Chapter 31. Lucifer.
While Silas had been watching Victoria sleep on the bed in his arms, the world was still moving. A flight from the Hague to Ibiza was taking place right now. The black private jet was one of the Association’s, its engines and material boosted by mana cores and escorted by six similarly enhanced fighter jets of the new world.
Inside on a red leather seat with her legs crossed sat the Judge of the Hunter Association. A position that was born after the stability of the new world. No more doing anything for survival. Now magic and hunters needed order, regulation.
The woman had white hair and was dressed in a black suit with three golden rings on her fingers. Her golden rings were her contract to herself, each of them engraved with an oath passed down from the previous Judge.
To judge fairly.
To value life.
To rule with logic.
One might think those are mere ideals to uphold. But to a Judge, it was a signed contract. A contract between a mage and themselves was more powerful than any contract signed on paper. Breaking it would mean death.
The woman’s eyes were focused on the documents in her hand. It contained details of an S-rank’s death and potential dungeon outbreaks.
She took a sip of coffee. Her mug trembled as the plane experienced turbulence and the hot coffee splashed onto the chair.
A slight frown appeared on her lips.
Below them the Mediterranean stretched out, impossibly blue, indifferent to the apocalypse that had reshaped everything above it. The sea didn't care about S-ranks or dead planets. It just kept moving.
Flying was not her favorite form of transportation but it was the fastest.
Then she noticed another detail on the paper. A picture of Mercury. The core exposed, with cracks like a broken egg. The conclusion of astronomers were clear and apparent: Mercury was no longer a planet, it was more akin to a big asteroid with its jagged form and debris.
If that wasn’t a cause for panic then she didn’t know what was. Yet the reports say it wasn’t destroyed by space magic but rather water and fire.
“It seems there has been a development in Ibiza, Lucifer.”
The voice came from the man in front of her, also known as The Hand of the Judge and her bodyguard.
The Judge, Lucifer, looked up from the documents she had been reading. On the documents were the name Evelyn Everheart.
“Has Evelyn fled the island?” She asked, her voice cold.
A head shake was the response.
“It seems the wives of two A-rankers vanished without a trace from a restroom,” he said.
The scent of recycled air and expensive leather filled the cabin as she considered the implications.
“Silas Vane?” She asked.
Isaac, her bodyguard, didn’t answer that. He knew better than to assume something without evidence.
“Witness state Mr. Vane was using magic nearby before the incident, an S-rank showcasing with Ms. Everheart, after which the two missing wives entered the restroom and didn’t come out again.” He reported the information.
Lucifer tapped the armrest with her fingers.
Silas Vane. A man who wielded the power to destroy planets but instead lived a peaceful life with his family—this was the carefully cultivated public image, not the truth.
A man who weaponized domesticity as cover. She had seen it before.
Her lips thinned as she recalled her interactions with Berlin. She had requested surveillance records on the Vane estate three times in the past year; each time, her access had been mysteriously denied. When she’d requested an audit of the company owned by Anna Vane, the request was similarly blocked even as her link to the Italian mafia was an open secret.
Apparently it was irrelevant.
The system, it seemed, had a blind spot when it came to the Vanes and she did not appreciate blind spots.
“Berlin’s retirement has been confirmed?” She asked.
Feeling the turbulence of the plane, Isaac checked the report on his tablet and nodded. “Yes, he sent an official statement, however, his replacement is still undecided.”
A small smile made its way to Lucifer’s face. Perhaps Lady Justice was finally waking up from her slumber. The crimes of the first and second strongest hunter could now be investigated, starting with this little incident in Ibiza.
“Then perhaps it is time to finally pay Silas Vane a visit.”
She closed the file in her hand with a decisive move and looked out the window.