Born In Ashes: The Enigma

Azrael once again returned to the Magic Tower, standing about one kilometer away as he silently stared at the black-colored structure.

Finding a deserted alley nearby, he took out a small, round ball from his inventory—roughly the size of a small pebble.

The ball was black in color and looked as if it were made of fine iron.

This small ball was actually a standard scouting device commonly brought into Eonrift by those undergoing the trial. While there were more advanced scouting devices available in Genesis, none of them functioned properly within Eonrift.

Using the controller linked to the scouting ball, Azrael controlled it and sent it flying toward the Magic Tower. Although this small pebble sized scouting ball was not as sophisticated as the one he had previously used, its small size still allowed it to evade the senses of apprentice warriors and even some Class Warriors—so long as they weren't fully alert.

Thanks to the recording he had watched earlier, Azrael was already very familiar with the layout of the Magic Tower. Soon, the scouting ball entered the tower through one of its many openings, and Azrael carefully directed it toward Claudia's laboratory.

Navigating around numerous apprentice warriors inside the Magic Tower, the scouting ball eventually reached the top floor where Claudia's lab was located.

However, the door to her lab was tightly shut, and there were no visible openings for the ball to slip through.

Despite this, Azrael remained calm and waited patiently.

Roughly two hours later, a high-level Warrior Apprentice affiliated with the Magic Tower arrived outside Claudia's lab and knocked on the door.

A few seconds later, Claudia—once again dressed in a black robe that covered her from head to toe opened the door.

The Warrior Apprentice asked her a few questions related to a magic formula, and once he received the answers he needed, he bowed respectfully and left.

During their brief conversation, Azrael discreetly maneuvered the scouting ball into the lab before the door closed again.

Claudia, unaware of its entry, shut the door once the Apprentice Warrior left and returned to her work.

But just as she was about to resume her research, she suddenly stopped and frowned, her gaze turning toward the corner of the lab where the scouting ball now rested on the side of a table.

The dim lighting inside the lab made it difficult to spot the tiny device, but her heightened senses as a Class Warrior gave her the subtle feeling that something was watching her.

Azrael, observing everything through the scouting ball's controller wasn't surprised that she had detected it.

The device was designed primarily for those taking the standard Eonrift trials, who typically only encountered Apprentice Warriors. However, Azrael was facing Class Warriors due to the Despair-Level difficulty he had chosen.

"It doesn't matter even if you found it... I was planning to let you see everything anyway," Azrael muttered in a low voice as he pressed a button on the controller.

As soon as he pressed the button, the scouting ball inside the lab glowed faintly. A moment later, a small holographic screen appeared, hovering in mid-air in front of Claudia.

Startled by its sudden appearance, Claudia jumped back, and a fireball instantly formed in her hand, ready to be hurled at the screen at any moment.

However, as soon as she saw what was being displayed, her expression—hidden beneath her black cloak turned pale, and the fireball in her hand vanished.

She watched herself in the footage—enjoying intimate moments with Rose and the more she watched, the more ashen her face became.

Then the footage shifted. The image of a man dressed entirely in black, wearing a clown mask that concealed his face completely appeared on the screen.

"Seven o'clock in the evening..." The clown-masked man spoke in a cold, emotionless voice, then gave her a location. "I will be waiting for you here. If you are even a minute late, Harris and Rose will be seeing this recording during their dinner tonight."

As soon as he finished speaking, the holographic screen disappeared and the scouting ball went completely inactive.

Claudia stood frozen in place, her mind reeling from what she had just witnessed. A few seconds later, she snapped out of it and stormed toward the scouting ball, her expression twisted in fury.

"Damn it, who are you?!" She snarled, picking up the ball and roaring in rage.

But there was no response from the device, and all she could do was scream repeatedly.

At that moment, the scouting ball suddenly glowed red—and in the very next instant—

Boom!

It exploded.

Though the blast wasn't powerful enough to injure her, Claudia had been holding it near her face, and the resulting smoke blackened her face.

"You bastard, I'll kill you!" She howled, her Class Warrior aura erupting wildly and surging out of control for a brief moment.

Some distance away from the Magic Tower, Azrael put away the controller he had just used to self-destruct the scouting ball and when he sensed the surge of Class Warrior aura from the tower in the distance, he smiled and turned to leave.

Unlike military-grade scouting devices, he had plenty of standard ones like this, so destroying it meant nothing to him.

After leaving the area near the Magic Tower, Azrael moved closer to the location he had mentioned to Claudia.

He had chosen the sites involved in this operation very carefully. As a result, even though he was now about one and a half kilometers away from the designated meeting point, he could still see everything clearly from his vantage point.

"Now we wait..." Azrael muttered, wondering whether Claudia would actually show up.

There were still two hours left until the appointed time, but Azrael didn't let his guard down.

He kept his senses sharp, his expression serious as he continuously scanned his surroundings, not willing to miss the slightest movement.

Time passed, and only one hour remained before the meeting.

At that moment, Azrael saw a figure in a black robe approaching the designated location from the distance.

"It seems she really is anxious, huh..." He muttered under his breath, watching Claudia make her way toward the meeting point—despite there still being an hour left until the appointed time.