Path of the Demonic Villain

Dante flicked open his silver pocket watch, then saw that it was now 7 p.m.

With a sigh, he turned around and continued down the hallway, having made up his mind to retire from the Academy for home.

After pocketing his pocket watch, he took off the Spectacles of Truth from his face and wiped them down. Then he rubbed his eyes, which were aching so very badly.

This ache was a result of all the work he had been doing over the past few days. He had worn the glasses and walked around the academy during his free time to check if there were others who were puppets of the Parasitic Marionettes.

But aside from Julian Bellini, there were no other puppets among the students. He had even gone to personally check those whom he knew were going to become puppets during the exam that caused many students to lose their lives. However, at this point in time, none of them were puppets yet.

’It seems that they were not made into puppets until a few days before the exam,’ he yawned. ’God, I’m so sleepy.’

When he finally reached the Fioravanti carriage, he paused. ’I’ll check again a few days before the day of the event.’

Just then, his eyes drifted down to the carriage wheel and he saw a spider crawling up the iron rim. Since his True Insight did not trigger, that meant it was just an ordinary spider. Regardless, Dante raised his boot and crushed the creature against the metal, twisting his heel to grind it to dust.

"I hate spiders," he muttered with a deep grimace before climbing inside and settling into the soft cushions, after which he closed his eyes to sleep.

***

The next day...

The Scholar’s Wing.

——

Normally, all the VIP rooms in the Scholar’s Wing had mufflers embedded into the walls to ensure that communications that went on within these rooms stayed strictly private.

Regardless of that though, Gia reached into her pocket and pulled out her own muffler. She rubbed the red crystal at its center to activate it, then dropped the device onto the round table in front of her, right alongside a few scattered books. Leaning back into her chair, she folded her arms and shifted her gaze to Dante.

The young man was standing by the side table, pouring the rich brew of amber black sand into two cups. When he was done, he picked up both saucers and brought them over, then handed one to her.

"Thank you." Her voice was soft as usual as she accepted the cup. After a polite nod, she took a small sip.

Meanwhile, Dante sat down opposite her and took a shallow drink from his cup, setting the saucer down on the table between them.

"I’ll get straight to the point," he began, crossing one leg over the other and resting his clasped hands over his knee. "Have you heard of the Black Silt Ring?"

Gia arched a brow and her eyes shifted upward as if quickly checking her memory. Then she said in an uncertain manner, "I’ve heard about a cult like that. They are said to worship an evil god."

Dante smiled and stared down into his cup.

Information about the unorthodox Gods was tightly controlled by the Holy See. They were the supreme governing body and spiritual authority representing the Pantheon of Gods, and they held absolute jurisdiction over the supernatural and the mystical within this world.

As high-ranking people in the Holy Empire, they probably knew about a few unorthodox gods, their cults, and even the nature of the powers they bestowed upon their apostles. However, they didn’t make this information public.

The only time they shared these details was when they officially declared an unknown god as "evil," yet even then, they only made information about this available to influential nobles and members of parliament, including wealthy merchants.

They watched what was printed in papers and they did not allow the epithets of these gods to be published even in public libraries.

Also, even among the elites, they only gave a vague description of the nature of the Divine Skills the evil god gave their apostles.

The reason for the strict censorship by the Holy See was so that people would not go running to evil gods.

Unorthodox gods were known to be slightly more benevolent when it came to raising people to the status of Apostles, and most of the powers they offered were either enticing or something many people wanted, so it was easy to fall into temptation.

Because of this, the logic of the Holy See was simple: the less people knew about an evil god, the less they would be tempted to turn to that God in their time of peril.

As for how Gia had heard of them, she was not the typical protagonist bound by common tropes. Her parents were wealthy merchants who had purchased the title of Viscounts and secured a seat in Parliament.

So of course, they were privy to restricted information. In other words, Gia was not a protagonist who had suffered her way up from the bottom of society.

Dante looked up from his cup after organizing his thoughts and began.

"The Black Silt Ring is a cult that worships Marion, the evil God of Puppets and Marionettes. I’m not sure of his complete list of skill trees, but I do know of their Red Divine Skill tree, which is called Parasitic Marionette. Those who manifest powers along this tree can create a certain number of spiders that burrow their way into a person’s head, feeding on the brain and replacing it over time until the victim becomes a helpless puppet to the host."

He took a sip of his tea to let Gia digest that before continuing.

"The mid-session examinations begin at the end of April, running into May. The day we venture into the Labyrinth for our practical exams on Labyrinthology 101 and Combat Thaumaturgy is the day of the ’Event’ that your artifact warned you about. At least, that’s what I believe. So far, the exact schedule hasn’t been published, so I can’t confirm the exact day.

"However, from what I’ve been able to gather, there will be two main issues on that day. The first is that there might be Red Blighted Creatures on the first floor in the Labyrinth of Cavenila."

"What?" Gia’s eyes widened before her brows furrowed in a frown.

But Dante simply raised a second finger to cut off her impending questions. "The second is that among the students who will be joining us, there will be people who are already puppets of the Parasitic Marionette."

"Wait, wait, wait, wait." Gia raised a hand to stop him, and for a few seconds, it looked like her brain was buffering.

"What do you mean Red Blighted Creatures in the Labyrinth of Cavenila?"

Dante arched a brow, wondering if he had spoken in a different language.

Well, actually, her reaction was not surprising.

The Labyrinth of Cavenila was one of the Labyrinths under the direct control of the Holy Imperial Academy. It was a Labyrinth rated Green by the Holy See, so the idea of Red Blighted Creatures being there was completely absurd.

Maybe if it was a Blue or even a Purple creature, it would make sense. But Red?

Even Dante couldn’t blame her for doubting it.

"I meant what I said," he added with a sigh. "Worse, these creatures will be waiting at important locations for us, almost as if they’re expecting us. For instance, if we’re tasked with securing item cargos, they’ll be lying in wait right at those coordinates."

Gia blinked.

She looked down at the table, looked up at Dante, then looked back at her cup. After a few seconds, she shook her head and spoke again in a tight voice. "If this is true, then... shouldn’t we report this? Maybe we could tell the Academy administration, or we could even tell some of the professors in charge of—"

"You will do no such thing." Dante cut her off in a serious voice.

"...?"

Gia arched a brow in confusion, but Dante gave her no room to argue.

"Have you forgotten what I said? We are not here to save the day. What we need to focus on is how to survive that day."

When she heard that, an expression of an even deepened confusion crossed Gia’s face. "Exactly. If we report it, then we can all simply avoid going to the labyrinth on that day."

Dante sighed.

He reached toward the table and set his cup back down onto the saucer, then leaned forward, his voice low and calm.

"Setting aside how we are even going to explain how we know this, or how we are going to convince the academy in the first place, just... think about the things I’ve said for a moment."

He paused to let her process his words. "Red Blighted Creatures inside the Cavenilian Labyrinth, waiting for us at specific coordinates."

Gia seemed thoughtful for a moment, and then his meaning suddenly hit her.

Dante exhaled and leaned back into his chair.

"That is a Labyrinth under the direct jurisdiction of the Holy Imperial Academy. It’s a space that is monitored constantly, and before the day of an examination, it will definitely be thoroughly inspected because our lives are far too valuable to the academy. They wouldn’t just send us in there without doing a complete security sweep. Now tell me, do you really think it’s possible that all the professors who oversee the Labyrinth would simply miss something like this?"

Gia lowered her eyes, then slowly shook her head. "In other words, some of our professors are in on it."

’Thank goodness she has a brain behind those ears.’