Chapter 292 - 287 — Code
Gordon stepped forward and bowed slightly to Malach.
"We’ve searched the entire fortress, Prime. There are no other intruders."
Malach merely nodded. His expression remained strangely cold despite having successfully cornered Kaiden, and even when he saw the dark look that had appeared on Kaiden’s face, there wasn’t the slightest hint of satisfaction in his eyes.
"Clever. Using the fire to slip one of your own inside while everyone was distracted. I’ll give the lightning prince that much."
A faint trace of anger flickered in Malach’s eyes before he quickly suppressed it. Still, he could feel the others watching him, and that alone told him enough.
They could tell something was wrong.
The truth was, Malach hadn’t anticipated the move at all. Looking at it now, it seemed so painfully obvious, yet somehow, it had completely slipped past him.
He had been ignoring Rhydan’s repeated attempts to reach him, and if he hadn’t finally answered and received Rhydan’s warning only minutes ago, Zephyrion’s plan would have succeeded. For the first time, Malach found himself genuinely grateful that he had decided to take an extra precaution and recruit that person.
The mere thought that Zephyrion had almost one-upped him was enough to send his mind spiraling.
’It was the fire. That’s all. I was distracted by the fire.’ he told himself.
That was all.
’There’s no way he’s smarter than me.’ He froze, realizing something else. ’Why am I even comparing myself to him?’
Yet somehow, even having to reassure himself of that fact made Zephyrion’s existence increasingly irritating.
’They’re watching me. Get a hold of yourself. They can never think he caught you off guard.’
Malach’s gaze briefly swept across the others. The way people perceived him was more important than anything else. It had been one of the first lessons his father had taught him, and one he had never forgotten.
No matter what happened, they must never see him as anything less than godly.
Malach calmly cleared his throat, burying the last traces of his anger before turning his attention back to Kaiden.
"But it was obvious. Painfully obvious, really. Still... the main reason it failed was you."
Kaiden narrowed his eyes. "...What?"
"You waited. Our defensive mechanism works differently at night. Once activated, it tracks every cadet inside the fortress and gives me an exact count. If you’d slipped into this room while everyone was still panicking over the fire, before I activated it, you might actually have remained hidden for a while. Instead, you decided to wait."
It was an utter lie.
The part about the defense mechanism was true, but it wasn’t how Malach had discovered Kaiden. He hadn’t even been paying attention to the mechanism until Rhydan warned him about the possibility of an intruder.
Of course, Kaiden knew none of that.
All he heard was that the one time he had chosen to suppress his instincts and actually use his head, it had somehow ended up being the wrong decision.
Kaiden gritted his teeth, disbelief and frustration twisting his expression.
Malach smiled upon seeing it. "Don’t look so upset. We’ll take very good care of you."
He gave a slight gesture with his hand, and the others instantly stepped forward.
What followed went about as expected. Kaiden might have been hard-headed, but he was only Mark Five, while the head cadets surrounding him were Mark Sixes, the strongest cadets in the Northern House. He fought back fiercely, but against all of them at once, there was little he could do.
A few brutal exchanges later, Kaiden was sprawled on the floor, bloodied and battered.
He glared up at Malach, who stood calmly over him. Anger burned in Kaiden’s eyes, but beneath it was something even stronger. Regret.
Because of him, the mission had failed.
Malach didn’t bother saying anything else. Instead, he glanced at Gordon and made a small gesture. Gordon immediately understood. He grabbed Kaiden’s arm and forced it upward, exposing the rune tab bound to it.
Kaiden frowned, but before he could understand what they were doing, Malach’s hand blurred. Several enchantments flashed into existence around him, and when Kaiden instinctively tried to speak, not a single sound came out.
His eyes widened briefly before snapping back toward Malach in a furious glare. Then, to Kaiden’s growing confusion, Malach reached forward and tapped his rune tab several times.
A soft click echoed. A moment later, a curt, cold voice came from the other end.
"Code."
Kaiden’s eyes immediately widened.
He violently tried to yank his arm away, but Gordon’s grip might as well have been made of iron. After several futile attempts, Kaiden finally stopped struggling, his breathing heavy as he glared at Malach.
Then, slowly, he calmed down.
’Wait... calm down. He doesn’t know the code.’
The thought immediately settled Kaiden’s nerves.
Before he left for the mission, Zephyrion had given him a secret code known only to the two of them. Without it, Zephyrion wouldn’t believe a single word supposedly coming from Kaiden’s mouth.
Malach seemed to notice the confidence returning to Kaiden’s eyes, and a faint smile appeared on his face.
Then his hand blurred again, several enchantments flashing through the air before disappearing almost as quickly as they had appeared.
A moment later, Kaiden’s own voice came perfectly from the enchantment.
"Cocksucker."
Kaiden felt his heart lurch.
His eyes widened in horror as he immediately began struggling again, violently trying to wrench his arm free from Gordon’s grip, but it was completely useless.
There was a brief silence from the other end. Then Zephyrion’s voice came again.
"Status."
Once more, Kaiden’s voice answered perfectly.
"Successful. You can proceed with the plan."
Another brief pause followed.
"...Alright."
The connection cut.
Kaiden stopped struggling. For several seconds, he could only stare at the rune tab strapped to his arm, his face slowly turning pale as ice.
What Malach had just done was insane.
If the southern army moved according to plan now, they would arrive believing the Bastion Core would be destroyed. Instead, they would be charging straight toward a fully defended fortress with its core and shields still completely intact.
They would be at a massive disadvantage. It would be a trap.
Yet somehow, that wasn’t even what shocked Kaiden the most.
His mind kept returning to that single word.
The code.
Only he and Zephyrion had been present when Zephyrion gave it to him. No one else should have heard it. No one else should have even known there was a code in the first place.
And yet Malach had known exactly what to say. Kaiden slowly raised his eyes toward him, disbelief written across his face.
Just... just how the hell did Malach know it?