The body convulsed as it's disguise fell away, silencing the screaming as they all took it the implications.
Place slammed his helmet back into place as the nearby teachers threw up scanning spells.
"Does anybody know how to activate the wards?" He shouted out as he walked over and retrieved his spear from the still shuddering body, before piercing its skull.
The ground lit up with sigils and circles and screams sounded out.
Two more had disguised themselves, and were now regretting it as the wards detected their presence and promptly fried them.
"Everyone, stay close to known people as away from strangers." A teacher commanded.
"Huddle up only with people you know well, and put on any defensive equipment you have."
Groups broke up into even smaller ones as people hurried away from those they didn't know and grouped up with friends and the like.
"Back to rest?" Agne asked as the voices hushed.
"Hmm." Place looked around. "I don't see Malia, or Prismella."
"I don't think that those two really need protection." Emilia remarked as she stared at the corpse by their feet.
The wards were eating away at it, and it was slowly being vaporized.
"Your roommates are over there." Agne gestured in a direction.
Place followed it to see the three.
Otis looked irritated, Zandre looked disturbed, and Raise seemed to be chanting something.
"Want to go over?"
"Better not, knowing Zandre, he would involve himself, and Otis and Raise would follow behind."
"So what now?" Agne asked as he removed the necklace and gave it to Emilia, who put it on.
Place looked at her.
She shrugged.
"Lot's of energy being moved about, but from what I can tell, there is no place that particularly need help. Everything seems contained."
Place nodded as he frowned in thought.
"We should see if Kolid has been caught, or else we'll go after him."
Their plan set, they talked to some of the present teachers to use the wards to find Kolid.
The help was granted easily.
Emilia stood in the middle of a control ward, trying to use the campus wide detection formations combined with her own extraordinary senses to find their target.
"She seems to have some experience with this." The teacher standing with them thought aloud.
"She does." Agne affirmed, looking at Emilia's face that was frowning in concentration. "She uses the wards at home quite often, but those are only about a tenth of the size of these..."
"Nothing more than a headache." Place rubbed a stone talisman between his armored fingers.
Emilia's eyes snapped open.
"Found him." She stated,, and the teacher stepped in to take her place as she stepped out of the control ward.
"He's at the star tower."
"Let's go." Place tossed the talisman at the teacher. "Keep an eye on us, we might need help."
The teacher nodded, and the three of them sprinted away.
"These wards are amazing." Agne remarked with surprise and amazement, feeling the amplified power in his body as he started to use it.
"Indeed." Place agreed. "About a thirty percent overall boost to all physical capabilities."
Their minds were sharper, their bodies faster, as the wards channeled refined energy into them to fight against the invasion.
"What should we be prepared for?" Emilia asked, cutting off their amazement at the wards.
"Prepared..." Place thought back to what he knew. "The star tower is the most used ritual ground, so there are a lot of materials there."
"That doesn't sound good." Agne muttered as they turned.
"Its not, if he accessed those materials, he could very well be opening another portal, or he could be trying to disrupt the wards, or call forth something nasty."
Agne and Emilia frowned as Place continued to rattle off possible scenarios.
"But all of those would take time, and while he did have a headstart, I don't think he's that good at rituals."
"So basically, we have no idea, and should be prepared for anything?"
"There's also the matter of other people, we know that Kolid couldn't have opened all of those portals, so there are other people to be worried about."
"I didn't feel anyone." Emilia spoke up, then corrected herself. "But I wasn't looking for anyone other than Kolid in the first place."
They drew close to the star tower, and slowed to a stop.
The tower was circular, with a radius of about a dozen meters, and about triple that vertically, giving it a 'stumpy' look. It's rooftop had a handrail going all around it, and there was a purple light coming from it.
"Can you scale it?" Place asked, looking at the various windows and balconies.
"I can." Agne replied, already mapping out a path.
"Can you carry Emilia while doing it?"
"Cast some lightening on yourself."
Emilia started to do as told.
Place nodded.
"I'll go up the stairs and attract attention, take advantage of that."
With that said, Place sprinted into the stone tower.
Emilia started to glow slightly as she finished her spell.
Agne gestured for her to grab on, but she held up a hand, silently telling him to wait.
Agne furrowed his brows as she formed a spell circle on top of her left hand.
She focused for a few moments, then a wave of magic sprouted from the circle and enveloped the two of them before fading.
"What was that?" Agne asked.
Emilia mouth moved, as she climbed on to Agne's back, but no sound came out.
Agne grinned as he realized what that meant.
"Well done." He remarked, then ran up and leapt onto the tower.
Meanwhile, Place was moving up the stairs on the inside, trying to not alert any possible enemies, while still keeping up some speed.
He scanned every floor before moving to the next one.
Nothing seemed out of place. The storage room was fine, none of the materials seemed to have been taken. The great ritual formation was undisturbed. He didn't know enough about the towers library to see anything out of place.
He slowed down as he approached the door to the rooftop.
The non-presence and un-disturbed tower made him feel uneasy.
He peeked through the door.
There were four people present on the rooftop, chanting something around a book set inside a ritual circle.
A possession ritual.