<h4>Chapter 107: A New Devil</h4>


    <strong>****************</strong>


    <strong>Chapter 107</strong>


    <strong>~Author’s POV~</strong>


    <strong>Merchant’s Daughter</strong>


    The gates of Prestige Supernatural Academy loomed like a mouth ready to devour its new arrivals.


    Statues lined the walkway—proud, ancient, and judgmental—while banners fluttered above, painted with the academy’s sigil and this season’s motto: <i>Glory to the Chosen. Power to the Proven.</i>


    Marianne adjusted her zer and stepped inside the main courtyard, her boot heels clicking against stone like a heartbeat.


    She didn’t speak to the other two transfer students beside her. She didn’t need to.


    Her amber eyes scanned the open square where students milled in loose clusters. Most wore their weekday uniforms, but on the west side of the courtyard, a group in sleek ckbat gear strode like a living shadow—tight formations, coordinated movements, faces set with the confidence of those who’d tasted real power.


    The senior elite.


    Among them, she saw her.


    Valerie Nightshade. Her father researched her in school and found out her name.


    The girl walked just ahead of the others, sleeves rolled up to her elbows, her hair pulled into a tight high braid.


    There was something almost regal about her—something that made people instinctively move aside, even if they didn’t know why. Marianne’s gaze locked onto her like a ma.


    She remembered her.


    She remembered that night.


    <strong>**shback**</strong>


    Her father had been pacing the ruined hallway of their estate, fury clinging to him like smoke.


    Guards groaned on the ground where the Alpha Princes had left them broken. And Marianne had sat frozen in the corner of her father’s office, clutching a nket, the imprint of Valerie’s ne still burning in her mind.


    "You want it back?" Arnold had growled, voice raw with shame and rage. "You’ll get it. I’ll buy your ce in that damned school if I have to."


    "But what if she’s protected?" Marianne had asked, voice trembling.


    Arnold’s jaw had clenched. "Then be smarter. Subtle. No ws. No fangs. Earn her trust. Or someone else’s. And when the time is right, take back what was promised."


    <strong>**shback Ends**</strong>


    Marianne’s jaw tightened ever so slightly as she blinked away the memory.


    Her fingers brushed the pendant hidden beneath her cor—not the ne she wanted, but a reminder of what was owed.


    And then she bumped into someone. Literally.


    A sharp jolt brought her thoughts crashing back as her shoulder collided with a passing figure.


    "Oh!" Marianne gasped, stepping back quickly.


    A ripple of stillness passed through the courtyard. The girl she had bumped into turned slowly, a crown of faint gold mour flickering over her head—just enough for those who knew to see.


    Titania the Fae Princess.


    For half a breath, Marianne froze.


    "Princess Titania," said a voice beside her, soft and panicked. "Forgive her, please. She just transferred today. She’s still... awed by the school." Gracie, the assistant rep of the sophomore ss, who had been tasked with showing Marianne the school, quickly chipped in and bowed deeply beside her.


    Titania’s sharp eyes narrowed, assessing Marianne, not in anger, but in interest.


    "Be careful next time," Titania said coolly, her tone bored but not dismissive. "This ce doesn’t take kindly to recklessness."


    Marianne bowed slightly. "Yes, Princess. I apologise."


    Titania looked as if she might move on—until she noticed it. Marianne’s gaze had drifted again. Past Titania. Back to Valerie.


    The faintest smirk curled Titania’s lips.


    She turned and walked away, the wind billowing slightly behind her but in her mind, she was already thinking, <i>’Interesting</i>—the<i> new girl’s got taste in hatred.’</i>


    And Marianne? She stood quietly, her face soft, her posture demure—but inside her chest, a silent oath burned hotter than ever.


    <i>"Soon. That ne will be mine again. One way or another."</i>


    <strong>*****************</strong>


    <strong>~Valerie’s POV~</strong>


    The forest loomed like a beast—wide, shadowed and alive.


    I stood at the edge of the Alpha Forge’s northern quadrant, the wind sharp with cold and the scent of freshly burned wards clinging to the trees.


    All around me, students from different Guilds shifted on their feet, stretching, flexing, checking weapons and bracers. Tension hung in the air like storm clouds.


    Today was the first live-graded trial after the endurance race.


    The Guild Masters stood at the stone dais—a raised tform etched with old runes and veined with glowing blue mana lines.


    Dristan and Xade were front and center, and their bans had been lifted after that disciplinary mess. The moment they arrived, the entire mood shifted.


    "Wee to your first coordinated Guild operation," Principal Whitmore’s voice rang across the clearing, magically enhanced. "The simtion you enter today is modelled after real Alpha rescue and extraction missions."


    My pulse quickened. Afte thest simtion incident, I wasn’t sure they’d be doing anymore simtions anytime soon.


    But then, holding off on the school curriculum would mean letting the bad people set you back.


    I swallowed as I focused on what she said. Every detail was important.


    "We’ve inserted three students into the forest to act as ’abducted targets’—you will locate, protect, and escort at least two of them back to the fortress within forty minutes. If a Guild fails to do so, your points are docked."


    Gasps scattered among the crowd.


    "You’ll be monitored. The forest is enchanted—beasts, traps, and war illusions are in full effect. If you’re hit in a lethal zone, your badge will deactivate and automatically extract you. This is not for the faint-hearted."


    "Let the Guilds move."


    And just like that—the forest swallowed us whole.


    My team—n A, Guild One—raced through the trees with calcted precision. Dristan took the lead, his eyes glowing faintly as he read the enchantments buried beneath the roots. Axel had our nk, and I ran point with I just behind me.


    Somewhere behind, Guild Three had split off. I could feel Xade’s chaos not far from us. And Kai?


    He was out there too, running his own team, and that unsettled me more than anything.


    "I see heat markers north-east," I whispered, her hands flickering over her scanner. "Might be one of the ’targets.’ Or a trap."


    "Doesn’t matter," I said. "We move. Fast."


    We cut through low brush. The terrain was uneven, and the forest floor sloped. I ducked just in time as an arrowunched from a hidden rune trap overhead, embedding into a tree behind me.


    "Snare ward!" Dristan called. "It’s ayered one—someone re-coded it mid-activation."


    "That’s not school standard," I said, jaw tight. "Someone’s tampering."


    River Locke growled low in his throat. "Keep moving. We find the target."


    Ten minutes passed. Then fifteen.


    Just when we reached the rocky ledge near the stream, I froze. "Contact! Target downed—left ridge!"


    We all turned just in time to see a simted student—bruised and bleeding, likely moured—being dragged by a shadow beast. Massive, tusked, with molten eyes.


    "I got it!" I surged forward, leaping the ridge as Serena, my teammate, dove in from the side, spinning and shing with a double saber, while Dean Myles threw three daggers against it that rattled its form.


    I moved fast, reaching the student, checking their pulse. "She’s tagged—badge still active. She’s our point!"


    But just as I turned to signal, a second beast erupted from behind the trees—this one smaller, faster.


    "Valerie, move!" I yelled.


    Toote.


    I braced for impact, but before it could reach me—lightning cracked through the trees and struck the beast midair. It exploded in a burst of light and ash.