Chapter 49: Backup

Julian stood squarely in the center of the pavement, his gold silver trimmed uniform jacket perfectly still as he adjusted his glasses.

He looked down at the newly tailored silver trimmed uniform variant Thomas was wearing, his face smoothing out into a cold, calculated mask.

"We are not rushing blindly into the subterranean grid," Julian stated, his elegant voice carrying an absolute, unyielding authority. "Darian has deployed those five classmates of ours to anchor his position and do his dirty work. If we are to dismantle them, we need an actual plan. Stop acting like a dense fool, lesser."

Thomas maintained his smooth, unreadable mask, keeping his arms loose at his sides as his translucent blue system lines hummed quietly beneath his eyes. He stayed entirely silent about his talent, never revealing a single secret of his internal parameters. "What do you mean by that, Julian?" Thomas asked, his voice flat but carrying a firm, unrefined grit.

"I can see right through you," Julian responded coldly, his striking ebony eyes boring straight through Thomas’s spectacles as if he could read the exact rhythm of his soul. "You are deliberately letting yourself look like an unrefined freshman to mask your sharp intellect and trap others into underestimating you. But out here that mask is going to get you killed."

Thomas quietly chuckled, a dangerous, low sound that echoed off the damp stone walls of the alleyway. "Oh, really?"

"Yes, really," Julian said, his posture remaining perfectly rigid as he stepped closer. "Darian is an experienced upperclassman, and navigating a rescue without a proper strategy will get your friend killed. We will need additional help."

Thomas thought about the remaining members of his circle, his mind methodically calculating their current operational capacities. "Lina and Ryan can help us," Thomas stated firmly. "Ryan is fully healed by now, so his wind combat skills will give us the offensive momentum we need. Lina can provide healing just in case Mina is already hurt down there."

Julian considered the suggestion for a single, brief second before offering a stiff nod of approval. "Those two are acceptable assets. But one is a mid tier freshman and the other is a lower tier freshmen with a Grade D support Talent. We will need at least one more powerhouse if we are to counter a year two senior."

He reached into his inner pocket and pulled out a sleek, polished obsidian runetech device. It was an advanced communication relic etched with runes, a high level piece of technology that only the highest noble lineages of the capital had access to. He channeled a precise spark of mana into the core, activating the link.

The device buzzed softly, and an elegant, beautiful voice crackled through the channel, instantly striking a chord of raw familiarity in Thomas’s memory.

"Send me your coordinates, Julie," the voice carried a sharp, rhythmic melody that cleanly bypassed the ambient noise of the market.

Julian pulled a silver mechanical campus device from his belt, checking the precise coordinates of the rear alleyway before speaking clearly into the obsidian relic. "We are in the lower commercial quadrant, Sector Four, right behind the textile warehouses."

"Got it. Hold on," she replied carelessly.The link snapped shut. A fraction of a second later, the air pressure directly beside Julian’s right shoulder violently flatlined. The physical space didn’t just warp, it violently broke like brittle glass, a massive spiderweb of glowing purple fracture lines tearing through the air currents with a sharp, echoing crack.

A slender foot stepped out from the spatial fracture, and she stepped fully into the narrow alleyway. To Thomas’s absolute, unadulterated surprise, the elegant year two senior was wearing nothing but a soft, fluffy white bathrobe, her long, vibrant violet hair wrapped tightly in a towel while a thick green cosmetic face mask completely covered her aristocratic features.

Thomas’s dark eyes instantly narrowed, his internal memory banks violently locking onto her silhouette. The long, vibrant violet hair dancing loosely in the wind, the incredible aristocratic elegance, and that exact same sharp, rhythmic vocal cadence. It was the very same stunning young lady who had sat right next to Julian in the premium noble booth during his battle against Victor.

She was the high level piece on the chessboard who had tilted her head and deliberately winked right down at him from the grand platform.

She raised a manicured hand, her sky blue eyes blinking through the slits of her face mask as she looked around. "What’s up, Julie?"

Julian’s face instantly flushed, a rare, visible look of sheer flustered embarrassment breaking through his pristine aristocratic composure as he quickly took a half step back. "Could you not have worn something decent?!" Julian barked, his voice losing its icy elegance for a brief second.

The girl blinked, her sky blue eyes shifting slowly as she looked at her own bathrobe, then glanced around the damp, garbage lined stone walls of the market lane. She casually shrugged her shoulders, entirely unbothered by her lack of proper clothing.

"Why should I?" she asked, her beautiful voice carrying that exact same sharp, rhythmic melody that cut through the space, though it was slightly muffled by the drying paste on her skin. She scanned the alleyway, noting the scattered bundles of travel supplies on the ground before her gaze landed squarely on Thomas’s silver trimmed jacket. "Anyways, whoa, what are you two doing meeting up in a dark alleyway like this?"

Leaning in closer to Julian, her violet hair towel shifting slightly, she looked from the freshman noble back to the lesser blood anomaly. Her tone suddenly dropped into a cold, terrifyingly sharp octave that carried a voice akin to a whisper.

"Are we about to kill him right here?" she asked, her sky blue eyes flashing with a sudden, bloodthirsty intensity that gave the alleyway actual chills. "Because if we are, I need to go back and grab my proper combat gear first."

Julian let out a long, heavy sigh, rubbing the bridge of his nose as he shook his head in absolute, unyielding frustration. "No. We are not killing him just yet. We need your help against Darian Calagher."

She paused, the dangerous, volatile energy around her form evaporating in an instant as she tilted her head, her face mask cracking slightly at the corners as she looked at the two rival freshmen