CHAPTER 92: MAKING WEAPONS!

Once they had defeated the shadowy figure within the docks, the trio looked around to make sure there wasn’t anyone else stalking around, and then returned to the villa.

By the time they had returned, it was basically midnight. Gwen and Diona were still completely asleep, and it was totally quiet.

Once they returned, Kaela went to the basement, while Albedo and Seraphyne went to the villa’s study room. The room smelled faintly of lavender and was illuminated by mana crystal powered lights.

The mahogany desk before Albedo was completely neat and organized, and Albedo was sitting in a high-backed chair, with a rigid posture, his expression calm, but a gold glint of restrained fury was in his eyes.

Seraphyne was across from him lounging in a velvet chair, drinking a glass of crimson liquid, swirling it lazily.

"It was almost... disappointing," she murmured, her tone smooth as she took another sip, "He was a pawn, but it was like they had no true will of its own, merely a mouthpiece for those higher in the chain. Thankfully,"

Her lips curved faintly, "The memories it carried were enough."

Albedo leaned forward slightly, his eyes narrowing, "Show me."

Seraphyne tilted her head, crimson hair catching the firelight like liquid rubies. She did not conjure illusions immediately. Instead, she recited with deliberate calm, as though savoring the unraveling of truth.

"From what the memories revealed, they are weaving webs all across the World. There’s not merely one organization, but many. In the Human Kingdom, most of these organizations were linked to Nobles, Merchants, and even some influential Clergy."

Albedo wasn’t that surprised by that, since a-lot of corrupt Nobles and figures were exposed throughout the Novels events. Still, Clergy was a bit of a shock, since the Church was the direct opposition to the Abyss.

It was ’supposedly’ impossible for beings connected to the Church to me touched by the Abyss, as the two forces were diametrically opposed to the other, but it seems that wasn’t the truth.

She leaned forward, her voice dropping lower, intimate and lethal.

"Each web is tasks to carry out tasks, most of which involve marking and eliminating those who pose a serious threat to the Abyss’ plans. Seers and prodigies are all marked." Seraphyne said, her eyes flashing a cruel delight mingling with fury.

"And in those memories I saw that girl, Diona."

Albedo’s jaw tightened, silver eyes gleaming like blades in the firelight. "And Gwen?"

At that, Seraphyne’s smile sharpened, a glimmer of amusement in her gaze. She lifted her glass and sipped languidly before answering.

"For her, I don’t know about the wider web, but for this specific organization, for both Gwen & Diona, the Abyssal Worshippers were demanded to target her. For Diona, it was to kill, for Gwen, it was to capture primarily, and the order," She set the glass down, her eyes locking with his, crimson boring into silver.

"...came directly from Professor Skye."

Albedo nodded at the confirmation. At least that part of the original timeline hadn’t changed at all.

"Her influence as the prestigious daughter of a Noble is the focal point of their operations in Pantheon. Her status as a Professor also gives them privileged information regarding students at the Academy. She’s their most powerful pawn in this zone,"

Albedo wondered how he should handle Professor Skye. The incident that took her out in the Novel wouldn’t be for another 2 years, and he didn’t want her to survive for that long.

He thought for a while and finally asked a question,

"Then tell me, Seraphyne. In those fragments you pried from his mind... did you see anything about Eclipsing Dawn?"

Seraphyne’s swirled the last of her glass, the crimson liquid catching the glow before she tipped it back and drained it in one languid motion.

Her voice came soft, laced with quiet disdain.

"Not much. Details about that event are wrapped in darkness even in his memories. Only an echo passed down the command chain, all I saw was a theme,"

Her pale fingers curling beneath her chin as her crimson gaze locked with his.

"It is tied to commoners. It’s meant to be a strike near the heart of the Academy itself, but that’s all, the intent is to slaughter," she explained.

Albedo’s jaw tightened. None of this happened in the Novel. There definitely wasn’t an ’Eclipsing Dawn’ so now he had to look out for an attack with scraps for information. He wouldn’t have his advanced knowledge backing him up.

As expected, the longer he stayed in this world and influenced the plot, the less he could rely on his advanced knowledge.

"Then I’ll need to remain constantly aware," he murmured finally, tone flat but carrying weight. "No step can be taken at face value, not with the Academy crawling with eyes and knives."

Albedo’s gaze darkened slightly, though when he spoke again, his tone was colder, more deliberate.

"Was that all? Nothing else of importance buried in him?"

Seraphyne’s crimson eyes softened for a fleeting instant, not in pity, but in recognition of the hunger that laced his words. She shook her head slowly, strands of her black hair brushing like silk against her pale cheek.

"Yes. That was the extent. He was not meant to know. He was meant to serve. The scraps I saw were fractured, incomplete. Pawns are rarely granted visions of the board."

The disappointment was small, but sharp. Albedo let out a faint breath through his nose, leaning back in the chair. His fingers drummed once against the polished mahogany before falling still.

He had hoped, maybe it was foolish, but he wished there was something more, a trace or clue to the night that burned everything away and claimed the lives of his parents, yet it seemed he’d still be waiting for a while before learning anything.

Still, he could not afford to show more than a flicker of that disappointment. He buried it beneath his iron composure, eyes hardening once more as he shifted the conversation.

"Then we turn to the assassins." He said.

Seraphyne raised a brow, reclining deeper into her velvet chair, one long leg draping over the other. She seemed amused, the glass now empty in her pale fingers.

"Ah... our dear Kaela and her charmingly broken kin. I was wondering when you would bring them up."

Albedo’s expression was carved from stone, the faintest ripple of thought in his eyes, "They’re already trained and have done many missions, they could be very valuable if we have them work for us."

Seraphyne tilted her head, scarlet locks spilling across one shoulder like liquid rubies, "You would use them?"

"I would not waste them," Albedo corrected, his tone calm but edged, " Women like that have seen too much to ever fit back into normal life. They’ll either drift into ruin... or become weapons for someone stronger. Better us than the Abyss."

For the first time, his jaw unclenched slightly, though his eyes burned with steady fire, "Put them to use, Seraphyne. Shape them, test them, twist them if you must. If they survive your hands, they’ll be worth more than a squad of gilded knights."

At that, Seraphyne’s lips curved, crimson and cruel. Her laughter was low, like silk being torn.

"You do know how to make a lady smile." She leaned forward, resting her chin in one palm, her gaze gleaming with mischief and hunger. "You’re giving me broken blades and asking me to forge them anew. That, Albedo, is not work. That... is art."

Albedo’s expression didn’t shift, "Do whatever you wish with them, as long as the result is strength. They answer to me in the end."

"Of course," Seraphyne purred, her voice laced with something darker, "I will peel away what’s left of their Abyssal chains, mend their wills or break them further, whichever brings the sharper edge. In time, they’ll crawl out of the shadows not as slaves... but as monsters of our making."

She lifted her empty glass in mock salute, her eyes glinting like rubies in the dim light.

"It will be quite fun."

Albedo just took a deep breath, his iron resolve coiling tighter.

Fun or not, he knew this was necessary. Every piece he could gather, every tool sharpened, every shadow bent to his will, it all mattered.

He needed as much possible strength as possible for the battle against the Abyss, and all the other enemies he’d be facing on his path.

The Abyss had webs everywhere, and his family was already marked.

If he wanted Gwen, Diona, and himself to survive what was coming... then even monsters would have their place in his hand as weapons to be used.

And Seraphyne, twisting broken lives into sharper weapons, was perhaps the only one who would relish the task.

"Then it’s decided," he said finally, voice calm but final, like a blade being set into its sheath. "Tomorrow, begin."

Seraphyne’s smile widened, a predator’s delight veiled in velvet charm as she stares directly at Albedo, finally speaking,

"As you command."