Chapter 45: Cult

Chapter 45: Chapter 45: Cult

Rowan stood up from the freshly purified soil, his eyes narrowed as he examined the edge of the silver-vine barrier where the unpurified ground met the treeline. The dark, oily film hadn’t bled upward naturally from the leyline—it was concentrated in irregular, localized patches on the surface, leaving distinct chemical scorch marks on the dirt.

"Hold on, everyone," Rowan said, gesturing for the squad to gather close. "Take a look at this. This node wasn’t damaged by a natural mana spike."

Caelen crouched down, eyeing the dark residue near Rowan’s boots. "What makes you say that?"

"The corrosion pattern is wrong," Rowan explained, kneeling to scrape a small layer of the oily residue onto his field trowel. "Natural Tower corruption spreads outward from subterranean mana veins in organic, root-like patterns. This is surface-level toxicity. Someone deliberately dumped a concentrated synthetic pollutant here to force the soil into sudden decay and draw beasts to the perimeter."

Seraphina stepped forward, her eyes darkening slightly as she processed Rowan’s analysis. She reached into her alchemical satchel and pulled out a reinforced, lead-lined glass containment vial designed for outdoor hazardous sampling.

"If it’s synthetic, the chemical compounds will still be active," Seraphina said, holding the vial open. Rowan carefully transferred the polluted dirt off his trowel into the container, and Seraphina sealed it tightly with a brass cap, wrapping it in an alchemical stabilization rune. "I’ll run a full spectrographic reagent test on this once we’re back at the lab. If it’s man-made, we’ll get a precise breakdown of the catalytic base."

"Deliberate sabotage on a Layer 1 supply node?" Barney muttered, his hand resting on his hammer handle. "That’s a heavy charge. We need to report this straight to the faculty."

"Agreed," Rowan said, checking his tactical pass. "Barney’s reinforced the gate structure, Seraphina has the sample, and the soil is purified. Mission complete. Let’s head back to the complex."

Thirty minutes later, Squad 07 marched back through the Eastern Gate and entered the grand administrative hall of the Sol-Aethel Staging Complex. They navigated the busy floor directly to Professor Aaron’s consultation desk.

"Back already?" Professor Aaron looked up, raising an eyebrow in mild surprise as Rowan tapped his pass to log the completed Sector 1-E contract. "The outpost telemetry shows the perimeter secured and the node purified in record time. Excellent work."

"Thank you, Professor," Rowan said, his tone turning serious as he placed Seraphina’s sealed containment vial on the desk. "But we have an additional finding to report. Sector 1-E wasn’t damaged by an environmental mana flux."

Professor Aaron’s smile faded. He picked up the sealed vial, looking at the dark, oily substance swirling inside. "Explain."

"The soil shows clear signs of deliberate surface-level contamination using synthetic toxic compounds," Rowan stated concisely. "It was used to artificially decay the node and agitate the local Thorn-Prowlers. Seraphina collected a pristine sample for laboratory analysis."

Professor Aaron tapped the vial lightly, his expression hardening as he opened a high-priority incident log on his screen. "Artificial sabotage on an active academy deployment sector... this is a serious matter. I’ll flag this sample for immediate priority analysis with Head Dean Sterling and the Tower Security Committee. Outstanding attention to detail, Squad 07."

He stamped their contract as Fully Completed with Honors, crediting maximum evaluation points to their joint score. "Take a well-deserved rest in the complex. I will notify you the moment the lab yields results on this compound."

***

A summons from the Head Dean’s office arrived on their academy passes within the hour.

Rowan, Barney, Seraphina, Caelen, and Mirei climbed the central stairs of the Sol-Aethel Staging Complex to the eighth floor. Inside the high-ceilinged office overlooking the bustling skyline of Layer 1, Head Dean Sterling stood behind a massive oak desk, staring out the floor-to-ceiling glass wall.

The sealed containment vial Seraphina had collected lay on her desk alongside a glowing spectrographic report.

"Sit," Head Dean Sterling commanded quietly, turning around. Her expression was uncharacteristically grim.

The five members of Squad 07 took their seats around the long conference table.

"The alchemy department completed the reagent analysis on your soil sample," Sterling began, tapping the glass vial. "The toxic agent isn’t a known monster secretion or standard alchemical byproduct. It is a synthetic compound specifically engineered to break down concentrated mana veins and induce rapid decay in mana-infused soil."

"A mana-nullifying rot," Seraphina murmured, her eyes sharp. "Someone is trying to strip the environmental mana out of the Tower’s lower floors."

"Precisely," Sterling said, stepping up to a large holographic map of the Tower. "And your discovery at Sector 1-E is not an isolated incident. Over the past three months, small supply nodes and cultivation plots across Layers 1 through 3 have suffered similar ’accidental’ collapses."

Barney frowned, leaning forward. "Who would do that? Stripping mana from the Tower destroys humanity’s entire infrastructure."

"To most, that sounds like madness," Sterling said coldly. "To them, it is a holy crusade. The organization responsible calls themselves the Order of Humanity—a subterranean cult that has existed in the shadows ever since the Spire first descended upon our world decades ago." ℯ

She tapped the holographic console, bringing up archived security logs detailing hooded figures fleeing sabotaged sites and ancient, radical manifestos.

"The Cult believes that mana is a corruption—a curse brought by the Tower that shattered the natural order of humanity," Sterling revealed, her voice echoing in the quiet office. "Their ultimate objective is to sever the Tower’s leylines, destroy the mana infrastructure humanity has built, and force the world back to the ’old ways’—the era before awakeners, stats, and magic existed."

Caelen gripped the armrest of his chair. "And they’re operating right under our noses inside the reclaimed sectors?"

"Not just inside," Sterling replied. "They actively recruit from outside the Tower—targeting unawakened civilians, disillusioned academy rejects, and radical anti-mana factions in the urban districts below. They smuggle these synthetic pollutants into the Tower through corrupted trade channels to sabotage our outposts from within."

She looked directly at Rowan and his team, her gaze heavy with expectation.

"You five weren’t meant to cross paths with them on a simple calibration contract, but your quick thinking preserved the evidence we needed to confirm their active presence on Layer 1," Head Dean Sterling said. "You have proven that Squad 07 possesses both the tactical strength and the awareness required for high-risk operations."

Sterling leaned over her desk, resting both hands on the wood. "I am authorizing a confidential counter-sabotage directive for your squad. While the official stance remains that these node failures are ’environmental instability,’ Squad 07 will be granted security clearances to track and neutralize Cult cells operating along the Eastern Border."