The Villain Professor's Second Chance

Another Gravekeeper surged forward, faster than the others. They didn't go for my weapon but for my arm, attempting to restrain rather than kill. A mistake. I let them think they had the advantage, feigning a brief struggle before shifting my weight and throwing them off-balance. Their own momentum betrayed them—I spun, slamming them into the stone wall with a force that sent dust and grit raining from the ceiling. They gasped, but I didn't give them time to recover. A swift kick to the back of the knee, and they dropped.

There was no time to gloat. The flicker of movement at the edge of my vision warned me before I even saw the next attacker. I twisted just in time, narrowly avoiding the flash of a dagger meant for my ribs. The blade skimmed past my coat, close enough that I felt the cold kiss of steel graze fabric. I grabbed their wrist, twisting hard, yanking them forward into my waiting knee. The force of the impact knocked the breath from them, and as they doubled over, I brought my blade up, slashing across their arm. They recoiled, cursing, stumbling back with blood dripping between their fingers.

More footsteps. The chamber wasn't secure. They'd sent more than I expected.

I turned to check Lorik. He was still standing, albeit breathing hard, his eyes darting between the fallen enemies and the ones still pressing forward. But something caught my eye—one of the downed Gravekeepers, clutching a small, intricate token. Not standard issue. Not something I'd seen before.

Something important.

I grabbed it, tucking it into my coat without hesitation. Whatever it was, it mattered enough for them to hold onto it even while dying. That alone made it worth taking.

"This place is compromised," I said flatly. "We leave. Now."

Lorik was already moving, shoving his notes into a satchel with frantic urgency. He wasn't a fighter, not in the way I was. He had held his ground, yes, but every movement betrayed how much he loathed this kind of situation—where knowledge wasn't enough, where he had to rely on instinct and desperation rather than careful planning.

"There's a passage," he muttered between quick breaths. "Narrow, but we can collapse it behind us."

"Good."

We didn't waste time. I took the lead, cutting down another would-be pursuer who thought they could flank us. Lorik kept close, his muttered incantations a constant whisper against the stone walls as he preemptively wove defensive sigils in case of pursuit. The chamber gave way to twisting tunnels, the air growing damp and thick, the scent of old stone and something deeper—earth, decay, history pressed into the very walls.

Behind us, echoes of movement. Distant, but gaining.

We reached the passageway. It was narrow, jagged, barely more than a break in the rock where time had forced its own path. Beyond it, darkness stretched further underground—an uncertainty. But ahead was always better than behind.

Lorik raised his hands. Magic crackled between his fingers, the air itself trembling with it. His lips moved in quick succession, words rolling together in a language older than the city above us. The runes along the walls flared, then dimmed as energy channeled into the ceiling.

The tunnel shuddered. Dust rained down. A sound, deep and groaning, like the very bones of the earth shifting.

Then, with a sharp, final crack—

The rocks above gave way.

The collapse was controlled, precise. Lorik knew his work. He didn't bring the whole tunnel down—just enough. Enough to seal the way behind us, to turn pursuit into a fool's errand. Continue your journey with My Virtual Library Empire

A final rumble. Then nothing.

Silence.

We kept moving, weaving through the underground corridors, the silence between us filled with unspoken tension. Lorik's breathing was uneven, the weight of what had just transpired pressing down on both of us. I could feel his unease, the way his fingers twitched as if grasping at thoughts he hadn't yet voiced. But I didn't press. Not yet.

The tunnels stretched ahead in endless darkness, the only light our flickering lanterns and the faint bioluminescent fungi clinging to the damp walls. The smell of earth and centuries-old decay lingered, the remnants of forgotten souls buried within these depths. Somewhere behind us, the echoes of our escape still reverberated through the catacombs, distant but not forgotten. The Gravekeepers would not take their failure lightly. They would regroup. They would come again.

Lorik wiped sweat from his brow, his usual scholarly detachment fractured by the night's events. "They shouldn't have found me. My wards—" He exhaled sharply. "They were never meant to hold forever, but they should have lasted longer than that."

"They were prepared," I muttered. "They always are."

Lorik cast me a glance, wary, as if reevaluating his decision to involve me. He still didn't fully trust me. That was fine. I didn't trust him either. But for now, we were bound by necessity.

The corridor forked ahead. I took the left path without hesitation, leading us deeper into a more obscure passageway that I knew would take us out of the underground unseen. The air grew colder, the damp walls closing in. The sound of trickling water echoed from somewhere above, likely runoff from the streets above.

Lorik trudged behind me, his pace slower, his mind clearly preoccupied. "You understand what this means, don't you?" he asked.

I didn't answer immediately. I understood more than he thought. The Gravekeepers' interference, the Council's sudden interest, the artifact—none of it was random. It was all part of a larger design, pieces shifting in a game I had only begun to grasp.

"You're still alive, which means they need something from you," I said instead. "And yet they were willing to kill you if necessary."

Lorik scoffed. "A contradiction you'll find common among zealots. They want my knowledge, but they fear what I might reveal. What I might do with it."

"And the Council?"

He hesitated. "They're worse. They claim to fear the Gravekeepers, but in truth, they fear losing control. If they think you're more valuable dead than alive, they'll act. No hesitation."

I didn't doubt that.

The passage sloped upward now, the signs of an exit drawing near. The scent of fresh air mixed with the underground dampness, and the distant hum of the city vibrated through the stone. We climbed the last stretch in silence.

Then, at last, the exit—a narrow crevice between two collapsed archways that opened into a forgotten graveyard on the city's outskirts.

The cold night air hit me like a blade against bare skin. The city's distant glow barely reached this part of the ruins, and the towering remnants of old tombs stood like broken sentinels against the night sky. The ruins stretched around us, tombstones leaning at odd angles, vines creeping over forgotten names.

Lorik leaned against the nearest stone, rubbing a hand over his face. "I think I'm starting to regret this."

"Regret what?" I asked, glancing around, making sure we weren't followed.

"Letting you pull me into this," he muttered. "Do you even have a plan?"

I pulled the token from my coat, holding it up to the faint moonlight. The intricate sigil gleamed dully against the night.

Lorik's eyes locked onto it. His breath caught. "Where did you get that?"

I met his gaze. "Off one of them."

He exhaled sharply, stepping closer. His fingers itched toward the token, but he hesitated. "That symbol... it marks a Resonance Site."

The words settled between us, heavier than any physical weight.

Resonance Site. I turned the token over between my fingers, the grooves of the insignia pressing into my palm. The meaning of it, the implications—it shifted everything.

"Tell me," I said, voice steady.

Lorik let out a long breath, rubbing his temples as if trying to piece together how much to reveal. "Resonance Sites are not just places—they are points in the Tapestry itself. Anchors of reality. Magic is not just cast there; it is woven. If the Gravekeepers are moving toward one, it means they're trying to—"

"Reinforce the Tapestry," I finished. My mind clicked into place. The reason why they wanted Belisarius. Why they wanted me kept in the dark.

Lorik nodded grimly. "Or alter it."

A cold certainty settled in my chest. The next step was clear.

The Council would be closing in. The Gravekeepers would not stop.

But now, I had a thread to pull.

And when I pulled, I intended to unravel everything.