Moments later Chaos ensued. The medics who had been monitoring the heart rates of the students were sent into a frenzy when not one or two but three students flatlined one after another. Something terrible must have happened and as a result, the examination was brought to an abrupt end. 

Several announcements were made asking the students to stop fighting and leave the arena as soon as possible. At the same time, several professors and high ranking students went inside the arena to investigate along with the medics. 

However, none of them had any idea what they were about to witness mere moments later. As soon as they found the flatlined students, most of the students emptied their bowels right then and there. 

Three half-eaten, mutilated corpses were scattered everywhere. it appeared as if the killed had left behind a human puzzle for them to solve as none of the corpses was intact. Some had a missing arm, while one of the corpses had been ripped open for the medics to do their forensic work.

Even though there had been deaths in the academy before, nothing like this had ever happened before. None of them could even fathom the horrors the student would have had to experience right before dying. 

The only silver lining in this mess was, that no one from high-ranking noble families had been killed. Otherwise, their wrath would have been… troublesome to say the least. The low ranking Wring family did not have enough authority to go against the academy themselves. The same went for the other two families whose heirs had been killed like that. 

However, a question still remained… who the hell did this?

“We will have to wait for the forensic reports. But from a glance, it seems it was a work of a night creature.” Amaira Holder, the professor of martial arts mumbled. 

For a master of martial arts, her body seemed frail. But that was because she had the ability of giantification. In other words, she could grow or shrink the since of her body upon will. Apart from that, her flaming red hair could also be used as a weapon of its own. 

“How the hell would a night creature get here?” Meena, the monster tamer, asked Amaira.

Night creatures were her forte so it was obvious that she was interested in what was going on there. However, even she could not come up with a possible way a night creature would have gotten into the arena without being detected. 

Such a thing was almost impossible. With the emphasis on ‘almost’. 

“It would be impossible unless someone deliberately let a creature inside.” Amaira stated the obvious, “Also, I suppose we already know why someone would let a night creature inside an arena full of nobles.”

“The resistance?” Suddenly the director’s voice echoed behind them, “Apologies for being late. I had to inform the concerned families about the… mishap.”

All of the professors and students along with the medic staff acknowledged the director with a quick but curt bow. 

“If it’s the work of a Night creature then it’s entirely possible the humans were involved in the attack.” Amaira cleared her stance, “On top of that, we have been receiving reports about their appearance in Contingent every now and then.”

The director nodded along. What Amaira was saying indeed made sense. In recent weeks, the resistance had been desperately trying to cause issues in the city. It was for that same reason they had to tighten the security to prevent them from getting into the city.

Still, they somehow manage to cause problems after problems. That being said, sabotaging the second round of the exams would be a perfect opportunity for them to make their presence felt once again. 

The theory Amaira had proposed fit right into what had happened there. But there was a slight problem… if a night creature had done this, then where the hell was it now?

The students were the only ones who had walked outside and the professors were sure nothing else could have escaped from the arena.  When the Director pointed it out, none of them had an answer to that question. 

“Could there be a secret passage leading out of here?” Meena stated a possible situation.

“Could you look around and confirm if that’s the case? But be careful, the creature could also be lurking around.” The director mumbled, “In the meantime, I will go and interrogate the students. Maybe one of them had seen or heard something.”

“Yes, madam director!”

***

Even though the academy had not released any statement about what had conspired inside the arena, the people outside could think of what could have happened inside.

Also, considering that out of the 80 participants who went inside, only 77 of them walked out, was telling enough to make the others fear that the worst had happened.

As everyone kept talking about what could have happened inside, Ashton remained silent. Unlike the rest of them, there was no one accompanying him.

Disha and Donovan, both of them were missing and as much as Ashton was relieved about Donovan not being there, he was also weirded out by Disha’s unannounced absence. 

‘Did they know about the noble’s plan to get rid of me?’ Ashton thought, ‘As much as I hate Donovan, I don’t think he would go against the mistress so blatantly just to get rid of me. As for Disha, well, she did not have any reason to hate me, did she?’

A lot of things were going inside Ashton’s head. He wasn’t worried about anyone finding out what he had done. There was no way someone could have found out it was him. 

But the gazes of the nobles around him said something else. Unlike the others, these nobles knew that Lucas had been chasing after him with the intent to kill him. So, it was obvious Ashton could have killed them in ‘self-defence’. 

However, just thought that he could have killed three nobles on his own, kinda made it unbelievable. Most of them agreed that the mutt could have gotten to know about their plan and decided to hire some help. 

“I’m glad you are alright.” A familiar voice echoed in Ashton’s head.

“Rose? Where are you?”

“Somewhere close. Listen, there’s something you need to know but we can’t talk here… even with my telepathy. I’ll meet you tonight.. Till then, keep a low profile.”