Ascension of the Dark Seraph
Chapter 362: Sniffing the Vestal (2)

Chapter 362: Sniffing the Vestal (2)

One of the opposing avatars has ties with the Supreme House of Valerius.

Lucivar learned that from Samael.

It was unclear how Samael found that fact, but he didn’t need to know.

He has the Truth Constellation and finds no sign of deceit from Samael, so it must be the truth.

Even though Lucivar was going to help the others handle the problem with Master Tobias for Delilah’s sake, his main focus was on the opposing avatar. Perhaps, through Master Tobias—he could find clues or more.

Frankly, he was hoping that the bond this avatar has with the Supreme House was strong.

In that case, he could use Master Tobias as bait.

“I can frame Tobias and put him in a bad situation that involves life and death,” Lucivar mumbled, sitting on the edge of the rooftop, dangling his legs nonchalantly as he watched Sabrina and Zibbo sprinting away. “But it would only work if the bond was deep.”

As he blinked and focused on what was ahead, he noticed Sabrina and Zibbo separating.

Sabrina went to the west side of the academy while Zibbo went to the east side.

Unlike Sabrina, who was known to be his personal maid, Zibbo was practically a stranger.

He was stopped multiple times by Kalvin to show his identification.

But fortunately, maybe due to his high social skills as a gangster who had seen a lot of things and talked with all sorts of people, he was able to get away without much problem. Lucivar felt like he was right to make Zibbo one of his own.

In the silence of the rooftop, Lucivar looked skyward.

Then, he recalled something.

“Hey,” He called. “I’m suspicious of you guys now. It’s been days, and you guys are completely silent.”

For some reason, the divine beasts were completely silent.

So much so that Lucivar hadn’t even seen them appearing for quite some time, which was odd.

Normally, all of them would materialize at times like this without fail—either to help him, mock him, or even to have fun on their own. However, none of them appeared, almost as if they had an agreement to stay out of his way for the time being.

Even though it felt peaceful for once, Lucivar could feel a lump in his throat and an ache in his heart.

Something was off, and it made him feel uneasy.

“Still not coming out?” Lucivar repeated, half-expecting them to appear. “Fine. Don’t come out then.”

Lucivar exhaled through his nose and basked in the uneasy silence for another minute.

Then, he stood up, and stretched his arms.

“No use for me to stay here.”

Once he felt a lot better, he jumped down from the rooftop and began searching for traces again.

Hours passed.

Sabrina had been searching for traces on the east side of the academy for hours with the pendant, but there was no luck. She could find traces left behind by the Vestal, but there was still no particular spot that had enough energy to activate the pendant completely.

It was a dead-end for her, but she kept trying, making multiple rounds to double and triple check.

On the other side, Zibbo was also the same.

He couldn’t find anything worth mentioning, but he didn’t want to report back to Lucivar.

As Lucivar said back then, he couldn’t stop or come back until he got results.

“Man, I’ve searched the west side how many times already? I swear I’ve covered everything,” Zibbo scratched the back of his head and looked around, finding that the street was now becoming more crowded with students who were giving him a second look. “I stood out too much in this well-respected area.”

Considering that Zibbo was a mutant, more monster than human, he stood out immensely.

All students who caught sight of him always gave him a second look.

A mutant is not that common, especially in an academy setting, so it doesn’t surprise Zibbo.

“Sir, can you tell me how you became a mutant?”

“Is the procedure painful?”

Zibbo raised his hands, smiling wryly as some students even dared to come and ask him questions.

Instead of answering, he looked at them sternly.

His eyes bore onto them with silent ferocity, and his towering form seemed to loom over them.

It felt like an actual monster from a dungeon was looking at them.

Almost instantly, all of them paled in fear and ran away without looking back.

Zibbo looked at their backs going further away and sighed as he decided to head to the main entrance.

“Maybe I’ll try sweeping the outside of the academy,” He mumbled inwardly.

Upon reaching the main entrance, Zibbo waved and smiled at the security guards he knew.

But as he was about to sit down and chat with them for a minute before continuing his task, he suddenly felt heat coming from the pendant. He looked at the pendant—and realized that he had found a strong trace of the Vestal’s energy.

“What’s that? You can’t have artifacts here without permission!”

“Don’t make trouble here, man, I thought we were buddies.”

Both of the security guards argued when they saw the pendant Zibbo was holding.

Zibbo cast them a brief smile, “Lucivar gave this to me, so you don’t have to worry about safety.”

Hearing Lucivar’s name being brought up, the security guards let it go.

Everyone in the academy knew Lucivar, the superstar of the academy, and none of them wanted to cause difficulties for him, including the security guards. Zibbo found that using Lucivar’s name gave him easy access to a lot of things in the academy.

Of course, some saw him talking with Lucivar.

So, Zibbo wasn’t lying when he said he was working for Lucivar.

Swish!

Just then, the pendant shimmered.

Its energy settled across the surface, and the arrows in the compass moved, pointing right at Zibbo.

Seeing this, Zibbo raised his gaze to look around.

Other than the street with cars passing by, he didn’t see anything that stood out.

But as soon as he turned around, he spotted three people sitting on a bench by the street—two women, likely friends, chatting leisurely, while the third was a man, with his head down and earphones in, seemingly asleep.

Sensing Zibbo’s gaze, the man crossed his arms and glanced to the side.

For a second, their eyes met.

Calmly, the man raised his brows in acknowledgement before averting his gaze again.

He stood up from the bench and walked away.

On the other hand, Zibbo looked at the man and then at the pendant.

“The arrow is following him…” He mumbled inwardly.

Meanwhile, Lucivar went to the spot earlier and then went around the student dormitory to check.

He might admit that he was searching for traces, but in truth, he was thinking of ways that he could go past his problem with Delilah. ‘Until I can, there’s no way I could end Seraphiel entirely and reach the third Divine Elevation. How am I going to get over her?’

Lucivar stopped and took out a phone from his pocket.

For a moment, he looked at his phone before sighing deeply from his nose.

At this moment, he has no clue how to proceed.

He flipped the phone and rubbed the rose sticker with his thumb, contemplating his situation hard.

Lucivar’s eyes skimmed the rose sticker, catching the faintest flicker of light—so pale and fleeting it seemed no different from sunlight glancing off cheap gloss. He squinted slightly, lips parting, uncertain if he’d truly seen the sticker glowing or it was only a reflection of the sun.

His eyes narrowed, waiting for the sticker to glow again.

The pendant glowed.

Lucivar’s eyes turned to look at the pendant in his other hand that was now activating.

He averted his gaze right before the gleam on the sticker fully formed, missing its glitter by a fraction.

A sharp inhale cut through the air—the hound’s nostrils flared wide, its carved snout drawing in a breath as though it had scented blood. Lucivar looked at the artifact that pulsed with weight, heat, purpose—a signal.

On the other hand, the sticker on the phone shimmered once, like the final breath of a candle.

But it went unnoticed.

Lucivar pocketed the phone and looked around where he was.

“It’s near the cafeteria,” He mumbled, expecting the Vestal to leave behind something to mark or even spy on him and the family. Then, the pendant locked as the arrow turned in a direction. “Oh? Did it get enough trace of energy to track him?”

Realizing this, Lucivar’s lips curled into a nasty grin.

He was already imagining his hands around that Vestal’s neck, killing him slowly through choking.

Lucivar wasted no time and followed the arrow in the compass.

Ignoring the curious eyes that followed him, he moved with purpose, following the arrow as he went across the street, past the towering main academy building—and through the garden until he came to a stop before the tall wall fence, right where the compass had led him.

“Hmm?” Lucivar looked at the compass and then at the wall fence. “It’s outside the academy?”

Finding no issue with it—such was the privilege of being the academy’s superstar, exempt from classes and missions—Lucivar leapt effortlessly, landing atop the wall fence with feline grace. He turned to face the street—the compass pointed straight ahead, toward the building across the street.

Since it was a compass, it doesn’t take into account the buildings around.

It only pointed straight at where the destination was.

Lucivar gazed ahead with a frown on his forehead.

“Hmm, isn’t that direction where Tobias’ mansion was?”

Later that night.

Leandra was sitting inside Lucivar’s room, watching TV idly.

Upon waking up earlier and finding Lucivar no longer beside her, she simply stayed in bed. Since Nerissa was tending to Ravenna, there was nothing that required her attention—and truthfully, she had no desire to step outside anyway.

She felt safer inside Lucivar’s room for some reason.

But problems wouldn’t leave her alone.

Leandra’s heart skipped a beat when the door was knocked.

“Lucivar, open the door.”

Mirel’s voice came from outside, and this only made Leandra sigh helplessly.

…

“So, what’s the plan?” Mirel asked, now sitting on the sofa inside the room.

Beside him was Bakar, and both of them were looking at Leandra, who was still on the bed.

Both of them failed to get anything from coming to Master Tobias’ mansion.

Now, they were anxious for a solution.

Leandra paused for a second to think before she finally looked at them, “I think we’re going to confront Master Tobias tomorrow. Lucivar said that he encountered a Vanessa, and she had a birthday party which Master Tobias would attend.”

Hearing this, Mirel leaned back on the sofa, his heart already pounding hard inside his chest.

Bakar pivoted around to face the wall, also seemingly distressed.

But with his back turned to the others, his face twisted into a grimace.