“Hmm…” Victor frowned, his gaze fixed on the encrypted document in his hand.
“Do you… decrypt it?” Dora asked, her voice filled with curiosity as she leaned in slightly.
“Hmm…” Victor frowned even deeper. ‘What the heck are these symbols…?’ He cast a glance at Dora, who was watching him expectantly as if waiting for some kind of positive answer. He coughed lightly before responding, “I think… I’ll need some time to figure this out. It’s not something I can just decode instantly.”
“Hah… figured as much,” Aqualina chuckled, crossing her arms as she leaned back. Her amusement was evident as she glanced toward the principal.
“I see…” Dora nodded softly, her expression unreadable.
Victor shifted his focus to the glass tube resting on the table. The liquid inside was a deep red. His expression darkened as he studied it. “So, these are the substances they used on people… The things that turned them into monsters, right?” His voice carried a weight of realization.
“Yeah,” Dora confirmed with a slow nod before glancing at Aqualina, who also nodded.
Victor’s frown deepened further as he recalled the strange occurrences in the Wood Tribe. Something about all this felt eerily connected.
“Hmm… those test subjects you mentioned… Have you investigated them thoroughly?” Victor asked, his tone laced with curiosity as he kept his eyes on the swirling red liquid inside the test tube.
Dora let out a breath before nodding, “Yes, but they didn’t know anything either. They were just taken… kidnapped. And what’s worse, they were either criminals or abandoned people. It was as if someone deliberately made sure to choose targets that nobody would miss, people with no one to come looking for them.”
“That’s… unsettling,” Victor muttered, narrowing his eyes, ‘But then, why did the Wood Elf people turn into monsters too? They weren’t abandoned criminals’ He turned his focus back to the test tube, his fingers grazing over the cold glass as he debated opening it. Just as his thumb moved to uncork it—
“If I were you, I wouldn’t do that,” Aqualina interrupted in a flat.
“??” Victor paused, his gaze snapping toward her before shifting to Dora, who also nodded in agreement, “Wait… is this stuff really that dangerous?”
“It seems so…” Dora nodded, her voice carrying a hint of warning.
Victor exhaled sharply. “Then how do we deal with it? We can’t just leave something like this lying around, especially if it can turn people into monsters.”
“From what I can tell, it resembles blood… but I have a hunch,” Dora said, her brows furrowing in thought. “There’s only one person I know who might be able to identify exactly what this is.” Her tone was firm as if she had already made up her mind.
“Who?” Victor asked, tilting his head slightly.
“Scarlet.”
“Oh?” Both Aqualina and Victor were surprised.
But then Victor remembered how Lia once helped him with extracting the blood from the golden liquid that Arkanis, the Dragon Emperor used.
“She might be able to help us,” Dora admitted before her lips curled into a displeased frown. “Though knowing her, she’ll be an absolute bitch about it… ugh.” She groaned, already annoyed at the thought of dealing with Scarlet. “Just thinking about talking to that woman is already exhausting me.”
Victor let out a small chuckle before his expression grew serious again as he turned his attention back to the red liquid. “What about the children? What are we going to do with them? I can’t shake the feeling that… they might be even more dangerous than the others.”
Dora let out a long, tired sigh, rubbing her temples. “Honestly? I feel the same way. They’re like ticking time bombs… They don’t talk, they don’t react, and worst of all… they don’t even eat.”
Victor’s brows knitted together. “Wait, they’re refusing to eat?”
“Not exactly,” Dora muttered, shooting Aqualina a meaningful glance. “Aqualina told me something disturbing about them… Apparently, they were fed human flesh, and that’s the only way they grow properly.”
Victor’s expression stiffened as he turned to Aqualina, “Is that true?”
“Yes,” Aqualina confirmed without hesitation. “That’s what the scientist told me. These children—whatever they’ve become—can only develop normally if they consume human flesh.”
“Then isn’t it too dangerous to keep them around female students?”
Aqualina shook her head. “No, they don’t eat just any human flesh. They only consume the flesh of those who have been injected with this serum,” she clarified, pointing at the test tube.
Victor’s eyes widened slightly as he processed her words. “Wait… You’re saying they only eat people who’ve been injected with this stuff?”
“Hmm,” Aqualina nodded. “That’s what I was told and… What I have seen so far. It seems to be a specific reaction to the substance.”
Aqualina took a deep breath before turning back to Dora, “Anyway, I hope you think this through and make the right call, Principal. I don’t want anything—I want the real thing.” She stood up, her words carrying a weight of finality.
Victor frowned as he watched her. “Hmm… what exactly does she need to do?”
Aqualina didn’t answer. She simply turned on her heels and began walking away. Just as she reached the door—
“Do you know why I am here?”
Aqualina halted her steps and glanced back, her brows furrowing. “Why would I?” she asked.
Victor grinned, his eyes gleaming with amusement. “You might not know this… but a lot has happened. Especially since your Empire and mine have been joined together”
“??” Aqualina was taken aback, about to inquire further when—
“What’s more, your mother invaded my Empire and even tried to destroy everything I built,” Victor stated in a blank, emotionless tone, his voice carrying an unsettling calmness.
“What?”
“What?”
Both Dora and Aqualina were stunned by his words, their expressions a mixture of disbelief and confusion.
Aqualina turned to him sharply,
Victor met her gaze and smirked, “Now, she’s under my control… and I came here to get her beloved daughter.” His words dripped with amusement as if this was nothing more than a well-crafted game to him.
“H-Huh?” Aqualina staggered back, her mind reeling from the revelation. Her shock quickly turned into fury, her fists clenching as her eyes blazed with rage. “How dare yo—”
Before she could finish her sentence, something flickered from her shadow. A dark shape moved with lightning speed, and before she even realized what had happened, her body collapsed.
Thud!
Celestia stood over Aqualina’s unconscious body, her grip firm, her expression devoid of remorse.
“What the…” Dora’s eyes widened in shock before she turned to glare at Victor, her voice filled with disbelief. “What the hell are you doing? Have you lost your mind?”
Victor, half-smiling, replied with an almost lazy air, “Master Snape is after her.”
Dora’s breath hitched. The name alone was enough to send a jolt of unease through her. She visibly stiffened, her entire body tensing at the implications behind his words.
Victor caught her reaction immediately, “So… it really is him, isn’t it?” he asked, his tone carrying a hint of curiosity and amusement.
Dora rubbed her forehead, exhaling deeply, “I… as much as I hate to admit it… judging by how Alaric reacted, it seems he really is alive.” She bit her lip, her mind torn between belief and denial. “But until I see it with my own eyes… I can’t be completely sure. I need proof, not just speculation.”
“I see… Alaric, huh?” Victor mused, his mind already calculating several possibilities, “Where is he now?”
Dora sighed before explaining everything that had transpired at the Academy—how Alaric had managed to escape.
“Hmm… interesting…” Victor nodded, his mind piecing together new fragments of information.
Alaric had always been treated as a disposable pawn in the previous iteration, yet for some reason, the Master still found use for him.
That was odd.
That was… unexpected.
‘What made him change?’ Victor wondered. The Master was becoming more unpredictable, his moves shifting in a way that no longer followed the careful, calculated patterns Victor had come to expect.
Until now, the Master had taken great care to keep his identity hidden, operating from the shadows without ever leaving a trace. But this… this move had exposed him to Dora. It was reckless.
It was stupid. Unless…
Victor’s lips curled slightly as he considered another angle.
‘Does he still intend to use Alaric to draw out the real Dora? But how? What’s his endgame?’ The thought gnawed at him, leaving him intrigued yet wary.
With a flick of his wrist, Victor called Snowflake from the Umbra Sanctum and then… The mysterious force surged forward, swirling like a vortex, before consuming Aqualina and pulling her inside the Umbra Sanctum.
“!!!!”
Both Celestia and Dora were utterly shocked. Their eyes widened as they watched the seamless disappearance unfold before them.
“W-Where is she—” Dora started, her voice laced with urgency. But before either of them could fully question it—
Victor’s expression turned serious, his usual grin fading. “Dora, the real reason I came here… I want you to cut…. A Fate.”
Dora blinked, slightly taken aback by his sudden demand. “A Fate? Whose?” She crossed her arms, But Then, her gaze darkened.
“Wait… Did you just call me Dora?” She gritted her teeth, her voice rising in anger. “How dare you, bastard! I am your Master!”
Victor only grinned wider, stepping closer, his movements slow and deliberate. “My lovely Master, then?” he teased.
Dora’s cheeks turned red in frustration. She clenched her fists, gritting her teeth at his brazen audacity. He was pushing boundaries, testing her limits, getting closer and closer—
[+7000 AP]
