That afternoon, Kai made his way to the headmaster’s office with a deliberate pace, the tension in his shoulders betraying his calm expression. Gaining permission to bring soone like Kleo onto academy grounds wasn’t just a courtesy, it was a risk. One he wasn’t sure would be granted.
To his surprise, Headmaster Lorin agreed with a warm smile and just a single, strange look.
"Kleo, was it?" she asked, eyes glinting unnaturally. "Very well. For one day only. Do try not to get into trouble."
Kai bowed slightly, hiding the discomfort in his chest. Sothing felt off. But he shoved it aside.
That night, as moonlight spilled across the courtyard, Kai found Kleo just outside the academy’s eastern wall. She wore her usual cloak, patched and hooded, and kept to the shadows like a reflex.
"You sure about this?" she asked, peering at the grand building looking over the walls being Kai.
"I got permission," Kai said. "And for what we’re going to be doing, we won’t get caught."
She hesitated, eyes flicking between him and the wall behind. "You’re not exactly low-profile, Kai."
He chuckled. "Tonight, we’re ghosts. Everyone is getting ready for tomorrow’s ga."
Even so, Kai used his Concealnt skill and he disappeared from view. As expected, Kleo could see through it after witnessing it enough.
"I’ll follow you, then."
Once inside, he led toward the secluded stairwell he and Aliza discovered before.
"Wait, I thought we were going into the academy?" Kleo asked.
"We are," Kai said. "Eventually. But first... I need your help with so locks."
He explained what he’d seen: strange arcane chanisms alongside mundane ones, complicated sigils woven into steel and stone.
As he spoke, her eyes lit up.
"You’re talking about sealed composite tumblers with hex-layered arcane backlashes! Maybe even sigil wards layered in with manual resets. I’ve read about that kind of stuff. Only ever seen one once."
Kai blinked. "Right. Uh... probably."
Despite her excitent, her steps beca more hesitant as they descended. The further they went, the more nervous she beca.
"You’re sure I won’t get arrested for this?"
"Arrested? No. I told you," he said, offering a reassuring smile. "I got permission. You’re allowed here. No one’s going to touch you."
That settled her, at least until they reached the tunnel entrance.
Aliza was waiting, hood down, expression neutral.
The mont Kleo saw her, she froze.
"...What is she doing here?"
Kai turned, brows raising. "Wait, what? Do you know her?"
Kleo’s voice dropped into a growl. "You didn’t tell we were eting royalty."
Aliza stepped forward quickly, holding up her hands.
"Please. I never ant to deceive you. I don’t want you to see as a princess of this country, or noble at all. I’m just a student. A friend. I’m trying to stop whatever’s happening down here."
But Kleo was already backing away, eyes wide, breath quickening. "You think I’m that stupid? This is a trap, isn’t it? You brought here to disappear, too-"
"Kleo. Stop."
The command struck like thunder through the tunnel.
Kleo’s entire body seized mid-step. Her mouth trembled open, trying to resist, but the pact’s power overrode her will. Her eyes filled with fury, and betrayal.
Kai stepped toward her slowly. "I didn’t know. I swear, I didn’t know who she was. Not really. And if I had, I still would’ve brought you. Because I trust you. Because I need you."
Kleo’s body shook. But she didn’t run. Mainly because she couldn’t, but Kai felt her struggle against his command less.
Aliza stepped closer and knelt slightly. "This isn’t a trap. I don’t know what makes you distrust the royals, but I don’t care who you are or where you co from. I just want to find the truth."
Silence lingered between the three of them. The stench of the sewers clung to them like pet hair on clothes.
Kleo exhaled sharply through her nose and almost gagged. "Fine," she said, almost spitting out the word. "But I’m watching both of you."
Kai nodded.
"You can move," he said.
Her muscles relaxed slightly.
Together, they approached the hidden steel door in the sewers. This ti, Kleo stepped forward, her entire being shifting into focus.
She picked apart the mundane locks in less than two minutes.
Then ca the arcane ones.
Each was like a living puzzle, trap-laced runes and glyphs reacting to even a whisper of mana.
The first simply beca invisible, and Kleo had to pick it through normal ans using touch alone. It ca undone in seconds.
The second lock took a little longer. It flared with sparks and both Aliza and Kai flinched.
The third released a burst of cold that nearly froze her fingers. Sweat rolled down her forehead, and her breathing beca more erratic.
"Mirlin!" she suddenly barked. "I need your hands right there. On that etched panel. Don’t move it. Don’t breathe. If that part shifts, it’ll reset everything. Or explode."
"Explode?"
"Hold it."
He did.
Clicks. Whirs. A low hum like a hungry machine waking up.
Then...
Ka-Chunk.
The final lock released.
The door groaned open, revealing a sterile concrete chamber. The scent of tal, blood, and sothing darker hit them instantly.
There were cages.
Over a hundred of them.
Stacked high, cramd into the corners of the room, each one barely large enough for a person to sit upright. Most were empty, but stained. Others still held bones, hair, scraps of cloth.
An altar lood at the far end. Beside it, a table fitted with belts and surgical tools. Scrolls and ancient tos covered in indecipherable glyphs sat nearby.
Aliza already moved into the room without hesitation, her eyes darting from cage to cage, until she froze.
"No..."
She reached inside one particular cage with trembling hands, pulling out a tattered orange bow. Her voice broke.
"She always wore this. Sh-she said it made her feel cute..."
The cage held only bones, a few strands of hair, and so clothes.
Aliza crumpled to her knees, the bow clutched to her chest.
Kai turned away, jaw clenched.
But then...
SLAM.
The door crashed shut behind them.
CLACK-CLACK-CLACK.
The locks re-engaged in rapid succession.
They whirled around.
A figure stood in the entrance, half-silhouetted by flickering torchlight.
It was the headmaster.
Her robes trailed behind her like a funeral veil. Her eyes were now solid grey. And her head was tilted at a grotesque angle, as if sothing inside had broken the bones to make space.
Kai’s blood turned to ice.
"H-headmaster...?" Aliza whispered.
But the voice that answered was not human.
"I told you to leave it well enough alone, Kai Tensen. Disciple of Orlin Mirth."
"What are you doing?" Kai asked.
The voice laughed. Distorted. Watery. Wrong.
"It took ti, but now I’m sure. You’re the one who destroyed my collector. Years of work gone. But not wasted. No, no... I see... potential." the headmaster glared at Kai.
Kai stepped forward, fists clenched. "Your collector? One of them?"
"Oh, yes. Just one. I have dozens of seeds planted across Iria. Each one harvesting the life energy of your bright, foolish youth. Every decade, I devour what is collected. You cost seven years of power. Seven."
Kai couldn’t speak. He couldn’t move. He’d felt the headmaster’s magic, and compared to that, his was like a lit match against a bonfire.
"You’ll repay that debt, Kai Tensen," the thing said, grinning with a mouth that wasn’t her own. "My seed will grow stronger with you as its host. You’ll beco the greatest Collector of them all."
The air in the chamber thickened with perverted mana.
The torches dimd.
The ground and cages shook.
And for the first ti in years, since going up against his undead master, Kai felt true fear.
’I don’t... How do I... What... When...’
Kai’s mind gave up trying to make sense of the situation
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