After discovering the Red Moon having a hand in this grand plan, Eli had thought of the worst: Luwenda Ambrosia, one of the continent’s most powerful figures, was cooperating with devil worshippers.

It was a grave accusation, one that could get him executed.

This revelation threatened to tilt the balance of power so catastrophically that a second, more devastating Purification War felt inevitable.

Which was why Eli believed Luwenda wasn’t tied up with the Red Moon, especially when her entire faction of other nobles was dependent on her.

She could be cunning, ruthless, even apathetic, but she would not deign to bargain with zealots like the Red Moon. If anything, he suspected she would exploit their scheme to serve her own.

Her intelligence network, a web of eyes and ears that rivaled the Crown’s own, surely had caught wind of the academy strike and layered their own assassination plot to run alongside it.

To him, this only painted the Duchess as a terrifying force of nature, treating even bloodthirsty fanatics like pawns in her own private game.

’But still... it’s just a theory. Who knows what she has up her sleeve?’

Eli didn’t want to make extreme and baseless conjectures, regardless of his belief.

"I believe the Duchess isn’t foolish enough to cooperate with them. This is just an incredible opportunity that came her way, and she decided to take it."

Joanne’s fingers tapped restless against her sleeve.

"And you’re certain about her making a move on the House."

"No. But I live for that one-percent chance that everything goes to hell."

’Ooooh, that’s a cool line!’

As an avid fan of action and thriller movies, Eli sure knew some badass lines.

Joanne paused her tapping for a moment, and then she smiled.

"I see. But sometimes it’s not a good mindset to have. Statistically, you’re just spending ninety-nine percent of your life being miserable in advance."

"I’ll keep that in mind."

Come to think of it, in this new life, Eli had been in a mindset that contradicted what his old life embodied. When he was tied to the hospital bed, he’d spent ninety-nine percent of his time dreaming of freedom, while his grim reality was the one percent he tried to ignore.

Now, he was doing the exact opposite.

Eli didn’t know what to make of it.

He blinked and straightened. The introspection could wait for another time.

"Let’s discuss the plan. What do you suggest, Madame?"

"Tell me yours. You came to me."

Eli leaned forward.

"I... What do you make of your trip to the capital?"

"The capital?"

Joanne exhaled slowly.

"Now that we have this, it seems like a setup. Then again, it might just be coincidence, or the Red Moon has an agent inside the royal administration who leaked the details of the meeting."

He nodded.

"It matters little. They know you’re departing. They’d never dare strike academy while you’re here to protect it, so this is their only chance. It is also our only chance to capture the cultists."

Joanne hummed in agreement.

"Those cultists do make good use for research. Their demonic aura is refined to the point where we cannot distinguish them from normal people."

’Wicked!’

In Aria, people saw Red Moon’s cultists as nothing more than raw materials. To both humans and demi-humans, such research was not only normal, it was considered humane — nothing more than good public service.

’Serves them nutjobs right.’

Eli had always felt an invigorating sense of catharsis whenever the cultists were dismantled. To him, their crimes demanded more than just a quick end; they deserved a slow, horrible fate, and even that could not atone for what they had done.

He took a deep breath and steered to the main issue.

"Which means you’ll have to fall for their bait, Madame."

Eli explained the rough outline of the plan, which involved Joanne taking the bait and Julius staying behind to protect Irene.

But that last part remained a problem, alongside how the academies would defend against the Red Moon.

"Julius... I haven’t seen him in a while."

Joanne went silent for a moment, twirling her pen—

’Wait, that’s so cool!’

The pen suddenly floated mid-air and spun on its own. He didn’t know what kind of magic she was using, but he sure as hell wanted to learn it.

As the pen rotated in rhythm, Joanne said:

"He’s probably the same as always. Stubborn, reliable. He’d sooner cut off his own arm than let anything happen to Lady Irene."

Eli nodded. That much he knew from Elise’s memories. Julius was like their favorite uncle, always spending as much time as possible to play with them when they were kids.

"The problem is keeping him there. I’m certain they will watch our soldiers’ movements and configure their plan accordingly. If Julius doesn’t lead the knights to respond to Red Moon’s attack, they’ll definitely notice."

The pen orbited Joanne’s head.

"That certainly is the issue, isn’t it. Armor hides a face, but not the immense depth of six Songs..."

She paused for a moment, then said:

"Who’s the Lieutenant of his division?"

"Linasia Ferron. She’s a Four-Song Knight."

Joanne caught the pen out of its orbit and held it still.

"Four-Song... It is doable."

Eli jerked his seat.

"Really?"

"Yes, there is an artifact that can simulate a stronger Resonance of Songs. It can fool the cultists to a degree, unless they brought along someone with a refined sensory ability."

’Resonance...’

It certainly was a gamble.

Resonance was a mastery mechanic within a Song in HOTA, also called Stars.

Each Song had up to five Stars of mastery, representing how deeply a wielder had refined their Resonance over a particular Song. A person could hold multiple Songs at varying levels of Stars, another could have them all at full mastery.

If Eli remembered correctly, what mattered to outside observers wasn’t the amount of Songs, but the combined weight of all Songs and their Stars radiating outward. A Four-Song Knight with high Stars across the board could project a Resonance that felt denser than a Six-Song Knight who’d only recently awakened their latest two.

Of course, the Six-Song Knight would be more versatile and stronger normally, but the pressure both exuded would be almost identical.

’So the artifact would simulate max Stars across all of Linasia’s four Songs...’

It wasn’t perfect, like Joanne said. Someone with a great sensory ability could notice the discrepancy in a heartbeat. But there was no reason not to try.