Prepare yourself

Both maids began methodically checking the warehouse filled with corpses. What they were truly searching for were traces of mana—any small, traceable remnants. But... 

Novah stopped for a moment, leaning down to pick something up off the ground. 

A fragment of a broken rune lay in her hand, faintly glowing with remnants of dark energy. 

"This isn't just a message," Novah said, studying the rune fragment with sharp eyes. "This... was deliberate. They knew exactly what they were doing." 

Viola approached, her brows furrowing as she examined the object in Novah's hand. "Runes? Radiating dark magic? That's not typical of werewolves or vampires... Curse Masters, perhaps?" 

"Could be..." Novah murmured, closing her hand around the fragment and carefully placing it in a small leather pouch. "This was done by someone... more refined. Whoever did this wasn't just trying to spread chaos. They were testing something."