The Crimson Tyrant's Forbidden Source

Ancestral Runes

Chapter 9: Ancestral Runes

The shimmering lights and musical sounds instantly assaulted Eva’s senses the moment she stepped fully into the General Hall. Her eyes immediately began scanning the vast room, taking in the sheer opulence and debauchery that filled the space. She couldn't help but mentally refresh her knowledge about everything she knew regarding this academy. Looking around, she could barely believe that this was the exact same hall where the brutal assessment ritual had been conducted just hours prior. The physical terrain of the entire hall had completely changed, shifting from three complex floors to just two wide, sweeping levels. Everywhere glimmered with overwhelming wealth, entirely replacing the ancient, weathered atmosphere the structure had exuded earlier.

The low hum of the crowd abruptly died as a lone figure stepped onto the elevated center stage.

It was a middle aged man who looked more like a meticulous scholar than a martial authority. He cleared his voice on stage, speaking into a heavy microphone. When he began to speak, his voice resonated directly within the eardrums of every student in the hall, carrying a heavy, metallic weight. His speech was concise, filled with the standard, sanitized propaganda of academic excellence, regional unity, and the glorious future of the continent. To the commoners, it was an inspiring address. To Eva, it was a hollow performance meant to fill the silence.

Vice Dean Lucian looked out over the thirty something heads gathered in the ballroom, taking in the sight of freshmen draped in clothes and dresses that cost more than a high grade medicinal solution. A hidden flash of deep hate and bitter ambition flared in his eyes as he looked toward the freshmen who had entered the top 100 by nothing other than the virtue of their family names. To him, they were all spoiled brats in a school that enabled their arrogance just because of a lineage.

While the Vice Dean was mumbling on about honor and decorum, Eva noticed that the split level architecture of the General Hall wasn't just a design choice; it was a physical manifestation of the academy's power dynamics. Eva stood near the edge of the ground floor, her pitch black eyes tracing the heavy stone railing of the upper pavilion. Down here, the freshmen crowded together, a sea of anxious nobility and defensive posture. But up there, looking down like spectators at an arena, were the senior students. They didn't chatter or posture. They lounged with the cold, absolute confidence of predators who had already survived the vetting process, their eyes scanning the freshmen like farmers evaluating livestock.

While Vice Dean Lucian's voice echoed through the rafters, a completely different movement was happening on the floor. A group of second year students began moving systematically through the rows of freshmen. They weren't serving wine. Instead, they were passing small, silver velvet trays containing tiny, crystalline shards that looked exactly like microscopic raw diamonds.

"Take it and press it to the back of your primary device," Nora whispered, her hand already moving with practiced speed as a tray passed them. "Don't ask questions. Just do it."

Eva picked up one of the tiny diamond shards. It was cool to the touch, humming with a faint, illicit frequency that felt entirely different from the academy's authorized magical arrays. The moment she pressed the crystal against the sleek metallic back of her phone, the shard dissolved, melting directly into the internal matrix of the device.

The screen flickered violently. The official Academy Timetable distribution interface didn't vanish, but a secondary, light blue shadow layer bled into the background of the application. The hidden network of the Chaos Rankings had just anchored itself to her device, operating completely under the nose of the Vice Dean while he continued his grand speech on stage.

"The administration knows," Eva murmured, her voice a ghost of a sound as she watched the Vice Dean smoothly wrap up his presentation.

"Of course they do," Nora replied quietly, slipping her phone back into her ash silver gown. "But the alumni who built that shadow network are the ones funding the arrays he stands on. It’s a silent compromise. Now, the formal dance begins. The scouting is official."

As Vice Dean Lucian stepped down, the orchestral music swelled, shifting into a heavy, rhythmic cadence. The illusion of a polite ball returned, but the tension in the room had officially doubled. Eva retreated toward the perimeter of the floor, wanting to observe the shifting alliances. Her eyes naturally sought out Malachi, whom she was seeing now for the first time since she had entered the ballroom. He wore a crisp black suit that elongated his tall, lean figure, paired with a sharp red shirt. She couldn't help but notice a pair of deep rubies hanging from his ears, catching the ambient light. He effortlessly drifted back into the dim lighting near the eastern pillars, maintaining his perfect, invisible posture. He was deliberately suppressing his presence, blending so deeply into the masonry that even the passing senior scouts completely overlooked him. It was a bizarre display, especially considering he should have been well-known as a first or second-year student, yet he didn't seem acquainted with a single person in the room.

Of course, Malachi was concealing his presence on purpose. It was far too troublesome to deal with the type of judgmental gazes he would inevitably attract, and it would be even more problematic if he lost control of his latent bloodlust. But fate had other plans or rather, someone pulling the invisible threads of fate had other plans.

A second later, a loud, obnoxious noise erupted from a corner of the hall, causing every eye in the room to snap toward the disturbance. A freshman from a minor branch of the maritime clans, clearly heavily intoxicated, had tried to get entirely too touchy with Serena. Without a moment's hesitation, Serena had flung him backward with such unnatural, concussive force that the boy let out a sharp yelp like a pig before slamming violently into one of the stone pillars.

Desperate to put his broken dignity back together, the boy scrambled to his feet. He was still so heavily disoriented by the intoxication and the impact that he completely lost his balance after taking only a few steps. He didn't just stumble; he flew straight into the dark alcove, crashing heavily into Malachi and sending a crystal glass of crimson wine shattering across the polished floor.

"Watch where you're standing, you unaligned trash!" the loud freshman roared, his voice booming across the immediate quadrant of the hall, amplified by his own startled panic. "Hiding in the dark like a rat! Do you even know whose clothes you just ruined?"

The sudden, explosive noise completely shattered the rhythm of the music. Within seconds, a hundred pairs of eyes shifted away from the main floor, focusing directly on the dark corner. The senior students on the upper pavilion leaned over the stone railing, their interest instantly piqued by the friction. Malachi's perfect invisibility was completely torn to shreds.

As the red wine dripped down his polished black shoes, Malachi slowly looked up. The passive, forgettable expression on his face completely vanished, replaced by an icy, absolute stillness. His crimson eyes caught the ambient light of the chandeliers, glowing with a dangerous, volatile hue.

"Who is that?" a student nearby whispered, pulling out their phone as the Chaos Ranking app began vibrating with real time searches.

"That's Malachi Cross," another voice answered, the information spreading through the crowd like wildfire. "The last remaining bloodline of a fallen noble house. According to what we know, they were once a house almost on par with the five great houses at least two hundred years ago. He's a pariah."

"A blood manipulator," Nora whispered next to Eva, her eyes wide as she tracked the data shifting on her screen. "As for how House Cross fell to this level, no one really knows. Regardless, because they were once on par with the five great houses, they obviously have some powerful, hidden legacies left behind. His very attribute is not widely accepted, considering the house was known for manipulating forbidden blood essence. Right now, he's the only awakened person in his family with a blood related awakening, even though it's technically only a B Tier awakening which doesn't make that much of a threat. But what makes him truly dangerous is that he possesses an Ancestral Runic legacy. It is said to have been hidden deep within their family's Scripture pavilions, and he was lucky enough to awaken it. He is incredibly skilled in blood runes and arrays, which allows him to battle A ranks seamlessly. That's why he's ranked 47th."

Across the room, Julian calmly took a sip of his drink, his silver hair catching the light as he watched the spectacle unfold from the shadows. It had been a long time since he had enjoyed such entertainment. Even so, he knew he might have to take it easy going forward, if only to avoid breaking his new toys too early and ruining the fun.

Eva watched all of this unfold with absolute calm, her pitch black eyes shifting from Julian's satisfied smile to the suffocating aura beginning to bleed from Malachi's frame. She had a strong, undeniable feeling that Julian had everything to do with this sudden confrontation.

The real question lingering in her mind was why? And did he have an even larger plan waiting to be unleashed for the rest of the night?