Chapter 104: Exploring the House!

The duo looked at the sight at the entrance of the house, feeling something prickling against their skin, like the aftertaste of venom, subtle but undeniable.

Luna flicked her hand and a soft circle of silver light unfurled at her feet, symbols of luminous elven script shimmered before fading, harmonizing with the night.

“Moonlight lays bare what the Abyss would hide, shine a luminous light onto my path,” she whispered, and her spell cascaded outward like a wave, brushing through all of the walls and the door of the house.

For a heartbeat, Albedo caught faint whispers, the subtle pressure of something vast and hungry, just beyond the edges of awareness. His jaw tightened.

He looked at Luna who also had a unique expression on her face, “You feel it too.”

Her silver eyes narrowed as she responded, “Yeah, there’s abyssal residue everywhere. It’s quite subtle, but its woven into the foundation of the house. My guess is the family who lived here have been connected to the Abyss and carrying down their mission with each generation.”

“A family of sleeper agents. Makes them much harder to catch as the missions are just passed down to the sons and daughters, we’ll need information on all their parents did before they died, and their cause of death,” Albedo said and Luna nodded in agreement.

“Well, let’s see more,” Luna said, the door giving a faint groan as her palm brushed against it, a soft crescent light appearing in her hand and slipping into the keyhole effortlessly.

A moment later, the lock clicked open, yielding with a reluctant sigh as the two quickly entered inside, immediately greeted by a rush of freezing cold air. It was dusty, more than it should’ve been considering Colin visited this house quite often.

The entrance hall was plain but tidy, lined with a narrow coat rack, a shelf of books, and a staircase leading upward. Everything was in its place very neatly.

Albedo scanned the hallway with a predator’s wariness as they entered a study room off the hall, spotting stacks of parchment sitting neatly on a desk.

Luna immediately passed her palm over various books, her silver aura revealing faint stains invisible to the naked eye, blotches where abyssal mana had saturated.

She frowned, “These pages were written on, then stripped clean. They used Abyssal Magic that devours ink itself… though not its mana echo.”

Albedo leaned closer, his gaze sharp,”What do the echoes say?”

Luna whispered a short incantation, the words flowing like silver bells. A faint shimmer rose from the parchment, forming ghostly strokes of erased handwriting.

The words twisted and were noticeably incomplete, but fragments lingered and formed themselves into various words and short phrases,

“Circle complete.”

“The Hollowed will…”

“…cannot remain once the plan is commenced.”

The letters dissolved once they were read, the echoes too weak to remain there for more than a couple seconds, “Seems he was smart enough to not write down exactly where their rendezvous point is,”

“Hmm, lets head upstairs,” Luna nodded, and the duo ascended the staircase, the boards creaking faintly under their feet. The second floor contained bedrooms, three in total. Each bore traces of its occupant, though faint, as if scrubbed clean in haste.

The first two were ordinary. Beds made, drawers emptied, shelves bare. They were completely wiped clean, not even the shred of abyssal mana remaining it was so clean.

However, when they arrived at the third door, it was different. Luna paused before the door, silver eyes sharpening, “There. Do you feel it?”

Albedo nodded. Beneath the wood, something pulsed faintly, like the echo of a heartbeat.

Luna lifted her hand. A crescent of moonlight arced across the frame, shimmering against the grain. Slowly, the lock unlatched.

The room within was colder than the rest of the house. Its shutters were sealed, but the air carried a faint reek, metallic, acrid, almost like burnt copper.

A single bed sat against the wall, its sheets perfectly arranged. But the walls bore faint, nearly invisible etchings, spirals, circles, glyphs scratched into the plaster.

Luna stepped closer, brushing her fingers over them. Silver light flowed into the grooves, revealing the full sigils. Her expression hardened.

“Abyssal conjuration marks. He was building an anchor here. Perhaps even a conduit.”

Albedo’s voice was low. “For what?”

Her eyes lingered on the spirals. “…To tether a monster, or something worse. It seems they might’ve left a gift somewhere for us,” Luna said, her guard becoming fiercer as she expected a battle.

The duo finally descended to the basement where the last cellar was, the air was very damp, and Luna conjured a lantern shining with silver light to cut through the darkness, but the walls seemed to absorb it, swallowing the glow.

The basement was bare, save for a single circle etched into the stone floor. It was crude, shallowly carved, but its pattern was unmistakable, Abyssal in nature, meant to draw and reshape mana.

Albedo crouched beside it, Havoc in hand now though no enemy stirred. His gaze was steady, sharp, “Recently used. The edges are still warm.”

Luna’s aura deepened, her moonlight pressing against the circle. For a heartbeat, the lines resisted, pulsing faintly with a sickly dark resonance. Then her silver radiance burned through it, unweaving the taint.

The stone cracked audibly as the last of the circle dissolved.

She straightened, her voice calm but edged. “It was a gateway. Temporary, but strong enough to move people, or creatures, unseen. They didn’t flee Academy City through the gates. They had a teleportation circle that brought them here, and perhaps sent them somewhere else,”

As Albedo was about to respond, another voice rang out in both of their minds,

“Leave it.”

Both Albedo and Luna turned as the serpentine form of Nymarielle coiled gracefully into the chamber.

“The residue remains. I can read what it once carried.” Nymarielle’s elegant voice echoed out.

Luna’s eyes narrowed, “You’re saying you can reconstruct it?”

“Not reconstruct,” Nymarielle corrected, lowering her regal head until her horns brushed close to the circle. Her runes glowed faintly, answering to the Abyssal scars,

“Reverse it. Every path leaves an marks, even when erased, those powerful enough can sense it. The Abyss hides, but it cannot unmake what the flow of mana remembers.”

Albedo straightened, lowering Havoc but keeping it in hand. His voice was careful, probing, “You can find where they went?”

Her lips curved into something that wasn’t quite a smile, more like a ripple across the surface hiding deeper currents, “Where they fled, yes. Perhaps even who left the heaviest stain upon it.”

Luna glanced at Albedo, then gave a short nod, “Do it.”

Nymarielle slithered fully into the circle, her body coiling around it without touching the grooves.

Her scales shimmered as her runes lit up, each stroke a tidal glyph pulsing with deep-blue light. The air thickened immediately, as though the entire cellar had been plunged beneath invisible deep sea waves.

The runes etched across her body bled into the circle, replacing Abyssal taint with ancient oceanic power as the basement pulsed.

The air snapped with pressure. Faint outlines flickered above the ruined circle, silhouettes of figures moving through it. First blurred, indistinct, but then sharpening as the Leviathan’s resonance drew clarity.

Albedo’s eyes narrowed. He could see them. Three figures stepping into the circle, shadows rippling away as they vanished through the teleport.

“Too obscured,” Luna muttered, gaze hard, “The Abyss has worked hard to cloak them, it seems they’re quite valuable.”

“Wait,” Nymarielle whispered. Her voice was low, yet it seemed to echo through the marrow of the cellar walls, “One did not cloak themselves well. One… was sloppy.”

Her eyes narrowed, the silver-blue flecks glowing brighter. She inhaled sharply, then exhaled, and the illusion shifted.

The silhouettes bled away until one alone remained, faint, blurred, but distinctive enough. A figure with a tall frame, shoulders slightly hunched, his mana resonance prickling like venom in Albedo’s chest.

“…Colin,” Albedo said flatly, his jaw tightening.

The image flickered but held long enough for recognition as Nymarielle spoke, “His mana signature lingers here the strongest, most likely because he’s here the most often,”

“Which means he knows more than any of the others,” Luna said coldly.

The vision dissolved as the last of the runes flickered out, leaving the cellar once more dark and oppressive. Nymarielle withdrew her horns from the cracked floor, exhaling deeply, scales dimming as the strain of reversing the Abyssal weave bled from her.

“The trail is not gone,” she intoned, her voice carrying like the rumble of a distant tide. “The Abyss cloaked his path, but he left more than a signature. His essence clings to the world, like rot to stagnant water. I can follow it still.”

“Good,” she said firmly. “That means we’re not too late.” She turned to Albedo, her cloak shifting lightly with her movement, “Go inform Headmistress Raphaeline. Judging my how much importance the Abyss put into this, there’ll be a-lot of people there.”

Albedo’s grip on Havoc tightened once before relaxing. He met Luna’s eyes, the weight of unspoken words between them. “Be careful.”

“You too,” she said softly, already turning toward the darkened cellar steps, her silver aura spilling across the damp stones.

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