Chapter 313: Lead The Way

Lady in Dark opened her eyes, a smile blooming on her face.

Of all the outcomes she’d expected, this one had been the least likely. It had been a gamble. And fortunately, it had paid off.

She looked around the dark room, and with a flick of her telekinesis, every torch in the room was lit, flooding it with light.

The light revealed a giant ritual circle, etched into the ground. Running along the grooves was fresh blood, directly from the hearts of the members of her cult.

She looked around to see their bodies splayed on the floor where they’d killed themselves in order to fuel the ritual.

She hadn’t forced them and they’d known exactly what they were in for. And the results were worth it. Their rewards would come when their souls joined the Sleeper in eternal sleep.

The ritual had been necessary to increase the range of her telepathy. After all, how would she be able to slip into Noah’s dreams when she was currently in the capital.

The door to the chamber opened, and in walked the only person inside the Reunifiers with the same standing as her.

Lord Vine.

She stood in one smooth motion, her smile widening at the sight of him.

The man kept walking towards her, not even registering the dead bodies around the room. He chuckled, his voice echoing in the space.

“Let me guess,” he tilted his head. “You found it.”

“Yes, I did.” Lady in Dark grinned. “I found the second dagger in the Royal Academy. It’s with Cecilia Pendragon.”

Lord Vine smiled in response. “Good. Now we can resume operations according to schedule.”

“Gather all we need, Dark. When you’re ready, we shall head to the academy. There’s no need for us to hide ourselves anymore. The Reunification is at hand.”

“And Noah Webb?” Lady in Dark asked.

“The destined hero?” Lord Vine turned away. “He has served his purpose. Do with him whatever you will.”

And with that, he left.

Lady in Dark stood in the middle of her ritual circle, chuckling to herself.

There was no need for her to head to the Royal Academy to kill Noah Webb. All she needed to do was pit the Puppeteer against him.

And when Noah survived that, he’d be too weak to fight against the real enemy deep within himself.

“Goodbye, Noah Webb.” She began walking towards the exit. “I’m afraid you won’t be alive to see our brave new world.”

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“She played us.” Noah said, the moment he saw Arlo.

“What?” Arlo frowned, yawning as they both walked to the cafeteria.

“The Lady in Dark.” Noah hissed. “She appeared in my dreams last night, saying we helped her. That she was looking for something and we found it for her.”

“What do you mean?”

“Her appearance in my dreams wasn’t her warning us! She wasn’t trying to stop us. She was guiding us!”

“And whatever she was looking for, she’d found it.”

Silence filled the air between them as they both digested the news, Noah for the umpteenth time since he’d woken from the dream.

“Could she be speaking figuratively?” Arlo asked.

“No,” Noah shook his head. “She was being literal. I could feel it.”

“Damn it.” Arlo cursed. “What could we have helped her find? The Puppeteer?”

“No. That isn’t it. How could we have helped her find something even we ourselves don’t know?” Noah frowned. “Think about it. What discovery did we just recently make?”

Silence filled the air for a few seconds before their eyes widened in unison. “Professor Cecilia.”

“Shit.” Noah cursed. “We have to tell her about this.”

Without waiting for another word, both of them began sprinting towards Cecilia’s office.

When they reached the office, the corridor was unnaturally quiet.

The usual sounds that would be expected from the academy, the murmurs of passing students and tweets of birds, was gone, replaced by a suffocating silence.

They exchanged glances before Noah knocked once. Silence. Then he knocked again.

“Professor?” he called.

There was no response.

Arlo frowned as he tried staring through the door. “Something’s wrong.”

He extended his hand, mana wavering faintly from his fingertips as his eyes began to glow with a ghostly light.

For a few moments, he stood still, searching. Then his expression hardened.

“I’ve got it,” he said quietly. “The Puppeteer’s trail. It’s faint, but it’s here.”

Noah’s eyes narrowed. “Lead the way,” he said immediately.

They moved fast through academy grounds, moving past classrooms and dorm buildings, until the familiar architecture gave way to older, crumbling stone of the abandoned buildings.

Few students ever came this far, as this section of the academy had been closed for years.

The Puppeteer’s trail led them into a building and to a shattered archway marked “Research Wing — Restricted Access.”

The metal sign was rusted and half torn from the wall. The air was thick with the smell of dust and something fouler beneath it. Copper and rot.

Arlo glanced at Noah. “You smell that?”

“Yeah,” Noah murmured. “Blood.”

They descended the cracked stairs into the basement.

The deeper they went, the worse the stench became, filled with the smell of wet earth, decay, and iron tang mixing into a nauseating haze.

At the bottom, the corridor opened into a wide underground chamber.

Dozens of ritual circles glowed faintly across the floor. The runes shimmered like dying hearts, their red light reflecting off the slick surface of blood that had dried and pooled in uneven patches.

Bodies hung from chains fixed to the ceiling, with some still twitching weakly, and others slack and unmoving.

They were students, each suspended between life and death, flesh grey and veins black with corruption. Their eyes were open, blank and glassy, as if their souls were trapped halfway out of their bodies.

Arlo froze, bile rising in his throat.

“This…” he whispered, his voice trembling for once. “This is where he’s been operating.”

The air stirred, faint at first, then all at once, carrying the scent of something burning.

From the center of the largest circle, a shadow detached itself from the darkness and straightened to its full height.

The figure’s face was hidden beneath a mask of bone, and its fingers twitched like a puppeteer testing invisible strings.

At the center of the carnage stood the Puppeteer.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep