Chapter 202: Tower

‘I wish I’d seen it myself, but meh.’

It’s been two days since Cillian and his group researched the sewer where the supposed hidden base of the Shepherds was found. Yesterday, Darwin’s group had searched the sewer system and had probably removed it by bombing it, as they had planned before.

If Zeist were the one who had implanted the ‘evidence’ at that place, then he was going to be shocked at what he would see inside once he witnessed the thing they had added the day before.

His reaction would be important so that Darwin would be fully convinced that Zeist was going to betray them in the future.

Remembering the silver ring that had cut his throat during one of the Death Flag Probes, Cillian somehow moved his hands to his neck.

‘A traitor…’

Cillian knew he would encounter these types of people from time to time.

The lesson he had received when he had assumed that there was a traitor among the Whisper Broker, which he still continued to believe, was well received right at this moment, as he didn’t hesitate to speak it out loud to the person who should very well hear it himself.

Darwin would take care of Zeist in the future. As to how he was going to do it, Cillian knew that the crazy principal would be smart about it, as he had said that he still had many uses.

He should be smart about it, right?

‘It’s not wrong to worry about it, but I wish Darwin wouldn’t snap when I’m not watching. It’s an important race to gather information before the Shepherds know that we’re aware of their actions. Mess this up, and we’ll be back to zero.’

Cillian was postponing his plan because Darwin’s current movement aligned with his. His plans could definitely wait.

What couldn’t wait, however, was the Academy’s Tournament.

It was finally happening.

“Get ready!”

One of the instructors administering the upcoming battle shouted at the students. Forty students from Class 7-A and their current opponents, Class 5-E, were present, with the two classes positioned on opposite sides of the field.

‘I’ll finish this fast.’

Nothing much had changed regarding the theme of the tournament, which was still Capture the Flag. Cillian, who had many things to do and had no time to play tournaments with these people, was planning on doing the same thing as before.

Sneak into the opponent’s base and get their flag.

“Are you nervous?”

Aster suddenly appeared out of nowhere with his group behind him. Although they were incomplete due to the absence of the twins and Clove, they were still a strong force to fight against.

Cillian, who was with his own group, mainly consisting of the two bigshots of the Underworld, his friends from the Investigative Crew, and Ethan, smirked and said,

“There’s no need to. We’re pretty much attacking from the get-go, right?”

The entire class had the same plan: send their own munchkin, a.k.a. Aster, to their opponents. Once they did, everyone would support him, and a few people would infiltrate their base.

And unlike before, when they had no information whatsoever, the class was battle-ready, with enough supplies to last two weeks.

It was Willow who answered Cillian.

“That seems like it. I think being passive won’t help us defeat the opposing class if we just stay put for the whole week. Well, the added rules are forcing us to fight to begin with, so there’s no acting cowardly now.”

Everyone in this group agreed.

Cillian liked the change in the group’s atmosphere, but the same instructor from before shouted again.

“Applying the versioned battlefield!”

It didn’t take long before the surroundings began to shift, slowly being replaced by a vast battlefield as towering columns and massive walls began to form, all resembling towers.

These tall structures stretched across the area, some still standing while others had long since broken apart and collapsed. Above them was the sun, casting long shadows across the ground.

Watching the change being applied to their battlefield made Cillian’s face twist as his mind recalled a memory from something that had happened only recently.

[Escalating!]

[Escalating!]

As if to prove his point, a screen displaying one particular person suddenly appeared within Cillian’s field of view.

Cillian looked at the person beside him.

The Death Flag above Aster’s head was screaming.

Just as Cillian was accepting the fact that this was the exact same place where Aster’s ‘possible’ death was happening, the people behind Aster began to manifest flags above their heads.

[Death Flag]

Willow got one.

[Death Flag]

Melissa got hers as well.

[Death Flag…]

Kash and Ivy were no different.

It straight up went into Death Flags.

Cillian snapped his head toward his own group, looking at the flags that had already manifested above their heads. All of them were already pointing toward Death Flag.

“Cillian?”

Feeling that something was wrong with the way Cillian was moving, Melissa noticed his strangeness and tried calling out to him, but she was flatly ignored.

Cillian’s eyes quivered as his gaze finally landed on Phillip, who was positioned at the far end of the group.

‘Hah…!’

Then Cillian’s eyes slowly moved toward the opposite end of the class, where their opponents were located.

Cillian couldn’t see it clearly due to the distance, but he was sure that there had been no flags above their heads right before they positioned themselves.

He didn’t even feel that something was wrong to begin with!

But now, they did.

And all of them were already Death Flags.

Death Flags from afar.

“This…”

Suddenly, Cillian found himself locking gazes with one of the people from Class 5-E. Even though they were far apart, Cillian felt that the person was staring directly at him. The same person was smirking as they looked at each other.

As if he was mocking Cillian.

—Didn’t see this coming?

That was the message being relayed to him through the distance between them, but it was enough for Cillian to sense it.

No, that’s what he believed when he assumed the Shepherd was smiling at him.

“Seriously…”

Cillian started to form a smile of his own as he felt his heart fill with both nervousness and excitement.

‘…you guys are the best.’

[Black Flag] → [Death Flag]

Cillian’s flag had finally turned into a Death Flag.

The Academy Tournament was finally starting.