Chapter 223: Problems!

Two more days had passed, and the time-limit for Albedo’s task had been edging ever near. During these past few days, the Northern Capital had been seriously hollowed due to his plans.

Albedo felt the change long before any official announcement, long before whispers reached public channels. Infrastructure that had once pulsed with disciplined efficiency now stumbled, corrected, stumbled again.

Contracts were consistently failing to be renewed, while caravans rerouted without explanation. Entire guild branches quietly shuttered “for restructuring.”

Everglade’s web was collapsing exactly as Albedo had planned. From a distance, it looked like coincidence, however from Albedo’s POV, it looked like a systematic organ failure.

House Valemont’s remaining clinics were formally seized under “temporary custodianship.” Their elders immediately retreated behind ancestral wards, bloodline communications locked down by oversight seals they could not legally break.

Thorneveil’s mercenary contracts hemorrhaged clients as arbitration rulings stacked against them with surgical inevitability. Mirell’s warehouses lost river access after a sudden reevaluation of canal rights. Kessarine ceased to exist as a meaningful entity altogether, absorbed, liquidated, erased.

And Everglade? Their family were bleeding men. Magnus seemed to go insane, as he constantly sent teams to attack not only Albedo, but also probe all the families and investigate the people who were shutting down their vassal families.

All of their clean teams dispatched into silence while various retrieval units that never reported back. Blood-bound messengers whose soul-links snapped mid-transmission, leaving only static and confusion. Magnus was throwing resources into a void that refused to answer him.

Albedo in this time period continuously stayed mobile, deciding not to return to predictable locations like his hotel. He didn’t head to the same place twice anymore, and he became just a gust of wind throughout the city.

Each failed attempt cost Magnus another piece of leverage, another subordinate who would never be replaced. By the morning of the third day, Source Code painted Everglade’s network in shades of decay.

Command nodes isolated. Blood vault access throttled. Elder channels strained by internal distrust.

Magnus Everglade was furious and Albedo knew better than anyone that fury would blind others and make them sloppy in their operations, and that was what Albedo was waiting for.

Currently, Albedo was walking along the elevated causeway overlooking the outer districts when Raven’s signal hit him.

His perception snapped inward as a secure channel opened directly through Source Code’s higher layers, Raven’s presence sharp and urgent.

“Albedo.”

Raven’s voice did not waste time as she spoke, “There’s some issues. Stop hanging around here, you need to change your priorities immediately,” Raven said, causing Albedo to stop walking and listen carefully.

“What happened?” he asked aloud, already adjusting course probabilities.

“Magnus has escalated his actions, ” Raven said, “The Everglade Family have lost control of their subordinates and are vastly burning resources, it seems whatever plan they have is being rapidly accelerated due to our actions,”

That tracked in Albedo’s mind, “He’s redirecting his remaining assets not at you however,” Raven said.

Albedo’s jaw tightened as he immediately knew who Magnus was focusing on, “…Lilian.”

A beat of silence confirmed Albedo’s suspicions.

“Magnus has sent a group of trackers after the Exchange Field Tip Group,” Raven said, “Specifically, he has some kind of device to pinpoint Lilian’s exact location. They were supposed to shadow her according to my sources, but Magnus doesn’t have the luxury of patience anymore. Whatever plans he has with Lilian, he’s acting on them,”

“When?” Albedo asked.

“Yesterday evening. They should have intercepted by now.” Raven said, and Albedo was already moving, rushing through the City had he flashed through various shadows.

“Location?”

’Northern Greenwood Expanse,’ Raven replied, “The class itinerary changed after their initial site inspection. They were supposed to return to the city last night. Instead, the supervising professor approved an extended excursion into the forest for ’experiential study.”

Albedo felt something cold settle behind his eyes as he heard that last part, “That wasn’t scheduled,” he said, insinuating something.

“No,” Raven agreed, a sigh in her voice, “And it wasn’t random.”

The forest was a perfect location to intercept. There was natural cover, various interference and reduced oversight. Perfect for a quiet disappearance.

“I’m going now,” Albedo said.

” Good,”Raven replied, I’m locking down city-side responses. But Albedo, Lilian should be safe even if she’s captured. She has her methods, so just focus on finding her, she’ll be alive,” Raven said, and Albedo was already running off towards the Northern Greenwood.

The Northern Greenwood lived up to its name.

Ancient trees towered overhead, bark threaded with old mana veins, leaves whispering with residual enchantments laid down generations ago. The air was thick with life and interference, natural mana flows that tangled long-range perception and dulled artificial tracking.

For most people, it was a beautiful place, but for Albedo, it was hostile terrain as he moved through it. He reached the forest perimeter in under an hour, pushing his body and mana just short of drawing attention from the academy’s monitoring wards.

Source Code recalibrated constantly, filtering false positives from real threats, mapping paths through undergrowth without disturbing the ecosystem. He ran through the forest hurriedly, using Source Code to track the location of the various groups and look for Lilian.

Eventually, he found the class near a clearing by a shallow river, spotting a cluster of students gathered around a temporary camp perimeter, laughter and low conversation carrying faintly through the trees. Equipment stacked neatly. Spell constructs hovering lazily in standby mode. Professors present, alert, but relaxed and alive and safe.

Albedo slowed as he approached, presence folding inward, adopting the familiar, unthreatening cadence he used around the academy. Then he counted, looking for Lilian, his gaze slicing across everyone, and eventually, his steps stopped.

Lilian was not there. His gaze snapped across the clearing, scanning faces with mechanical precision.

Kayle Belair, standing near the riverbank, light mana idly dancing around her fingers.

Veronica Silverstone, seated on a fallen log, eyes half-lidded but aware.

Dorian laughing too loudly near the food packs.

Zeus arguing with another student about monster tracks.

Every core member accounted for. Except one.

Albedo’s heartbeat did not accelerate. It stopped, suspended in a razor-thin moment of calculation.

He approached the nearest professor, posture calm, expression neutral.

“Professor,” Albedo said politely. “Where is Lilian?”

The woman blinked, momentarily surprised by the question.

“Lilian?” she echoed. “She was here earlier. She went ahead with one of the assistants to survey a nearby glade.”

“When?” Albedo asked.

“About an hour ago,” the professor said. “She said she sensed something unusual. We allowed it, she’s capable, and the assistant is experienced.”

Albedo nodded once.

“Which direction?”

The professor gestured vaguely eastward, toward a denser section of forest where the mana thickened unnaturally. Albedo thanked her and turned away before she could say anything else.

Source Code was already screaming. Blood-aspected interference. Residual suppression traces. Movement patterns that did not belong to academy staff, and underneath it all was a thin, fading thread that would lead him directly to Lilian.

Albedo stepped beyond the camp boundary, presence shedding all restraint. The forest reacted to his presence as he moved deeper into it.

Shadows deepened where he passed all the while the various roots shifted subtly with every single step Albedo took, responding to mana they did not understand. Some roots even attacked him, leading Albedo to burn them to ash with his Crimson Apocalypse Flames.

After doing all of that, Albedo had multiple illusions layered themselves over his movement, not to hide him, but to mislead everything else as to what he was doing.

He followed the thread at a dead sprint, boots barely touching the ground as the glade came into view suddenly. Trees parted into a circular clearing ringed with ancient stones, each etched with old, weathered runes.

The air here felt very stagnant and putrid, almost disgusting enough for Albedo to cover his nose if he wasn’t so tense and focused on finding Lilian.

Looking around, he could very easily spot signs of struggle. Scorched earth where light magic had flared and burned through various trees. He could also see various broken branches and even blood, not much, but enough to make Albedo alert.

And at the center of the clearing, there was nothing. There was no bodies, no Lilian and definitely no assistant. Only the faint afterimage of blood-aspected mana folding inward, collapsing like a door that had just finished closing.

Albedo stood perfectly still.

Source Code reconstructed the moment in brutal clarity. From the ambush, to a large suppression field cloaked by magic, and even extraction.

It was extremely clean and professional. Magnus hadn’t sent stalkers this time, he had sent retrievers, with the singular goal to take Lilian away.

Albedo’s hands clenched slowly at his sides, darkness bleeding outward in silent waves that made the forest recoil.

“So,” he said quietly to the empty glade.

“This is how you want to play it.”

Far away, deep within Everglade territory, ritual arrays began to warm.

And somewhere beyond the forest, Lilian BloodHaven was no longer free.

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