The silence in Lady Alice's crimson-hued lounge was a fragile thing, shattered the moment the door opened again. This time, there was no unsteady stumble. Mio entered with the silent, predatory grace of a hunting cat, her eyes immediately scanning the room—missing nothing: the intimate lighting, the seductively reclining Alice, and Kenta sitting opposite her on the edge of the velvet couch.
Her gaze narrowed, a flicker of cold disapproval flashing across her features.
"I should have known the disorientation spell would lead you to trouble," she stated, voice devoid of warmth.
Before anyone could react, she flicked her wrist. The air crackled sharply, and a shimmering, translucent wall of ice—thin as glass yet radiating immense, bone-deep cold—erupted from the floor, cleanly bisecting the room and separating her and Kenta from Alice.
Kenta's eyes widened slightly. Two spells. The disorientation had been a carrier—a distraction for a tracking enchantment. He had been nothing but a pawn in her game, led directly to a piece she wanted to check.
From the other side of the glacial barrier, Alice let out a low, throaty chuckle, completely unperturbed. She didn't move from her divan.
"My, my. Such a dramatic entrance. And that power… so cold, so pure. It reeks of the higher realms. An Angel? Here? How deliciously blasphemous."
Mio's expression didn't change.
"I am an instructor at this academy. And you are a potential security risk. State your business with my student."
"Our business," Alice purred, amber eyes glinting with dark amusement, "is currently divided by a very lovely, if melodramatic, piece of ice sculpture. Perhaps we could converse like civilized immortals?"
Mio held the stare for a long, measuring moment before snapping her fingers. The ice barrier sublimated into a fine, cool mist that vanished without a trace. The message was clear: she could erect it just as easily again.
"I have located the point of illegal access in the archives," Mio announced, getting straight to the point, her gaze shifting between Kenta and Alice. "The trail is a decade cold—a magical maze designed to obscure the perpetrator. But the final lock, the one that seals the specific text on Primordial Seals, is unique. It's a blood ward, personally placed by the Principal of this academy. It requires a specific lineage of Blood Magic to bypass without triggering a catastrophic defensive response."
A slow, triumphant smile spread across Alice's face. It was the smile of a chess player who has just been handed the winning move.
"Is that so? How remarkably convenient that you have stumbled into the private chambers of one of the few beings on this continent who can provide such a key."
"The convenience remains to be seen," Mio retorted. "Your assistance would… streamline the process."
"Of course," Alice said, rising from her divan in a fluid, almost liquid motion. "A little midnight breaking-and-entering sounds like a delightful diversion. And I am so very bored."
---
They found Sarah in the library, but not in the way any of them expected.
They heard her before they saw her—a sharp, triumphant "Hah!" followed by the heavy thud of a book slamming onto a table.
In a secluded corner, half-hidden behind towering shelves of ancient tomes, Sarah stood over a complex, three-dimensional puzzle made of interlocking magical crystals—a notoriously difficult study aid for spatial reasoning and mana-flow visualization. Miko was beside her, vibrating with nervous energy, wringing her hands as if witnessing a high-stakes crime.
"OH! YOU DID IT! BUT ARE YOU SURE? MAYBE IT'S A TRAP! THE BOOK SAYS THE PRISMATIC LABYRINTH HAS KILLED THREE STUDENTS THROUGH PSYCHIC FEEDBACK! ARE YOU FEELING DIZZY? DO YOU NEED TO SIT DOWN? SHOULD I CALL A HEALER?!" Miko's voice was a frantic, hushed shriek.
Sarah, a wild, uncharacteristic grin splitting her face, was flushed with victory.
"It's fine, Miko. The feedback loop is a myth. The real danger was the tertiary resonance. Once you ignore the primary harmonic and focus on the decay rate of the secondary pulse, it's simple."
Mio observed the scene from the shadows of the aisle, her lips pressed into a thin line.
"This is the fearsome warrior who stood against a Beyonder-level threat? She looks like an over-excited child who just found a new toy."
Kenta, standing beside her, felt a surge of protective warmth rise in his chest.
"She's allowed to have moments of peace," he said, voice low but firm. "More than any of us."
Their arrival broke the moment. Sarah's grin faded as she saw the group, her eyes lingering with a sharp, unreadable expression on the stunning, barely-dressed woman standing disturbingly close to Kenta.
"You found a… friend?" she asked, tone dangerously flat.
Alice's smile was a work of art—slow, deliberate, and designed to provoke.
"Oh, we've become such good friends, haven't we, Kenta dear?"
Before the situation could escalate into something messy, Mio cut in, her voice a clinical blade slicing through the tension.
"The mission is a go. Tonight. We have a key." She gestured to Alice with a curt nod. "And we have the target: the restricted archive's blood ward."
As Mio quickly outlined the plan—entry points through the disused pneumatic tubes, patrol schedules of guardian constructs, contingency wards for magical alarms—Sarah's initial irritation was replaced by focused intensity. The System was already whirring to life, mapping routes, calculating probabilities, and projecting success vectors in real time.
It was then that Miko—who had been listening while repeatedly checking to make sure her book bag was still securely on her shoulder—finally found a sliver of courage. She raised a trembling hand as if asking permission to speak in class.
"Um… excuse me? S-sorry to interrupt! I'll be quiet! Don't mind me!" she squeaked, then immediately tried to shrink into the bookshelf behind her.
Sarah turned to her, expression softening a fraction. "What is it, Miko?"
Miko peeked out. "You're… you're talking about the Primordial Seals section? In the Old Archives?" Her voice dropped to a terrified whisper. "That's… that's a restricted area! We could get expelled! Or cursed! Or turned into living reference books!"
Sarah nodded. "We're aware of the risks."
A full-body shudder wracked Miko. She looked like she might faint. But she took a deep, shuddering breath, squeezed her eyes shut, and blurted out, "I… I can help! As your friend! Or your accomplice! I'LL BE AN ACCOMPLICE! I'VE CATALOGUED THAT WING FOR THE HEAD LIBRARIAN BECAUSE I WAS PUNISHED FOR SPILLING INK ON A FIRST-EDITION BESTIARY! I know the patrol schedules of the guardian constructs better than anyone! They have a blind spot every forty-seven minutes for exactly three minutes when their mana crystals recalibrate! And… and I know a back way. Through the disused pneumatic tube delivery system. It's dusty, and there might be spiders, and I'm mortally afraid of spiders, but it emerges directly behind the restricted section. I use it to… to hide sometimes when I've had a particularly bad day and I don't want anyone to find me and ask me questions."
A stunned silence fell over the group.
The timid, bookish girl—the one who was scared of her own shadow and conversational eye contact—was offering them a meticulously detailed infiltration route.
Mio looked at Miko, her analytical gaze missing nothing.
"The blind spot timing is… precise. Your assistance would be… statistically valuable."
Sarah looked at Miko, then at the unlikely assembly around her: a cynical angel-spy, a centuries-old vampire, a legendary swordsman, and now a walking encyclopedia with crippling anxiety and a secret hideout in the walls. They were a mess of contradictions, secrets, and untold power.
A slow smile spread across Sarah's face. It wasn't the wild grin from solving the puzzle, but something colder, sharper. The smile of a hunter.
"Alright then," she said, her System finishing its initial calculations. "Let's go break into a library."
Miko let out a small, terrified squeak that sounded like a stepped-on mouse, but she gave a shaky, determined nod.
As the group began to finalize their plans in hushed tones, Sarah's gaze lingered on Alice. The vampire was laughing softly at something Mio said, a predatory glint in her ancient eyes. The casual power she radiated was undeniable, and a silent command from Sarah triggered the System's analysis. Text scrolled across her vision, visible only to her.
[SYSTEM ANALYSIS: INITIATED]
TARGET: Alice of the Crimson Court
AFFILIATION: Vampire Kingdom; Naein Clan (Scion of Himeko Naein)
STATUS:
· Rank: LR
· Strength: LR
· Speed: LR+
· Endurance: LR
· Intelligence: SSR
· Primary Affinity: [Blood Magic], [Shadow Manipulation]
ADDENDUM: Biological age approximately 127 years. Power is deeply intertwined with her bloodline and ancient pacts. A master of subterfuge and sanguine arts. Threat level remains High. Alliance is pragmatic; trust is not recommended.
The data confirmed her instincts. Alice was not just a flirtatious instructor; she was a legitimate, LR-ranked powerhouse—a living relic whose loyalties were ultimately to her own clan and queen. She was a key, but also a potential lock. Sarah stored the information away, another piece on the ever-expanding, deadly board they were now playing on.
The night's mission had just become infinitely more interesting—and infinitely more dangerous. And their most valuable asset was currently hyperventilating into a dusty book about fungal spores.