Three days had passed since Roel started camping in Melty’s dormitory house. There had been no changes in Melty’s life within these three days. She continued heading to the commercial street, the light music band club, cafés, and everywhere else she had been to while investigating Cheryl’s case.

  It was worth noting that these were all public places that boasted a huge crowd during the holidays, and she would always make sure to return with the crowd at night.

  She couldn’t afford to be alone for her own safety, but at the same time, she had to act normally in order to numb the enemy. This was what Roel had requested from Melty.

  This task proved to be extremely stressful for a young, untrained woman.

  Her heart wouldn’t stop beating in unease as she walked down the commercial street. Ever since she heard the full story from Roel, the feeling of being watched suddenly felt much more intense to her. She usually tried her best to shrug it off, but today, her intuition simply wouldn’t stop screaming warnings at her.

  An ominous premonition grew in her mind, and she instinctively understood that the evil cultists were going to make a move soon.

  This realization caused her face to stiffen up, and her hands simply wouldn’t stop trembling. She was in such a bad condition that her friends noticed her unnatural state and began asking if she was fine. There was a moment of silence as the faces of Roel and Cheryl surfaced in her mind, and she finally overcame her fear and attributed her condition to menstrual cramps.

  It was a reasonable explanation, so no one thought too much about it. In view of Melty’s poor condition, they decided to return to the dormitory together.

  As soon as Melty entered her house, she locked up the door as fast as she could, ran over to the sofa, and hugged a pillow tightly. She couldn’t stop her body from trembling.

  “Lord Roel, are you there?

  “Yes, I’m here.”


  A voice that echoed out of nowhere sent an overwhelming rush of relief to Melty that her tears started pouring down. She covered her face behind the pillow while apologizing with a choked-up voice.

  “I’m sorry, Lord Roel. I……”


  In a grayish parallel space, Roel sat on the sofa opposite to her. Watching as the frightened lady sobbed her eyes out, he sighed softly.

  “.…… Be strong. I have a feeling that he’ll appear soon. We’re already at the final part of the race.”


  A gentle voice comforted Melty, and she nodded her head slightly. It took a while before she wiped off the tears on her face and forcefully composed herself.

  “I apologize for my cowardice, Lord Roel.”


  “No, you have been incredibly brave.”


  Just looking at the lady before him made his heart ache a little. Be it in body and soul, it was clear that Melty was already at her limit.

  It’s about time to end things.

  With such thoughts in mind, Roel grabbed his staff tightly and offered his promise.

  “If I’m not mistaken, the perpetrator will be making a move tonight. In the name of Sia, I swear that I’ll keep you safe.”
……

  There shouldn’t be much of a problem here.

  In the forest slightly outside of the Third Residential Sector’s southwestern area, a middle-aged man dressed in a teacher’s robe was eyeing Melty’s room intently. His initially nervous heart had already mostly settled down by this point after a few days of observation.

  The strict order from the envoy had left him incredibly nervous, wondering if he had really screwed up here. To his relief, he couldn’t find any anomaly with Melty’s movements. Her schedule was mostly the same as before, and the places she visited were her usual spots too.

  She did return to the dormitory much earlier in the last two days, but that was nothing to worry about. On the contrary, it would be a cause for concern if a person who had spent a week looking for a missing person in futility didn’t look anxious and exhausted.

  Due to the apprehension the envoy had regarding the Bluerose Ringbearer, Marceus also took some time to observe the so-called Request Club, and what he saw allayed his worries.

  Over the last few days, the members of the Purplerose Faction had been dropping by the office of the Request Club to stir trouble. Needless to say, there was very little that First Grade students could do against the oppression from their Third Grade seniors.

  In fact, there were rumors that the two vice leaders of the Request Club had even stopped showing up at the office out of fear, instead camping it out in the Azure Manor under the pretext of devising a countermeasure with their leader, Roel Ascart.

  In order to avoid being viewed as cowards, the Bluerose Faction even went to the extent of hiring a bunch of coachmen to transport stones over to build a swimming pool. Their cowardly actions made Marceus burst into laughter.

  “What’s the big deal with the Ascart House anyway? They’re nothing more than ordinary nobles from the Theocracy. Tsk, the envoy is being too sensitive over nothing.”


  Marceus thought that the envoy and the others had gotten too timid due to the setbacks they had suffered in the past. True, the Ascart House might have posed a threat to them in the past, but it was all done and over with.

  The Ascarts might have prospered for one generation, but how long could that prosperity last?

  There hadn’t been any major news from the Ascart House in the last few decades, so Marceus didn’t know much about them and couldn’t be bothered to learn more either. In his view, any of the upper scholar houses in Leinster, which boasted the greatest density of transcendents in the world, could easily crush them.

  Ultimately, Roel was no more than an Origin Level 4 transcendent no matter how talented he might have been. What could he possibly do, especially now that he was being oppressed by the Purplerose Faction?

  The edges of Marceus’ lips curled up as he took out a little box and opened it up. A black object flew out from the box.

  It was a human eye.

  This was also the reason why the evil cult Marceus was in had to continuously secure new victims. They needed raw materials for their experiments. However, the ‘raw materials’ had to come from transcendents—especially powerful ones—as those were much more mana conducive and wouldn’t require additional processing before being put to use.

  Marceus quickly forged a mana connection with the human eye before sending it toward the dormitory. He raised one of his fingers, which was shining from pulsating mana, and placed it over his left eye.

  His field of vision immediately shifted over to that of the floating human eye. Through the dormitory’s windows, he entered Melty’s room on the third floor. It didn’t take long for him to spot a woman sitting before a desk, focused on her assignments.

  Thanks to the movements of the human eye being completely silent, she didn’t notice the intruder in her room.

  “There’s no one else,” murmured Marceus under his breath as he scanned every nook and cranny of the house.

  It wasn’t too surprising since he had already observed her for quite a few days now. There was also nothing particular of note about Melty other than the fact that her eyes looked a little red and puffy.

  Was she crying over her missing friend?

  Marceus couldn’t help but burst into laughter at the woman’s foolishness. Assured that everything was under control, he ordered the human eye to leave the house.

  “Don’t worry, your days of searching have come to an end. It’s time for others to search for you instead,” declared Marceus with a smirk as he glanced at the gradually darkening sky.

  Meanwhile, in a grayish parallel space, Roel watched as the human eye left the house, and a deep smile filled with murderous intent emerged on his lips.

  “You’re finally here.”
……

  Nightfall, the dormitories were plunged into silence. Marceus waited patiently for the light in Melty’s room to be extinguished. He confirmed once more that there was no one around before quickly making his move.

  He flitted skillfully under the dark sky, making it hard to discern him from the shadows. He silently infiltrated the dormitory building, and within moments, he was already on the third floor, standing right at the doorstep of Melty’s dormitory house.

  Instead of knocking down the door or breaking the lock, his body melted into a gooey substance, allowing him to squeeze through the crack beneath the door.

  Bit by bit, his liquidated body flowed into the room before swiftly reverting back to his original form. It was such a silent movement that it didn’t cause a stir at all. The woman sleeping in the bedroom remained soundly asleep, and there were no movements from the neighboring house either.

  In this peaceful environment, Marceus walked into the dark living room and peered into the bedroom, where Melty laid fast asleep on the bed. He reached into his pocket and prepared to make his move.

  He already had it all planned out.

  After killing Melty, he would vaporize her corpse using a corrosive acid. Once the stench dissipated, the troublesome woman would disappear from the face of the world, and he wouldn’t have to face the fury of the envoy anymore.

  Due to the special circumstances surrounding Leinster at the moment, Marceus decided to have his organization stop all operations after resolving this issue. They would wait out a few years for everything to settle down before resuming the hunt for quality experimental materials.

  In his view, Melty’s efforts were nothing more than a farce. She could have lived a happy, ignorant life, but she simply had to put her head where it didn’t belong. She should have known that curiosity killed the cat.

  He would remain an esteemed teacher in the academy, respected by all of the students. The organization would also continue to exist and operate from the shadows. The only ones who would disappear were the nosey meddlers.

  With a cold sneer, he began making his way into Melty’s room, but all of a sudden, he found his surroundings turning a little cold.

  Huh? What’s going on? Why is the temperature in the room even colder than outside?

  Before Marceus could even make sense of the situation, a hand suddenly appeared out of nowhere and grabbed his left arm. A surge of glacial air rushed into his body, threatening to freeze him inside-out. In an instant, the darkness was cloaked in a layer of white mist.

  A silhouette suddenly appeared beside Marceus. He immediately turned his head over, only to see a golden-eyed man staring at him with a smile. His voice was soft but dangerous, reminiscent of the whispers of the death god.

  “You’re finally here.”


  “Ahh—!”


  Excruciating pain exploded in Marceus’ body, squeezing a cry of agony out of him. At the same time, it enlightened him to an unbelievable fact.

  I have been tricked.

  “Goddamnit!”


  Marceus spat out a curse as he decisively severed his left arm to stop the spread of the frost, causing it to fall onto the ground with a loud plop. It was the right choice to make, for his arm continued to expand under the effects of the infused mana before abruptly exploding amidst a bloody firework, causing blood and flesh to splatter everywhere.

  The bits that were directed toward Melty’s room were blocked by a barrier, leaving her unharmed.

  Marceus’ face turned pale from the staggering amount of blood he had just lost, but he quickly backed away to distance himself from the enemy who had abruptly emerged from the darkness. He gritted his teeth tightly to bear with the pain while clasping tightly onto the stump left on his left shoulder.

  On the other hand, the golden-eyed man stepped onto the remains of his exploded arm and walked up toward him, closing the distance.

  “Shout if you want to. There’s no need to hold it in,” said Roel Ascart with a frighteningly intimate voice. “I’d love to hear your screams.”