Extra's Path To Demon King

The shine in the Principal's eyes dimmed significantly after this feat was completed, as the dome settled, humming with a silent but protective power. The thin membrane covering the entire island was essentially invisible to the students unless they focused intently, revealing in some regions of the dome fragile patterns of energy, magic symbols, and formations. A deep inhale of the fresh air calmed the principal, at least on the surface level.

One could only imagine what a horrendous amount of energy it was required to put up such a spell, as the island itself was huge, at least 5 kilometers in radius, flat and circular in shape, more than enough for the academy, and the Principal himself had to keep it active with his own energy reserves, as the small piece of unassuming rock that the Principal placed inside the energy sphere before the spell activated had a special rune engraved on it by Alfred himself, which acted as the central core of the whole spell. Its location was entirely unknown to all, except for the man who was keeping the spell active.

The two most trusted individuals in the Principal's office here at the academy were Gareth, who was first, and Alfred, who was second. But even then, none of them knew what the Principal was going to do about this situation or if he had any solution at all.

All the influential professors were pleasantly surprised by this turn of events. Even the vice-principal was unaware of this move. Because, for a few straightforward reasons, even as a peak 5th phase powerhouse, the sheer scale of such wide area control magic made it too horrendous a tactic to deploy. The amount of energy required to keep it active over such a vast area was close to impossible, at least by common human standards. But the individual named Alric Stragoy was no simple man.

He was the man who had risen to become the 4th strongest powerhouse of humanity, having come from the dirtiest streets through sheer will and effort. He had survived countless impossible scenarios and the powerful forces of the nobles, who continued to try to bring him down again and again.

The other reason was distrust. Alric evaluated the change in every microexpression on the faces of all the professors and various students; his powerful mind calculated and tried to narrow down who could be the possible traitors. Unfortunately, the traitors were too cautious. He could not see enough clues to determine anything significant at this time.

Not to mention the toll of maintaining the barrier was truly too much for a mind of even his caliber for him to focus properly on another matter. The number of calculations and minor adjustments he was having to do every nanosecond through his pure subconscious had far surpassed even the calculation capabilities of the most powerful supercomputers back on earth.

Such is the elevated state of being that one reaches when they have reached the stage of a peak 5th phase organism. Of course, the subconscious superspeed calculation ability is primarily for aspect holders in the mage branch, as it is essential for performing high-level magic spells that require such calculation power.

When Alric Stragoy stated that this spell blocks all dimensional and spatial movement, it was simply a surface-level explanation; however, what it truly does is actively monitor every inch of the space, the entire three-dimensional spherical area of the island, every nanosecond. The radius of that sphere was 5 kilometers. Factoring in all the movement from every living or non-living thing on every lapse of a nanosecond and allowing those specific cells of the space just enough durability to allow that exact amount of movement.

The whole sphere had been divided into billions of small box-shaped areas in the Principal's mind to make calculations on each of those boxed spaces separately. Of course, miscalculation was also part of the process, followed by an immediate recalculation of the procedure. This was significantly different from any usual space blockage that would obstruct the opening of internal and external teleportation gateways.

Instead, this was freezing space itself. Only the authorized entities of the academy were allowed to move, and even the amount of air that could flow through this space was being regulated; even an ant's movements were being calculated. The amount of calculation was happening at so many levels that it was even impossible to describe to a normal human being entirely. The students would not be able to feel the rigidness of the space, but the powerful seekers or those in the third phase and above could feel it quite well.

It was like they were submerged in a pool of liquid mercury. The Principal had no choice but to go to such lengths. This way, everything was truly under his extreme monitoring; even the movement of a sand grain did not escape his calculations. Now, the moment anything foreign tried to disturb this entire flow, even in the slightest, it would be met with resistance. It would be nigh impossible to escape his complete detection.

This process of calculation was being continued indefinitely. At least there was one leeway for the Principal that the burden of this whole process was being shared by the six of his clones. The main body of his still had to carry the weight of more than 50% of the calculations, manageable but barely. It felt like his brain was on the verge of exploding at any given moment.

The vice-principal, seeing him dazed for a second, came closer cautiously and asked, "Sir Principal, are you okay?"

"Uh, huh. Yes..I apologize. Well... I was making sure that everything in the barrier was working properly." Alric came back to his senses and nodded towards the professors and other key individuals in charge of the academy who were present, as they no longer needed to keep a constant eye on everything.

With a tired exhale, the Principal's dull eyes focused on the students below, and the accumulated tension and fear within the students had decreased significantly. Now they almost seem cheerful, with no regard for those who are still not here.

Despite his disgust for the negative qualities of the human race. He knew that these children weren't exactly at fault here. Instead, it was the situation they grew up in.

They were given everything from birth and told to be the superior ones, which led them to act arrogantly. But alas! Little did they know what a white lie it was that they believed for their entire lives. He spoke again, his voice resonating with that characteristic, serene effect,

"The barrier is up, and like I stated beforehand, none of you shall be harmed or taken away by anything. I will also bring those who have disappeared back without any harm to them."

Then he redirected his focus to another topic, "Some of you may or may not know this, but soon, the famed Purple Moon Festival is approaching. Only a week left till that day. You all must prepare for it. I know this may be a bit unbecoming to start preparing for a festival in this situation. But this cannot be avoided. It is the united and absolute tradition amongst the entirety of the continent."

"Not only do every single race equally celebrate this historic day that comes once every 10 years with great excitement, even the evil Demon race does the same. Humans are no exception to it either. Because of the ancient importance of this day, and the foretold glory of this event, it is significant enough that every minor or major kingdom, as well as the academy, all of these organizations always celebrate it without exception."

"So, prepare for the festival, forget all your worries for a moment. Because by the end of it, everything will be back to normal."

But alas... if only the Principal knew how those very words themselves would come back to bite him so severely. The words he would one day regret saying with every fiber of his being.