K’s head tilted, expression shifting to one of playful confusion, now sounding like Kaelen perfectly.

"Alive? Ray, what are you talking about? Can't you see her right here?"

Her hand spread like a poisonous flower flourishing.

Ray remained impassive, his expression unchanging. He simply gave a slow, deliberate shake of his head, dismissing the final, flimsy performance.

Seeing the utter lack of reaction, K finally dropped the act completely. The mask of Kaelen vanished again, leaving behind the neutral, unreadable features and the cold, gender-neutral voice. A smirk played on her lips.

"Fine,"

She conceded, the word sharp and devoid of warmth.

"She is alive... For now."

K leaned forward slightly, her eyes locking onto Ray's, delivering the explicit threat with chilling precision.

"If my subordinate doesn't receive a signal from me within the next hour,"

K's voice dropping to a low, dangerous tone,

"they have standing orders to terminate the asset."

K held Ray's gaze, watching intently, expecting, perhaps even savoring, the inevitable explosion of panic, fear, or desperate pleading from the boy she had threatened.

Outside the shimmering barrier, Rina heard the words, saw the transformation, and the horrifying truth finally crashed down on her. Her eyes widened, her face draining of all color. The person Ray had trapped, the person she had worried over just moments ago, wasn't Lady Kaelen. It was the impostor. The monster from the alley.

Her training kicked in and her Survival Instincts screamed danger, her hand tightening instinctively on her hidden dagger. But the sheer, cold reality of the situation overwhelmed her conditioning. This wasn't a training session she was used to. This was real. A wave of pure, visceral terror washed over her, freezing her in place. Her breath hitched, her body trembling uncontrollably. She hadn't just been fooled; she had potentially helped the enemy. The weight of that realization, combined with the raw threat against the real Kaelen, completely broke her composure. She could only stare, trapped in her own horrified paralysis.

Ray showed no panic. No fear. He simply met K's intense, threatening gaze for a moment, then gave a slight, almost imperceptible shake of his head. It wasn't a gesture of defiance, but one of weary disappointment, as if K's predictable threat was a tiresome cliché.

Without a word, Ray calmly turned away from the trapped operative. He walked over to one of the bookshelves, his steps unhurried. He scanned the spines for a moment, selected a heavy, leather-bound tome, and carried it back to his desk chair. He settled into the chair, opened the book to a seemingly random page, and began to read, his expression one of mild, scholarly interest.

K stared, her smirk vanishing, replaced by a look of stunned disbelief that quickly hardened into cold fury. She had just delivered a death sentence for Kaelen, a direct threat designed to shatter the boy's composure and force his hand, and Ray had responded by picking up a book.

"Did you hear me, boy?"

K repeated, her voice dropping to a low, venomous whisper that vibrated with barely contained rage.

"The girl dies in less than an hour."

Ray slowly, deliberately turned a page, his eyes scanning the text, seemingly completely engrossed in his reading, utterly ignoring the threat. K stared, trapped within the shimmering runes, her fists clenching at her sides, Her face a mask of impotent fury. Rina watched from outside the barrier, caught in the terrifyingly quiet standoff between the deadly operative and the unnervingly calm boy who held the keys to the cage.

Midnight approached, the ninth bell having chimed hours ago. Within the Spire of Sages suite, a strange, tense quiet reigned. The main living area was lit by a single, low-burning lamp, casting long shadows. In the adjacent study, the intricate web of the Silent Warden Array pulsed with a soft, steady, silvery-white light, bathing the room in an ethereal glow and sealing it off completely.

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Outside the shimmering barrier, Ray sat calmly at the small dining table, seemingly engrossed in a heavy, leather-bound tome. He turned a page with slow deliberation, his expression one of mild, scholarly interest. The contrast between his serene focus and the legendary operative trapped just a few feet away was stark and deeply unsettling.

Rina moved through the kitchenette area, wiping down surfaces that were already spotless. She was no longer paralyzed by the earlier terror, Ray having calmly assured her hours ago that the situation, however strange, was under his control. Still, a visible anxiety lingered in her movements. Her hands trembled slightly as she arranged cups, and she kept casting apprehensive glances towards the glowing study barrier, towards the figure sitting impassively within.

Inside the runic cage, K was no longer pacing or testing the barrier. She sat comfortably in Ray's desk chair, her posture relaxed, her neutral face tilted slightly as she observed Ray with a detached curiosity. The initial fury she had displayed upon being trapped had long since subsided, replaced by a quiet calculation, an analytical intrigue. The air between the boy and the captured agent was thick with unspoken questions and the heavy weight of their silent standoff.

The quiet stillness of the suite was suddenly broken by the sound of hurried, heavy footsteps approaching the main door. Ray calmly closed his heavy tome, marking his page, and looked towards the entrance, his expression neutral.

The door swung open, and Sergeant Svane entered, his usual immaculate composure slightly frayed. He looked exhausted, his face grim, but his eyes held a sharp, focused intensity. Close behind him, four figures clad in the dark, non-reflective gear of the Shadow Guards slipped into the room like smoke, immediately melting into the periphery, becoming almost invisible observers against the walls. Rina let out a soft gasp at their sudden, unsettling appearance.

Svane's gaze swept the room, taking in Rina, then Ray, before landing on the study. His eyes widened slightly as he saw the shimmering barrier and the figure of ‘Kaelen’ sitting calmly within the glowing runes. A flicker of profound shock crossed his face before his professional mask slammed back down, his expression hardening into unreadable stoicism.

Ray stood, meeting the sergeant's gaze.

"Report, Sergeant,"

he commanded quietly, bypassing any pleasantries.

Svane straightened, his voice low and grim as he delivered his findings.

"We located Adept Thorne, Lord Croft. She was found in a magically sealed, disused storage closet in the lower levels of the Arcanum dormitory wing. Standard wards had been bypassed."

His expression darkened further.

"She was... in critical condition, Lord Croft. Severe physical trauma consistent with expert interrogation techniques. Also suffering from advanced stages of magical exhaustion and a secondary, slow-acting paralytic agent. Life signs were failing when we reached her. We initiated emergency protocols. The master healer we brought managed to stabilize her just moments ago. The prognosis is guarded, but hopeful. She is alive. She has been moved to a secure room in the main infirmary. Two Shadow Guards also posted in the area as a safety precaution."

Throughout the grim report, Ray kept one part of his attention fixed on K, trapped in the study. Using the Gritty Detective’s Observation Skills and the Charismatic Conman’s Lie Detection (body language) skill, he noted K's reaction, or rather, the complete lack thereof. She remained perfectly impassive, perhaps tilting her head slightly with faint, detached interest, like a scholar listening to an abstract and slightly boring case study that had absolutely nothing to do with her.

Detective: "Subject K shows zero physiological response to the report detailing extreme violence inflicted on Adept Thorne. No pupil dilation, no change in breathing, no muscle tension. Either K has absolute emotional control... or K genuinely feels nothing. Both are bad."

Conman: "Now that's a performance! Stone cold. Not even a flicker of fake sympathy for the audience. K's not just hiding guilt; she’s broadcasting that she doesn't care. It's a power play, kid. K is telling us the collateral damage is irrelevant."

Rina, however, could not maintain such detachment. As Svane described Kaelen's condition, she covered her mouth, stifling a horrified sob, tears welling in her eyes at the thought of the cruelty inflicted upon the young woman.

A heavy silence descended upon the suite following Sergeant Svane's grim report. Rina's quiet, horrified sobs were the only sound, muffled by her hand. Svane stood rigidly, his duty done, awaiting further orders. The Shadow Guards remained unseen, silent presences in the room's periphery.

It was K, still trapped within the glowing study barrier, who broke the silence. Her neutral voice cut through the tension, her attention fixed solely on Ray, completely ignoring Svane's report and Rina's distress as if they were irrelevant background noise.

"Impressive resources, Croft,"

K remarked coolly, her voice devoid of inflection.

"Shadow Guards, master healers... you command more than your age suggests. But that's not what truly interests me."

K leaned forward slightly, her neutral gaze intensifying as she rested her hands against the shimmering barrier.

"Twice now,"

K continued, her voice dropping slightly, becoming more focused.

"The alley with your attendant, and just now, with Kaelen. You saw through a flawless performance. My technique is honed for a long time you could not even imagine. It is flawless. No one,"

K emphasized the word, her eyes boring into Ray's,

"sees through it. How?"

K tilted her head, her expression shifting to one of intense, analytical curiosity. She began speculating aloud, testing different theories on Ray like an academic proposing hypotheses.

"Is it your eyes? Some unique resonance you picked up in the Genesis Crystal Chamber? A specific magical sense your 'patron' granted you? Or did the real Kaelen give you a subtle warning I failed to intercept?"

K's curiosity was palpable, a genuine intellectual puzzle driving her inquiry, the need to understand this impossible anomaly overriding even her current predicament.