Chapter 753: The Story Begins to Break

For the first time since the attacks began, I stopped trying to find the enemy.

Instead, I started looking for the reason.

That difference changed everything.

For days, I had been chasing traces of dark mana, following witnesses, examining destroyed buildings and trying to understand how someone could appear and disappear without leaving enough evidence to identify them.

But every path had ended the same way.

Nowhere.

The more I searched, the more the enemy seemed to know exactly what I would do.

That was no longer a coincidence.

It was a pattern.

And patterns had beginnings.

****************************************

The next morning, I returned to the command hall before sunrise.

The room was almost empty.

Only a few guards stood near the entrance.

I walked toward the large map covering the central table.

The red markings from the previous attacks were still there.

I stared at them.

Then I began removing them.

One by one.

The eastern village.

Gone.

The western supply station.

Gone.

The military road.

Gone.

The market.

Gone.

The storage building.

Gone.

Soon, the map was almost clean.

One of the guards watched me curiously.

"Should I help you?"

"No."

I removed another marker.

"What are you doing?"

"Starting again."

He didn’t understand.

That was fine.

I didn’t fully understand either.

But I knew one thing.

If the enemy expected me to study the attacks, then studying the attacks was exactly what I shouldn’t do.

I stepped back.

The map was almost empty.

Then I looked at it differently.

Not as a map of attacks.

As a map of reactions.

I placed three markers.

The first represented the Church.

The second represented the Authority.

The third represented the War Council.

Then I began marking where each group moved after every incident.

The pattern became obvious.

Every attack created pressure.

The Church demanded more control.

The Authority demanded more information.

The War Council demanded restraint.

And every time the three powers nearly reached an agreement...

another incident happened.

I stopped.

My hand remained above the map.

That was it.

The attacks weren’t simply damaging the human domain.

They were interrupting the peace process.

Every time the possibility of cooperation appeared, something happened to destroy the momentum.

Someone wasn’t trying to win a war.

Someone was trying to prevent peace from becoming permanent.

I whispered:

"The treaty."

That was the center of everything.

Not Lilith.

Not the Church.

Not even the devils.

The treaty itself.

Someone wanted it to fail.

***************************************

I found Mia later that morning.

She was standing in one of the council corridors, speaking with several members of the War Council.

When she saw me, she immediately ended the conversation.

"You’re awake early."

"I didn’t sleep."

She sighed.

"Again?"

"I figured something out."

That caught her attention.

"What?"

"The attacks aren’t the objective."

Mia’s expression became serious.

"What do you mean?"

"They’re interruptions."

She waited.

"Every time the treaty discussion starts moving forward, something happens."

Her eyes narrowed.

"You’re right."

"The attacks create fear. Fear creates arguments. Arguments delay the treaty."

"And while everyone argues..."

"They gain time."

"For what?"

I looked at her.

"That’s what I don’t know."

Mia was silent.

Then she asked:

"Do you think it’s a devil?"

I thought about it.

"No."

"Why?"

"Because if the goal was simply to destroy the treaty, a devil rebel could attack the meeting hall directly."

Mia nodded.

"But whoever is doing this doesn’t want to be seen."

"Exactly."

"Then what do they want?"

I looked down the corridor.

"I think they want something to happen before the treaty is finalized."

Mia frowned.

"Something big."

"Yes."

Neither of us spoke for several seconds.

Then Mia quietly said:

"That’s not comforting."

"It wasn’t supposed to be."

***************************************

By afternoon, the capital was buzzing with another rumor.

A strange object had been discovered near one of the abandoned roads.

The Authority sent investigators.

The Church sent their own people.

The War Council sent scouts.

And, within an hour, three different reports emerged.

One claimed it was devil technology.

Another claimed it was an artifact.

The third claimed it was worthless metal.

I didn’t go.

That was the point.

Instead, I waited.

By evening, the reports had become more confused.

By midnight, nobody knew what the object actually was.

And then it disappeared.

I smiled when I heard.

It was another test.

Someone wanted to know whether I would chase every clue.

I wouldn’t.

Not anymore.

************************************

Three days passed.

Nothing happened.

The capital slowly relaxed.

The markets became crowded again.

People stopped whispering about attacks every time someone arrived from outside the city.

The Church lowered its emergency patrols.

The Authority reduced military movement.

Even the War Council began preparing to reopen formal discussions concerning the treaty.

It was the first real sign of progress in weeks.

I should have been happy.

Instead, I became more suspicious.

Because the silence was too perfect.

I stood on the roof of the Authority building that evening.

The city below was glowing beneath the sunset.

Mia joined me.

"You don’t look happy."

"I am."

"You look like you’re waiting for someone."

"I am."

"Who?"

I looked toward the horizon.

"I don’t know."

She gave me a strange look.

"That’s not an answer."

"It is this time."

She stood beside me.

For a while, neither of us spoke.

Then she asked:

"Do you think the attacks are over?"

"No."

"Why?"

"Because whoever started them hasn’t achieved what they wanted."

"And what’s that?"

I looked at the city.

"The treaty is still alive."

That night, the next message arrived.

It wasn’t an attack report.

It wasn’t a military warning.

It was a letter.

It had been delivered directly to the Authority.

No messenger had seen who brought it.

No magical trace remained.

The envelope contained only one sheet of paper.

The message was short.

The meeting must not take place.

Below it was another line.

The next time you gather, the capital will remember why humans and devils were enemies.

The room became silent.

Mia read it twice.

Then looked at me.

"This isn’t a threat against the treaty."

"No."

"It’s a threat against the meeting."

I nodded.

"Which means they want us to cancel it."

The Authority commander standing nearby clenched his fist.

"Then we should cancel it."

I looked at him.

"No."

He frowned.

"Why?"

"Because that’s exactly what they want."

Mia understood immediately.

"If we cancel the meeting because of a threat, they control us."

"Yes."

The commander hesitated.

"But if something happens—"

"Something will happen."

Everyone looked at me.

I folded the letter.

"The question isn’t whether they’ll attack."

I looked toward the windows.

"The question is what they’ll attack."

*****************************************

The decision was made.

The meeting would continue.

The Church protested.

The Authority argued.

The War Council eventually sided with keeping the meeting.

Lilith was informed.

She agreed immediately.

"I won’t allow fear to decide the future."

Her words spread throughout the capital.

For once, humans and devils were united around the same decision.

The meeting would happen.

The treaty would continue.

And whoever was behind the attacks would have to make a move.

That was exactly what I wanted.

***********************************************

The following day, preparations began.

The meeting hall was reinforced.

Additional guards were stationed throughout the capital.

The Authority inspected every entrance.

The Church placed barriers around the sanctuary.

The War Council positioned scouts throughout the city.

Mia was assigned to the main security force.

I was placed near Lilith.

Nobody questioned it.

To them, I was still simply one of the guards assigned to protect her.

A B-Rank.

Perhaps an A-Rank if their information was generous.

Nothing more.

That made things easier.

I stood behind Lilith as she entered the meeting hall for another preparatory session.

The room was already crowded.

Church representatives.

Authority officials.

War Council members.

Guild masters.

Veterans.

Political observers.

Everyone had come.

And everyone knew something was coming.

I could feel it.

Not through mana.

Through the atmosphere.

The room felt like the moment before a storm.

Lilith sat down.

Mia took her place nearby.

The doors closed.

The meeting began.

For the first hour, nothing unusual happened.

The treaty was discussed.

Land boundaries.

Travel restrictions.

Military cooperation.

Trade.

The same arguments.

The same objections.

The same political struggle.

But beneath all of it was something different.

Everyone was waiting.

Waiting for the attack.

Waiting for the enemy to appear.

Waiting for the moment the threat became reality.

I stood silently behind Lilith.

Then I felt it.

A faint pulse.

Dark mana.

Very weak.

So weak that almost nobody would notice.

I turned my head.

Not toward the doors.

Not toward the windows.

Toward the floor.

The pulse came from beneath the meeting hall.

My expression changed.

Someone else had noticed.

Mia looked at me.

She didn’t ask.

She simply followed my gaze.

Then Lilith turned slightly.

"What is it?"

I spoke quietly.

"Stay here."

Lilith’s eyes narrowed.

"What did you sense?"

"Something."

I moved away from her.

The pulse disappeared.

I stopped.

It had vanished exactly as before.

I closed my eyes.

Nothing.

Then I understood.

It wasn’t coming from beneath the hall.

It had only made me think that.

The real source was somewhere else.

I opened my eyes.

And suddenly the entire hall went dark.

People shouted.

Chairs scraped against the floor.

Guards drew weapons.

Mia immediately moved toward Lilith.

The emergency barriers activated.

Then—

nothing.

The lights returned.

Everyone was still alive.

No attack.

No explosion.

No devil.

Nothing.

A collective breath escaped the room.

One of the Church leaders shouted:

"Search the hall!"

Guards moved immediately.

I didn’t move.

I was staring at the far wall.

There was something there.

A mark.

The same simple mark.

Except this time...

it was different.

There was another line beneath it.

I stared.

My heart began beating faster.

I knew that pattern.

Not from Edolas.

Not from anything I had learned here.

From somewhere else.

Somewhere I could no longer remember clearly.

A world of strange machines.

A world without mana.

A world where stories existed on paper instead of reality.

My head suddenly hurt.

I staggered.

Mia caught my arm.

"Zero!"

"I’m fine."

"No, you’re not."

I pushed myself upright.

The mark on the wall seemed to distort.

For one brief second, I saw something behind it.

Not a wall.

Not the meeting hall.

A completely different place.

A room.

White light.

A desk.

Pages.

A screen.

Then it disappeared.

I stared at the wall.

My breathing had become uneven.

Mia looked frightened.

"What did you see?"

I didn’t answer.

Because I didn’t know how to explain it.

Then a voice entered my mind.

Not from the room.

Not from outside.

Inside.

You remember now.

I froze.

The voice continued.

Not everything.

My hands tightened.

But enough.

I looked around.

Everyone else was still shouting.

Nobody had heard it.

Only me.

Then the voice spoke one final time.

Come alone.

A location appeared in my mind.

An abandoned building beyond the western district.

Then the voice vanished.

I stood motionless.

Mia was still holding my arm.

"Zero?"

I looked at her.

For the first time, I couldn’t hide my expression.

Something had changed.

She saw it.

"What happened?"

I looked toward the wall.

Then toward Lilith.

Then toward the closed doors.

The enemy had finally stopped leaving clues.

They had stopped running.

They had invited me directly.

And somewhere inside me, beneath all the memories I had accumulated in Edolas, something old had begun to wake.

Something I had forgotten.

Something that belonged to another life.

I slowly pulled my arm away from Mia.

"I need to go somewhere."

Her eyes narrowed.

"Where?"

I looked at her.

"I don’t know yet."

It was the first lie I had told her that I hated telling.

Because this time, I knew exactly where I was going.