Caught You

The killing intent pouring off Rufus was so dense it seemed almost tangible, sweeping through the cramped space like a bitter midwinter wind.

Dago's eyes, calm to the point of coldness, immediately caught what Rufus held in his left hand.

It was a human head, still dripping blood.

The instant Dago made out its features, his pupils contracted almost imperceptibly.

It was an involuntary physical response, unrelated to fear: merely an objective acknowledgment of death.

It was the face of a young, striking woman. Even reduced to a severed head, she retained traces of her former beauty.

Yet that beautiful face now resembled an oil painting ruined by a clumsy hand. Frozen upon it were the shock, pain, and soul-deep terror of her final instant.

Dago remembered who she was.

Among the Dusk Crystal Church's Third-Ring Wizard prodigies in this competition, she was the only one besides the monstrous Rufus.

As a female High-Rank Wizard, she had always attracted considerable attention. To some extent, she had represented another public face of the Crimson Tower.

And now that "face" was dead.

Rufus's pale, slender fingers gripped her head like a rotten apple. He might have been carrying a bag of worthless trash rather than the remains of a fellow member.

Dago swept his gaze around the room.

Severed limbs lay scattered across the floor, and scraps of torn robes soaked in pools of blood. Judging by the faint traces of magic left on them, several Revival Society wizards had been here.

Together with the severed head, they made the truth plain: this brilliant young woman had been a mole planted inside the Crimson Tower by the Revival Society.

"Interesting..."

Dago narrowed his eyes, and the Dimensional Detection Technique (Ultimate) took shape instantly.

The world's surface colors faded from his sight, leaving