Isekai Journey Of The Magic Archer

Chapter 978 The unsolved issue

[OP: ]

"I apologise for disturbing you all."

They were enjoying the rest of the time left for their festival, but then Harry came to them in a disguised form and asked them to come to the third floor of the academy castle in a secret room that they had never seen before.

The headmaster was there, and there were a few other people present behind him as well.

"I know you all are concerned and are trying to take your mind off of these things, but I believe your insight into this would be more helpful for us. So, I apologise once again."

There was no need for all these apologies. But, the four of them didn't say anything and just sat down on the places prepared for them.

The room was filled with very important people at the moment, including Nova's mom, The Queen of the fairies, as well as some of the most powerful individuals of the world.

{ "Seeing the four of you here makes me feel more comfortable as well." }

Additionally, the voice that they were hearing belonged to none other than Sword saint Alexander. A fact that made this more concerning than the four of them had thought.

"What's the matter, headmaster?"

The battle with those people had not ended too long ago. As Eon could see with Celes' vision, there were still people out there who were cleaning up the mess made by that giant swamp creature.

After he helped the headmaster with what could not be seen with simple eyes, they were able to completely eliminate the fragments of the souls that were left by those damned cult bastards.

They even used Aether to take care of any unindented energy and were now done with that side.

There was no enemy left for now, so they were finishing up the things on that part, however, they had not yet reached the end of this battle.

"Lucifer… Eon. Do you remember how we talked about having found the traces of Stigma holders and [Vessels]?"

"…"

He was trying to ignore this since those last few demonic cultists gave their life to create that creature, but seeing the concern of these people resurfaced his worries.

"I hate those bastards."

And he wasn't the only one that got worried once again. The rest of them were the same.

"Yes, so…"

The headmaster did not like this.

Burdening these children, asking them for help or even their insight into this matter, not being able to see what those damned cultists were after… he didn't like any of this.

But they did not have any choice right now.

"We didn't find any trace of either a Stigma holder or a Vessel. Those individuals turned their beings into energy fragments because there was no one to interrogate either, and since the rest of their group was sacrificed for the summoning, we have no idea if the group even existed or not."

It was a fact that they had received very faint readings of a divine presence on the island that did not belong to the beings that were registered in their records.

So it meant there was someone or something that possessed even fragmented divinity.

The headmaster knew it wasn't Eon nor Zoe, this particular wavelength of divinity belonged to the Gods that were suspected to have ties to those demonic cultists.

"We have searched their base, we have found traces of a destroyed Relic, and still, we weren't able to find any trace of those stigma holders."

And if all of these people weren't able to find them with their divine authorities and diverse deep understanding of this world, it proved how those stigma holders actually existed.

"The chances of them escaping the island is very low. And if they are using some kind of trick to hide somewhere, it is going to be a big problem if they decide to pop out of nowhere and cause trouble at a certain moment."

The festival was about to conclude soon so the people who had gathered in the academy would also go back when the event concluded.

When that happens, they would be the most vulnerable even with the protection of the academy's guards and the people who had come here today.

The Queen was also going to show up soon, so the chances that there would be some commotion here were also high.

"Is it possible that they are simply concealing their divinity?

Revoking the stigma that those people had wouldn't have been an option if they wanted them to live, so, it's also possible that they somehow partially gave up on their stigma to almost erase the divine presence that they had." Zodiac had his doubts, but as someone who had studied the divine stigmas of this world in his time as a student, he knew quite well how they could do all kinds of things with these divine authorities.

"However…"

He was wrong this time.

"We are talking about individuals that were potentially the vessels of those divinities. Taking their blessings away from them, even if it's partly, would mean giving them irreversible damage.

They wouldn't be of any use to them afterwards so it's not exactly possible that they'd do something like this."

Cradle had also known divine beings since the initial days of her lives were spent with beings who had lived since the beginning of the known and even the unknown history.

She knew how selfish those divine beings were and how they wouldn't do something that was ultimately of their own benefit.

Even if the divinities that were helping the evil cult were being manipulated by some other power, they were still sharing their divine powers with mere mortals.

Obtaining a suitable vessel was a difficult task, and after losing one, after losing that fragment of power, they would have to face consequences as well.

Unlike the demon's contract with the mortals, a stigma and selection of a vessel was not simply something they could just do as they pleased.

Even revoking the powers granted to these individuals would cause them to lose their own strength.

"Still…"

But both Eon and Elle had different opinions of what might be the case here.

"None of us saw the presence of those stigma holders and Vessels, right?"

Eon looked at the headmaster with a concerned look in his eyes.

There was something that had been eating away at him ever since he saw those daggers in the hands of those cultists.

"Could it be that there's something even deeper to the presence of that specific creature? Like… have you all thought about how that thing is born in nature, and how it grows?"

A creature that was born in nature like many other natural creatures but was not an origin beast that they had.

It was a unique natural being, like the slimes that they find in nature.

"They are born with the accumulation of energy, and with this accumulation Without the help of any of the six major Elements, they gain a stable form."

An uneven but stable form… they are like Evil spirits in that manner as well.

"Not much is known about them, but I did some reading and found out they are, in fact, creatures who survive even in the forbidden areas."

Eon brought out a magic screen that displayed some characteristics and elements these creatures were made of.

"It's just a guess for now, but there's one thing common among all the known sightings of these creatures."

They were simple beasts, but they were rare as well. No one had it as their familiars, and the reason they were so harmless externally, was because of their abundant internal energy.

"Those cultists are beyond our expectations, they have proved it through this strange tactic this time.

So… what if we are still missing something?"

He looked at all these powerful, smart, and important people of this world.

*

"What if there never really was any stigma holder On the island, nor any Vessels."

The opposite could be true as well, he knew that, but that's why he had phrased it like this for all these people.

"We know about the Core that maintains this island, right? Now, because of this core existing somewhere in the centre of the island, there are certain places that are undetectable even with amazing technology."

Their intelligence, their skills, and their Superior technology. They had believed in these things quite a lot until now.

And with their assistance, they planned the whole operation, just to see it all crumble down before a dangerous creature they had never even anticipated before.

"You were looking for the stigma holders, signs of divinity, signs of those cultist bastards on the ground and in the places where they could be. And, what if they want you to do that as well?"

They had been ahead of them on each step they took. They didn't know what they were doing and yet, they were anticipating what they might do as if they knew them better than they knew themselves.

This time as well, they used a specific creature that affected the soil and changed the soil structure of the area where they die in a particular manner.

From the very beginning, what if those bastards all wanted it to die?

"As all of you know… they are very dangerous."

How can you misdirect someone into thinking they still haven't found everything?

What method can you use to create a monster that the opponent who could see far ahead into the future had never prepared themselves for?

Is there a way to lead the opponent into thinking they have a mole among themselves and ultimately make them fight one another? Or have suspicions about someone among them? Or make them so anxious about something that they would even go and ask help from some kids…?

"They used a specific creature in a specific way… there must be a reason behind it, just like each of the moves they have made until now, correct?" He shook his head with another bitter smile.

That was all he needed to say.

The rest of them were smart enough to reach the same thought process that he was having with those simple words alone.