Chapter 246: The Shadows Enshroud the Culprit

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Several moments before Apollo left his residence, the matters pertaining to Reiner were unveiled. The first one to get the message was Geneva, and within mere moments, she appeared before Reiner's door. When she entered, the messy sight of his body immediately entered his eyes. Unlike a normal person, when a cultivator died, their body decayed much slower due to the presence of Natural Essence inside their body.

Thus, Reiner's body barely decayed despite Apollo absorbing a significant amount of the residual energy in his mind. Unlike Sin, Apollo didn't possess the current ability to draw energy directly out of a person's body. Nevertheless, it was still a disturbing sight to behold.

Due to Apollo's painful procedure, Reiner died with a horrified look on his face. The contorted presence of terror on his face stared into the pits. 'This is terrible… the amounts of pain he had to be under before death is unimaginable.'

As Geneva approached the body, she bent down and touched his forehead. Upon realizing the fact that both his brain and Soul Temple were melted together, Geneva felt a cold shiver down her spine. 'Such ghastly means, to be capable of this, one would need to be born without a heart or compassion.'

After she assessed the body, Geneva stood up and glanced around the room. As of right now, she was sure this matter was linked to the incident involving Typhir. However, from what she saw, he and Apollo didn't possess such a deep relationship. Hence, she believed she was missing something at first.

But, when she remembered his lack of response during her verdict, something clicked in her mind, 'No, it's not that he didn't mind at all, it was because his mind was already made up at the time. However, is it worth it to disclose this matter to everyone? Should I just leave the culprit in the shadows?'

While thinking to herself, Geneva noticed an odd glint in different corners of the room. When she approached them and revealed what they were, her eyes widened. Before now, she thought she didn't have any proof, but the appearance of these flames was a direct link to Apollo! Within the entire academy, he was the only one capable of utilizing these flames.

The problem was, however, why did he leave them here? In the fight with what the Spirit was, the battlefield was wiped clean. Then, it hit Geneva, 'Could it be that he has dealt with Reiner himself? It's plausible, at his level, he would lack the ability to vanquish his presence.'

However, she soon altered her thoughts as she realized the placement of the body and the placement of the flames. 'No, something is still amiss. If there was a struggle, then Reiner's aura would exist near the flames, his aura is missing. That means either there was no struggle whatsoever, or these flames were placed after the deed was done, or perhaps even both.'

As she touched one of the flames, Geneva's eyebrow rose. Every piece of Hellfire seemed to carry a small embedded message. When pieced together, it spelled out a single phrase, "Let the actions done in the shadows stay in the shadows and you shall be rewarded, you need me, you just don't know it yet."

When she read this message, Geneva felt an unsettling feeling in the pit of her stomach. Somehow, she felt as if he had unknowingly walked into the grasp of a devil. Unfortunately, whether or not she accepted the message, her fate was sealed. Left with no other choice, she consumed the flames and left the room purged of any signs of evidence.

Shortly after she did so, Rezar, Sylvester, and the higher-ups of the student council appeared. Since such a dreadful occurrence took place, all of the disciplinary powers were called to action. Be that as it may, Geneva was stumped when they all appeared. Based on the message she received, it was absolutely in her worst interest to let the culprit be revealed.

As a result, she released a deep sigh and announced to the others, "As of right now, there is no evidence linking anyone to this crime. Not only did the nearby students not hear or see anything, but there are also no aurae present here. However, we will make it our duty to find the person behind this matter."

However, immediately after she said this, Minerva stepped forward, "There is no need, the culprit is the bringer of death. He will bring us all to the precipe of death and then it will be up to him to decide her fate."

When the others heard this, they frowned and looked at Minerva. Once again, she was speaking in a cryptic matter as they didn't understand a single word of her. But, when they thought about it more, something clicked inside of everyone's minds except Geneva. 

Unlike her, the rest were present went Apollo became a Seat. At that time, Minerva had said something to him along the lines of her present words. Thus, all four of them came to the conclusion.

"You're saying Apollo is the killer? How do you know?" Sylvester questioned while pushing up his glass with his index finger. In response, Minerva became silent and her eyes twitched uncontrollably. Then, she smiled at Sylvester,

"I don't but the prophecy knows, the prophecy knows all and it can never be wrong. My Oracle Mind is linked to the prophecy and my Eyes of the Six Fates allow me to understand the fate threads of the prophecy. At this scene, there is a black thread. Until now, I have only seen a select few individuals with black threads, however, I have never seen one so big," Minerva revealed.

"The prophecy again is it… very well. However, until we verify your findings, that will be pending. Before we approach a verdict, we'll need to test Apollo. In my eyes, I don't think he is strong enough to fight Reiner in his peak state, not to mention, a Reiner who has been cultivating for days on end," Rezar chimed in.

But, Sylvester was quick to retort, "Don't forget, he possesses a Spirit as well and one of unknown strength no less. You don't know if he utilized his Spirit to commit this crime."

"That idea can be dismissed. There is no anomaly in space nor is there any traces of spiritual essence being disturbing. In other words, there is no origin point of a Spirit being summoned. Furthermore, when Apollo's Spirit first appeared before us, there is still a lingered darkness within the Headmaster's office," Rezar responded, denouncing Sylvester's claims.

"True," Sylvester nodded in agreement. For a moment, the room fell quiet. With Apollo's clearly thought-out actions, he left them in a bind. As of right now, everything for them was pure baseless speculation. To change that, they would either need direct proof or for Apollo to admit.

Sadly, the proof they needed was already within Geneva. By committing those actions, she already presented her stance on the matter. Thus, to get everyone to return to their prior actions, she voiced their course of action.

"For now, we'll leave this matter alone. In the meantime, I'll seek to gather proof. But, we'll make this clear right now, even if it is found to be Apollo's we have to judge while keeping in mind that not just us, some of the Supreme Families have received word of him. I believe they look forward to seeing him in action inside the World Reclamation Task Force."

Everyone in the room nodded in understanding. Truth be told, there wasn't a single person in the room that was closely related to Reiner, hence, his death wasn't a great burden. Not to mention, unlike Typhir, he didn't hail from a notable family. He was simply a talent, and more of those existing at his degree would always show up again.

In light of this understanding, everyone dispersed. Only Geneva was left glancing in a certain distance. 'I will take this chance to maintain order but I still need to prepare a facade.'

Unbeknownst to her, Minerva glanced back in the direction of the residence and peered at the black thread linking Geneva to a source in the distance. 'It seems the wheels of fate have already begun spinning. Will our headmaster be corrupted or will she prevail?'

She then turned around and kept her findings to herself. After all, the thread at the moment was minuscule at best. It wasn't worth mentioning, however, should she continue down her current path, Minerva was unsure of her fate. It didn't seem to exist within her Eyes of Six Fates.

Meanwhile, back in front of Apollo's residence, he was annoyed by the person standing before him.