The Old Scholar

"Right. Now that the academy is once again secure. Fafnir, I want you to lead a group and round up all of the parents, guardians etc, and bring them to me in the Grand Atrium. I have something to discuss with them and them alone. Order the rest of the staff to stay with the students inside University Town until I say otherwise" Leilani ordered as she looked at her Combat Professors 

"It will be done Ma'am" Fafnir nodded at the orders 

"Good. Pittah"

"Yes Ma'am?"

"You and that child you are holding make your way to the Infirmary, Elaine, go with her and watch over the kid, make sure she does not leave until I say so" The Dean added as she looked at Pittah and then a young human woman who was covered in blood and holding onto her battle axe

"Understood Ma'am" 

"It will be done" Pittah and Elaine nodded as they both looked at one another and then began to  walk away 

"The rest of you will be making patrols around the academy for security's sake, get to it people" 

"Yes Ma'am!" 

As the Combat Professors began spreading out to fulfill their tasks, Martha saw Leilani looking at her, the two of them sharing a nod and then a small smile before Martha turned away as Fafnir called for her to join him in his task. Leilani watched as her beloved walked away and once she rounded the corner out of sight, she then began making her way to the Grand Atrium which was located in one of the larger buildings in the center of the campus. Entering the Atrium, she saw that it was relatively untouched from the fighting and it was still in good conditions. The large glass roof overhead showed only a cloudy gray sky up above, but the light was good enough to see in the center while the rest of the building was directly not under the glass ceiling was shrouded in darkness. 

"Alright, then. Let's get this place ready" Leilani sighed as she created several identical clones of herself

With her clones at the ready, the Old Scholar began setting up the room, with the help of herself. The Grand Atrium was a special building as it could be turned into anything that was needed for the occasion, it could be transformed into another building where classes could be held, it could be turned into an indoor garden or even a turned into a theatre or even a massive training hall or martial arts dojo, all thanks to sets of control panels along the walls and floors powered by magic crystals that controlled sections of the building and had several built-in and already prefabricated settings. 

Her clones began moving to the control panels and began switching everything to transform the Grand Atrium into another Auditorium since she knew that other auditoriums were places where the enemy had come and had died inside. Leilani also summoned forth an orchestra of musical instruments that began to play some classical music from her old world and some from this world as it was a personal thing she did that whenever she wanted to enjoy her task, she would play some tunes. 

As the music began to play, Leilani began moving around like the rest of her clones and began using the control panels around the Atrium to get it ready for what she was going to do. Although she had a spell that could have done all of this in one snap, Leilani had a small pet peeve in whether the task was something that reminded her of her old life, she would do it without relying on magic to solve it, since she enjoyed putting in the hard work from time to time and loved the feeling of getting shit done with her own power. She hummed to herself as she went about doing the task at hand and even saw her clones doing the same, their bodies sometimes even following the beat when they were either walking or keying in what they wanted on the control panel. 

After 10 to 15 minutes or so, the work was finished and the Grand Atrium was turned into the Grand Auditorium which had several rows of seats before there was an upper extension, with the walls also having balconies that overlooked the stage and the two floors of seats. The velvet seats were made of soft and comforting nylon and other fabrics and were made to help your back and give you a good seat. The entire area was also covered with large velvet carpets that went under and around the chairs in place, the lighting of the area was provided by the large glass ceiling above and the bright magic crystal lights in lanterns lining the sides of the walls and the cracks near the balconies. All of this was facing a large stage where Leilani and her clones were standing as they nodded at their accomplishment of the task. 

"Good, now let's get everyone in here" 

.........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

A few minutes later, Fafnir and his group arrived with the parents and guardians of the students of Imperia, from every single school, from Pre-School all the way up to College, filling up the Grand Auditorium to its max capacity and having so many eyes on the woman standing on the stage before them. There were murmurs and whispers between the monarchs, nobles and commoners who were all looking at her, most of them waiting for answers as to what the fuck had just happened, with only a few looking at her with disdain as they desired her position, which funnily enough, were people who had not been students here in Imperia. 

"Ahem. So for starters, I am so sorry that this happened all under my watch. I will get it out there that the precautions I took were ones that I had been repeating for so long that I had fallen into a sense of easiness and complacency when checking with the security system of the academy, it won't happen again I assure you, but I would like to apologize for the events that happened today" Leilani began as she looked up at the crowds of people before her 

"It's alright Miss!" A voice came from the upper stands, the voice of a young king with slicked-back blonde hair and wearing a regal outfit of gold and green 

"Thanks Leo, I appreciate that" Leilani replied to the young king 

"Right, some context for those who are still unsure of what had transpired and why. The by whom we will get to later" 

"So, for starters, as many of you here know, Imperia is literally a fortress academy built on a plateau in the mountains. The academy is filled to the brim with defensive barriers of all kinds, there are magi-knights roaming around in case of danger and the staff of the academy are strong enough to fight armies either alone or all together. This is literally a suicidal place to come to if you are looking for a fight. Hell, it even has me as the Dean, so I assure you that whatever comes into this academy will die screaming before it can hurt your children. But that being said, like everything in the world, there is a weakness" Leilani began as she looked at the crowd 

"That weakness is me. The powerful barriers and magi-knights of the academy rely on a large magical crystal that feeds mana to them throughout the academy grounds, unfortunately, there is no such magical crystal in existence, instead, the entire defensive system of Imperia relies on me. Due to the fact that as a vampire who does not need blood but instead lives off of the mana in the air, I am literally a living and breathing power source. Allowing the defenses to basically run infinitum even if I am away. But, that does open up a single weakness as being the only one of my kind, a vampire that relies on magic, there are things even I cannot predict. One of which was a sudden attack into my mana pool, something that I have only experienced thrice in my over 4000 years of living...and one that actively left Imperia open for attack for a few short hours...and it was clear that they spent years planning this as they had detailed information on where and what buildings to attack and appear from, especially when was the best time to strike, with them using teleportation portals, magic I have not seen in a very long time" She added as she looked at the expressions of the crowd, seeing most of them have looks of surprise and curiosity 

"Now with how they got in out of the way, let us get to the who. These people were called the 'Cult Of The Fallen Gods' and they were a cult worshipping a race called the 'Leviathans' and no, not the ones that dwell in the sea, there is a distinct difference between the two. The first of which is that these 'Leviathans' are much much older than the ones living in the sea, and they have been falsely led to believe that they were the creator gods of this world" 

{?}

Leilani saw a mixture of different emotions coming from the crowd before her and some even raised their hands to ask questions like it was a fully flushed-out lecture going on in the Grand Auditorium. 

"Yes, you there, Miss Cascadia" Leilani pointed to a girl in the far upper corner of the Grand Auditorium, using her magic to project the woman's voice across the room like she was doing to her own voice 

"Umm, Professor, what do you mean by that?" 

"Ah, well, if I would explain it in full, this whole room would be dead due to your brain's inability to process this kind of information I was taught before becoming the Dean, and I am not saying this to be rude, but because this was the words of the woman who taught me everything before I became the Dean. Basically, these 'Former Gods' were a race of nothing more than workers who deluded themselves with into thinking they were the actual creators. Leading to them being banished by the 4 Gods of the world into a different dimension that they then broke out of, in fact, what I am about to unveil is something that has been ordered to be scrubbed by the First Scholars of each continent, so listen closely" Leilani stated, seeing a lot of them lean forward to hear her better as they were all very curious as to everything about to be said 

"This is not the first time these 'Leviathans' have attacked, it is the second. The first time was when I was much younger, a child even. They attacked the world repeatedly for a period of sixty or so years and it led to the deaths of many and the destruction of nations...ok history lesson over for now, it will be tackled by the young ones during the International University Expo later in the year" She abruptly finished, leaving some of the monarchs groaning in being lore-blocked 

"Hehehe, stow away those groans. Anyways, now that you have a good idea of the events that happened a few hours ago...anyone got any reactions? comments or questions?" The Dean asked as she looked around the room. 

The people in the Grand Auditorium looked around, wondering who would ask a question, with many of them suspecting that everyone understood what was discussed, with some parents eager to get up and go see their kids waiting for them in University Town. 

"I have a question" A voice from the second floor came through, making everyone turn their heads toward its source of origin

The voice in question belonged to a tall and lanky man with slicked-back black hair and a mustache that was twirled at the end, he was dressed in a brownish noble suit with gold and white accents, he was looking down at the Dean with a sort of manner that gave off the aura that he felt superior to the person he was talking to, something that was noticed by the people next to him and even by others down below, if it were intentional then it worked, if it was supposed to be subtle, it wasn't. 

"Yes, and you are?" Leilani asked as she recognized this man was not one of her students but instead someone new 

"Hmph, I am offended you do not know who I am...so much for being the Dean of the best Academy in the world" The man replied with a snarky tone 

"Ok, look jackass, I am not in a very pleasant mood because of earlier, so give me your name, and your question. Or I will kill you" Leilani spat back at him with her expression unmoving but the rage in the tone being felt throughout the room as the temperature dropped 

"Ugh! Preposterous! Everyone! Are we just going to let her threaten me like that?" The man asked as he looked around to find anyone to support him, but only seeing the annoyed faces of everyone beside, in front and behind him, causing him to lose his demeanor for a moment as he wiped sweat tricking down his forehead 

"Just fucking get on with it!" A woman's voice from one of the booths to the side shouted up at him 

The man gulped with embarrassment as he fixed his attire to try and give off the impression that he was not phased in the slightest before looking back down at Leilani

"If you MUST know, I am Baron Varkis, representative of the King Regent Jallis from the Kingdom of Narisca, from the continent of Fristasia" Varkis stated in a condescending tone 

"Ah...wait, doesn't that mean you are part of that Coup a few months ago that killed King Salfredi?" Leilani asked as she looked up at him, crossing her arms as she was silently angry about the death of one of her students 

"Tsk! What slander! How dare you accuse our government of such actions! For your information, Salfredi was a tyrant and a brute who was clamping down on the poor and downtrodden, like me! We had to rid ourselves of such a vile ruler and-" 

"Ok, shut up and just give me your fucking question" Leilani cut him off as she was growing increasingly annoyed, with the room temperature dropping and a lot of the former students looking at the annoying Baron with angrier gazes 

"Hmph, my question is not addressed to you Vampire Whore, but to the rest of the people in this room" Varkis stated as he turned his gaze away from the Dean

"Fucking excuse me?" 

"I ask all of you this, is it not time to change the leadership of Imperia? We pay this academy to teach our students outdated and ineffective lessons in fighting, magic, and even how to rule, we even pay this place to protect them, but I don't need to say anything about that since, well, we all just experienced a life or death situation, sure no one got hurt this time, but are we really going to risk another? I say, we kick this woman out and install a new Dean who will bring Imperia up in the world, such as Scholar Nice of the Order Of Sigismund" The Baron stated as he looked at the people of the Grand Auditorium, using his own magic to project his voice, but was met with silence 

During this moment of silence, Leilani saw several of her former students, some being monarchs, nobles and commoners, in the front row, preparing their weapons as they were going to strike him down, even in the second floor above behind Baron Varkis, there were another group of students readying to just kill the dude then and there, while she understood the anger of her former students because everything Varkis said was a fucking lie, she didn't want them to kill him, at least not yet. 

"Sorry but, Scholar Nice? Him? The absolute idiot who could not tell a potato from a carrot? Really? He is your choice for my replacement? The bumbling bastard couldn't even finish one of the many history books in the Imperia Library, I guess I shouldn't be that surprised given your bullshit" 

"Wha-" 

"Furthermore, yes, your nation like all nations, pays this academy for its services. Yes, you pay us to teach and protect, but to call our fucking teaching style outdated and wrong is just bullshit. The students here, whether they are commoners, nobles, or even monarchs, come from your nations hoping to get the best education around so that they can come back home and share it with everyone else. You have native universities and schools yes, I donate a portion of Imperia's budget to these native universities and schools because I support having them around and the deans and teachers of those schools originated from here, in Imperia. Sure there are new teachers and admins who graduated from these native universities who now teach there, which is great by the way, they are still using the methods we have here in Imperia, teaching the things we still teach, things that originated from here. So to say that our style is outdated and wrong is saying the other schools who follow us are outdated and wrong, which is bullshit. But I shouldn't be surprised since the words out of your mouth are like the government you are part of, a fucking farce" 

"And the defense problem? Please, there is no place in this world that could rival Imperia in protection, my predecessor and I have made it that way for years, and this is like one breach when there was a lapse in the defenses that only happens in maybe once or twice every few thousand years. The kids are always going to be safe from their attackers while they are within these walls if ever the barrier fails because of my staff, because they were trained to be the best and to protect. So if you call them bad at their jobs then just recall that no one died when the cult attacked, only the invaders were killed" 

"You-" 

"I am actually sick and tired of listening to you so shut the fuck up and sit down" 

{!} 

Leilani waved her hand and several ribbons burst forth from the seat behind him and wrapped around his arms, legs and mouth before tightly strapping him to the chair, unable to move and unable to speak. 

"Right, if I remember correctly...Anisa! Dalgar! Speak up!" Leilani called out into the crowd 

"Here Ma'am!" An elven woman stood up from the second floor, her flowing blonde hair cascading down behind her and her green and white blouse 

"Here Miss!" An older man wearing a suit of plate armor and with a luscious brown beard and short hair shouted as he stood at attention from one of the booths to the right, placing himself in front to be seen 

"How are your nations fairing economically and socially?" Leilani asked them 

"Socially, pretty well Ma'am" 

"We have ensured rights for all" 

"And economically?" 

"Economically, we are still in the green but it is taxing placing our army on the border with Narisca" 

"Indeed Miss. We are in the same boat" 

"Alright, and final question...are there any family members of Salfredi left alive?" 

The final question filled the room with silence as the two monarchs looked at one another and then back to their former professor, their sad expressions saying everything before they could even speak it. 

"No...the coup was thorough and all members of his family, and his children...are dead" Anisa answered, with Dalgar nodding and bowing his head in shame 

"I see...that settles it then, I want both of you to invade and divide their nation, and I want everyone involved with the coup and their families executed with extreme prejudice, talk amongst yourselves on how to handle that" 

"Understood Miss, we will coordinate" Dalgar replied with a nod 

"Thank you... it's a shame really, the three of you were ready to lead your nations at graduation and Salfredi was the one who wanted to help his people the most...a real fucking shame....do what you want with that fucking Baron, but I want him dead...anyways class, Conference over, you are all dismissed" 

A/N: And I am back with a new chapter! I hope you enjoyed reading this one as much as I had fun writing it. If you got questions or reactions, leave em in the comments for me to read and answer, and as always Stay Safe and Enjoy Your Day!