“Ronald!”

“Mister Hastings!”

“Are you in charge of this area this evening? What happened? I sensed a bit of magical energy fluctuations and also screams. Where is it coming from?”

“Yes. I also sensed them; I was on my way to the Fredrick House.”

“The Fredrick House!?”

“Yes.”

“Fuck! Hurry up!” Both of them stepped up their pace as they rushed towards the Fredrick House.

Once they reached the door, the silver adorned instructor Hastings pushed the door- it was not locked. He felt a sense of foreboding, but that did not stop him from entering along with his companion.

But the moment he entered, a metallic scent sieved through his nostrils, a smell that reminded of those dark days- days of bloodshed and deaths.

‘Blood!’ Both of them looked at each other, shock written on their face.

They rushed towards the core of the house, the metallic smell getting more intense with each and every step until they finally reached the destination.

They saw something that churned their very core. Even a veteran like instructor Hastings could admit that he had never seen a scene more horrible than this.

There were bodies- pieces of bodies to be exact- lying almost everywhere on the floor.

There was a body separated into a head along with spine and ‘others’. There was a naked female whose non existent abdomen was in a mess on the floor. There was a body with a crushed head nearby, brain-juice scattered. And probably the last, a completely dismembered body with its throat ripped off.

But any of these was not the weirdest thing in the room; that would be the young man- stained everywhere by blood- who was sitting at the dining table, cutting and putting in pieces of steak in his mouth. And he had a jolly smile on his face as if he were the happiest man in the world.

“Hey! Aren’t you the man who tested my combat capabilities? We meet again.” He said, food still stuffed in his mouth.

“How dare-” Before the assistant instructor called Ronald could finish his statement, his mouth was firmly covered by instructor Hastings’s hand; his fearful eyes conveying the words-

‘Do you want to get us killed?!’

“Hehe. Sir Adrian Darkheart, I sincerely apologise for not being able to come and meet you during this whole month.” He bowed.

“There’s nothing to apologise about; I know of your busy schedule. Have you had dinner yet?”

“Yes. I already-“

“I said- Have. You. Had. Dinner. Yet?” Adrian said emotionlessly as he lost his smile.

The instructor began to sweat profusely.

“On second thought, I am famished.”

“Great! Would you join me in dinner?” Adrian got his smile back as he invited the instructor.

“Sure! It is an honour.” He ran towards the seat beside Adrian’s as if he were running for his life.

The assistant instructor tried to follow but before he could-

“Who invited you?” The emotionless voice could be heard again.

“You! Stay right where you are. Once our conversation is over, I will join you.” The senior instructor feared nothing more than that emotionless voice- the voice which was engraved in his mind on that fateful exam day.

He soon sat beside the ‘monster’.

“About… this…” He pointed at the carcasses, trying go the most round-about way as possible.

“What do you do when some flies annoy you when you start to eat?”

“Swat them?” He raised his brows.

“Exactly!”

He again looks at the four carcasses and looked back at Adrian.

‘That is swatting flies?’ He asked himself.

“Who are they?” He was curious.

“I should be the one asking that. They are students of this Academy.”

“WHAT?!” He stood up from his seat and looked at the corpses again. Ignoring the one with the splattered skull, he looked at the other three. Now that he looked carefully, he found them familiar.

“Third and fourth years!” He muttered with surprise.

He then looked back at Adrian and asked, “Who are they working for? The Empire?”

“I don’t know, I tried to pry something out of them but they kept their lips tight.”

“Tsk. How daring to instil spies inside the Academy!” He clicked his tongue.

“But I have something vital to tell you.”

The assistant instructor was still standing at his position, a bit scared. He had looked at the bodies a few times and the more he looked, the more scared he got. So, he stopped looking at them. He had begun to observe the conversation between the student and the instructor.

Though he could not listen to anything, he had seen the instructor once standing up and looking at the messed up carcasses before sitting again. And now, the instructor again stood up with a shocked expression before sitting down again.

‘What are they speaking about?’ He was really curious.

And what he felt was weird was the fact that even though Mister Hastings was invited to ‘dinner’, neither did the student offer any food nor did the instructor ask for anything.

A few moments later, the instructor stood up again; but this time he bowed towards the student before turning around to leave.

‘Looks like it’s over.’ He thought.

“Ronald, go and bring someone to clean this place up.” The senior instructor ordered.

“On it.” He turned back to leave the dorm.

But before he could take a step forward, an overwhelming amount of energy locked onto him, restricting his movement. Before he could react, he felt sharp pain on both of his wrists and ankles. His tendons were cut. He lost his ability to move and fell down.

“Aaaaaaaaah!” He screamed from the intense pain.

Before he could regain his composure he felt a cold sensation on his throat. The senior instructor was pointing a sword at his throat.

“What are you doing?!” He shouted.

“Who sent you?”

“What do you mean?” His reaction was the same.

“Is it the Empire?”

“I don’t know what you are talking about.”

“Whatever. We will find out once we check the secret letters you have been hiding in your room.”

The assistant instructor’s expression finally changed.

“How did you know?”

“So, you are really a spy! I did not expect this from you Ronald!”

“Hahahaha!” The assistant instructor began to laugh crazily.

“So what if you’ve found out, you will fall! Long Live the Empire!”

*Boom!*

He exploded his magic core; killing himself in the process.

“It’s that damn Empire!” The instructor stomped his foot in rage.

“What the hell happened here?!” A few moments later, a middle aged woman entered the scene.

She was accompanied by two other senior instructors. Though they were too far away to sense the battle between low levels. The usage of property and the self destruction of a magic core attracted their attention.

“Greetings Principal! To you too- Miss Bell and Mister Northfields.” Instructor Hastings bowed.

They could not hide the shock they got from the bloody scene in the room.

“It’s like this…”

Instructor Hastings explained everything.

“So, these four students are actually spies from the Empire who tried to assassinate Adrian and Isabella; and so is assistant instructor Ronald.”

“Strange.” Instructor Northfields remarked. He was the same person who conducted the examinations this year.

“What?” Instructor Bell asked. Who could it be but Adrian’s class teacher?

But it was the principal who answered, “We know that there are Imperial spies among us; but the most they do is gathering information. They never attempted assassinations.”

“Maybe it’s because Adrian Darkheart is too pivotal.” Instructor Hastings remarked, attracting everyone’s attention.

“First of all, he is one of the most capable students we ever admitted- a perfect scorer. Furthermore, we can’t deny the fact that killing him in the Academy would increase the tension between Nemphis and Darkshore. And knowing Senior Darkheart, even a war might happen.” He explained.

Everyone nodded.

“But how did you know that Ronald was a spy?” Abegail Bell was curious.

“It’s all thanks to Adrian Darkheart, it was his suspicions.” He answered.

“On what basis?” She asked.

“It’s because of the time of the strike. Normally, the best period of assassinations is late night when everyone’s asleep. But the assassins decided to strike during dinner, which is definitely unusual. And at that time, the one in charge of patrolling the area was-“

“Ronald.” Abegail was the one who finished the statement.

“But what if it’s just a coincidence, what if he was innocent?” Abegail asked.

“This…” He looked at Adrian. He did not disclose the matter of those secret letters as Adrian asked him to keep it a secret.

Everyone followed and looked at Adrian, waiting for an answer.

Adrian nonchalantly finished his dinner, completely unbothered by the discussion between the instructors. He wiped his mouth and looked back at them, letting go of the jolly smile he always kept.

“So what? It’s better that an innocent be killed than a culprit go free.”

His nonchalant and emotionless reply sent a chill down the spines of everyone present. Even though everyone knew it was morally questionable, no one could gather words for a reply.

“By the way, were you the one who killed the assassins?” The principal asked instructor Hastings.

“No, Adrian killed them himself.”

“WHAT?!” Everyone was shocked.

But the principal was the one who regained composure the fastest.

“I want this whole incident to be confidential, understood?” She ordered.

“Understood!” They realised the significance behind this incident- that young man was a terrifying genius who could defeat three level 2 circlers and a level 3 one at once even when he was just a level 0 circler. This could be considered unprecedented in the history of the continent.

“We will leave then. Abegail and Michael, clean everything up with your fire and wind magic.” The principal commanded before leaving.

Instructor Hastings also bowed to Adrian one last time before leaving.

Instructor Abegail burnt all the bodies including the blood and bones. After which instructor Michael blew the ashes away with his wind magic.

Abegail cast one last glance at Adrian before leaving with instructor Northfields.

Once Adrian was left alone in the room, he looked at a direction which was not the east, as if he were gazing hundreds of miles away.

“Looks like a new player joined the game.” He smiled.