Chapter 372: The Finger

It was quiet in the darkness.

No sound, no worry. Just a heavy, floating peace.

But then, repeated thuds echoed heavily through the blackness. They grew distant, fading far into a muffled abyss, before snapping back again. A low, pained groan escaped the woman’s lips as her head rolled to the side.

A thick, nauseating fog clogged her senses, making the world feel like it was tilting.

Slowly, her eyelids trembled, fighting against a crushing weight, before finally fluttering open.

Everything was a smeared blur for a good moment.

She blinked—trying to piece together the shapes in the gloom. There was a shape across from her. No, it was a figure. A dark silhouette anchored to a chair. She blinked again as her vision slowly sharpened.

And the moment the world cleared, her heart violently seized in her chest.

Instinctively, she gasped and scrambled backwards.

She dragged her buttocks against the wooden floor until her spine slammed hard against the cold wall. There was nowhere to run. Even though her hands and legs were not bound, there was no chance for her to escape.

Just how easily Kai subdued her made that abundantly clear.

He alone could easily handle her.

Hopeless couldn’t even begin to describe the situation.

Sitting on a wooden chair directly across from her was Red Prince Kai, also known by his icy nickname, the Phantom of Ixos. His elbows were on his thighs, and his posture leaned forward while keeping his eyes on her.

Against the gloom, the red dragon mask seemed to shimmer menacingly.

Only then did the memories hit her all at once.

She remembered the alleyway, the suffocating darkness—and the hand that reached over her shoulder as she was about to open her hidden sanctuary. More than that, she also remembered the pulse of mana that had plunged her into oblivion.

She was captured.

Easily at that.

Her eyes darted around the room.

She recognized the dim, windowless space immediately. The wooden beams, the faint smell of dust and old parchment. They were inside her safe room. The sanctuary that was prepared for her to hide in when things went awry.

Now, it had become her cage.

As the situation dawned upon her, panic began to settle in.

Her breath hitched, and her chest tightened.

And then, she noticed the other figures.

Now, Red Prince Kai wasn’t alone—he brought along two other people.

One was a refined woman sitting on a wooden chair beside a small table, one leg crossed over the other. As for the other one—she was also a woman. She stood near the opposite wall with her back completely straight like an arrow, never once touching the wood behind her.

She looked fierce, sharp as a drawn blade.

But it wasn’t only their presence that made the woman’s stomach drop.

It was the sheer weight of their auras.

None of them hid their power—the air in the small room became heavy because of it, charged with an oppressive static. Easy for the woman to tell these women were also the same—as the Red Prince, Aspirant Supernals.

The woman looked down at her own trembling hands, her mind reeling.

Compared to these three, she felt puny.

"A Supernal of Kourai Khryseai—also known as the Golden Maidens of Hephaestus. At least four Divine Locks based on her mutation." Bree spoke, breaking the tense silence. "Quite rare for someone to have this divine bloodline."

Hearing this, the woman reached for her face and then her eyes widened.

She wasn’t wearing a mask.

It was easier to breathe in the hive—so she didn’t realize instantly that her mask was already taken away. She swallowed harshly. Now that her face was exposed—she would never know peace ever again.

At least, that would be the case if she survived this ordeal.

Not that she was confident that she would.

The woman was a normal, average-looking girl with blonde hair and yellowish skin.

The Kourai Khryseai were living statues of gold—that was crafted by Hephaestus, the God of Fire and Metalworking. Naturally, a Supernal who carried their bloodline would bear golden skin, slowly mutating further and further until they became a statue themselves.

Even at full mutation, the Supernal wouldn’t lose anything.

On the contrary, they would be faster and stronger despite the gold body.

"I’m impressed." Kai finally spoke and leaned back in his chair. "Attacking a member of my group inside Eventide Academy’s territory... It is impressive. This," He swirled his finger—as if encompassing the entire room. "You even prepared a safe house in case things went south."

"Are you going to kill me...?" the woman asked in a timid voice.

Like the voice of a rat being cornered.

"That entirely depends on you—" Kai shrugged his shoulders. "But if you ask whether I want to kill you, then the answer is no. I don’t want to kill you. In fact, I’d rather let you leave intact than as a corpse.

"W-Why...?"

"You see, killing you would mean nothing. You’re only Spissos’ hand. No—only a finger. The brain was responsible for what the finger does, so why would I kill you? But I have to say, we are not on the same page."

Kai gestured towards Bree and Matilda.

Both of them remained silent, but there was an edge to their silence.

An edge that told the woman that these two would rather have her dead than let her leave alive.

After all, now should be morning already, and the three of them were still in the hive.

Even the Red Prince would face punishment for skipping morning exercise—and possibly the first class as well. But if they could claim a student from another academy was causing trouble within their territory, then no punishment would be needed at all.

In the First Sky, with the harsh living conditions, who would want to be punished? Nobody.

Naturally, Matilda and Bree were not on board.

Sparing her would mean being punished themselves.

Only then did the woman understand that her life was now within Kai’s grasp, as the two wanted nothing more than to kill her. If she discouraged him in any way at all, then she would be fed to the wolves without hesitation.

"Now," Kai took out a vial from his pocket and showed it to the woman. "I want you to speak only the truth starting from now. First, tell me why Spissos wanted to kill me. Is he like you— also a servant to a bigger brain? Perhaps an instruction from Archangel Morriva?"

Kai was also under instruction.

But he was told to humiliate Spissos, not kill him.

So, learning that Spissos wanted him dead caught him completely off guard.

He’d expected Spissos to approach Abigail with some scheme—have her do something that would keep him out of the tournament, or slip him something to humiliate him in return. But murder? That possibility had never crossed his mind.

Not until Abigail said the words.

Just as the woman was about to answer, a glow emerged from behind her ragged tunic.

It was the pendant of her necklace. It was glowing.

Crack—!

Out of nowhere, a sharp crack shattered the tense silence of the room.

Around the woman’s neck, the pendant fractured—a spiderweb of dark fissures splitting its surface.

It didn’t only break, but detonated, unleashing a torrent of mana.

But the mana didn’t dissipate into the air or strike the woman directly. Instead, it condensed instantly, coalescing into a heavy, surging mass of liquid water. It sparkled with a brilliant, oceanic blue that cast cold, wavering hues across the dim walls of the safe room and illuminated the dust motes in the air.

And with purpose, the water defied gravity and surged upward in a fluid column.

It wrapped around the woman’s throat, clamping down, and then violently swallowed her head whole.

Kai moved instantly.

He knew exactly what this was,

A failsafe, a suicide trigger, or a magical failsafe designed to drown her—before she could spill a single secret. His eyes sparked with a sudden, blinding surge of dark mana as he thrust his open hand forward, unleashing his Legacy Skill.

Deep Slumber.

Darkness erupted from within the cracked pendant itself.

It didn’t clash with the water, but consumed it.

Like a localized, starving void, the darkness latched onto the magical water and aggressively sucked it inward. The blue luminescence was rapidly devoured—siphoned into the dark oblivion. The water was peeled back from her head in violent strands, evaporating into nothingness.

In mere seconds, the torrent was entirely gone, devoured by the darkness until there was nothing left.

The woman’s face was revealed once more. She was gasping raggedly, her chest heaving as she choked on the sudden rush of oxygen. Her eyes were wide and bloodshot, her features contorted in utter, primal terror.

She stared at Kai in horror.

For one, she couldn’t believe that the necklace Spissos gave as protection turned out to be for this.

And she also couldn’t believe how easily Kai handled the situation.

"Answer my question," Kai said coldly as if nothing had happened.

"I... I don’t know," the woman shook her head. "I only do what I was told. Nothing more."

Kai glanced at Matilda.

She nodded in return, a signal that the woman was telling the truth.

Slowly, he reclined back again as he knew that it was a long shot. He knew that the chance of this woman knowing about Spissos’ reasoning was small—but he had to test his luck and try. Better than not asking at all.

"Okay, then. What did he tell you to do here?"

"I... I was stationed here in case of other variables."

"Such as?"

"Spying on you if you came. Or if the poison didn’t get activated, then I’ll finish the job."

Kai wasn’t surprised by her answer at all.

Based on how resourceful Spissos’ approach to his group was, he expected cunningness. And cunningness could only be exercised with a meticulous mind. It wasn’t surprising for Spissos to be prepared for everything that could happen.

"Spying on me?" Kai scoffed. "You were making haste to this safe room earlier."

"I got scared," the woman confessed. "I got scared..."

Kai glanced at Matilda, and she nodded again.

It seemed his uncanny appearance got to the woman, and she wanted to run to safety.

Perhaps it was her instincts that told her that she was in a really dangerous situation.

And if it was really her instincts, then they were right.

"But wait a second..." Kai recalled her student ID earlier—while checking her pockets in case of anything troublesome. "You’re still a student. If you stay here for days, I assumed until the day of the tournament, then wouldn’t you be punished severely? You’re an Angel, not a High Angel. The punishment would be brutal."

Based on the mana leaking out of her, she was above average for an Angel.

However, she was certainly not on the level of High Angels.

A helpless smile curled on the woman’s lips. "I have to do what I have to do."