Every experienced Oracle had unique skills and special gear for some serious situation.
Usually, it wasn't necessary, since Oracles could predict what would happen to a particular Chaos Hearth. They only used artifacts when there was an anomaly with an already known Chaos Hearth or Chas Energy was trying to get out of control, out of bounds.
However, now was a completely different situation, Chaos's particle was right in the academy and no one noticed it, not even Anet had seen it, until now.
"What's going on...?" Rea muttered with a confused expression, unlike Anet, none of them had seen the Chaos' fire yet.
They didn't understand why Anet was so alarmed, but they knew it was definitely something bad, otherwise, an experienced Oracle like her would have remained calm.
"Anet." Erel said seriously in a deep voice, "What's going on? Explain it to us, and maybe we can help you."
"No! Just look in the magic circle and stay out of my way! Don't you realize this is an emergency?!" Anet exclaimed irritably, searching her trunk for the right artifact.
Erel and Solomon exchanged glances, then they did as Anet said. It was hard for them to see it, but they had no trouble identifying the Chaos Flame hovering in the middle of the room.
"Wait... So it was there the whole time?" Solomon muttered in disbelief, "Is that possible!"
Erel frowned, "I don't know, something like that is very hard to do, Chaos isn't capable of such a thing."
"Agh...? You mean someone set this up on purpose?" Rea asked with a worried expression.
Erel nodded, "Yeah. We need to find out what it is, then we'll start investigating immediately. I don't know where Zayne is now, but I doubt anything good happened to him."
"Found it!" Anet exclaimed, raising a massive silver cross above her head. It had a sharp tip that could easily pierce flesh.
"What are you waiting for!" Anet frowned, "Let's go! We have to hurry!"
Anet quickly ran forward, rather clumsily but with enthusiasm. Suddenly a huge amount of energy appeared in her.
"Damn, why are all the experienced Oracle's so weird?" Erel shook his head, then he looked at Rea and glanced at Solomon.
Solomon nodded.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇt'Hmm? What's going on?" Rea was puzzled as she touched her lips.
'Whoooooooooooosh.
Suddenly, Solomon lifted Rea up, throwing her onto his shoulder, which made her eyes go wide and her face quickly redden with embarrassment.
Then, Solomon and Erel roared forward, at breakneck speed, and quickly caught up to Anet. Erel did the same thing to Anet as Solomon did to Rea and they were able to accelerate even more.
After a minute, they found themselves in the main building of the academy, right in the room where Zayne had disappeared.
"Hey! Actually, you could have given me a warning!" Anet exclaimed irritably, slapping Erel on the back.
Erel shrugged, "You asked to be quicker, so we just granted your wish. You may be an Oracle, but you're still a woman first and foremost. You never know exactly what you want."
"Whatever!" Anet waved her hand, making her long hair ripple, and walked to the center of the room.
She waved her hand, swiping right where the flame was. However, she didn't feel anything, nor did she see anything. The fire just wasn't there, it seemed like it didn't exist.
"So... What next...? Rea muttered with a curious expression.
Anet took a deep breath, "Well... Next, I have to do something very unpleasant. Otherwise, there's no way I'll know what's behind those flames. It's some kind of very tricky spell."
Anet reached forward with her palm open, then she with an ice-cold look, thrust the sharp tip of the cross right into her palm.
"Ouch..." Rea flinched, as it looked painful, and it was.
However, Anet didn't even frown, she was ready for it since she knew how this artifact worked, so she tolerated it and was willing to do it for as long as it took.
Whoooooooooooooooooooosh.
The cross glowed brightly, bursting with an azure flame that seemed to be able to rid the world of any darkness, even the creepiest and most terrifying.
Then, Anet pulled the cross out of her palm, wrapped both hands around it, and thrust it into the ground with all her might.
The flames engulfed the entire room, massive streams of flames even traveling beyond its borders, through the windows, drawing the attention of those students still awake.
Rea covered herself with her hands, afraid of the fire, but Solomon didn't let her do so. He simply put his hand on her shoulder and shook his head.
"Agh...? How strange..." Rea muttered, looking at the flames that passed through her fingers and past her. It wasn't hot, or cold, and it couldn't hurt her in any way.
All the azure flame did was give her an unusual relief, as if she had just woken up from a good night's sleep. All the tension in an instant fell away, as her body filled with a pleasant energy.
"Can you feel it?" Solomon asked.
"Yeah. It's incredible." Rea nodded.
"That's the power of an experienced Oracle. It happens very rarely, so you better memorize this moment, it will be useful for your development." Solomon said calmly, "Even the most secretive manifestations of the Chaos, can't resist it."
Solomon glanced at Erel, "Am I saying this correctly?"
Erel nodded, "Sure. Your words are infallible."
Tremble. Tremble. Tremble.
After a while, the space began to shake as a ripple appeared in the center of the room, something lurking behind it.
Anet with a serious expression stepped forward and thrust the cross straight into the ripples, causing the spell to break.
At the same moment, everyone saw the bright scarlet flame and what was behind it.
"What the hell...?" Erel muttered with wide eyes. He was rarely surprised, but this time he couldn't contain his emotions.
Solomon frowned and Anet clenched her hands into fists while her gaze filled with anger.
At the center of the Chaos Flame was a heart, a human heart that had a thin layer of ice on it in some places, as if it had recently been frozen.
Anet immediately realized what it was. She could easily feel the aura of another Oracle, even from a very long distance.
"Solomon... Red Feather City recently killed an Oracle, didn't they?" Anet asked in a deep voice, gritting her teeth.
"What... How do you know about that?" Solomon was puzzled, "I thought Alden did everything he could to cover it up..."
Anet nodded, "Yeah, but I have my ways as well as Order. However, I have to admit that Alden did everything perfectly. None of the townsfolk still have any idea it happened."
Anet sighed, "Answer the question!" She already knew the answer, but she just needed to hear it.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmSolomon understood that, so he nodded deeply, "Yes. We still don't know who did it. It was a stealthy, professional murder, everything was done to perfection."
Anet nodded, "Well... Hopefully, Order will figure it out since it's definitely his heart."
Solomon's eyes went wide just like the others.
"Anet!" Erel said sternly, "Are you sure about this?!"
"Yeah... I can't be wrong about something like that. Moreover, it looks like it was done by someone possessing the ice attribute." Anet muttered, taking her heart in her hands.
Erel frowned, at first he didn't notice it because of the intense flames, but now that the heart was in Anet's hands he could clearly see the ice particles.
"Agh... Unfortunately, I know who did it." Erel sighed heavily.
"What...?" Anet looked at him with a blank stare, "If you knew, why didn't you tell me?!"
Erel shook his head, "I would have, definitely, but unfortunately I only guessed it now since I just saw that heart."
"In that case, tell me! Stop waiting!" Anet exclaimed.
She wasn't familiar with this particular Oracle, but they were few enough so they were all worried about each other.
Anet wanted someone to avenge her mate, for the killer to be caught, and for justice to be served. In this, she was no different from other people, but the difference between them was that she knew the truth.
Erel took a deep breath, "It was Karin, The Frozen Moon."
Anet froze for a moment, as she got goosebumps. Solomon frowned, with narrowed eyes and a hard stare.
Rea was the only one who didn't understand anything, "Agh...? Who is she? One of the Apostles?"
To her it was a very obvious assumption since by her logic only Apostles were connected to Chaos and could do something so serious.
Erel shook his head, "She's one of the Moon Shattered Order. It's too early for you to know that, but since you happen to be here I'll tell you about them briefly."
Erel took a step, heading to the window and gazing out at the massive blue moon that lit up the entire academy that night.
"First of all, Karin is as incredibly strong as any member of the Shattered Moon Order. They are true aces in their respective fields. I met her in the misty forest when I was on my way to the academy, and we fought." Erel said calmly, clutching his cane tightly.
"And...?" Rea gave him a questioning look.
"She ran away, she had some other purpose, she didn't expect to run into me. However, I'm not sure I would have won." Erel took a deep breath, "As for the philosophy of the Shattered Moon Order... Well, there are reasons why the Order wants to destroy them."
Rea gulped, she wanted to hear more and was ready for it, she felt it was secret knowledge.