Nisha pushed forward.

Her body ached, especially from the injury she had taken while saving Adrian days ago, but she couldn't stop now.

She fought her way through several Exorcists.

The flickering lights and shadows helped her stay hidden, but each clash left her breathing harder.

"Huff... Huff... How many are there?" she whispered, wiping blood from her cheek.

The corridor had fallen silent.

Bodies of fallen Exorcists lay scattered around her.

She looked at the floor and frowned.

Knocking them out instead of killing them had been tough.

She sheathed her swords and began searching the area.

Her frown deepened the farther she went.

Then she came to a large metal door.

She pushed it open.

Inside, the air was cold and damp.

The lights were completely out, leaving the room pitch black.

She closed her eyes and used her mana echolocation spell again.

The waves spread around her, shaping the space in her mind.

She saw rows of cages.

Inside them were children.

Several Exorcists were crouched nearby, holding knives to the children's throats and covering their mouths.

She couldn't see the children's faces clearly through the spell, but their trembling was enough.

"Trying to hide from me? You should at least learn a mana cloak spell if you want to do that." Nisha's voice was calm but sharp.

"Shit!"

"She knows we're here!"

"You murderer! Don't come closer!"

A man who looked like their leader stepped forward, pressing his dagger against the neck of a small Oni boy.

He was the combat specialist.

"Nisha Hall," he said, coldly. Despite being in a tight situation, his gaze was firm. "Daughter of the House Head of the Hall Family. Leave this place in ten seconds, or we kill the children."

The children whimpered, some shaking in fear.

"Brats, don't listen to that idiot. Now that I'm here, you're safe. No one is going to touch a hair on you."

Her confidence stunned even the Exorcists.

The combat specialist's eyes widened in anger.

"You think we're joking? You—"

Before he could finish, a dagger flew through the air and pierced his neck from behind.

He fell without a sound.

The Oni child turned, confused and frightened, but a shadowy figure stepped between him and the body.

The figure spoke gently. "It's alright. We're from the Exorcist Union. We're here to rescue you."

He covered the boy's eyes so he wouldn't see the corpse, then lifted him into his arms.

The remaining Exorcists tried to move and attack, but none of them could.

Their bodies wouldn't respond.

"Did you use a paralyzing toxin?" Nisha asked as she walked into the room.

She had been creating chaos from the start on purpose.

The shouting and fighting loudly was to create a diversion that allowed Detective Barns to act freely.

"Yes. I spread the gas in the room and injected the kids with the antidote using darts," the detective said with a nod.

"Good work," Nisha said. "Take the children away. I want to have a few words with these people."

Her tone was calm, but the anger in her voice was clear.

The detective frowned slightly.

He knew that while she looked composed, her patience was running out.

"We need a few of them alive. We'll need statements and information for the report."

"I will keep that in mind," Nisha replied quietly.

The detective began freeing the children from the cages.

Nisha crouched to speak to them. Her tone was soft and patient.

She gave them small ration packs that could be eaten easily.

Some of the children started sobbing.

She patted their heads gently.

"You're safe now. We'll get you home soon."

When the last child was brought out, Nisha closed the door and locked it from inside, leaving herself alone with the paralyzed Exorcists.

…

It took a full day for the report to be written and reviewed.

The truth about the Dusk Hand Hidden Clan shocked everyone.

They had been involved in money laundering, human trafficking, and gold theft.

Their main source of profit came from stealing gold from Olympian-owned mines and rerouting it before it reached the Hall Family.

Investigators found advanced runes in their possession.

These runes were capable of extracting mana from gold.

The presence of these runes proved that a major Hidden Clan might have been supporting them.

But there was no evidence pointing to who it was.

Some council members suggested that the Dusk Hand might have discovered the runes in ancient ruins or from a cursed spirit's domain, instead of receiving them from a major Hidden Clan.

Still, that was only a theory, and no proof supported it.

Within two days, the organizations that been supplying the kidnapped children to the Dusk Hand Clan were destroyed.

Even so, no one had yet discovered where those children were being sent after arriving at the Dusk Hand's base.

The investigation was still ongoing.

When the news broke to the Exorcist world, the response was explosive.

For Exorcists, whose duty was to protect humanity from cursed spirits, harming children was one of the greatest taboos.

Even during clan wars—known as Blood Wars—when two Hidden Clans fought to wipe each other out, they never targeted children.

It was an unspoken law.

Children of fallen clans were spared.

Their memories would be erased, and they were sent to live among normal humans.

But now, evidence showed that the Dusk Hand Hidden Clan had broken that rule for years.

Countless Exorcists across the world were furious.

The discovery spread like wildfire through every region and Clan.

At the same time, the Olympians and the Hall Family entered a legal dispute.

Both sides wanted ownership of the runes found in the Dusk Hand's vaults.

The Olympians argued that the Dusk Hand clan operated within their territory and that the runes should belong to them.

The Hall Family disagreed fiercely, saying it was them (Nisha Hall) who eliminated the Dusk Hand Clan, so the runes belonged to them.

They did not want the Olympians to get their hands on mana extraction runes.

It would bring a new competitor on the market, and cost losses to Hall Family.

The Olympians were fined by the Exorcist Union heavily.

They were the ones who had approved the official establishment of Dusk Hand Clan. They needed to take responsibility for allowing the existence of such a vile clan.

Meanwhile, a search team was dispatched to find Adam, the head of security at the Dusk Hand's underground base.

He had disappeared, and so had a large amount of gold, mana stones, and jewelry from the Dusk Hand treasury.

The official report stated that Adam likely stole the valuables and escaped before Nisha Hall and Detective James Barns arrived.

The rescued children were placed under the best medical care provided by the Exorcist Union.

Their families were contacted and brought to them as soon as possible.

Among the children, the eldest—Michael, a fifteen-year-old—received a bravery award for making the emergency call.

Michael insisted that he wasn't the one who contacted the Exorcist Police.

He said he had seen a shadowy figure take one of the guard's communicators. It would be this figure who made the call.

The investigators dismissed his statement.

They believed that trauma had made him believe someone else had done it, when in fact, it was likely him.

At the Exorcist Union Council, a large meeting was held to review the case.

The atmosphere was muted.

Everyone agreed that finding about Dusk Hand Clan's corruption was largely thanks to Fate's intervention.

But the council also knew that whenever Fate helped, something bad often followed soon after.

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