The revelation that Master Veyra, Sage Arthan's former apprentice and the Guild's secret leader, was the true Phantom User solidified the enemy in Elias's mind. But even as he processed this, a new wave of fear washed over him. Mei Lin, his determined apprentice, was actively investigating his lies, trying to expose his connections to Magistrate Lian. He had armed her with knowledge, and now she was turning it against him.
She had been quiet, observing him, but the undercurrent of suspicion was palpable. Elias knew she wouldn't stay idle. He watched her, subtly, through the periphery of his senses, feeling the growing tension in her karmic signature.
And then, she made her move. Driven by a vengeful fire after her uncle's arrest, and her belief that Lian was blackmailing Elias, Mei Lin decided to strike back at what she perceived as Lian's influence. She had learned well the art of subtle manipulation, of nudging the Ledger to her will.
Working in secret, using the karmic loopholes Elias had taught her, she fed false data to Lian—or rather, to the Observer. She identified a specific, corrupt judge within the Bureau, a notoriously venal figure with a hidden history of taking bribes. Mei Lin meticulously fabricated a series of Ledger entries, meticulously designed to frame the judge as a "Guild target," a secret operative for the Alchemists' Guild who had recently "betrayed" his masters by attempting to expose their activities. Her intention was to make Lian, as part of his "blackmail" of Elias, "deal with" a corrupt official who was seemingly linked to the Guild. She wanted to expose what she saw as Lian's ruthlessness, unaware of the Observer's true nature.
The Observer, receiving Mei Lin's carefully curated information through Magistrate Lian's form, processed it. The corrupt judge's fabricated "treason" against the Guild, and his karmic signature, flagged him as a prime target for the Observer's mission to dismantle Guild influence.
The outcome was swift and brutal. Within hours, the corrupt judge vanished from the Bureau. No arrests were made, no public pronouncements. The Ledger simply erased his existence, his karmic record purged, his past wiped clean. Lian, unaware he was innocent, had summarily executed the judge, believing him to be a direct threat to the Ledger's purification.
Elias felt a wave of profound horror wash over him. He stared at the blank space in the Ledger where the judge's record had been, a stark testament to Mei Lin's unintended consequence. She had aimed for justice, for a controlled exposure of corruption, and instead, she had inadvertently condemned an innocent man to oblivion.
She came to him later, her face grim but resolute. "The judge is gone, Analyst Thorne," she stated, a flicker of grim satisfaction in her eyes. "Lian dealt with him. It proves he's dangerous. We have to be careful."
Elias could only nod, his voice caught in his throat. His blood ran cold. Mei Lin was learning too well. She was becoming a master of his own dark arts, but without the full understanding of the forces at play. He had created a dangerous, unpredictable variable, a tool that might one day cause more destruction than the enemies he sought to fight. The path he had set her on was spiraling out of his control.