Chapter 53: This Is Just a Deal
[Extraordinary Physique: HP +10%, Recovery +180%, Negative Status Resistance +8%]
[Trainee Ability User Advancement Quest: Limit Trial]
[Quest Requirement: Push your body to its limit in battle and complete the sublimation of life.]
[Current Objective: Accumulate 1,500 Trial Points. Current Progress: 0/1,500]
[Trial Points are awarded for killing enemies. The stronger the enemy, the more points gained. The lower your remaining HP at the moment of victory, the higher the reward.]
Hodell stared at the panel for a long moment.
Then he lowered his eyes to the stack of reports on his desk and slowly began connecting the scattered clues one by one.
Trial.
Promotion.
Fernando.
The Mirror of Truth Retrospection.
A path that had been blurred moments ago abruptly sharpened into something cold and clear.
A dangerous plan took shape in his mind.
Oluson Military Spaceport.
The morning mist still lingered over the tarmac, pale and thin, drifting between the signal towers like torn gauze. The protective arrays around the port had all been deactivated in advance. The vast plaza below felt unnaturally empty, with only the sound of the wind cutting across the open ground.
"This place is a lot more imposing than the landing pad I arrived at."
Hodell stood among the welcoming party, expression calm, gaze fixed on the back of the Director General standing ahead of him.
The man was clearly uneasy.
For the third time, the Director General removed his white gloves, wiped palms that were not actually sweating, then pulled the gloves back on with exaggerated care. After that, he adjusted his cuffs, straightened the insignia on his cufflinks, and smoothed his sleeves as though that alone could save Oluson from what was coming.
"Ryan."
He did not turn around when he spoke.
"Do you see that black dot in the clouds?"
Hodell followed his line of sight. Far above, a dark speck was rapidly enlarging.
"This time, the Empire didn't just send people," the Director General said quietly. "They brought heavy firepower."
The Empire had been furious about Oluson's collapse. That much was obvious. Rumor said that the delegation included political gendarmerie known for purges so clean and brutal that even the files left behind looked frightened.
Beside him, the Director General lowered his voice further.
"The man coming is Inspector Fernando. People in the Council call him the Executioner." He paused. "In his eyes, there are no colleagues. Only those who are useful and those who are not."
Hodell gave the slightest nod.
He had already looked into Fernando's background. An extreme rationalist. A man who preferred simple endings to complicated truths.
"Remember this," the Director General said, his voice tight. "He is sixty four this year. He wants one more step up before the next term begins. That means he does not want the truth. He wants results. A neat record. A decisive purge."
He finally glanced back at Hodell.
"Do not let him catch any flaws. Not even a single punctuation mark."
Hodell lowered his eyes and said nothing.
Above them, the clouds split apart.
Three pitch black shuttle warships tore through the sky, descending without circling, without ceremony, without the slightest regard for local protocol. They plunged straight toward the plaza like black knives. Only when they were less than a hundred meters above the ground did pale blue antigravity arrays flare beneath them.
A blast of heated air rolled across the tarmac. One corner of the red carpet laid out for the delegation ripped free and snapped violently in the wind. Several officials staggered.
The Director General did not move.
He stood at the very front, shoulders squared, smile fixed in place.
The landing gear struck the ground with a violent metallic slam.
Sparks scattered.
The hatch opened.
Two rows of gendarmerie in exoskeleton armor jumped out before the ramp had fully lowered. They landed in perfect formation, scanning the surroundings with rigid, machine like precision.
Then Fernando descended.
By Earth's standards, he looked barely past thirty. Dark gray high collared uniform. Gloves the color of iron. A face with no excess warmth in it anywhere. As he walked down the ramp, he was still looking at the holographic terminal on his wrist, fingers moving swiftly across the display as if the people waiting below were no more important than weather data.
The Director General immediately stepped forward, arm outstretched, voice full of practiced enthusiasm.
"Special Envoy Fernando, welcome to Oluson. I am the branch Director General. It is an honor to receive you on behalf of"
Fernando walked right past him.
He did not look at the hand. He did not even look at the man attached to it.
The Director General's smile froze.
By the time Fernando stopped and finally turned, the outstretched hand was still hanging uselessly in the air.
Only now did Fernando lift his eyes.
They passed over the Director General once, briefly, then settled with exact precision on Hodell.
"Ryan," he said. "Special Investigator."
He approached.
The pressure around him was different from ordinary authority. It was the kind that came from years of deciding who would stay standing and who would disappear.
"Your Excellency," Hodell said with a slight bow, every motion neat and exact.
Fernando studied him for several seconds, gaze lingering over his face, then his clothes. Though cleaned and repaired, the robe still carried the traces of old wear.
"I've read your report," Fernando said. "The reasoning is sound. The damage control was timely."
He paused.
"In a swamp of decay and incompetence like Oluson, an Executor with your efficiency is… refreshing."
Hodell ignored the first half of that statement completely.
The Director General, however, visibly stiffened.
Trying to recover, he forced a smile and said, "Oluson has had some recent turbulence, of course, but the branch has always"
"I do not care for adjectives, Director General."
Fernando's voice remained even, but that only made it worse.
"Real stability is built on absolute purity."
He made a small gesture.
Several attendants advanced with a sealed metal case wrapped in layer upon layer of runic restraints.
"In view of the fact that a sitting Commissioner in Oluson was parasitized without detection," Fernando said, turning to address the entire welcoming party, "the Council has determined that your current internal screening procedures have failed."
The case was opened.
Inside lay a polished artifact shaped like a circular mirror framed in black silver, its surface dark as still water.
A faint murmur passed through the gathered officials.
Fernando's tone did not change.
"This is the Mirror of Truth Retrospection, specially approved by the Council."
"Beginning tomorrow morning, all officials at section chief rank and above within the Oluson General Administration, as well as all relevant personnel from the Ministry of Magic, will report to City Hall in batches."
"We will conduct full retrospection of memory and soul."
Then he looked back at Hodell.
"Investigator Ryan, since you are the hero of this purge, I assume you will not object to setting an example."
The plaza fell silent.
The Director General's face drained of color.
That mirror was not a normal inspection tool. It was a strategic grade artifact used only in the most extreme treason cases. Once activated, it would strip away privacy, concealment, and every layer of falsehood. Used on Hodell, it would not merely expose his contact with The School. It could tear open everything.
His origin.
His secrets.
His system.
Yet Hodell only smiled.
"Of course," he said. "If this helps clear Oluson's name, I have nothing to hide."
"Good."
Fernando seemed pleased.
Without another word, he turned and headed toward the waiting transport craft. "To City Hall. I do not like wasting time."
The craft departed as abruptly as it had come, leaving only dust, heat, and a line of stiff backed officials behind.
The Director General stared after it with murderous intensity. Hidden behind his back, one gloved hand had clenched so tightly that the seam at the fingertip had split.
Hodell brushed dust from his sleeve.
The bait had taken.
And the shark was greedier than he had hoped.
That night.
The highest point in Oluson was not City Hall, nor the General Administration.
It was the Supreme Mage Tower.
Its stargazing platform pierced the clouds, open to the night on all sides. No crowded arrays. No mountains of scrolls. Only bare alloy flooring, a railing at the edge, and the endless sky above.
The wind here was cold enough to cut.
Elanis stood near the edge, silver trimmed robes snapping in the gale. A red sealed Special Investigation Order floated before her.
She flicked a finger.
The document folded inward, space shrieked softly, and the paper vanished as though erased from existence.
"Since you are already here," she said without turning, "there is no need to hide in the wind."
The shadows in one corner twisted.
Hodell stepped out.
He had used [Phase Shuttle] to get this far. There were easier ways to die than trying to sneak through the tower by ordinary means.
"As expected of the youngest Controller in the Ministry of Magic," he said with a slight bow. "I had no intention of intruding this late, but the mirror your dear Inspector brought has made sleep somewhat difficult."
Only now did Elanis turn.
Her purple eyes were unreadable.
She took one step toward him.
The click of her heel on alloy sounded strangely loud.
At once, Hodell felt his shoulders sink. An invisible force pressed down on him, sudden and immense, as though twenty kilograms had been added to every inch of his body.
"The one who cannot sleep should be you," Elanis said calmly. "If Fernando discovers that the Empire's celebrated new investigator is actually a Hybrid who awakened a superpower, what do you think happens then?"
Hodell's hand clenched inside his sleeve.
But his expression did not change.
"If that happens," he said evenly, enduring the weight and taking one step forward, "Oluson loses a genius mage."
He met her gaze directly.
"And the Ministry of Magic may suddenly find certain old exemption seals dragged back into the light."
Silence.
The pressure increased.
His knees began to ache.
Then, just as suddenly, it vanished.
Elanis did not speak.
Hodell drew a folded map from inside his coat and partially unfolded it, one thumb pressing firmly over a red marked point.
"I only came to confirm one thing."
He watched her eyes carefully.
"This is one of the Dark Feather Alliance's fallback strongholds. Senior members are hidden inside. Do you want them leaving Oluson alive, or do you want them buried here?"
Elanis's gaze dropped to the map.
At the edge of the platform, several loose stones rose into the air without warning.
"They lied to me."
Her voice had gone very quiet.
The stones crushed themselves into powder.
Then she lifted her eyes.
"I want them dead."
There it was.
The answer he needed.
"Then we have a basis for cooperation," Hodell said. "You do not want that mirror used. Neither do I. The only way to interrupt it is to force Oluson into a wartime emergency before dawn."
He opened the map fully and stepped closer.
"Give me a back door, and by morning the western district will be burning badly enough that Fernando will have no choice but to postpone his cleansing."
Elanis said nothing for a moment.
Then she turned and looked toward City Hall, where the lights still blazed through the darkness.
"I cannot move first," she said at last. "Too many eyes are watching this tower. If I act now, I become part of the problem."
She turned back toward him.
"Once the alarm sounds and wartime provisions are triggered, I can intervene as Supreme Commander. Before that, you are alone."
"That is enough."
There was a faint light in Hodell's eyes now.
"You handle the ending. I will create the beginning."
He extended a hand.
"I need tactical access. Real firepower. If I am going to convince Fernando, half measures will not work."
A purple crystal flashed through the air.
He caught it cleanly.
"Level One tactical authorization," Elanis said. "It links to the East District array network."
Then she faced the sky again.
"Do not misunderstand. I am not helping you. I am collecting a debt from liars."
Hodell smiled faintly.
"Understood. This is just a deal."
He bowed once and turned toward the shadowed stairwell.
He had no intention of lingering near someone stronger than himself any longer than necessary.
"Ryan."
He paused.
"Elanis?"
"I do not want you dead."
That made him glance back.
She still had not turned to face him fully.
"If you die now," she said, her voice quiet and cold, "I lose the chance to dig apart your secrets."
For a moment, neither moved.
Then Hodell laughed softly.
"That would be unfortunate for both of us."
He stepped into darkness.
"Dying is easy. Living has always been the troublesome part."
His footsteps faded.
The wind rose again across the stargazing platform.
Elanis stood alone, looking down at the sleeping city beneath the clouds.
Then, very softly, she said to the night, "Let me see how much blood you can stir from stagnant water, Hodell."
.....
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