Chapter 171: The Handwriting

Golden particles drifted through the air as my dagger appeared in my hand from the System inventory.

Her eyes locked onto the blade.

"I asked Eselin to retrieve the shower ledger from the girls’ dormitory," I explained. "Your name was recorded around the time Jelda was murdered, just like you told me. At first, it cleared you."

I took another step.

"But something kept bothering me."

She continued retreating until her back nearly brushed against a tree.

"The ledger wasn’t written by one person. Three different students handled it throughout the day, and each had distinct handwriting." I slowly raised the dagger, pointing it toward the ground instead of at her. "Your entry didn’t match the handwriting around it."

She stared at me without blinking.

"It matched something else instead."

"I... I don’t understand..."

"It matched the assassination letter I found in Cadence’s room." I kept my eyes fixed on hers. "The shape of your letters, the way you curved your ’r,’ the long tails on your ’f’s. They were identical."

"No..." she whispered, shaking her head. "No, they weren’t."

"They were."

She stumbled back another step.

"We’re supposed to turn left here, aren’t we?" I gestured toward the path beside the tree. "That’s where Jelda’s grave is."

Her eyes widened. "You told me you didn’t know where she was buried," she whispered.

"I lied."

Silence settled between us.

"The woman I met wasn’t Hatche." I spoke calmly, almost conversationally. "Hatche was already dead before I reached that house."

Pix’s breathing became ragged.

"You took her place."

"I didn’t!"

"You pointed me toward Cadence."

"I didn’t!"

"You used some kind of illusion."

"I’M NOT LYING!"

"You’re a terrible liar, Pix."

She shook her head over and over, tears beginning to gather in her eyes.

"If you can’t get everything off your chest..." I said softly, tightening my grip on the dagger, "...then let me help you."

We stepped into the small clearing. Jelda’s weathered stone marker stood under the tree, half-swallowed by moss.

Pix spun around, eyes wild. "Please, Ace, wait. Just listen to me. I can explain everything. I swear I can..."

Mana already sparked around her fingers. She flung a dark bolt at my chest. I twisted aside; it scorched the ground behind me.

"Don’t!" she screamed, backing up until her heels hit the base of the grave. "I didn’t want any of this! They made me, please, I’ll tell you everything, just don’t..."

I closed the distance in two strides. She tried another spell. I caught her wrist mid-cast and snapped it sideways. Bone cracked loudly. She shrieked, the magic dying in a spray of sparks.

"Ace... stop! Please, I’m begging you!" Tears streamed down her face. "AAGH! AAAGH! STOP! STOP STOP STOP STOP STOP!"

I drove my knee into her stomach. She folded with a wet gasp. I slammed her onto the cold dirt right in front of Jelda’s stone, pinning her with my full weight.

She clawed at my face, nails raking skin. "Please... don’t kill me... I don’t want to DIEEEE!"

I caught both of her wrists in one hand and slammed them down hard above her head, pinning them to the dirt. With my other hand I drove the dagger straight through both of her stacked palms, the blade punching deep into the ground beneath.

Pix screamed, high, raw, and continuous, as the steel pinned her hands in place. Blood welled up around the hilt immediately.

I stood up, looked down at her for a second, then kicked the dagger deeper into the earth. The impact forced the blade further through flesh and bone.

"AAAAAAGH! PLEASE, STOP, IT HURTS, IT HUUURTS!" she shrieked, thrashing against the pinned hands, voice cracking into sobs. "ACE, PLEASE, I DON’T WANT TO DIE... PLEASE!"

I crouched, pulled the small dagger she kept hidden in her boot, and held it up so she could see it.

"You think I wouldn’t notice?"

Her eyes went wide with pure terror. "No, no, no, don’t, PLEASE DON’T! OKAY, I’LL TELL YOU BUT PLEASE!"

I leaned over her and started carving.

The blade sank into the soft flesh just below her collarbone and dragged downward in a slow line. She screamed so hard her voice broke into wet, gurgling cries. I cut deeper, splitting skin and muscle, peeling the wound open until the white of bone showed and blood poured freely across her chest. She kept screaming the entire time, animal sounds that turned into choking sobs as I worked the knife lower, sawing through cartilage and forcing the blade between her ribs.

"AAAAAGH!"

Her body jerked violently once. The screaming cut off into a wet gurgle. Then she went still. Eyes open. Mouth open. Blood still pumping weakly from the ruined hole in her chest.

I stood up, dropped her dagger onto the grass, and yanked my own blade free from her pinned palms. The hands flopped lifelessly to the dirt.

I exhaled. Did I really have a smile on my face?

I looked at my reflection in the bloodied dagger... nope. Just my usual resting face. I wiped the blade clean on her clothes and slipped it back into my inventory.

Fourth suspect... Pix. Now it was truly over.

Jelda still had her boots on. Even in death, that single detail gave everything away.

It meant the person who lured her outside wasn’t a stranger, it was Pix. Jelda was paranoid about going outside and she’d only do that with the people who she trusted well enough.

Pix must have faked going to the shower, only to slip back and ask Jelda to step outside with her. Trusting her, Jelda had laced up her shoes and followed Pix straight into the trap, walking right into the hands of those two pathetic excuses I’d found hiding in the secret cave.

After that, the nightmare played out just as everyone feared. She had been assaulted, murdered, and then dragged back to her own room like a grotesque trophy, left on display to taunt every single person in the school.

But the horror was finally over. The nightmare had run its course, and at last, the school could breathe again.

"Well... the least I could do, Jelda." My voice came out quiet as I looked at the grave. "Uh... goodbye, I guess."

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> ENEMY SLAIN

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> +44 EXP

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