she’d burned, and picked up the trail again.

  Tonight might be the best chance they were ever going to get to drag the demons out of the dark and take them all down at once.

  If a key insider like “Howard” was willing to risk exposure just to grab students as sacrifices, it meant they were desperate.

  Antonio’s pressure before and after the lockdown had pushed them past their limit.

  Once “Howard” reached his base, and realized he’d been burned, he would trigger some kind of ritual early.

  Enid knew it.

  Tonight, the demons were going to execute the plan they’d been building for years, aimed straight at the academy’s most important people.

  She shook her head and patted her chest, like she was soothing an old, unwanted companion.

  “Alright,” she breathed. “Looks like nobody’s sleeping tonight.”

  “Let’s hope they do exactly what Antonio’s plan says they’ll do, bunch up in one place and make this easy for us.”

  Then her voice dropped.

  “Rosalie… I’m finally going to find you.”