Cipher’s Office at the Silver Association BaseLater that night, after the Demonic Assault ends

Cipher lets out a loud groan as his head rests against his desk.

“How?” he asks Sage in front of him before lifting his head and meeting her cold, dead eyes. “Just how is it that every single time she goes out during a Demonic Assault, she ends up in some situation that would normally not happen?”

The woman just stares without saying anything, knowing that Cipher is just venting.

“First it was a demon knight on a floor without anything important on it. Nothing to guard at all. Which just doesn’t happen.” Cipher continues, uncaring of her silence. “Then it was a wraith going down the stairs and leaving the territory of the Class II Fracture to hunt her specifically.” He slouches back in his office chair, making it creak slightly from having too much force put on it at once. “And now she finds an original variant? The only Demonic Assault that nothing out of the ordinary happened was her third one! And even that one still had a Class IV Fracture open up!”

A few seconds pass in silence before Cipher just rests his forehead on his hands, leaning his elbows on the desk.

Just what is going on with that girl? It’s like she has both the worst luck in the world and the best since she keeps surviving and benefiting from it!

Eventually Sage finally speaks up, “Could it be possible that Lady White may be assisting her?”

Cipher’s head shoots up at that as his eyes widen, only for the look of realization to crash a second later as he lowers his head again and says, “No, that wouldn’t be possible. The System would know if White was helping her and wouldn’t give Scarlet any rewards.”

“Then what do you suggest is the reason for this?” Sage asks, making Cipher raise his head again with a frown and ask, “You think there’s something manipulating the Fracture’s she’s in? But…”

Cipher’s frown grows deeper.

If Sage is mentioning this, she’s probably gotten a vision or a prophecy of some sort. Meaning this is probably true. But how?

“The only way the System wouldn’t decrease Scarlet’s rewards for her accomplishments is if whoever is intervening isn’t helping her or even so much as weakening the demons at all,” Cipher mutters before narrowing his eyes. “So whoever is manipulating the Fractures is just directing the demons towards her without helping her at all.”

“You mean to say they’re trying to kill her?” Sage asks, a very faint frown emerging on her usually emotionless face.

Cipher purses his lips before shaking his head. “No. If they’re strong enough to manipulate a Fracture like that without being caught, then they’re strong enough to kill her with ease, also without getting caught.” The frown on Sage’s face grows, and her eyes widen as he finishes. “This is just a theory, mind you, but the only reason I can think of is that whoever it is believes that Scarlet can handle whatever they’re throwing her way and are just risking her death because of that belief.”

“So they’re trying to help her?” Sage asks, her face clearing up again rather quickly.

“In their own way,” Cipher says while leaning back in his chair and running a hand through his hair, showcasing his stress to his uncaring subordinate. “You yourself mentioned before that us being delayed was beneficial towards her, right?” Sage nods. “Then that’s gonna be the theory I’ll be running with now. But that then leaves the question of who could be doing this?”

“Lady White?” Sage asks, but Cipher shakes his head and outright denies that. “White wouldn’t be able to do something like that. It’s just not in her skills.”

Sure, she’d be able to wipe the demons off the face of the Fracture, along with the building itself, but she wouldn’t be able to direct the demons straight towards Scarlet. Not with any certainty of it working as planned. Not to mention that it’s not something she’d do. Just not something I can see her ever doing.

“Then who?” Sage once again asks, showing a hint of interest.

If not White, then who? Who could order demons around in a Fracture? Who could make a demon spawn as a variant? They’d have to be able to control the demons themselves and what demons manage to make it through into the Fracture from Tartarus…

Cipher’s eyes widen at that thought. But then he narrows them again and shakes his head.

No, that can’t be possible…

Sage shifts the documents in her arms before placing them on Cipher’s desk, attracting his attention as she asks, “What is it?”

Could Scarlet have some connection to the demons…? Wait, what about her ears? And her eyes?

Cipher frowns, ignoring the woman for the moment.

I don’t think I’ve ever heard of a Guardian having four ears after their reality warp. And come to think of it, she looks a little bit like… no, that’s not possible.

“What is it?” Sage repeats her question, sounding less patient this time despite talking to her boss.

“It’s just a possibility,” Cipher starts, speaking rather slowly. “But what do you think would happen if a human and a demon had a child?” Before Sage can immediately deny the possibility, Cipher raises his hand and stops her from voicing her denial. “Hear me out. What if a noble demon and a human had a child but sealed away the child’s demonic genes before they got the chance to begin devouring the human ones?”

Sage frowns at that.

The brief image of a memory long since buried in Cipher’s mind comes to the forefront. One of the last Class V Fracture that happened on Earth, where a Blood Lycan was seen fighting with White.

Assuming my memory isn’t failing me, Scarlet looks a lot like him… especially in the face. And her scowl. The same one he had the entire fight. Not as much as she looks like White though…

“If that happened, then I think it would be possible for the baby to survive, but it would certainly leave them with problems in their development,” Sage says rather clinically, having been a doctor herself before she became a Guardian.

“And what would happen if the baby were to grow up and then enter a Fracture when they’re an adult?” Cipher proceeds with his questioning while starting to get a very bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. “And are then offered a contract?”

Sage’s eyes widen and she slowly answers, “The Fracture would awaken the baby-now-adult’s demons side, while the contract may just save their life from the demonic genes’ dominance during the process of making them a Guardian.” But then she shakes her head and adds, “But this is mere theoretical hypothesis. There isn’t any actual proof that this could happen. Furthermore, the chances of a human and a noble demon breeding is extremely low, even if they’d even bother considering it.”

“Right,” Cipher says with a sigh before shaking his head as well. “It can’t be true.”

White hates the demons more than most after all. There would be no way that she would ever have a child of all things with one. Not to mention that a blood lycan of all things would never deign to lower itself to breeding with a ‘mere human being.’ Especially when the Demon King is currently a blood lycan.

Cipher leans forward over his desk again, having thrown out the possibility of Scarlet being half demon with those thoughts alone.

But… what if they did? Especially because if that’s not it, then who is manipulating the Fractures? And how?

After several seconds pass in silence, Cipher finally sighs and says, “Look into this for me.”

Sage nods her head and turns around to leave.

I just hope that we can find the culprit before they try anything too serious and get her hurt… because I don’t think I’ll be able to handle losing another one. Even if that far-fetched theory does turn out to be true. She’ll still be my little girl.