The glass doors of the acoustically isolated viewing balcony remained sealed, holding back the ambient noise of the Starr Gala. Below them, the sprawling manor grounds were a sea of vibrant silks, floating luminescent orbs, and polite aristocratic laughter. The nobles and students of Solhaven Academy were completely oblivious to the apocalyptic shadow war quietly being waged just out of sight, drinking their sparkling wine to the soft, complex melodies of acoustic magic.

Kaelen took a deep, shuddering breath, the cold night air doing little to soothe the fire of determination in her eyes. Her posture, however, had shifted. The crushing weight of uncertainty had been replaced by the dangerous, terrifying clarity of a soldier with a singular mission.

She offered Ray a final, solemn nod of gratitude before turning to re-enter the manor, preparing to mask her deadly intentions beneath her high-society facade once more.

Ray watched her step back into the light of the ballroom. He remained in the shadows of the balcony for a moment longer, allowing his own mind to process the events he had to navigate in the past couple of hours.

He closed his eyes, preparing to also go back into the gala.

Then, the Understudy Protocol’s ‘Resonant Link’ violently flared.

It was a jagged, frantic spike of raw, unadulterated terror that tore through the Resonant Link like a physical scream in the center of his brain.

YOUNG MASTER!

Rina’s mental voice screamed in his head, jagged with panic and completely devoid of her usual composed restraint.

PLEASE HELP ME!

Simultaneously, a muffled, physical shriek echoed faintly through the floorboards beneath their feet, vibrating up through the stone masonry of the balcony. Because the Starr Manor was designed for acoustic perfection, the sound was quickly swallowed by the ambient magic of the ballroom, leaving the nobles dancing just a few rooms away completely oblivious.

Ray’s eyes narrowed as he instantly focused his will on the tether in his mind. Pushing past the overwhelming wave of her panic, he locked onto a direction from the Resonant Link. A distinct, invisible tug pulled at his consciousness, pointing directly beneath his boots. He got a partial location. She was somewhere deep in the lower subterranean levels of the manor.

Ray shoved the heavy glass doors open, violently shattering the quiet of the balcony as the gala's music rushed out. He sprinted into the grand ballroom, his eyes sweeping the crowd with terrifying speed. He spotted Svane standing dutifully near a crystal pillar.

He locked eyes with the Gold Aegis and snapped two fingers, pointing sharply downward.

Svane recognized the tactical signal instantly. His relaxed, bodyguard posture vanished and his massive physique coiled, his hand instinctively dropping to where the hilt of his sword would normally rest, had he not been at a formal event. Svane moved with terrifying speed for a man his size, intercepting Ray at the edge of the grand staircase.

"My Lord?"

Svane rumbled, his voice dropping to a lethal octave.

"We have a situation. Follow me!"

Ray commanded.

To avoid alarming the oblivious partygoers or drawing the attention of the academy's roaming security details, Ray and Svane seamlessly slipped behind a heavy velvet curtain, abandoning the opulence of the main hall. They plunged into the narrow, unadorned stone corridors used exclusively by the manor's servants.

They descended rapidly, their movements lightly echoing against the damp stone. The golden light of the gala faded, replaced by the flickering, dim glow of low-grade luminescent moss clinging to the cellar walls. Ray didn't know the layout of the Starr Manor's basement, so he relied entirely on the feeling from the Resonant Link. At every fork in the corridor, he allowed the frantic, pulsating pull in his mind to act as his compass, letting it guide his turns as they navigated the labyrinthine underground storage network.

They arrived at a heavy iron-bound door at the end of a dead-end corridor. A small, brass plaque read: Wine Cellar.

Ray reached for the heavy iron handle, his heart hammering against his ribs. The terrified scream over the Resonant Link still echoed in his mind. Preparing himself for the absolute worst, terrified he was about to find Rina severely injured or dead, he pushed the door open slowly. It wasn't locked. The heavy wood simply creaked inward.

The air inside was thick with the smell of aged oak, dust, and the sharp, metallic tang of fresh blood.

"Rina!"

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Ray called out, rushing to her side.

Between two massive rows of wine casks, Rina was on her knees on the cold stone floor. A profound wave of relief crashed over Ray, she was alive. But the relief was short-lived. Her beautiful formal dress was ruined. Her hands and forearms were stained a horrific, glossy crimson. She was weeping hysterically, her breath coming in ragged, hyperventilating gasps as she desperately pressed her hands against the head of a man lying on the ground, frantically trying to stop the bleeding.

It was Warren Ramada, the Head Butler of House Starr.

"Young master! I…. I found him like this! There's so much blood, I tried to stop the bleeding, I tried to press down on the wound…"

Rina sobbed, her entire body shaking as she looked up at him with wide, terrified eyes.

"Svane, secure the door. Nobody comes in,"

Ray ordered coldly, dropping to his knees beside Rina.

He placed a hand on her trembling shoulder, projecting a wave of stabilizing energy through the World-Weary Healer’s ‘Calming Presence’ skill.

"Let me see him, Rina. Let go."

Rina pulled her bloody hands back, sobbing quietly as she rocked back on her heels.

Ray leaned over the Head Butler. He initiated a Concurrent Partial Immersion, layering the World-Weary Healer’s ‘Diagnosis (Intermediate)’ skill and the Gritty Detective’s ‘Observation’ skill. The dim cellar washed out into a highly detailed, clinical schematic.

Healer: "Glassy, fixed pupils. Zero respiration. Pulse is entirely absent. Core body temperature is dropping rapidly. He's already gone. He was dead before she discovered him."

Ray’s hands flew over Warren’s body, conducting a rapid, bloodless autopsy. He noted the blood pooling around Warren’s head, matting his hair to the cold stone.

"He wasn't stabbed or slashed."

Ray murmured, his brow furrowing as he gently palpated the butler's skull.

Detective: "Look at the cranium. The temporal and parietal bones are completely caved in. Massive, localized blunt-force trauma to the side of the head. The skull is severely fractured, driving bone fragments inward and causing catastrophic intracranial hemorrhaging. It’s a clean, devastating impact."

Ray scanned the immediate vicinity. His eyes swept over the pristine wine racks, the delicate wine glass goblet, and the smooth stone floor.

"There is no weapon."

Ray noted, his voice turning icy.

Detective: “A blow that shatters a man's skull requires significant force. A heavy statue, a mallet, a dense crystal obelisk. But there is nothing here that matches the impact geometry. The killer took the weapon with them, or they hid it."

Ray’s gaze snapped back to the corpse. Warren’s right arm was outstretched, his bloodstained fingers curled rigidly toward the base of a specific wine cask.

Ray leaned in close. Wedged perfectly in the crack between the stone floor and the oak cask, obscured from casual view, was a tiny, shattered fragment of thick, slightly curved glass.

In the Ambient Presence, the committee instantly honed in on the new evidence.

Scholar: "Look at the curvature and the faint, iridescent sheen on the inside of that shard. That isn't from a crystal wine goblet from the gala upstairs. That is a fragment of an alchemical vial. Someone brought a specialized concoction down here."

The Eccentric Scholar observed, his phantom eyes narrowing at the precise geometry of the glass.

Healer: "Wait. Let's examine Warren’s body again."

Guided by the World-Weary Healer, Ray leaned dangerously close to Warren's face, his senses heightened. He noticed a secondary trail of blood, thick and dark, seeping past the butler's lips, entirely separate from the catastrophic head wound. Ray gently pushed Warren’s rigid jaw open.

Ray’s breath caught in his throat.

Warren’s tongue was gone. It had been severed deep at the root.

Healer: "The excision is incredibly precise. Surgical. It wasn't bitten off in a struggle; it was removed cleanly with a razor-sharp blade."

Detective: "A severed tongue isn't just brutality, Ray. It could be a message. In the underworld it is the universal symbol for silencing someone, or punishing a rat. Whatever Warren knew, he was killed to keep it hidden, and the killer wanted to leave a gruesome warning."

Ray gritted his teeth, suppressing a surge of cold fury as he continued his examination.

"The scent... beneath the heavy, metallic smell of the blood in his mouth and aged oak, there is a faint, sickly-sweet odor lingering on his breath. Like crushed lotus and burnt sugar. His pupils are also blown completely wide, far more than standard post-mortem dilation. He was dosed with a rapid-acting paralytic or a severe neuro-suppressant."

Ray murmured.

Detective: "That explains the lack of defensive wounds. The killer didn't overpower the victim. Warren was drugged first. He drank something that made his awareness and his motor functions fail. His guard completely dropped. Once he was dizzy and helpless, the killer stepped in and delivered the fatal blow to his skull. The killer then cut out his tongue."

The Gritty Detective deduced, the pieces of the puzzle rapidly snapping together in his mind.

Conman: “Even as his vision failed and his skull fractured, Warren Ramada was resourceful to his last breath. He had used his final ounce of strength to drop a breadcrumb, pointing his fingers directly at a clue to the killer’s method.”

The Charismatic Conman said admiring the head butler.

Before Ray could reach out to retrieve the fragment, hurried, frantic footsteps echoed down the stone corridor outside.

"Hold!"

Svane roared from the doorway, his massive frame blocking the entrance entirely.

"Stand down, Captain."

A voice commanded from the shadows of the corridor, echoing with absolute, crushing authority.

Svane’s aggressive posture faltered the moment he recognized the voice and saw the deep-blue, silver-runed robes of his ultimate superior. As an academy Aegis, the Headmaster sat at the absolute pinnacle of his chain of command. He immediately snapped to attention and executed a crisp, deeply respectful military salute.

"Step aside, Captain."

Headmaster Andrade ordered coldly.

Bound by strict military discipline and academy hierarchy, Svane had no choice but to obey. He shot a quick, tense glance back at Ray before stepping aside to clear the heavy iron doorway.

Headmaster Andrade swept into the cellar, her robes flaring with aggressive, ambient mana. Right behind her was Lady Jane Starr, her eccentric vibrancy entirely replaced by sheer panic.

"A frightened staffer ran up to me, they said there was an attack…."

Jane began, her voice breathless.

Jane stopped dead. She took one look at the gruesome scene. She saw the lifeless body of her Head Butler, and kneeling right beside him, covered almost to the elbows in the victim's blood, was Rina.

"Warren..."

Jane whispered, the world dropping out from under her.

"No... by the Founders, no!"