The moon cast a pale glow over the Magic Engineering Departnt Tower, illuminating the shadowy figures moving quietly near the entrance.
Crates filled with dark crystals, forbidden magical artifacts, and ancient scrolls lay scattered around, each confiscated and carefully stacked by a group of students wearing red blazers.
The night was thick with tension, the silence only broken by the occasional clatter of tools or the scuffle of shoes against the stone courtyard.
Leopold, the son of the emperor, stood at the center of the group, his imposing figure casting a long shadow.
His blonde hair, slicked back, shone under the faint light, while his red eyes glead with a quiet intensity.
He wore a crisp white shirt and a yellow tie, neatly tied under the open red blazer that hung loosely over his shoulders.
His fists were bloodied, the knuckles bruised and sared with the aftermath of a violent altercation.
Before him, five students lay sprawled on the ground, unconscious and battered. Their faces were swollen, bodies covered in bruises, and the signs of their defeat were evident in the way they lay motionless on the cobblestone ground.
They had been caught, and more importantly, they had been punished.
Leopold adjusted his sleeves calmly, his movents ticulous as if the scene before him didn't faze him in the slightest.
He glanced at the notepad handed to him by the girl standing to his right, her posture stiff and professional as she scribbled down notes.
She, along with the other boy who was arranging the confiscated items into neat stacks, worked diligently under his command.
Scanning the notes, Leopold's mind whirred, piecing together the puzzle before him.
He began speaking softly to himself, his voice low and calculating.
"Dark crystals, used for siphoning mana directly from a caster... smuggling these into Ravenwood isn't just reckless—it's deliberate sabotage.
The kind of sabotage only a cult would orchestrate. These artifacts," he paused, lifting an ancient scroll with worn, demonic runes etched into its surface, "are cursed.
They manipulate the user's soul, bending them toward the demonic arts.
Only a fool would dare to use such things… or soone deeply entrenched in the cult's sches."
His eyes narrowed as he examined each item further.
"Forbidden tools for breaking magical seals, summoning scrolls for lesser demons, and…" He picked up a vial of dark liquid that shimred unnaturally in the moonlight.
"Corrupted blood. The cult uses this in their rituals. It weakens the barriers between worlds, allowing demonic entities to slip through unnoticed."
He set the vial down and looked at the crates, filled to the brim with these illicit goods.
"And the Magic Engineering Departnt—of all places—was where they were storing this filth.
These crates, these artifacts... they were hidden within the departnt itself, right under the academy's nose.
So, the real question is, how did these items bypass Ravenwood's security?"
Leopold's red eyes flickered with suspicion as his mind raced.
"Ravenwood's security is so of the tightest on the continent. That ans soone on the inside... guards, knights… they're either complicit or they're part of the cult."
He clenched his fist, his knuckles white against the blood already staining his hands.
"Bribery, blackmail, or worse—ideological allegiance. Whoever it is, they've infiltrated deeper than we anticipated."
The girl beside him shifted uncomfortably, glancing at the beaten figures on the ground.
Two of them, in particular, caught Leopold's attention.
His gaze hardened as he looked at their unconscious forms, bruised and bloodied, but alive—for now.
Leopold's mind wandered back to how he had first discovered these two were mbers of the demonic cult.
It had taken him only a few days of careful planning, a ga of shadows and whispers.
He had spotted the demonic tattoos hidden, marks that only soone with knowledge of the cult's inner workings would recognize
But he hadn't exposed them right away.
No, that would have been too simple, too easy.
Instead, he had put them on a leash.
He'd threatened them, beaten them into submission, forced them to work for him while pretending to remain loyal to the cult.
Through them, he had uncovered more mbers, slowly leading him to the higher-ups who were orchestrating these atrocities.
But even with all his efforts, each ti they got closer, the cult would slip further into the shadows, their leaders hidden behind layers of secrecy.
It was a dangerous ga, one that required him to constantly beat these two into submission to ensure they never revealed his involvent.
A single slip, a single word whispered to the wrong person, and his entire plan would fall apart. But it was a risk he had to take.
"They'll lead us to the top eventually," Leopold muttered, his voice cold and detached.
"Or they'll die trying."
But they weren't the endga.
The cult operated in layers, with every mber being just another pawn.
The trick wasn't to take down the pawns—it was to follow them, up the ladder, until you reached the top.
Leo had no doubt that the higher-ups were hidden in plain sight, masquerading as students, professors, and even knights.
The academy's security had been bypassed far too easily, which ant one thing: there were people on the inside, people with power, protecting the cult.
His lips curled slightly into a dark smile. He had a way to deal with that.
Leo's mind turned toward the students who held influence within Ravenwood.
They were stepping stones, each one crucial in leading him to the truth, and they didn't even know it yet.
If so of them could be compromised, bribed, or coerced, then the doors to unraveling the cult's structure would swing wide open.
But it couldn't be direct.
His approach had to be subtle, like poison slipping into the bloodstream unnoticed until it was too late.
He needed to exploit the academy's hierarchy, and that ant manipulating the right individuals, the ones with the most potential to be stepping stones.
People with ambition, fear, or desperation were the easiest to manipulate. People who wouldn't notice that they were being used until it was too late.
One student in particular ca to mind: a boy who had been rising through the ranks at an alarming rate.
The girl spoke up, her voice hesitant but clear.
"We… we might have a suspect. Soone who could be one of the higher-ups within the demonic cult."
Leopold's gaze flicked toward her, his red eyes sharp. "Who?"
She hesitated for a mont, then shook her head. "I don't have a na yet. But it's soone in the first year."
Leopold grunted, dissatisfied but not surprised.
He flipped through the notepad in his hands, scanning the nas of all the Magic Engineering students that had been listed.
It was a long list, filled with students of varying skill levels and backgrounds.
But one na stopped him cold.
His eyes narrowed as he read it again, just to be sure.
A boy with black hair and yellow eyes.
Leopold's voice was low, his tone laced with suspicion.
"Since when has he been a part of the Magic Engineering Departnt?"
The girl glanced over, then answered quietly.
"Since recently."
Leopold didn't respond, but his mind was already whirring with possibilities.
Sothing wasn't adding up, and he was determined to find out what.
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