Inside the office of the Demon Suppression Agency President, a small, minimally decorated room housed two leather couches positioned to face each other. At the far end, a well-polished wooden desk stood facing the door, behind which a slender woman sat, jotting sothing down with a quilted pen. A neatly stacked pile of papers rested beside her.
Despite holding the prestigious position of Association President, she was relatively young, likely in her late twenties. Her delicate features frad by dyed red hair tied back in a loose ponytail gave her an air of refinent, while the wine-red eyes behind her glasses exuded focus and intelligence.
Whether viewed from near or far, people would regard her as soone with a calm and dignified lady, like a scholar imrsed in deep contemplation about a certain topic or a strategist quietly shaping the course of a battlefield.
Yet beneath that composed exterior lay sothing far more dangerous. She was a predator bound in chains, waiting with infinite patience for the mont she would be unleashed upon the world.
This was the true nature of Tessa Thornecroft, the president of the Demon Suppression Agency's Holy Land branch.
The world knew her by a different na.
The Bloodrune Sorcerer.
"Ugh."
Tessa sighed and then rubbed her temple before setting the quilted pen down. Leaning back in her chair, she reached into her pocket and retrieved a worn packet of cigarettes.
She pulled out one from the packet and lit it up using a lighter.
Tessa took a slow drag, inhaling deeply as the tip of the cigarette burned a dull orange. Smoke curled from her lips, dissipating into the dimly lit office.
She exhaled, watching the smoke swirl toward the ceiling before closing her eyes for a brief mont. The constant workload, the endless reports, the bureaucratic nonsense, it was simply all exhausting. She wasn't a damn administrator.
She was a sorcerer, a practisioner of magic, a researcher of mysteries, and a hunter of nightmares yet here she was, buried under a bunch of paperwork.
When she graduated from the Mage Association, she hadn't expected this.
She had assud leading a Demon Suppression branch wouldn't be too troubleso. She had been painfully naïve. If she had known what she was signing up for, she would have burned the contract on the spot.
"If another pointless request lands on my desk, I swear I'll incinerate it on the spot."
Knock! Knock!
As if the world had heard her complaint and decided to mock her, a sudden knock shattered her train of thoughts.
Tessa cracked one eye open, already irritated.
She hissed.
"Co in."
The door creaked open, revealing a tall man clad in a black long coat, the silver insignia of the Agency pinned to his collar. Naturally, this person was the Vice-president of this Demon Suppression Branch.
His cold eyes t hers before flicking down to the cigarette between her fingers.
"Still indulging in bad habits, Madam President?" His voice carried the dry amusent of soone who had pointed this out far too many tis. "You do realize smoking inside the building is prohibited? If anyone else were caught, they'd be fined heavily in valis."
Tessa scoffed, then took another drag. "And you're still sticking your nose where it doesn't belong, I see. Isn't that right, Georgia?"
Georgia stepped inside and closed the door behind him. "I wouldn't be here if it wasn't important."
She stared at his face for a mont before she signed and then flicked the cigarette into the ashtray. "Go on, then. What's so urgent that it couldn't wait?"
Reaching into his coat, he pulled out a letter and placed it on her desk.
A single glance at the seal made Tessa narrow her eyes.
The wax bore the emblem of the Holy Land.
"Isn't that…?"
"Indeed, this is a letter of recomndation signed by the Pope, Heinrich Wulfheim himself."
"People from the church ca here?"
"That's correct. A few people ca here and claid they were vassals sent by the Veterans to challenge the Tower."
Tessa's brow twitched.
"Well, isn't that just fantastic? They show up unannounced, without so much as a formal notice. No, even if they're a bunch of arrogant bastards who do whatever they want, they'd at least go through the basic formalities. Yes?"
"I agree."
"Where are these so-called vassals of the church? Are they downstairs?"
"No. They've already left."
"...Wait a minute. They ca and left, yet I wasn't even inford? What the hell is going on downstairs?! This is an important matter!"
"There's no need to get upset. You'll just raise your blood pressure. By the way, have you been eating too much sugar?"
"What does my sugar intake have to do with anything?! And don't try to shift the subject!"
Tessa slamd both of her hands on the desk.
Georgia let out a sigh, as if dealing with a child throwing a tantrum.
"The church conducts its matters with strict discipline. There's a high possibility the receptionist would have been punished if they didn't attend to them imdiately."
"That's what I don't get. Why did they register them without confirming their identity?"
"That's the thing. They did confirm their identity. When those people arrived, Liza, who was on duty at the reception, questioned them. She was imdiately restrained by Order."
Tessa's eyes widened slightly.
"They used Order?"
Georgia nodded. "Yes. The man acting as their leader used it to bind her. If the patrol guards hadn't intervened, the situation might have escalated."
Tessa frowned.
If they had used , then there was no doubt they were mbers of the Church.
The Mage Association and the Magic Engineering Departnt had their own ways of harnessing Mysteries, the forr used the Eight Astral Archives to engrave Mysteries into their teachings, while the latter transford them into tangible magic cards.
The Holy Church, however, followed a different system. They wielded an Astral Foundation known as Theophany, also called Sacred Arts, to perform miracles and combat the Occult.
Little was known about this mysterious Astral Foundation since the Church kept its teachings secret from the outside world. What the public did know was that was part of it.
Even so, sothing about this didn't sit right with her.
"A commotion like that occurred within the Demon Suppression Agency, yet no one reported it to ?"
"I find that strange as well. Normally, they would have filed a report imdiately, but this ti, they didn't. In fact, it seems as if they all completely forgot about the incident, especially the officer who initially inford and Lina, the very target of that person's Order."
Tessa tilted her head slightly, resembling a curious penguin. "They forgot? Was magic used on them?"
"I suspected as much at first. But after conducting a magic residue test, I found no traces of any spell. It wasn't erased, It's like they genuinely forgot those few minutes ever happened."
"Magic always leave behind traces, yes? What about traces of the Order?"
"No. Nothing. I can't find even that too. That's why I said it's strange. Is this one of the Church's thod?"
Georgia furrowed his brows, deep in thought.
After a mont of contemplation, he spoke, addressing the Association President with a new concern.
"Also, I don't think those guys are from the Church."
Tessa raised an eyebrow. "Why do you say that?"
"Before the officer who reported the incident lost his mory, he took note of their attire. Instead of the black habits worn by the Holy Church, they were dressed in casual clothing. Only their leader, Luke Murphy, carried himself with a semblance of dignity. Could they have been in disguise?"
Tessa rested her chin on her hand. "It's not unusual for the Vassals to wear casual clothing. Even the Inquisitors do, depending on the nature of their mission."
"I understand that, but sothing still feels off. If they wanted to avoid attention, they would have gone straight to the Gate in the city's central square instead of coming here."
That would have been the logical course of action.
The responsibility of guarding the entrance to the Dragon's Labyrinth in Vallora belonged to the Holy Knights of the Church of Destiny. They were far stronger than the elite soldiers the kingdom regularly produced.
If the Church wished to keep their mission secret, they would have sent top-tier agents with a clear objective, allowing them direct access to the Gate. As long as they could prove their status as Vassals, the Holy Knights would have let them through without issue.
Despite that, instead of taking that direct route, these individuals had approached the Demon Suppression Agency.
That alone made them suspicious.
But that wasn't the strangest part of the situation.
Tessa was the first to realize this. Tilting her head ever so slightly, she turned to the Vice President and asked,
"If they aren't mbers of the Church, then how did that person use Order?"
"That... I don't have an answer for," the Vice President admitted with a low voice. "Perhaps he used so unknown thod to mimic its effects."
Tessa shook her head.
"Order can't be mimicked without understanding. The only way to learn it is directly through the Church. They don't teach their thods to anyone who hasn't undergone the Baptism Ritual." She paused, then added firmly, "And the possibility of a spy is absolutely zero. The Church's recruitnt process eliminates that completely."
"Oh, that," Georgia murmured, as if recalling sothing he had once dismissed as trivial. "I heard they developed so kind of technology that predicts a person's future with accuracy."
"I suppose you could call it that. From what I understand, it analyzes a person's personality, life choices, intelligence, and physical abilities to determine the most likely path they'll take. It doesn't predict the future like fortune-telling, it just provides hints about what might happen. So far, it has always been accurate, which is why people call it the perfect device. But I wouldn't place my trust in sothing like that."
"I see. So, it's probably sothing that only predicts trivial things, like what ice cream you'll pick tomorrow or how many tis you'll flip a coin and get heads."
"Yes, yes, you've summarized it perfectly. Excellent work. Full points for effort, well, maybe 9 out of 10. You worked really hard, my dear vice president!"
"Eh? Are you teasing ? I'll have you know, I'm a highly intellectual individual, so sothing like that has no effect on ," Georgia wrinkled his nose. "By the way, this place stinks. It's suffocating. Why do you always keep the windows shut?"
Clicking his tongue, he marched over and threw open every window at once.
Of course, Tessa didn't appreciate that one bit.
"Goddamn it. Who the hell asked you to open all the windows?"
"Are you seriously trying to suffocate yourself just because you don't want people to know you're smoking? And you're smoking so pretty strong stuff too. Is that Phantom Smoke?"
"What if it is?" she said flatly. "What does it have to do with you?"
Georgia scoffed. "Of course, it has everything to do with . Don't you know secondhand smoke is worse for the inhaler than the smoker? Naturally, anyone would find it unpleasant." He narrowed his eyes at the cigarette resting on the ashtray. "Speaking of which, I heard that brand tastes awful."
Tessa exhaled a thin stream of smoke. "Yeah, it does."
"Then why do you keep smoking it if you don't even like the taste? That's like eating poison on purpose."
"Hey, that's an unfair comparison," she grumbled. "Seriously, you're no fun at all. Haven't I already explained it to you? I just smoke it. Is there anything truly wrong with that?"
"Well, personally, I don't think anyone should be smoking sothing that disgusting. Not to ntion the whole lung cancer thing, if you get my gist."
"..."
Tessa remained silent. She realized that arguing with this man would yield no results whatsoever.
Truly, she could not win against him.
"Ugh."
She sighed, standing from her chair before pulling on the brown trench coat hanging on the wall.
Turning to face Georgia, she gave him an unreadable expression.
"Back to the important matter, I can't just sit back and let this incident slide. We need to find those suspicious individuals before the Church does. Normally, I'd report it to the Veterans, but I want us to handle this on our own first. Won't the Demon Suppression Agency look incompetent if we don't at least make an effort?"
"You're planning on tracking them down yourself? Isn't that risky? Furthermore, if my calculations are correct, those people have likely entered the Tower by now."
"Naturally, we can't follow them inside, so we can only wait. If they clear whatever Shadow World trial they're given, they'll co out eventually. We'll make our move then."
"And if they don't?"
"Then the problem solves itself, doesn't it?" Tessa smiled like it was no big deal. "If they die, there are plenty of other participants challenging the Tower. As long as soone clears the trial, a calamity won't be summoned. But I doubt those people will go down that easily. After all, they were people who had the balls to impersonate as vassals of the Holy Church, so they have to be remarkable individuals or possess a bit of capability."
Her smile widened. It was an excited grin, like a child who had just discovered a fascinating new toy.
She then turned her gaze toward the massive structure looming beyond the open window.
It was undeniable, impenetrable, and, more importantly, shrouded in mystery.
Just what exactly was at the tower's peak, that could pierce the heavens?
"Perhaps today will be interesting after all."
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