The main gate slowly swung open.
The metallic sound echoed across the silent field as all the recruits, almost instinctively, managed to move away. There was no order. No one gave a command. Even so, the ranks broke and carved a path across the black stone courtyard.
Was it reflex? Respect? Fear? No one knew how to answer; they simply opened the passage as the footsteps of special boots began to echo. They were calm, but firm and unhurried, as if savoring the situation ahead.
The woman crossing the field seemed to carry the very weight of authority around her body. The deep red cloak fell over her shoulders like a cascade of living blood, trailing lightly with the movement as small particles of scarlet energy floated in the air around her like embers.
Her long hair, red as polished ruby, swayed gently behind her.
And her eyes… Her eyes were cold. Deep. Observant.
Sable Nightshade Valentine… current leader of the Crimson Lotus Palace.
One of the three figures responsible for commanding all the academy's training camps. Her presence alone was enough to make the air in the camp feel heavier.
Each of her steps seemed to push an invisible pressure on everyone there.
The recruits looked away… Some lowered their heads… And others… tried not to covet her lethal beauty and her body sculpted by the Blood God.
She walked directly down the corridor that opened in the middle of the crowd, completely ignoring the tense stares around her, until she stopped a few meters from Victor.
The heel of her boot made a dry sound as it touched a blood-stained stone.
Her eyes slowly descended.
First to Victor. She clearly knew who he was; after all, he was the subject of one of the recent discussions, the same goes for the rest of the disfigured trash below him.
The instructor's state was… deplorable. His face was no longer recognizable. His nose was completely crushed, crooked at a grotesque angle. His right eye had come loose and hung there, bloody and ready to be ripped out.
Blood trickled from his scalp and pooled in small dark puddles among the stones on the ground. A few teeth were scattered around his head.
Ethan was still breathing, of course; as long as his head wasn't blown off, he would still live, regenerate, and recover. Despite the mental reflections continuing.
Sable observed the scene for a few seconds.
Her face was completely neutral.
Then her eyes returned to Victor.
She tilted her head slightly to the side.
"…Curious," she said, in a calm, velvety voice, quite different from her eccentric appearance. "A student… attacking his own teacher in the middle of the training field," she finished.
She raised an eyebrow with slight interest. "That's… a specific breach of discipline."
Her gaze dropped back to Ethan for a second.
Then returned to Victor.
"So tell me…" she continued, her voice still calm. "Why exactly did a student decide to brutalize one of our instructors?"
Victor exchanged glances, also standing up to almost her height. Almost, because that woman… was taller than him. He then, in a playful manner, stood on Ethan's chest with his blood-stained boot and stepped on his torso, just to be tall enough to speak to Sable on equal terms.
"The real question is why an instructor was brutalized so easily. Wasn't he supposed to be teaching something?" he questioned defiantly.
For a moment… there was silence.
A dense, heavy silence, as if the camp itself were waiting for it to happen.
Then Sable's shoulders trembled slightly.
And, to the utter shock of practically everyone there—
She laughed.
It wasn't a boisterous laugh.
It was a low… elegant… almost amused laugh, escaping her lips as if the situation truly held humor.
A soft sound, but completely out of place in the middle of the still blood-stained field.
Some recruits exchanged confused glances.
Others simply tensed up.
Because nobody… nobody expected that.
Sable brought a delicate hand to her lips for a second, as if trying to contain her own amusement.
"Hm…" Her crimson eyes returned to Victor… This time there was something different there… A spark of interest.
"You're right." She said this with frightening nonchalance, as if commenting on the weather.
"The really interesting question…" she continued, gradually tilting her head, "…is how an instructor could be so easily brutalized by a recruit."
Her gaze dropped downwards.
For Ethan.
The man was still on the ground, breathing in wet spasms as his chest rose and fell unevenly under Victor's boot. Each gasp of air caused blood to trickle from the crushed corner of his mouth, dripping onto the already soaked stones.
His dangling eye swayed slightly with every movement of his body.
Sable watched him like one watches an insect crushed on the sole of a shoe.
Without emotion.
Without haste.
"...Pathetic." She murmured.
Then, naturally, her gaze returned to Victor and she analyzed him. This time for real.
Her eyes traveled over his face... his shoulders... his body... his posture... the blood on his hands... the way he held her gaze without hesitation. And then, very slowly, a small smile appeared at the corner of her lips.
"You look like her."
Victor frowned, his brow advancing. "Like whom?"
Her smile deepened slightly. "With his mother. Serafall."
There was a curious glint in Sable's eyes. "The same way of speaking… the same insolence… the same irritating talent for turning an absurd situation into something… interesting." She crossed her arms slowly.
The red cloak settled behind her like a living stain. Then her eyes returned to Ethan and she seemed… to think.
"Now…" A short pause. She frowned slightly, as if trying to remember something. "What was the warning again…?" Another second of silence.
Then her eyes gleamed with recognition.
"Ah." She looked at the mangled body on the ground. "Yes." Her voice grew a little colder. "The Cross family has lost all authority over Victor Valentine, son of Serafall Valentine."
The silence in the field grew even heavier.
Some recruits felt a shiver run down their spines.
Sable then looked back at Victor and the smile returned.
"Well…" She tilted her head slightly. "That settles part of the situation."
Victor narrowed his eyes. "Settles…?"
Sable took a small step forward.
The scarlet cloak billowed behind her.
Then she said, with an almost absurd lightness: "You're under arrest."
Victor blinked. "...What do you mean?"
Her smile widened slightly. "Rules are rules." She raised a finger in the air, as if explaining something very simple. "Even if the instructor is a complete piece of trash…" she said casually, glancing quickly at Ethan, "...a recruit still can't just smash his face in the middle of the field."
She shrugged. "Institutional politics."
Victor let out a small, disbelieving laugh. "You're kidding me."
"Unfortunately not." Sable uncrossed her arms. Her eyes gleamed with a certain… cruel amusement. "You're going to solitary confinement."
Silence... Some recruits felt their stomachs churn... Because solitary confinement wasn't a light punishment in that place.
Sable then pointed slightly with her chin at Victor. "Please, get off the body before he actually suffocates. After someone of high rank arrives in situations like this, this little idiot could end up causing me problems over vampire rights, or something like that." She spoke nonchalantly.
She tilted her head slightly. "I still need him to survive to suffer the embarrassment later."
Then she added, almost cheerfully: "Now let's go… Victor Valentine." Her smile thinned. "You are under arrest for attempted murder of an instructor accredited by the Valentine family."
"…" Victor was speechless. What was he going to say? It was true. Partly.
…
…
[In another location]
"Jake!!!" A cheerful young man burst into the door, "Did you hear the news?" he said quickly and continued, "Looks like that bastard got arrested after beating up an instructor!"
He continued cheerfully while Jake, still drinking his wine from behind him, continued, "Looks like he got arrested by Sable after she saw him almost killing an instructor. Seriously! How hilarious! That idiot suddenly got strong?! He was just a nuisance!"
As he continued, Jake grabbed his glass, turned with incredible speed, and threw it directly at the cheerful face's head.
KEUGH…!!
"So?" He said nervously as his aura intensified, "What does that damned guy have to do with my Sable?!" He spoke nervously as blood dripped from the boy who was now unconscious on the floor.
[5th Great Prodigy of the North, from the Palace of Roses, Jake Valentine]
...
[Elsewhere.]
"He went to solitary confinement… how strange." A calm-looking boy walked through the corridors. "The Cursed Bastard… I'd like to meet General Crimson's son.".
[4th Great Prodigy of the South, from the Palace of Crimson Lotus, Leon Valentine]
...
[Elsewhere.]
"So many things happen, right sister?" said a girl with black hair and red eyes while laughing at her sister who was reading a book.
They were twins, the only difference being their hair color. One had black hair and the other light blue.
"Many things." She said coldly… "It's the first time in six hundred years that someone has gone to Solitary Confinement," she commented.
[3rd Great Prodigy of the East, Lavender Palace, Emma Valentine]
[2nd Great Prodigy of the West, Lavender Palace, Charlotte Valentine]
...
[Elsewhere.]
"Mistress." The girl knelt before the prodigy. "I have news of your grandson." She spoke calmly: "He was sent to Solitary Confinement."
The elder vampire's gaze simply swept across the city behind her. "My daughter has finally reaped the rewards of our efforts."
"Forgiveness?" She questioned.
"Become stronger." The elder vampire simply said, and glowing, turning around. "You won't let me down, will you?"
"No, mistress."
[1st Great Prodigy of the Central Region, Location: Undefined, Grace Valentine]