Chapter 80: The Hidden Hand Behind the Beasts
The ruined city was silent.
Too silent.
The wind howled through crumbling towers and half-buried streets, but no birds, no beasts stirred. Only the faint, lingering pressure of mana filled the air.
Kael stood amidst the wreckage of their battle. Blood still dripped from his blade, his body aching, his mind racing.
The Calamity-Class Beast lay in ruins.
Yet, something felt wrong.
Lucian, standing beside him, narrowed his golden eyes at the massive corpse. "That thing… shouldn't have evolved like that. Not naturally."
Selene, wiping the sweat from her brow, crouched beside the beast's splatteredhead. Her silver eyes flickered with calculation.
"These marks…" she murmured, tracing burnt sigils along the beast's blackened hide. "They're not Eldorian."
Kael's breath hitched. "What do you mean?"
She glanced up. "Our Academy teaches hundreds of sigil variations. I know every major rune system used by noble houses, military forces, and even rogue mages."
She gestured toward the twisting, angular sigils scorched into the beast's flesh.
"This? This isn't ours."
Rael, stepping forward, muttered, "Then whose is it?"
The Discovery Beneath the Ruins
They didn't have to wonder for long.
Darius, limping slightly, spotted something in the rubble. A half-buried stone door at the base of a collapsed temple.
"Over here," he called.
Kael and Lucian moved first, clearing away debris. Mira, bruised but determined, helped pull open the heavy entrance.
A dark tunnel stretched below.
And within?
A hidden chamber.
They stepped inside.
The air stank of burnt parchment and rotting flesh.
Torches flared to life as Evelyne lit a flame in her palm. The flickering light revealed tables covered in notes, strange tools, and half-destroyed sigil scrolls.
Cassian picked up a bloodstained dagger. "I don't like this."
Kael scanned the room. His stomach twisted.
"This was a research site," Selene confirmed, picking up a discarded scroll. "Someone was studying mana beasts. Enhancing them."
"And then they left in a hurry," Evelyne added, kicking over a shattered containment pod. The glass was slick with dried black blood.
They weren't alone.
Footsteps.
A rustle of fabric.
Then—a figure bolted from the shadows.
Rael moved first.
A single step—Void Step.
He appeared behind the fleeing man before anyone else could react, his dagger at the figure's throat.
"Going somewhere?" Rael hissed.
The rogue mage struggled, eyes wild. His robes were foreign—stitched with an unknown insignia.
But before Kael could question him—
A sudden pulse of magic erupted.
Another mage—hidden in the shadows—lunged forward, chanting a self-destruction spell.
Lucian reacted instantly.
A flash of golden fire.
The second mage burst into flames, his screams echoing through the ruins.
Rael tightened his grip on the survivor. "Your friend just died for nothing. Start talking."
The rogue shook violently. But he said nothing.
Kael stepped forward.
"You're not from Eldoria." His crimson eyes burned. "Who sent you?"
The mage froze.
For a moment, it looked like he might resist.
Then—Kael raised a single crimson sigil, heat crackling around his palm.
The rogue caved.
"Xelthar," he whispered.
Everyone stilled.
Kael's grip tightened. "The Dominion of Xelthar?"
The rogue trembled. "We… we were only supposed to test the beasts. See how they reacted to battle against your strongest." His breath came in short gasps. "We were following orders. I swear—"
Selene's gaze darkened. "You were testing us?"
The rogue swallowed hard. "You… you weren't supposed to survive."
Silence.
And then—
Cassian laughed.
A cold, sharp sound. "Well, that's unfortunate. Because we did."
Mira gritted her teeth. "These bastards… they sent that thing just to see if we'd die?"
Darius punched the wall. "We were never on a mission. We were a damn experiment."
Kael exhaled slowly. He had already suspected it, but hearing it confirmed sent rage burning through his veins.
Evelyne cracked her knuckles. "What do we do with him?"
Kael didn't hesitate.
"We take him back."
Because this wasn't just a rogue mage problem anymore.
This was an act of war.
They didn't need to send a signal.
Because Varian Drakos Eldoria arrived first.
A black shadow descended from the sky, mana crackling in the air. The sheer weight of his presence silenced everything.
The rogue mage collapsed, barely able to breathe under the pressure.
The Headmaster's golden eyes flicked across the scene.
His gaze landed on Kael. "Report."
Kael stepped forward.
And told him everything.
The sigils. The enhanced beasts. The captured spy. The truth about Xelthar.
Varian listened in silence.
When Kael finished, the Headmaster let out a slow breath. "I see."
His golden gaze locked onto the trembling rogue.
"You should have killed him."
The mage whimpered.
But Kael stood firm. "I thought you'd want answers."
Varian studied him for a long moment. Then—a rare smirk.
"You're learning."
With a flick of his wrist, the Headmaster erased the rogue's consciousness with a single spell.
Then, he turned to the students. "You all did well. But this is bigger than you realize."
He looked at the ruined chamber, the sigils, the remnants of foreign magic.
Then he muttered:
"This is only the beginning."