The Shadow Companions headed towards me and I unsheathed my kris sword. It seemed that they were focusing on me so I had to stay away from the students. In other words, I had to stay on the stage.

Anya. I need assistance, I told her.

Got it, she replied.

"Shadow Companion!" I shouted and another creature made of darkness appeared.

With Shadow Companion backing me up, I managed to survive long enough until Temma managed to reach my side.

Temma was busy dealing with the Shadow Companions and I noticed one weird thing.

"Why aren't you using magic?" I asked.

"I've been trying to use Mind's Eye for the past few minutes but I can't! There's an anti-magic barrier active!" he answered.

An anti-magic barrier? From what I learned in this world, anti-magic barriers were difficult to set up. In other words, someone planned this attack. But who would attack a school using Dark Magic?

I then noticed that somehow, they managed to use magic and summoned these creatures even if there was an anti-magic barrier. There was only one organization that could do it.

The Unkindness was here!

Captain Noel was leading the evacuation of the students. However, I saw that the walls and doors of the gymnasium were covered in darkness. No one was allowed to leave.

This was very bad. Why did the Unkindness choose to attack me now of all times? Temma couldn't use his magic thanks to the anti-magic barrier and Captain Noel was prioritizing the lives of the students so she couldn't recklessly use her strength. At least the Shadow Companions were focusing on me.

More Shadow Companions appeared and they charged at me. It seemed they were too focused on trying to get me to even notice the students. That meant I should stay as far away from them.

The Shadow Companions continued their onslaught and I managed to hold them back. Temma and my Shadow Companion also helped out but there was one problem. Every time we would defeat a Shadow Companion, a new one would replace it. There was no end to them.

You are just using your own darkness. As the Primordial Dark, you have the authority to use every darkness in existence, Yagoo's words echoed in my mind.

I had an idea on how to solve this.

"Temma! Anya! Can you guys hold them off for a minute or two?!" I asked.

"I'll try!" Temma said.

I closed my eyes and imagined the darkness in each and everyone around here. After concentrating my senses, I could feel the Shadow Companions. All of them were connected to one person. If I focused on that connection, I could find the person who was controlling them and hopefully defeat them.

It didn't take me long until I spotted the person who was controlling them. I opened my eyes and saw the person who was responsible for this mess. He was a middle-aged man wearing a teacher's uniform.

The Unkindness had members in this school? However, I had no time to debate about it as I willed my shadow to turn into a spike and lunge into him.

He was surprised by my attack and he raised his own shadow to turn into a wall. That confirmed it. If he was able to do Dark Magic in a place where an anti-magic barrier was active, then he was involved with the Unkindness.

"Temma! Captain Noel! That person is the one behind this mess!" I shouted.

Captain Noel charged at him and he made his shadow into a wall between them. She then punched the shadow and it crumbled into pieces. Some of the Shadow Companions directed their attention at Captain Noel.

Temma and I cut through our enemies and were slowly approaching the man. This was great. We could beat him!

"Kyaa!" a voice shouted.

I couldn't believe I just jinxed myself.

Two Shadow Companions were holding a student each. One had a blonde girl while the other had Momo.

"If you continue your attacks, I will kill those two", the man threatened.

"Professor Trex? You are an enemy?" the blonde girl asked.

"I'm sorry, Miss Haato and Miss Momo. But desperate times call for desperate measures", he said.

Because of the hostages, we couldn't attack him. The two Shadow Companions walked towards him dragging the girls along with them.

"My demands are simple. I want the administrative officer to come with me", Trex said.

"Do you think you can escape from us?" Temma asked.

A magic circle appeared nearby.

"Yes. All I want is the administrative officer and we will teleport ourselves away from this. I shall release these two girls once I have successfully captured him."

Did he say teleport?

"Do you think we'll gladly give up one of our own?!" Captain Noel asked.

"Captain Noel. It's fine", I told her.

"Mikage?" Temma looked at me.

"You want me? Fine. As long as you promise to let go of the girls once we teleport away, I'll let you capture me."

"I'm glad you are a logical person, Mister Mikage", he said.

I walked towards him and all the Shadow Companions disappeared except for the two that were standing near me. The blonde girl and Momo were still held by the Shadow Companions and we began walking towards the magic circle.

Anya. Can you call Ars? I asked her in my mind.

Do you need something? Ars' voice echoed in my mind.

I am the Primordial Dark's vessel. I have authority over every darkness. Do you think I can do this?

I explained to her my plan.

I have never thought of it but fundamentally, it should be the same as forcefully controlling another person's summon creature. This is what you need to do.

Ars explained to me how to execute my plan as we stood in the magic circle. Trex snapped his fingers and the scenery changed.

We were in the middle of a forest and Trex looked confused.

"What's going on? We are supposed to be teleported to our base", he asked.

"YOU FELL FOR IT, FOOL!" I shouted and I unleashed my magic.

The Shadow Companions holding the blonde girl and Momo released them and charged at the man. He tried his best to regain control of them but it was useless. I was the Primordial Dark's vessel and controlling them was very easy.

A Shadow Companion's arm turned into a sharp blade and stabbed him. He was a dangerous person and I knew that he should be killed. If I wanted to escape safely, he had to lose his life. This was simple self-defense.

Trex groaned but he faced his palm up to the sky. A ball of darkness shot from it and exploded.

That's a signal for other Dark Mages. The other members of the Unkindness now know where you are! Anya told me.

"You should have gone for the head", Trex smirked and he took out a crystal.

We were blinded by the light when the crystal glowed. After it died down, Trex was lying dead on the ground.

However, there was one problem.

"Hey, are you alright?!" Momo asked.

Even without using magic, tiny bits of darkness were oozing out of my body. An eerie feeling appeared in my gut along with sadness. Also, I felt power surging through my veins. It was similar to when we were investigating Arthur Karalis' death and fought the man from Unkindness.

This was bad. The Primordial Dark inside me was agitated.

###

A/N: A lil announcement: I'll be taking another break after I'm done with this arc. College recently started and I'm trying to get used to going back to the daily grind. Once things calm down, I'll return.