His arms refused to lift. His fingers stayed limp. His mind scread at his body to fight, to resist, to stand up and cut this kid down where he stood.
But he couldn’t.
His breathing slowed.
His heart still beat—but faintly now.
His eyes... grew still.
Like a puppet whose strings had been cleanly severed.
And then—
His mouth moved.
It twitched open, lips dry and stiff, and a hollow whisper escaped:
"I... t them... so years back... before I entered the AMO..."
Harry didn’t speak, but his eyes narrowed slightly, a bit surprised by what he heard.
The glow in his eyes softened slightly, but the weight in the air didn’t lift. Dani remained knelt on the ground, completely still, his chest barely rising and falling as if he were caught in a trance.
"How? How exactly were you recruited?"
"I was just an average man... then I t this woman... her na... was Veiss..." Dani muttered, narrating all his life experiences without a single thought.
He was born with a dium grade fire affinity, and with such average talent, it was clear he barely had any future in the world of adventurers.
But everything changed when he t Veiss, who told him she had a way of giving him the power and wealth he so much desired.
Dani’s lips trembled slightly as the next words left him, slow and unfiltered.
"I didn’t even hesitate... didn’t waste a second before I accepted her offer."
Harry’s eyes narrowed.
"She said... she had a way to help grow stronger," Dani continued, voice flat, eyes still glazed over like a man sleepwalking. "She said... I’d never be overlooked again."
He swallowed, slowly, painfully.
"Then... she gave sothing."
His fingers twitched at the mory.
"A strange... injection. It burned at first... felt like fire coursing through every vein... but after that—"
A faint smile ghosted his lips, eerie in its lifelessness.
"Everything changed. My fire affinity sharpened. My body adapted. Controlling my power... it beca so easy. Like breathing."
Harry’s pulse quickened, but he kept his expression cold and unreadable. His mind, however, was reeling.
’An injection that could enhance soone’s affinity?’ He thought, his eyes narrowing slightly. ’That was unheard of. Not in this tiline or even the forr!’
Dani kept speaking, unaware of Harry’s reaction.
"I... enrolled in the AMO soon after. My scores skyrocketed. My mana control... refined. I was finally able to break through the fourth stage. I’d been stuck at the third for years. Years."
His voice darkened, trembling with sothing between awe and resentnt.
"They finally started to respect ."
He paused. A weak exhale left his chest.
"But then she contacted again."
Harry’s hands curled slightly.
"She told ... I owed them. That from now on... I had to do everything they asked of ."
"And you just agreed?" Harry asked sharply, his glowing eyes narrowing. "Just like that?"
Dani didn’t flinch. He couldn’t.
"I didn’t care," he muttered. "They gave what I wanted. Power. Recognition. That’s all that mattered to ."
"So you threw away your loyalty to the AMO? To innocent people?"
"I was never loyal to them. I was loyal to my own survival."
The forest was deathly quiet, broken only by the low hum of mana still burning faintly in the air. Dani’s voice echoed in the silence like a confession to a priest.
"I’ve been doing their bidding ever since. Missions, assassinations, intelligence gathering. All from Veiss. Always from her."
Harry’s brows knit together.
Veiss. That na again.
It seed like she was the recruiter in cases like this and also the one who passed missions down.
However, he couldn’t help but wonder just how many adventurers were like Dani, re pawns of the dark guild.
His mind raced.
There was also the issue of the talent boosting injection.
If the dark guild had more of these substances, if they could create artificial breakthroughs...
His heart beat faster.
They could build armies; of enhanced Elentalists and mages.
It was no wonder they had the guts to infiltrate the tournant.
He looked down at Dani again, whose eyes remained blank, body slouched like a discarded puppet.
Harry didn’t speak for a while. The truth lingered in the air like smoke after a fire.
Then, his voice ca, low and steeled.
"What kind of missions were they giving you?"
Dani’s head lolled to one side. "Observation... disruption. We were to plant so weird crystals... in different part of the city... and also to eliminate any threats... any one who stood in the way..."
His mouth twitched again.
Harry clenched his fists.
"What of Miranda... why are you after her?"
"I... don’t... know..." Dani weakly responded. "They don’t always share... the details to ... I just do whatever they asked..."
Harry gnashed his teeth, his brows furrowing in annoyance.
’I’ll get to the bottom of this, I’ll make sure I do.’ he thought.
He had seen the chaos that followed when the demon king descended in Leon’s mories.
Leon struggled a lot before he was finally able to defeat him, and a thousands if not millions of people lost their lives.
If sothing like that was about to happen again in this tiline, he would have to do his best to prevent it.
"Is that the only mission the dark guild are here for?" he asked, turning his gaze back to Dani.
The latter shuddered, and he went silent for a few seconds before speaking.
"No... I think there’s one more..."
Harry’s brow raised in surprise. "What other mission is that?"
"I once heard from Adolf... about capturing anorher student..."
Harry’s eyes narrowed in confusion, wondering who that other student was.
He didn’t know why, but he felt a strange ominous feeling build up within him.
"That other student, who is he?" he asked, the foreboding sensation growing stronger.
"I’m not sure... but I think his na... Trent Morton."
The mont Harry heard those words, his eyes widened in shock.
’Trent... that ans this isn’t the only group!’
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