We boarded the jet and settled comfortably into our seats.
No one was in the mood to talk much.
Michael was sitting by the window, gazing at the horizon as the ruined city shrank behind us. His expression was unreadable but his shoulders were stiff.
Lily sat silently beside him. She looked like she was searching for the words to say but found none.
Kang had taken another window seat, but instead of looking out, he was blankly staring at the ceiling above.
Only Alexia seemed to be in a slightly better mood as she softly hummed a catchy song to herself.
But I knew that deep down, even she was disturbed by how the events unfolded.
I had taken a seat at the very back, not wanting to interact with anyone right now.
Inside, Selene Valkryn was waiting for us.
She looked as sleepless as ever, with dark circles under her eyes marring her otherwise smooth, porcelain skin.
A long black cloak was draped over her shoulders, matching the color of her dark hair. Atop her head sat a pointed hat — the kind that you’d expect to see on a witch straight out of an old storybook.
The flight from Ishtara to the Ascent Isles was short — about four hours.
Yet, it felt extremely long and tedious because Selene spent the entire time lecturing us.
She reviewed our mission’s strategies, questioning how we could have tackled certain problems and whether there was a better way to approach the situation.
According to Selene, the answers were both yes and no.
The better option would have been to report back to the Academy the moment we got something against the Overlord instead of risking a confrontation with him to gather concrete evidence.
However, in that scenario, the Overlord could have escaped after unleashing his beast army on the city, just as he did anyway.
For some reason, he seemed to know that Michael and the others were coming to attack him.
No one understood just how informed the Overlord was about the Academy’s plans or how he obtained that information.
Selene suggested that perhaps we were bugged.
Michael vehemently disagreed, stating there was no way that could be true.
This led to a heated argument, with Michael growing increasingly passionate while Selene remained calm throughout.
Eventually, they arrived at the same conclusion — it didn’t matter how the Overlord knew. He simply did.
Of course, these poor souls had no idea that I was behind it all.
Nevertheless, the outcome of their discussion remained unchanged.
No matter what Michael and the others might have done, the Overlord would still have unleashed his beasts in the city.
People would still have died.
It was impossible to stop him since he possessed the knowledge he needed to counter us.
“So, what I’m trying to say is that while you might think there were countless things you could have done and hundreds of lives you could have saved, in the end, there’s only one thing that truly matters — you all tried,” Selene concluded.
I was almost shocked.
This woman was trying to lift our spirits.
Granted, with her flat tone and passive face, she wasn’t exactly radiating encouragement, but still — she was making an effort to make us feel good!
This wasn’t something I remembered from the game. Seeing this side of her caught me off guard.
Huh. I guess I didn’t know everything about every main character.
Well, except for Michael. About him, I definitely knew everything.
Selene continued, her voice smooth like silk. “Without your involvement, the destruction could’ve been far worse. A few days from now, there was supposed to be a large festival at the town square. Thousands of people would’ve been gathered there. We believe the High Priest and the Overlord planned to release their beasts into the city then.”
That was true.
“But because you uncovered their plans early, you saved a lot of lives.” She glanced at each one of us briefly. “Right now, only about twenty percent of the population has suffered severe losses, according to our calculations. That’s still a devastating number, but thanks to your intervention — and how quickly Samael managed to alert the Academy — more than half of the city was saved.”
The look on her face softened for a second.
“So if any of you are thinking about blaming yourselves — don’t.” Her voice sharpened, and she practically threw those words in Michael’s direction. He flinched. “Missions go sideways sometimes. Learning how to salvage a bad situation is part of your Hunter training. And you all performed splendidly. Good job on completing your first mission.”
Some of us nodded at her words. Others — like Michael and me — didn’t. For different reasons, of course.
He was sulking. I was too exhausted to care about morale-boosting speeches.
Michael finally spoke, his voice quieter, almost drained. “Do we know what happened to the Overlord and the High Priest?”
Selene hesitated before nodding. “Both were found dead in an underground bunker. Someone also looted the treasure vault there. We believe a third party took advantage of their fight.”
Michael frowned. “Wait. They killed each other? I thought they were working together.”
Selene shrugged. “It happens. Power struggles. Paranoia. Maybe one of them planned to betray the other from the start. Maybe when their plan failed, they panicked. We don’t know for now.”
Michael leaned back in his seat, staring out the window again.
Then, Selene’s focus snapped toward me. “Samael.”
I met her gaze. “Yes?”
“You reported the High Priest’s collusion with Overlord Everan. To get the proof, you had to have broken into the church, right?” Her tone was even, but her eyes studied me carefully. “Did you make contact with him?”
“No,” I said smoothly, shaking my head. “I had no contact with the High Priest because I didn’t break into his church.”
A frown formed on Selene’s face. Everyone else on the plane was surprised too.
Michael turned to me first. “Then how did you get the proof of their collusion?”
I didn’t hesitate to lie. “I met the High Priest’s informant. I offered him asylum in exchange for the documents proving the High Priest’s involvement.”
Selene’s frown deepened. “And he just… agreed to that?”
I shrugged.
“I told him my identity and handed him a shitton of money.” I let the words hang for a second before smirking. “Then I went back on my word. Betrayed him. And before he could do anything about it, the beasts started rampaging through the city.”
Selene narrowed her eyes. Suspicion flickered across her face, but she didn’t say anything.
She didn’t fully buy my lie.
Of course she didn’t.
She knew the High Priest was working for the Syndicate. They already had more money than they knew what to do with. So why would his informant sell him out for whatever pocket change I had?
And was he really stupid enough to think I could grant him asylum? I didn’t have that authority. He should’ve known that.
But she — and everyone else — couldn’t prove otherwise.
Because my goal wasn’t to make her believe my lie. It was to craft a flawless story, one without any loose ends for her to poke through.
Besides, there was only one person alive who had witnessed me personally kill the High Priest — his own informant.
In fact, he was there when I monologued my entire plan to the High Priest.
Now, if he tried to expose me to the authorities or even to the Central Monarch, no one would believe him for two reasons:
Firstly because he was a criminal involved in a holocaust.
And secondly because according to my story, he was a traitor who had tried to sell out his master… only to get double-crossed by me.
If he tried to expose me now, he’d just look like a bitter idiot trying to get revenge.
It was his word against mine.
And I had already discredited his claims.
Right then, a sharp voice yanked me out of my thoughts.
“You gave him your identity?!” Michael practically exploded. “Are you insane, Samael?! That was beyond reckless!”
I waved a hand dismissively. “It’s fine. It worked out in the end, didn’t it?”
Michael opened his mouth to argue, then froze.
The outrage on his face slowly melted into something resembling reluctant acceptance. He exhaled through his nose and nodded — more to himself than to me.
“…Yeah, I guess you’re right,” he muttered, his voice barely above a whisper. “Because of that, you were able to call for reinforcements in time.”
I raised an eyebrow.
Wait.
Did that guy — the self-righteous protagonist — just agree with me?
No way.
This day had been full of surprises.
Michael turned away, staring out the window again, looking clearly done with life.
Meanwhile, Selene clasped her hands behind her back.
“In any case,” she said, “I want a debrief report from all of you by the end of tomorrow. On my desk.”
Alexia’s head snapped up. “Wait, in your office? Tomorrow?”
Selene arched a brow. “Yes, why? Will you be busy?”
“As a matter of fact, yes.” Alexia jabbed a finger at the floor. “I’ll be extremely busy — sleeping.”
“Same,” I said, shooting a hand up. “I haven’t slept in days, and my bed and I have some serious catching up to do. Also, your office is way too far from my dorm.”
“In fact,” Alexia continued without missing a beat, “I don’t even know where your office is.”
Selene exhaled slowly, rubbing her temples like she was re-evaluating all her life choices. “You two have until tomorrow to get me that report. If not, I will personally visit your dorms and make you regret surviving this mission.”
As she spoke, the jet’s lights continued to dim ominously until only her silhouette was bathed in an eerie glow.
A suffocating pressure filled the cabin, making the air feel ten times heavier.
“Understood?!” She thundered.
Alexia and I straightened so fast our spines nearly snapped.
“Yes, ma’am!” We barked in perfect unison.
Selene nodded in satisfaction before returning to her seat. Instantly, the pressure vanished as if it had never been there.
God, she was terrifying.
…Eh. Maybe I’d just send Juliana with the report.