Chapter 243: Under Scrutiny
"Ekhm..."
Ragnar cleared his throat and tidied up his uniform.
He inspected his knuckles once more, ensuring not a trace of blood remained, before twisting the steel handle and pushing the door open. And the moment the door swung—the sight that greeted him drew a frown from somewhere deep within, though his mask hid it well.
Seems like the situation was worse than he thought it would be.
’So many students...’
More than thirty students gathered in front of the steel door—forming the shape of a crescent moon, which gave him no way to escape. Currently, Ragnar was in quite a spacious area near the furthest corner of the garden.
A few seniors knew about this place.
It was found accidentally.
Behind the overgrowth and vines, there was a door that led to an abandoned basement room that nobody knew what it was built for. Though that was the case, some students realized that it was hard to detect anyone within this basement room.
Perhaps because it was deep, or perhaps there was something that blocked mana.
Either way, it was the perfect place to isolate Kai.
Knowing that Kai had allies, Ragnar did instruct the two grey-masked Angels to bring him to the academy first and then used the backway to escort him to the garden—without anyone noticing, anticipating something like this to happen.
But it seemed they were caught in the act.
Someone had found out where they were and spread it to the other students.
"What seemed to be the problem here?" Ragnar asked with a pacifying tone. His senior mask was covering his face, but he still put on a smile. "What brought you juniors to this part of the garden?"
"We want an explanation."
A student stepped forward, and even with the mask, Ragnar recognized who she was.
Matilda.
"We want an explanation of what really happened in the dormitory." She said demandingly.
Others behind her nodded and agreed with her.
It was clear that Matilda was the core of this problem, which soured Ragnar’s mood.
"I already said earlier that a student had attempted to murder another student. All of you are now Blooded Angels—so the academy will take any killings seriously," Ragnar replied, trying his best to sound as reasonable as he could. "Once the academy finishes its investigation into this incident, there will be an official statement through your phones or through the billbo—"
"That’s bullshit!"
"We don’t believe that. There’s no way."
"Yeah, it was too sudden. Something more is going on here, so tell us the truth."
"As I said," Ragnar raised his hands—trying to calm them down. "I can’t really say much. I only found Angel Abigail and her sister inside room thirty-three, and the guard Angels told me that Lesser Angel Kai was in the room with them—found covered in their blood and holding a scimitar."
"That’s suspiciously convenient for Lesser Angel Kai to be apprehended three days away from the tournament," Matilda replied. Her voice was loud and cold, adding fuel to the fire. "Very convenient."
"Yeah, that’s right! That’s too suspicious!"
"And Abigail? Lesser Angel Kai never had a problem with her."
"I assure you, there’s nothing suspicious going on," Ragnar defended himself. "Nothing."
But even then, the students weren’t buying it.
"Then why can’t we enter the dormitory and see for ourselves?"
"Why are the guard Angels guarding the dormitory tightly like that?"
"Of course, the crime scene must be preserved. We can’t let everyone enter. Just one rep—"
"In that case, why did you have to represent us? You’re from the student council—but you’re not one of us. You’re a part of the academy, not us. At least let one of us see the crime scene. I believe even a random one from us would suffice."
"You have to bring this matter to the academy if you want that, I really can’t he—"
"What about the Ichor Legion and the Auric Cabal? Both called every single freshman to have a proper meeting to bond as we never did after the Blood Rite. And yet, this incident happened right when we’re not in the dormitory."
"I-I don’t know anything about that... You have to ask them directly."
Ragnar was bombarded with countless questions as the students felt wronged.
For the Ichor Legion and the Auric Cabal to call for them out of nowhere, and then the grey-masked Angels moved quickly to apprehend Kai as if they knew what was going to happen, and then brought Kai away before most of them were present, sounded like a setup.
It seemed like the academy and the top groups were colluding behind their backs.
And that was something that didn’t sit right for them.
Tonight, the Lesser Angel was the victim. But tomorrow, it could be any one of them. The top groups collaborating with the academy was an unfair violation of even the First Sky’s brutal standards—and the students were furious.
Matilda watched Ragnar scramble to answer with a satisfied smile on her face.
She was the one who informed the others what was really going on and brought them here.
Some students were secretly looking up to Kai for trying his hardest despite every single rule within the academy being against him severely—and that was made clear by the student who informed them about what Ragnar did in the shadow.
Even then, these students wouldn’t step up for Kai out of fear for their safety.
But right now, with the academy and the top groups working together openly—the threat was no longer distant. It pressed against every student. If they stayed silent and let them do this, then they would be the victims next.
Soon, the simple act of bumping into a student from the top groups might be fatal.
And living in that kind of situation would be far worse than now.
Matilda seized that fear and forged it into action, rallying the students to confront Ragnar.
’I bought you time, Bree. Now it’s your turn.’
Meanwhile, inside the chamber.
Pain was no longer a sensation. It was a place. It had walls and a floor and a ceiling—and Kai had been living inside it for not even an hour, but he could already no longer remember what it felt like to exist outside.
It merged with his body until there was no distinction between the nerve and the scream.
After Ragnar left the chamber, the agony started.
High Angel Hensen had begun whipping him again and again without pause.
He swung the serrated lash at Kai’s back repeatedly—each stroke a molten line drawn across his back, and each crack of leather against skin a thunderclap in the stone silence. Kai felt the barbs biting deep, tearing through the ruin of his shirt, through skin, and through muscle.
Blood sheeted down his back in hot trails, pooling in the drains beneath him, and his screams echoed off the circular walls until the chamber itself seemed to be howling with him. Seemed to share his pain.
Crack—!
"Come on, little killer! Scream! Scream more for me!"
"Raarghk!"
"Yes, that’s it. Keep singing! Sing!"
Maniacal laughter echoed across the chamber.
High Angel Hensen stared at the blood and Kai’s pained face and felt arousal surging in him.
Being treated as a minion by Ragnar, he endured it all simply because there was a chance that he would be given a day like this. A day that he could do anything he wanted to someone without any repercussions.
A legal way to satiate his perverted violence.
Kai’s body betrayed him. Sweat poured from his skin, soaking through what remained of his clothes. His vision clouded, focus dissolved into blurred smears of grey stone and silvery light, only to snap back into agonizing clarity with the next stroke.
He collapsed several times in his mind, but his body remained upright.
Locked in place by the chains and forced to receive every blow on his knees.
High Angel Hensen drank it in.
Every scream was music to his ears—a symphony of suffering that made him throw his head back and howl with something close to euphoria. A wolf that was excited after finally killing an Alpha of another pack.
A Supernal of Morpheus should’ve been silent, passive, and lazy.
Shaped by the God of Dream’s calm and detached nature.
As a High Angel with five Divine Locks, that influence should’ve been overwhelming. But the bloodthirst in him, the psychopathic glee, was too strong to be suppressed by his bloodline. It bled through the divinity and painted his face with a grin that never faltered.
Another crack.
A particularly vicious stroke opened a wide, gaping wound across Kai’s shoulder blades.
Finally, his body gave out.
His strength fled, his knees buckled, and he slumped forward—the chains rattled loudly as they caught his weight. Kai hung there, face dropped toward the drains, and blood dripped from his back onto the stained stone.
Surprisingly, the whipping stopped.
Kai could hear High Angel Hensen moving somewhere behind him, doing something.
Preparing, perhaps, or simply savouring the moment.
Regardless of what he was doing, Kai didn’t care, or rather, was too tired to care. The pain on his back was a living thing now, wrapping around every inch of his body, crushing, making even the simple act of drawing breath painful to do.
His frame had shrivelled inward, shoulders hunched, and spine curved.
As though his body was trying to fold itself into something too small to hurt.
And yet his mind had detached.
It floated somewhere above the pain, above the chamber, above the blood and the sweat and the grinning monster behind him. It was no longer focused on the suffering. In fact, it had not been focused on the suffering at all.
Instead, it was focused on the tournament.
On enduring this torment.
On the cold, hard facts that would keep him alive.
Firstly, now Kai knew that Ragnar couldn’t kill him. The crowd outside, the students who were demanding answers, were his shield. As long as that pressure existed, he would be safe. Until Ragnar found a way to calm the masses, his hands would remain tied.
Second, the pain, though it was breaking his body apart, was also electrifying his mind.
It kept him sharp. It kept him awake.
And most importantly, it stripped away every distraction, leaving only the essentials.
He could use that, and he would.
And last, Kai also learned that Ragnar was helping Chester—the same way Professor Richard was helping Lion. Reckless. All-out. That much was clear now. And if he’s backing Chester to this extent, then Chester would have been given every advantage imaginable.
Gear. Weapons. Something to bolster his strength and mana.
Like the drug Lion had taken, or perhaps something even more potent than that.
Kai could assume nothing less.
Chester would come into the tournament armed to the teeth, and enhanced beyond his limits.
It was clear now that he needed to grow even stronger.
But how can I do that when I’m tortured like this?