Return of the Runebound Professor-Chapter 659:

“What?” Moxie asked sharply. “Are you sure?”

“What is an Apostle?” Tillian asked, glancing from her to Revin with a confused frown. “Should we be prepared for a fight? What allegiance do they hold?”

“Which one is it?” Noah asked. If it was Crone, he could probably get away with throwing Garina’s weight around again… but Noah doubted it would be him. There was no reason for that particular Apostle to make his way over here at the moment. Things with him should have been temporarily dealt with.

Did he go back to the other Apostles and tell them about me? Garina did warn me that they’d be on my tail, but this seems way too fast. Don’t they have anything better to do than chase me around? I haven’t even done anything to get their attention properly yet!

“I’m not that sensitive,” Revin said with a shrug. “One of them. But there’s really no time to explain. They could be here at any moment.”

Noah’s jaw tightened. His back straightened and he pulled his domain in, concealing as much of his energy as he could. The apostles were strong — but they weren’t beyond being tricked. The less they knew about his abilities, the more likely he’d be able to manage to pull something over their eyes.

Can I somehow buy time until Garina gets here as well? She should realize that there’s an Apostle in the area. She knows whenever someone above Rank 7 breaks in. If I can keep this Apostle distracted until then, we should be able to talk our way out of this again.

“Moxie, Lee,” Noah said with terse, sharp words as he slung his book off his shoulder. “Get the students out of here.”

He tossed the book, his bag, and his gourd to Lee. She snatched them from the air and gave him a sharp nod.

“The cannon won’t be much longer,” Moxie said as she and Lee burst into motion. “No more than an hour. I don’t know how much distance is going to help with something like this, though. Just remember you don’t need to win.”

Noah gave her a sharp nod. She’d come to the same conclusion that he had.

Moxie and Lee ran off to rally the students, herding them away as fast as they could. None of them protested. Even the most ardent supporters among their number wouldn’t have been able to do anything to sway the tides against an Apostle.

The only one that might have been able to do much of anything was Yoru, but her powers had been severely damaged by the reduction of her Rank 7 Rune. She needed time to adjust to her new strength — and to figure out how to do anything without arms.

This was something that Noah would have to deal with on his own.

Well, mostly on his own. Revin, Eline, and Tillian all remained alongside him. The Inquisitor didn’t have the faintest way to know just how dangerous the situation was. As for Eline… Noah was fairly certain that Revin wasn’t about to let her go anywhere. He sounded far too smug about the approach of the Apostle.

“Where are they?” Noah asked, looking up to the sky in search of a black meteor. “You said the Apostle was close, didn’t you?”

“I did say that, yes,” Revin said. He scratched his chin as a small frown played across his features. “It seems they are somewhat delayed. That’s unforeseen.”

A second ticked by. Noah’s eyes narrowed. There was a very real chance that Revin had been screwing with them. Even though it had been quite some time since he’d last run into the red-haired man, Noah wouldn’t have put just about anything past him.

Revin was like a version of Jalen with absolutely no goal other than chaos.

Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

“They’re not coming,” Noah said flatly.

“No, they definitely are,” Revin said with a shake of his head. He held a finger to the sky like he was testing the direction of the wind. “I just messed the timing up a little bit. They should be here any moment, now. I feel it.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“That’s probably wise,” Tillian said. “Revin is only trustworthy when he has no other choice.”

“Even then, it’s a tossup,” Eline said.

R𝑒ad latest chapt𝒆rs at freewebnovёl.ƈom Only.

“You’re all going to regret being rude when the Apostle shows up and rips you all to shreds. Well, not Eline. I need her alive. Can’t have my students dying on me before I have a replacement. Getting a good egg-cooker in this day and age is quite troublesome.”

Somehow, that didn’t seem to reassure Eline very much. Noah couldn’t have imagined why.

“You know, you definitely did have time to explain just about anything you could have wanted to,” Noah said. “There wasn’t any rush at all.”

“We’ve already established that my timing may have been slightly off,” Revin grumbled. “It’s hardly my fault. I always time things to arrive at the last moment. Heroic entrances are far more entertaining than getting anywhere early.”

“That’s just a fancy way of saying you like being late,” Noah said.

“That may be one interpretation of it,” Revin allowed. “This really is taking longer than I thought it would. I could have sworn—”

The air between Noah and Revin shifted. A form snapped into existence as if it had always been there, appearing so fast that Noah’s eyes couldn’t even register any motion.

One moment, there had been nothing.

The next, there stood a tall woman clad in pitch black clothes. A woman with a black spiked collar around her neck.

“Ah,” Revin said, a satisfied smile splitting his features. “There. See? Behold. Our company has arrived. It seems she’s in a good mood. She hasn’t tried killing anyone yet. Allow me to introduce you, Vermil. This is—”

“Garina,” Noah said, fighting to hold back a relieved laugh. He wasn’t sure how the possibility had never crossed his mind, but Garina was an Apostle. There was absolutely no reason she couldn’t have been the one heading over to them. “You’re back early.”

The satisfaction on Revin’s features melted away as a flicker of surprise crossed by his eyes. He hadn’t realized Noah knew Garina.

Perhaps it was childish, but Noah couldn’t help but feel smug. It was rare that he’d seen anyone manage to get one over Revin. As insane as the man was, things seemed to end up working out in his favor more often than not.

“Revin,” Garina said. Her voice was flat and expressionless as she lifted a sandwich to her mouth and took a large bite out of it. “Out of every single being in this kingdom that could have drawn my attention, you’re probably the last one I actually want to see. What are you doing here?”

The surprise in the other man’s features didn’t last long. Revin was back to his normal self within instants.

“I was paying a friend a visit,” Revin replied. “Honestly, I’m surprised it took you so long to swing by. You’ve always been far more prompt in paying me a visit whenever I make my presence known. I thought you liked me.”

“I was preoccupied eating. And if I could kill you, I would.” Garina shoved the rest of her sandwich into her mouth and swallowed without chewing. Then she let out a sigh and sent a sidelong glance at Noah. “Why am I unsurprised to find that you’re somehow involved in this?”

“I have a talent.”

“So you’ve met,” Revin said. He crossed his arms in front of his chest. “Well, this just ruins the whole thing. No fun at all, really. Where’s the drama? The excitement? I don’t suppose you hate each other? Some unresolved sexual tension, perhaps?”

“I’m taken,” Noah said flatly.

“Enough of this, Revin,” Garina said. “I believe we agreed you would stay out of my way for quite some time. I am not pleased seeing you this early. Why did you call me here? You’re lucky you didn’t make any more noise. If one of the other Apostles had noticed, they would have —”

“Done nothing,” Revin finished. He let out a long yawn. “Believe it or not, I’m actually working. There have been some disturbing events brought to my attention. Significant ones. I’ll get into that in a moment. I’m waiting for my cool moment. Besides, I think we both know the other Apostles wouldn’t try their luck against me. Most of them would pose no challenge, and the ones that would aren’t stupid enough to waste time trying to fight me.”

The hair on the back of Noah’s neck prickled.

“Pose no challenge?” he repeated incredulously. The Apostles, if they were anything near as strong as Garina, were easily the most powerful existences in the entire Empire. He knew Revin was stronger than he’d indicated, but this was a whole different level of power. “Who are you, Revin?”

“Ah. My cool moment. There it is. I do believe I never got a chance to formally introduce myself. Allow me to rectify that.” Revin’s lips split a part in a wide grin and he leaned against his scythe. “My full title is Revin the Godeater, the former 8th Apostle of Decras.”