The swirling violet vortex of the A-Rank Gate shattered like fragile glass behind them, dissolving into harmless blue light before fading into the night air.
The toxic fog that had choked the Old Industrial Sector began to immediately thin out, allowing the cold moonlight to finally touch the ruined asphalt.
Elias and Aria stood in the quiet street. The oppressive weight of the celestial dimension was gone, replaced by the mundane chill of a Friday morning in the city.
Aria looked down at her hands. She was holding a fist-sized, perfectly smooth crystal that glowed with a warm, pulsing golden light. It was the A-Rank Dungeon Core. A single crystal of this grade was worth enough to buy a small city. For the Sterling Family, it meant securing their political dominance for the next decade.
She looked up at Elias. He was adjusting the sleeves of his hoodie, looking completely unbothered that he had just handed over a priceless artifact.
"My family will dissect this Core," Aria said, her voice steady but laced with underlying tension. "They will know a Seraph was the Dungeon Master. And they will know I couldn't have killed it alone, not even with an S-Rank artifact."
"Let them guess," Elias replied smoothly. "Assassins are supposed to have secrets. Tell them you hired a mercenary team as bait. Tell them the Seraph killed each other. It doesn't matter what they believe, as long as you deliver the Core. That makes you indispensable to the Sterling Patriarch."
Aria carefully stored the golden crystal in her secure pouch. She realized exactly what Elias was doing. By giving her the Core, he wasn't just paying her off; he was accelerating her rise to power within her own family. He was building his own personal spymaster.
"You realize that by backing me, you are making yourself an enemy of the other Sterling heirs," Aria pointed out. "If they find out you're the anomaly pulling my strings, they will send the family's elite executioners after you."
Elias turned to her, his cold eyes catching the moonlight. He smiled, and for a brief second, the shadowy silhouette of a six-winged angel seemed to flicker behind him on the pavement.
"Let them come," Elias whispered. "I could always use more Elite-grade shadows."
Aria felt a shiver run down her spine. She nodded, pulling her black combat mask up over her face. "I'll transfer your cut of the mana crystals to the Aegis Guild's secure accounts by tomorrow morning. I'll see you in class, Elias."
She vanished into the shadows of the alleyway, moving with the absolute silence of a master assassin.
Elias watched her go, then activated Spatial Step, melting into the darkness.
When Elias reformed in the living room of his luxury penthouse, the city below was still asleep. He walked over to the minibar, poured himself a glass of iced water, and sat on the plush leather sofa.
It was time to review the true spoils of the A-Rank Gate.
"Status."
Status Window
Name: Elias Level: 27 Class: Absolute Necromancer Title: Pioneer of Catastrophe, Defiler of the Sacred
Mana: 2,200 / 2,200 (Enhanced by Heart of the Abyss)
Shadow Legion (75/100)
Commander Grade: Seraph (Lv. 40), Blood (Lv. 24), Eclipse (Lv. 28)
Elite Grade: Iron (Lv. 19), Bloodfiend (Lv. 20)
Standard Grade: 12 Shadow Inquisitors, 28 Shadow Trolls, 30 Shadow Knights.
Elias focused on his newly acquired title.
[Title: Defiler of the Sacred]
Effect: Your dark-attribute attacks ignore 50% of the magical defense of Holy/Divine beings. Your Shadow Legion emits an 'Abyssal Presence' that naturally intimidates enemies of a lower level, reducing their combat stats by 10%.
"Perfect," Elias muttered. In his past life, the National Guilds relied heavily on high-ranking Paladins and Holy Mages to secure their strongholds. When the time came to go to war with the human traitors, this title would render their ultimate defenses completely useless.
He then pulled up the system log for his newest, most terrifying acquisition.
[Commander Grade Shadow: Fallen Seraph]
Skill 1: Wings of the Void. Can unleash a barrage of explosive dark-plasma feathers over a massive area.
Skill 2: Absolute Silence. Creates a localized vacuum that cancels all enemy spell-casting within a 50-meter radius for 3 seconds.
Skill 3: Abyssal Light. Heals allied Shadow Soldiers using corrupted holy energy, bypassing standard regeneration costs.
Elias took a slow sip of his water. He had essentially just acquired a walking tactical nuke that could also mass-heal his army. The power creep was real, but he knew the cosmic entities watching Earth wouldn't sit idly by while he broke the balance of the System.
His phone buzzed on the glass coffee table. It was a highly encrypted message from Silas, the puppet Guild Master of Aegis.
Boss. The military is buzzing. They found the cleared A-Rank Gate in the industrial sector. But that's not the worst part. The Academy just announced the 'Joint-Guild Exhibition' for next week. All the top S-Rank Guild Masters in the country are coming to the campus to recruit the Elite Class. Marcus Vance's father is going to be there.
Elias set the glass down. The Vance Family. The same family whose heir he had executed in a dirty subway tunnel just weeks ago.
The Academy was about to become a shark tank. The most powerful, corrupt men in the nation were gathering in one place, looking for fresh blood to exploit.
Elias leaned back into the sofa, a dark, genuine smile crossing his face. He wasn't trapped in a school with the country's elite. They were trapped in a school with him.
"Let the games begin."