Rumors have spread like wildfire. Some claim Lucien Drex is secretly in a relationship with Seraphina Vale. Others say he bribed Professor Mirein to get out of detention. And a select few whisper he's the reincarnation of the Architect.
Lucien, of course, has heard none of these. Or so he pretends.
Marcus Vale sat in the observation dome of House Ignis, fingers laced beneath his chin like a criminal mastermind in a cheap stage play. Virella Nocteyn stood behind him, arms folded, radiating noble frustration.
"It's time," Marcus said. "To humiliate Drex where it hurts most. Not on the battlefield. But in reputation."
Virella smirked. "You're thinking what I think you're thinking."
"An official investigation," Marcus confirmed. "Forgery. Tampering with the rankings. Falsifying records. We plant the evidence, and we make sure he can't worm his way out of it."
Renn: "Lucien, have you noticed a strange lack of tea today?"
Lucien, lounging upside down on his bed with a bowl of oddly glowing popcorn: "I'm on a tea detox. Today is snack-based thinking."
Renn: "No offense, but the entire academy is talking about you. Again."
Lucien: "Renn, people talk about me when I'm asleep. I'm living rent-free in the minds of half this continent."
Renn blinked. "Do you think someone's trying to sabotage you?"
Lucien flipped upright. Click. A sigil glowed briefly beneath his bed. "Sabotage implies I haven't already sabotaged their sabotage. But go on."
Renn: "I heard rumors that a few professors have been 'reviewing anomalies' in the ranking logs. Like your duel stats, your spell performance charts—"
Lucien: "Which were totally accurate and not at all generated from a pocket dimension hamster with a chalkboard."
Renn: "W-What?"
Lucien: "Nothing. I need to pay a visit to Professor Mirein."
Lucien stood at the door with a suspiciously cheerful grin.
Professor Mirein: "Drex, unless this is about an actual academic query, I am—"
Lucien: "Did you know someone's trying to use your log access credentials to frame a certain charming, dashing, trap-savvy student?"
Professor Mirein narrowed her eyes. "What are you talking about?"
Lucien produced a scroll. On it: a duplicate of Mirein's digital sigil seal—sloppily forged.
Lucien: "You might want to lock your spellbook vault tighter. Or your tea cabinet. Whichever hurts you more."
Professor Mirein: "This is forged. Very badly. I'd be offended if I weren't impressed at how obvious this was."
Lucien: "Exactly. Now the question is—why leave a forgery so detectable, unless they wanted you to find it and doubt the real data?"
Marcus: "Sir, we believe Lucien Drex has been tampering with the rankings. This document—"
Professor Alther holds up a hand. "You think you're the first to come to me with conspiracy papers this week?"
Virella: "But he has no verified duels, and yet his threat level in simulations is—"
Alther: "Let me guess. His grades are too perfect, his presence is too shadowy, his tea is too mysterious? Please. Unless you bring me undeniable proof, this is nothing more than another attempt to take down a student you envy."
Marcus frowned. "Then we'll go higher."
A secret underground newsletter pops up overnight.
> *"DREX FILED FORGED DUEL SCORES?" - An anonymous tipster claims he used memory-altering illusions during the Labyrinth Protocol."
Lucien reads the post while sipping iced mango juice. Caelum stands nearby, arms crossed.
Caelum: "You're really letting them run this whole campaign against you?"
Lucien: "The best way to win a game is to pretend you're losing—then swap the board entirely."
Caelum: "And when do we swap it?"
Lucien grinned. "When they think they've already won."
Professor Mirein arrives at the Council of Review. She's holding the forged sigil and a set of suspicious logs.
Mirein: "I've been notified of academic tampering... but it appears I was the first victim."
Whispers erupt among the council.
Dean Rhoen: "Tampering with an official professor's sigil is a felony offense."
Mirein: "And yet the style of forgery... is almost textbook. As if someone wanted it to be caught."
Operation Disgrace
Location: A hidden tower room beneath the East Wing — used by upper students for off-record meetings. Candles flicker against black-stone walls. Two chairs. One plan.
Marcus Vale leaned against the window frame, arms crossed, smirking at the board Virella was drawing on — a floating schematic of the Academy's weekly event bulletin and schedule matrix.
> Marcus: "It's all about momentum. We start by planting doubt in places that matter — credibility first, then reputation. Once we break that, even Lucien can't outtalk suspicion."
> Virella: "What about witnesses? He never leaves trails."
> Marcus: "That's where your family's reach comes in. The House of Libra has enough informants to 'find' what doesn't exist."
> Virella: "Fabricated logs? Attendance records?"
> Marcus: "And planted evidence."
A moment of silence passed before Virella sighed, rubbing his temple.
> Virella: "Feels cheap."
> Marcus: "You want him embarrassed or not? You think he'll duel you seriously? He won't. But ruin his image — turn the school against him? That he'll feel."
> Virella: "Fine. What's the story?"
Marcus turned, face half-lit by candlelight, his voice low and dramatic.
> Marcus: "An alchemy stash was sabotaged in the underground labs. Dangerous sigils altered. It almost caused a chain reaction. Professor Mirein suspects foul play — but she doesn't know who yet."
> Virella: (squinting) "And you're going to suggest it was Lucien?
> Marcus: "Not suggest. Confirm."
He stepped aside and conjured a shimmering folder — a forged evidence report glowing red. It bore Lucien's name.
> Marcus: "We plant it in the archives. We stage an anonymous complaint. And then we wait. Once the disciplinary committee sees this, the mock trial begins."
> Virella: "Won't he defend himself?"
> Marcus: "He won't get the chance. I've requested Professor Mirein herself to preside. She doesn't like Lucien much."
Virella smirked now.
> Virella: "So this is what the mighty Vale family does in its spare time?"
> Marcus: "Only when a pest is in the way of my cousin's future."
As the plan solidified, Virella added the final glyph to the floating diagram: a mask sigil.
> Virella: "What if he turns it around somehow?"
Marcus waved the concern away with a confident grin.
> Marcus: "He's good. But not that good."
> Virella: "You're underestimating him."
> Marcus: "And you're not underestimating me.
The candles flickered. Somewhere in the walls, a listening charm fizzled out.
Neither noticed
Virella grinned in his room. "Everything's in place. By this time next week, Drex will be academically crucified."
Marcus: "We let the system do the work."
But outside Virella's room, one of Lucien's perception bugs blinked its tiny glass eye.
Lucien's voice whispered from a hidden sigil:
> "Trap One complete.
> "Trap Two... loaded."