As soon as Kritos agreed to the terms of his wager with Iris, he left.
According to their deal, a minor Calamity was worth one point, a Baron ten points, and a Count fifty points.
At the end of the second trial, whoever had the highest score would win.
As for how to keep count, each of them would record their own kills.
Neither Iris nor Kritos feared the other would lie or inflate their numbers.
Why? Because both of them had a way to verify the truth.
For instance, Iris could simply use her Soul’s Eyes to tell whether he was lying.
However, she didn’t know where Kritos drew his confidence from. Perhaps he also had a way to detect lies or maybe he had simply never imagined losing.
Either way, Iris was pleased with how their conversation had gone.
("One down... Just one more person left, and the count will be complete.") she concluded.
Before leaving the room, she glanced one last ti at the sleeping Sirius.
"Sleep well. Big sister will wake you when the ti cos."
With those words, Iris left him alone.
The sedative she had injected into him was unbelievably potent.
She had asked Ana to prepare several doses of the sa kind.
Iris hadn’t expected a single injection to keep Sirius in a deep sleep for several days. His body should have adapted to it; its effects should have weakened over ti.
Still, to Iris, this would be enough ti for him to recover. His awakening would coincide with the beginning of the coming conflict.
Iris left the candidates’ quarters and headed toward the center of the military base.
The Enforcers stationed there to block access let her through without question.
Though she still wasn’t used to it, she was now part of the Order. Her status was no longer that of a re examinee.
Once inside the heart of the base, Iris made her way through the constant movent of busy Enforcers. She didn’t take long to find what she was looking for.
Knock, knock.
Iris rapped twice on the door and waited for a voice to answer from the other side.
"Co in."
Iris had expected to et Director Gramm, but it was San who received her.
Without any small talk, she handed him a piece of paper and said:
"Here’s the information about the duchy, obtained during the interrogation of the captured Count."
San nodded, sliding the paper into his coat pocket before asking:
"What about that Calamity , what’s its current status?"
"Dead," Iris replied.
"Good." San nodded again, satisfied. He made a gesture with his hand, dismissing her.
However, Iris wasn’t finished.
"If I may ask, what was the outco of the battle between Orion and the rcury Clan?"
"The battle ended yesterday. Orion claid victory thanks to the intervention of your four comrades."
"That’s good to hear."
Relief flickered in Iris’s chest; she hadn’t received any word from Lucy since the day before.
She turned to leave but stopped halfway.
"My brother, before losing consciousness after his fight, asked if you could do him a favor."
San raised an eyebrow.
"What kind of favor?"
"He wanted all candidates from the Bureau of Internal Affairs and the Chancellery to be warned about sothing important. Since I can’t contact them myself, I’d like to ask if you could deliver the ssage in his stead."
Iris knew exactly why she was asking him. She was aware of San’s ability to clone himself and be present in several places at once she had seen it in action when he ca to ask Director Gramm for reinforcents to deal with the rcury Clan leader.
San hesitated for a mont.
Normally, he wouldn’t have bothered entertaining a request from a junior. But Sirius had left a good impression on him, and curiosity got the better of him.
When he nodded, Iris relayed the ssage Sirius had asked her to pass on to Lucy and the others.
San looked surprised almost shocked but he didn’t show it.
>
His body instantly split into two identical copies.
The one holding the paper left for Orion to deliver the ssage, while the other stayed behind at the base to oversee the trial in Gramm’s absence.
Once Iris had secured San’s cooperation, she took her leave.
This ti, she headed toward the military warehouse a massive depot filled with over a ton of outdated or defective equipnt waiting to be repaired.
Originally, the candidates from the laboratory were tasked with restoring the equipnt, but after three days of work, most had grown tired and abandoned the job.
When Iris reached the large hangar doors, she heard noise from inside. Activating her Soul’s Eyes, she peered through the walls to observe.
---
A young man wearing a black hood stood inside. Tall and thin nearly two ters he might have seed intimidating, yet the reality was far different.
The lanky figure lay on the ground, his body bruised beneath his clothes. Three other candidates surrounded him, beating him rcilessly.
Iris wasn’t surprised.
It wasn’t the first ti that boy had been treated that way.
Ereis Victara was, like her, one of those who had passed the first trial of the exam and joined the Order.
Among the twelve candidates who had made it through that first round, Ereis attracted envy from those still struggling through the second.
But unlike Iris, Lucy, Sirius, Elizir, or the others , whose sheer presence discouraged any would-be aggressors.
Ereis was different.
Being unawakened, he made an ideal target for awakened candidates with cruel inclinations.
Today again, he was being beaten for a trivial reason.
"Take this!" one of them yelled, kicking him hard in the stomach.
"Try giving orders again, you worthless idiot! You don’t even have the guts to attempt awakening, and you dare talk back?!"
Ereis gritted his teeth and took the blows.
If they had wanted to kill him, they would have done it already. His body was that of an ordinary man, while theirs belonged to Initiates. One well-placed hit would’ve been enough to shatter him.
But no , they preferred to torture him, day after day.
"Why... why ?" Ereis muttered.
His broken voice only spurred his attackers to greater cruelty.
---
Iris heard his plea. It wasn’t the first ti Ereis had cried for help, yet she didn’t move.
After all, he wasn’t the only unawakened one.
In truth, most of the candidates were like him, and the weakest often beca prey for those with violent tendencies.
Iris saw all of it.
She knew exactly who bullied and who was bullied.
And yet, she never intervened.
It wasn’t because she couldn’t. If Iris had wanted to, she could have stopped it instantly.
In reality, she pretended not to notice , deliberately letting scenes like this unfold.
Why she chose to look away, only she knew.
Still, Iris stood there, watching without interfering, as though she were waiting for sothing.
Or rather... for soone.
And when she looked up, she saw her.
The person Iris had been waiting for finally stepped forward.
"That’s enough."
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