CHAPTER 104: FIVEFOLD ISOLATION ARRAY

As the door in the crime scene closed, Caroline retrieved five slender flags from her magic pouch. Each of the flags was embroidered with intricate silver runes that shimmered faintly even in the dim light.

’Flags?’ Curious, Leonard paid close attention to what she was trying to do.

Caroline didn’t bother to explain much despite sensing his gaze. Instead, she began to channel some of her mana into the flags.

The moment she channeled mana into them, the fabric began to ripple unnaturally, almost as if they were caught in an invisible wind.

One by one, the flags shot into their designated position, streaks of silver light trailing behind them. Four darted toward the crime scene room’s corners, anchoring themselves mid-air without touching the ground.

Meanwhile, the fifth flag rose slowly, halting at the exact center of the ceiling.

Caroline’s eyes narrowed slightly once the flags were positioned. She gestured her hands, causing a faint pulse to spread outward from each flag, connecting them with glowing strands of rune-light.

In the blink of an eye, a web-like barrier took shape, its interlocking lines forming a five-pointed star with a central nexus.

"A containment formation?" Leonard was startled. He recognized bits of the characteristics to resemble that of a containment formation, but not quite either.

It appeared that this wasn’t just a simple containment formation!

"This is an advanced formation." Caroline finally opened her mouth and clarified. "The capability of this is numerous times superior to a containment formation conducted in a rush."

Having said that, the flags were fully activated. The formation emitted a dense pressure that sealed the space inside from most forms of intrusion or escapes.

"What you’re seeing is the Fivefold Isolation Array! It has three main functions." She then listed them in a brief but concise explanation.

The first function was physical obstruction. Any door, window, or gap became an immovable wall of force to those without permission.

The second function was magical suppression. Teleportation, scrying, and spatial storage were dulled to a whisper, cutting off both entry and exit for magic-based interference.

Finally, the last function was aura masking. Even life signs were cloaked, ensuring no one outside could sense what transpired within.

To summarize, the formations utilizing the flags didn’t just block external and internal factors.

Instead, it acted as a filter.

Air could pass, light could pass, sound could pass in muffled tones, but anything carrying hostile intent or invasive magic was stripped apart at the formation’s edges like sand through a strainer or colander.

By using the five flags, Caroline ensured both speeds of deployment and stability.

It wasn’t strong enough to hold out against a sixth circle mage’s full-force assault. But for anything below that, the formation was an impenetrable shell.

Within seconds, the crime scene room was isolated from the outside world.

Despite there being a translucent-like barrier surrounding them, Leonard didn’t feel many changes.

"Was this array necessary?" He questioned. He had no intention of altering anything in the crime scene, to begin with.

All along, he only came here to see what was going on. As for that dying message left behind by the deceased guard, Bryant.

It was even more ridiculous for anyone to dare to summon the Crown Prince for questioning!

"Seems like you’ve missed it as well." Caroline exhaled softly and walked toward the corpse.

The corpse was unsightly, but she didn’t even react to its appearance.

Instead, she was more focused on the wounds inflicted on Bryant.

"This wound here appeared to be a simple, lethal cut wound. But in fact, there are traces of layered phasing, equivalent to bending space itself to deliver a blow to their opponent." She calmly explained.

Almost immediately, Leonard’s body jolted slightly.

Bending space... layered phasing...

These two particular phrases were familiar to him because he had just heard about them not long ago from Mirelle when she complained about being played for thinking the command token was authoritative.

Leonard wanted to ask a question, but hesitated.

As if understanding what he was concerned about, Caroline rolled her eyes.

She swiftly pointed at the center flag as if reminding him that the fivefold isolation array was already active.

He faked a cough and avoided the embarrassment. "Anyway, are you suspecting this murder was committed by Logan?"

"No, I have seen and heard from Mirelle about Logan’s attack style. It’s similar, but the chaos in this scene is unlike Logan’s efficiency. I reckon it’s another one of your people of the same kind as Logan, albeit inferior in combat skill."

"Another one of the same kind, huh."

There were numerous Shadows being placed all across Velastra.

But what made Leonard curious was the fact that not only did Caroline identify this small trace, but she even knew which particular group committed the murder.

"You are quite mysterious," Leonard commented.

"Thanks for the compliment." Caroline gladly accepted the praise.

"Being mysterious means you have no clear information about me. This should mean my life is going to be longer." She continued, subtly warning him that if he wished to silence her, it wouldn’t be an easy task.

"Hah, I’m not some killing machine." Leonard shrugged. "Besides, I must thank you for spotting this small trace. Otherwise, the linkage between the dying message and the Crown Prince would truly be inseparable."

"Glad you know."

Sometime later, Caroline wiped out the small trace in the wound.

Now, even if an expert were to arrive later on to investigate, they wouldn’t detect any space bending or layered phasing attack. They would be left in confusion because without this small but critical hint, one could never understand how the damage was made in this crime scene.

Once the evidence was removed, Caroline promptly retrieved the five flags.

As she stored them in her magic pouch, she noticed his gaze was locked onto it.

"Don’t even think about it!" She hissed coldly. "These flags are crafted meticulously, and the creator had long ceased to create anymore."

"Tsk, who wants it anyway?" Leonard rolled his eyes.

Still, he made a mental note to himself to obtain similar kinds of flags that could create arrays and formations.