Amy sat to look at her lapis lazuli book and her schedule. She will no longer take some of the other classes because she already passed the highest level but is given the choice of taking elective courses. Of course, after some thought, she decided to take political science, world history and linguistics. These courses are university level courses that she could take. Leon and Rufus passed the dragon test, so all of their non-magical courses are all university level. It is rare for students in the Magic Academy to reach this level as third years, but her early studying has paid off.
Amy looked at the installed whiteboard she had in her study room where she put all information of the Ripper. It is kept secret so that no one would walk in on it especially Leon and Rufus.
There is an arc in the original story that depicts the Ripper as a secondary antagonist, but he is just a copycat of the real thing. He is an expertly skilled serial killer who copied the original Ripper by method but unlike the original one, his victims were limited to Solin Mages and Nobles thus has a motive. He was executed by the law however, secretly kept alive as his power was needed for Leon in the upcoming threat. He put the fear of God in everyone, so chaos has ensued, and no one even budged except the kids who only heard the story, not experienced it. It was because of this that Aron was fearless.
This Ripper is far worse.
Twenty-some years ago in the original story, all five kingdoms were affected by the killings. The reason why the Ripper was called that was because all the victims were almost always found, torn to shreds. Some monster species were attacked too. After a few years, the killings just suddenly stopped. The identity of the Ripper is unknown but there were conspiracy theories. Some believed that the gods did a culling on the population and stopped after a certain limit. Others believe that it is an orchestrated plot for whatever reason. There is no pattern, no clues and no trace of whatever the cause is.
The manga states that over a third of the world's population was gone.
Amy tapped her finger. The Seers did not see what had happened nor could they put anything together. She could easily guess that they don't have deduction skills, otherwise, she believed they might figure out something. If only she has that kind of power, she might be able to figure it out.
Alabaster says that he was a young man at this point and socially distant so he cannot be entirely sure of the details, but he explained that there is one odd aspect to this. It doesn't affect single individuals but whole families with almost no remaining members remaining. Some died horrifically than others and not all of them were in pieces. Rarely, some died intact. Again, there are no patterns.
As much as she has to admit it, she is stumped. Even if she has foresight or the knowledge of a reader, if she were a target of the Ripper, she'll be defenseless and die. Powerful fighters and mages have died from it, and she is far from ready.
She sighed in disbelief. I am dealing with a tough assignment this time. Then she felt a strange tingle and immediately know where it came from.
*
Leon was holding on to a strange case and secretly brought it to his room. Rufus, who was looking for him, found him struggling to open it.
"What are you doing?" He said.
"Opening this."
Rufus looked over to see, noticing that the case seemed familiar then shocked when he realized why it looked so familiar.
"Did you seriously steal this from Amaryllis again?" He said berating his friend.
"This is the most interesting among her luggage." He says in defense while struggling to break the lock, "I've been trying to open this thing for some time now."
Rufus was in disbelief when he saw this. "When did you even get this?"
"I snatched it from her room while everyone was at the drawing room."
With a facepalm, he cringed in disappointment. "You really are an enigma."
"You're curious, too." He refuted.
"Not enough to steal it."
Leon turned to pout at his friend, "Are you going to help me open this or not?"
After a brief silence, Rufus sighs, "Alright, let's open it."
After the combined strength of the two, the case opened, and both were shocked to see what it is.
A set of weapons and all of them are blue steeled with the Hollyhock flower engraved onto it.
"What the?" Leon was shocked as he took one in his hand.
There are many assortments of weapons that they never imagined seeing. They are all in blue and have a hollyhock flower engraved on the steel.
Leon touched the blade on one. "What the hell?"
Then the part he touched turned black and burned Leon. He pulls his hand away in awe.
"I'm jealous. She gets some of the coolest stuff ever."
"Yeah, this is no joke. It looks like she has been training in the use of multiple weapons." Rufus murmured as he examined them only to get burned as well.
Then the case closed by itself and flew out the door. As they turned around, they noticed the owner, now holding onto the case, look displeased yet unsurprised.
"You two again." she grumbled, "Now you've seen it. I was actually planning to show it to everyone tomorrow. You couldn't even wait a full day before breaking into my room again?"
*
It was the middle of a moonless night, a man was fearfully running in the woods, covered in the blood of his family, with no destination in mind or anywhere he could hide. He didn't know what happened. One moment, he was having dinner and the next thing he knew, they were all killed by something. He didn't see a figure nor provide any description. Everyone in the village has been killed. Everyone who ran have all been massacred and they couldn't even see what it was. His only thoughts were to run away or else he'll be next.
The woods are dark and silent. What the man didn't know is that he is safe tonight and that his family and village was one of the first to prey victim to a phenomenon of killings.
He was the only survivor that night.