Chapter 21— The Hunter’s Chessboard.
Chapter 21— The Hunter’s Chessboard.
The faint glow of dawn barely pierced the thick fog blanketing the Academy’s central courtyard. A crisp morning breeze carried the distant ringing of the iron bells, signaling the mandatory gathering of all students and faculty in the Grand Amphitheater.
Inside his quarters, Kaelen sat cross-legged on his bed, his eyes closed.
In the quiet darkness of his mind, the system interface floated in brilliant, translucent gold.
[ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ]
[ Total Raw Energy Available: 500/500 ]
[ Unused Tokens: Skill Upgrade Token x1 ]
[ CORE RANK EVOLUTION AVAILABLE. Initiate Evolution? ] (Y/N)]
Kaelen mentally selected Yes.
Instantly, a wave of liquid fire surged from his stomach through his mana circuits.
His veins blackened temporarily as the refined energy he had stolen from Tsubaki’s ancestral core and the Vault’s Imperial Fragment merged, compressing into a dense, solid crystalline sphere at his center.
[EVOLUTION COMPLETE.]
[Core Rank Advanced: F-Rank Void Core -> E-Rank Refined Void Core.]
[All physical attributes increased by +25%. ]
[ NEW PASSIVE UNLOCKED: Shadow Veil—Suppresses all mana leakage. You now appear completely mana-less to external inspections.]
Kaelen opened his eyes. The world seemed clearer, sharper. The subtle vibrations of mana in the room felt like threads he could pluck at will.
Better yet, the Shadow Veil guaranteed that even a High Inquisitor like Malakor couldn’t detect his true strength.
Beside his desk, Tsubaki was pacing back and forth nervously, his official noble robes immaculate, but his face was pale.
"Malakor called an emergency assembly," Tsubaki whispered, checking his rapier.
"He claims it’s to introduce the Capital Delegation’s security protocols, but after last night... he’s looking for whoever took that ledger."
" Let him look," Kaelen said smoothly, standing up and adjusting his dark academy coat.
" He’s searching for a thief. He doesn’t realize he’s already caught in a trap."
" What are you going to do with the tracking marker you placed on him? "
Tsubaki asked, stepping closer.
Kaelen brought up the minimap interface in his peripheral vision. A pulsing crimson dot was currently stationary at the high podium of the Grand Amphitheater.
" Malakor thinks he holds all the cards because of his rank," Kaelen replied, a faint, cold smile touching his lips.
" Today, we leak just enough information to make him panic. When a rat panics, it makes mistakes."
Twenty minutes later, the Grand Amphitheater was packed with hundreds of students, instructors, and heavily armed Imperial Enforcers.
At the center of the raised marble stage stood High Inquisitor Malakor. His crimson mantle caught the daylight, and his aura radiated a suffocating Rank 4 pressure that kept the entire hall in dead silence.
Instructor Vance stood to the side, his arms crossed, his eyes narrowed with quiet mistrust.
"Students of the Academy," Malakor’s voice echoed across the amphitheater, amplified by a wind spell.
"Last night, a breach occurred in the Restricted Archives. A treasonous act was committed against the Crown."
A wave of shocked whispers rippled through the crowd of students.
Malakor stepped forward, his piercing gaze scanning the audience.
"The culprit left behind trace signatures of dark mana. Until the offender is identified, the Capital Delegation is placing the entire campus under Martial Directive Alpha. All student dorms will be searched, and every core will undergo a mandatory force inspection."
Tsubaki’s heart skipped a beat in the audience, but Kaelen remained completely unbothered.
Mandatory core inspection? Kaelen thought. He’s using the breach as an excuse to scan every noble student and find out who holds the syndicate’s secrets.
"However," Malakor continued,
"Before we begin the inspection, I require two volunteers from the martial department to assist the Enforcers with boundary monitoring. Lord Tsubaki Iwanome... and his attendant, Kaelen."
The crowd turned toward them. Tsubaki froze.
Kaelen calmly stepped forward, bowing respectfully.
"We are honored to serve the delegation, High Inquisitor."
As Kaelen walked down the aisle toward the stage, he mentally triggered his newly upgraded system function.
[EXPLOITING TRACKING MARKER: Void Echo Resonance.]
[ TARGET: High Inquisitor Malakor.]
[ACTION: Transmitting Encrypted Signal to Malakor’s Personal Storage Ring.]
High Inquisitor Malakor was about to speak again when his eyes suddenly widened. A sharp, icy sensation pulsed against his finger; his personal spatial ring, where he kept his private syndicate communications, had just received an unauthorized, anonymous mana ping.
Inside Malakor’s mind, a single line of text flashed through his mana link, derived directly from the stolen ledger:
" The Obsidian Rose knows about the 40,000 gold bribes from the Capital Treasure, commander Malakor."
Malakor’s face turned deathly pale for a fraction of a second. His Rank 4 aura flared wildly, shattering a nearby decorative stone pillar with a loud.
CRACK!
The entire amphitheater gasped in terror.
Instructor Vance instantly stepped forward, his hand resting on his sword hilt.
"High Inquisitor? Is something wrong?"
Malakor forced his breathing to stabilize, his eyes darting frantically across the crowd of hundreds of students. He had no idea who sent the message or how someone breached his spatial ring’s defenses, but he now knew the thief wasn’t just a random intruder; they had decoded the syndicate ledger and knew his deepest secret.
Standing right in front of the stage, Kaelen kept his eyes respectfully lowered, his expression completely blank, while the system interface confirmed his success.
[ PSYCHOLOGICAL STRIKE SUCCESSFUL!]
[Target Alignment Unstabilized: High Inquisitor Malakor paranoia level +80%.]
[ QUEST GENERATED: The Mole’s Desperation (Eliminate or Expose Malakor within 48 Hours). ]
"Nothing is wrong, Vance," Malakor gritted out, his voice noticeably strained as sweat beaded on his forehead.
" Assign the boy and Iwanome to Gate 3 immediately. Dismissed! "
As Malakor turned around and rushed off the stage toward his private quarters, Kaelen raised his head. His dark eyes glinted with gold satisfaction.
"The hunt has officially begun," Kaelen whispered.
The dismissal caused an immediate wave of panic throughout the amphitheater.
Students began whispering frantically, casting terrified glances at the shattered marble pillar, while instructors scrambled to restore order and lead the noble houses back to their quarters.
Kaelen nudged Tsubaki, guiding him smoothly through the dispersing crowd.
They made their way toward the western edge of the campus, where Gate 3 stood as the main trade barrier.
Heavy iron bars locked the archway, guarded by four heavily armored Enforcers holding enchanted halberds.
"Why Gate 3?" Tsubaki muttered under his breath once they were well away from the main plaza.
"Malakor’s singled us out in front of everyone. He wanted us away from the central dorms where the instructors are monitoring."
"Because he’s terrified," Kaelen replied, his voice calm and even.
"Gate 3 is the furthest post from the High Tower. He wants to isolate us while he frantically verifies who inside his inner circle leaked the information about the bribes."
"He thinks there’s a traitor inside the Obsidian Rose..." Tsubaki realized, his eyes widening in comprehension.
"He doesn’t even suspect a student took the ledger."
"Precisely. A paranoid man always suspects his allies before he suspects a servant."
while walking, Kaelen summoned his system interface in his peripheral vision to spend his remaining reward token.
[UNUSED TOKENS: Skill Upgrade Token x1]
[ SELECT SKILL TO UPGRADE: Mana Drain.]
[UPGRADE COMPLETE: Mana Drain (Level 2)—Drain speed +50%. Can now siphon energy directly through weapon contact.]
A subtle wave of warmth flowed through Kaelen’s forearms as the system enchanted his capacity. He then pulled up the internal tracking map. The pulsing crimson dot representing High Inquisitor Malakor was moving erratically inside the high tower, a clear sign of a man losing control of his emotions.
When they reached Gate 3, the guards barely acknowledged them, preoccupied with the lockdown orders. Kaelen and Tsubaki took their positions on the stone walkway overlooking the fog-covered perimeter road.
Suddenly, Kaelen’s system interface flashed a violent, crimson alert in his retinas. Vibrating with urgent danger warnings.
[WARNING: ANOMALOUS MANA SPIKE DETECTED!]
[ TARGET: High Inquisitor Malakor.]
[ SYSTEM ANALYSIS: Target had initiated a secret Syndicate Blood-lock Protocol.]
[ALERT: High Inquisitor Malakor is mobilizing an elite Shadow-Blade hit squad toward Gate 3 to execute all witnesses and purge the post.]
The heavy fog at the end of the road began to swirl unnaturally. Dark, cloaked silhouettes emerged from the shadows, their blades drawn and glowing with lethal purple mana.
Kaelen stopped in his tracks, a cold, sharp glint filling his dark eyes.
"Tsubaki," Kaelen said softly, his voice dropping into a dangerous, lethal whisper as he gripped his dagger.
"Draw your blade. He’s not waiting 48 hours... he’s coming to kill us right now."
Tsubaki adjusted his sword belt with a shaking hand, his breath visible in the chilly air.
"If Malakor is this unstable, Kaelen, the entire Academy will become a warzone before sunset. The delegation brought high-tier enforcers; if they shut down the gates completely, we won’t even be able to slip out."
"That is precisely why we are here,"Kaelen murmured, his eyes scanning every shadowed alcove of the stone ramparts.
"Paranoia turns powerful men into fools.
Malakor is currently double-checking his private records, trying to figure out which of his contacts in the capital betrayed him. He’s looking at his peers, his superiors, even his subordinates in the Obsidian Rose."
"And while he’s looking up," Tsubaki whispered, a grim realization setting over his features.
"He has no idea the blade is coming from below."
"None," Kaelen agreed, feeling the newly refined E-RANK mana calculating smoothly through his veins, hidden seamlessly under the Shadow Veil.
"To him, we are just a minor noble and a quiet servant assigned to guard duty. But when a cornered beast panics, it doesn’t calculate risk; it simply lashes out at anything it deems a potential witness."