They waited deep in the Academy's forbidden forest, far beyond where any student would normally go. Tall, root-tangled trees swallowed what little light there was, casting the clearing in a heavy green gloom. The air was damp and unmoving, carrying only the soft rustle of leaves and the faint, distant hum of the wards.
Hidden among the undergrowth and crumbling ruins, inquisitors stood in a tight formation, wrapped in concealment spells. To anyone passing by, the place would look deserted—but a strike force was there, waiting in absolute silence.
"She fell for it, didn't she?"
An inquisitor spoke, but this wasn't just any inquisitor. He was a High Inquisitor, a high-ranking member of an order that accepted only a handful of recruits each year.
He wasn't anything to scoff at. In fact, his power rivaled that of a true elite in terms of magical breakthrough—a beast among beasts, the kind of asset the order only dispatched for high‑class operations that demanded their full attention.
