Chapter 259: Reverse Chronology

The grounds where the palace had once stood still felt wrong, even after weeks had passed.

Most of the rubble had already been removed by the Kingdom’s teams, especially the bodies, dangerous artifacts, and remains of structures that could still collapse. Even so, the area remained covered in broken stones, shattered columns, pieces of twisted metal, and large sections where the ground itself had simply vanished along with the explosion.

Raven LeFay stood right in the center of the former estate.

She wore surprisingly simple clothes for someone who had been personally summoned by the King of the Vampires to investigate an attempted massacre. A dark dress, dust-resistant boots, and a short cloak fastened over her shoulders. Her hair moved occasionally with the wind passing through the ruins, but she seemed to be paying far more attention to the ground than to anything else.

A small black bat rested on her right shoulder.

Raven crouched in front of a crack in the ground and ran two fingers over the stone.

"This was the work of someone extremely intelligent."

The bat did not respond.

Raven picked up a small fragment of stone, examined its underside, and found an almost invisible line of magical residue.

She sighed.

"And annoyingly careful."

The bat remained silent.

"Look at this."

She showed him the stone.

The bat merely turned its head.

Raven stared at the creature.

"You could at least pretend to be interested."

Nothing.

"Great conversation."

She tossed the stone back onto the ground and stood, beginning to walk slowly through what had once been the main hall. Her eyes moved across the cracks, searching for patterns that would have been nearly impossible to notice for someone without experience in ritual magic.

"Whoever did this wasn’t working alone."

The bat moved one of its wings.

Raven kept walking.

"At least two other S-Class Witches helped."

This time, the bat raised its head.

Raven pointed toward three different locations scattered throughout the rubble.

"There are three different flows in the residue."

She walked toward the first.

"This one maintained the primary energy supply."

Then she pointed toward another location several meters away.

"This one stabilized the matrix."

And finally, toward an area near what remained of one of the outer walls.

"And this one controlled the anti-vampire barrier."

Raven placed one hand on her hip.

"One person could theoretically do all of it alone. But they’d have to remain here for far too long and spend an absurd amount of energy. That doesn’t fit an infiltration operation."

Witches used their own system to classify magical ability, although it varied slightly depending on the country, organization, or tradition responsible for the evaluation.

The lower classifications covered practitioners capable of using basic spells, simple enchantments, and specialized techniques within extremely restricted fields.

Things began to change considerably once someone reached the higher classes.

An S-Class Witch was already considered an extremely dangerous existence.

She could manipulate some of the most powerful spells known to human magic, work with large-scale structures, construct complex barriers, affect entire cities depending on her specialization, and, most importantly, understand magic well enough to alter formulas rather than merely repeat what she had learned.

Having one S-Class Witch involved in an operation was already complicated.

Having three working together was something else entirely.

Raven let out another sigh.

"And they still needed someone on the inside."

The bat finally showed some reaction.

She pointed toward a less damaged section of the floor.

"This ritual started being prepared before the ball."

The bat turned its head toward the area.

"There’s no way to create something this large while hundreds of vampires are moving around the estate. Especially with Chysis, Serafall, and who knows how many other monsters walking around here."

Raven slipped her hands into her pockets.

"Someone got them inside."

The bat remained still.

"Probably a vampire."

Silence.

"Or someone capable of passing as one."

More silence.

Raven looked at him.

"You’re really terrible as an investigative partner."

The bat spread its wings for a moment before folding them again.

Raven returned her attention to the rubble.

"There’s a considerable chance an Ancestral Witch was involved."

She paused briefly.

"Actually..."

Her eyes became more attentive.

"Maybe."

An Ancestral Witch was not simply a more powerful version of an S-Class Witch.

She was something different.

The classification existed for women who had surpassed the normal limits of humanity through their own magic. Their bodies, souls, and magical structures had been altered to the point where age, mana-storage capacity, and even certain biological limitations no longer functioned in the same way.

They could still look human.

Some even continued to consider themselves human.

But they were no longer completely bound by the rules of the species.

Raven LeFay was one of them.

"But that doesn’t make sense either."

The bat looked at her.

"An Ancestral wouldn’t need all of this."

Raven began slowly walking in circles as she thought.

"She could build a similar matrix alone. It would take less time. There would be far less chance of leaving residue from three different flows."

She stopped.

"Besides, if someone infiltrated the witches into this place..."

Raven frowned.

"Then maybe the person behind it wasn’t even present."

She began organizing the possibilities.

"They could have created the design."

Another step.

"Delivered the instructions."

Another.

"Prepared external components."

She stopped again.

"Or used the other three as extensions."

The bat finally spoke.

"I asked you to identify who it was, not give me a lecture."

Raven closed her eyes.

She remained like that for two seconds.

Then she took a deep breath.

"Shut up."

The bat remained perfectly comfortable on her shoulder.

"You talk too much."

"You’ve spent the last fifteen minutes talking to yourself."

"Because someone needed to think."

"You could think silently."

Raven looked sideways at him.

"Want to investigate?"

"No."

"Then stay quiet."

The bat made a small irritated sound.

Raven ignored him.

She walked to approximately the center of the former building and stopped over a relatively flat section of ground. Then she raised her right hand.

A pale blue line appeared at the tip of her index finger.

She drew a circle in the air.

The line remained suspended.

Then another circle appeared around the first.

And another.

Raven made a small motion with her fingers.

All three expanded rapidly.

A transparent barrier began growing around the ruins, at first covering only a few meters before spreading until it surrounded the entire area where the palace had been destroyed.

The bat looked upward.

"What’s that for?"

"To keep anyone from coming in."

"There are guards outside."

"I’m not worried about people."

Raven brought her hands together.

"I’m worried about time."

The bat fell silent.

She closed her eyes.

"Reverse Chronology."

The entire barrier vibrated.

Nothing happened for the first few seconds.

Then a small stone near Raven’s feet moved.

It rolled backward.

Rose into the air.

And fitted itself into another broken stone.

The bat turned its head.

More fragments began to respond.

Dust left the ground and returned to cracks. Small pieces of wood dragged themselves across the terrain. A shard of broken glass leaped from one stone to another and slowly began reconstructing a surface that no longer existed.

But this was not true time reversal.

Raven was not rebuilding the palace.

Reverse Chronology worked with the residue left behind by events.

Everything that existed left some kind of trace.

Magic left more.

Great rituals left much more.

The technique simply forced those traces to follow their paths in reverse, reproducing what had happened without altering the present.

"Now pay attention."

Raven opened her eyes.

The scene changed.

The rubble remained where it was, but a second layer began appearing over it.

Translucent lines.

Shadows of objects that had once existed.

Magical traces returning to their former positions.

The explosion began reconstructing itself before them.

First came the wave of energy.

It retreated toward the center.

Magical flames disappeared back into the lines that had fed them.

The anti-vampire barrier contracted.

Destroyed runes reformed.

Raven watched everything without blinking.

"More."

She increased the flow of energy.

The reconstruction accelerated.

The magical circle that had been hidden beneath the estate began to appear.

But Raven immediately frowned.

"No."

The bat looked at her.

"What?"

"I was wrong."

She moved closer.

The design continued moving backward through time.

Runes disappeared one by one.

Layers of energy dismantled themselves.

What had appeared to be an enormous spell began revealing its origin.

Raven crouched.

"This wasn’t magic."

"You literally just called it a magical matrix."

"Because that’s what they activated."

She ran her fingers through the space where a ghostly line was appearing.

"But the original structure..."

A few more seconds passed.

Finally, it appeared.

Chalk.

The bat fell silent.

White marks began appearing across the old floor, reconstructed by Reverse Chronology.

A perfect circle.

Then another.

Symbols had been drawn by hand.

They were not conjured runes.

Someone had literally knelt on that floor and prepared every part of it.

Centimeter by centimeter.

Raven watched the pattern emerge.

"Son of a bitch..."

The bat shifted.

Raven raised one hand.

"Don’t say anything."

She continued analyzing it.

The shape of the connections.

The distance between the symbols.

The way certain lines crossed without actually touching.

Three small deviations along the outer edge.

An extremely specific sequence of symbols inside the central circle.

Raven froze.

She knew this.

Not the magic.

The person.

Reverse Chronology continued working as Raven slowly stood.

"I understand."

The bat finally asked:

"Who?"

Raven let out a long, exhausted sigh.

The entire investigation had just become far more irritating.

She looked at the reconstructed circle on the ground.

"Valerie D’Leon."

The bat remained motionless.

Raven crossed her arms.

"It was her."