Chapter 11: Perfect Sufferer
An ordinary chess player moves a piece to capture an enemy. A grandmaster moves to reshape the board. But an architect? An architect sits still and lets the opponent destroy their own king while believing they are winning.
The toxic white fog in the subterranean corridor was slowly dissolving.
Stone floor cracked in dozens of places, scorched by talismans, coated in frost from Kaede’s redirected elemental energy. Both interrogators still slumped against the far wall — breathing, barely.
Celine stood near the shattered entrance, her rapier leaning against her trembling leg. Panting. White uniform torn at the shoulder, a shallow bleeding wound underneath. Purple eyes scanning the destruction with raw political fury.
"Lady Celine!"
Twelve elite enforcers burst through the breached barrier, silver-trimmed armor, spears drawn, tracking runes burning bright.
"Secure the perimeter! Where is the assassin?"
"Escaped through the primary ventilation matrix," Celine said, her voice tight and cold despite the exhaustion. "Ghost-orchid vapor array. Localized, high-tier extraction contract."
"An execution contract? Inside the cells?"
The lead enforcer blinked. "Who was the target?"
Celine didn’t answer. She turned toward the central cell.
If he’s dead, the confession is gone.
She walked over, boots crunching against loose gravel.
Neil was still there.
Curled in the farthest corner, knees to his chest, messy grey uniform soaked in soot, face smudged black, cracked glasses sitting sideways on his nose. Trembling violently.
Staring at the floor with wide, unblinking, horrified eyes.
The heavy cuffs were still resting over his wrists — loose, since the runic locking mechanism had been shattered by Kaede’s frost talisman. To anyone looking, they appeared intact.
Inside Neil’s head, the Mastermind Core ran at maximum efficiency.
[ Warning: Elite enforcers have high-tier sensory perception. Heart rate locked at 140 BPM. Adrenaline secretion at 40%. Core healing status: 16.2%. Ambient spent Qi from the explosion is being absorbed through the soles of Host’s feet. ]
Keep the heart rate high. Give her a masterpiece.
"They... they had a sword..." Neil whimpered, voice cracking as he shrank into the corner, hands flying to cover his head. "The shadow dropped from the ceiling. It said it came to clean up the Vespera clan’s mess. It tried to cut my throat — the explosion — everything went black — I thought I was dead — please don’t leave me here, Lady Celine, they’ll come back—"
The lead enforcer stepped up behind Celine, ran a sensory scan across Neil’s body, and lowered his spear.
[ System: Enforcer’s spiritual scan detected. Successfully masquerading Host’s Dantian as a completely shattered Qi-deficient wasteland. 16% recovery suppressed into deep marrow layers. ]
"Vice-President," the enforcer murmured.
"His core is dead. Acute spiritual shock, proximity concussive trauma. He couldn’t have assisted the intruder. Just a lucky rat who survived the crossfire."
The shadow said it came to clean up the Vespera clan’s mess.
That single line from Neil’s whimpering did exactly what he intended — it confirmed every paranoid assumption Celine had already formed. The Vesperas had sent a high-level assassin to silence him before he could sign a confession that would ruin their standing in the upcoming Academy Senate elections.
"He stays where he is," Celine commanded, purple eyes sharp again. "The fact that the Vesperas breached my cells to kill this commoner proves his value. He is no longer a prisoner. He is primary material evidence of direct clan treason against the Academy’s judicial system."
"But the suppression runes are destroyed — the cell is insecure—"
"Look at him!" She pointed her rapier at Neil, who was currently hyperventilating at a piece of rubble. "He’s a broken commoner who can barely stand. Where is he going to run? The outer sector is on lockdown — the automated arrays will vaporize him the moment he steps out. Leave a guard at the corridor entrance. I’m going to the President’s office."
"Yes, Vice-President!"
Within minutes, the area cleared. Two guards posted far down the corridor, out of direct line of sight.
Silence returned to the underground vault.
The trembling in Neil’s shoulders stopped instantly.
The wide, terrified look dissolved. What replaced it was a deep, pitch-black calculation. His breathing dropped from 140 BPM to a clean, rhythmic 60 in under three seconds.
He stood. The iron cuffs slid off his wrists and hit the soot-covered floor without a sound — the metal warped by frost, and with the suppression runes dead, his recovering core gave him more than enough strength to simply slide his hands free.
Escape?
A thin, amused smirk.
Why would I escape?
Running tonight would have handed Celine exactly what she wanted — a fugitive, a criminal accomplice, hunted by every faction in the academy. His cover blown. His mission over.
But by staying?
He had just become the most protected piece on the board. Celine would use every resource of the Vane clan to keep him alive — as evidence. Lilith would be blamed for an assassination attempt she never ordered, forcing the Vespera clan into a defensive political war with the Disciplinary Hall.
Two of the academy’s greatest power houses were about to tear each other’s throats out. And they were doing it entirely to either protect or silence a commoner janitor who was currently sitting in the wreckage absorbing the residual energy of their conflict.
Neil walked to the center of the cell, to the cracked foundation where the residual spiritual energy from Kaede’s talisman was densest. He sat cross-legged and closed his eyes.
System. Full absorption protocol. Six hours until dawn.
[ Protocol initiated. Optimizing Qi circulation channels. Estimated Dantian recovery by sunrise: 25%. The foolish build the fortress. The wise occupy the shadow it casts. ]
In the deep underground of Akuto Academy, the mastermind adjusted his broken glasses in the dark and allowed himself one cold, silent laugh.
The game wasn’t just starting.
He had already won the first round without moving a single muscle.
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HaesuNote :-
Hey Guys, Author Here!
OH MY GOD, Neil is an absolute genius! Everyone thought he was going to break out and run for his life since the chains were broken, but running would have made him a target! By staying put and acting like a totally traumatized victim, he just forced Celine to become his personal bodyguard against an enemy that didn’t even attack!
The Vane clan and the Vespera clan are officially going to war, and Neil is just chilling in his cell, using their own battlefield energy to heal his broken core! This is what real 200 IQ mastermind writing looks like!
The next Chapter is going to be absolutely insane as dawn breaks and the Academy President gets involved! If you loved this massive twist and Neil’s flawless acting, I need your help to push us to the top of the contest leaderboard!
Make sure to hit that [Add to Collection] button so you never miss an update, leave a review of Neil’s acting in the comments, and dump all your [Power Stones] right here! Let’s keep this momentum burning!
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