The Academy's interrogation room was deliberately uncomfortable. The steel chair was bolted to the floor, the fluorescent lights buzzed with an obnoxious hum, and the air was kept at a freezing temperature to break the nerves of whoever sat there.
Elias sat completely relaxed, his hands resting on the steel table.
Across from him sat Instructor Graves and a high-ranking military official whose uniform was decorated with several medals. A glowing mana-recorder sat between them, capturing every word.
"Let me get this straight, Cadet Elias," the military official said, his voice laced with heavy skepticism. "You, a newly registered B-Rank Summoner, claim to have single-handedly slain a B-Rank Bloodfiend. A demon known for wiping out entire veteran squads."
"I didn't say I fought it fairly," Elias replied, his tone bored.
"Explain," Graves demanded, leaning forward.
"The Bloodfiend is an aggressive, low-intelligence predator," Elias lied smoothly, resting his chin on his hand. "When it tore through the spatial rift, it immediately smelled the blood of the Valerius team. It charged them blindly. I summoned my shadow knight to intercept it. When the demon ripped my summon apart, it created a smokescreen of mana. I used the distraction to drive a steel stake through its eye, directly into its brain."
The room fell silent.
"A stake through the eye," the official repeated dryly. "Are you telling me you killed a B-Rank anomaly with a piece of scrap metal?"
"Anatomy doesn't care about ranks, sir," Elias said calmly. "If you destroy the central nervous system, the creature dies. My class is Summoner, but my combat fundamentals are sound. Or would you have preferred I let it eat the Valerius heir?"
Graves rubbed his temples. The story sounded absurdly lucky, but it was physically possible. Furthermore, the Academy medics had confirmed that Leo and his team were knocked out by blunt force trauma before the demon even arrived. Elias claimed he found them that way.
Without witnesses, and with Elias officially recorded as the savior of a powerful noble heir, the military had no grounds to hold him.
"You're free to go, Cadet," Graves sighed, turning off the mana-recorder. "But consider yourself under close observation. You have a habit of being at the center of impossible situations."
"I'll try to be more boring, sir," Elias said, standing up and walking out of the interrogation room.
The Academy corridors were quiet. It was past midnight, and the cadets were locked in their dorms under strict curfew due to the Gate breach.
As Elias turned the corner toward his wing, the shadows in the hallway seemed to stretch and warp. He didn't break his stride.
"You can come out, Aria," Elias said into the empty hallway. "Your stealth is impressive, but your breathing is too shallow. It gives you away."
From the darkness beneath a stairwell, Aria Sterling materialized. She was out of her Academy uniform, dressed once again in her sleek, black assassin gear.
"You lied to the military," Aria said softly, stepping into the dim moonlight filtering through the window. "A steel stake through the eye? Really?"
"It's called plausible deniability," Elias smirked. "What do you want, Sterling? I'm tired."
Aria crossed her arms, her amethyst eyes locking onto his. "I felt it, Elias. Even from the medical wing. The dark mana spike in the Savage Wilds. You didn't just kill that Bloodfiend... you added it to your collection, didn't you?"
"Maybe," Elias replied, his eyes glowing faintly. "Are you here to blackmail me?"
"I'm here to hire you," Aria corrected, taking a step closer.
Elias raised an eyebrow. "Hire me?"
"My family specializes in intelligence and assassination," Aria explained, her voice dropping to a whisper. "Three days ago, our scouts located an unregistered A-Rank Gate forming in the ruins of the old industrial district. The government doesn't know about it yet. The Sterling family wants to secure the Dungeon Core inside before the military locks it down."
"So send your family's elites," Elias shrugged.
"We can't," Aria said, frustration creeping into her voice. "If high-ranking Sterling members move into the city, the other major Guilds will notice and intercept us. It has to be a covert strike. A small team. But it's an A-Rank Gate. A small team will get slaughtered... unless that team includes an anomaly who commands a legion of immortal shadows."
Elias leaned against the wall, calculating. An A-Rank Gate was a treasure trove. The monsters inside would yield Elite and Commander-grade souls, not to mention the massive amounts of high-grade mana crystals he could farm.
"What's the split?" Elias asked.
"My family keeps the Dungeon Core and the Boss's main artifact," Aria negotiated. "You keep all the mana crystals, all the monster drops, and whatever... 'souls' you decide to extract. Plus, the Sterling family will officially owe you a favor. A favor from the deadliest family in the country."
Elias smiled. It was a cold, predatory smile that made Aria shiver despite her training.
"We leave tomorrow night," Elias said, stepping past her. "Don't be late."