Early the next day, all the teachers assembled themselves at the Dean's office. They were all angry at themselves for letting what happened to happen.
"I think this was all planned," Kelvin spoke up, breaking the silence in the office.
"What do you mean?" Dean asked him, ready to hear what he had to say.
"How did the monsters know that the teachers would be absent from the school at the time of their attack? If you look into it carefully, you will realize that they have been monitoring us for a while now and decided to finally attack the school during our absence. Secondly, after we carefully checked the entire hall, we noticed three-inch nails on the ashes belonging to two monsters... it seems like the monsters that attacked the school were high-grade ones and that they were also being manipulated," Kelvin explained.
"Are you saying that someone manipulated them to attack my students!" Dean asked him.
"It's likely to be the case," Kelvin replied and Dean angrily slammed his fist on the table causing it to shatter immediately.
"If I find out the person, I'll make sure to make him and his entire family suffer for it!" He swore with anger on his face.
"Dean, you will have to calm down first," a male teacher said to the man. "Kelvin is a new teacher in this school, what does he know?" He asked and glanced at Kelvin who frowned. "You claim that someone was behind the attack, right? How are you sure about that? Monsters often attack the school, it's not something new, am I right, Dean?"
"You are right but—"
Not allowing Dean to complete his statement, the male teacher continued. "The only thing we can say is that the monsters this time are high-grade monsters, unlike the low-grade monsters that often attack the students. It is purely a coincidence and there is nothing more to it."
"But—" Kelvin tried to defend himself but the male teacher signaled him to stop.
"You are only a new teacher, what makes you think you have the right to conclude for us?" He asked him coldly.
"Colt, that's enough!" Dean said to the male teacher who scoffed at Kelvin before looking away. "I want you all to head back to your base while I think of what to do," he said to all the teachers. As the teachers began to leave one after the other, it got to Derek's turn but he called him back. "Have a seat," he said to him.
"Dean, what is it?" Derek asked him.
"What do you think about this incident? Do you also agree with what Kelvin said?" Dean asked him.
"Yes, I do," Derek replied. "Everything that happened isn't just a coincidence like Colt called it," he added.
"I don't want to think like him but if you look at it that way, it could have been a mere coincidence. I don't care much about the details, I care more about the lives of my students," Dean worryingly said.
"We lost three yesterday. The rest are still lying unconscious in the infirmary," Derek replied.
"What about Alex? Someone said he saw him in the hall, why is he not among the injured students?" Dean asked him.
"I don't know... I'll go see him now," Derek replied.
"That is fine," Dean said and Derek bowed and walked out of the office.
Outside, he saw Kelvin waiting for him. "What did the Dean say about this matter?" he asked him the moment he saw him come out.
"Nothing special. He doesn't seem to believe us," Derek replied.
"I know this would be the case. But I'm very certain that someone is behind the attack," Kelvin said.
Derek sighed, he also thought the same but only a few of the teachers were thinking the same. The rest agree with Colt's opinion. "The plan was to wipe out the entire school but only a few died with some injured. The rest ran for safety," he said, and followed next, was a deep sigh that escaped his lips.
"We are lucky only that it was only a few students that died or it'll really leave a bad impression on the school," Kelvin responded.
"Few or not, the result is still the same. We've never lost more than one student before, so... the news will spread like wildfire throughout Arcane. I just hope it doesn't affect the school more than it has already done or the stats will drastically drop," Derek said with a worried look on his face.
"If we don't do something about it, things like this will keep happening until that person succeeds," Kelvin told him.
"So what are you saying?" Derek asked him.
"I think that person has an informant within the school premises or how else would the enemy have known that the teachers will be absent yesterday?" Kelvin asked. "It is either there is someone among us who is on the enemy's side or the enemy is actually one of us. If the case is the first one, we should be able to do something about it but if the case ends up being the second option, then... It'll be a difficult issue."
"None of them is a better choice because, in the end, the enemy is a strong person. It'll be difficult to deal with them," Derek muttered.
"You have a point there," agreed Kelvin with a sigh.
"That reminds me, we need to go visit Alex. He has some explanations to do," Derek said and began to head in the direction of the dorms.
Kelvin frowned but didn't say a word as he also followed behind. He had a rough guess of what Derek was talking about but he didn't want to conclude yet until he heard from Alex himself.
When they got to the dorms, they went further inside until they got to Alex's room. They knocked on it and seconds later, the door was opened by Raphael.
"Where is your friend?" Derek asked him and without waiting for the reply, he walked past Raphael and went inside the room. Kelvin followed behind with an uneasy look on his face.
"Teacher Derek, Kelvin," Alex called as they walked into the room. Derek didn't say a word as he approached him on the bed, getting to him, he took his hand and began to check his pulse.
"You are okay but you still look pale. Tell me what happened exactly, don't leave any details behind," Derek said, finally saying a word to him.
Alex glanced at Raphael and Klein before turning to Derek again. "I'll tell you everything we know but in return, you will have to keep it a secret," he said to him.
Derek fell silent for a while before replying. "Okay, I promise it'll remain a secret forever!"
Now, Alex felt a bit okay to talk to him and so he began. "We were attacked by a group of large monsters during our dinner. We thought the seniors would help us but some ran away because they were afraid to die, Klein and some others stayed behind to fight but they were no match for the monsters as they were very strong. I and Raphael decided to help them and so we made use of his ability and that's how we succeeded." After explaining, he glanced at Derek and Kelvin to see their expressions, thankfully, there was no look of doubt on their faces.
"Did you notice anything else from those monsters?" Kelvin asked him.
"Other than them being blind, I didn't notice anything else," Alex replied. "What do you ask?" He asked Derek.
"We found three-inch nails on the spot where two were killed. This leaves us the impression that they were under someone's control," Kelvin replied.
"Can that really be the case or it could be a mere coincidence," stated Alex with a confused look. "Isn't the school's security tight?" He asked.
"You can't call it a mere coincidence," Derek replied this time. "They attacked when the teachers were all out so it isn't just a coincidence, someone leaked the information which is why they decided to attack the students during our absence."
"Are you saying that someone is working for the enemy in this school?" Klein turned and asked Derek who nodded. "Who could it be?" He asked.
"That is what we don't know for now but we will be making plans to find out who the person is. My instincts tell me that the enemy will strike again and we must make sure to use this opportunity to also strike back!" Derek replied with a gaze that could tear down mountains.
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Inside a room with walls painted grey and tall blue curtains covering the windows, a man sat on his throne-like chair. Apart from the beauty of the man, nothing in the room was good enough to catch anyone's attention. But then, the man's face was covered in a deep frown and his hands were clenched into fists.
"Tell me what happened! Who the hell destroyed my toys!" The man yelled. His voice was cold and distant, exuding power and fear that made the man on his knees tremble.
"There were two students who singlehandedly killed all six of them," the replied with a shaky voice.
"Two students? How is that ever possible? They were high-grade monsters, how is it possible that just two humans were able to kill them?" The man asked, not wanting to believe what his servant or whatever was saying.
"Unfortunately, sir, it is exactly like I've said," the kneeling man replied. "But Master, today is a failed test but I believe our next attack will be a success. Let us make good use of the moles we planted there before killing them off," he said to the man on the throne.
"Then what are you waiting for? Make the preparations!" The man on the throne ordered.
"Yes, sir!" The kneeling man replied and stood up and left.
"Brother... This time around, I won't lose! I want to see tears on that smug face of yours!" The man grunted with his hands still clenched.