(Third Person POV - Elian Delphine's Private Room)
In the West Tower of the Academy, reserved for high-ranking nobles, luxury was not merely a display, but a standard of living.
The room smelled of expensive lavender and aromatherapy candles that calmed the nerves. The red velvet carpet covering the floor cost the equivalent of a small village's income for a whole year. Crystal chandeliers hanging from the ceiling refracted magical light into elegant and mesmerizing dim rainbows.
However, the atmosphere in the room was far from beautiful. The air felt heavy, thick with fear and suppressed rage.
Elian Delphine sat on a maroon velvet sofa, swirling a bone china teacup with lazy movements. Warm steam scented with Earl Grey wafted thinly. His handsome face looked bored, as if watching a bad and tedious theater performance.
Beside him, Sophia Lunar sat with legs elegantly crossed, playing with the ends of her blonde hair while smiling amusedly at the tension in the room. Her eyes sparkled intelligently, enjoying every second of the unfolding drama.
Meanwhile, Karl Benzzi could not sit still. He paced back and forth with ragged breath, his face flushed red suppressing wrath. The veins in his neck bulged, ready to explode at any moment.
But it was not them who made the air in this room feel gripping.
Before the three great nobles, three people stood with heads bowed, cold sweat pouring down like condemned prisoners before an executioner.
Two adults in instructor uniforms, Robert and Adnia, and a brown-haired student known as Jake Valois. Cold sweat the size of corn kernels dripped from Jake's temples, falling onto the expensive carpet.
Silence reigned. There was only the soft clink as Elian placed his cup back on the saucer.
Clink.
The small sound made Jake's shoulders jump in shock.
"So..." Elian broke the silence with a smooth yet piercing voice. He did not look at them; his eyes remained fixed on the swirl of tea in his cup. "Operation 'Broken Wing'. Fund: thirty thousand gold coins. Preparation: one month. Involving two senior instructors and one talented Class B student."
Elian stopped swirling his glass. His gaze slowly rose, staring straight at Jake.
"And the result... the target is still alive, even promoted to Class B with honors. Explain to me which part of this joke is funny?"
Jake Valois, the Marquis's son usually arrogant in front of common students, now had trembling knees. He took a hesitant step forward, not daring to meet Elian's eyes directly.
Jake swallowed hard, his Adam's apple bobbing nervously.
"Young Master Elian... I-I have done everything according to plan," Jake stammered, his voice barely audible. "I used a Fourth Circle Summoning magic scroll to summon a Silver Golem right in their escape path!"
"Then why did those Class B kids run away in fear as if they saw a ghost? You said you would control the situation," Sophia interrupted with a sharp mocking tone.
"T-That was part of the plan, Miss Sophia!" Jake defended himself in panic. "I used Illusion Life magic on one student, Tommy. I spread information about a dying golem location through him, then faked his death. I created an illusion as if Tommy died trampled by a Golem and his badge was inactive. The goal was to terrorize the other students mentally so they wouldn't dare fight and would run toward Arin, bringing the horde of monsters with them!"
Jake swallowed again, his breath ragged trying to explain as fast as possible. "Theoretically, Arin should have died trampled in that chaos or killed by the Silver Golem. The illusion was perfect! Everyone believed the security system was dead!"
Elian did not respond to the lengthy explanation. He only glanced at Robert.
The homeroom teacher, usually looking lazy and uncaring, now stood stiffly with a rigid face. The pot-bellied middle-aged man trembled. Even though he was a teacher and they were students. But in this room, hierarchy was determined by last name, not age or academic position.
"And you, Mr. Teacher?" asked Elian politely, yet his tone implied a threat.
"I have manipulated Arin and Erika's badge algorithms, Young Master. I also directed the Class B students to run toward Arin's location via fake badge signals," reported Robert quickly, sweat soaking his shirt collar. "The emergency magic feature was disabled. Position signals were falsified to appear in the Safe Zone. And... I installed a passive tracker emitting low frequency to attract that Silver Golem to keep chasing them. Technically, they were alone there, because there was no way for them to call for Harpy help."
"And you, Adnia?" asked Elian, finally looking at the stern-faced woman.
Adnia squeezed her sweaty hands. "I... I bribed three field supervisors to be 'deaf and blind' for two hours in the northern sector. No one saw anything on the edge of the forest. Not only that, I have tried to cooperate with the Vice Principal to divert Madam Selena's focus from searching for Arin to fighting the Heretic issue."
Silence gripped the luxurious room again.
Three adults and one talented student, all had done their dirty work perfectly. Layered plans, systematic sabotage, and psychological manipulation. Yet the result remained nil. Arin was still breathing, even promoted with a hero's reputation.
"Heretic..." mumbled Elian softly, as if the word caught his attention.
Hearing that word, the faces of the three subordinates grew paler. They thought Elian was angry for that reason.
"Leave," ordered Elian suddenly, waving his hand as if shooing away annoying flies. "Your existence makes the air here smell of failure. I lost my appetite for tea."
The two of them gaped, looking at each other as if disbelieving they were allowed to leave just like that without physical punishment.
"Didn't you hear?" repeated Elian, this time slightly colder. "Leave... but remember, I do not tolerate a second failure. If it happens again, you will wish you were the real Tommy."
"T-Thank you, Young Master! Thank you very much!"
They bowed deeply, then hurriedly exited the room as fast as their legs could carry them. The door closed with a final click. They wanted to get away as far as possible from the presence of the young monster.
Once the door closed, the awaited explosion finally happened.
BAM!
Karl Benzzi slammed the marble table in the center of the room with his fist coated in red aura. The expensive table cracked in two, spilling fruit trays and crystal drink bottles onto the floor with a loud crash.
"DAMN IT! DAMN IT! DAMN IT!" roared Karl, kicking an empty sofa nearby until it flipped over. "Thirty thousand gold for that magic scroll! We already bribed teachers! I paid dearly for this operation! How could that sewer rat survive?! He is just trash without mana! Why is it so hard to kill him?!"
Sophia sighed long, picking up a grape from the floor that survived Karl's rampage. "Karl, you are so noisy. Can't you be angry with a little elegance? You are ruining the mood."
"Shut your mouth, Sophia!" snapped Karl, pointing at the girl's face. The veins in his neck bulged thickly. "You didn't feel the humiliation in public by that village whore! I want them dead! I want to see Arin's head rolling at my feet!"
Karl turned to Elian who still sat calmly without being disturbed in the slightest by the destroyed table in front of him.
"Elian! You said your plan was perfect! You said Arin would die and Elena would come back to me crying! What went wrong?! Why is he still alive?!"
Elian sipped his wine slowly, then placed his glass on the side table that was still intact.
"The plan was indeed perfect, Karl," answered Elian calmly, his voice contrasting with Karl's shouting. "The problem was not with our plan. But with... a stowaway."
"Stowaway?" Karl frowned, his breath still ragged. "What do you mean?"
"Heretics," cut in Sophia, her eyes narrowing intelligently while chewing a grape. "You heard Adnia's report earlier? There were traces of dark magic in the forest. Those are magic traces usually used by the Iron Blood Sect. You know, those crazy people in black robes?"
Elian nodded in agreement. He stood up, walking slowly toward the large window overlooking the pitch-black academy forest.
"At first I thought it was a coincidence," said Elian, his tone turning analytical. "But twice? As if it is a pattern."
"What do you mean twice?" asked Karl, his anger subsiding slightly replaced by confusion.
"Think, Karl," Elian turned, staring at his friend with a sharp gaze. "The Grizzly Bear incident at the beginning of the semester. You think I sent that Tier 3 monster into the forest?"
Karl fell silent for a moment. "Not you? I thought that was your initiative to get rid of Arin early."
"I am not ambitious enough to send a monster with an expensive magic scroll just for a little rat. Besides, my goal back then was only to frame the little rat for cheating, not kill him directly," sneered Elian. "And now, in the Forest Exam, Iron Blood Sect members appeared physically. That was also not part of my plan."
Sophia chimed in while playing with her glass, "I thought the Bear was Adnia's initiative wanting to seek favor."
"Adnia is stupid, but not reckless enough to release a wild monster without permission. She is too afraid of losing her position," answered Elian coldly. His red eyes flashed in the darkness of the room.
"So there is a third party?" guessed Sophia, eyebrows raised in interest.
"Yes. There is someone else who wants Arin's death... or maybe wants something from Arin. And they are piggybacking on my plan. They used the chaos I created as a cover for their own operation."
Sophia rested her chin on her hand, looking increasingly interested. "So, the failure of this operation was due to that third party's intervention? They messed up your scenario with their presence?"
"Exactly," answered Elian. "The sect blocked the area with an Anti-Mana Field. That prevented Selena from tracking, which was good for us. But it also made variables on the field uncontrollable. Arin survived not because he is strong, but because he was lucky to be in the middle of a storm of two colliding interests."
Karl clenched his fist again until his knuckles turned white. "Screw the third party! Let's make a new plan! This time I will hire professional assassins! I will hire the Shadow Guild! I will—"
"No," cut Elian firmly.
"What?! You want to back down?!" Karl stared in disbelief.
"We will hold back for a moment," decided Elian. He walked back to the sofa, picking up a thick leather-bound book lying there. "It is too risky to launch another attack when we do not know who this third player is. What if this 'stowaway' turns to attack us? I do not like playing chess in the dark, Karl."
"But Arin is still alive! He is still clinging to Elena! We have come this far, is there a way to back down?" protested Karl in frustration.
"Karl," said Elian without turning, his fingers turning the page of the book. "You can wash your hands of that Summoning failure. All the chaos in the forest, all the monsters running wild... you can blame it on the Iron Blood Sect. No investigation will lead to you. Selena Rhyms won't be able to trace your fund trail because it is covered by a terrorism incident."
"No! I cannot accept it! I want him dead now! Hire a Professional assassin no—"
Elian looked at Karl. Just a glance, but that look made Duke Benzzi's son fall silent instantly.
It was the empty gaze of an apex predator that tolerated no dissent. Cold, hollow, and deadly.
Karl gritted his teeth, but he obeyed. He knew his limits. He sat roughly on the remaining sofa.
"So we let him be?" asked Karl in disbelief, his voice weakening. "We let that trash feel like he won?"
"Let him live a little longer," said Elian softly, his lips curling into a thin smile. "Besides... this is getting interesting."
The rarely seen smile was carved on Elian's face. Not a friendly smile, but the smile of a child finding a new toy to break slowly.
"All this time, this Academy has been boring. Filled only with spoiled nobles hiding behind their fathers' names and commoners who know their place. The only one worthy of my attention is Albert Hall in first place."
Elian closed his book with a soft thud.
"But Arin... That rat. He managed to survive my plan, survive the Sect, and survive a Tier Three Monster without a single drop of mana."
Elian chuckled. A dry and hollow laugh. "He is an anomaly. And anomalies entertain me."
"So you want to make him a spectacle?" asked Sophia, raising an eyebrow.
"For the time being," answered Elian. "Let's see how far he can run with that cracked body. Besides, Karl... the enemy of your enemy can be your tool. Who knows, maybe that third party will finish our job without us needing to dirty our hands again."
Karl snorted roughly, dissatisfied but not daring to refute Elian's logic. He grabbed the wine bottle from the floor and downed it straight from the bottle roughly.
"Don't die yet, Arin. The game has just begun," muttered Karl full of vengeance.
Outside the window, the full moon shone brightly, illuminating Lion Academy which looked peaceful from the outside. But inside that luxurious tower, three young predators had just decided to change their hunting strategy.
And in the distance, the clock hands of Arin's fate kept ticking backward, counting the remaining time he had.