The chamber settled into silence again.
Not the empty kind, it was a dangerous kind—where things had been decided, and the world simply hadn't caught up yet.
Riven remained where he was long after Chen Yufei's footsteps vanished. The chains around his wrists were quiet now, runes stabilised, seals reasserting their authority. They held him easily—as long as he allowed it.
He tested them once more, carefully this time. Not with force. With precision.
The Abyssal energy slid along the inside of the restraints, tasting the script etched into the metal. Old work. Human craftsmanship layered with borrowed demon logic. Effective, but inelegant. Built to suppress power, not to understand it.
Vaerun's instincts sneered at the design, and at the same time, Riven's mind catalogued weaknesses simultaneously.
[Seal pattern identified. Repetition interval detected. Exploitation is possible with sustained pressure.]
"I'll do it later," Riven murmured and straightened, letting the chains rest. No need to rush. Time was a resource now, not a threat.
Three days sounded short to people who had never planned a massacre in advance.
He closed his eyes.
The academy unfolded in his memory—not as it was, but as it would be. Courtyards filled with students. Training halls echoing with ambition. Factions circling each other like polite predators. And above it all, the quiet certainty that SKYWARD ZENITH ACADEMY was untouchable and that belief was going to hurt them.
The footsteps approached again.
Lighter this time, much slower, and more cautious.
Riven opened his eyes just as the door eased open a fraction. A pair of guards peeked in, their faces tight with discomfort. Neither tried to step inside.
"Is the inspection complete?" one asked, voice pitched carefully neutral.
Riven regarded them in silence.
They shifted under his gaze.
"CHEN YUFEI said—He's… cooperative," the other guard added."
Riven smiled, hearing that. The guards stiffened immediately.
"Tell Chen," Riven said, his tone mild, "that I am very grateful for his discretion."
The first guard frowned. "You don't get to—" His partner grabbed his arm. "Leave it, the orders were clear," she hissed under her breath, and they backed away, and the door closed behind them.
Riven's smile vanished, and he thought that fear spread quickly in institutions that built on confidence, and it only took a few small cracks to scare them.
[His Influence will delay formal escalation by approximately twelve hours.]
"Twelve is enough for now," Riven said. He turned inward again, focusing on the other presence layered beneath his thoughts. The system interface waited, inert until called.
"Now, then show me what you haven't," he said quietly.
The air rippled.
{ TRUE VILLAIN SYSTEM }
{ ACTIVE MODULES: LIMITED }
{ HIDDEN FUNCTIONS: LOCKED }
{ VILLAIN POINTS: 30 }
{ NOTORIETY: SUSPECTED THREAT }
Thirty points are not much and not enough to purchase something luxurious for now.
"What are the options I have now with the thirty points I have?"
Instantly, a new panel slid into place.
{ VILLAIN SHOP — BASIC ACCESS }
{ AVAILABLE CATEGORIES: }
{ — INFORMATION }
{ — MINOR CORRUPTION }
{ — SEAL INTERFERENCE }
Riven's gaze lingered on the first option, and the information was always much cheaper than power and far more dangerous than anything.
{ INFORMATION — TEMPORAL DATA (LOCAL) }
{ COST: 10 VP }
Riven didn't hesitate to purchase it. The panel flickered in a single thought.
The chamber tilted—not physically, but mentally, the data in the system information he purchased poured into his awareness in sharp, efficient fragments.
It has names, Important timetables and meetings that will happen tomorrow and the accidents are scheduled to occur the day after tomorrow. Which elder would argue for caution? and who would push for immediate purification. And in those data fragments, one detail stood out that made Riven's lips curve.
And in that detail from the data fragments stood a single name: KAEL NOCTIS.
Tomorrow evening, at the lower training hall, in a private duel, in an unofficial match, it will be brutal, and she will be there.
Riven exhaled slowly. So, that was where she entered the board.
[Noteworthy variable detected in the data fragments. Probability of future alignment: elevated.]
"Careful, you sound interested."
[Observation only. She disrupts projections in multiple futures.]
That was enough to earn her his attention. Riven closed the interface. The door opened again. This time, the presence felt different before the sound registered. The temperature dropped. Riven didn't look up.
"You're awake," a calm voice said. It was measured and polished in the same way knives were polished.
Riven raised his head.
It was the HEADMASTER of the academy. He stood just inside the chamber, His white robes untouched by dust, His hands folded loosely behind his back. His smile was warm, his eyes filled with something that passed for concern.
"VAERUN NIGHTBANE," he said gently. "You've caused a stir."
Riven studied him. This was the man who would one day sign both execution orders. Human and demon. Different reasons. Same outcome.
"Have I?"
The HEADMASTER chuckled softly. "You must understand that our Academy SKYWARD ZENITH has… it's own standards."
Riven nodded once. "So I've heard."
The Headmaster's smile tightened just a fraction of a second.
"I heard some rumours about you've been accused of harbouring demonic energy."
"And?"
"And that is, of course, a serious matter for the academy and its reputation as a righteous institution."
Riven tilted his head. "Is it?"...Silence stretched.
The Headmaster stepped closer, stopping just outside the faint circle etched into the floor. He was a very clever man and knew where to stand and where not to stand.
"Tell me, VAERUN NIGHTBANE, what are you?"
Riven met his gaze.
"Just a normal academy student and exactly human like you and others, but alive for now....I think," he said...The answer he gave wasn't exactly wrong because he is Riven Ashcroft in mind & soul, but Vaerun Nightbane physically.
The Headmaster studied him for a long moment. His eyes flicked to the chains. To the runes. To the faint crimson glow that hadn't fully faded.
"You're unusually calm for the situation you're in."
"Should I be scared of it? Fear wastes time," Riven replied.
The Headmaster smiled again. This one didn't reach his eyes.
"Indeed....Indeed... Which is why I'm offering you an opportunity."
Riven waited.
"Cooperate with me, and submit to further testing, and by some chance of miracles, if something unexpected happens to you by that chance and miracle, if your innocence can be proven, this matter will be resolved quietly."
It was a lie, A careful one crafted and a practised one again and again, how to sound proper. Riven could almost admire hearing it.
"And, what if I don't want to cooperate?"
The Headmaster's tone softened. "Then your sacrifice will protect the academy."
Riven laughed, hearing that ..."Hahahahaha"...It slipped out before he could stop it—high, genuine, edged with something dangerous like a villain.
The Headmaster stiffened, hearing that villainy laugh.
"You find that amusing, you punk?"
"No, not at all...not at all... I.....I find it familiar." RIVEN said, wiping the smile from his face.
The Headmaster's eyes sharpened. "You speak as if you've been here before."
Riven leaned back against the chains, relaxed.
"Perhaps I have."
For the first time, the Headmaster felt it. Not power. Not a threat. A certainty that something old and patient was looking back at him through Rivens' young eyes.
The Headmaster straightened. "We will speak again, VAERUN NIGHTBANE."
"I'm sure we will....and it will be very soon in a way that is different from the situations and circumstances we are in....HEAD MASTER," Riven said.
The Headmaster turned and left without another word and slammed the door to close with his Qi.
Riven exhaled slowly.
[That individual represents a significant long-term threat to your life; be careful around him for now.]
"Yes, which makes him more interesting, I suppose."
He glanced at the interface again, at the dwindling numbers of the thirty points he spent, and he didn't immediately gain the power; there is no flashy reward. Just some minor advantages.
Outside, the academy bell rang again, marking the end of a classes the students laughed somewhere above, with the plans they had made, and lived their own lives, and it continued.
Riven closed his eyes and thought .....Three days, by the time they realised what he was, it would already be too late.
DING...!!!
{ HIDDEN CONDITION MET }
{ PATH UNLOCKED: SHADOW INFLUENCE }
Riven's smile returned—slow, deliberate. "Good," he murmured.
The threads were tightening as he planned, and soon, they would start to strangle and slice his enemies.....