Chapter 92: The Sinister plot

Astralis Arcanum gate,

The night sky stretched deep and quiet as the carriage rolled through the grand gates of Astralis Arcanum. Lanterns along the cobblestone path glowed with soft golden light, guiding their way inside. The guards at the gate checked their academy-issued IDs and permissions, nodding them through without fuss.

Inside, the carriage rattled along, filled with laughter and chatter. Ron leaned back with a rare ease, Lia sat beside him with a faint smile, and Selene and Jax couldn’t resist stirring trouble.

Selene tilted her head, eyes glimmering mischievously.

“Well,” she drawled, smirking, “quite the night, don’t you think, Jax?”

Jax caught on instantly, flashing a grin. “Oh, definitely. Especially for two individuals in particular.” His eyes flicked between Ron and Lia, his tone dripping with playful teasing.

Both of them blinked in confusion.

“What do you mean—?” Ron began, but Selene cut in, giggling.

“Oh, don’t play dumb,” Selene said, her voice sing-song as she leaned forward. “After that little shop incident… neither of you has let go of each other’s hands. Not in the shop. Not in the carriage. Not even now.”

Ron froze. Lia glanced down—and her face went crimson. Their hands were still tightly interlocked, their knuckles pale from how firmly they clung to each other.

“Wha—?!” Ron jerked slightly, but his fluster only deepened the color burning across Lia’s cheeks. Her embarrassment manifested in a puff of smoke curling faintly around her head as she buried her face away from them.

Jax burst into roaring laughter.

“AHAHAHA! Look at you two!”

Selene joined in, giggling behind her staff. “Hehehe, so cute!”

Ron opened his mouth to argue, Lia as well—but the words died in their throats. Neither could come up with a convincing denial. Their hands, however, remained stubbornly intertwined, even in silence.

The teasing lingered in the air, but eventually the mood softened into quiet warmth. The carriage wheels clattered over the stones until it stopped outside the student residence, the very place Ron and Jax met with lia and selene for their little date.

The carriage slowed to a stop in front of the student residence building. The driver gave a polite nod before steering the carriage away, leaving only the four of them under the faint glow of moonlight and the warm lanterns by the entrance.

Selene stretched lightly, her staff glimmering at her side.

“Well then… good night, Jax, Ron. Sleep well,” she said with a gentle smile. “Come on, Lia.”

Jax raised a hand, grinning. “Yeah, good night to both of you.”

Ron gave a small nod. “Good night.”

For a moment, Lia remained quiet, her white single-edged sword still held close in her grip. Finally, she stepped closer to Ron, her voice softer than usual.

“Um… well… good night, you know.”

Ron glanced at the sword in her hands. “You’re still holding it? You must really like that blade.”

Lia nodded once, then smirked. She leaned in close—so close Ron felt her breath tickle his ear—and whispered something before pulling away. With a mischievous flick of her tongue, she stuck it out playfully and followed Selene, looking back at Ron with a teasing grin.

Ron stood frozen, his face burning red.

Jax blinked and waved his hand in front of him. “Bro? Earth to Ron? What happened?”

Ron didn’t move. Didn’t answer. He stood there as though struck by lightning, his mind repeating only Lia’s whispered words:

“I liked our date more… but next time, how about just the two of us?”

His lips curved into a slow smile. “…She liked it.”

Jax sighed, shaking his head but smiling faintly. “Hopeless, man. Totally hopeless. Let’s go, bro.”

Still grinning, Ron nodded. The two of them walked into the residence together, the night finally drawing to a quiet close.

—

Meanwhile, in the teacher’s residence…

Zane’s room was dim, the only light coming from the sleek, grey laptop on his desk. The Z-marked laptop projected a massive holographic display across the wall, split into two shimmering feeds. One side replayed the cheerful carriage ride and the goodbyes at the academy gates; the other remained locked on a separate dark, quiet street.

On the bed beside him, Zane’s techno-watch pulsed faintly. From its face bloomed a soft blue hologram of a woman’s figure. Her features were graceful, ethereal, unmistakably Eirenyssa now known as Eira—though no longer flesh and blood. Now, she lived as a digital soul, bound to the device, her essence reborn as an AI.

Eira’s eyes lingered on the carriage scene, watching Ron and Lia’s bashful exchange, Jax’s teasing, and Selene’s giggles. When it ended, she folded her hands behind her back and let out a gentle laugh.

“What a good show that was,” she said warmly, her voice carrying both fondness and amusement. “I’m glad Boss gave me permission to watch this one.”

Her holographic lips curved into a smile, the glow of her form reflecting faintly in the laptop’s screen as the night deepened around them.

Eira turned from the replay of the carriage scene and faced the other half of the hologram which zane was watching—the darker feed where Arin’s shadowed silhouette paced and raged.

On-screen Arin’s desperate vow tore through the quiet night like a blade. “I will kill him,” he snarled. “I’ll make sure nothing is left for him. Then I’ll take everything.”

A blood-red system window blinked over the image, its letters dripping malice:

[MISSION OBJECTIVE: KILL RON]

Reward: EVERYTHING

The crimson glow spilled over Zane’s face. He didn’t flinch. He watched the words for a long, slow moment, eyes narrowing as if tasting the color of the threat.

“Hm.” He exhaled softly, the single syllable carrying far more than surprise. He leaned back, folding his arms, the faint smirk at the corner of his mouth the only sign that anything interesting had just begun.

“So it’s begun,” he murmured, voice barely above the hum of the laptop. “The entity inside the system has finally started to take control.”

Eira watched him, unreadable and composed. Outside the teachers’ residence the academy slept; inside, the two screens cast twin worlds across the room—one of soft laughter and shy handholds, the other of a malformed fate sharpening into a blade. Zane’s eyes darkened with amusement and calculation.

“Good,” he said at last, almost conversational. “It’ll make this game a lot more entertaining.”

Eira’s holographic form flickered, her brows knitting as she looked at Zane.

“I… don’t understand, boss. Entity? What do you mean?”

Zane’s smirk sharpened. He tilted his head slightly toward the technowatch where her projection shimmered.

“Well, when I pulled Sylas’s information from you,” he said, his voice smooth and calm, “I didn’t just take his knowledge. I took all the information you carried.”

Eira’s glow pulsed faintly, her expression uneasy.

“And before you ever came to me, when I first interfered with Arin’s system—to protect Ron and Lia’s fate from being twisted—I noticed something.” Zane leaned forward, his eyes gleaming in the hologram’s crimson wash. “Something dormant. Buried deep inside.”

“You mean…” Eira whispered, disbelief spreading across her blue features.

“Yes.” He chuckled lowly. “I could’ve awakened it back then, but instead, I thought… why not play a little? Why not wreck the system first, and let that thing stir awake on its own?”

Eira’s mouth fell open. Her holographic form shimmered as if her code itself was shaking.

“You’re saying it so casually… But do you realize what you’re claiming, boss? To interfere with fate itself? Even High Beings cannot touch that without an artifact. And that system—it was forged from one of the strongest artifacts in existence… You… wrecked it? And you sound like it was easy.”

Zane’s smirk only deepened. He didn’t bother answering the doubt.

Eira clenched her hands, then looked back up at him. “But if you stole my knowledge—what does this entity have to do with it?”

Zane’s eyes glowed faintly as he leaned back, folding his arms.

“The entity buried inside that system,” he said slowly, “was something you and your fellow ’The Highs’ despise above all else.”

Eira’s projection widened her eyes in horror. “No… It can’t be… That’s impossible…”

“Oh, but it is.” Zane’s voice dropped into a shadowed whisper, laced with amusement. “The being that has started whispering into Arin’s ears… is none other than the High’s mortal—or should I say, immortal—enemy.”

He paused, savoring her disbelief.

“The Abyssals.”

Eira staggered back a step, her holographic form glitching with static. “But… how? That’s impossible! All the Abyssals should be sealed in Hell. It’s forbidden, impossible for them to breach this plane—”

Zane cut her off with a quiet laugh, eyes flashing.

“And yet… one sleeps inside that boy’s system. Not just any Abyssal either. A high-ranking one.”

Eira’s voice trembled, panic breaking through her usual calm. “No… this can’t be happening… If a High Abyssal is truly loose, then—”

Zane lifted a hand, silencing her with ease. His smirk turned razor-sharp.

“And you should know, Eira… the way to Hell is opening. Slowly. I can already sense it.”

Her form flickered violently, her face contorted in dread.

“Oh no…”

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