It was already ti to leave for the mission.
Rachel stared at her suitcase, fingers lightly tracing the edge of the handle before she sighed and pushed it into her storage ring.
She still hadn't made up with Arthur.
Every ti she saw him, he was either talking to Rose or exchanging words with Cecilia. They were working things out, nding the fractures, stitching themselves back together. But she and Seraphina… they were still standing on the other side of that bridge, waiting for sothing that wasn't coming.
Rachel clenched her wrist.
She missed him.
Too much.
It was a constant ache, a gnawing pull at the edges of her thoughts.
'Arthur, Arthur, Arthur.'
She bit her lip.
And now, Kali was showing up in the dorms again. His dorms.
There was no one else Kali would be visiting, and of course, Arthur swore nothing was happening, but still—
Rachel shut her eyes, inhaling deeply through her nose.
It wasn't like her to sulk.
Yet here she was, stewing in thoughts she had no control over.
Her phone vibrated softly.
She glanced at the screen.
Mission confirmation: Redmond City.
Redmond was large, large enough that there were multiple assignnts in the area. Even a Silver-ranked guild operated there, along with a Baron overseeing the city's governance.
Plenty of work to go around. Plenty of reasons for students to be deployed.
Plenty of coincidences that placed her and Arthur in the sa city.
She let out a slow breath.
It was childish, wasn't it? The way she clung to the idea of just seeing him, even from afar.
Rachel shook her head, pressing her lips together before standing up straight.
She wasn't worried about the mission. A White-ranker like her wasn't going to struggle.
It was everything else she was worried about.
With one last glance at her phone, she turned on her heel, making her way toward the hyperloop that would take her to the warp gate.
Ti to go to Redmond City.
__________________________________________________________________________________
Redmond City greeted with the usual chaos of an urban sprawl—hovering carriages humming along the sky lanes, neon-lit signboards flickering in the evening haze, and the ever-present murmur of a million lives intertwining.
And, of course, an almost offensive amount of the word Red plastered over everything.
Redmond.
Redknot.
Red Square.
Red District (which, thankfully, was just a marketplace and not sothing more dubious).
"Did they just… run out of ideas?" I muttered under my breath, scratching the back of my head as my gaze swept across the cityscape.
Waiting for near the entrance was my assigned guide from the Redknot Guild. A woman, early twenties, dark hair tied back in a loose ponytail, her uniform crisp, her stance relaxed but deliberate.
She was beautiful in that effortless, practical way—sharp eyes, a confident stride—but what stood out the most was her mana.
Mid Integration-rank.
That was not standard for a simple guide duty.
I glanced at her again, subtly adjusting my assessnt. A Silver-ranked guild had access to dozens of Integration-rankers, but even then, sending soone at mid Integration was no small gesture.
Sothing wasn't adding up.
On the surface, a guide made sense—Mythos students needed to be monitored to prevent any accidents, and Redmond City wasn't exactly the safest place. But given the circumstances…
They were overcompensating.
The Redknot Guild wasn't just investigating the recent disturbances. They were orchestrating them.
The whole request for aid from Mythos was a farce, a well-staged act to keep suspicions at bay.
And yet, here I was, greeted with a bright smile like this was just another day at work.
"Hello! Nice to et you, I'm Millia," she said, her tone light and professional, extending a hand.
I took it, eting her grip with a polite, practiced smile. "Arthur Nightingale. Likewise."
Her eyes flickered with sothing—recognition.
"Wow," she said, blinking before letting out a small laugh. "Oh, sorry. It's just, well, you're kind of famous."
I raised an eyebrow. "Am I?"
She scratched her cheek, a bit sheepish. "Well, yes? I an, Rank 1 of Mythos Academy during its greatest year, danced with three princesses and survived… that sort of thing tends to make the rounds."
"Ah," I said, still smiling. "I suppose that would do it."
She chuckled, motioning for to follow as we started walking through the city.
"The mission is about the recent disturbances in Redmond," Millia explained, slipping back into business mode. "There's been a rise in organized cri—a string of kidnappings, disappearances, and murders. Nothing too large-scale yet, which is why the full force hasn't stepped in, but it has the potential to escalate quickly."
I nodded, absorbing the information.
A city of over a million people had its fair share of cri. Even with a Silver-ranked guild looming over it, problems like this weren't unusual. And given that Redknot was very close to pushing for Gold-rank status in the coming years, they had every reason to keep their reputation clean.
On paper.
In reality, they were the source of the disturbances.
And yet, the Baron overseeing the city—who should have been keeping them in check—hadn't acted decisively.
A silent power struggle.
A guild and a noble, both too powerful to remove the other, waiting for a tipping point.
That ant I had a lot more to worry about than just the criminals in the shadows.
"Still, a mid Integration-ranker as a guide?" I said casually, glancing at her. "That's a bit much for a simple escort duty, don't you think?"
Millia smiled, a well-practiced curve of the lips that revealed absolutely nothing.
"Redknot takes our partnerships with Mythos Academy very seriously," she said smoothly. "We wouldn't want a promising student like yourself running into trouble."
"Of course," I said, matching her smile.
She was lying.
Not outright—there was so truth to her words. But I wasn't here because they were concerned about my safety.
I was here because they wanted to keep an eye on .
The real question was…
Did they think they could actually stop if I got in their way?
'Of course, they can't stop a crazy bastard like you,' Luna scoffed in my mind.
'Rember, we need to gather evidence,' I reminded her, glancing at the city stretched out before . Redmond was still shrouded in the illusion of peace, but beneath that thin veneer, a tangled web of cri and corruption lurked, one that had to be severed at the root.
'Taking down a Bishop is ant to be impossible for soone like you,' she said flatly.
She wasn't wrong. At my current ability, even defeating a high Integration-ranker—soone with Resonance—was a long shot. Their mastery over mana went beyond simple augntation; they could align themselves with their elent so seamlessly that their very presence warped reality. Fighting them head-on would be suicide.
But a Bishop? That was an entirely different ga.
A Bishop of the Red Chalice Cult wasn't just a strong fighter. They were a leader, a symbol of faith, a puppet master operating in the shadows, orchestrating entire networks of influence while remaining untouchable. Their power wasn't just physical—it was political, social, and ideological.
That was why this wasn't going to be a battle.
It was going to be a hunt.
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