“I’m afraid I must echo Balrus’ sentiments,” he continued, taking slow steps towards a frozen Remus. “I become a bit... forceful when my friends are attacked. Not to mention, I’m also rather annoyed about being skewered, as I’m sure you can imagine. I’m afraid those two things are working together to bring out the worst in me. Truly, I apologize. This isn’t my favorite method, but I’m pressed for time and in quite the foul mood tonight.”

Remus’s useless mouth was still incapable of forming words past his terror. The headmaster crouched down until he was at eye level, his glasses glinting in the moonlight as he did. It reminded Remus of a drawn blade.

“Did you know that too much of what heals can also hurt?” the headmaster asked, his glowing hands reaching ever closer.

~~~

ZASIA STARED DOWN AT the remaining three assassins before her. Or rather, two assassins, as the third was distracted by his incinerated leg. The other five that had come here were either roasted corpses or ashes on the wind. She sighed internally when she viewed the mess arrayed around her. She would need to make sure she cleaned this up before classes started tomorrow.

Thankfully, they were in a courtyard on the outer border of the academy grounds, so it was unlikely that any students would bear witness to this. Zasia often came here to enjoy the quiet at night. Unfortunately, tonight had been ruined by eight masked men ready to ambush her.

They’d demanded she hand over the Demon’s legacy. Deciding that was enough to mark these people as enemies, she’d immediately taken the offensive. The result was several dead, one wounded, and the utter decimation of one of her favorite spots on the campus.

To their credit, the remaining men didn’t seem to panic. Well, the legless one was, but that made sense. The other two had immediately jumped her in response to her surprise attack. They were obviously well trained, and either very loyal or very well paid.

Both assassins dashed toward her, trying to flank her from either side. Two separate walls of earth shot up from the ground to block their approach. Mana gathered into Zasia’s arms as she thrust her hands out to both walls, twin storms of slicing wind carving straight through the rock and anything unlucky enough to be behind them.

Unfortunately, they weren’t that easy. They had already retreated several meters away and had already thrown daggers her way. Zasia used the leftover rubble of the earth walls like floating targets, catching the blades in midair.

She was about to counterattack when she felt mana fluctuations around the embedded daggers and reacted instinctively. She forced the rubble away while simultaneously creating a gust of wind beneath her feet to drag her backwards.