Chapter 202 Aftermath... Part-3.


    ??''Butterfly effect… is that the reason why Alverto attacked?... there are too few clues… I will need to think about it further…'' (Rio)


    Rio shook his head and walked back downstairs, leaving Jin alone on the rooftop with his bottle of wine.


    After Rio left, Jin stopped drinking for a moment and nced at Rio''s retreating figure with narrowed eyes.


    ''This kid… how did he know that I will be sitting here drinking wine… he is a strange guy…'' (Jin)


    Jin brought out another bottle of wine from his space ring and opened its cap with a flick of his finger.


    He gulped down the wine and thought to himself.


    ''Rio and others…. are kids with promising futures, they don''t have a solid reason to betray humanity… the only individual who is the most suspicious is….'' (Jin)


    ''I will have to run an investigation…'' (Jin)


    …


    On the other side.


    Rio and others visited Zach''s grave one more time.


    They all prayed for Zach to rest in peace.


    Rio nced at the tombstone, the words written on it were.


    [Zachary Hunt, the hero of Oaklum lies here…]


    ''So they engraved it like this… If he was still alive, he would have been jumping around in happiness being called a hero… sigh…'' (Rio)


    ''The burden on my shoulder has increased once more…. Now, I have to kill that demon prince not only for the parents of this body… but also for your sake, Senpai…'' (Rio)


    ''Time sure changes fast, just a few days ago he wasughing with us, and now…'' (Rio)


    After a few more minutes the group slowly left Zach''s grave, only Riko stayed standing there in the end.


    She stared at Zach''s grave for a long time. She hadn''t slept since yesterday and the exhaustion from the fight made her eyes bloodshot.


    Zach''sst few words rang out in her mind again and again.


    ''I wasn''t able to protect anything again…'' (Riko)


    ''I wasn''t able to protect my own younger brother and now I even lost the person who resembled my brother the most….'' (Riko)


    Tears fell down from Riko''s bloodshot eyes. She was already too mentally exhausted by all that had happened.


    Alverto''s sinister voice as he gouged out Zach''s heart in front of her eyes, rang out in her head again and again as if reminding her of how powerless she was.


    ''He was killed right in front of my face… and I just stood there powerlessly… with how powerless I am…. Will I ever be able to achieve my goals…. Will I ever be able to do something for my loved ones….'' (Riko)


    The dark clouds in the sky started to pour down water, winds howled, and the loud sound of lightning rang out in the sky.


    The rain washed away Riko''s tears and the thundering sounds made her realize one thing.


    "Must Kill him!…. I will kill that demon!…. I will rip its heart apart just like that! I will eat your meat and boil your eyes in my own blood!… yes! No matter where you are! I will track you down!" (Riko)


    [Ding! The ''path'' has been strengthened further!]


    Immense hatred shed by on Riko''s face, she didn''t care about anything anymore.


    Her bloodshot eyes only knew one thing now and that was:


    "I will kill You! Demon Prince Alverto!" (Riko)


    [Ding! Strings of fate have been shaken by the immense hatred residing in your will!]


    [Ding! …??m??... got involved... your fate has been changed!]


    [Ding! Hidden destinies are subjected to change due to the immense hatred for the demon kind!]


    …


    The next day, Hotel Arya, Morning.


    Sitting around the dinner table, everyone had a solemn look on their face.


    Raji nced at Riya whose shoulders were dropped down and a look of sadness was stered on her face.


    "The reason why your healing magic and that high-rank healing potion didn''t work is because of ''Corruption''…" (Raji)


    Raji nced at Riya sitting on the opposite seat and said in a solemn tone, and all the students that were sitting near the table listened carefully to her words.


    "Although it is information that you will find out about at the ''Meeting of gods''ter, I guess it''s not a big deal if I tell it to you now…" (Raji)


    "Just make sure you don''t leak this information out, or you will get punished…" (Raji)


    Everyone nodded their head in agreement. They all knew how serious this topic was, they had seen Zach dying in front of them helplessly.


    All of them wanted to know the reason why healing magic didn''t work.


    Raji nodded her head at Jin and then started to exin:


    "You know what ''miasma'' is right? It''s a repulsive force that is the exact opposite of mana..." (Raji)


    "Mana is found in everything and everyone, even soil, and water, everything has a trace amount of mana residing in it…" (Raji)


    "But ''Miasma'' is different… it''s only present in trace amounts and generally only appears in ces where immense hatred collides…" (Raji)


    Unlike mana, Miasma is rarely encountered in this world.


    "There are two types of demons in this world… the first type are the ones that use mana… and the other type is the ones who use miasma as their power source…" (Raji)


    Raji raised her index finger and a ball of pure and condensed mana appeared above her finger.


    "As you already know, we canpress and condense mana to make it more pure and effective… same is true for ''Miasma''…" (Raji)


    Raji nced at the students and said in a solemn tone:


    "Just like this ball of pure mana, if you condense ''Miasma'' and make it pure enough, then you can create a ckish liquid substance…. That''s ''Corruption''…" (Raji)


    "Corruption is usually born from the condensation of ''miasma'', but there are many other ways for it to appear too…" (Raji)


    "For example… if you torture thousands of people and use some forbidden rituals to collect the power of hatred and pain from them… you can eventually create corruption…" (Raji)


    Raji''s eyes narrowed at this sentence.


    "Demons use this method very often… they even use their own kin for this…" (Raji)


    Raji then shook her head and said in a helpless tone.


    "Corruption is an extremely strong power, only those at S-


    rank or above can resist it properly, if anyone below S-rank gets infected by corruption… then they will have no way to get rid of it…" (Raji)


    "Even S-rank healers can get rid of corruption from someone''s body, but if the person''s soul will get ''corrupted'' then only an SS-rank healer can heal them back to full health…" (Raji)


    Raji nced at the empty seat nearby where Riko should have been sitting and sighed.


    "Zach was likely affected by ''corruption'' when that demon prince gouged his heart out… that demon prince must have injected corruption inside him on purpose…" (Raji)


    "There were no S-rank healers stationed at Oaklum… if Jin had arrived a bit earlier, then perhaps Zach''s life could have been saved… but in the end that demon was able to calcte the timing extremely well…" (Raji)


    "He knew that Riya would heal Zach in no time, that''s why he used corruption… Riya is still a Peak B-ranker… it''s too early for her to deal with corruption…" (Jin)


    Raji nodded her head at Jin''s statement. Then she nced at Riya who was feeling depressed.


    "You don''t need to me yourself, Riya… all the me is on us SS-rankers…" (Raji)


    "We were the ones who were not able to fulfill our duty of preventing a demon from entering the territory of the human race…" (Raji)


    "Indeed, I waste and didn''t arrive on time, that''s why you don''t need to me yourself…. As an SS-ranker all injustice that happens under my watch is my sin alone…" (Jin)


    Even after Jin and Raji''s continuous assurance, none of the students felt relieved, none of them felt that they had escaped the guilt.


    They all knew just how powerless they were in the face of that demon prince.


    Zach''s sudden death caused many subtle changes in the personality of all of them.


    They all decided to work harder and improve their strength so that they could one day stand up to protect their loved ones with pride.


    Riya who was being consoled by two SS-rankers, didn''t feel happy at all right now.


    This was the first time someone had lost his life under her watch, even when she tried to save that life with all her might it was useless.


    ''If it was Link who was infected by corruption... I would have not been able to save him…'' (Riya)


    The thought of not being able to save Link due to her own powerlessness was a wake-up call for Riya.


    ''No! I can''t let that happen at all costs!'' (Riya)


    A rare look of determination shed in her eyes.


    She clenched her fists and promised herself that she would work harder from now on. Those candies didn''t seem fragrant to her anymore.


    The only thing on her mind now was to improve herself.


    (Riya started to mature from that day onwards…)


    …


    …


    Author''s Notes.


    Yo! It''s your beloved author here! It seems that things have been set in motion, Zach''s death was a trigger that caused all of them to be more alert and determined.


    Question of the day.


    Which power would you like to choose?


    1.Mana


    2.Miasma


    3.Aura


    4.QI


    5.Others (Tell me in thements.)


    By the way, don''t forget to use those power stones and also leave a review if you like the story. Comment your opinion about the chapter. Your support is my motivation.