Once again, I was denied my well-earned rest.

“What!?” I grumbled with irritation. I had been up late examining the crime scene and writing down my report. Adding to that, I hadn’t been getting enough sleep the earlier days. I was feeling both dead tired and grumpy.

I need proper sleep to keep a clear mind, damn it!

“Apologies, Inspector. He’s waiting for you. It’s extremely urgent.”

I cursed. I had earned some sleep. Why can’t people let me skraggin sleep!?

I stomped my way to the old man’s office, manifesting my discontent.

“Inspector…” His voice acknowledged me even before I reached the door.

I was about to voice my complaints, but then I saw his expression. I felt a shiver running down my spine. “Sir?”

“I have dire news,” He said grimly. I noticed broken pieces of something on the floor, not good. “I just received word…”

He fixed me with his eyes, his jaw muscles tightening and releasing. I waited.

“The saboteur hit again.”

The words hit me like a cold shower.

Damn it, so the saboteur hadn’t been alone. I knew it had been too easy, how that guy smiled as he got himself killed. A discardable pawn.

We had pushed his accomplice toward making a bolder move.

“The victim managed to destroy two-thirds of the food storages before immolating himself.”

“The food storages?!” I asked, perplexed. “Isn’t that place more secure than a royal prison?”

The previous demon wars had taught us well to protect our reserves from poisoning and other nasty surprises. Demons never played fair.

I could only be thankful that this time they hadn’t opened the war dances with their abominations. I hadn’t witnessed first-hand the previous war, but I had read the accounts.

Which led to the question… Why hadn’t they deployed them? Were they not ready yet, and in which case, why such a premature attack? Were they waiting for weakness before unleashing havoc?

My mind was wandering beyond the current task. I dismissed that line of thought.

“So everyone thought…” He pushed a paper toward me. “This is a permit granting you full authority to perform an Inquisition.”

I raised an eyebrow accepting the paper. An Inquisition allowed for complete control and detainment of anything and anyone on a crime scene.

It was an exceedingly rare occurrence. Especially for the outrage it may cause if there was nobility involved.

“I expect you to make full use of it before any interference arises,” He said, then pushed a vial toward me. “Take this potion. I need you focused.”

I accepted the vial and drank the bitter contents. In a few breaths, the soreness and sleepiness washed away, giving way to unwavering focus and alertness. The rebound would undoubtedly hit me later.

“The whole area has been sealed,” The old man said. “You’ll get more information when you get there. Every breath counts. Now, go!”

“Yes, sir.” I nodded and rushed outside, where the carriage was waiting for me.

I looked at the sky from the carriage’s window. A grim gray, very like my mood. People were out in the street, speculating about the nature of the burning smell coming from my destination.

My mind returned to the previous night’s inspection. I had found three magic signatures, ignoring Allen Smith’s one.

One was definitely a demonic aura, but it didn’t match the dead accomplice’s severed head, which meant he had used magic tools during the battle. His task must have been to keep attention away from the brainwasher, while the corpses were scrubbed of magic traces. Just as I suspected, there was no other reason to publicly provoke us by flashing around that distinctive gray cape.

There had been still no response from the Shadows regarding the delivery of the corpse for further inspection. Precious mana traces were being lost due to bureaucracy’s delays.

The carriage stopped, and I made my way through several blockages and checkpoints before reaching my destination.

“Inspector Kiras,” I announced myself.

“We’ve been expecting you,” The magician, head of security, stepped forth and motioned to join him. “Please follow me. I’ll show you around explaining how the events unfolded.” I noticed his wariness.

We walked across the perimeter. “What’s the situation?” I inquired. While the loss of food storage wasn’t of great concern to nobility, commoners and soldiers were the ones who most depended on them. And with the war, the priority was to the latter.

“Bad. We didn’t let anyone in or out, but the commoners aren’t stupid. The flames and burning smell coming from this direction is not something we can hide.” The magician grimaced.

“How many of you were working here when the attack came?”

“Forty. Twenty magicians, ten technique users, and the rest of lesser spirit on guarding or other duties.”

“How many dead?”

He stopped. “Twelve…”

“That many?” I asked, unable to hide my surprise.

“Nobody was expecting an attack from the inside… from a familiar face,” He looked at me, worry creasing his face. “Mikaj had served the kingdom for two decades. When we caught him, the damage had already been done.”

“Had you noticed him behaving strangely of late?”

He stared away, deep in thought. “No, I can’t say he had. He was always the same Mikaj as ever. What could have possessed him?”

“I’m not sure. I’d like to inspect his body first.”

He nodded and walked inside the structure. The acrid smell of smoke filled my nostrils.

Dead bodies lay sprawled along the corridors. One… three… four.

“We had to move some of the bodies to protect them from the fire,” My guide said. “I hope that won’t be a problem, Inspector.”

“I understand.”

He nodded. “Fortunately, we were able to kill the flames and save part of the stores… Here we are.” He pointed out the carbonized remains.

“I, uh, let me know if you need anything.” He said before giving me space and turning away from the sight.

I knelt down next to the corpse of the magician named Mikaj. Five.

Extensive burns, a missing right arm, several blade wounds. I engaged my mana sight. The magic traces of his mana body were readable but weaker than I expected.

“How did he die?” I asked.

“He fought back when we cornered him. One of the technique users managed to slice off his right arm, but he ran into a room that was ablaze and started laughing maniacally… We didn’t think he would let himself burn alive,” He paused for a breath. “When we were sure he was unconscious we pulled him away as we subdued the flames…”

“Show me the places where you fought.”

“Yes,” He obliged.

After inspecting several spots, I realized something was off. The brainwashed victim had not used his own magic… Instead, there was more of that same demonic aura, the one from the previous scene.

“Did magician Mikaj fight with a magic tool?” I asked the head of security.

He furrowed his brow. “Huh? Well… He had stolen a bladed weapon from one of his victims if that’s what you mean. I guess he wanted to kill as many as possible without raising the alarms. We can detect spellwork, but a blade is silent.”

Something had left that demonic aura. What about a ring? I walked back toward the immolated corpse and looked for wearable accessories.

The only thing I found was a ring with protective enchantments. The mana signature didn’t match. Where could it be?.

I explored the rest of the building, counting corpses and looking for enchanted items.

People with their necks sliced, tricked by a familiar face. Six… eight.

I explored the missing rooms. Nine, ten… eleven, twelve. I found no magic tool matching the demonic aura. My tracking spells only led me to the places where the fight had been consumed.

I had a bad feeling about this.

“Enough, I want to interrogate the personnel,” I told my guide. “I gather no one has left the premises, correct?”

“Yes, Inspector. We followed protocol.” He said, leading me back outside.

As we approached the group of people, their chatter died off.

Then I noticed another corpse, face down not far from the group. Thirteen? Hadn’t the head of security talked about twelve dead?

“Excuse me,” I said, again facing the head of security. “Earlier, you told me about twelve dead, but I see another corpse there…”

“Ah yes, nothing to do with the attack, just an intruder that was easily dispatched.” He said.

“Humor me.” I pressed, my intuition spurring me on.

He nodded to the group of people, inciting them to recount me the event.

“Ah… Yes. We were walking around the perimeter when we heard the outer alarm go off, we’re not sure how he got past it without being seen, but we tracked him quickly… Tell him,” He said, looking toward another man, who continued.

“He did not heed our warning and tried to attack me the moment I got close. I let out the spell I had pre-casted and shot a bolt right to his face,” The mage guard said proudly. “He died instantly.”

“I see,” I said, walking toward the corpse.

I rolled him face up. The face had been made unrecognizable by the lightning bolt. I opened my mana sight.

The blood froze inside my veins.

Impossible.

“Inspector? What’s wrong?” Asked the man at my side, reading my expression.

Think, I told myself.

I knew this mana signature. It belonged to the Shadow. What was he doing here?

Had he been on the saboteur tracks before it ended badly?

No… that didn’t make sense. There was another possibility that explained it all.

I lifted the dead man’s shirt and observed the skin.

Darkened veins… mana poisoning. Which meant… Spirit possession!

Mara’s knives! How?

Could the culprit still be around? I had to play it carefully.

Calm down… he had to get himself killed to leave the body.

How long had it been since the event? More or less a Repose and half. Time enough for preventing it from hopping to another host, if common sense applied to this case.

I swooped my head around, looking toward the group of men watching me with caution.

“Security officer,”

“Yes, Inspector?”

“Do you perhaps know how strong was magician Mikaj?”

“Quite powerful, I would say, a Fourth Step if I recall correctly.”

Too strong to be possessed directly… but what if he had been wounded?

“Had he reported a wound before the event?”

“I wouldn’t know, sir. He was inside the building. He must have used this distraction to enact his misdeed when we were busy dealing with the intruder.”

Or perhaps the spirit had taken over a guard of lesser spirit, wounded Mikaj, and possessed him.

I stood up, back straight, and addressed everyone. “Everyone, raise your magic shields or whatever defense you can muster. Now!” I ordered, “And if anyone tries to escape, make sure they’re constrained but not killed.”

After a moment of confusion, the magicians raised their shields, and the technique user started glowing as if aflame, while the ones with lesser spirit looked left and right with worried disorientation.

I quickly inspected the mana signatures of everyone who had cast a spell or manifested a technique. No match to the demonic aura.

Then I inspected the ones of lesser spirit, a couple of whose complained about belonging to the nobility. They were made aware of the authority I had been granted and quickly dropped their complaints.

It was then that I noticed it.

“Security Officer, a word,” I called out.

“How may I help, Lord Inspector?”

Bemused faces gazed at me, wondering what I was looking for.

“You said there were forty people on duty. I count twenty-seven alive and twelve dead. Thirty-nine in all. Did you make a mistake?”

He creased his brows and scanned the men. “You’re right… Where’s Dhaven?”

The guards looked at each other.

One spoke up. “Uh… I remember Dhaven saying something about checking up on something around the corner before we reset the outer alarm… But we didn’t see him leave.”

A group of guards quickly circled the perimeter, coming up empty-handed. “We can’t feel anyone’s else aura in the proximity… He’s gone.”

I looked again at the dead Shadow. He was not wearing his magic equipment. Perhaps he entered unseen thanks to it, stashed it somewhere before letting himself be killed.

I reconstructed the likely course of events.

The demonic spirit had possessed a guard, got inside the building, chose a powerful mage to take over. Then sowed as much mayhem as possible, when killed, escaped into Dhaven’s body, collected the Shadow’s equipment, and finally, escaped before the guards had time to reset the alarms.

“Mara’s knives,” I muttered under my breath. This case defied my knowledge and experiences. Endless questions began filling my mind, but there was no time to waste.

“Security officer, have the intruder’s corpse sent to the Institute of Magic Regulation,” I began walking away. “There’s nothing more to be done here. You’re all dismissed.” I announced loudly.

I heard sighs of relief behind me. They had asked no questions, just relieved to see me gone. But there was nothing to be relieved about.

The spirit could have possessed anyone anywhere by now.

But a big question remained unanswered.

How had the spirit possessed so many victims while preserving its sanity? Just like the body started decaying from the foreign mana, so did the spirit. Inhabiting a foreign body was said to be excruciatingly painful for a spirit.

Possessing multiple bodies for long-duration should not be possible. But… if it had happened, it meant there was a way, even though I had never encountered such a case in my career.

A sudden gale of wind gave me goosebumps.

Even possessing a Fourth Step magician seemed far-fetched. Was the spirit that powerful?

This required immediate attention.

I needed to report to the old man as soon as possible.

We had to dispatch a capture order for Dhaven, making sure they understood no harm should come to him except by trained anti-magic personnel. The chance was low that he was still possessing his body, but no second should be wasted in front of this threat.

The Shadows had to be informed as well. Perhaps they had a way to track down the stolen equipment.

As if on cue, the wind built up, turning into a snowstorm.

I hastened my steps.