《My Multisystem In Isekai》


 Chapter 1 Prologue

    Pacer''s face grew red thinking about the mistake that he had made. In his entire career, this was the first time that he hadmitted such a blunder. Never before had such a scenario arisen that had made him look so unprofessional.


    He still remembered that he had done everything perfectly. This time, the method that he had used was one of the methods of killing that he relied on the most.


    Being a professional killer, it was a necessary for Pacer to have an arsenal of methods at your disposal so as to maintain anonymity.


    No one should be able to figure out the identity of the killer through the victims which is possible if one has the same method of killing because that would have been nothing more than a recipe for a good serial killer case.


    Pacer was a thorough professional who did not trust anyone with his equipment. Most of his killing tools were handmade and the rest was made under his supervision and were thoroughly tested before they were used. Therefore, his weapons had never failed him before this time.


    In this instance, Pacer had decided to use poison to deal with the boythat was his next victim. Therefore, he had brewed the poison himself.


    The poison was colorless and odorless and most importantly did not leave a trace of itself in the toxicology report so that it was impossible to be traced.


    Pacer had ensured that the poison was exactly the same as it should have been and had found no fault with it and yet it had failed to produce the desired result when he had mixed it in the boy''s coffee.


    He had not left the ce until he was sure that the boyhad finished it until the bottom of the cup was visible.


    The boywas named as Zavier Adam and it was supposed to be the name of his next victim, but on the contrary, even after drinking the potent poison the boywas still alive and kicking.


    Pacer didn''t know where to put his face at this moment because this was the first mistake that he had ever made in his entire assassination career.


    When he had received the offer for the murder of the kid, Pacer had acted all confident and mighty in front of the customer and had boasted of his assassination ability in front of them.


    He still remembered how confidently he had promised the client that he could make good on the deal within the week.


    Today was the day that he had designated as the deadline for this contract. Since he had messed up, he had to make up for it.


    As a professionally trained killer, he had to live up to the trust of his clients which was the most basic requirement of this trade.


    Also, this time the client that had entrusted him with the job had used remote means and hadn''t shown up in front of him so the entire me of the assassination would fall on him in case he was exposed.


    Pacer therefore wanted to avoid direct confrontation to avoid exposing himself and that was the reason for the failed poisoning.


    This was undoubtedly the biggest embarrassment of his entire career. Pacer had been unable to kill a boywho survived despite having drunk the coffee that had been spiked with poison by Pacer himself.


    To make up for the past mistakes, Pacer decided to take the risk of direct confrontation and wanted to use his own hands to deal with the boy.


    He knew that if he missed this time, he would lose all his fame and poprity in the assassinmunity, and it would be hard for him to get a job in the near future.


    Since he had decided to take on the risk, there was no way that Pacer was going to go in unprepared. He had been keeping an eye on the kid for 5 days before he had decided to go in for the first attempt which had ended in failure.


    Therefore, he had enough data regarding the routine of the boy, and he did not have to conduct reconnaissance once again.


    Knowing that the boywould be home by 7 in the evening and in bed by 10 o''clock, Pacer finally made up his mind. He decided to adopt the old-fashioned method of sneaking into the house to kill at night.


    This was undoubtedly a ssic method in the assassination books of the past, but the problem was that the risk of exposure in such a scenario was the greatest.


    There were countless unknowns and infinite variables that could interfere with the sessful execution of his assassination attempt, but he was past worrying about all that when his entire career was at stake.


    Pacer had chosen the bedroom of the boyas the venue for his final attempt. For that he had to be there before the kid coulde back and as such he had to sneak in before 7 o''clock. He would then stay hidden in the bedroom until the boycame to the bedroom to sleep before he made a move.


    Pacer felt ufortable using a method that was so vulnerable to external variables and influences.


    For example, the boymay decide to stay the night at his friends'' house for the night for no reason as it is with children, always so spontaneous. Or his parents might decide to take him away to meet some old rtive that they hadn''t seen in a million years.


    At this moment, Pacer was already riding the tiger and he had no way of getting off and could only continue with what he had nned beforehand. If there were some anomalies or external interference, the only thing that Pacer could do was improvised ording to the situation.


    Pacer sneaked into the bedroom of the boyas soon as the sun went down. It was close to 7o''clock.


    He climbed the wall outside the house using the water pipes andnded on the balcony. Thankfully, the residents of the house were not very keen on checking whether the windows were locked or not.


    The window to the balcony was unlocked and wasrge enough for him to infiltrate into the bedroom.


    Pacer felt that the goddess of luck was finally on his side. This was the first good thing that had happened to him all day. This boosted his morale and he finally felt confident in doing the job without exposing himself.


    Pulling open the window slowly and noiselessly, Pacer sneaked into the bedroom on tiptoes so as to not make any noise. The floor was wooden and had a tendency to make noise in the room exactly below this one.


    Pacer wanted to exercise caution so as to not rm anyone in the house at this time when he was so close topleting his goal.


    In his profession, he had waited for countless preys to fall into the traps he had set up, but he had never felt this nervous before. Every second that passed seemed to be taunting him.


    The three hours felt longer than he had imagined, but he had no way of retreat now even if he wanted to.


    There was no sound in the room other than that of his own breathing and the ticking of the lonely clock in the room. The whole situation felt exceedingly novel to Pacer who had never experienced such a method before.


    All his jobs had beenpleted perfectly without him having to lie in wait like this which was a new experience for him.


    Lying under the bed, Pacer could not help but nce at the digital watch on his arm. The closer he got to the appointed time, the slower the time seemed to move which frustrated Pacer to no end.


    After a long and frustrating period of wait, the door finally opened, and someone came into the room. Pacer who had previously been lying there like the dead, felt as if electricity had run through his body in that instant. He became alert instantly and focused on the intruder.


    It was none other than his target. He was obviously happy that his n seemed to be going smoothly.


    The boywas unaware that a killer was inconspicuously lying beneath his bed at that moment. It was funny, how everyone in their childhood at one point thought that there was a monster living beneath their bed.


    Maybe it was a phase that came in the life of every child, but at this moment the childhood nightmare was yed out in real, but the boythat was being targeted waspletely unaware of the danger. If only he had not outgrown the "crying out for monster under the bed" phase, the so-called n of the reputed killer would have fallen apart on the spot. Like stated before, the ssic murder n was full of holes and prone to the infinite possibilities of deviation.


    The boywas carrying a bag which he ced on the study table. The steps were unhurried but not exactly firm. He was staggering towards the bed as if fatigued from all that he had done during the day.


    When he reached near the bed, he fell face forward onto the bed andy there like the dead for some time without a sound. Pacer kept an ear out for any movement in order to wait for the opportune moment when the boyfell asleep.


    The sound of his breathing was not consistent with that of a person that was asleep. That meant that the boyhad only closed his eyes for a moment and was not intending to sleep. This frustrated Pacer even further.


    Soon there was a knock at the door and after a moment the door opened with a creaking noise. Pacer had the impulse to p himself in the face for choosing such a method of assassination out of the hundreds of ways avable.


    This time the person who hade in appeared to be a young girl. As soon as she entered, she asked in a loud voice, "Brother are you awake?"


    Pacer finally couldn''t stop himself from facepalming himself. He muttered to himself, "You still have the face to ask? How shameless? Even if he was asleep, how could he have stayed asleep after your round of screaming?"


    The boyseemed to be waiting for the girl as he immediately sat up after hearing the voice of the young girl. Pacer on the other hand had no choice but to listen to the conversation of the two.


    "Of course, I am awake. How could I sleep after promising to chat with you tonight?"


    The young girl couldn''t help but giggle upon hearing his response. She always loved it when her brother pampered her like that.


    "Brother you seem very tired. We can talkter if you want."


    Even though the girl had uttered the sentence that the boywanted to hear, he also noticed the crestfallen expression of the girl at the same time.


    Even though he wanted nothing more than to sleep at that moment, he could not bear to disappoint his younger sister who had been looking forward to this.


    "No, no I am perfectly all right. You don''t need to go. I am only feeling a little drowsy."


    From the tone of her voice, it was easy for Pacer to deduce that the girl did not want to keep talking about the same topic. She seemed quite disinterested in the overall conversation generally.


    As if to prove him right, the girl soon diverted the topic towards magic. Herughter rang out in the room as soon as the topic of the conversation was to her liking.


    The previously uninterested girl could not be stopped and was showering him with questions; some of which he was able to answer and some he couldn''t.


    The girl on the other hand didn''t linger on a question any longer than necessary. She was only interested in keeping the conversation going and not in getting answers.


    Boy was very tired, and his eyelids were getting droopier by the second. The young girl failed to notice that detail and continued in the same happy go lucky tone.


    On one hand the boy was very tired and on the other hand he didn''t want to disappoint the girl, so he kept going with the conversation that was revolving around magic.


    When he couldn''t go on anymore the boy finally stopped the young girl mid-sentence.


    "This is it for today. Go back to your room and sleep now. We will continue from here tomorrow."


    The girl let out a low growl that seemed to indicate her dissatisfaction with how the boy was turning her away.


    "Only if you show me how to do an illusion."


    The young girl sounded especially determined. The young girl seemed very interested in illusion and wanted him to teach her some illusion spells.


    That''s why she had been pestering her brother every time she saw him. Finally, he had agreed on showing her some basic illusion tricks today.


    Pacer was unable to see his performance from his viewing angle but from the excited voice of the girl it seemed to be something very amazing.


    After this the young girl insisted on seeing it again but was snubbed away by the boy in a light manner. The girl reluctantly left the room while stomping her feet. Even the assassin hidden under the bed could see that the girl was only feigning anger and wasn''t truly angry with the boy.


    As soon as she left, the breath that Pacer had been holding until then was released. He had been very stressed out thinking that the girl would be the ruin of his ns.


    After the momentary excitement and relief, the assassin went back to his previous job that entailed endless waiting and unnecessary stress.


    The boy on the other hand seemed worry free as he didn''t even blow out the candles before going to sleep. He was still in his clothes that he had worn during the day and had fallen asleep in them without even knowing.


    It was this moment when Pacer knew that his opportunity had arrived. He hadin in wait only to seize this opportunity. He noiselessly crawled out of the bed on all fours like a frog that had forgotten to jump and had made his peace with crawling like a bug.


    From his breath, Pacer had already known that the boy was asleep, but he still wanted to make sure that he had not been deceived. One look at the boy and he knew that the boywas out cold for good.


    He had long since decided on the method that he was going to use for killing the boy. It was another ssic method that was also his personal favourite in such close quarter assassinations, strangling.


    This way there were close to zero chances of being found out since there was no blood stter.


    Pacer didn''t want to waste any more time and put his hands round the neck of the boy and gently gave a twist after applying some pressure.


    It could be seen that he was extremely skilled in the way he executed the task. There was no chance for the boy to scream out and almost zero chances of him escaping the ordeal.


    After having done the deed, Pacer looked at his masterpiece for a while to make sure that the task wasplete this time for sure.


    After nodding to himself with satisfaction at the perfectly carried out job, he was about to leave when he heard footsteps outside the door.


    The footsteps seemed to be quite light like that of a young boy. In that moment he was sure that the young girl from before hade back.


    It was like his death star hade back like a boomerang to take away all his happiness.


    Pacer wanted to strangle the little girl as well for always getting in his way, but he didn''t want to make it any messier than it already was.


    Soon the young girl knocked on the door once again.<sub> </sub>


    Pacer knew that she was going to enter the room soon, so he scrambled to take the body of the boy and hid him under the bed alongside him while waiting for the death star to go back.


    The young girl skipped into the room but found it empty and no signs of the resident inside. She found it strange because the boyhad told her that he was sleepy but now he was not even in the room and his bed was empty.


    "Umm¡­Where could he have gone? Is he in the bathroom?"


    The girl was talking out loud to herself while specting the position of the boy.


    She moved and checked the attached bathroom but found it to be empty as well.


    "I didn''t see him go out as well. Did he sneak out the window or something? Let''s check once again."


    She immediately rushed out of the room in the hopes of finding the boy while the murderer was lying under the bed with the only witness of his crime, the victim.


    This time the footsteps he heard wereparatively heavier as if the girl was running around the house in search of the boy.


    It wasn''t long before she returned to his room to check whether he had returned or if she had left some ce unturned.


    As she was pacing around the room in an attempt to locate the boy who seemed to be hiding from her, she idently knocked a copper coin that was lying on the bedside table.


    "Oops!"


    During all this pandemonium, the heart of Pacer had almost given out due to how close he had been to being found out by the young girl. She was practically bouncing around him and each step closer to him was an increment to his mental stress and a reminder of the unprofessionalism he had shown today.


    This coin was thest thing that he wanted to see. He was afraid that his time hade. He was about to be found out by the girl.


    He prayed to whatever gods there might be for the first time in his life. He prayed so that the girl might not look at the bottom of the bed while picking up the coin.


    This was contrary to his usual practice which was based on well nned and well executed strategies. This deviation from routine that had led him to this point was bound to create adverse situations for him.


    The girl bent down to pick up the coin and at the same time someone under the bed almost screamed in fear but managed to hold it in.


    Pacer first saw pink hair that fell down like a cascading waterfall, followed by a snow-white palm that came into his view once the girl tried to pick up the coin.


    Before his heart could give out under the intense pressure and stress, a voice rang in the house that attracted the attention of the young girl.


    The housekeeper was calling for someone and the young girl responded with a loud scream in return as if everyone in the house was deaf or something.


    "COMING!!"


    The girl paused her bending motion midway and stood up to respond to the call of the middle age voice.


    ording to his reconnaissance the voice belonged to the elderly housekeeper of the house. Pacer thanked her in his heart iming that she was none other than the goddess of fortune who had finally decided to look his way.


    Pacer knew that it was the only chance that he was going to get before someone else came in. He had to make sure to get out of this ce that gave him worse goosebumps than any horror show he had been to.


    As soon as he tried to rush out of the tiny space under the bed, his clothes seemed to be stuck somewhere. He tried to get rid of it but once he reached the root of it, he was devastated. His clothes had been clutched by histest victim in his hand even after death.


    It seemed that the boy was determined to take his killer with him to the underworld. The boy was holding his clothes with so much strength that it was impossible for Pacer to get rid of the death like grip in a short time window.


    He juggled and struggled with the dead body for a while before finally getting rid of his clutches. As soon as he broke free, he had the mind to leave the house but once again footsteps arrived towards the door.


    Pacer''s soul seemed to be sinking into a deep chasm. The death star hade back. He didn''t have to guess why she had returned. He knew that she hade back to pick up the coin that she had dropped and hadn''t had the time to pick up.


    If it was any other time, Pacer might have praised her thinking, "What a diligent girl." But at this moment he wanted her to be a cker, he needed her to be.


    Once again Pacer could see the pink hair fall followed by the arrival of the snow-white palm.


    This time there was nothing that could have saved him. He only prayed in his heart that the girl would not deign to look under the bed.


    Perhaps it was his prayers, or thedy luck was really smiling on him that the young girl barely even nced at his direction and directly stood up after picking the coin up.


    Pacer could finally let out a sigh as if his body had been bathed with a bucket full of relief. He really hoped that such a fortune could continue to stay by his side until the end of all this fiasco after which he will be able to leave this all behind in the past.


    But the next second, his face changed. He cursed himself for rxing too early. The coin that she had just picked up once again fell with a nging sound and started to roll forward in his direction.


    He wanted to shout for it to at least change direction but how could the coin understand his pain. The coin continued to growrger in his vision until it finally stopped right in front of his nose perfectly under the bed.


    Pacer was in shock. He couldn''t believe how fast thedy luck had betrayed him. It didn''t take more than a second.


    This time his whole body started to shake and tremble in the anticipation of what wasing next. Just a single scream from the girl was enough to ruin his life.


    But what could he have done at this juncture? He could only look towards her in shock as she stopped at the edge of the bed and started to bend down. The familiar pink hair were the herald of death and destruction in the eyes of the helpless assassin.


    He couldn''t help but think how miserable his end was going to be. This time the view didn''t just stop with her palm. He witnessed her chin that was as fair as her palm followed by her slightly pouting lips as if she was being forced to do a chore.


    Soon the thin and shapely nose came into view and Pacer wanted to close his eyes in anticipation of the scream that was doomed toe but managed to hold himself steady being the professional assassin that he was.


    Before the two pair of eyes could meet, a teenage boy''s voice sounded out from towards the door that made the girl spring back to her feet whileughing.


    She moved like the wind and was directly in front of the source of the teenage voice in a jiffy.


    She showed a pouty expression andined to the teenager like young kids often do when they want their parents to spoil them.


    "Where did you go just now? I have been looking all over the house for you. I couldn''t find you anywhere. I even checked your room twice because I didn''t see you move out of the room after I left."


    What no one expected was that at this time there was someone who was even more excited than the young girl. The assassin hidden under the bed had just had his life saved by the unknown teenage boy.


    If he hadn''t called for the young girl at the time that he did, Pacer would already have been found out by everyone. He would have lost everything, his career, his fame and probably his life too.


    The teenage boy was no less than a godsend angel for him at this time. No one could have felt this more than Pacer.


    Taking advantage of this godsent opportunity Pacer decided to get out of this death trap of a house since he had already gotten rid of the target earlier.


    The only thing standing between his escape and his freedom was that young girl that hade in his life like the herald of misfortune and gue.


    Pacer was waiting for her to leave. Only once she left would the teenage boy leave which would be the time that Pacer was waiting for.


    "I didn''t go anywhere. I was right here the whole time. Where have you been looking all this time? Are you sure you aren''t sleep walking?"


    "Of course not. Who do you think I am? Would I lie to you for something like this?"


    "Well then how would you say I aming from the outside when the front gate was still locked?"


    "I don''t know how. Maybe you used magic."


    "OR you are sleep walking and you don''t even know what you saw. Don''t cause trouble anymore."


    The teenage boy looked like he was teasing the young girl. The young girl obviously retorted but the boy was adamant at his statement. The girl was soon put off and was eventually convinced by him.


    The girl felt that she might just have failed to look properly or what he said might just be true because she was indeed feeling sleepy.


    "Go back to your room to sleep. We can talk about this tomorrow as well."


    The girl reluctantly nodded her head and replied in a low tone as if she was still confused about everything that had just happened.


    "Hmm¡­I will listen to you then¡­good night, Zavier."


    As soon as she left, Pacer wanted to get out of the bed and dance with joy. In his joy he even forgot to listen to theplete conversation between the two. He was only perfunctorily listening in but was more focused on the joy that he would feel once he got out of this hell hole.


    Before he could feel any of that joy, there was an itch at the back of his mind that wouldn''t let him feel at ease. It was like the feeling when something at the back of the mind told you that you had forgotten something.


    Nine out of ten times the feeling turned out to be true in the end because it was always the subconscious mind that tried to give a reminder that some important things had been forgotten. In the same way, he constantly felt that something was wrong, very wrong.


    He didn''t have to wait long to notice it. When his focus returned to him, he saw it very clearly. The door of the bedroom was being bolted from the inside.


    The teenage boy that was supposed to leave with the young girl was nowhere close to leaving. On the contrary, he was standing in the middle of the room and had bolted the room from the inside.


    "What the hell is He doing here now? How can he stay in the room of someone else?"


    While Pacer was busy cursing the intruder, the teenage boy busied himself with rearranging some things on the bedside table.


    At this moment Pacer was more confused than he was angry. ording to what he had deduced from his almost week-long reconnaissance, there was no other boy in the house other than his target. How could there be such a person on the day he chose to pull off the job?


    He once again cursed his bad luck for bringing in another disaster.


    Before he could start wailing and cursing his poor fate, some gear that was still stuck suddenly clicked and fell into ce in his mind. The information that he had subconsciously put at the back of his mind yed like a reel in a cinema.


    The information that he had just processed brought him a shock that was enough to put him into aa for the rest of his life. The girl that had been like the death scythe hanging over his head the entire time had said something while leaving.


    "¡­good night, Zavier¡­"


    He reyed the same voice in his head countless times just to make sure that it sounded right since he couldn''t believe that he would make such a mistake once again. If the teenage boy was Zavier that who was the boy that he had just killed and whose body was lying cold next to him.


    Pacer was close to freaking out. He still remembered that he had made sure that the boy was Zavier before he had killed him, the same boy that he had been tasked to target by the client.


    He had not been in a hurry and had taken his time to identify the target before moving on to breaking his neck. He had handled everything quite professionally and there was no ce for error in there.


    But the result was quite the opposite and quite evident to boot. The young girl had clearly called someone else Zavier. There couldn''t have been two kids with the same name.


    So, either he had made a career breaking mistake once again or the girl was hallucinating.


    Even though he had convinced himself that the problem should have been with the girl, and there was nothing that he had done wrong during the course of this assassination. The biggest of all problems still remained, the teenage boy was still in the room.


    Whether he was Zavier or not did not matter because whoever this teenage boy was, he was blocking his way to freedom.


    Pacer was deciding whether to reveal himself to the teenager so as to ascertain whether the boy was Zavier or the dead body lying beside him was Zavier.


    In case the boy was proved to be Zavier, he could finish the job at the spot. And on the other hand, if the boy turned out to be someone else, he could just leave after knocking him out.


    Suddenly during this contemtion, Pacer felt a cold breath at the back of his neck as if a prehistoric beast was about to pounce on top of him the very next second.


    It felt to him that there was something dangerous lurking behind his back and as soon as he dared to look back, he would be devoured and even his bones wouldn''t be left behind. He was afraid to look, afraid that it might be something that he was unwilling to see or unable to bear.


    The dreary situation was giving him goosebumps. All his hair was standing on end in fear of what was behind him. In the end the curiosity won over the fear in his heart, and he slowly turned his head towards his back with some difficulty, as if doing that was to bear the pain of a thousand cuts.


    The first thing that he saw was a pair of pitch-ck eyes staring straight at him as if looking deep into his soul.

 Chapter 2 Zavier

    Ever since he was born Zavier had been consistently in the clutches of a life-threatening disease that was bound to take his life before he ever reached his prime.


    ? A congenital heart disease since birth could pretty much take the joy out of one''s life. Same was the case with Zavier who had no way to live like a normal person for as long as he had been alive.


    What he had been doing could hardly be called living at all since it was devoid of all the basic joys of life. His life wasparable to a constant reel of sadness, grief, and hopelessness with no streak of hope in between.


    Many doctors had been consulted regarding his case but there was no one who could give him even a little bit of hope. All the doctors had reached a consensus regarding the grace period that he had been awarded by the heavens. Eighteen years was deemed to be the absolute limit of his life. No doctor could tell him that he could live beyond Eighteen years of age and yet he did not lose hope.


    Living each day in constant fear of whether there would be another day or not could be the biggest torture of them all and yet Zavier was living this bleak life while holding on to the hope of a better life.


    Zavier like other children his age was very eager for the life of a normal person his age. He wanted to go for a walk, run around, see ces with his own eyes that he had seen only through screens.


    But owing to the restrictions imposed on him by his disease, all his life he had never even gone beyond the hospital grounds. He had spent almost all his time lying in bed waiting for a miracle.


    But the heavens never took pity on him, and the most anticipated miracle never came. The night before he was supposed to turn eighteen, Zavier finally could not hold on to his life any longer and departed for the yellow springs.


    --------------------


    In hisst moments Zavier remained delirious due to his body that was pumped full of anaesthetic drugs to keep him in a muddled state that numbed the pain. He could feel himself slowly drifting away.


    Zavier had always fantasized how his death would be. The best theory that he hade up with was that there would suddenly be nothing and there would be endless darkness like when you are about to go to sleep.


    He had heard from others that your life yed out in front of your eyes once you were close to death. He felt that this recollection of all the memories of one''s life might have been a good way to go out for the others when their life came to an end.


    But for him, even that would have been another picture of sorrow and misery since in his entire life there was not a single moment of happiness or something that could be regarded as passably happy or joyous.


    So, in the end he concluded that for him, the end would be just a dark abyss and nothing else as there was nothing for him to recall. No happy moments, no beautiful rtionships, no smiling faces, no recollection just darkness.


    But the reality of it blew his mind in its entirety. What he had regarded as the dead end turned out to be a journey to the beyond. What he could never have done while living, he could finally experience after death.


    His soul after it had left his body, didn''t scatter and neither was it plunged into the depths of a dark abyss. Instead, it travelled to the void in space where there was nothing, nothing at all.<sub> </sub>


    But even amidst the nothingness, there was a voice that seemed to be calling out to Zavier softly. He was stunned. He couldn''t believe that something could exist out here in the middle of nothingness.


    The voice started to increase in amplitude as his soul continued to move across the void seemingly heading for a predetermined destination.


    "Zavier¡­"


    Soon Zavier could clearly hear the voice and at the same time he made sure that he was not hallucinating and everything that was happening was real. The voice that he had thought to be a part of his hallucination up until that moment turned out to be something real that was actually calling out to him.


    He was wondering whether the person that was calling out to him was someone he knew.


    Zavier was somewhat scared as to who it might have been because all his life, he had never left the hospital grounds. He did not know many people either.


    "Zavier¡­"


    The voice sounded out again at regr intervals as if guiding his soul towards itself like a beacon that constantly ryed the right path to the travellers.


    It didn''t take long for him to stop at a ce that to him still seemed like the middle of nowhere.


    The next time the voice sounded, it felt to him that the voice was right in front of him but visually he could not find anything.


    Suddenly an idea struck his mind and fit urately like thest piece of the puzzle.


    "Are you God?"


    There was no response from the voice at first as if it was only programmed to call out his name at regr intervals but then the voicemunicated with him as if it was another person.


    "Hmmm¡­well the idea that you have is correct. The function of both of us is the same but the way you have given me a physical entity through your words is not right. The humannguage is too limited. Its words are not enough to depict the existence that I am. But if you want to think of me in terms of human terms you can call me the nerve centre of everything in the universe. Or better yet, ''the cosmic consciousness''."

 Chapter 3 The Cosmic Consciousness

    Zavier who had recently died was hardly able to feel the extraordinary nature of what was happening to him. All the concepts of death that he had previously had or had studied previously during his life had been rendered null and void at this time.


    He couldn''t help himself from asking whether all of it was real or not. His mind was unable to ept what was happening right in front of him. He thought that all of this might have been an borate dream or something.


    Previously he had read somewhere that whatever you think about during the day, chances are that you might have a rted dream at night andtely all he had done was fantasize about the various ways he could die in and the things that would happen to him after death.


    That''s why he had to get rid of the confusion by directly rting his worries to ''the cosmic consciousness''.


    "Is this happening for real? If I am still dreaming, you better tell me right now."


    "Depends on the definition of reality. If we are talking in human terms, then yes what you are experiencing is all really happening."


    Zavier seemed to have been relieved of a huge burden all of a sudden. In reality, he didn''t want to have to go through all the pain of dying all over again.


    The curious bone in Zavier was jolted awake and he wanted to know more about what happened after death.


    "Is this where all the dead soulse after the death of the person on earth?"


    "No"


    "Then where do they go if not here?"


    "Is that really the question that you want to ask right now? Is it the time to be concerned about what others experience?"


    The voice of the ''cosmic consciousness'' seemed to be teasing him like an elder of the household when lecturing a mischievous a young one.


    Zavier hesitated for a while showing his inner struggle. After a while, his gaze looked determined and clear as if he had already decided on the path ahead.


    "If the others don''t go through the same process, then why am I here? Is it because I did something wrong?"


    "Because the life that you experienced was full of misery and sorrow. I have seen how miserable of a life you have led until your eventual death. The injustice that you have suffered from, during your whole life have led to this current situation.


    Since you didn''t get to live your life like all the other souls that were given the gift of life, there must be somepensation for you. As such I am responsible for giving you a choice."


    "What choice?"<sub> </sub>


    Zavier was a little apprehensive at the moment. He had never felt so nervous in his entire life even when the doctors had said that he wouldn''t survive the night. But at this moment he was so nervous that he was hardly able to form a coherent thought let alone a sentence.


    He didn''t know what kind of a choice it was going to be but from the solemn tone of the collective consciousness, he was sure that it was something of paramount importance, something life changing.


    "It isn''t a difficult choice if you know what you want. You don''t have to be afraid."


    Zavier knew that he had been seen through by the entity that he wasmunicating with at the moment. He decided to go through with it as soon as possible so that he didn''t have to feel the same ufortable feeling anymore.


    "I am ready. What is it that I have to choose?"


    "You have to choose whether you want to be reborn or not."


    Zavier felt as if a hundred-pound sack had hit him right in the face. He was shocked to hear the options that he had to choose from at first because the concept of rebirth was something unheard of, but then he thought that it wasn''t a choice at all for him.


    He didn''t want to live such a horrible life again. He was sure that no matter how many times he was asked to choose, his answer would not have changed. Because once you have tasted hell, there was no way you would jump into it out of your own volition again.


    Zavier after the initial shock came back to his senses and maintained a calm expression as if all this was happening to someone else and he was just a passer-by because he already knew what he wanted. He didn''t want to face the same situation of scrounging for hope in the middle of an ocean of hopelessness every day for another lifetime.


    He opened his lips to utter the answer that was at the tip of his tongue but restrained himself due to a sudden feeling in his heart.


    Almost subconsciously he asked aloud from the collective consciousness something that he dare not have high hopes about.


    "I want to ask something before I tell you, my choice."


    "Feel at ease to ask anything that you aren''t sure about."


    "I want to ask whether I will get a healthy body once I choose to be reborn."


    Zavier seemed to have expended a lot of his energy in just asking this question while keeping his hopes low.


    "Naturally you will get a healthy body as apensation for all the hardships you have endured during your previous life but the world that you will be reborn in will be different from the one that you are used to. It will be apletely different world."

 Chapter 4 Reborn

    Zavier could not believe what he had just heard. Could there be such a good thing that was reserved for someone as miserable and unlucky as himself?


    He was filled to the brim with excitement and thrill. Almost instantly his choice had changed. If he was going to have a healthy body in his next life, then there was absolutely nothing to hesitate about. He could finally do all the things that he had longed to do in hisst life but had never had the chance to.


    Before he could utter his answer that was in the positive this time, the collective consciousness beat him to the punch.


    "Not only this, but you also have the opportunity to choose a system that will guide you in the new world that you will be reborn in. All these systems are unequalled and will help you reach the peak of the world. This way you can experience the joy of living to the utmost so that you can experience this side of life as well. Think of it as thepensation for having led such a horrendously miserable life."


    Zavier was unable to take it all in. At first, he was still gloomy about the choice that he had to make but all of a sudden, the collective consciousness had showered him with the boons and blessings that it had previously been hiding from him.


    Zavier at that moment wanted to curse the cosmic consciousness for taking this long to get to the point.


    "What options do I have this time?"


    The cosmic consciousness took some time to exin the concept of the systems to Zavier who was still not particrly clear regarding what a system actually was.


    After finding out that the system was the key to evolution to the peak of the world, Zavier was unable to hold himself back and asked for his options once again.


    "There are various paths to choose from. Each corresponding path has a respective system that you can choose from. As such what you have to do is to choose a path that you intend to explore to the extreme in the next life and the system will be your guide. The paths that lie ahead of you are Magus, Mesmer, Dragon knight, Necromancer, Tamer, Hunter, Vampire, Werewolf, and many more."


    Zavier was unable to bring himself to choose.


    "Which one of these is the best one?"


    "All of these paths are capable of taking you to simr height in your next life. You don''t need to think that there is something that is worse than the other. For example, the Magus system can help you reach the peak of the world through the understanding of magic while the Alchemist system can help you be the greatest alchemist of all times in the history of the world. No matter what path you choose, you will have the potential to tread the path that no one has ever been to."


    Zavier had missed out on all the things that he thought were worth experiencing in his past life. Seeing all these paths in front of him, he was unable to bring himself to choose just one of them and let go of all the others.


    This would have left him with regret that he would never be able to let go of. He therefore decided to take another gamble even though he felt ashamed doing so.


    The chance that cosmic consciousness had already given him was already more than enough, but he wanted to try to get some more benefit out of it, as is human nature.<sub> </sub>


    "Ca¡­can I make a request?"


    The voice of Zavier was somewhat timid at the beginning but then became somewhat steadfast.


    "Let''s listen to it first."


    "All my life I only had things that I missed out on or things that I wanted to do but was never able to due to my health condition. I have had to choose between my health and having fun and enjoying life. That''s not much of a choice. Now choosing between these systems makes me feel as if I am missing out on so much potential, so much experience, so much fun and so many opportunities. If it is possible, I want to choose all of them. ording to what you said the end point of each system is the same and I will have the potential to reach the peak of the world then it wouldn''t matter much if I had just one or all of them at the same time."


    The cosmic consciousness was silent for a while after hearing his request as if it was taking its time to consider whether the request was feasible or outrageously inconsiderate.


    If Zavier had been alive at this time, then he would have been sweating like crazy due to how nervous he was at this time.


    "For what you have experienced in your past life, it isn''t at all too excessive to grant your request."


    As soon as the words of the cosmic consciousness fell, Zavier heard repetitive ding* sounds and a holographic screen appeared in front of him which disyed a message text with each ding* sound.


    [Zavier Adams is now recognized by the Multi-system]


    [You have learned the self-cloning technique]


    [You can now create a clone of yourself that has the attributes as yourself]


    "You need to understand that each of these systems is incredibly vast, and one body is unable to incorporate all these systems at the same time. The moment you learned the multi-system, you were also given a gift that will allow you to create clones of yourself. If you want to make use of the potential of each of these systems, you have to make clones of yourself so that each can follow a different path. This will help you realize the glory that each of these systems can bring you."


    The words of the cosmic consciousness were the same as what the system screen messages showed him.


    "Now that you have chosen, it is time for you to be reborn."

 Chapter 5 Choose

    Zavier knew that this void was only a momentary stop, a transition point in between his past and next life. He only had the time to thank the cosmic consciousness before he felt his mind spin as if in a whirlpool that was trying to tear it apart. He felt intense pain in his head which caused him to nk out at some point.


    He couldn''t remember exactly when the world stopped spinning and he finally came to his senses but when he woke up, he was in an unfamiliar body with an unfamiliar set of memories. This freaked him out somewhat.


    He had never thought that the rebirth mentioned by the cosmic consciousness meant taking over someone else''s body like an invader. He felt ufortable doing something like that. It felt somehow evil to him.


    It took some effort on his part to acknowledge that the body that he was in had belonged to someone else previously. But he still couldn''t get used to the fact that the face that he was used to seeing in the mirror every day would have to change from that moment onwards as if he had be someone else.


    Not only was he taking over his appearance, but he was also taking over all the previous owner''s memories, his life, his rtionships, his enmities and all his struggles.


    The first thing that Zavier did when he could finally understand the scenario that he was in was that he scoured through all the memories of the previous owner in an attempt to understand the new world that he had arrived to and the kind of life that the previous owner had led.


    As soon as he tried to understand the memories of the previous owner, they started pouring into his brain like an unbarred flood or an unstoppable avnche. Before he knew it, he was fast forwarding through the life of the previous Zavier Adam. This was the name of the previous owner of the body that Zavier was currently upying.


    After taking some time to process all the information stored in the memories of the previous owner, Zavier was finally able to put together some basic information regarding his new identity.


    The previous owner was named Zavier Adam and was about 18 years old, same age as he would have been if he hadn''t died in his past life.


    The cosmic consciousness had really made it look like he had started over from where it had all ended for him in the past life.


    Zavier Adam had no parents as the both of them had died in a war in the past when he was very young. Due to that, he had been living in the vi of his uncle Val Adam.


    Val Adam was a marquess who was usually busy in the political circle. Social calls, political conferences, devolving emerging conspiracies and insurgencies, running campaigns, and ruling his territory took up most of his time. This was the reason that the Marquees was rarely home.


    The only ones who were left in the house were three of his rtives, two cousins and an aunt. One of his cousins was older than him and was named Kacie who was 19 years old, a year older than him. The younger cousin was a year younger than him and was named as Nadia.


    The aunt was quite young and was only 2 years older than Zavier. She was named Vrie.


    Other than these three rtives there were also two more individuals in the house. One was a maid who was the same age as Zavier and the other was an old butler who had long since entered his mid-forties and had been the butler of the household for the most of his life.


    The bedroom where he had opened his eyes was exquisitely decorated. Anyone who could have witnessed such a sight would have definitely thought of how grandly and elegantly the room had been arranged.


    Each and every decoration seemed costly and was likely to be unavable to themoners throughout their life for theck of necessary funds.


    Just his bedroom was enough to determine that the family that was currently sheltering him was an aristocratic family and not only that but also the status of the Marquess was definitely not low in the Kingdom. He must have been very high up the food chain for being able to divulge in such extravagance.<sub> </sub>


    He could not help but thank the cosmic consciousness once again for giving him not only a healthy body this time but also a rich family background so that he would have a good starting point.


    Zavier then decided that it was time for him to activate the multi-system once again. He had to embark on his path towards the peak as soon as possible. He was iparably excited.


    He tried to remember how to start the system and felt iparably foolish for not asking the cosmic consciousness about how to start the so-called multi-system. Thest time it had happened on its own.


    Before he could start cursing on in the inside, he heard a familiar ding* sound and with it came the familiar screen.


    [User Zavier Adam is wee to the Multi-system]


    [What system would you like to choose first?]


    Zavier thought for a while but wanted to start all the systems at the same time. He didn''t want most of his systemsgging behind the ones he chose.


    "I want to start all the systems at once." Zavier said to the system out loud as a probing attempt.


    [The user''s brain capacity does not meet the minimum standard for activating all the systems at once.]


    [User is advised to rethink his decision.]


    "What would happen if I continued with my decision and decide to activate all the systems at once?"


    [The user''s mind would be rendered useless, unable to calcte the smallest of things. It may also affect bodily function because most of the brain capacity of the brain would be utilized in managing the systems.]


    What the system said about the bodily function was thest nail on the coffin. What he was most afraid of was another life of disability and sickness. As soon as the system told him the consequences, Zavier decided to listen to the advise of the system without a second thought.


    "Then what do you suggest is my limit?"


    [User is advised to start with two systems first. That is what your brain can handle without affecting the normal working at the moment. This will also help your in familiarizing yourself with the operation of the systems first. Only with the basic understanding of the systems can you begin to develop them further in the right direction.]


    Zavier this time felt that the advise of the system seemed quite reasonable and logical this time and agreed at the spot.


    The only dilemma that he was stuck in this time was the systems that he was going to choose first.

 Chapter 6 Magus And Mesmer

    After careful deliberation and scrutinization and following aplex elimination process using the maximum of his brain capacity, Zavier finally decided to take up the Magus system and the Mesmer systems first.


    [Are you sure that you want to activate the Magus System?]


    "Yes"


    Following his response was a series of dings* that he was unable to keep up with.


    [The Magus system has been sessfully activated.]


    [User is now able to use some basic magic rted skills. The percentage of sess will increase with more proficiency. Current proficiency of all skills is 0.01%.]


    [User has learnt Magic Sense.]


    [User is now able to feel the existence of magic around him to some extent. Proficiency can be raised bying into contact with magic more frequently and by using magic rted skills more often. Current proficiency = 0.01%]


    [User has learnt Float]


    [User is now able to make small objects float in the air with magic for a short period. The duration of Float can be increased by increasing the skill proficiency. Current proficiency of the skill = 0.01%]


    --------


    Zavier was unable to keep up with all the messages at once and decided that he would look into itter. For now, he decided to activate the Mesmer system.


    At a single thought from him, the Multi-system acted. In fact, there had been no need for him to talk out loud with the system from the beginning. The system had been integrated into his brain and had the ability to understand his thoughts.


    [Are you sure you want to activate the Mesmer System?]


    "Yes, I am sure."


    Zavier was familiar with the procedure now. He waited for the familiar ding* sounds and he wasn''t disappointed.


    [The Mesmer System has been sessfully activated.]


    [User is now able to use some basic Mesmer rted skills. The percentage of sess will increase with more proficiency. Current proficiency of all skills is 0.01%.]


    [User has sessfully learnt basic Hypnosis.]


    p [User can now hypnotize low level targets for short duration. The stronger the target will be the lesser will be the effective duration of Hypnosis. The ability to hypnotize stronger targets will be directly rted to the increase in skill proficiency. Current proficiency of the skill is 0.01%]</anda>


    --------<sub> </sub>


    Now that he had sessfully activated the two systems that he had chosen, he had to go through with the next step which was to make a clone so that he could realize the potential of the two systems to the maximum. For that purpose, he had to verify the cloning skill.


    "System, I want to make a clone of myself."


    [User should understand that the clone that will be produced will not be illusory, but a real entity copied with the user as the basis. The clone will be just like a normal person, and it will be impossible for others to distinguish between the user and the clone based on appearance and constitution alone. Are you sure that you want to make a clone of yourself?]


    Zavier knew what the system was warning him about. This had already been exined to him by the cosmic consciousness. Therefore, he wasn''t surprised at all.


    "Yes, I am sure."


    [Cloning of the user was sessfullypleted.]


    As soon as the system confirmed the sess of the cloning, a person who looked exactly the same as Zavier appeared in front of him out of thin air. As the system had suggested earlier, the newly produced clone was clearly made out of flesh and blood. It was so life-like that Zavier had the illusion that he was looking at himself in the mirror and not at his clone.


    It was not only the appearance of the clone that made him feel weird about the whole fiasco. The thoughts that appeared in his mind were clearly not his own and yet they had appeared in his own mind.


    Zavier finally figured out that the newly emerged thoughts were not his own at all but of the newly born clone. He was trying to understand the world that he had just been thrown into.


    The clone was just as confused as the original. Zavier found that his mind was connected to his clone and there was no need for anymunication between the two to figure out what the other was thinking. His brows slightly furrowed thinking that he would have to carry the burdens of all the clones at the same time if this happened.


    That would really take the meaning out of the cloning system.


    Before he could start scratching his head in confusion the system produced another ding*. The Multi-system hade to his rescue finally.


    [User should understand that the thoughts of the user and the clones are linked because all of you share the same consciousness. Even the five senses of the clones can be linked with one another.]


    With the exnation of the system, Zavier knew why he was feeling so weird. He was not only feeling what he himself was able to feel but was also feeling what the clone was feeling at the same time. This had almost caused a sensory overload in his brain.


    It was getting hard for him to distinguish his feelings from those of the clone.


    He bore with it and was trying to gradually get used to the feeling of his consciousness being divided into two when suddenly a question popped into his mind. Zavier was still not sure who came up with the question, the original or the clone.


    "System, what would happen to the clone if I were to die. Will it die along with me or will it be able to sustain itself independently since it is dependent on my consciousness for its working?"


    As if the system was expecting the question, the answer came with the speed of lightning and thunder.


    [User can rest assured that the clone will not die even if the original dies even if they share the same senses and consciousness, and vice versa is also true.]


    "What will happen then?"

 Chapter 7 Switch Off

    "What will happen then?"


    [In case of the death of the clone, the original will not be affected, and the experiences of the clone will be retained by the consciousness of the original. In the case that the original body gets destroyed, the consciousness will be transferred to an existing clone that will then act as the original body. In this way as long as there is at least one clone of the user alive, the user will not die.]


    Zavier was a bit taken aback at the blessings that the cosmic consciousness had given him. Not only had he been given an almost inexhaustible treasure trove in the form of the Multi-system, but he had also been given the blessing of immortality. He was practically immortal since it wasn''t easy if someone wanted to get rid of him. Even a single clone was enough for him to return from the dead.


    He had a feeling at that time that he would definitely keep thanking the cosmic consciousness for a long time toe based on the many surprises that he was getting ever since the Multi-system had been activated.


    Zavier couldn''t help but think what would happen if he made a hundred clones of himself at the same time and scattered them around so that no one would be able to find them. His life would bepletely safe in such a scenario. The thought had just popped into his head when he was interrupted by the system violently.


    [User is advised to not go through with excessive cloning of himself.]


    Zavier rolled his eyes violently at the urgent action of the system. Even Zavier knew that it was impossible for him to do such a thing at the moment. He was having difficulty coping with just a single clone, he wasn''t mad enough to make it a hundred times worse by creating more of them.


    Zavier already knew his limits, but he just wanted to know the consequences of overburdening himself just in case of emergency IF he ever had to do such a thing for self-preservation.


    "Just for the sake of informational purposes, what would happen if I went ahead with it?"


    [The marginal brain capacity would not be able to handle the excessive sensory load and the brain of the original would explode in exactly 9.327 seconds. The same would happen to the clone that takes over as the new original, but the time of sustenance will increase every time the number of clones decreases. This will continue until the number of clones returns back to a number that your brain capacity is able to handle.]


    Zavier unconsciously gulped. He understood at least one thing that even if he did survive in the end, he would still have to feel the pain of his brain exploding a hundred times if he went through with it.


    Just the thought of it was enough to deter him from taking any such action in the future.


    [Does the user want to create more clones of himself?]


    Zavier felt like beating the system with a hammer. It felt to him that the system was deliberately mocking him for his shallow knowledge.


    Since it had the ability to read his thoughts then it should have already known what he wanted but it had still asked him as if daring him to say yes.


    "No, not at the moment."


    Anger aside, Zavier still made it clear to the cynical system what he wanted even though he felt that this was an open insult to him.


    This insult further forged his mind as to what was the next direction that he must follow in the future. He had already set a new goal for himself following the creation of the clone.<sub> </sub>


    He was adamant on increasing his mental strength which was extremely important both for controlling a bunch of his clones and for the activation of more systems.


    Since he didn''t know anything about the ways to enhance mental strength, Zavier had to take the help of the system.


    "System, how do I increase my mental strength? Is there a way?"


    [User can increase his mental strength by meditation. It is the only way that is feasible for the user given the user''s meagre strength.]


    "Are there other ways of doing it?"


    [Yes there are. But at the moment you can not practice those methods due to various reasons.]


    Zavier only nodded in response as if he had expected the answer.


    Before he could instruct the clone regarding the details of its mission, it had already started to move towards the closet to start meditation.


    Zavier had once again forgotten that they shared the same consciousness. What he had been thinking, the clone had known it all along.


    The clone had already understood what the original intended and therefore sat cross legged in the closet to start meditation in order to achieve their next goal which was the enhancement of mental strength.


    Zavier could not help but feel a headache because of the shared senses. He could feel himself doing two things at once. He was both meditating while sitting cross-legged and standing at the same time. It was too difficult toe to terms with the feeling.


    It was quite a novelty experience but also a sensory headache at the same time.


    He knew that he had to get used to the feeling soon or his ns of making more clones would soon reach a hiatus. He was nning on asking the system about how to get used to the shared consciousness with the clones.


    Zavier thought that there must be a set of skills or some practice method or drills that will allow you to do that. He remembered that there were people in his previous world who had trained their minds to do various things at the same time.


    For example there was this one guy who could write simultaneously with both hands, or could draw totally different images with both hands at the same time.


    He thought there must be a set of training drills to make him reach such a standard at the very least but the answer of the system left him dumbfounded to say the least.


    [User can switch off the shared mode if he feels ufortable. User can rest at ease that the clone will continue to do what it has been instructed until any further instruction has been passed on to it and it also has the ability to act independently in the event of a life-threatening situation]

 Chapter 8 Breakfast

    Zavier wanted to facepalm himself after he heard the system. His face grew more dark and twisted every passing second.


    In fact the anger was justified as he had been having this problem for a while and the system didn''t tell him the solution at all. It just kept on watching the y, maybe it was even amused seeing him embarrass himself in front of it.


    Zavier confronted it with his anger bubbling inside.


    "Why didn''t you tell me about the shared and individual modes earlier?"


    [User didn''t ask.]


    Zavier had the urge to p himself in the face. It was only a system and not a human being. It was his own fault for treating it like one.


    "System, turn off the shared mode please."


    [Individual mode turned on sessfully.]


    With that came the feeling offort that he had not felt for some time now. He had been trying to constantly juggle different tasks during the shared mode which was very ufortable.


    Doing that for a short duration might not be very difficult. It may even be a novel experience or a fun time but doing the same for extended duration will not be the same. It is bound to be irritating.


    He also noticed that he could not feel the existence of the clone any more. It was like it didn''t exist or was apletely separate entity.


    <o>,m Zavier was liking this individual mode more and more. He couldplete his tasks while staying normal the whole time to enjoy the things that he had missed.</o>


    This also solved at least one of his problems instantly because he had previously been worried that the shared mode might impact his daily life in an adverse manner.


    Lost in thought, he didn''t even notice the sound of the stomping footsteps outside the door until he heard the voice of the maid calling out to him.


    "Young master, the breakfast is ready. Everyone is waiting for you. Are you awake?"


    Jerking his head towards the door, he replied in a timid voice.


    "Ye¡­yes I am awake. I will be there in a minute."


    The maid seemed satisfied with the answer as she immediately turned back and left.


    Zavier let out the breath that he was holding back.


    But then he figured why was he so afraid? It isn''t like she will find out that there is a clone in the closet unless the clonees out of its own volition, which it can''t.


    Now that he was more confident in his arrangement, he set to changing his clothes in order to attend breakfast where everyone seemed to be waiting for him.<sub> </sub>


    He put on the ck outfit from the wardrobe that looked the most casual among his outfits. It seemed morefortable to Zavier than the rest.


    The previous owner of his body seemed to be quite uptight based on his clothing preference.


    He made a mental note to himself that he must buy some sets of clothing based on his own preference, now that he was going to be taking his ce.


    All three of his rtives were very gifted in magic ording to his memories while he on the other hand was not even fit to carry out their shoes, a thorough loser in the subject.


    Each one of the girls was very talented in magic and was apuded in all circles while he was below average at best.


    Getting ridiculed for this reason had been the norm for the previous owner. Even in his own household he was looked down upon by his aunt Valerie.


    She always had a condescending attitude towards him because of his weakness in magic and overall outlook.


    Going through all the information regarding the normal breakfast routine, Zavier changed into the clothes he felt to be morefortable, exited the room and headed downstairs towards the dining table in the living room.


    When he reached the dining table, he excused everyone for beingte and pulled back a chair for himself at the edge of the table before sitting down.


    At the same time, he managed to take a good look at each of his rtives.


    From the way the girls reacted to his appearance, Zavier could already make out the attitude of the girls towards him even if he didn''t have the memories of the previous owner.


    In his past life, he had learnt to figure out what the opposite party was reluctant to say based on the bodynguage. It was the only thing he could have done to figure out the truth because when you were sick beyond cure, people tended to hide certain truths from you.


    He wasn''t at all surprised to see that It was still the younger sister Nadia who seemed the happiest to see him, even taking the initiative to greet him.


    She was like a warm little sister with a cute vibe and yful aura. She had long pink hair that fell down to her back like a waterfall. Her huge watery brown eyes made her cute face look even more innocent and sweet.


    The only thing going against her was a t as a board chest but even that was a part of her outlook and made her look even more dear.


    Kacie, his older sister, had long blonde hair and blue eyes just like the foreigners from the west in his previous life. She looked like a porcin doll with her perfect figure and graceful demeanor.


    Zavier knew that this older sister kept a neutral stance towards him. She neither took the initiative to talk to him nor did she ignore himpletely. She would give a perfunctory reply whenever talked to, otherwise she remained indifferent most of the time.


    While on the surface this seemed to hold true, Zavier also knew that the aloof and graceful attitude she showed on the surface was not the true depiction of her inner feelings. In truth the girl was quite hopeful that Zavier might take a turn for the better but she had never said it out loud to anyone, not even to Zavier.


    The aunt, Valerie, on the other hand, was quite the opposite. She was a strong woman with strong viewpoints and was quite outspoken about her beliefs too.

 Chapter 9 Congratulations

    Valerie''s judgement was purely based on a single measure, the strength of the party being judged. If it was someone stronger than her, Valerie would be obedient and worshipful but if it was someone weaker, then Valerie would act as if she had seen something distasteful and not worthy of her time.


    This made her seem like a materialistic and mean woman whose opinion was biased towards the strong but even that didn''t deter her from acting all high and mighty all the time like some goddess that had descended from above the clouds. This pride was not at all undue since Valerie had the goods to show for it.


    She was an extremely beautiful woman with jet ck hair that she usually tied up into a ponytail. Her figure was so exaggerated that she always looked enchanting no matter what she wore. Even severalyers of clothes were unable to hide her bursting figure.


    Unlike Nadia who was friendly and was very close to Zavier, and Kacie who was at least hopeful that Zavier might not turn out to be a loser, Valerie was not at all concerned with Zavier. She had alreadybelled him as a weak loser and did not want anything to do with him even if he was a rtive.


    Other than these three rtives, there was another girl in the living room who was busy serving all of them with breakfast, the maid Rainbo.


    To Zavier, the maid seemed to be very timid; the same was true even in his memories. She seemed to have some lingering fear that she was unable to get over.


    Looking her over, Zavier had the feeling that this girl was quite the beauty with slender and long legs, a thin but shapely figure, blue hair that had been tied up into a bun and an aura that made her look like a damsel in distress. Even he had the urge to protect this girl that seemed so vulnerable and weak.


    Zavier wanted to keep the meal more inclined towards the usual. He didn''t want to give the three girls any surprise regarding the sudden increase in his strength and magical understanding.


    He was not in a hurry to change his position and treatment in the family. On the other hand, Zavier knew that the more he held it back, the more the benefits he would be able to reap in the longer run.


    He had to keep the prying eyes away from himself until he was able to protect his secret on his own. The way he was now, was not enough.


    Therefore, surprising everyone with a "Hi I am a changed man now. I can do advanced magic now.", might not have been a very good idea.


    Therefore, Zavier wanted to only gradually reveal his cards, one at a time so that his rise does not seem to be abrupt or out of turn to anyone.


    For that matter, Zavier intended to release a part of the news to prepare the girls for what wasing.


    "I have something that I want to tell you all."


    This was maybe the first time he had ever made an announcement like this, in his memories. Zavier wasn''t nervous at all because their reaction didn''t matter to him at all. He wasn''t worried about how they would take it. This helped him stay clear headed.


    The girls were obviously a little surprised. It was something unexpected for them. Still, it didn''t take long for them to be attentive towards Zavier.


    Even Valerie seemed to be interested in what he had to say.


    "I have recently been working very hard at practicing magic and I have improved quite a bit. I can even sessfully use basic magic skills."<sub> </sub>


    Zavier made it look like he was very excited at his achievement so it wouldn''t look odd to the girls.


    Valerie scoffed in disdain and didn''t even bother to give a reply, thinking that a tiger couldn''t get rid of its spots. She hadbelled him as a weak loser who would remain weak no matter what he did. Even if he did make some advancements, they wouldn''t be worth her time.


    She didn''t believe in hard work, talent was everything to her. Only with talent could one reach the heights that she desired. Someone devoid of talent could never reach even close to her standards.


    Well, Valerie aside, the other girls seemed a little excited after what he had to say.


    Nadia seemed over the moon after he had announced the good news. She took the initiative to p her hands and congratte him over and over.


    "Congrattions, big brother Zavier, I knew you could do it. When are you going to show me your new skills?"


    "Thank you."


    Zavier decidedly ignored thest part of her question upon which Nadia pouted so much that her lips could have been used to hang a pile of clothes.


    Even Kacie seemed excited after his announcement but stopped herself from showing too much care. She only perfunctorily offered her congrattions.


    "Congrattions, you need to work harder from now onwards."


    Zavier nodded and started to gobble up his food. The mental exertion had taken a toll on him and he needed to supplement himself with food. He forgot all his manners and gorged himself until he was close to bursting.


    Fortunately, the girls didn''t pay enough attention to him to notice that his eating habits had changed.


    Even when they were done eating, nobody left the table until all of them were finished. This was one of the household rules made by the Marquess Val.


    Vrie waited for everyone to finish before dering in a slightly loud tone, "Time for school. Go get your bags and be outside in five minutes."


    All of them attended the same school where they learnt magic and rted subjects.


    Even though Zavier was a loser when it came to magic, he was still able to attend the prestigious institution because of his family background.


    When he arrived outside, all the girls were already outside. Valerie was giving him a stink eye as if he had made them wait for hours.

 Chapter 10 Bullying

    Their ride to the school was a carriage that was driven by their old household butler named Bob. He had been asked by the Master of the household to stop driving the carriage and leave it to a hired coachman but Bob never seemed to relent.


    Although the family was rich enough to afford a coachman too, Bob who was responsible for managing the household didn''t like such extravagance and implored Marquess Val for not hiring a coachman.


    The four of them boarded the carriage and Bob took the driving seat. He took hold of the reins and jerked them skillfully to get the carriage moving.


    The name of the school that was their destination was Merion High School. Zavier prodded his memories and found the information that he was looking for.


    Zavier was currently a junior in Merion high school while Nadia and Kacie were a sophomore and a senior respectively.


    What he was shocked to find was that the aunt Vrie who was only two years older than himself was actually a teacher at the school. She had been a never-before-seen genius in the field of magic and had sped through her studies in a matter of months before taking over as a teacher in the same school.


    She had a dream of bing the strongest mage in the world which was the very reason why she was so worshipful of those who had strength and talent.


    She wanted to get rid of the stereotype that women were weaker than men by bing the best even whenpared to men in the field of magic.


    To this day, she hadn''t met someone who had a stronger ability or talent, making her be more and more proud.


    After the carriage came to a stop, the four came off the carriage one by one. No one waited for the other and parted ways to move towards their own ssroom.


    Zavier was thest to get off and could only see Nadia hurrying off into the distance to meet up with her friends outside her ssroom. There was no sign of the other two but he knew that they had gone to their respective ss and staff room.


    Left behind by the girls, Zavier was not some lostmb. He had his own things to do, his own ss to attend.


    On his way to the ssroom, he took in all the surroundings that looked more posh than what he had ascertained from his memories of it.


    Everything from the building material to the decorations to the high rise ceiling, everything spoke of the outrageous amount of financial resources put in for the sake of this gigantic masterpiece of civil and magical engineering.


    He knew that such an artistic piece of construction was not possible just based on civil engineering and basic construction mechanisms. There had to be magic involved in order to bring out something like this considering that this was a magical world after all.


    The level of art was the same as that of the pyramids in his previous world. They were considered to be a wonder because their construction was not possible without the help of advanced machinery at that time. This beautiful and majestic high school building gave him the same sense of awe and wonder as those pyramids from his past life.<sub> </sub>


    He followed a group of students and was about to rush towards his ssroom lest he bete.


    Just before he was about to cross the threshold dividing the ssroom from the corridor, someone blocked his way by forcefully getting in his way, intentionally stopping him right there.


    Zavier was not small by any means but this neer wasrger than even him by a huge margin. Compared to Zavier, this person was practically a giant.


    Zavier looked at the person and some painful memories from the past rushed in, of course not his own memories but the previous owner''s.


    Being a weak loser was akin to painting a target on one''s back. Zavier being such a person was an attractive target for the hyenas lurking in the surroundings who had a little bit of strength but couldn''t stop themselves from thinking that they stood at the top of the food chain by bullying some weak little kids.


    The leader of those hyenas in the case of Zavier was none other than this giant named Baird. He had been bullying Zavier for a long time and taking money from Zavier had be a routine for him at this point. Many others like Baird took Zavier as their personal cash machine since he came from nobility.


    Zavier kept it in mind to teach this bully a lesson after all he was borrowing the body of the previous owner. The least he could do was to help him air out some of his grievances, this bully named Baird being the first of those.


    Zavier could have broken his teeth out of his mouth based on his newfound strength but he decidedly yed along with Baird because he didn''t want to cause such an borate scene at the moment.


    He didn''t think that it was the right time or stage to show his cards but most importantly, Baird was not important enough to demand such a show of hands from Zavier.


    Zavier acted all scared like in the past when confronted by Baird, moved his hands timidly into his pocket and took out two pennies which he handed over to the thug smiling smugly and threateningly right in his face.


    The threatening smug face showed a satisfied expression. Baird took two steps back and signalled with his hand swaying in the direction of the entrance to the ssroom. It was an indication for Zavier that he was free to go.


    At this moment, Zavier understood one thing at the very least. The world that he had arrived in was not the same as his previous one where there were many metrics for one''s sess, wealth, position, knowledge, faith, power, fame, following and even the family that you belonged to.


    But in this world there was only strength and personal power. The means through which the power is acquired did not matter at all. The only thing that mattered in the end was whether you had any power of your own or not.


    That was the reason that even a nobleman like him was prone to bullying in school.

 Chapter 11 Miss Valerie

    If it was his previous world, there would have been a row of individuals waiting in line to help him out of his dilemmas just because he belonged to a powerful family but here not a single individual took the initiative to do that.


    When he entered the so-called ssroom that was even bigger than four or five football fieldsbined, he truly came to know what true grandeur actually was. The material was sturdy enough to hold such a mammoth of a construction and yet looked more glossy and elegantpared to the finest stone from his previous life.


    The intricate brocade designs on the walls were more fashionable than the best interior designs that he had seen on the inte. It was no doubt the courtesy of magic. Otherwise, it would have beenpletely impossible to perfectly produce such a finish.


    The ssroom consisted of a huge hall with a high ceiling. The seating tables for the students were arranged in a semicircle with an increasing trend of elevation from the front towards the back.


    In front of the semicircr arrangementid a sole desk facing towards the other tables, presumably left vacant for the teacher.


    Zavier kept his head down and moved towards the back of the hall. His designated seat was towards the rear of the first column. Sitting in the corner might have helped the previous owner hide his insignificant presence somewhat. But Zavier did not need to do that at all, he just wanted to keep a low profile to not reveal as much of his strength.


    Sitting side by side with him on the same table was a fair maiden with reddish hair, golden eyes and a figure so perfect that even angels would have had to envy her. This angelic beauty was named Alissa and was Zavier''s desk mate.


    Being the only other waste in this ss of mages, she was quite happy to have a friend in Zavier who had the same problems as her.


    It was to each other that they poured their hearts out when either of them was bullied due to their weakness. In each other did they find the respite that they so desperately seeked when they felt out of breath and helpless. Therefore, this fateful friendship had always felt natural to the both of them.


    Before he could even sit, Alissa was happily chattering on with him as the target of the monologue.


    "Hey, how have you been? I heard you got bullied by that huge donkey again. Did he hurt you? Or did he want money again?"


    The barrage of questions stunned him initially but he could feel the concern of the kind hearted girl in those words. He could feel the urgency and the care imbued in those words and that gave Zavier the feeling of a slight belonging in this foreign world.


    Her status slightly elevated in his eyes just based on this little concern that she showed for him. It was the first time for him in this world,being treated like that.


    As such he waved his hands in front of him indicating that he wasn''t hurt.


    "No¡­no, I am not hurt at all. I gave him some money and that was that."<sub> </sub>


    "That''s good then."


    From then on the conversation took a turn towards the pleasant. Both of them enjoyed talking to each other all the while forgetting about the others in the same ss.


    Only the irritable ringing of the bell that indicated the start of the ss was able to bring them out of their reverie.


    With the ringing of the bell, the teacher walked into the ss as if she had been waiting in the hall for the signal of the bell, otherwise there was no way in hell that someone could have been that punctual.


    To Zavier''s surprise, the teacher that he was expecting did not show up. Instead of the middle aged and slightly older Miss Mary, the teacher that had arrived was none other than his aunt Vrie.


    She walked in with her head raised high, her hips swaying from side to side, her hands holding a bundle of files supporting her heavy chest as she walked, and her dark ponytail bobbing up and down trailing behind her. She looked iparably elegant yet unknowingly charming in that get up coupled with her seductive gait, so some of the kids in ss took her for granted.


    They were busy cheering for the beautiful teacher that hade to teach them instead of their old Miss Mary. Just her figure as she walked in was enough to leave an enchantment on the adolescent boys in the ss so they couldn''t help but make noise to show their excitement at her arrival.


    Valerie on the other hand seemed used to such reception. She had be an expert at controlling such situations since she had been a teacher for some time now. There were some tricks that one learnt only with experience.


    She put the burden of the files in her hand on the teacher''s desk, adjusted her clothes and took out a chalk from within the table drawer.


    The boys in the ss had yet to calm down. Vrie took a deep breath and looked for the one kid who was causing the most trouble. After she had chosen her target, her hand shed a dim ck light and the chalk in her hand flew out like a beam and hit that kid straight on his head which knocked the breath out of him. It even left him a red bulging lump to show for it.


    As soon as his hysteric shriek resounded in the ssroom, there came a silence that no one was willing to break.


    Valerie was used to this silence that pervaded after she used her method of killing a monkey to warn the rest.


    This was the result that she intended to achieve. When the learning environment was free from other distractions, she started the ss as routine and taught them the theory regarding various basic and low-level magic skills and how even the slightest deviation from the original method could bring about a totally different result.

 Chapter 12 Try It

    After half a ss, Valerie announced that the theoretical part of the ss was over. The ss simultaneously let out a small cheer, clearly they were trying to hold themselves back in case the substitute teacher started sniping again.


    "So, ss I want you to show me what you have learnt so far in Miss Mary''s ss. Don''t worry you will be tested on the skill that you must all have learnt, that is Float."


    As soon as the words left her mouth, there was a flurry of movement and various objects wereunched in the air one by one and where they stayed afloat.


    All the students were trying to gain her approval by showing their skill set, yet all they got was a condescending sneer that Valerie craftily hid from the students. Only Zavier could truly see what she actually felt seeing the disy.


    "Put all these things down. Today we aren''t going to be using Float magic in such a boring manner."


    Valerie had a mischievous expression on her face as if she was teaching them something prohibited.


    "You need to understand something. Magic isn''t finite, it has limitless possibilities. You just have to think hard, go out of the norm and make use of it any way you can. For example, Float isn''t just used for inanimate objects, it can also be used to float people in the air. So for today, the target of your magic will be me. Let''s see who has the ability to raise me up in the air. And for those who think that it would be as easy as levitating inanimate objects, they are in for a surprise."


    As soon as her words fell, half their enthusiasm went down the drain.


    Valerie moved towards the podium and asked in a provocative tone: "So who would like to give it a try? Don''t be afraid of failure it will only make you yearn more for sess."


    No one wanted to be the protagonist of the pitful story that would be used to deter the future generations for years toe.


    From what they had heard about this substitute teacher, she wasn''t someone easy to mess with.


    She was quite a cruel teacher that had stood out at such a young age amongst the rest of the teaching staff that was akin to a motley crewpared to her.


    Bursting initiative on the part of the students was therefore forcefully contained by them for fear of bing the failure of the decade.


    But the situation couldn''tst long, idiots were everywhere after all, even in the most prestigious of institutions.


    Some of the youngsters with hot blood coursing through their veins couldn''t help but try, which only managed to receive a smirk from the object of their attraction.


    Only the intelligent ones knew how difficult it could be to cast float on a living being that could consciously resist the invasion of magical force. If the magic wasn''t strong enough or the target wasn''t distracted enough to notice, the probability of failure was very high.


    The difficulty of the task got even higher when the target that they were supposed to cast ''Float'' on was the youngest genius teacher in the field of magic in their entire school.


    While the intelligent and talented ones wereing up with a n to save their own face, the hot blooded ones had already failed more than twice.


    With each failure they came to know the distance between themselves and the greatest genius. Of course the knowledge came with a fear and anxiety that they wouldn''t be able to shake off for a long time.


    Valerie on the other hand wasn''t as vicious as she appeared at that moment. She had only wanted to evoke their most primal desire to ovee difficulty, their survival instinct and their will topete with each other to rise on top.


    In her opinion, only with such determination could they pass an assessment of that difficulty.


    Of course she didn''t actually expect that anyone out of this ss could reach up to her expectations because the only way to aplish that was to cast two different types of magical skills at the same time.


    Sessful task aplishment required the student to cast a distracting spell or a restricting spell to divert the attention or render the target incapable of response before casting Float.


    The resolution of this type of aplex situation was not possible for this batch of juniors unless someone out of them had a monstroustent talent that had yet to be brought to light.


    After watching a lot of male students fail miserably at the task, Valerie couldn''t help butugh out loud at the pathetic and meagre attempts of Miss Mary''s students. They were unable to even shake her as she stood in front of them.


    She slightly shook her head as if in disapproval before saying out loud: "Is this all you are capable of?"


    She ran her eyes all over the crowd of students as if daring them to prove themselves better.


    At that moment, a silver haired girl stood up, attracting the attention of all the students in the ss.


    A sweet and melodious sound like a cuckoo''s cry rang out in the hall.<sub> </sub>


    "Teacher, I would like to give it a try."


    Valerie gave a slight nod in response and came to the center of the stage once again to be the human target.


    Zavier had a slight impression of the girl with silver hair in his memories. Her name was Dah and she was one of the most talented mages in the ss.


    She came from one of the most prestigious mage families. Most of the members from her family were exceptional ice mages and she had inherited the same blood. It was said that Dah had inherited her family''s exclusive ice magic talent.


    She was good at studies and theoretical knowledge and was usually at the top of the ss in every test.


    She was bound to have unlimited prospects and a bountiful future.


    Despite being a beauty, Dah wasn''t very popr among the boys of the ss because of her aloof and quiet disposition.


    Dah took a deep breath and stabilized her mood before casting her spell. The mental state of the caster was quite important for sessfully casting a magic skill. This earned her a smile from the strict Valerie.


    Zavier noticed all that and was anticipating the result of her effort.


    As soon as she was ready, Dah gathered all the mana that she could, channeled it through her body and used it all to cast the most powerful Float magic that she could.


    The result; a failure once again. Unlike the others, she at least managed to lift off one of Valerie''s feet in the air. This in itself was an achievementpared to her counterparts of the ss.


    Dah had tried her best but had to let go of the spell at that point because she had run out of mana. Despite her strong will to seed, her body couldn''t keep up and she was left gasping for breath.


    Though Valerie could see her potential, it wasn''t enough to shock her. Her eyes were full of praise for the girl but the words that came out of her mouth seemed poisonous to everyone else including Dah.


    "Girl, you need to work hard if you ever want to catch up with me. As you are now, it will be impossible for you to do that."


    Only Zavier knew that Valerie was trying to motivate Dah instead of looking down on her. These words were even akin to praiseing out of Valerie''s mouth.


    At the same time Zavier knew that Valerie''s reputation as the youngest genius teacher wasn''t for nothing. There was such a great chasm between her and the most talented student of their ss.


    It was just an age difference of two years and yet Valerie had left them all so far behind in the dust that it was hard to even make out her figure in front.


    When Dah went back to her position, the strict and provocative voice of Valerie resounded in the hall.


    "Is there anyone else who thinks he can do better? Would anyone else like to give it a try? Don''t be afraid, this is only a lesson for all of you."


    Valerie tried to be encouraging towards the end but even that sounded like a humiliation to the students. After all who would want to embarass themselves after the topper of the ss could hardly make her budge from her position.


    Wouldn''t that be an invitation to be humiliated?


    When Valerie saw that no one wasing forth to try anymore, she knew that all of them had suffered a shock today. She scoured through the crowd of juniors until her eyes rested on Zavier.


    At the breakfast table, she had heard him say that he had be capable of doing basic magic. Valerie wanted to test him to know whether he had graduated from being an absolute waste who couldn''t even sense magic around him or not. This was the perfect opportunity for her.


    A finger pointed towards the back of the ssroom, all the heads turned towards the back to witness the next pig that was due for ughter.


    Zavier could almost foresee the consequences as soon as Valerie''s eyes had started to wander through the crowd as if looking for something or someone.


    As if to prove that he was right, Valerie stopped her finger right in the direction of Zavier.


    "You! Youe up here and try it."

 Chapter 13 Dizziness

    "You! Youe up here and try it."


    Silence fell everywhere until a low snicker escaped someone''s mouth. Slowly it turned into an orchestra of smirks and sneers.


    Valerie seemed to have heard or seen nothing. She was obviously she was pretending, as teachers usually did.


    In her opinion, Zavier deserved all that because he was weak and pathetic, so she didn''t stop anyone from snickering.


    Zavier kept thinking that Valerie really was a poisonous snake that bit its own without sparing a thought.


    He was about to refuse her kind invitation when a familiar ding* changed his mind.


    Zavier stood up with great defiance and looked Valerie straight in the eyes as if telling her that he wasn''t afraid of her challenge.


    The students in the ss had varying opinions about this drama; some thought that Zavier was quite pitiful for being targeted like that. Of course these were the ones who weren''t any good themselves.


    Others remained neutral and had no opinion while the remaining ones thought that Zavier deserved to be humiliated for not being able to even sense magic. These were the high and mighty bullies of course.


    As for Zavier himself, he was cheering on the inside because the system message that he had just received was:


    [User''s Mesmer rank has increased to level 2]


    This message was followed by a series of ding*s that Zavier didn''t have the time to read because he wanted to make use of this opportunity.


    He had never anticipated that he would be able to increase his Mesmer rank so easily in the span of a single day.


    His clone had been meditating all this time and the result was an increase in rank in such a short period of time.


    ording to his memories, illusionist was the rarest of all professions in this world. Although, mages could also imitate low level illusion skills with the help of magic, these weren''t the authentic illusions. In front of a true Mesmer these illusions would copse like a paper tiger.


    An illusionist was sometimes considered to be weak in terms of power but that was something only those who hadn''t truly seen the offensive power of an illusionist could have said.


    For example, a powerful illusionist could trap a person in an eternal illusion with a flick of a finger and some mental strength, depriving them of all mental faculties until they be a human vegetable or someone else breaks the illusion.


    They could also induce so much fear into their targets that they wouldmit suicide at the spot.


    Zavier knew that Valerie had a huge reservoir of mana and a plethora of strong magic skills but the one thing that shecked was mental strength.


    Not that her mental strength was weak, it was just above average. But when it came to a monster like her whose every stat was almost perfect, an above average score could also be considered a weak point.


    This gave him some hope as he had just gained a level in the very field that Valerie was weak in.


    He hadn''t yet epted or denied the opportunity that Valerie had offered him. Since he had been targeted by Valerie specifically to humiliate him, he wanted to p her in the face and at the same time make something out of this situation because he was sure that Valerie wouldn''t back out of it if he suggested a wager.


    Zavier raised his voice: "I will give it a try if you insist but there must be something to make it more worthwhile for me. Don''t you think that there isn''t enough motivation?"


    This dumbfounded not only the entire hall but also the teacher. She began to seethe on the inside followed by his remark.


    If it had been anyone else she might not have shown such contempt but an absolute failure was trying to act cocky in front of her, and that made her want to retort.


    But she calmed down a little when the whole crowd started jeering at the top of their voice. This was not only an insult for the teacher but also for them who had tried so hard and had still failed at it previously.


    Seeing this, Valerie let out a smile that hid thorns and contempt before generously replying, "Since you have asked, how about¡­I will promise you one thing regardless of what you want at the time IF you manage to pull it off?"


    This was what he wanted to hear. Zavier nodded slightly in her direction with a smile on his face indicating that the reward was to his liking and he would continue ying.


    Alissa her desk mate sneakily pulled on his clothes and murmurred to him in a low voice: "Hey! What are you doing? She is just trying to bully you. Everyone here knows that you cannot do any magic like me, why did she still choose you? Obviously, she is just trying to humiliate you. Don''t fall for it."


    Alissa was pulling him back down just to stop him from getting dragged into a y in which the ending was pre-decided.


    Zavier gave her a reassuring smile that bamboozled her a little. He patted her shoulder and started walking towards the center of the hall to exhibit his skills in front of the whole ss.


    Zavier took his sweet time approaching the center of the hall because he was busy going through all the messages of the system.


    [User''s Mesmer rank has increased to level 2]<sub> </sub>


    [Mental strength has increased slightly.]


    [Congrattions, you can now use low level illusion skills.]


    [Your illusions will be harder to see through from now on.]


    [Sessful skillpletion probability has increased slightly.]


    [Mana sense proficiency has increased to 21.01%]


    [Resistance to low level illusions has increased marginally. Illusions below rank 2 will have no effect on the user.]


    [You have learnt a new level 2 Mesmer skill, ''Dizziness'']


    [Those who are targeted by ''Dizziness'' will have their senses affected for a certain period of time dying their reaction time. The duration for which the target will be affected will increase with increase in skill proficiency and mental strength.


    Conditions of use: The target has to look into the eyes of the caster for the skill to be sessful.


    Skill proficiency is currently at 0.01%. Skill proficiency can be increased by increasing mental strength or through repetitive practice.]


    Another reason that his confidence was soaring and the reason why he was willing to take up Valerie''s challenge was the new skill that became avable to him with his rank up, Dizziness.


    Before this, the only status effecting skill he had was Hypnosis which was too low levelled to have an effect on a genius like Valerie. As such he had pinned his hopes on this level 2 skill.


    Zavier reached the center and stood as proud as a swan in the middle of the hall, his eyes kept staring at Valerie throughout as if dering his defiance of her.


    Valerie wasn''t one to back out of a challenge. His attitude irritated her and she refused to look away from his prating gaze. Therefore, both of them were locked in a staring contest.


    Unknown to her Zavier at that moment was constantly trying to cast Dizziness, hoping that she would continue to stare back at him.


    The level 2 skill had a lower sess rate since his skill proficiency was too low. He had to keep trying until he seeded. This was the very reason that Zavier was reluctant to break eye contact with her until he sessfully cast Dizziness.


    [Skill activation failed.]


    [Skill activation failed.]


    To keep her from looking away, Zavier provoked her with his words: "Are you ready?"


    [Skill activation failed.]


    [Skill activation failed.]


    [Skill activation failed.]


    Valerie scoffed in contempt as if ahe needed to get ready to defend herself against someone like him. She opened her mouth to retort.


    [Skill activation failed.]


    "Uhh¡­"


    Before she could have said anything, the opportunity that Zavier had been waiting to exploit, fell right in front of him.


    [User has sessfully cast Dizziness on the target. The target will be restricted for a short period of time.]


    [Dizziness skill proficiency has increased to 0.05%]


    Zavier could see her pupils dte, rather it would be more pertinent to say that he could feel her pupils dte and her body shake slightly as if she was having difficulty standing.


    Zavier knew these were the effects of Dizziness, so he took it as a signal and moved on to the next spell.


    Zavier didn''t miss the opportunity at hand and cast Float on Valerie without any reservation.


    Without any suspense, Valerie was lifted into the airpletely like a piece of dead wood.

 Chapter 14 Query

    A shrill gasping noise reverberated in the hall. Valerie was thoroughly surprised at this oue.


    She for one had never expected that Zavier would be the one to pass her test.


    Valerie tried to resist for thest time but could not take control of her body at all. The whole world was spinning around her and she was unable to concentrate enough to focus her mana and resist Float.


    The effect of Dizziness couldn''tst long on an outstanding mage like Valerie. As soon as Zavier felt a resistance from Valerie, he immediately released his magic before she could break free from it.


    This resulted in Valerie falling towards the ground from the height that she was levitating at.


    Zavier moved forward in time to catch her before she fell to the ground and broke something.


    Fortunately, he did not let her fall, otherwise he might have had to pay hell at home. After all, she wasn''t just his teacher, but also his aunt.


    Countless jaws were sprawled onto the ground. The students seemed to have forgotten about them as they were all busy staring at the shocking scene that had taken ce in front of them.


    The kid, that they had always considered to be aplete waste, had pulled off something that they dared not even try.


    Valerie was no longer concerned with anything else. She waspletely shocked at what had just happened.


    She had even disregarded the fact that she was currently being princess carried by Zavier in his arms. She would have definitely found it revolting if it had been in the past since Zavier was nothing more than an ant in her eyes at the time.


    But now she was seeing him in an entirely different light. His talent was bursting toe out while she was the first one to notice how extraordinary he actually was.


    At the same time she wondered how someone could advance this much so suddenly. After all, Zavier was someone who couldn''t even sense magic until yesterday or so it had seemed to everyone.


    Maybe it had never been that way and Zavier was only pretending for so long. If it was really so, what was he so afraid of? And if he really was purposefully hiding it, why would he reveal at this moment?


    The look that Valerie gave Zavier was filled with confusion and disbelief. At the same time she was busy specting the reasons behind his behavior.


    She wanted to know very badly, the reason that could have caused a heavenly genius like Zavier to hide his own talent for such a long time? Or if he really had advanced recently, then what was the reason behind such a fast paced advancement?


    The other students were unable to get their heads around the fact that a worthless nobody who couldn''t even sense a lick of magic until yesterday had beaten them back so badly. Even the best among them had been thwarted.


    All of them could feel a burning sensation on their faces. Especially the ones who hadughed at Zavier the loudest were now busy hiding their faces that had been pped so hard. The worst of it all for them was that they had offered their faces to Zavier of their own will. Thankfully, Zavier didn''t seem to be bothered about them otherwise it was the perfect opportunity to humiliate them.


    Zavier had made a huge ruckus this time with this sensational reveal. Even Dah couldn''t help but look at him twice. To her, he seemed full of mystery that she couldn''t see through.


    Dah was a strong willed girl who looked cold as ice on the surface. But in fact she was just too focused to care about trivial things like socializing.<sub> </sub>


    She had a one track mind that wouldn''t let her wander off of her path. This was the reason she always pursued what she wanted to do no matter the consequences.


    And at this moment she had decided that she wanted to find out how Zavier had pulled it off when even she had failed. She wanted to know more about his secrets because even she had never figured out how deep he had hidden himself.


    Zavier put Valerie down almost immediately after he caught her. While Valerie was lost in thought, Zavier had already turned around and was heading back towards his seat at the back of the hall.


    "Did you see how cool I was?"


    Zavier jokingly said to Alissa who was sitting beside him. Alissa refused to even look at him, let alone give him an answer.


    He tried to get her to respond but Alissa wasn''t ready to talk to him at all.


    This was the first time ording to his memory that Alissa had acted like this with him.


    No matter how many times he called her, or how many times he apologized in general, Alissa refused to respond to him. She was avoiding him like he was some kind of gue that would dirty her if she tried to talk to him.


    The rest of the lesson she didn''t say a single word. Zavier nned on talking to her on their walk back to the school entrance. In the normal routine, they walked back together to the entrance where they would board their respective carriages and proceed towards their homes.


    The situation continued until the afternoon following which Alissa up and left leaving Zavier dumbfounded. She hadn''t even stayed to wait for him like usual. She seemed to be quite mad at him but Zavier had yet to understand the reason behind her anger.


    Zavier, who had no experience of how to handle such a situation was at a loss. He didn''t know how to resolve such a situation but before resolution, he had to figure out why she was mad at all.


    Zavier pushed his mental faculties to the limit just to understand where he had gone wrong so as to have drawn Alissa''s ire.


    Zavier was about to rush after her to find out more but a figure blocked his path right when he was about to leave.


    Dah was looking at Zavier curiously as if he was some kind of rare specimen. She half raised her hands with her palms facing towards him to indicate to him to stop for a moment.


    His eyes were darting towards the exit where Alissa had just disappeared. He was in a hurry to go and stop her before she left but he didn''t know why the icy beauty had blocked his path.


    "I want to ask you something. I hope that you will answer truthfully."


    As soon as she said this, Zavier looked at her with hope in his eyes. Since Zavier was unable to understand Alissa, maybe he needed to change his perspective. Only girls could understand girls, therefore he wanted to ask Dah about the solution to his problem.


    "It turns out that I have something to ask of you as well."

 Chapter 15 Explanation

    Dah noded her head in return gently. She wasn''t very concerned with what Zavier asked of her as long as it didn''t tip her scales.


    "Alissa hasn''t been talking to me, it''s like she is mad about something I did but I can''t figure out what I did wrong. It''s hard to understand the mind of a girl. I want to know why she would behave like that? You are a girl too so you must know something about it."


    Dah wanted to p the back of his head so hard but resisted the impulse. What did he mean? Were all girls this unreasonable? And how dare he suggest that she was like that too?


    She restrained herself and brought a stiff smile on her face that was enough to insinuate that she wasn''t very used to smiling that often.


    "When was it exactly that she started to avoid you? Was she like that the whole day or after a certain incident.?"


    Zavier got to thinking and he had the answer.


    "She started to do that after I won the bet with Miss Valerie and got back to my seat. I know, is it because I didn''t listen to her when she tried to stop me from taking up her challenge?"


    Dah wanted to punch him this time as well but couldn''t help but think about how he managed to pull that off with Valerie and restrained her violent impulses.


    This was the first time something like this was happening to her. She had always been quite calm andposed and had never felt such violent emotions.


    The person she had never paid any attention to before was now bringing out all these emotions in her. She was unable to figure out the reason behind that.


    How could someone she considered worthless have such an impact on her?


    Coming out of her reverie, she opened her mouth to answer what she thought was the actual reason and at the same time let out some of the frustration she had been holding in.


    "You fool!"


    "What do you mean?"


    "Do you really think girls are that petty? That she would be angry because you didn''t listen to her and took up the challenge?"


    Zavier was now unable to understand why this girl was angry with him. Looking at her expression, he was sure that she was deliberately scolding him.


    Zavier could not help but purse his lips thinking:


    "It is the same thing all over again, just with a different girl as the protagonist. What a nightmare it is, trying to understand girls."


    But he couldn''t just blurt out what he was thinking in front of Dah. He had to find out the reason for Alissa''s behavior first.


    "Why don''t you tell me then, why was she acting that way?"


    Dah let out a huge sigh as if she was unable to hold back her disappointment.


    She took a breath and continued talking:


    "If you want to hear the real reason then, Alissa feels that she is unworthy of talking to you. That''s why she is trying to break away from you and is unwilling to talk to you."


    "How are you so sure?"


    Zavier wasn''t quite convinced. How could she suddenly want to cut him off? It seemed very bizarre to him.


    "The exact moment when she changed her attitude, was it not when you had already triumphed? She was still worried about you before you took on the challenge."


    "In that case, my theory might have been true as well. She might have been mad because I didn''t listen to her."


    Dah rolled her eyes before arguing back: "What kind of friend wouldn''t be happy when you pull off such a legendary feat? Even if she was mad at you for not listening to her, she would have at least offered her congrattions to you."


    Zavier was starting to believe her words now. There was sense and logic to it. Seeing as the iron was hot, Dah continued to talk.


    "The real reason behind her trying to break away is her low self-esteem. Before today, Alissa and you both were pretty useless when it came to magic. But suddenly you became the star of the ss who managed to pull off a feat that even I being the number one in ss couldn''t.


    This might have frightened her a bit into thinking that she wasn''t good enough to be your friend now that you were able to sense magic and she was still the same.


    Her low self-esteem would have also caused her to think that you wouldn''t want to be friends with her anymore, now that you are one of those who can sense magic. On the other hand she also feels alone and abandoned."<sub> </sub>


    Zavier waspletely convinced that this was the reason after listening to Dah, after all he knew how timid Alissa could be.


    "I understand. It seems to be like that. Now about what you wanted to know, ask away."


    "Tell me how you managed to levitate Miss Valerie so easily. Even when I put my whole mana into use, I was barely able to lift her foot off the ground and yet you managed to do it so easily. How did you do it?"


    Zavier had already anticipated that she would be asking this question. After all, before today they had never talked to each other.


    If she had suddenly wanted to ask him something, it had to be rted to what had happened today, otherwise it would have felt very odd to him.


    "It is quite simple and straightforward actually. There was no borate strategy to it."


    Dah revealed a disgusted expression on her face as if she had heard the worst of drivel and nonsense. She thought that Zavier was trying to worm his way out of their deal.


    Before she could start to protest and threaten Zavier, he continued with what he was saying because he had also seen the expression on her face changing.


    "I am telling the truth. The key to my sess is I restricted her before I cast Float. As you might have noticed, most of your mana was used up in oveing the resistance of Miss Valerie''s own mana. If you didn''t, you would have at least felt that you were pouring your mana into a ditch since there was no effect whatsoever."


    At this point, Dah was sure that he was telling the truth. She did have the same feeling while casting Float.


    Turns out, it was because Miss Valerie was resisting with her own mana at the time.


    Of course the teacher hadn''t given it her best shot, otherwise she would have been sted back due to the sheer difference in magical energy between the two.


    Then there emerged a doubt in her mind. How was he able to restrict her when she couldn''t even ovee Valerie''s defense against Float?


    "How did you do it, I mean¡­restrict her¡­how did you manage to do it?"


    "As to that, I used a level 2 illusion, Dizziness."


    "WHAT?"


    Dah wasn''t able to wrap her head around such an unexpected answer. Never in her wildest dreams could she have imagined that the useless kid in front of her was actually a Mesmer, the rarest of all the professions in the world. On top of that, he could already use level 2 illusionist skills.


    Zavier let her get used to it before continuing with the rest of his exnation.


    "Since I cast Dizziness, Miss Valerie was unable to defend at all when I cast Float. That is to say, her mana was in turmoil so it couldn''t provide any magic resistance at all."


    He hadid it out so casually in front of her but she knew that Zavier was selling his genius too short.


    If it had been only mage skills then, even Dah might have been able to replicate the same under certain conditions.


    Zavier on the other hand could have pulled it off regardless of the situation since illusionists didn''t need mana to pull off a skill sessfully, what they relied on the most was actually mental strength.


    Even if Miss Valerie had been alert to it, she might not have been able to defend herself against the mental strength of an illusionist.


    Her magic resistance would have beenpletely useless. She would have still fallen for it.


    Dah could finally appreciate the horror of the man; he had been hiding too deep. She stared at his face that was devoid of pride or ego and felt her own pride shatter all around her.


    <o>,m Such a genius didn''t feel that he was above the rest and yet she had been thinking herself above the rest without any ability at all.</o>


    "I hope that you can keep it a secret. I don''t want others to know that I am a level 2 illusionist. Let''s keep this between us, okay?"


    Dah replied in kind to his trust.


    "I got it. You can rest assured that your secret is safe with me."


    "You have my thanks."


    Zavier was in a hurry and left as soon as the deal wasplete. He wanted to catch up with Alissa who had already left ahead of him.

 Chapter 16 Not Anymore

    On his way back, Zavier followed the same route that Alissa would have taken to go back home and continued to keep an eye out for her.


    He was quite worried about the girl who had been his only friend ever since they had been in the same ss, the only two students who couldn''t wield the slightest of magical power.


    Yet one of them had gone and awakened magical power. The other one should have felt jealous, angry or at the very least lonely. And yet the kind girl had not uttered a singleint. She silently left so as to not affect him any longer.


    She had known that if Zavier continued to associate with her even after he had gotten stronger, he might have been ostracized by the rest of the ss.


    Or worse still, he might have started to think of her as a burden.


    Therefore, she had retreated into the darkness without saying a word. This worried Zavier a lot knowing that she was just like him and was bullied quite a lot in routine.


    Zavier''s eyeballs madly and frantically moved here and there in an attempt to locate the girl he was worried about but she was nowhere to be seen. He thought that she might have boarded her carriage that day.


    He still didn''t veer away from her route and continued to look for her.


    Soon his ears picked up a voice, it seemed to be that of a girl crying.


    It was like something got stuck in his throat. He could almost envision Alissa crying in an alley on the way home.


    He threw himself forward and rushed towards the voice. It was a deserted alley with a dead end that was quite inconspicuous as well.


    When he turned the corner, the scene in front of him infuriated him to no end.


    Three girls who were simr in stature to Alissa were standing over her while Alissa had fallen on the ground on her bottom.


    The expressions on the faces of the girls were enough to tell Zavier the whole story. These girls were clearly bullying Alissa.


    If it had been the past, Zavier might not have been able to do anything to them but now he was perfectly capable of protecting her.


    He wasn''t just going to stand around.


    "Bitch, how dare you show your wretched face in front of us again? Didn''t you hear us tell you never to appear in front of us again? You have some nerve, don''t you?"


    Alissa could only shake her head in her defence and was unable to say anything while choking on her sobs.


    Zavier was unable to hold back when he saw one of thenky girls raising her hand to p Alissa, on the face.


    He rushed in and stopped her by grabbing her wrist. He couldn''t help but put in some pressure that made her scream out in pain.


    He saw their ss badges on their uniforms and could immediately tell that these girls were sophomores. In other terms, they were Alissa''s juniors.


    At the same time he felt the extent to which Alissa''s self-esteem had fallen. She wasn''t even willing to stand her ground in front of her juniors.


    She felt herself to be inferior to everyone else in the school. He knew, because he had the memories of a simr person in his mind.


    Zavier decided to teach those bullies a lesson in her ce being their senior.


    He twisted the wrist that he had caught and the girl turned her whole body instinctively pushing her back towards him to avoid pain.


    Zavier wasn''t about to let her go so easily. He twisted it further until the bully was bawling her eyes out.


    Alissa, who was until then in shock, had not noticed how Zavier had arrived at the scene. She had been too busy shedding tears.


    Alissa could see that Zavier was putting in too much force. The girl would have had her arm broken, had Zavier applied a little bit more force, therefore she intervened on their behalf.


    "Zavier, let her go. You are going to break her arm."


    Zavier looked at Alissa and wondered how someone could be so kind. He understood what she was saying but he wasn''t about to relent.<sub> </sub>


    Because if he did so now, the bullies would keeping back to torture her thinking that she was weak.


    Zavier had a calm on his face while the girl kept shrieking with all her might, seemingly to divert her own attention away from the pain.


    "You are still standing up for them. But are they worth it? How dare they try to bully their seniors? These girls need to be taught their ce and I am more than willing to teach them."


    "Stop it. I don''t want to see you acting like that too."


    This sentence was uttered in an almost hysterical voice. Alissa was afraid that Zavier would change after he got stronger, that he would act the same as the rest of those arrogant bullies.


    Zavier stopped at once. He could see that Alissa was close to her breaking point.


    But before he left her wrist he used hypnosis on the girl. One of the first level illusionist skills that he had learnt.


    He looked the girls in the eyes and said: "You will never bully her ever again. Make sure to be respectful to your seniors, otherwise I just might change her mind. Your senior might not be around to save you next time."


    The girls seemed to be terrified and subconsciously nodded before retreating with hurried steps.


    Zavier stopped caring about them the moment they left because he had already seen the system message earlier.


    [Hypnosis has sessfully been cast.]


    [The targets are now susceptible to suggestions. The moreplicated the suggestion, the higher the chances of resistance. Chances of sessful hypnosis can be increased by increasing skill proficiency or mental strength.]


    [Current skill proficiency is 0.05%]


    Fortunately, even though his skill proficiency at hypnosis was quite low, his mental strength had far surpassed the minimum requirement for this skill.


    After he was done taking care of the girls, he moved forward and picked the sobbing girl up from the ground.


    Even after that Alissa did not stop crying. Zavier did not know how to calm her down in such a situation.


    In the end he took a gamble and just used his thumbs to wipe away the flowing tears as soon as they came.


    His tone turned surprisingly gentle when he looked her in the eyes.


    "You don''t need to be afraid any longer. I promise I won''t change no matter what. I will stay the same Zavier you have known until now. As for magic, can''t I teach you now? I will never let you be bullied again no matter what."


    Alissa stared at him dumbfoundedly. She didn''t know what to say. His words had managed to touch the innermost part of her heart.


    Opposite to what he had done, she had just decided to leave without putting any effort to sustain their friendship.


    When Alissa had calmed down enough, Zavier adopted a slightly heavier and stern tone to question her.


    "Tell me then, why didn''t you believe in me? Why did you decide by yourself that we didn''t have anything to do with each other? Alissa I am very angry at the moment. Tell me, aren''t we supposed to be friends, or was I wrong to believe that?"


    The tears that had just then dried up, started to flow once again.


    "I¡­I am sorry, don''t be mad anymore. I will listen to you from now on."


    Zavier seemed satisfied with her answer and dropped the topic.


    Alissa lowered her head and continued in a voice that was only audible to herself.


    "I won''t leave you again, no matter what, not for anything in the whole world."


    What Zavier failed to notice was the ambiguous and the cherry red face of Alissa as she stumbled on those words.

 Chapter 17 Secrets

    With his heart at ease, Zavier was ecstatic as he went on the way home. Everything had gone exactly as he had nned except that the timing of his big reveal was a bit earlier than he had expected. He had originally wanted to gradually reveal what he was capable of.


    But owing to the circumstances, he had failed to reduce the impact and he was bound to be one of the most discussed topics in the school soon. That kind of attention was what he had wanted to avoid.


    Nevertheless, he had exchanged this little bit of trouble for a wish from Aunt Valerie.


    He could ask for anything from her. Depending on her means, this could turn out to be a pretty great deal on his end.


    Zavier could not help but n out his next course of action on the walk home.


    Now that he had revealed himself and his strength, he needed to increase the level of his mage system since he could not reveal his illusionist status at the moment.


    Everyone else including his aunt Valerie was of the opinion that he had extraordinary mage skills but no one was in the know about his illusionist skills except Dah.


    Therefore, he wanted to keep it that way, in order to avoid furtherplexities. Apparently, in this world no one was capable of following two paths at the same time; at least not ording to his memories or what he himself hade across.


    Before he coulde out of his deep thoughts, he was already standing at the main porch of his home.


    He knew that he would be facing some interrogation upon entering but what was going to happen would happen. There was no point fretting about it.


    He entered the front door sneakily to avoid the questioning gazes and to rush to his room but he froze when he saw his Aunt Valerie standing in front of him as soon as he stepped in.


    It was this moment that he knew that a bout of torturous questioning was headed his way.


    What bothered him the most was that he had no way of telling the truth to his aunt and he could not just tell her falsities either.


    His aunt might have been high on her ego, but she was a terribly perceptive person who was not easy to deceive or lie to.


    Zavier had thought through the events of the day and was regretful of the way that he had done things.


    The way that he had revealed his strength, his calm and unfazed demeanor, his bursting confidence and unbending attitude had made others think that he had been powerful all along and had only been keeping his strength under wraps due to some reason.


    His Aunt Valerie was no different from the others, just even angrier and more shocked than the rest.


    After all, he was her own nephew and even she had been kept in the dark which meant that he hadn''t trusted her either.


    Meanwhile, she was also remorseful of the way that she had been treating him all along.


    She was thinking that it might have been because of her behavior with him in the first ce that he had never even once tried to tell her about his problems. Or maybe he did try and was discouraged by her attitude towards him.


    Valerie was feeling more agitated by the second and wanted to hear his reasons to calm herself.


    She wanted to know if her own insensitivity had been one of the reasons he had hidden his bursting talent from her. That was why she had been waiting for him toe back home. Her anxiety had not let her move away from the door all this while.


    Therefore, as soon as Zavier entered the front door, he had already encountered Valerie standing in front of him. From her smirking expression, he knew that there was no escape this time.


    Since he had no way of exining, he pretended as if nothing had changed and moved past her without even acknowledging her presence. He was trying to hurry back to his bedroom before he could be called back.


    His hopes were dashed as soon as he took the first step on to the stairs leading up to his bedroom.


    "Stop right there. Do you not put me in your eyes now that you have revealed your strength?"<sub> </sub>


    The words were spoken in a piercing tone, trying to prod his insides, hoping to get some answers out of him.


    Zavier acted nonchnt as if he hadn''t heard her at all but he put down his raised foot, turned around and came back in front of her at a leisurely pace.


    "Aunt Valerie, did you need something from me?"


    Valerie felt as if a tsunami of anger and frustration was brewing in her body, turning her insides out.


    On the surface Zavier was acting like an obedient nephew but she knew that this was a taunt intended to disrupt her questioning momentum.


    She could easily judge that he didn''t want to answer her questions at all and wanted to pretend that nothing had happened.


    "Stop pretending. No need to act smart with me."


    Zavier immediately adopted a dignified outlook and looked as serious as he could to reassure Valerie and then nodded as if asking her to continue with what she wanted.


    "Tell me, how long have you been able to do magic? Is it really only recently that you have awakened to magic like you told us? Or have you always been able to do it and were hiding it from us?"


    Aunt Valerieunched a barrage of questions at once. Even though she had already decided on what was the possible answer, she wanted to hear it from him.


    "What does it matter if I only awakened to magic recently or had the ability since the very beginning?"


    Aunt Valerie could not get more frustrated. The ambiguous answer had left her more angry then satisfied.


    She knew that it did not matter anymore because the way that she had been treating him, like he was air, could not be changed anymore.


    The more she tried to justify her past actions, the more guilty she felt especially once she knew that the nephew that was the most worthy of praise and endless resources of the family had been cast aside by herself.


    This made her adamant on getting those answers from Zavier.


    ? "It matters to me. Tell me why would you hide it from me for so long?"


    Zavier stayed silent for a while and then gave her a piercing look as if saying: "Isn''t it obvious enough?"


    Valerie was crestfallen. She knew what he meant. Even if he had wanted to tell someone, that someone wouldn''t have been her. She was thest person in the house who he would have wanted to approach.


    Valerie was the only one in the house who had felt disgusted with his presence. And now she had the guts to openly ask him why he had not opened up to her. She felt likeughing at herself but this only made her more determined to find out his secrets so as to know more about him.


    Zavier noticed the fleeting expressions of regret and sadness on her face and his heart softened.


    He smiled at her softly, revealing a trace of gentleness before saying in an even softer tone that made him look even more mysterious while at the same time kindly reassuring Valerie that it wasn''t her fault.


    "Everyone has his own secrets that they don''t want others to know. It''s not that I didn''t want to tell you but there are some things that are better left unsaid."


    He gave her a crafty and mysterious smile and turned on his footsteps and headed back towards his room without looking back even once.


    Valerie, who was still not willing to ept his answer, at least felt satisfied at this moment. At the same time, her interest in him increased manifold. She vowed that she would draw out all the answers out of him some day.

 Chapter 18 Practice

    Back in the bedroom, Zavier let out a sigh that was reminiscent of how difficult it had been to exin himself to Valerie. If it had not been for his ambiguous answers, he would have still been there answering questions and clearing her doubts.


    Now that he was safely in his bedroom, he wanted to do a quick data scan.


    As a part of his daily routine, Zavier had made it a must to activate the shared mode with his clones at least once a day when he came back from school.


    This would keep him in the loop with his clones and would also let him get used to the shared senses that will help him increase his mental strength through excessive consumption.


    He wanted to go through all the events that his clone had gone through for the day.


    "System, enable the shared mode."


    [Sharing mode has been sessfully enabled. You are now sessfully sharing your senses with one other clone.]


    As soon as the system notification message disyed on his screen, a flood of data entered his mind. It felt like watching a surveince film on fast forward. All the events of the day that the clone had undergone, were now a part of his memory.


    Zavier couldn''t help but be fascinated. With the help of his clones, he could experience every bit of his new life. There would be no opportunity cost as he could choose all the options at once.


    Previously, on the way home he had been thinking that he could not continue to advance his illusion techniques alone.


    He had to make the clone practice mage skills so as to gain some attack power as the illusionist skills despite their huge restrictive effects had quite a weak offence in the beginning.


    He willed the system to make the clone in teh closet practice Magus system as well.


    [Unable to follow user''smand. One clone can only practice a single system throughout. Changing to Magus system now will wipe the memories and effects of the Mesmer system from before.]


    [Only the main body has the privilege of using multiple systems by essing the memories and experiences of the clones practicing different systems.]


    [User is advised to make a new clone for practicing the Magus system.]


    [Are you sure you want to proceed?]


    "No."


    "But how can I make a new clone now? Won''t my brains explode from the inside out?"


    [User can rest assured. User''s mental strength has exceeded the minimum value required for the maintenance of two clones at once after reaching rank two in Mesmer system.]


    "Then, I want to make an additional clone."


    [Cloning of the user was sessfullypleted.]


    [You now have a total of two clones.]


    [User should get used to sharing senses with two clones at the same time. Initially, the symptoms of dizziness and incapacitation may be expected due to overusage of mental faculties.]


    Zavier felt like cursing. The system had just told him that he was capable of making two clones but he hadn''t told him the side-effects.


    As if feeling what was brewing inside his mind, system yed it safe and decided to give information voluntarily so as to avoid his wrath.


    [User is apprised that the symptoms will only ur if the sharing mode is deployed for an extended period of time so, he does not need to be worried.]


    [What system would the user like the new clone to practice?]


    "Magus system."


    [Magus system has been selected sessfully. Clone 2 will follow the path of a mage from now on.]


    Although he had already selected the magus system, it was previously being pursued by the main body. Due to the limitation of hiding his true strength, he had to avoid practicing his mage skills.<sub> </sub>


    This was the reason that his Mesmer rank had increased while his Mage rank was still the same.


    The addition of the new clone would allow him to practice his mage skills without any stoppage.


    Also, the bedroom closet was not suitable for the practice of mage skills. His clone would have ended up destroying the mansion with the immense destructive power of Magus system.


    Zavier thought for a moment before deciding on a suitable ce of practice. In the end he chose the woods closest to the mansion for this purpose.


    The woods were the best ce out of sight, with enough practice targets and natural camouge. Moreover, the woods offered various ces for hiding in case that clone did end uping across the one odd individual who strutted in.


    By this time, Zavier was starting to feel slight headache from having to maintain mental function of three bodies at the same time. He also had the feeling that the symptoms mentioned by the system were very close at hand.


    As such, he only watched the clone 2 until he reached the woods and started to practice his Magus skills.


    "System, initiate the individual mode."


    [Individual mode has been sessfully enabled.]


    He felt that his head was about to burst with pain when after he was done with everything. The nerves inside his head were throbbing continuously as if acting as a reminder of the pain that he was feeling every single second.


    He fell down on his bed fighting the pain that was chewing him out from the inside. The only thing he could do at this time was bear with it and take rest.


    When in pain, it was harder to fall asleep. Zavier struggled with it for quite a while before sweet sleep took him in his arms and he traveled to dreand.


    Zavier was so tired that he never woke up for dinner despite many worried calls of the maid from outside the door of his room.


    Even Nadia hade to his room to wake him up twice, but he never budged.


    In the end the girls let him sleep and went ahead with their dinner.


    The next day, Zavier was shocked to see that it was already day time when he woke up. He had slept through the rest of the evening and the whole night. This was enough to show, how much of a stress the multiple clones and shared senses could put on him, during the shared mode.


    He followed his morning routine and went for breakfast.


    He felt a little intimidated because all three girls were looking at him with cold eyes as if he hadmitted some crime. Even the ever cheerful Nadia was looking at him with slight enmity.


    Only Aunt Valerie had a slight smirk on her face as if he deserved what was happening to him.


    In reality, both Nadia and Kacie were a little angry with Zavier for not telling them about his abilities earlier. Zavier could somewhat understand their expression of anger.


    But he had no way to hide how ufortable he was feeling at that moment.


    When Zavier had born through the painful breakfast and the carriage ride to the school, only then did Nadia and Kacie gradually let him off.


    "Serves you right for hiding it from us. If you do it again, we won''t forgive you."


    Both the girls headed off to their sses after giving him a final warning.


    Meanwhile, Valerie had stayed around to watch the scene bearing a yful smile the whole time.


    Zavier couldn''t wait to rush out as soon as the girls had left. He wasn''t foolish enough to wait for Valerie to open her mouth as well.


    He would rather not hear a couple more threats so he lurched off towards his ss without a slightest look towards the ss teacher who was currently giving him a mischievous look.


    The same looks continued even in the ss that previously would never have bothered to check if he was even present or not.


    Although Zavier was somewhat irritated, he did not care about the stares of these people. He marched through the piercing gazes and reached towards the end of the ss where he sat.

 Chapter 19 Calista

    As usual, Alissa was there to wee him. She had already reverted back to her usual routine and there was no akward moment at all. Zavier feltpletely at ease with her. If anything,munication with her had gotten even better.


    Alissa would now and then take the initiative to talk to him and get close to him throughout the sses.


    Some times when she got too close while holding his arm, her ample sized breasts would touch the back of his arm. Once it even got squished between her breasts but when Zavier looked at Alissa, it was like she didn''t even notice. She was her normal cheery self.


    At that moment, Zavier had to stop and scold himself for having such a dirty mind. Alissa had such a pure mind while he was unable to pull himself out of the gutter.


    Before long it was time for the ss of Miss Mary again. As usual she was unavable due to personall problems. Her absence was not the problem for teh ss but the one to arrive in her stead was.


    As the ss feared, Valerie walked in with her seductive and voluptous figure, charming her way over to the teacher''s desk.


    The infatuated boys could not help but look at her thievingly as none of them had the guts to overtly do it. They all remembered what had happened to thest guy who had tried the same antics.


    He had been hit on the head with chalk in front of the whole ss. The boys had even heard that she had hit him so heartlessly that his head had swollen up.


    As soon as Valerie put her things on her desk, she gave a scanning nce at all the students.


    The students shuddered in their ces as if an evil witch had been staring them in their faces.


    Valerie gave a smirking nce towards Zavier who was unable to understand her meaning at all. He didn''t even notice that he had been singled out by her once again.


    This was supposed to be a gym ss in which practical lessons were usually conducted. Students had the option to practice one-on-one magic skills with their partners.


    His partner had always been Alissa since the both of them had been worthless when it came to magic.


    To the both of them, gym ss had always meant an hour of non-stop talking to each other. They wouldn''t be bothered by what the rest of them could do and would always do their own thing.


    Zavier was nning on doing the same thing today as well which was the reason why he was acting soid back in Miss Valerie''s ss.


    It really was like, "Man proposes and God disposes."


    As soon as the thought of breezing through the ss came to his mind, Miss Valerie made an announcement to the whole ss disposing off all his ns.


    "Today, we will not be conducting our usual one-on-one magic spell practice sessions. I have organized a friendly match with ss A that will take ce during this time in the school yground."


    Immediately there was a ruckus and a series of hushed voices whispering to each other in defiance of the new order. No one wanted to embarrass themselves by going against ss A that was full of heavenly geniuses.


    It had to be known that this ss was the ss F, the worst of all sections in the junior year. They were the absolute worst students among their year.


    The ss sections in the school were numbered based on the overall performance of the different sections.


    Being given the title of ss A meant that the ss average performance was at the peak of all sections while ss F meant that their performance were at the very bottom of it.


    At this point, one couldn''t help but wonder how pathetic Zavier would have been if he hadn''t received the multi-system beforeing to this world. He would have be the worst student of the worst ss, the absolute scum of the school.


    Before Zavier had shown his talent, thest two seats in term of magical talent had always been reserved for him and Alissa who were always at the bottom of their age group.


    One of the students couldn''t help but think that it was unfair for them to be pitted against ss A. He stood up and asked Miss Valerie whether she wanted to embarrass them in front of the whole school.


    Valerie stared at him with eyes full of indignation and wrath.


    "Ohh¡­are you afraid?"<sub> </sub>


    She practically threw out those mocking words. Not expecting to receive any reply at all, she continued to walk towards the exit of the ss while the rest of the ss followed after her like chicks following after the mother hen in a straight line.


    The student who had managed to speak up earlier became the next story that would be discussed for quite some time in the future.


    The destination of ss F was the yground where the friendly match was supposed to take ce.


    ---------------------------


    The yground was a stretch of arid greennd that was located at the east wing of the school. It was well taken care off and handled by the bestndscapers in the city.


    The green lush grass blended in with the tree house, the high rise swings, the sea saws and even the sand box where kids yed in. It was one of the selling points of the school, for it breathed life into the otherwise serious vibe of the citadel of learning.


    It was primarily a source joy for the students, but right now, it was going to serve as a battle arena.


    Standing in the middle of the yground, like a lone scarecrow in a field, or a ghost haunting a yground was the slender form of a woman who looked as if she was poised for battle.


    Her name was Calista.


    Though she was well into her forties, the teacher had the petite figure (as well as the looks) of a little girl. Physically, her most striking feature was the long stretch of silver hair that fell all the way to her back in silvery waves.


    It shone brilliantly and was as beautiful as the Milky Way gxy with the sun as its center. Her silver hair danced in the wind casting her in an ethereal light.


    But her stunning white eagle hair wasn''t the most interesting thing about her. Several rumors bounced around about this particr teacher.


    One of such was that she had the enviable ancestry of elf blood from her mother''s side. Because of her mother''s elfin blood coursing through her veins, even in her forties, Calista still retained the look and height of an eight year old girl.


    Calista''s cuteness was only rivalled by the air of mysteriousness around her. Much like her counterpart, the ever stunningly vivacious Vrie, Calista was also extremely popr.


    Just about every student, teacher and parent knew Calista. The basis of her fame was deeply rooted in the fact that she wasn''t easy to forget. Her very peculiar look and stature made her stand out.


    Both of the female mages were good colleagues, although one wouldn''t go as far as calling them best friends. But in as much as they were friendly with each other, there was also an underlying rivalry between Calista and Vrie.


    Like light and darkness, like fire and ice, both women constantly found ways to joust andpete with each other.


    Even unintentionally, both women could never seem to be on the same page with each other. This sense of prity brought out both the best and the worst in them. There was no doubt that the showdown between both sses would reflect that.


    As the children from both sses poured into the yground, chirping away like crickets in the nighttime, and anxious as to the oue of this impromptu match, Calista tried her possible best to maintain a cool front.


    In fact, she was so sessful at this that she had seeded in fooling most people with her fuzzy warmth.


    But the indifference she constantly projected outwardly was nothing more than a front. Deep down, Calista was frustrated by the constant back and forth with Vrie.


    She had witnessed Vrie''s birth as a young prodigy. Back then, even Calista couldn''t deny the fact that the young female mage was destined for great things. But to her uttermost surprise, Vrie had risen to stardom with a blinding unnatural speed.


    Like a sick joke, Calista had watched firsthand as Vrie rose through the ranks and not only had she attained the same level with Calista in a short time, Vrie had also surpassed her within an even shorter period! Calista was reminded of this everyday as she dealt with Vrie''s obnoxiousness self.


    Because of the strong elfin blood flowing through Calista''s veins, she had been gifted with the enviable trait of a strong life force which was the bedrock of the affinity for magic that was exclusive to elves only.


    In spite all of these fine characteristics, worse than anything else, Calista was forced to admit the fact that she just couldn''t keep up with Vrie.

 Chapter 20 Go First

    The brilliant sun overhead bore down on the yground. The students had split into two groups based on their sses.


    Like one on one gunfights as seen in western ssics, both sses stood opposite each other with their respective teachers at the helm of affairs. Both Calista and Vrie red at each other through thinly veiled fake smiles.


    It looked like a simple drill exercise, but it could very well have been a life or death match with the venomous atmosphere both teachers had created. The air was almost cackling with electricity.


    Totally oblivious of the battle of egos between both teachers, on both sides, the students chatted away nervously.


    The skillful ones relegated themselves to the background with the hopes of minimizing their visibility in a futile bid to lessen their chances of being called on.


    But it was all for naught! Both Calista and Vrie already knew beforehand who their champions were going to be. Vrie broke the ice by calling out to her colleague across the yground.


    "No need to put on a confident front Miss Calista! It''s okay to be afraid you know!"


    Calista sneered back;


    "Ohe of it Vrie!"


    Her high pitched sing song voice was always a joy to hear whenever she tried to yell. She continued the passive jab.


    "We both know that my ss is literally an A ss!"


    Vrie matched her aggression;


    "Don''t count on it this time. Everyday isn''t Christmas you know!"


    Calista yelled back;


    "Well let''s get to it then!"


    "Let''s do this!"


    Both women surveyed each other''s ss. Calista hadn''t been expecting Vrie to be the one to initiate a friendly sspetition. But either way, she was d that an opportunity like this had presented itself.


    She wasn''t going to let it slide, she had already vowed to seize this opportunity by taking the initiative. As Calista glossed over the oue of thepetition, she knew for sure that Vrie was going to choose the girl named Dah.


    She smiled inwardly. Calista already had a n in mind to counter that.


    Dah was a young prodigy in F ss. She was an extraordinary ster student by all standards and possessed incredible skills.


    The young student had mastered the use of ice magic. She had practiced well and was powerful enough to do some real harm with her powerful ice magic.


    Calista acknowledged the ice girl''s talent, but she had an Ace up her sleeve that would level the in field. Recently, a very mysterious transfer student had been routed to Calista''s ss. She was a real handful.


    Calista had nned to unveil her during the final exams at the end of the semester. But she was already itching to show her off. Calista just couldn''t wait any longer. The time was ripe for her to unveil her secret weapon.


    The rules of thepetition were simple. Each ss was to send one student to represent them in a one on one battle.


    After a looser has been eliminated from the tournament, the undefeated winner retains the right to remain in the ring like a champion until the next challenger emerges to contend. This cycle would them continue until the champion is defeated and another takes his ce.


    Victory is dered when one of the parties concedes or simply loses to the other side. The students in the F ss were in a jittery state.


    They were all afraid of being called first to y, all except Zavier and the phenomenal Dah. The situation on the other side was the pr opposite.


    The students of A ss were virtually top tier mages, so, they looked down on the entire ss F. It was no shock when the students of ss F found themselves drowning under the overbearing energy of the opposing ss.


    They were all so afraid that they immediately ruled out the fact that anyone of them couldst long in the ring- not even with a prodigy like Dah on their side! The dance was yet to begin, and yet they were already crushed psychologically.


    Calista was adept at reading situations. She read the facial expressions and the general atmosphere on the opposing ss and instantly knew that the battle was hers already.


    Her eyes glinted with excitement. But her fire was nearly doused when she saw the confident gleam in Vrie''s eyes. Calista seethed inwardly;


    "Oh I can''t wait to wipe off that smug look on your face!! Just wait you obnoxious cow!"


    Calista''s confidence was well grounded. The difference in the strength of both sses was ring. There was no doubt that ss A was the superior ss.


    In fact, very few students from ss A barely considered this to be a game. To them, it was a walkover. Even with a prodigy like Dah, it was unlikely that ss F would win thepetition.<sub> </sub>


    She was a pretty powerful mage for her stage, but even she couldn''t possibly hope to take on the entire ss A.


    Next to Dah, Zavier was the only student from ss F who could stand toe to toe with the contemptuous ss F.


    The others didn''t dare to put any of their trust in Zavier. In light of recent events, he had lucked out when he disyed some re for potent magic earlier on.


    But that was just about how far they could put their confidence in him. For the better part of the time they had known him, Zavier had been nothing more than a dud.


    His past failures and ineptitude in the face of adversity far overshadowed the brief moment of glory he had enjoyed in their sight. From the time the students left the ss right up to the yground, they gossiped about this freely in separate groups and in hushed tones;


    "Did you see what Zavier did?! That was amazing!"


    A skinny kid with sses asked excitedly.


    "Yeah! No kidding that was super awesome. But it''s also Zavier Adam, maybe he got lucky."


    The other slightlyrger kid beside him answered objectively.


    "I really don''t think so bro."


    "Why?"


    "There was just something about Zavier in that moment! Did you see how focused he was? Did you see how he¡­"


    The other boy dismissed him.


    "You have been seeing too many superhero novelstely. You know that''s not how real life works right?"


    The skinny nerd with sses retorted;


    "I know that you jerk!"


    "Well, that all over now. The real challenge is just beginning."


    "Yeah¡­" he said sadly, "Dah is the only one who can face those jerks from ss A. Maybe Zavier as well¡­"


    "Zavier''s a bum dude. I told you to let that go already."


    "Come on, let''s go hide behind Dah so we don''t get picked for the first round!"


    They didn''t argue about that. They scurried along on their feet like a bunch of mice and hurriedly took their ce behind their ss''s champion.


    Unlike the rest of the jittery bunch, Dah was the only one brimming with confidence. Eager for battle, she red at the opposition from where she stood with hateful eyes. In the case of the young mage, this wasn''t just a disy of bravado, Dah was truly outstanding.


    She was well aware of this fact and she reveled in it. This was the basis of her confidence; the fact that she was one of a kind and the fact that she shone above all.


    As a brilliant prodigy and as a ster student, Dah had all the qualifications to be in ss A.


    Surrounded by equally outstanding students, Dah could have thrived in the atmosphere of a winning ss.


    But then again, her excess pride (which was a dominant part her character) influenced her decision to pick a weaker ss where she could prove that she could excel in any environment and under any circumstance.


    Although she would deny it vehemently, Dah''s decision to choose ss F was partly because she absolutely hated any kind ofpetition. She wasn''t a fan of team work. Dah was the type who was obsessed with being the star.


    This was perhaps the reason why she had been the only one shaken by Zavier''s momentary glory, especially as she had failed at that very spell.


    As she warmed up, she encouraged herself;


    "This is my time to step up and re-establish my dominance in this ss! No one can take my ce!"


    So, when Vrie asked who wanted to go first, Dah wasted no time, she stepped forward aggressively.


    "I will go first Ma''am!"

 Chapter 21 Arrogant Girl

    Vrie couldn''t suppress the smile that was gaining momentum on her face. She absolutely adored students who could take the initiative.


    "Very well Dah. Make ss F proud!"


    Someone cheered on from behind;


    "Yeah Dah! Make us proud!"


    Then suddenly, like a wave, the whole ss began to cheer her on.


    "Dah! Dah!! Dah!!!"


    The young prodigy didn''t smile back or indulge those chanting her name. Dah surged forward purposefully with long strides and walked forward to the middle of the field.


    Behind her, Vrie was beaming with smiles. She shifted her gaze from her most prized student and focused on the opposition.


    Her faced instantly turned pale when she sighted an unfamiliar face shuffling through the crowd of students and working her way to the front.


    On the other side, the diabolic Calista chose that particr student for this exact moment. Vrie watched the other side very closely. It unnerved her that Calista didn''t give the newbie a pep talk. Calista simply gestured her to move along and she obeyed willingly.


    Dah froze at the sight of her opponent.


    She was agitated for many reasons, but chiefly because she had done her research on all the potential trouble makers in ss A, and had prepared different strategies for engaging all of them. This was part of what made her an exceptional student- her ability to prepare.


    So, as the yellow-skinned stranger approached Dah with an unreadable expression, Dah recoiled inwardly. She absolutely hated surprises.


    It wasn''t just Dah, all eyes feasted on the incredibly busty stranger as she sauntered across the yground to meet Dah halfway.


    Everyone was smitten by the new student, but Zavier paid close attention to her, she looked so much like Shiranui Mai; an anime character that had been ripped right out of a TV show.


    She was d in a very revealing red cheongsam-like dress that entuated her curvy hips. Her full perky breasts poured out and revealed a very generous cleavage. In her hand was a red fan that for some reason didn''t feel quite like a fan to Zavier.


    He drank in her physical features as his eyes zed over every inch of her scious body. Every part of her was firm and well pronounced.


    Zavier watched the movements of her hips and the way she strutted with her legs. He knew that underneath all that lusciousness, she definitely wasn''t wearing a single thread of panties.


    The way her nipples fought against her cheongsam, he also knew that there was no bra holding up her breasts.


    "Just who is this girl??" he wondered to himself.


    As she waltzed down the yground, it was almost as if time slowed down for her. The sunlight ttered herplexion (it could also easily be the other way around) and her eyes zed under the powerful re of the midday sun.


    Her gestures, much like her ways were slow and suggestive. She floated over to Dah with the grace and finesse of a swan and stared at her with a hint of coldness in her eyes.


    Up close, Dah could tell that the yellow-skinned girl was an extremely prideful creature. She instantly detested her for it.


    It wasn''t just the sneer on her face, neither was it her haughty set of eyes, it was her overall vibe and in the demeaning way she looked down on just about everyone. The stranger had an offish air about her and Dah was simply repulsed.


    The two of them stared at each other for a full minute. Then the yellow-skinned girl broke the silence. With her head cocked to the side, she finally addressed Dah;


    "What is your name?"


    Dah threw her head back andughed in her most annoying voice for a full minute. Then she poured as much scorn as she could muster in her answer;


    "Don''t you know it is rude to ask for someone''s name without first introducing yourself?"


    Dah scoffed and threw her hair back with sass.


    The yellow-skinned girl was livid with fury. Dah''s vitriolic reply ignited something dark in her and she vowed to make Dah pay for her insolence.


    The air around them got denser by the minute. All around them, deadly silence ensued.


    Every pair of eye was fixated on the both of them. Both students and teachers knew that this was going to be a real showdown, they could practically taste and feel it in the air.


    Suddenly, without warning, the yellow-skinned girl sprang towards Dah with the agility of a cat and lounged at her with her fan.


    In a bid to mask her attack, she kept her fan folded and only unfurled it at thest moment.<sub> </sub>


    A dense ball of fire shot out of the unfurled fan at thest minute. Dah was quick to respond, she stepped back tactfully and immediately countered with a wall of ice.


    Cries of foul y went up from ss F and Vrie thundered;


    "QUIET!!!!!"


    Someone from ss F protested;


    "But she just attacked Dah unprovoked without a ready-set-go!! Isn''t that against the rules?!"


    The others chorused their approval like a mob. Vrie rebuked and assuaged them saying;


    "This is battle! IT IS NOT your enemy''s duty to inform you when they will attack! Now watch and learn. No more grumbling!"


    The students were obviously riled. They grumbled some more before returning their focus to the fight.


    If Dah had been sleeping before, she was definitely wide awake now! The surprise attack showed just how agile the new girl was and also showed her dexterity with me magic.


    <o>,m If it hadn''t been for her swift response, Dah knew that she would have been barbecue by now. The yellow-skinned girl was a shifty one.</o>


    She knew she had to go all out with her. Thus, with renewed resolve, Dah went full ice queen. Her eyes turned white and the air around her grew frosty. Like wings on her back, a cloud of mist took form.


    Those who knew Dah knew that she truly meant business now. Her ice magic wasn''t just typical frost and snow. NO. Dah''s ice was like liquid nitrogen, it was so cold that it burns. She already had the advantage.


    Asides from the fact that Dah''s ice magic was particrly deadly, it wasmon knowledge that ice magic naturally negates all other attributes of magic.


    Things were looking good for Dah especially since the yellow-skinned girl''s magical attribute was ordinary mes. These were the thoughts running through everyone''s mind as they assessed the battle hoping to predict the oue.


    At the edge of the yground, Vrie observed the battle with clenched fists;


    "Get her Dah! You had better get her!"


    But she didn''t voice it out loud.


    Dah took up a defensive stance and circled round her adversary like a vulture. With hawk like eyes, she observed her every move.


    As their back and forth began, Dah yed the long game. She wanted to know just how many cards her aggressive opponent had up her sleeve.


    Balls of fire burst from her fan sending flying sparks everywhere. Dah easily blocked these small scale attacks. As they danced around, Dah mocked her in her most condescending tone;


    "For all your drama, so you''re just a weak mage after all? You''re not worth it, I am not going to waste my time with you!"


    Dah''s sting struck a chord in her already riled up adversary. The yellow skinned girl''s eyes zed dangerously and immediately, her attack took on a different form.. She unfurled her fan to three-quarters of its full form and jumped.


    Midair, she wept her fan like a massive scythe in the direction of her opponent. Dah''s hawk like eyes never left her for a second, she took a deep breath and thought to herself;


    "Here ites¡­"


    Like a wave sweeping across the ocean, a wall of fire erupted from the ends of her fan. As they rushed towards Dah with an insane bloodlust, they expanded geometrically with every inch like the chemical process that goes on in an atomic bomb.


    All eyes watched as the majestic me swept across the yground in the direction of the other girl. But Dah wasn''t fazed.


    With the gracefulness of a swan and with the precision of a ballet dancer, Dah stood on one toe.


    She crossed both her arms over her chest like an Egyptian mummy, and with her thumbs touching her forefinger, she struck out her arms and mimicked the pping movements of a bird taking off.


    The result was nothing short of majestic;


    From the ground up towards the sky, a wall of incredibly solid ice rose up gloriously.


    The raging me hit the twenty foot solid wall with a sizzling swish and the fire went out in an instant! The wall of ice was still unfazed, it was almost as if nothing had happened.


    With Dah enveloped in a haze of frost and her eyes still a milky white, she repeated the same series of movements from earlier on- everyone held their breath expecting an unfathomable counter attack, but to their surprise, none came, instead the impressive wall of ice dissipated in one move.


    The tactful brilliant Dah decided it wasn''t time to attack yet. She wanted her enemy to show all her moves first.

 Chapter 22 Black Flame

    Cries of admiration erupted from ss F''s camp! Dah''s name was on every lip in admiration and in praise.


    The less skillful ones watched in awe as Dah''s form emerged from the frost. She looked like a walking, breathing, live human cier warped in ice. The frost that looked like wings before now had taken on the shape of a massive serpent wrapped around her.


    The yellow skinned girl refused to be impressed. She thrust her slim waist and shook her head disappointedly at Dah and said;


    "You are a disgrace to mages all over the world. You call that fighting?" She scoffed; You''re seriouslycking in real fighting talent!"


    Dah frowned. She wasn''t used to people speaking to her this way. The other girl continued her savage verbal assault;


    "You know, I just realized it now, but your entire foundation is on your family''s abilities. If you were to lose your ice magic today, you will be nothing!"


    Thest four words stung Dah like a bee sting, nobody knew just how insecure she was about her entire ability being rooted in her family''s legacy. And yet, somehow, this stranger had deduced that from a single joust.


    The vindictive Dah wasn''t about to let that slide. There and then, she resolved to teach the new girl a lesson. She would make her know that there was no such thing as ''if'' in this world.


    With her milky white eyes that made her look like an oracle, Dah went on the attack. Every pair of eyes watched in awe as Dah swift hand motions formed several foot long icicles.


    About ten to twelve icicles shaped like drills took form. Without hesitating, Dah shot them at the other girl with the intention of impaling her.


    "Now I know that this girl truly has a death wish¡­" Dah thought, "Everyone knows that fire is no match for ice. Especially my ice!"


    Dah watched as her icicles surged from her orbit towards the other girl with blinding speed. They were shaped like missiles and they moved in the same vein. The air temperature dropped drastically. Dah''s calctions were right.


    Her icicles could easily prate any wall of fire or any defense for that matter. The only option the other girl had was to simply duck or be impaled. If she dodged, Dah would be ready for her, if she chose not to, well¡­


    But the other girl had a few tricks up her sleeve as well. She chuckled, and almost immediately, a disturbing sight appeared. The atrocious form of a giant ck me emerged like a shadow in 3D.


    Everyone gasped as the ck me gobbled up all the missiles made of ice. Horrified, Dah watched as her precious icicles melted in the strange ck fire,pletely destroying them even before they could reach her.


    Cries of surprise erupted all around the yground as the students witnessed something they had never seen before- fire that could burn ice. It was an anomaly, even on a cosmic scale. Everyone''s view on the strange new girl shifted dramatically. In that moment, one question was on every mind;


    "Just who is this girl?"


    Calista smiled from where she stood. She couldn''t see Vrie, but she knew that she definitely had her by the balls now. Calista thought to herself as she relished their shock;


    "This is just the beginning. They haven''t even seen just how much damage this ck me can do!"


    Vrie who had been monitoring the battle frowned as she pondered on the new development;


    "ck me? Oh no, it can''t possibly be!"


    Vrie was one of the few people on the yground who fully understood the true power of the ck me. The other students in ss F didn''t need to understand to know that it was a real problem. Just about every single student in ss F was in a state of confusion. They pondered aloud;


    "Was that ck fire?"


    "Yeah dude! It frigging was!"


    "Where did thate from?"


    "Who knows? But that was incredibly awesome!"


    "Is that even allowed?"


    "I hope Dahlia is okay!"


    There were mixed feelings, no doubt, but the battle was far from over.


    Just about every single mind on the yground had been captivated by the strange ck me. But among the throng, there was no one more enthralled by the new development than Zavier Adam.


    For the first time in a long time, doubt registered in Zavier''s eyes. His dark countenance reflected the severity of the lethal weapon which the light skinned girl had so easily unted. Zavier couldn''t afford to be in the dark.


    After the ck me receded, while a fresh wave of gossip washed over the other students, the young man took advantage of the chaos and inquired of the Multisystem in his mind;


    "Multisystem?"


    The response was automatic;


    "Yes Mr. Adam."


    "Could you give me a rundown of the mysterious ck me I just saw?"<sub> </sub>


    The multisystem paused for a bit, and then offloaded the entire information into Zavier''s mind.


    "It is called ck me. It is a trans-dimensional fire that consumes every single form of matter. Its destruction is not limited to just matter, ck me can devour all forms of energy, including the elements.


    Fire, water, ice. Metal, spiritual energy, and other special substances¡­"


    While the multisystem briefed Zavier, Dah on the other hand found herself on the unenviable end of a nasty surprise. As a student who lived and died on the hill of preparation, Dah was presently living out her worst nightmare.


    Frozen in astonishment, the ice queen was temporarily paralyzed with shock. Before now, Dah was convinced that here was no me in the entire universe that could burn her ice.


    Her very perception of conventional reality had been altered by this revtion. Her confidence was rooted in the fact that her natural attribute negated other people''s attribute. For the first time in her lifetime, the tables had been turned- this time it wasn''t in her favor!


    The rules of engagement had changed for the arrogant young mage. She was now the vulnerable one. This was not a feeling she loved at all.


    But she was a resilient soul. Defeat had never been and could never be an option. She encouraged herself;


    "Snap out of it Dah! You can do this!"


    She willed her mind to focus, and in a matter of time, she took control of her mind and summoned an impressive amount of mana. The mana surged through her being and condensed on her fingertips.


    The atmosphere dropped below zero as her fingers traced invisible signs in the air. Cackling sounds of icicles forming filled the air as Dah summoned something even more sinister than an ordinary ice crystal.


    Slowly but steadily, all eyes remained fixated on the shape emerging. It grew bigger and bigger, rising like a diabolic omen in the air above Dah. Like a phoenix rising from the ashes, it spread out its wings and the ice demon took the form of a frozen dragon with soulless eyes.


    Students gasped as they backed away in fear at the sight of the thirty foot long dragon. It was so cold that people all around started to sneeze.


    A bitter cold wind blew across the yground the intimidating dragon beat its wings. All around the yground, the unseemly sight and the ridiculously cold atmosphere had attracted the attention of some other students around.


    All trooped towards the yground to watch the unfolding battle, including Nadia- Zavier''s cousin. She edged closer to the scene and feasted her eyes longingly in the ensuing battle.


    The dragon''s serpentine tail coiled round Dah while its towering frame rose majestically above, as though it was reaching for the clouds. Dah looked like she had been taken over by something darker.


    With her milky white eyes that made her look like she was in some kind of trance, she stretched forth her hand towards her opponent. Everyone was shaken by the intimidating spectacle. They had heard rumors of Dah''s family''s ice dragon, but witnessing it live was like a dreame true.


    Everyone turned towards the light skinned girl. In that moment, no one envied the yellow skinned girl who was about to be on the receiving end of one of Dah''s legendary attacks. But much to the chagrin of everyone, the facial expression of the yellow skinned girl in the revealing dress showed that she wasn''t in the least way bothered!


    It anything, she actually looked bored. In response to Dah''s monstrosity, the stranger simply flicked her hand. The abominable ck me surged forward with an unquestionable vengeful lust.


    Everyone held their breath. For a minute, the only sound everyone could her was the roaring of the ck me and the screeching sound of Dah''s dragon.


    Dah was in battle mode, her senses were heightened so she could feel the oppressive power of the encroaching ck me.


    It dawned on her with staggering suddenness that her ice dragon would be obliterated the moment it came in contact with the ck me. She immediately resolved to beat her opponent before that happened.


    So, at thest minute, Dah executed a dangerous maneuver. The twirled her fingers and altered the trajectory of the ice dragon. Instead of heading straight into the ck me, the enormous ice dragon boycotted the fire and instead surged forth with an incredible speed as charged it charged towards the yellow skinned girl who was now without any kind of defense.


    It was a beautiful maneuver on Dah''s part.


    The n very nearly would have worked if not for one major oversight; the fact that the yellow skinned girl was also a quick thinker who was adept at reading situations with a godlike rity.


    The logical thing for her to do would have been to side step and recall back her ck me, but she ended up doing the unthinkable.


    The confident grin on Dah''s face faded. She watched with horror as the yellow skinned girl charged straight ahead to meet the insanelyrge ice dragon head on.


    An rm bell went off faintly in the back of Dah''s mind, but she ignored it. She waited with greedy eyes as she anticipated the destruction of her adversary and along with it, the glory that came with victory¡­


    The air, thick with tension, everyone looked on to see what would follow. Especially Vrie and Calista.


    Because she had a front row seat, from Dah''s point of view, what happened next appeared to her like slow motion. As the yellow skinned girl lounged at the ice dragon, the red fan (which she had keenly hung on to all this while) turned into a glossy ck katana with a sinister looking ck de.


    But that wasn''t the weirdest part. In slow purposeful movements, Dah watched as she gracefully swung her katana in a full arc. She repeated this movement several times, and with each motion, new batches of crescent shaped ck des appeared in the air over her.


    In that moment, Dah knew that it was all over. The new girl furiously shot her katana in the direction of the ice dragon. As expected, what seemed like a thousand ck des descended on the ice dragon on all sides.


    The very moment they made contact with the dragon, the mysterious power in the ck swords poured into the ice dragon with a powerful surge of energy. It was all over in less than a second.


    The ice dragon burst into a billion irreparable pieces,pletely eviscerating it and along with every single trace of its existence.


    The battle that had changed thendscape of the yground had ended in a very shocking way. The ''ck me'' had devoured Dah''s ice dragon, and with the ice queen''s defeat, the temperature returned back to its natural state.

 Chapter 23 Shiranui

    Shock was the order of the day. But in that moment, no one knew despair like Dah. Bewildered, the young mage copsed on her knees. As she sat helplessly on the ground, she took in the defeat slowly.


    As a member of the one percent, Dah hade up with the mindset that she was the best. This confidence mutated itself in every aspect of her life. She became fiercelypetitive and high protective of her spot.


    But for the first time in her life, despite having fully prepared, Dah had suffered a serious blow.


    p It was a dent on her record and a blow to her ego. Dah had always been the prodigy. Even though she was in ss F, she had never for once been lumped in with those losers.</anda>


    Dah watched as the yellow skinned girl approached her. Dah was in the middle of a personal crisis, so didn''t have as much hate in her eyes as she used to.


    She realized that she didn''t even know the name of the mysterious yellow skinned girl who had defeated her. So, she bucked up and asked the other girl;


    "New girl, what is your name?"


    The other girl scoffed. Humility was clearly not one of her strong suits. Arrogantly, she replied Dah;


    "Weren''t you the one who said it was rude to ask for someone''s name without first introducing yourself?"


    "Just tell me your¡­"


    Dah was cut off briskly by the other girl.


    "You''re the loser here. Tell me yours."


    The ice queen stared at her for a moment before she decided to answer her in a weak tone;


    "They call me Dah¡­"


    Dah wasn''t used to introducing herself. She was already popr. But even on the rarest asions when she had to drop her name, there was always a stir.


    So, she felt even smaller when the yellow skinned girl didn''t seem to recognize her name. The new girl boldly dered her name to not just Dah, but for all who were gathered to hear;


    "I AM SHIRANUI!!!"


    Zavier was the only one who had been pricked by that prime piece of information.


    Zavier''s mind turned itself inside out as he struggled to recall where he had heard that name from. The memory stood at the edge of his consciousness, like a wraith trapped between two worlds.


    "SHIRANUI!!"


    The name echoed and re-echoed through the vacuum in his heart, sending shockwaves of d¨¦j¨¤ vu all through his mind. It was frustrating, but as much as Zavier tried, he couldn''t bring himself to remember why that name sounded so familiar.


    A short distance away, Calista who had been watching the entire fight with catlike eyes rushed forward immediately to announce Shiranui as the winner. In her high pitched voice that made her sound like a little girl, she shrieked at the crowd;


    "I hereby pronounce Shiranui as the sole victor of this round!"


    The students of ss A cheered loudly behind her. The pped and rejoiced wholeheartedly to the disgrace of the opposing ss. ss F was already used to losing so it didn''t bother them all that much. Calista savored the glory brought to her by Shiranui and allowed the celebration to go on for another minute.


    She lifted her hand and bid the crowd to be silent. She continued her oration while trying to mask her happiness with a look of indifference.


    "Well, as the rules suggest, someone else has to take up the mantle."


    Calista paused for effect to let her message sink through. She then turned to look Vrie squarely in the eyes as she uttered her next sentence;


    "Is there ANYONE from ss F who will take up the challenge?"<sub> </sub>


    Vrie knew that Calista was no doubt enjoying this. Calista knew that Dah had been the only hope of the entire ss.


    And Shiranui, an unknown and unproven entity had managed to decimate that hope and all that it stood for. More than anyone, Calista knew that thispetition was over. She smiled to herself as her eyes poured over all the jittery students from ss F.


    The poor younglings were all scared shitless. Terror and disappointment hung over them like a dissident gas. Shiranui''s disy of strength had paralyzed them and put them in a state of perpetual helplessness.


    None of them dared to speak. Like a set of dumb chickens, they all fell silent and prayed that this cup would pass over them.


    As Zavier struggled with his failing memory, his eyes locked with his aunt''s. Almost immediately, Zavier caught on to her thoughts. As Valerie''s intense eyes bored into him, Zavier cursed inwardly;


    "Hell no! I am not about to get in the middle of this!"


    Zavier keen eyes had followed every step of the match between Shiranui and Dah. He knew that there was no way he could take on the dangerous fire breathing girl.


    He wondered if he could use his clones to nk her on all sides in a swift attack that was his one and only chance.


    If he failed at that, Zavier knew he would be toast. But even at that, his primary concern was to keep his abilities hidden. Anyway he looked at it, if he decided to get involved, it was a lose-lose situation for him.


    "I really need to get out of here!"


    He averted his eyes from his aunt''s, hung his head low, and started to make his way through the crowd in a bid to get away before the unavoidable happened. But it was already toote. The cold steely voice which he dreaded finally came with a paralyzing injunction;


    "Zavier Adam! Prepare for battle right away!"


    Where he was, Zavier closed his eyes in disappointment.


    "Shit!"


    Zavier''s ssmates took advantage of the new development andughed heartily. Zavier''s ill-luck was the catalyst that changed the gloomy atmosphere into a much lighter mood, all at the expense of Zavier.


    As Zavier reluctantly made his way through the crowd to the middle of the yground, he heard the not so loud whispers all around him.


    "I feel bad for him, but, better him than us!"


    "At least, he''ll put on a show for everyone. He is used to getting pushed around anyway so¡­"


    "Poor guy!"


    "Damn! I wouldn''t want to be Zavier right now!"


    Moreughter. And then came the most annoying chatter;


    "Why is his aunt so mean to him? I am d she''s not my aunt!"


    Zavier didn''t know it at the time, but even though they allughed at him, their hearts were with him.


    Even Calista was shocked by Vrie''s seemingly continuous hatred for her nephew. She advised her ordingly;


    "There''s no need to do this Vrie. The boy doesn''t deserve to pay for your bruised ego."


    Vrie replied her coldly;


    "Thepetition is not yet over."

 Chapter 24 Better Offer

    "Ohe off it Val. There''s no shame in losing to an opponent like Shiranui. You saw for yourself that she is a real prodigy. Just like you- back when you were young anyway."


    Vrie wisely ignored Calista''sst jab and answered her with a mysterious smile;


    "Would you care for a wager?"


    Calista''s eyes flipped open. The elf like women wasn''t sure she had heard her properly. Still maintaining a disturbing smile, Vrie pressed on with the terms of the bet;


    "We both stake ten magic crystals. The one whose student wins the match gets it all. Deal?"


    Calista was sure Vrie had gone mad. Even a blind man could tell that Shiranui would win the match. Calista started to entertain the fact that maybe Vrie had some ingenious n up her sleeve which she didn''t know about.


    "No way¡­" Calista thought to herself; "She''s definitely bluffing."


    She regarded Vrie for a few more seconds hoping she would discover any form of deviltry the other teacher might be up to.


    "Fine." She finally acquiesced. "I see no valid reason why I should refuse free precious magic crystals."


    Vrie didn''t reply her. Both women focused on the youngd trudging across the yground to meet his opponent.


    Zavier''s mind was a mess. His mind raged within him for the most obscene reason- his aunt. It wasn''t anger. It wasn''t bitterness.


    It was something deeper and more primitive; Zavier was turned on every time he looked at his aunt.


    He caught a whiff of her scent as he breezed past her and it turned him on like a beast on heat. What he wanted the most at this time was to freeze time, bend over his aunt, slip in his rock hard erection in between her creamy vulva and fuck her bloody till she was dripping with his seed.


    Zavier was headed into battle, but he was harder than a monk on a school yground, all because of Vrie.


    "I am going to fuck you bloody Aunt Vrie, I swear I am going to."


    Shiranui was astute at reading people. As the clumsyd made his way towards her, she could instantly tell that his mind was elsewhere. Her eyes poured over him and immediately, she could tell that he was a weakling that didn''t need too much attention to handle.


    She had other ideas on how to go about this particr battle. As Zavier approached, Shiranui stretched out her right foot and dered arrogantly with a sick smile on her face;


    "Listen to me you low life scum, I can easily win this contest without hurting you. You''d like that wouldn''t you?"


    Zavier simply stared at her and remained mute. Shiranui mistook his silence for fear and proceeded with her depraved proposition;


    "I know you''d like that. All you have to do is this¡­"


    She lifted her left hand in an overly dramatic fashion and pointed at her out stretched foot.


    "Get on your knees and lick the hell out of my adorable toes!"<sub> </sub>


    Zavier couldn''t believe his ears. This girl was unbelievable!


    "What?!"


    He asked. Partly out of disbelief, but basically because he was disgusted. It sounded like Shiranui wanted to use him to fulfil the role of being the submissive in her sick fantasy. Clearly, she had a foot fetish, also, she wanted topletely dominate him by humiliating him in front of his peers.


    The more Zavier looked at her, the more he saw that the yellow skinned girl was a sadistic creature.


    "Go on then!"


    She shrieked.


    "Lick my toes like your life depends on it! WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?? Get to licking right away!!"


    She was getting erratic. It was evident to Zavier with each passing second that the yellow skinned girl was unhinged. There was no possible way a sane mind could conceive such an abominable request.


    As he tried his best to think of a way to escape the situation without fighting, the automated voice of the multisystem dropped a fresh piece of information in his mind;


    "Zavier be advised, your Magus level has been increased to the second level."


    Zavier had never been so d to hear from the multisystem. Its timing was uncanny. It was just the lift that he desperately needed at the moment.


    Zavier fought to contain his excitement at the news, he was curious as to what special magic his clone had learned that could allow him to level up so quickly.  He couldn''t wait to try it out. Without wasting much time, he issued a new order to the Multisystem;


    "System! Immediately link my memories with that of the clone who has the Magus System!"


    The response was quicker than the blink of an eye. On a quantum level, terabytes of data containing the clone''s memory flooded into the memory section of Zavier''s brain. A diabolic smile began to form on Zavier''s lips.


    Shiranui was surprised at the transformation. She made to speak, but Zavier walked up to her with a renewed confidence.


    Still with the disturbing smile on his face, he brought down his hands to his scrotum and grabbed it as he spoke to Shiranui in a condescending tone;


    "I have a better offer. If you want to escape unscathed from my wrath, you''re going to have to go down on your knees, open your mouth and suck my big fat cock till I ejacte dust!"


    Almost immediately there was an uproar from ss F. No one could believe that the normally shy Zavier had it in him to talk dirty, especially in the face of such an adversary. It was a real sight to behold. But their joy was short lived.


    p They thought Zavier knew he was going to lose, but he simply wanted to go down in a ze of glory.</anda>


    Amongst the spectators was a very worried Nadia. She had seen just how fiercelypetitive and how destructive Shiranui was. She was well aware of Zavier''s level of proficiency and she wasn''t sure that Shiranui could be defeated.


    No matter how she looked at it, she just couldn''t see why Zavier would provoke such a powerful female mage with his offensive words.

 Chapter 25 Cold Blaze

    Only Shiranui felt differently about the whole situation. Her initial surprise had quickly dissipated, and morphed into full blown rage. She was so angry that she began tough hysterically.


    It was a deep, long, mockingughter. Shiranui had only been around for a short period, but even she had heard about two students in particr; Dah and Zavier. Their reputation preceded them so much so that even Shiranui knew about the ring difference in their strengths.


    Shiranui assumed that Zavier was deliberately baiting her. Her voice thick with disdain, she pointed at Zavier threateningly and said in a caustic tone;


    "You poor fool. You picked the wrong enemy to mess with, I am going to beat you to death even if it means I get expelled from school!"


    Her eyes glinted wickedly with demonic ambition. Zavier was under no illusion, he knew she meant every word she had just said. He watched her gingerly as she sheathed her red fan like a sword on her waist.


    The cracked her knuckles gingerly as she assured him in her usual condescending tone;


    "I will do my best to rein in my anger so your fragile body does not get injured in the process!"


    Thus saying, she charged at Zavier.


    As Zavier stood watched Shiranui charge towards him, sparks of biochemical reactions in his brain ignited his synaptic nerves as Zavier saw firsthand (in his mind''s eye) the memories of his clone from the night before.


    These recollections were happening faster that the speed of light, so as Zavier relived the memories of his clone, time seemed to slow down around him. It was almost as if Shiranui was moving in slow motion towards him.


    Zavier blocked out everything else and focused as he relived the details of the fresh memories of his clone.


    Zavier''s clone with the Magus System had had a pretty eventful night prior to this day. At night, while other souls had been peacefully drifting off into oblivion, the clone had ventured into the nearby forest.


    With the enveloping ckness of the night shielding him from ordinary eyes, the clone slipped deep into the woods to work on improving his magical skills through diligent practice.


    Deep in the womb of the forest, alone in the woods and far from any prying eyes, the clone version of Zavier chanced on an isted section and settled there. He took a deep breath and focused on the task that had brought him here.


    The clone sat on the bare floor cross-legged, and began to meditate.


    Like a scientist slowly unravelling the mysteries of the universe, the clone unlocked the Magus System and began to explore its secrets.


    As expected, the second level of the Magus System was wrought with an insane collection of interesting properties. Each feature was unique. They were all magical in nature and could be used to execute terrible things, especially in battle.


    But amongst all of these cool magical features, one particr feature stood out the most. It had the most iconic and the most patronizing name; ''COLD BLAZE.''


    Even the clone was intrigued. The cool name of this feature was suggestive of the fact that it was something lethal. At the same time, there was a certain ambiguity about it, as well as an aura of mysteriousness that further augmented its enigmatic allure.<sub> </sub>


    The clone honed in on Cold ze and delved right into exploring everything about it. A datasheet appeared before him, glowing with bluish-green light and shimmering like an apparition. The clone digested the information hungrily.


    It turned out that Cold ze was the psychic essence and at the same time, an insanely powerful spiritual power. At its core, it wasposed of densely weaved mana.


    The nature of its spiritual essence as well as its power on the magical spectrum made Cold ze to take on the color of brilliant dazzling white.


    Cold ze wasn''t just an abstract construct, its effect could be seen, heard, and felt by human mages.


    Those who were unfortunate enough to be on the receiving end of a Cold ze st would testify that it could inflict a twofold injury and twice the pain. Cold ze cut across a strike in two dimensions; the physical and the spiritual.


    Inadvertently, this meant that a st of Cold ze could obliterate a person''s flesh and at the same time, do some serious damage to the person''s soul. But that wasn''t even half of it.


    Anyone who likened Cold ze to be an ordinary me could be said to be a ridiculous liar. Cold ze wasn''t like the typical blue me, neither could it bepared to the conventional forest fire, no.


    Cold ze was a sinister me whose temperature burned below zero degrees, far lower than liquid nitrogen. It didn''t need oxygen to ferment or grow, and it definitely didn''t need a dry or hot environment to be formed.


    Cold ze could be birthed anywhere and anytime, provided the mage was skillful enough.


    Another chilling characteristic of Cold ze was its appearance. Unlike the traditional smoldering or raging me, Cold ze had a certain seamless formlessness about it.


    It could take on the form of flowing water and it could also solidify and take on the form of a sword. Its dazzling brilliant white color also added to its strange allure.


    On a broad scale, Cold ze was an insanely difficult concept to grasp. It was too demanding. The mental and physical toll it took on both mind and body could very well drive an unskilled mage to paralysis and madness.


    Mages who were lucky enough to even unlock the second level of Magus often had to make a lot of sacrifices to forge ahead with Cold ze. It was an enigma in every way and few users often seeded in learning how to use itpletely.


    But Zavier wasn''t just any other mage.


    He was the exception to this trend because the Cosmic Consciousness had given him talents that were unparalleled. Zavier stood tall above every other mage.


    This advantage came in very handy for Zavier. His clone immediately went to work on mastering its use. Seconds turned into minutes, minutes turned into hours, and before he knew it, the golden streaks of dawn teased the horizon, signifying that day was at hand.


    By that time, Zavier''s clone had mastered the basics. Although Zavier still had a lot of ground to cover, on the scale of proficiency, Zavier had moved past awareness topetency. He waspetent enough to use Cold ze in battle.


    Other users could spend as much as ten years to get to this point, but Zavier had aplished this astounding feat in just one night.

 Chapter 26 Naughty Girl

    The entirety of this memory fused with Zavier''s mind and became one with his own consciousness.


    As he stood before the impudent Shiranui, a dense white me began to form in Zavier''s right hand, it cackled lightning and at the same time, it had the unmistakable appearance of a glowing me.


    This was Zavier''s first attempt at using Cold ze, and the young man enjoyed every bit of time it spent on his palm. It was indeed a glorious sight to behold, both in sight and in spirit.


    The intent of punishing Zavier, Shiranui who had been cruising at top speed towards Zavier skidded to a halt when she saw the strange brilliant white me taking form in Zavier''s hand. Shiranui who had been hell bent on attacking Zavier couldn''t believe the strange sight.


    With a serious look on her face, she searched for any signs of trickery or foul y. As she pondered her next move, she thought to herself;


    "What in heaven''s name is that!?"


    She racked her brain, but no answers came. There was nothing she could think of that justified Zavier having such an incredible power! If she had been even a secondte, Shiranui knew that she would have been greeted by a st of the strange me.


    Calista bolted up right as if she had witnessed a prophecye true. Shock was written all over her. The look of astonishment on her face was priceless


    "Cold ze!? It can''t be!"


    Calista felt yed. She thought Vrie had something to do with this new development so  she turned sharply in the direction of Vrie to question her. But she was met with an equal degree of shock on her face as well.


    With the way Vrie''s mouth hung open in disbelief, it was evident that she was also as surprised as Calista. With no one to me or take the glory for this new development, both women watched in awe as Zavier bubbled in the glory of the Cold ze.


    The temperature dropped drastically. It was almost diabolic just how fast the pressure rose and how quickly the degree of coldness dropped. With every breath the students took, heavy vapor escaped their nostrils.


    On every inch of all exposed skin, goose bumps formed as their bodies closed their sweat pores in order to prevent heat from escaping from their bodies.


    The effect of Dah''s ice dragon only a few moments ago was still fresh in their memories, so none of them were exaggerating when they said Zavier''s new power was actively causing a lot more trouble than Dah''s ice dragon from a few moments ago.


    The difference in temperature was insane. Somehow, Zavier''s Cold ze was even colder. It could be felt right down to the bone marrow. The cold was a terrible thing, but the utter astonishment that was stered on the faces of the students was a whole other thing.


    Everyone, even the witty, bad-mouthed students were at aplete loss for words. They were seeing a whole other Zavier. Few of them knew about Cold ze, but all of them couldn''t ignore its undeniable power.


    Zavier''s opponent was more disturbed than any other person present. Shiranui was forced to ept the fact that she had grossly underestimated Zavier.


    She wasn''t sure how he hade to be so powerful, all she knew was that she couldn''t lose to him right now.


    <o>,m So, she dropped off her initial offish attitude and brought on her A-game. She was determined to squash Zavier underneath her feet like an annoying bug.</o>


    Shiranui assumed her battle stance and whipped out her iconic red fan. Dancing like the mythical sirens on the surface of the deep waters, Shiranui gracefully waved her fan about in brief sporadic movements.


    As she did so, dozens of ck fireballs shot at Zavier. They whizzed through the air and headed straight towards Zavier with insidious fury.


    The young man did not flinch. Not even attempting to dodge, Zavier waited for them toe close to him. At thest second, just as they enclosed in on him, Zavier lifted his right hand towards the swarm of ck fireballs and shot out the strange white mes.


    Students and teachers, all feasted their eyes hungrily on the battle before them. No one really knew what the repercussion of Zavier''s counter would be.


    Everyone half expected his white me to deflect or at the very least, block Shiranui''s terrible ck me. But they were shocked by what happened next.


    Like a battle scene from their favoriteic books, everyone watched with a horrid expression on their faces as Zavier''s brilliant white me devoured the attacking ck mes!


    It was a real joy to see! It was almost as though Zavier''s Cold ze was feeding off of Shiranui''s ck mes.


    As his mes effortlessly swallowed up Shiranui''s ck mes, to his surprise he discovered that with each passing moment, his white me was actively increasing in size and in magnitude.


    He marveled, it was indeed true that his Cold ze had feasted on the energy of Shiranui''s ck mes and used them as sustenance. Zavier was thrilled. Shiranui was not.


    For the second time in a row, Shiranui found herself being shocked by Zavier. She wasn''t a fan of this particr gambit. She tried to wrap her head around what was going on, but the whole scenario was way out of her league.


    Outgunned and outmaneuvered, Shiranui was getting livid. She felt like she was being backed into a corner.


    Every victory that she eded to Zavier made her feel like like she was headed towards the edge of a cliff. This wasn''t a feeling that she had ever felt, not in a long time. Shiranui always yed the role of predator in every battle, she had never encountered this before.


    Shiranui spent her life thinking that her ck me was the king of mes.. And yet, before her eyes, like a sick joke, her me had been devoured whole by another kind of me. It was the pr opposite of what was supposed to happen.<sub> </sub>


    The oppressive chill in the air suppressed her further.


    "What exactly is happening!?"


    The bewildered Shiranui thought to herself as she examined and reexamined her current situation.


    "My ck me typically raises the temperature in any environment, how is it that I am affected by this strange cold me??"


    Shiranui''s skimpy dress didn''t help her case at all. Because she was dressed in an attire that exposed a good portion of her thighs, breasts and limbs, Shiranui found herself battling to keep out the excess cold from freezing her over.


    There was no way she could have anticipated that such a biting cold would overwhelm her. She was already starting to feel the numbness in her legs and limbs. A thick fog of vapor was threatening to render her visibility invalid.


    The whole atmosphere and environment of the battle ground had changed, but it wasn''t to her advantage in any way.


    Nadia''s eyes never left the battle.


    She was so stunned that she had been rendered static by the new development. It was particrly hard for her to digest this because she had known Zavier for such a long time now, so she had grown used to seeing him in a certain way.


    Nadia had never looked down on Zavier, but it still came as a shock to her when she saw Zavier manifest such an interesting magical attribute. The whole thing was both exciting, fascinating and scary! She was d for him.


    A new found admiration for Zavier flooded through Nadia''s young heart.


    Shiranui was as stubborn as she was skillful. Despite the ring gap between the ferocity of their mes, she refused to give up.


    In fact, defeat was the farthest thing from what she was actively considering at the moment. Her mes had failed to deliver the harm she hand intended for Zavier, so she kicked it up a notch and converted her fan into a ck katana.


    ring at Zavier with hate that was tinged with fear, she repeated the move she had disyed in the fight with Dah earlier on.


    Skillfully, she swung the gleaming ck de in the air, the de responded to her wrath and furiously dove right at Zavier.


    Zavier maintained an impressive calm in the face of danger. He made no move to evade the storming his way, instead he did something that surprised everyone. The liquid form of Cold ze quickly morphed into the impressive form of a solid sword.


    Zavier heard the students gasp all around him as he transformed Cold ze into a sword, and like an expert swordsman, he spun his glowing white sword in an arc and easily parried her attack. The de shattered into a thousand irreparable pieces.


    This time, Zavier didn''t allow her the luxury of enjoying a moment to take it all in. He seized the initiative and lunged at the now defenseless Shiranui with calcted aggression.


    Shiranui was used to Zavier ying the role of the cool calm guy ying defense. So Zavier''s sudden aggressive tactics caught her off guardpletely. Just as Zavier had anticipated, she had no way to counter or defend his attack.


    She struck out his sword deliberately aiming for a vital spot, she was quick on her feet so she dodged.


    She moved like the wind as Zavier shed and shed at her all across the battleground. Shiranui was faced with the crushing reality that if Zavier truly wanted to finish her off in that moment, he would have done that already.


    She sensed he was toying with her and pushing her to her limits because he had her cornered. Shiranui realized all of this quickly, but it didn''t mean that she could do anything about it. Zavier had destroyed her strength, and like a chess master, he was toying with her.


    Shiranui was forced to stay on the defense. She was lucky she had her speed and agility, else it would have been over for her a long time ago.


    "Damn you Zavier!"


    She cursed in frustration.


    But Zavier wasn''t paying attention. He had been studying her footwork and movements carefully so his next attack struck home.


    "Arghh!!"


    Shiranui screamed like a tigress whose tail had been cut. There was no blood, there was no pain.


    Zavier had delivered a different kind of attack that enraged the already riled Shiranui. Without the others noticing, Zavier had deftly ced his hand between her thick luscious thighs and rubbed the thick folds of her vulva. Zavier smiled. It turned out he had been right after all.


    "Shiranui you naughty girl¡­" He whispered to her as they fought;


    "You really aren''t wearing any panties¡­"

 Chapter 27 Unexpected

    He chuckled softly as she struggled to get away from his deadly white sword and his wandering left hand.


    This singr act by Zavier infuriated the hell out of Shiranui. Earlier on, she had been turned on by the mere thought ofpelling this annoying boy to lick her toes in front of everyone. This thought had flooded the region between her thighs with luscious moisture.


    Although the burning desire had long died down, she had creamed a little when Zavier touched her down south. Shiranui was ashamed. She was angry. So she began to fight back desperately.


    At this point in the battle, both Zavier and Shiranui had already showed their hands. It was almost impossible for both of them to hold back any longer.


    As the two of them went hard at it, Zavier''s Cold ze dominated the scene. Shiranui''s ck me which seemed indestructible a few moments ago suddenly appeared to be so inconsequential.


    Zavier went into an attack frenzy with Cold ze.


    As he shed and shed with his glowing white sword, bits and pieces of frost enveloped his form and the atmosphere around him. Even he was well aware of just how impressive he appeared in that moment.


    "That''s right¡­"


    He thought to himself;


    "If I keep up the pressure on her, she may end up getting hurt, or worse¡­."


    "I may need to slow down and ease up on her a bit. There''s no way she can keep up."


    Zavier''s analysis of his enemy''s current situation was apt. Shiranui was clearly getting overwhelmed. Her steps were starting tog.


    She speed had significantly reduced in thest couple of minutes, and since Zavier hadpletely suppressed her katana, she virtually had nothing to counter with.


    As Shirnaui tried her best to fend off Zavier''s heavy attacks, Zavier noticed something in her eyes, even though she tried to mask it with an aggressive front, the unmistakable look of terror was there.


    A sweet opportunity presented itself in the form of a decent opening, that was when he made an executive decision that changed the trajectory of the match.


    Just as his lightning sword was about to decimate Shirnaui''s corbone, Zavier decided to hold back and divert the attack somewhere else.


    This proved to be a serious mistake for Zavier. Although his intentions were noble, the frustrated Shiranui read it as a default on her enemy''s end. Quick as lightning, she took advantage of his brief moment ofpse and went in for the kill.


    Shiranui balled her fist and struck Zavier squarely in his lower ribcage with a st of ck me. It was a neat attack that had been delivered deftly.


    Shiranui escaped getting split in half by Zavier''s Cold ze sword because of his decision to spare her while, ironically, Zavier got smitten in the process by the opportunistic enemy he had been trying to save. It was the ideal example of an ironic twist.


    The painful cry that came from Zavier cut through the air like an acoustic anomaly. It broke every heart that heard it. In that moment, everyone felt his pain.


    Zavier slumped down on his knees with his left hand clutching his new injury. His was was contorted on agony.


    Zavier was dumbfounded. He hadn''t expected this degree of pain. It felt like liquid fire had been passed through his ribs and was swelling within that region like a growing me. The attack had ripped him open and ruptured his blood vessels.


    Even as the blood came gushing out, it doubled his pain and tripled the burning sensation which was already threatening to knock him out.


    But even deeper than the physical pain was an unquantifiable degree of mental pain that Zavier struggled in vain to contain.<sub> </sub>


    Zavier felt the pain in two dimensions; in his physical body and in his soul. The agony was unbearable so, he immediately summoned Cold ze, it was the one thing that could consume the ck Fire ravaging through his body and soul.


    Vrie had seen enough to know that this was all over. But for the sake of Zavier''s dignity, she didn''t act out her presumptuousness. Instead of calling off the match, she called for a timeout. Having paused the match, she looked at Zavier and asked the burning question on her mind;


    "Are you okay Zavier Adam?"


    The defiant look in his eyes gave her the answer even before he answered.


    "I am fine."


    Zavier rasped.


    Vrie took a long look at his injury and instantly knew that the damage that the ck me had inflicted on her nephew wouldn''t go away. Like a mother bear defending her young, she turned to Shiranui  and red at her with hateful resentment.


    Although Vrie didn''t say it aloud with words, the murderous re she shot Shiranui spoke volumes.


    Shiranui had backed away from Zavier but she was very much still in the ring. She was a mess. Her internal conflict raged as she struggled to contain herself.


    Overwhelmed, she stared at Zavier with a mixture of shock and confusion. Shiranui hadn''t expected him to take her into consideration like that.


    She knew that he had intentionally diverted his wrath away from her because he wanted to protect.


    But her fear and hatred of losing dominated all her conscious and subconscious decisions. Shiranui hated the idea of even losing.


    She hadn''t lost a single fight since she was a child. This had formed the foundation of her character and her confidence. And on top of that foundation, she had established an irrational hatred for losing.


    Zavier on the other hand was battling with the severe pain. Despite the excruciating agony, he struggled to get up on his feet. As he rose to his full height, he fixed his eyes on Shiranui. She watched his next move curiously.


    Without taking his eyes off her, Zavier walked purposefully in her direction and stopped a couple of feet away from her.


    "I Zavier Adam hereby concede."


    Zavier''s concession meant that she was the winner by default. This was the victory she had so desperately wanted.


    But in this very moment, it felt meaningless to her. She knew what she did. Shiranui was so ashamed that she couldn''t even utter the customary reply of ''I ept your concession.''  She just stood there.


    Staring like a goldfish.


    The opportunistic Calista wasted no time. Despite the special circumstances surrounding the battle, she hurriedly made the announcement;


    "By virtue of concession, I hereby announce Shiranui of ss A the sole winner of this match!"


    The silence that met her was loud. No one celebrated. Not even the members of her own ss.


    There was no sugar-coating the truth, they had all seen it for themselves- Shiranui had lost that match. Zavier was the real victor here.

 Chapter 28 Kacie

    Valerie and Alissa went to each of his sides, took up his arms on their shoulders and supported him.


    They could clearly tell that even though he was on his feet and was able to walk, he was barely able to do so.


    His lethargic movement, trembling lower limbs, bent posture and low tone of voice all gave out what he was really feeling and how much pain he was hiding behind that tough exterior.


    So when they moved forward to support him, there was not an ounce of rejection or false bravado like: "I am fine, you don''t need to trouble yourself."


    He silently nodded towards the two of them which they took as gratitude for understanding his situation.


    Valerie and Alissa took him to the infirmary to get him treated for the physical and mental injuries he suffered during the match.


    Contrary to Alissa, Valerie was not just doing this because she was worried about Zavier.


    She was doing this mainly to relieve the guilt that she felt for bringing this harm onto him.


    Although she had never intended for him to get hurt, it had to be known that she was responsible for dragging him into this situation.


    Knowing Zavier, he would never have participated in such a match unless he was forced to do so by Valerie. Someone who was able to hide himself for such a long time, someone who was able to bear the stigma of being a waste for so long would definitely not want to be out in the open without any reason.


    But instead of understanding his reasons, Valerie had pushed him out in the open and then this had happened. Her conscience would not have let her sleep if she didn''t do something to help him.


    Their reasons were different but both the girls in their own way were worried about Zavier and were remorseful of the fact that they couldn''t do anything to help the target of their worries.


    When a loved one is in trouble, you would sometimes wish that it would have been better if you could have taken their ce. Then it would have all been rainbows and unicorns.


    But they forget the one fact that the situation would have just been reversed had they been in the ce of their loved ones.


    Wouldn''t their loved ones wish for the same?


    Alissa was having the same thoughts all the way to the infirmary.


    She thought that it would have been better if she could have taken his ce and gotten injured.


    She even allowed some shameful thoughts in her head: "How good it would have been if Zavier carried her off to the infirmary like this and how would it feel if he worried about her the same way? Wouldn''t she have died of happiness?"


    But she didn''t understand that Zavier would have felt the same way she had been feeling, had he been in her ce.


    Both of the girls supported him until they were directed to a bed in the school infirmary by the school nurse.


    They carefully helped him sit on the bed and gathered around him to see if he was any more injured than they already knew.


    At this point, Nadia who had watched the fight in the yground previously and was worried out of her wits for Zavier, rushed into the infirmary with an almost hysterical look.


    After carefully checking all around, Valerie directed both Alissa and Nadia to gather to one side rather than gathering around him in a circle.


    She said that they needed to give Zavier some breathing space and some space for the nurse to check on him.


    Valerie seemed calm andposed at the moment but her fingers that she had hidden behind her back couldn''t stop trembling. She was the most worried out of all of them after all she thought of herself as the responsible party that had harmed Zavier.


    But being the oldest on scene, she had to take control. She had to be calm and moreposed than anyone else so they wouldn''t panic.


    At this moment she felt how terrible it was; not being an adult and yet having to be one. People tend to forget that she might have been a teacher in the school but she was only twenty years old; not more than two years older than her own students.


    Zavier was feeling a little overwhelmed at the moment.


    Although the injuries caused him pain, they could not have been worse than what he had gone through in his past life.


    He had already felt all the pain, there was in the world, lying on a lonely bed in a hospital ward with no one to worry for him and no one to care for him but the hospital staff.


    Once again he hade to a hospital but this time he felt that the experience wasn''t quite bad, he almost felt pure bliss this time.


    Two beauties supported him and practically carried him off to the infirmary. Third had rushed in because of how worried she was.


    All were now gathered around him looking for any injury they didn''t know about, worrying and gushing all over him to look for any trivial damage that might have remained untreated.


    "What more could a man want from his life?"


    But life was not all about the good things. Sometimes you needed to take care of others despite how good it felt to have them take care of you.


    "Both of you should go back to your sses. I can heal on my own. You don''t have to stay here with me."


    Valerie thought that it seemed quite reasonable.


    "But you need someone to look after you at least until you get better. What if you need something and nobody is here?"


    Although Valerie was quite worried and wanted to show her concern, her voice remained stoic and emotionless which hid the overflowing guilt that was chewing her from the inside out.


    She wanted to stay to take care of him because he had suffered these injuries because of her whims.


    Even she herself didn''t think that the feelings she had at the moment were not normal. She was taking the initiative to stay close to Zavier when she knew that he would be cared for in the infirmary.  She was feeling this dull pain at the back of her chest when she looked at the fatigued face of Zavier. She wanted to stay until he got better and could move about again.


    But all this, she contributed to the guilt that she was feeling. She never for a moment took time to think that what she was feeling might not have been guilt but something else.


    "It''s ok, Alissa can stay with me. You two can go back now."


    While Nadia was happy that Zavier was all right, Valerie cast a resentful re at Zavier for not understanding her good intentions.


    Zavier felt that she was ming him for making her lose face and the bet with Calista in front of the whole school.


    He was about to say something when someone else ran into the infirmary that was already crowded.


    It was someone whose arrival Zavier would never have been able to anticipate. It was none other than Kacie, his elder cousin who had been apathetic to him for as long as he had known her.<sub> </sub>


    Other than some perfunctory words everyday, they hardly ever talked to each other. Whenever they did talk, it was very formal and minimal words were used to get the meaning across.


    Therefore, he could have never imagined that Kacie would havee to see him when he was injured and lying in the infirmary.


    To him, only Nadia and Alissa hade here because they had a good rtionship with him and were genuinely worried for him.


    Valerie was only here because she was the teacher responsible for him and not because she was worried for her nephew, as evident from her daily behavior with him.


    The only one he was unsure about was Kacie. He didn''t know why she woulde here at this time. He kept thinking that maybe he had misunderstood her until now and their rtionship was not as dry and apathetic as he remembered.


    Kacie saw the other girls around Zavier and a fiery color passed through her eyes that went unnoticed by the rest of the girls and Zavier himself.


    She avoided talking to Zavier directly but looked him over from top to bottom.


    "Where are his injuries? Are they internal?"


    This question was intended for Aunt Valerie and not for him.


    "Most of his injuries have healed after the nurse treated them. He will be fine as long as he takes sufficient rest."


    Zavier felt that somehow it was because of the other girls in the room that Kacie had restrained herself.


    A thought caught a hold of his mind. Maybe Kacie is very shy and he had been misinterpreting her.


    Otherwise why would she avoid talking to him directly, in front of others.


    Their rtionship had always been that of normal kins ording to what Zavier thought. But even then she had never been this quiet. She would have at least offered some form of formal greeting to a person in recovery.


    Zavier unconsciously restrained himself from showing the smirk that was gradually showing itself on his face. He had never known this cute side of Kacie.


    She was definitely worried about him from the way that she had arrived but was reluctant to say anything in front of the others.


    As per his wishes, Valerie didn''t stay to bother him anymore and herded the pair of girls out of the room. Only Alissa was left behind to take care of Zavier.


    Nadia kept looking back in an attempt to force Zavier to allow her to stay back. But to her disappointment Zavier just smiled and shooed her away.


    Nadia stomped her way out in anger while Valerie smiled watching her antics.


    Valerie instructed Nadia and Kacie to go back to their respective sses. She herself didn''t move for a while. She was thinking of a way to go back inside but didn''t even know why.


    She came up with some weird ideas but rejected all of them as they came. She eventually shook her head in disappointment and hurried off in the direction of the ss that she was supposed to be teaching at that moment.


    While there was worry and guiltced with something unknown in someone''s heart who was busy waiting outside the infirmary ward.


    Something simr was brewing on Alissa''s side as well. Alissa was steeped in guilt and regret. For the first time in her life she felt that she was truly useless.


    Despite having been bullied all her life, and being called out for being useless in front of crowds, she had never felt truly useless. She had never given any worth to their harsh words. Yet, today she hade to know how close to the truth those words had been.


    She hadn''t been able to help the person that was her closest friend and ally.


    The person who had encouraged her to stay in the school and persevere; the person who had stood up for her when she was being bullied; the person who was the only magic in her world devoid of all magic; the only person that was dear to her in the whole school had gotten hurt and she had looked on like a spectator.


    The feeling of uselessness that she had felt at that moment was something that she might never be able to wash away. Alissa vowed to herself that she would never let something like that happen ever again.


    She had a burning desire to get stronger and protect the person that was closest to her. She wanted to protect Zavier with her own power.


    "If only I knew how to use magic, I would have never let you take that girl on. I would have challenged her myself. Then this situation would not have happened at all."


    Before she knew it, she had uttered out loud what she had been thinking on the inside. She felt iparably embarrassed by the fact that she had unintentionally revealed her thoughts to Zavier.


    But Zavier only smiled in return and replied:


    "Then the situation would have been reversed and I would be sitting where you are and you would be lying in my ce. I would rather have this situation than that one."


    Even if Shiranui didn''t look like it because of how easily Zavier had handled her, she was pretty powerful.


    "Hmph¡­if I could sense magic, I would have been far better."


    Both of them burst intoughter and couldn''t stop for a while.


    Zavier knew that Alissa was only trying to cover up her real thoughts with a joke.


    Zavier once again felt how incredibly kind a girl she was.


    "Don''t worry. Didn''t I tell you that I would teach you how to use magic? Don''t you believe me?"


    Alissa let out a smile that could have outshone the starry sky in the night.


    "Of course, I believe you."


    Zavier nodded in approval as if he liked the answer.


    "Wait for me to recover from my injuries. Then I will fulfil my promise to you, okay?"


    "Mmmh"


    Alissa let out a small voice like an excited little girl.


    She couldn''t wait to learn from Zavier. On the one hand, she wanted to learn magic to protect him, and on the other hand she was incredibly ecstatic that she had gotten an opportunity to learn from Zavier.

 Chapter 29 Back

    Alissa stayed with him until it was time for the school to end. They talked for quite a while on random topics but soon Zavier felt very tired. The recovery had taken a toll on his body.


    The nurse had used healing magic on him but the magic had only increased his body''s potential to recover. As such, his wounds had recovered at a faster pacepared to normal recovery.


    Turns out, healers in this world wouldn''t use real healing magic unless it was a dire situation. They usually employed recovery magic that helped increase the recovery speed by making use of the energy stored in the body for emergencies.


    Alissa knew this and didn''t bother him when he went to sleep. Though she still didn''t leave his side the whole time fearing that he would need something while she was away.


    She stayed past the school timings until the girls returned. Nadia was the first toe back and looked very excited while Kacie was the second. She didn''t say anything and waited in silence. It was only after Valerie hade strutting in with her ponytail bobbing up and down behind her that Alissa took the initiative to leave.


    She excused herself and left Zavier in their care by saying that she didn''t want to worry her family by beingte.


    Valerie nodded and took over her position.


    The three girls stayed in the infirmary with Zavier until he was awake. It was already dark outside when he opened his eyes.


    He was shocked to see that the girls hadn''t woken him up and were waiting quietly on the side. He was not used to such favor from them except maybe from Nadia.


    "Why didn''t you wake me up?"


    "It''s okay, you were injured. We thought that it was best if we didn''t disturb your rest."


    It was Valerie who had responded to his question. She made it look like it wasn''t a big deal but to Zavier it didn''t look like ''nothing''.


    He immediately got up from his bed and put on his shoes. At the same time he wondered who took off his shoes for him. As per his memory, he hadn''t taken off his shoes before he had gone to sleep.


    "Maybe it was Alissa¡­"


    "What?"


    Valerie asked him as soon as he murmured unconsciously. He hadn''t expected Valerie to hear his voice.


    "Nothing."


    Zavier didn''t know that Valerie had been extremely attentive to him the whole day. She was sure that she had heard him say ''Alissa'' just then.


    Women really had a strong intuition when it came to other women. She didn''t stay on the topic for long and helped him carry his bag as they left the ward and headed outside.


    That night Zavier, his cousins and his aunt shared the same carriage home.


    Nadia and Kacie chattered among themselves in low sounding whispers but didn''t bother Zavier at all out of consideration for his recent recovery.


    Zavier wasn''t sure about Kacie, but Nadia, he hade to know thoroughly by then.


    There was no way Nadia would have been able to restrain herself like this in front of him.


    He didn''t say anything but he knew that it was Valerie who must have told the two to take it easy on him.


    He wasn''t sure what the reason was but he couldn''t stop himself from giving a grateful look to Valerie who had been sitting in silence until then.


    A smile appeared on Valerie''s face as if she had noticed the look that he had given her but she didn''t say anything.


    "Did you see Shiranui''s face when brother Zavier took out that white me? She looked so arrogant, didn''t she?"


    "Mmmh¡­she did."


    Nadia was so excited and kept asking questions that she already knew the answers to. Kacie on the other hand, kept giving her perfunctory replies even though she was just as excited but didn''t want to reveal her true feelings.


    Zavier had been watching all this with a smile on his face that changed into a yful smirk whenever he noticed Kacie trying to restrain herself. He liked how shy she was and was happy to understand her true feelings.


    Otherwise he would have continued to think that Kacie was trying to avoid him rather than thinking that she was just a shy girl who had trouble expressing how she truly felt.


    "When the white me ate up those ck mes and grew so big, I was so surprised. When do you think he learned it?"


    "Mmmh¡­I was surprised too. I don''t know when he learnt it but it must have taken quite a lot of effort. It''s definitely not an easy spell to learn."<sub> </sub>


    Even Kacie had some words to say this time.


    Hearing her answer, Zavier could not help but snicker inwardly.


    Contrary to what she said, Zavier hadn''t put in any effort at all.


    "I just sat around and the clone did all the work.", was what he wanted to say but didn''t.


    It wasn''t time yet. He had to get stronger before revealing any of his secrets. Moreover, he did not want to douae their excited spirits with water.


    Nadia finally couldn''t help herself from asking any longer. The fact that she hadn''t bothered Zavier until then was in itself the unfolding of a miracle.


    "Brother Zavier, when did you learn magic? Were you really hiding it from us?"


    Even Valerie''s ears perked up upon hearing her question. She knew that Zavier would not lie to Nadia no matter what.


    Zavier stared at her excited face and couldn''t help himself fromughing.


    He then put on a serious look that changed the bubbly atmosphere of the carriage to a more solemn one.


    Even Nadia was listening attentively to the story that Zavier was about to divulge. Valerie showed as if she wasn''t interested but her ears were tuned to the same station as the rest of the girls.


    Zavier opened his mouth several times before closing them hurriedly as if he was unable to bring himself to talk.


    The girls wanted him to take his time as such they did not disturb him but their gazes encouraged him to speak.


    Zavier once again opened his mouth and was sessful in forming a coherent sentence this time.


    "It¡­it''s¡­it''s a secret."


    Zavier could finally not hold hisughter any longer and burst into a snicker.


    The faces of the girls turned dark like the bottom of a boiling pot. If he hadn''t been newly recovered, they would have sent him to the infirmary again.


    Nadia didn''t take it to heart for long andughed it away very soon. Her excitement wouldn''t let her calm down no matter what happened.


    "Brother Zavier, what else can you do beside that white me? Tell me."


    Before Zavier could speak, Valerie''s voice sounded from beside him.


    "You still don''t know how deep he has hidden himself. Besides that white me, Zavier is also quite good at illusions. Why don''t you ask him about that?"


    Zavier ground his teeth in frustration. Valerie was definitely getting revenge on him. Since he had yed a prank, she had ousted his secret in return.


    And knowing Nadia, he would not be sleeping easy that night. Nadia would surely pester him to show her his illusion skills even though she hadn''t said it out loud.


    Her curious eyes and her blooming expressions revealed it all to Zavier who was now busy cursing the damn woman, Valerie.


    Valerie too seemed to be satisfied with the final oue and didn''t bother with him any longer.


    The carriage came to a stop and all of them got off one by one.


    No one waited for him this time since he had already recovered.


    Zavier got off and rushed back to his room to continue to rest. He was still fatigued from the recovery spell.


    Nadia on the other hand rushed for a totally different reason. She wanted to wash up hurriedly so that she could go to Zavier''s room.


    She was soon done with her routine and rushed to his room with light steps so as to not rm Valerie who had previously forbidden her from bothering him.


    She stood in front of his room and knocked at the door.

 Chapter 30 New System

    Zavier let out a sigh of relief once Nadia had left his room. He had been wondering whether Nadia wanted to leave at all. Thankfully, he had taken precautions to avoid her suspicion.


    Zavier locked the door so as to not be interrupted again.


    He looked under the bed where the body of the assassin was lying lifelessly. His pupils were dted and his eyes were still open but there was no sign of life in him.


    Zavier was extremely confused. He couldn''t understand how the assassin had died even though Zavier hadn''t been nning on doing that at all.


    One or two clones dying wasn''t that much of a problem for him. Therefore, he had only cast an illusion and there was no way the illusion could have been fatal to such an assassin.


    It meant that the reason for his death was something else entirely.


    Could it be that he hadmitted suicide knowing that there was no escape for him? Could he be such a hardcore assassin like the ones he had seen in movies in his past life? Those assassins carried poison capsules in their mouths and would immediately crack it open upon getting caught.


    Zavier carefully checked his mouth for traces of poison or the capsule. He checked whether there was any bleeding but came up with nothing.


    It looked as if the assassin had died apletely natural death which was impossible except in case he died of excessive shock. But for an assassin, dying of shock was pretty much the most shameful death there could be.


    Yet, in front of himid a body that was the definite proof of the ipetence of the assassin that had sessfully assassinated him.


    Zavier was steeped in fear thinking that the weakest of his illusions had killing potential. He needed to be absolutely sure about his spells otherwise he would be hesitant when using them in the future.


    He couldn''t help but ask the system again. He felt that the only one capable of answering him at this moment was the system.


    "System, is he dead because of my illusion?"


    [User is right.]


    Zavier''s face grew as dark as the bottom of a boiling pot. He had to rein his powers in otherwise he might end up killing innocents.


    He was busy contemting the restrictions he had to impose on himself when the system sent him a message of its own volition.


    [User can rest assured. Although the user''s illusion skill is responsible for the death of this person, your illusion itself has no killing potential.]


    The words of the system were even more confusing for Zavier who was already trying to make sense of something he had zero understanding about.


    As if perceiving the apparent confusion of its user, system sound once again rang out.


    [User''s illusion itself did not kill this person. There was a mental bomb installed in this person''s brain. Your illusion skill acted as the trigger to detonate the mental bomb inside his head. It was rigged so as to detonate the mind of this person as soon as some external force tried to invade his mind.]


    He couldn''t help cursing at the system furiously for not exining it properly in the first ce.


    Now that everything was clear, he needed to know who was so desperate to kill him and at the same time hide his identity that the assassin had been imnted with a mental bomb.


    He only now understood that the killer behind the scenes in fact wanted to hide his own identity at any price. That was the reason for the death of the assassin, or it may also have been the cost of his failure.


    Zavier was shaken up from the inside following the incident of his assassination. Though it wasn''t aplete death, that didn''t mean that the pain and the feeling of death itself weren''t real.<sub> </sub>


    If anything, each death of the clone will be another life lost in his perspective. These clones were nothing if not a lifeline for him since each sessive death would make him suffer the pain of dying over and over again.


    The body that had died was his original body instead of his clone. As soon as he died his soul escaped towards the body of the nearest clone.


    Soon he found his senses spinning and he was then looking at his new body which looked the same to the finest details. As if the previous death had only been a d¨¦j¨¤ vu. But only he knew that the body that he was in was not his original body but that of his clone. The original body really had experienced death even if only a physical death because the soul had sessfully escaped into the next body.


    The next body that the soul escaped into was decided based on the distance from the original body. The next nearest clone was located in the closet so the soul had taken this body as its new home.


    The other clone at this time was practicing magic in the remote woods and did not know of anything that had transpired with the original body.


    Zavier did not know anything about his assassin or his motives. Therefore, after waking up in the closet, he didn''t just start screaming and howling to gather everyone else in the house.


    He wanted to make sure that the assassin did not turn towards the rest of his family if his scream managed to lure them over. After all, no matter how powerful Valerie might have been, even she wouldn''t be able to kill a person in the blink of an eye. She would hesitate and that would provide an opportunity to the assassin. A static target to an assassin is nothing more than a chicken on a chopping block lying in front of the butcher.


    Therefore, he decided to call the clone that was in the woods while he stayed in the closet.


    "System, enable sharing mode."


    [Sharing mode has been sessfully enabled.]


    [You are now sharing your senses with one other clone.]


    Since he was now in control of the clone in the woods, he ordered it to move back to the house in the shortest time possible so that it would hopefully find Nadia before she was able to detect the enemy hiding in his room.


    He stayed in the closet and saw the world through the senses of his clone. He sessfully managed to pacify Nadia and thankfully sent her off to her room.


    Only when he was sure that there would be no surprise visits from his family did he firmly close the door.


    He casually climbed on top of the bed, waited there for a while and then got off from the other side.


    The assassin hidden under the bed was unable to process the whole thing. Why was someone else trying to sleep in the room of Zavier, the person he had so sessfully put to death.


    While in that contemtion, somehow, he didn''t notice the face that was exactly in front of him, until it was toote.


    [Hypnosis has been cast sessfully. The target will be susceptible to suggestions for a small period of time.]


    "The corpse behind you hase to life."


    The pupils of the stranger dted a little but the body itself showed no reaction at all.


    Zavier checked the system messages once again to confirm that Hypnosis had been cast sessfully.


    After he had confirmed that Hypnosis had been cast, Zavier proceeded to observe the stranger who had been staring out into the void and was unresponsive.

 Chapter 31 Dispose

    Zavier wanted to get some information about the person who had hired this kind of professional to get him out of the way.


    In fact, as soon as he cast his illusion, the target had lost all its breath, which was not what he had intended at all. The killer hade prepared for such an oue whether knowingly or unknowingly, Zavier was unsure of.


    Zavier couldn''t find out the true reason for which he had been assassinated but he hade to know one thing; the information regarding the hiring party was even more important than the life of the assassin.


    The party couldn''t just have been someone ordinary; otherwise, they wouldn''t have gone to such lengths to prevent an oue where their identity came out in the open.


    The mental bomb must have been a failsafe device in case the assassin failed in his job and ended up in his hands.


    Zavier couldn''t help but be curious about the identity of his enemies. Who could have made such thorough ns just to get him out of the way? Was he even worth it?


    Up to a few days back, everyone knew that Zavier was only a wastrel who couldn''t even do magic. What was it about him that made his enemies want to kill him?


    He had nothing in his hands and had no ability. What could they possibly want from him? It was only possible that he was just in the way and the real target was someone else, maybe even his family members. But there was nothing to base his deductions on.


    The assassin hadn''t left any clues at all and his client had wiped all traces of himself. There was no way Zavier could reach the mastermind in the short term. But he was sure that there would be another attempt at his life very soon and there would be another chance to find out more.


    Until then, he could only patiently wait.


    The next thing on his agenda was the disposal of the two bodies lying underneath his bed. He couldn''t just tell his family regarding the assassination attempt. It would be equivalent to announcing to the world about the incident that had taken ce in their house.


    Zavier wanted to keep the news under wraps especially until the mastermind behind the scenes tried to assassinate him once again. Talking to his family would have alerted the enemies hiding in the shadows.


    He needed them to try again and if they knew that Zavier was already alert to their attempts, they might not send someone else.


    Zavier needed to know his enemy the most in the current situation. For now, he was ying blind with no sense of direction and no trace of his enemies.


    Since the assassin had taken extensive care in not revealing himself to his family, he could be sure of one thing that the killer only wanted to kill him specifically and had no grudge against his family.


    Zavier too grew curious. He wanted to know the identity of the mastermind very badly. Since, he didn''t have any leads at all; he wanted to figure it out slowly on his own. He wanted to catch the bastard with his own hands.


    But before that, he had to take care of the bodies in front of him so as to not rm anyone, especially his own family.


    *ding*


    [User has sessfully reached Mesmer level 3.]


    [Mental strength has increased by a considerable margin. User is now able to handle low level illusion spells more proficiently.]


    [The effect of low-level illusions will now be more pronounced and the duration of effect will increase.]


    [The probability of sess in casting low level illusions will be very high unless the mental strength of the target is higher than that of the user.]


    ...


    ...


    [User''s mental strength has increased and has reached the minimum standard required to activate two new systems.]


    [The number of clones that can be created without harming the user have now increased to 4.]


    [User can now create two additional clones.]


    Zavier who was otherwise lost in thought with a serious and gloomy look could only be brought back to the world through a series of such happy system messages. He could finally make use of two new systems.


    This was the kind of good news nobody could ignore. Zavier too felt like jumping around like a kid and telling everyone on the block but he could do nothing but restrain himself.


    He kept telling himself that it wasn''t time yet. He had to hold it in for a little longer. Just a little longer.


    Thanks to the new messages, Zavier was no longer depressed thinking about the bodies that he had to dispose of.


    He carefully went through all the messages once again just to be sure that what he had read was right and he really could activate two new systems at once.


    He was not ready to explode yet.


    Once he had made sure that it was true, he got to thinking, what system he should choose.


    He thought back to his conversation with the cosmic consciousness and the systems that he had been told about. He remembered there being a vampire system and a werewolf system but rejected them both since these systems would impose more restrictions on him.


    He would then have to hide his identity even further. He would have to risk being ousted once such an identity was revealed.


    Even if he turned to these systems, it would have to be once he had enough strength to carry himself with pride and once, he knew who he was fighting against.


    This was not an easy decision at all. Out of all the different paths, he had to choose only two. Mage and Mesmer systems had been very prominent to him thest time because they were both shy, but this time the choice was not as easy.


    [User is advised to activate the Necromancer system to handle the current situation.]


    [User can then have a storage space for corpses in the Necromancer system that can be used to dispose of the corpses.]


    Since Zavier had no way out of the situation and he was unable to decide which one of the systems he should choose, he decided to go ahead with the system''s advice.


    Ever since he had acquired the Multi-system, its advice had never gone wrong. Zavier chose to trust it.


    "System, I want to activate the Necromancer system."


    [User has sessfully activated the Necromancer system.]


    [User now has ess to Necromancy skills ranging from controlling, manipting, enhancing, and reanimating corpses using undead energy.]


    [User''s mana will change its attributes to undead energy upon the use of the Necromancer system. Undead energy is used by Necromancers to cast their skills and to control their corpses.]<sub> </sub>


    [User can now control any corpse that was weaker than the user at the time of death. The corpse will retain all of its abilities that it had before its death including any skills that it knew. The corpse will stop decaying once the user marks it as his own by using undead energy.]


    [The range of corpses that can be controlled increases with increase in undead energy and skill proficiency.]


    [User has learned Corpse Identification.]


    [User will be able to learn information about the deceased by using his undead energy to mark them.]


    [Conditions of use: User must be in physical contact with the corpse.]


    [The stronger the corpse, the lower will be the probability of a sessful Corpse Identification. Some traits might be hidden if undead energy does not meet the minimum requirement.]


    [The probability of sess can be increased by increasing the undead energy of the user or by increasing skill proficiency.]


    [User has learned Corpse Repair.]


    [User now has the ability to repair any damage to an owned corpse, provided that any part of the body is notpletely destroyed or irrecoverable. It is impossible to regenerate missing body parts.]


    [Conditions of use: A corpse owned by the user.]


    [...]


    Zavier was ecstatic to learn that the corpses could even retain their abilities. To be honest, whenever he thought of necromancers, he saw them as leading a horde of skeleton-like corpses who moved slowly like a zombie horde and had no strength whatsoever other than the fact that they were an undying mob that had strength in numbers.


    This had blown away his mind. The corpses he controlled could even imitate what they learned in their lives. This was much more impressive.


    Zavier put his hand on the corpse of the assassin to use Corpse Identification.


    [Complete Low-level Corpse


    Condition: Excellent


    Damage: None


    Skills: Stealth(D), Vanish(E), Poison Resistance(D), Mana Sense(F), Physical Strength(E)


    Owner: None]


    Zavier was somewhat disappointed since he couldn''t find out any real information about the assassin. Of course, the system wasn''t all knowing and could only tell the information regarding the skills and the condition of the corpse.


    But the disappointment vanished in a puff of smoke when he noticed one particr skill of the assassin.


    [Stealth(D): The user is able to hide his presence to a great extent from the senses of other individuals. The skill can be interrupted if the target is attacked.]


    It had to be known that an ability like that was not verymon. It was easy to understand how the assassin had managed to infiltrate into his house and had remained undetected despite the presence of the transcendental genius Valerie.


    Stealth was a rare ability toe by among ordinary mages. This corpse was an absolute treasure for Zavier at his current strength level just because of this skill.


    The alphabet next to the skills referred to the rarity and the strength of the skill. And the Stealth ability had been marked as D rank. It was quite formidable.


    Other than Stealth, there wasn''t much that the assassin was good at. The D-rank Poison Resistance could have been a good ability if the assassin was alive but the corpse having such an ability was possibly the worstbination.


    User of the corpse was marked as ''none'' which meant that Zavier could take control of the corpse.


    Before he could ovee the jubtion brought to him by the Necromancer system, Zavier was once again *ding*ed by the system.


    [User can also set the mode of control for each corpse to either Remote control or Automatic control.]


    "What''s that?"


    [Automatic mode is just like how your clones act in individual mode. They will keep following thestmand of the user until they are either destroyed or the undead energy provided by the user runs out.]


    [In remote mode, the user can control each of their actions but the undead energy will be required to move and cast their skills continuously.]


    [The corpses will only be prone to physical attacks and bodily destruction. Soul and mental attacks will have no effect on them because of their soulless bodies, irrespective of whether they are in Automatic or Remote mode.]


    [User can also repair a corpse after it has been damaged by external factors provided body parts are not missing orpletely destroyed.]


    After he had understood what the system had been telling him, there was only a single question buzzing around in his mind like a lonely housefly.


    "What about my own corpse? Does that one retain its abilities too? Can it be controlled?"


    [User can control the corpse of a clone but there will be no shared consciousness since the corpse willck its soul to make that connection. It will be just like any other corpse.]


    [The User''s corpse will also be able to retain some of its skills that can be used through corpse maniption.]


    Zavier was reassured after he heard this. After all, the wastage of such a corpse was a big deal. The corpse of a rank 2 illusionist was a big deal for him at the moment. It was like an extra helper.


    He marked both the corpses and released some of his undead energy in them to mark his ownership of the corpses.


    Only then could he drag them into the system storage provided to him by the Necromancer system. The only drawback of the system was that the storage space could only be used for storing corpses.


    He waved his hand and the two corpses vanished into thin air.


    [Two corpses stored sessfully.]


    [Total number of corpses avable: 2]

 Chapter 32 Solution

    Only then did he breathe a sigh of relief. The corpses had been like fishbones stuck down his throat. They had caused him enough stress in an hour tost a lifetime.


    p Zavier found that he was still unable to stop his body from trembling. It was already the second time that he had died.</anda>


    One thing that he learned after experiencing death twice, a rare feat one might say, was that there was no getting used to it.


    Obviously getting used to it was different when the life at stake was not your own but somebody else''s. It was easy to watch someone else die but it was not easy to cope with your own.


    He was afraid, terribly afraid of dying again. More than that, he was afraid of not living up to his true potential after all that the cosmic consciousness had done for him.


    It would have been pathetic for him to die in the hands of his enemies before he got to enjoy thepensation he had received for his miserable past life.


    He had grown to hate death. He didn''t want to experience it anymore.


    At the same time, he came to understand how dangerous living in another world without much knowledge could be. As it was, he would definitely die worrying when an attacker woulde for his life.


    No one would want to live like that, constantly in a state of alert against enemies that left no trace and had no name. It wouldn''t take long for invisible enemies to turn into mental demons that would then do nothing but haunt.


    As it was, Zavier was either going to die trying to find his enemies recklessly or he was going to worry himself to death wondering about their whereabouts and their next n of action. Obviously, this couldn''t be the solution.


    "System, is there a way for me to know when my enemies are close by. Is there a spell that can do that? Or do I have to wait for my enemies to strike the next time?"


    Zavier finally revealed his worries to the trustworthy multi-system.


    [Such a spell would have to focus on multiple targets in an ever-changing area beside the user. It is impossible.]


    "WHAT? Even you have no solution, what am I supposed to do then? Wait for my death?"


    [User is jumping to conclusions. I didn''t say that there was no solution, I said that a spell was not the solution you seek.]


    Zavier cursed out loud. He knew the system was somehowughing at him, he had caught the expression between its words.


    [The solution to the user''s problem is the activation of the perception system. This system would enable the user to be more aware of your surroundings, it would cover up all your blind spots. Nothing would be hidden from the user in a certain space surrounding the user. It will also give you certain insight into what the target is thinking at the moment.]


    Zavier was so satisfied with the solution that he forgot how insolent the system had been earlier.


    "System, activate the perception system for me."


    [Perception system has been sessfully activated.]


    [User is advised to not activate any more systems. User has reached his limit.]


    [User has learned Time Space Eye (Lv 1).]


    [User can see through all objects within an area of 100 metres. His gaze can prate through any obstacle within the range. There will be no blind spots.


    User''s vision will epass all 360 degrees around him. Nothing will remain hidden under his gaze.


    User can sense the subtle expressions on the faces of all individuals and can gain insights into their minds, allowing him to determine their emotions, feelings and their intentions with a high probability.


    By noticing the subtlest of movements of each body part and the changes in micro-expressions of the individuals, user will be able to predict their next course of action.]


    [Conditions of use: Area within 100 metres surrounding the user.]


    [Skill proficiency is currently 0.01%]


    [Range and the probability of sessfully determining the target''s course of action will increase with increase in skill proficiency.]<sub> </sub>


    [Limitations: The skill will not be effective if the target has put up a mental or spiritual barrier that is stronger than the user''s perception.]


    Zavier knew that something like this was bound to happen. Otherwise, the perception ability would have been too strong, game-breaking possibly.


    Zavier now had a system to save himself from the sudden and unexpected attacks of his unknown enemy so he could focus on making himself stronger to seek out those hiding in the shadows and taking an aim at him.


    He now had four systems at the same time and it was getting a little difficult for him to keep track of all the system messages he had been receiving on a daily basis.


    After getting a break from all the worrying, the first thing he did was to organize all the data in his mind and make himself familiar with his own strengths and weaknesses that he had never had bothered to learn before due to his overconfidence in himself and the multi-system.


    Spending some time working on himself also cleared his mind some more which allowed him to see things more clearly. Zavier was now more than ever clear about the goal that he was supposed to be working towards; increasing his own strength on an urgent basis.


    To keep practicing all the systems that he had activated, he had to have some additional clones. Counting the recently deceased one, Zavier needed three more clones to keep up with his needs.


    "System, I want to create three more clones of myself."


    [Cloning of the user was sessfullypleted.]


    Three new Zaviers popped out in front of him, simultaneously appeared out of thin air as soon as the message of the skillpletion showed up on the disy screen.


    Zavier assigned the clones with their respective systems to get them to practice the systems assigned to them. The sooner they increased their abilities, the stronger will be the main body.


    So many copies of oneself could get difficult to handle at some point. Zavier too had started to see the elephant in the room. So many Zaviers would be running around in the world if he maintained the status quo.


    Therefore, he had toe up with a system to make sure that no one would notice that the clones were the same as him even if they happened to see them at their ces of practice.


    This was easy enough for him. He just had to disguise them so that nobody would be able to recognize them.


    The next step was to determine where each of them would hide just like the clone practicing the Mesmer system was still hiding in the closet in his room.


    Even that was not naturally a permanent solution. He didn''t know how long that fa?ade couldst considering the closet ghosts are bound toe out at some point.


    But for emergencies, he had to make sure that the clone in the closet maintained his ce. Currently it was the strongest among all the clones that he had. He had to keep it there for the protection of his family in case another situation like today repeated itself.


    The other three he decidedly deployed in the vicinity of his home so that they could form a perimeter around the house. This way they could be called back whenever he needed them without any hassle.


    He chose areas with less traffic of people. They were mostly abandoned ces that no one ever visited. Of course, the clone practicing the Necromancer system was sent to an ancient graveyard that dated back to thousands of years. This would give him enough corpses to practice his skills for a lifetime. There was no ce else that was as perfect for him as this one.


    The one with the perception system was an exception to the ''no people in the vicinity'' rule. That clone had to be able to sense people in order to develop and therefore could never practice in the wild as effectively. Since Zavier wanted urgent results, he couldn''t just harm the potential of his clone by assigning him to an abandoned ce.


    Instead, he sent the clone to the most crowded ce in the city, the clock tower. The clock tower was high enough for no one to ever venture to the top and was right in the middle of the city centre, crowded with all types of people throughout the day. The clone was heavily disguised before being sent off. It infiltrated the clock tower and stayed there amidst the bustling city, watching over the people of the city like an eye in the sky.


    Mage was sent over to the same woods the previous clone had been practicing in.


    There was another precaution that Zavier put in ce before sending them all off. He changed the voices of all the clones in coordination with the multi-system, so that not one of the clones sounded the same as him.


    They were either shrill voices with high pitch and volume or slightly hoarse voices that were distinguishable from among the crowd. All of them leftsting impressions on whoever heard them.


    This way, any one who came in to contact with them would know that they couldn''t be Zavier just based on their voice.


    When he was done with all his serious business, it was already deep into the night and Zavier was not able to tone down his fatigue any longer. It was evident how much of a toll the earlier healing and theter clone maniption had taken on him.


    He unlocked the door that he had previously locked to prevent anyone from intruding on his one-man party, blew off the candles and fell down on his bed face first like the dead.


    He had barely gotten some shut eye before he was interrupted once again by a knock on the door.

 Chapter 33 Got There First

    There was only one face that came to his mind that had the impetuousness toe to his door at this time of the night, Nadia.


    Even though he was tired, he got out of the bed and lit up a candle before opening the door for her.


    The person that stood in front of her was not the familiar little imp but the always neutral but shy Kacie.


    Zavier was as shocked as she was shy. He would not have been this surprised even if Valerie was the one standing in front of him.


    "Kacie, it''s you?"


    The stupidest question that he could have asked but it was a knee jerk reaction for him, he just wanted to make sure that he wasn''t sleepy or anything.


    ? Kacie didn''t answer his question at all. She was busy bringing something out from the pockets of her pyjamas with a straight face.


    It was a little bottle containing a green liquid.


    Zavier didn''t know what it was but whatever it was, Kacie had brought it for him to see. She brought her hands forward holding the ss vial in front of him.


    "Take it, it''s a healing potion. It will help you deal with the soul wounds you suffered in the match today."


    Zavier grabbed the potion from her hands even though he didn''t feel that he needed such a thing after all he practiced the Mesmer system. He could easily recover from the injuries to the soul based on his powerful mental strength.


    Kacie''s whole face turned a reddish hue as if she was ripe tomato about to burst. She had always been shy to say her mind but today she had mustered courage to go against the voice in her head and had managed to deliver the healing potion to Zavier. But in the process, his hands had brushed against her fingers.


    This sent her blushing so hard, the color spread to her neck turning it all red like fine vintage wine.


    Kacie turned around hurriedly, worried that Zavier would misunderstand. She rushed off back to her room while hiding her face in her hands.


    Zavier closed the door and went back to his bed forgetting to blow off the candle that he had previously lit.


    Heid down on the bed but his thoughts kept drifting off and he was unable to get any sleep.


    His previous suspicions had turned out to be true after all. Kacie who he had always thought had only a perfunctory rtionship with actually turned out to be such a caring girl. His belief that Kacie had always been shy grew even more resolute at this moment.


    He had really misunderstood the girl. Out of all three girls, only Kacie had cared enough about the extent of the injury that he had received. No one else had bothered to remember that it wasn''t just the physical trauma that he was suffering from, the ck me had also burned his soul.


    Kacie was the only one who truly paid attention to his injuries and had even brought a healing potion to him for his recovery. Zavier felt grateful for having such a rtionship especially since he had no one else he could call his family.


    There was another knock on the door but Zavier ignored it subconsciously. The person on the other end waited for a while before knocking once again but this time the knock was a little louder and sessfully grabbed Zavier''s attention.


    Zavier thought that it was Kacie and hurriedly stood up to open the door but midway he stopped. He already knew who stood behind the door. It wasn''t Kacie.


    He had used his Time Space Eye which allowed him to see through all objects within 100 metres.


    He strode forward and calmly pulled the doors open and then looked at the person standing in front of him with a dignified aura. Even in her pyjamas, she looked like a seductress trying to enchant him with every little movement of her lithe body.<sub> </sub>


    Valerie gazed at him from the other end with a slightly confused expression thatsted for a minuscule moment and then disappeared. She opened her mouth to say something but restrained herself.


    But how could she have hidden even a passing expression from the discerning eye of Zavier.


    "Have you gotten any rest yet?"


    "No, I was just trying to sleep but couldn''t. It must have been the extra sleep I got at the infirmary today."


    Valerie nodded formally and then continued to say: "Are you really all better or does it still hurt somewhere?"


    "My head still hurts but it''s nothing a good night''s sleep can''t drive away. Thanks for your concern."


    "Even if you don''t feel sleepy, try to rest. It will speed up the recovery of your injury."


    Valerie at this time seemed as if she was pushing it. She had nothing to say and there were urring the signs of the appearance of an awkward silence.


    Zavier wanted to avoid that at all costs so he hurriedly replied: "I understand. I will go to bed immediately."


    "Okay."


    Valerie was somewhat happy that he had listened to what she had said without any resistance.


    She nodded her head in approval, turned around on her heels and left with calm and unhurried steps, the sound of which echoed throughout the hallway.


    Zavier fell into thought following her departure. Even he could tell that something was off. She hade here to do something else but had ended up stuck doing small talk.


    If there was one thing that he had learned about Valerie during his stay at his uncle''s house, then it was that Valerie never did something that she was unsure of. She always had a clear goal in mind.


    But today she was unsure about what she wanted to do, and that confused look that he had caught on her face made his doubts turn stronger.


    This scenario left him all puzzled because he couldn''t understand her motive foring to him at all.


    He was unable to see through the reason for visit because he hadn''t seen what she had been holding in her hand the entire time. It was small vial that held a green potion. If Zavier could have taken a look at the bottle, he would have noticed that the bottle was the replica of the green potion that Kacie had given him earlier.


    Since he couldn''t understand, he didn''t fret too much about it and closed the door to go to sleep.


    Valerie on the other hand reached her room and put the potion, she had been holding in her hand, on the bedside table.


    As if speaking to herself, she spoke out loud with a smile that was like a flower in the spring, full of vitality and beauty that was capable of toppling the sky and eclipsing the moon: "It looks like someone else got there first. There seems to be somepetition."


    Sheughed out loud andid down on the bed looking at the ceiling of the room. It wasn''t long before she shut her eyes and drifted off into sleep.

 Chapter 34 Sealed Monster

    The following day was a weekend. The week had been busy and pretty eventful, so everyone weed the weekend dly and with open arms. While others nned to make the best of the weekend by taking out time to rx, Alissa and Zavier had other things mapped out. Both of them had mutually agreed to meet at the school''s training ground the next day.


    Zavier scuttled on his feet in the early hours of the morning as he made his way through the empty school grounds. He had a lot on his mind so, he was shocked when he saw that Alissa had already been there for quite a while. The eager look on her face showed that she was truly anxious as to whaty ahead of Zavier''s coaching.


    "Hello Zavier!"


    She greeted him heartily. It was clear to Zavier that she was brimming with energy.


    "Hello Alissa. Have you been here all by yourself?"


    "Yes! You don''t know just how excited I am about this! Where do we begin? When can I do the awesome stuff like fire balls and drag-"


    Zavier had to cut her off.


    "Rx Alissa. For now, we need to start from the very beginning¡­"


    Her eyes burned bright as she waited for Zavier to drop the ball.


    "First off, I need you meditate?"


    Alissa''s face dropped in disappointment.


    "Meditation?? Is that what we''re doing now? I thought we would begin with something much cooler!"


    "Don''t be absurd Alissa. This is important so you can be able to gather mana."


    Alissa rolled her eyes.


    "Well why didn''t you just say that at the beginning? What kind of lousy teaching is this?"


    Zavier didn''t indulge her. He simply pointed to the floor and mouthed one word;


    "MEDITATE."


    Alissa responded to the authority in his voice and began to meditate. The morning sun cast a warm glow over the horizon. There was a slight breeze. But other than that, there were no distractions. After about ten minutes of meditation, Zavier quickly realized one truth about his self acimed student; Alissa sucked at gathering mana. Nothing happened. Not even in the slightest way possible.


    She opened one of her eyes to peek. When she saw nothing was happening, she looked at Zavier questioning.


    "Are you sure you know what you''re doing Zavier? Because it looks like you don''t."


    But Zavier wasn''t listening. Just as she opened her mouth to speak, Zavier saw something with his Time-Space Eye. It was very faint, but it was flicker nheless. As Zavier paid closer attention to it, he sensed a reaction, it was a trace of very faint energy. Although he couldn''t see through it, he sensed it.


    While Zavier struggled to make sense of what it was, the Multisystem came through with a gentle reminder.


    "Zavier, please be advised, this is a gentle reminder that you have the ability to project your own consciousness into another through close physical contact.


    "In this case, the consequence of this is you might be allowed to see the energy inside this girl."


    Zavier listened with keen interest. He genuinely wanted to know the nature of the energy inside Alissa. He gently ced his palm on her abdomen and closed his eyes. Alissa wasn''t sure what was going on, and she couldn''t wait to find out.


    With his palm still on Alissa''s abdomen, Zavier''s consciousness found its way in to her being. He found himself surrounded in a thick epassing darkness that had the semnce of an abyss. In the midst of the nothingness, Zavier saw a sinister formless being creeping in the deep reaches of the abyss. Zavier wanted to surge forward to investigate the shadow, but his instincts prevented him from going forward with his n.


    Almost as if the shadowy form sensed him, its cold empty hollow voice came out of the abyss. It was ancient and it was far from human;


    "It has been a long time since I have seen a human¡­"


    Zavier got goosebumps just hearing it speak. Only listening to the entity made Zavier feel like a thousand serpents were slithering all over him and he couldn''t do anything about it. He felt like he was staring into the yawning chasm of a volcano and the ancient, cold, dark, ageless voice of the deep was speaking back to him.


    As the ck shadow spoke, a thick dense fog began to emanate from it. The ck fog gradually began to fill the abyss. Zavier couldn''t exin it. The entire construct was pitch ck, and yet he was perfectly aware of the presence and movements in the abyss. So, even before the Multisystem warning came, Zavier had already sensed the danger in the air.


    "Zavier! There is danger ahead! Retreat is advised!"<sub> </sub>


    Zavier didn''t need to be told twice. He retreated as fast as he could without daring to even look back.


    Zavier jolted back to consciousness with a violent start. As his own consciousness reunited with his body, the lingering fear of the unknown entity trailed his consciousness and followed it to the ce his memories called home. As the epassing fear overshadowed Zavier, his biochemistry reacted to the sudden change in the state of his mind.


    Zavier broke into a cold sweat. The floodgates of his sweat pores opened and within a matter of seconds, Zavier was drenched in sweat. Alissa began to panic. The young girl didn''t understand what had just happened. One moment, Zavier had ced his palm on her belly, and the next moment he jolted as though he had been struck by lightning. Alissa hadn''t even the slightest idea of what Zavier had seen. When Alissa saw him sweating profusely like a sacrificialmb, she began to barrage Zavier with a steady stream of questions;


    "Zavier are you okay? What happened??"


    "Talk to me for heaven''s sake!!"


    Zavier''s mind was a mess, but still, he somehow found the words he needed to assuage Alissa. He straightened his back and assumed a poker face.


    "It''s okay Alissa, I am fine don''t worry."


    But s, the young girl wasn''t so easily convinced.


    "Don''t do that Zavier! Don''t patronize me!"


    Zavier tried his best to smile.


    "Rx Alissa, no need to overthink this."


    Alissa frowned as she stared at him squarely in the face. She had known Zavier for a long time, but she was starting to see some discrepancies in his usually predictable behavior. She took a deep breath and spoke to him;


    "I know what this is Zavier, no need to pretend. In fact, I had suspected this from the very start¡­"


    A puzzled frown crept across Zavier''s face.


    "You do¡­?"


    She replied confidently.


    "Of course! Your injury from the other day''s match is acting up isn''t it? "


    Zavier made to reply but she shushed him.


    "Don''t act though anymore, I know you sustained some mental damage during the match. I''m sorry, it was selfish of me to ask you to teach me so soon."


    Zavier was so touched that for a second, he forgot about the terrifyingly surreal monster he had seen inside her.


    "Rest up okay? I will wait till you''re fully healed."


    Then she added yfully;


    "By then, you would''ve been strong enough to teach me some exceptional stuff!"


    Zavier smiled in appreciation as he reached for a nearby bench to sit. Alissa rushed to sit beside him but Zavier prevented her with an outstretched arm.


    "You can go home Alissa, it''s okay I got this. I just need to rest up for a while."


    She lingered for a bit before she reluctantly gave in.


    "Okay Zavier. I am off now. Goodbye."


    As Zavier watched the entric girl retreat into the background, he allowed himself to breathe again as usual.


    "Damn! Who would have thought that such an innocent looking girl would house such a monster inside her??"

 Chapter 35 Mr. Killer

    Zavier had so many questions concerning everything he had just witnessed. It irked him that he couldn''t talk about it with Alissa. Upon further thought, Zavier discovered that in actuality, he couldn''t speak about it to anyone at all.


    With no one to share his findings with, Zavier assembled his thoughts and began to see things more clearly.


    The first major conclusion he drew was that the malevolent entity seated deep in Alissa''s consciousness was the primary reason she had been unable to gather mana. Like a ubiquitous cloud of darkness, it dominated every part of her subconscious. The poor girl was a living, breaking, ticking time bomb.


    Zavier particrly thought it was unnerving that Alissa didn''t know anything about it. Maybe she did, maybe she had repressed some childhood trauma. But there were too many ''maybes.'' Too much was at stake here. Zavier knew he had to be intentional about this. There was no other option.


    Zavier picked up his backpack that contained his essentials and headed back home after several hours of brooding by himself.


    The path from the school that led to Zavier''s estate was fraught with trees on both sides of the pavement.


    Thete evening breeze waftedzily through the trees as if it was gently lulling them to sleep like a gentle lover.


    Zavier would have loved to help Alissa with her issue, but the murder case took precedence first. Entombed in a thick fog of his own thoughts, the young man trudged on absent mindedly.


    Unknown to him, another person was lying in wait for him. Literally around the corner was a different kind of trouble.


    Zavier was so wrapped up in his scheme to catch the murderer behind the killer''s death that hepletely failed to spot the figure that had suddenly behind a tree just a few feet ahead of him.


    Zavier walked right by the figure without even the slightest nce. Like the hand that drags out a child submerged in a tub of water, a very familiar voice called out his name and pulled him out of the sea of his own thoughts.


    "Zavier!!!"


    Zavier froze in his tracks. In an instant, he turned back sharply in a bid to put a face and a name to the familiar voice. His eyes quickly registered the impressive face hidden in the cloak before him, and immediately, the name came to his mind; Shiranui!


    She was dressed differently. Wrapped in a cloak and a mantle, she lookedpletely different from the Shiranui he knew, it was no wonder Zavier couldn''t recognize her. It was almost as if she was trying to go incognito.


    Zavier didn''t know what to say. He already had enough surprises for one day and he wasn''t in the mood for any shenanigans.


    "Look, if you''re looking for trouble¡­"


    Shiranui didn''t wait for him tond. With an iconic quickness, she walked a few steps to him and silently dropped a small green vial in his hand.


    With that, she took off in an unknown. It had all happened so fast. Suspecting foul y, Zavier quickly looked at the small package in his hands to investigate.


    He lifted it up to the sun to take a closer look, he was shocked to see that it was a green healing potion trapped in a small vial which had been encased in a pouch.


    If she hadn''t been in such a hurry to leave, she would have known that Zavier was already healed.


    Zavier finally arrived home after a very eventful morning. He barely got a minute to himself before Nadia began to smolder him with a nket of care. She shrieked the moment Zavier walked through the door;


    "Zavier!"


    Zavier turned towards his cute little cousin and beamed a tired smile as he dropped off his satchel.


    "Hello little one!"


    Zavier said warmly.<sub> </sub>


    Nadia wasn''t all smiles as she usually was. Ever since the incident with Shiranui that fateful day, she had been shadowing his every move. Her intentions were pure, but it was more of pestering.


    "Where have you been Zavier? You know you''re not supposed to move around too much!"


    Zavier teased her yfully;


    "It''s fine doctor, I promise not to move around too much¡­"


    Nadia''s eyes zed in excitement.


    "Please stop calling me doctor. You know I also want to be a rich business woman!"


    Despite his overbearing thoughts, Zavier managed to y around with his cousin before retiring to his room.


    Having escaped the energetic Nadia, the sweet privacy of his room weed Zavier with metaphorical open arms. The candlelight highlighted the coziness of his room.


    Thisfort was something Zavier had truly appreciated during his first days here. But right now, it was thest thing on his mind.


    Right now, Zavier needed his privacy more. So, in order to perfect the illusion that he was already fast asleep, Zavier quickly put out all the candles in his bedroom and bolted the door firmly. He calmly waited for a few more minutes just in case someone wanted to stop by.


    But no one came, so he walked over to the side of his bed and sat down in a meditative position. One thing was on his mind and one thing only. He mumbled it on his lips and in his mind till it became a chant of sorts;


    "Necromancer System! Activate!"


    Immediately it responded in his mind. He could feel its immense power tugging at the far reaches of his mind.


    The hazy, vague frame of the necrobiome emerged out of the blue. It was almost like a virtual reality game. The resurrected form of the killer could be controlled by Zavier like a game character. This excited Zavier in a sick fashion.


    Just like Zavier would do in a real game situation, he chose a name for it- Mr. Killer. It was as crude as it was apt. Satisfied with his achievement, Zavier pressed on to the next stage with the necrobiome.


    The Multisystem had gifted Zavier a very peculiar remote control. This feature enabled him to control the necrobiome (also known as Mr. Killer).


    So, equipped with a firsthand view (through Mr. Killer''s eyes, Zavier could see just about everything it could see and hear. As an added bonus, he could control it''s every move. In essence, it was like an extension of Zavier himself.


    The necrobiome was like the ultimate proxy, and Zavier fully intended to make the best of it. Under the full control of its master, Mr. Killer opened the window and jumped down fifteen feet to the ground. The undead creaturended with a disturbing finesse.


    Back in his room, Zavier smiled. The adventure had begun. Zavier struggled to rein in his excitement as he used the remote control to lead Mr. Killer out of the estate ground and onto the main road.


    Zavier had a n. It would be illogical to simply wander about hoping that a connection would be made between Mr. Killer and his supposed coborators.


    So, Zavier headed to the very ce that seemed like a good start- the underground exchange. As the necrobiome trotted through the ck night, Zavier made sure to keep him out the main roads. Soon enough, he chanced on his destination.


    The underground exchange was a watering hole for the most unsavory characters. Like rose petals to bees, it attracted the scum of the earth.


    Here, one could easily find anything they needed. From an assassin, to a skilled thief, to conmen who worked in groups, it was almost impossible not to get one''s darkest desires here.

 Chapter 36 Detect

    The outward appearance was like that of a bar or a salon. Heavily built men guarded the entrance. They neither hassled nor osted anyone, their job was simply to keep the peace. Under Zavier''s control, the necrobiome strolled in confidently.


    The lightning in the hall was extremely dim. Zavier knew that this was an intentional measure that had been put in ce to avoid too much eye contact. Here, any lingering eye contact with the wrong person was sure to spell doom for the weaker party.


    Not wanting to seem like a tourist, Zavier noted the mannerisms of the crowd and adopted them immediately. He slouched his shoulders at an awkward angle, turned the end of his lips into a permanent scowl, one hand on his belt, Zavier swaggered into the hall.


    As he made his rounds around the tables, he kept his eye contact to a minimum and made sure he himself was fully visible. He had to put himself out there in order to be recognized.


    Zavier''s logic was simple. It was his thought that Mr. Killer had probably been to a ce like this during the time he was alive. So, in this den of thieves and killers, there was a possibility that someone would recognize him here.


    Zavier patiently waited for some time with the hope that someone woulde forward. But after a full hour, much to Zavier''s surprise, no one came forward!


    Zavier was torn between the options before him. He could choose to wait and run the risk of looking out of ce in this crowd, or he could leave and check out some other hotspots where Mr. Killer could be recognized.


    After careful consideration, Zavier chose the second option. Time was not on his side at the moment.


    So, Zavier slipped out of the establishment unnoticed. It had been a disappointment. But a part of Zavier was relieved that it hadn''t gone as nned.


    He knew that things could easily go south for him if someone recognized him and he couldn''t y along with Mr. Killer''s character.


    As he left, he kept looking back to check if he was being followed.


    Zavier repeated the same dance over the next couple of hours. He breezed in and out of a couple more ck markets hoping that someone would recognize the necrobiome''s face.


    But again and again, he had been pped with disappointment, each one more disappointing than the previous one. Zavier didn''t know what to make of this.


    If anything, this night only produced more questions than answers. It genuinely seemed like Mr. Killer was an unpopr assassin.


    In Zavier''s opinion, this could only mean two things; either the killer was a high profile assassin who maintained a very suspicious level of anonymity, or, he was a low level punk who had botched the job. Zavier''s instincts strongly leaned towards the first option.


    As Zavier withdrew the necrobiome from thest ce on his list, he resolved to call it a night. Dawn was just an hour or two away and Zavier was very tired.


    The mental strain on him was already starting to weaken him. He soon discovered that it took a lot to maintain remote maniption for a long period of time So, he doubled back and controlled Mr. Killer in the direction of home.


    Zavier might have been done for the night, but fate had other ns in store for him.


    Halfway back, as Zavier navigated Mr. Killer through a series of alleyways and turns, Zavier began to notice a pattern in the trailing footsteps that weregging behind him.


    Remote maniption was an extraordinary feature, unlike most video games that made use of maniption, sight wasn''t the only sense that linked Zavier to the necrobiome.


    Zavier wasn''t limited to just what his puppet saw, he had full ess to Mr. Killer''s five senses, even the controversial sixth sense. So, when Zavier discerned his was being followed, his fatigue immediately wore off.


    Brimming with a fresh surge of adrenaline, Zavier ducked behind arge tree with the hope of ambushing the stranger. With bated breath, ready to attack, Zavier stood still as a statue as he waited for the opportunity to attack.


    But much to Zavier''s surprise, the mysterious stranger made no move to mask his presence. He willingly trotted towards Zavier''s position without a shred of wicked intention.


    As he came closer, Zavier took in his outward appearance.


    The stranger was dressed in arge overcoat and an evenrger hat. But that wasn''t the most sinister thing about his appearance.


    As Zavier tried to take a closer look at the face of the stranger, he discovered that he was wearing a mask thatpletely kept his facial features hidden.


    When the stranger finally spoke, his voice sounded like the rustling of old pipes. His tone reflected his urgency. In essence, it was a tone that told Zavier that he was not in a mood to be fucked with.


    "What the fuck are you doing?!"


    He rasped.


    Zavier instantly deduced that this was no coincidence. It was clear this masked stranger knew Mr. Killer. Immediately, Zavier''s mind began to work on drafting the perfect reply. He had to be careful. There was no other option.


    So, with calcted precision, Zavier replied him carefully;


    "Well, the mission was a failure¡­"


    Zavier didn''t need a Prophet to tell him that he had just screwed up. The stranger''s apprehension floated across and charged the air. Zavier didn''t know if it was what he said or how he had said it, but he knew that the gimmick was up.


    The stranger screamed in despair;


    "You bloody imposter! You''re not Pacer!


    He inched closer in a menacing manner and asked in annoyance;


    "You had better speak before I gut you like a bloody fish!"<sub> </sub>


    The mysterious masked man didn''t wait for an answer. It seemed like he had already made up his mind to kill Zavier. The assant rushed towards him with a balled fist.


    Zavier ducked, narrowly missing the attack by just a few inches. He had felt the breeze from the masked man''s punch.


    Zavier knew that the necrobiome would have sustained a significant degree of damage if the attack had hit home.


    It was obviously kill or be killed. So Zavier instinctively tries to activate Cold ze. But s, he forgot that necrobiomes don''t work like clones.


    So, even though Mr. Killer was fully under Zavier''s control, it turned out that the necrobiome''s body didn''t have any of Zavier''s original powers. Unfortunately for both Zavier and his necrobiome, he discovered this toote.


    The heavy handed punch of the masked man came again. This time, he did not miss. The impact of the attack was so forceful that the necrobiome''s body was lifted up from the ground and mmed into a nearby tree.


    As Zavier struggled to get the necrobiome to get up, he realized that he was currently no match for this mysterious masked man. He had to escape. Quickly.


    He summoned all his mental strength and willed the necrobiome to get up. As soon as it was on its feet, he sprinted and ran with every ounce of energy in him.


    He didn''t dare turn back to confirm his fears, but the heavy breathing of the assant right behind him told Zavier that the mysterious man was behind him in hot pursuit. Mr. Killer''s feet wobbled beneath him and Zavier cursed.


    It was just a necrobiome after all. Soon enough, the assant gained on him and struck him down. As Zavier struggled on all fours on the ground, the stranger rammed his heavy boots into his ribcage.


    Hovering over his captive like a stalling predator, the stranger in therge hat began to interrogate him;


    "I am only going to ask you this question once again¡­ WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU?"


    The masked stranger obviously didn''t care about the fact that it was prettyte. His raspy voice shattered the stillness of thete night.


    Zavier decided to y it safe. He sputtered as he tried to rise up from the ground;


    "What are you talking about? You know me!"


    Zavier recalled the name he had addressed him earlier on and cleverly put it to use in concocting his lie;


    "It''s me damn it! It''s Pacer!"


    The other man was far from convinced. When no truthful answer came forth, he grunted twice like a pig, then, he violently grabbed the necrobiome''s head and rammed it into a nearby tree trunk. Zavier felt every shred of the pain.


    Not only that, he discovered that couldn''t operate the body anymore. The masked man had done a number on Mr. Killer''s body.


    At this point, the necrobiome was just a sack of broken bones courtesy of the man in the hat. Though the body was broken, Zavier could still perceive the outside world through the necrobiome''s five senses.


    When the mysterious man inched closer to investigate the anomaly, he cried out in shock when he discovered that he had been engaging a corpse all this while. He spat in disgust when he saw that


    Pacer had actually been dead for a pretty long time. His annoyance tripled when he realized that this had been the work of a necromancer. He shook his head in disappointment and voiced his thoughts aloud;


    "So Pacer was killed by the likes of an ordinary necromancer? This is very disappointing."


    He then addressed the corpse;


    "Listen up you damn necromancer, I know you''re in there listening and watching me¡­"


    As a matter of fact, Zavier was actually paying rapt attention.


    "If you don''t to be one of the corpses that you love so much, I suggest you leave this matter alone. Do not interfere!"


    He then proceed with an enchantment. He spread both of his hands over the still lifeless body of the necrobiome and mumbled inaudible words that Zavier couldn''t follow. The spell forcefully expelled Zavier''s consciousness and restored him back to his own body.


    As his consciousness filled his body once again, Zavier opened his eyes with a jolt. The cock crowing in the distance told him that dawn was near.


    After sitting in a meditative stance for almost eight hours, he struggled with the pain as he uncrossed his legs to  get up. But the pain was nothing. Zavier''s mind was reeling with different theories.


    "So I was right!"


    He thought¡­


    "The real person behind the assassination attempt on me is shrouded in mystery."


    He sighed inwardly.


    "There is still so much that is yet to be revealed. In any case, it''s now clear that this case is not so simple."


    The more he thought about it, the more he realized just how much it was out of his control. He felt like he needed to tell his family, but he wasn''t convinced just how much he could tell them.

 Chapter 37 Haze

    Zavier slept on the issue. The next day, morning came faster than he had expected. It was almost as if he had closed his eyes only for an instant.


    The gentle but firm knock of the house keeper on Zavier''s door roused him from his slumber.


    Because of his nocturnal activities from the previous night, Zavier gotten much sleep. His bloodshot eyes were testament to that. He stumbled out of bed and headed down the stairs to have breakfast with the family.


    It was a custom that his aunt Vrie strongly advocated for.


    The family had breakfast as usual. Everyone was present except his uncle. While the others chatted away, Zavier kept to himself as he pondered on the best possible way to speak to his aunt about his precarious situation.


    He soon got the opportunity he was looking for.


    As he strolled through the lush gardens of his uncle''s estate, he chanced on Vrie picking up berries in one section. Quick as a cat, her perceptive eyes zed over in Zavier''s.


    "Hello Zavier."


    "Hello Aunt V."


    "Going for an evening stroll?"


    "Yes Ma''am."


    "Well, be sure not to put too much strain on your body. You know you''re still in recovery."


    "Yes Ma''am."


    When Zavier refused to move on, and instead lingered awkwardly, Vrie shot him with a questioning look. She could tell that he wanted to speak, but was hesitant about it. Vrie was not exactly a touchy feelings kind of person.


    Shecked the emotional intelligence that was typical of most mothers. So, she questioned him directly;


    "Zavier, if you have something to say better say it. Don''t just stand there looking like a dummy."


    Vrie truly meant well. But her brashness often made her appear somewhat cold at times.


    "Aunt V¡­"


    Zavier began;


    ''There''s something I have to tell you¡­"


    A look of concern crept across her face. She instantly dropped her gardening tools and stood up straight.


    "You have my undivided attention Zavier. You may speak freely."


    Not sure how to begin, Zavier shifted ufortably on his feet. Just as he opened his mouth to speak, a booming voice came up behind him and interrupted his speech.


    "Am I interrupting something here?"


    Zavier whipped round in surprise. It was his uncle the Marquess. Vrie instantly tossed her conversation with Zavier aside and immediately reached out to hug her elder brother.


    "Brother! What a wonderful surprise!"


    Zavier echoed her thoughts in his mind;


    "Indeed, what a wonderful surprise¡­"


    The middle aged man answered his sister sweetly;


    "Just thought to drop in and surprise the family."


    Vrie grinned like a schoolgirl.


    "That is so thoughtful of you."


    The Marquess turned towards Zavier and offered him a handshake.


    "Zavier, how are you doing these days?"


    Zavier shook his uncle''s hand firmly and replied respectfully;


    "Fine thank you Uncle. Good to have you back."


    A few momentster, as Zavier left the couple behind in the garden, a nagging thought bugged his mind. It was too much of a coincidence that his uncle had chosen such a strange time to visit.


    ? The more Zavier thought about it, he thought just maybe he was better off telling his uncle than his aunt.


    The Marquess was a serious minded, meticulous, middle-aged man who never did anything without a reason. If he was here at this time, Zavier knew that something must have triggered his return.


    Though Zavier wasn''tpletely sure, he was willing to bet that it had something to do with the current trend of events.


    Later that night, as the family gathered together around together to have dinner, out of the blue and totally unprovoked, Zavier''s uncle asked him an unexpected question;


    "So, Zavier, how are you doing these days?"


    It wasn''t just the question itself, it was his uncle''s sudden interest in him that put Zavier on edge. It was the way the Marquess sipped wine from his massive goblet while he stared at Zavier with his narrowed eyes. Zavier tried as much as possible to sound as passive as he could.


    "I have been fine sir. Nothing much has been happening."


    He kept his answer short and simple. He didn''t want his uncle to pick on anything he had said to further the conversation (or interrogation).


    Fortunately, the ever chirpy Nadia cut in at that exact moment;<sub> </sub>


    "Oh don''t be so modest! Father, Zavier''s magic level has improved significantly within the past few weeks!"


    Zavier watched his uncle''s reaction to that bit of news. Val nodded indifferently. He was obviously not too concerned with that particr bit of news. The conversation diverted to the basic dinner banter; the kids, their grades, school stuff, etc.


    Zavier was just starting to rx when out of the blue, his uncle put out a rather interesting question;


    "Say Vrie¡­"


    He wiped the corners of his mouth with a towel.


    "Has anything extraordinary happenedtely?"


    Vrie paused for a while before replying her brother.


    "No, not really. The only strange thing I can think of is the fact that Nadia has recently decided to start eating her vegetables. But other than that, nothing."


    Vrie''s attempt at humor had livened the mood a bit, but the underlying effect of Val''s sudden question still hung over the dinner table like a storm cloud. Zavier was instantly suspicious.


    It was obvious to him that his uncle had other intentions, but he chose to be shifty about it. He decided to hang around for a while to see if it was still a good idea to tell his uncle about his situation.


    After he finished his meal, the Marquess surprised everyone by announcing that he was leaving. No one protested.


    Like an ocean breeze, Val left as quickly and as suddenly as he hade. Zavier noticed that he wasn''t the only one who had noticed just how strange his Uncle had been acting.


    Even Nadia who was the youngest and the most insensitive member of the household could tell that something had been off with her dad. She turned to Vrie and voiced her concern openly;


    "Aunt Vrie, is everything alright?"


    Vrie replied Nadia as truthfully as she possibly could;


    "I''m not sure Nadia, maybe my brother is upied with some new political matters. We can''t really say for sure."


    While Nadia and Vrie went back and forth, across the table from them was Zavier who was equally suspicious of the whole scenario.


    The more he wanted to wave it off as a big coincidence, the more his mind amplified the little details. There were so many questions.


    What exactly was the Marquess'' sole aim of dropping in at this time? Why had he left in such a hurry? Maybe it had something to do with his own personal schedule. But then again, the timing was just too close to be considered an actual coincidence. The more Zavier fought it, the more apparent it became to him;


    "He knows! Uncle Val knows someone is trying to kill me! No wonder he kept asking how I was. He came to confirm if I was actually dead!"


    The sudden realization brought Zavier close to the brink of insanity. He felt like screaming it aloud so everyone could hear him.


    But he knew what the oue of a sudden outburst would mean for him. His family would immediately rule it as a case of full blown psychosis as a result of his injury.


    He had to stay strong- alone! As he watched the innocent faces of the women across the table, Zavier knew that he couldn''t risk involving them.


    It was imperative that he kept his suspicions to himself. The Marquess definitely knew something. Zavier just didn''t know how much he knew. In any event, he was going to find out no matter what.


    "Zavier¡­"


    His aunt''s voice brought him back to consciousness with a jolt. With a look of concern, she inquired after his state of mind;


    "Are you sure you''re alright? You nked out for a minute there?"


    Zavier did his best to shoot his most charming smile.


    "Thanks for your concern aunty. I am just a little tired that''s all."


    Vrie wasn''tpletely convinced.


    "There was something you wanted to say the other time¡­"


    Zavier cut her off before she could make it about him.


    "Oh I just wanted to thank you for the concern."


    Even Zavier was surprised at just howfortable he had gotten with lying. Before Vrie could reply, Nadia butted in.


    "Hey that''s not fair! I also gave you a healing potion and you didn''te to thank me!"


    Zavier replied her smoothly.


    "Well yours is different Nadia. You''re going to be a doctor remember? It''s your job to make me feel better."


    Nadia stuck out her tongue.


    "Well it''d be nice to be appreciated around her."


    Vrie jumped in with a concluding order.


    "That''s enough for one night. Off to bed now! All of you!"


    Nadia grumbled in the background but made no move to speak up openly. The others pushed back their chairs and headed in the direction of their rooms.


    All through the night, while other members drifted off to sleep, Zavier was haunted by his nagging suspicions that had taken on the roles of tormenting demons in his head.


    When he finally did manage to drift off, he found no sce in his sleep. His nightmares were gued with the mysterious masked man in arge hat and his uncle. In his nightmares, they were both one and the same man.

 Chapter 38 Mission

    It turned out that Zavier didn''t have to do much to confirm his suspicions. In a way, his suspicions were indirectly confirmed.


    Once again, day crept up on Zavier like a thief. Once again, he stumbled out of bed with bloodshot eyes. The lingering memories of his nightmares from the previous night hung over Zavier like a storm cloud, shadowing his every move and influencing his every thought.


    Zavier got to school and was met with another daunting challenge. It wasn''t a mysterious masked man, neither was it his uncle clutching a knife, in a way it was something worse. Vrie called him out in front of the ss and informed him of a new mission.


    "Zavier Adam!"


    "Yes ma''am!"


    "You are to form a three-person team with two other students toplete an F-rank mission!"


    Zavier''s face darkened.


    "Damn it, I really don''t need this kind of heat right now. How do I get out of this?"


    He looked at Vrie with pleading eyes, hoping she would concur. She did not.


    In this world, there are several professions. In descending order, they are; X, SSS, SS, S, A, B, C, D, E, and F. Typically, high school students are nowhere near being qualified to take on missions.


    This rule can be amendable if and only if a high level teacher leads the younger students.


    It wasn''tpletely umon for nobles to bend the rules in this regard. These high ranking nobles would have their kids go on these missions (rtively simple, low level missions) before they graduate high school just so their portfolios could get some glowing content.


    Thus, putting them in the best position to be favored by some higher institutions. This was widely practiced amongst noble students and it had be the norm for them.


    In this particr case, as a member of the Marquess'' household, Zavier had been called to participate in a level-F mission.


    He wasn''t thrilled about it. Naturally, Vrie was chosen to be the lead teacher who would run point on this mission. As for the other two members of his team, they Dah and Alissa. Zavier was a bit concerned that Alissa had been selected.


    It wasmon knowledge that she didn''t know any magic, and yet for some odd reason, she had been selected for a mission such as this. Zavier approached his aunt privately and inquired about the matter.


    "Aunt Vrie, I have a question about this mission¡­"


    She frowned slightly before answering him presumptuously.


    "Don''t even bother Zavier, you''re not skipping out on this one."


    Zavier protested.


    "It''s not that! I would like to know why Alissa is on this mission. I know she doesn''t know any magic, so what''s the motive behind this?"


    Zavier wasn''t just asking for asking sake. He had seen firsthand the abomination that had sunk its deep dark ws in Alissa''s mind.


    He wasn''tpletely sure that it was safe for her to be out there. Vrie assuaged him with the truth.


    "It''s good you''re looking out for her Zavier, but there''s a bigger picture here."


    Zavier''s eyes widened. Sensing his interest in, Vrie continued;


    "Alissa''s presence is essential to bncing the skill average on the team. Despite havingpeted an F-level assignment, Dah''s grades are so high that they appear to be unrealistic in the sight of the professors."


    The three of them were being taken for a ride along on the mission that had been epted in the name of Valerie.


    She had thought that taking along the students would have been a good learning experience for them even though it was quite risky.


    She had decided upon the rendezvous point after they had all made their respective preparations.<sub> </sub>


    Moreover, they all were in dire need of supplies. The students had never been on such a mission before but she being a professional had taken on several jobs and knew that no matter the mission there were always some essentials that a mage needed before heading out into the wild, for example some recovery potions and ration items were absolutely necessary for everyone.


    Valerie being a girl, and a beautiful one at that could not bring herself to travel without her beauty kit.


    Therefore, she had instructed everyone to meet up at one of the offices in the school after everyone was done gathering their own things.


    When Zavier entered the office that had been designated as the meeting ce, only Dah was there. Rest of them had yet to arrive.


    Zavier was already ahead of the appointed time but Dah hade even earlier. And from the looks of it, she had been there for quite some time.


    Despite living at the same ce, Zavier and Valerie had not arrived together but had decided toe separately. Dah noticed the anomaly but had nothing to say about that.


    In fact, Dah had nothing to say about anything at all. She just stood by herself being her icy self without a care for the world and the people around her.


    She was like an aloof snow lotus that had withdrawn itself from the world and was flowing at the surface of theke all by its lonesome, being carried away by the current unbothered by anything in the vicinity.


    Dah only nodded towards him upon his arrival and disdained to speak any further. It was like she thought that there was a price tag on the usage of words.


    Previously when she had talked to him out of her own volition, he had thought that she was not as icy as she looked. But now that he was interacting with her again, she was still the living proof of the silence that prevailed on the icy peaks.


    She was just like her magic; icy and beautiful. Zavier himself was unwilling to talk to her because of her habit of replying in simple hand gestures or single word replies.


    He would have to think of something to talk about every minute and the heartless girl would shoot down all those topics with a single word. That would have only prolonged the awkwardness between the two.


    To Zavier that would have felt like torturing himself, so Zavier felt that silence was the best solution when it came to Dah.


    ? Before the ufortable atmosphere could havested any longer, Alissa arrived with a cheerful air about her. She had brought along a heavy bag with her. From the looks of it Alissa was treating the mission like some tour.


    She was dressed in light clothes due to prevailing weather but her suitcase was close to bursting with how much stuff she had somehow managed to put inside it.


    At times like these, girls usually got together to chat and boys were left alone but Alissa was not like the rest of the girls.


    She was morefortable with Zavier. She came to his side and put her suitcase in front of her before greeting the both of them.


    Dah nodded in reply. Alissa didn''t even wait for her to reply and turned around to look at Zavier.


    "Is Miss Valerie still not here?"


    Zavier had a faint smile on his face looking at all the things that Alissa had brought. Although Alissa''s family was notparable to Marquess Val''s family, they were quite well off.


    This was evident from the amount of luggage she had brought along.


    "No, she told me to go ahead. She was still busy collecting the stuff that we might need for our mission."


    Alissa seemed to be the most excited among all of them. She was smiling throughout, even when they were waiting for Valerie to arrive. Apparently, she was thinking that this was an excursion for all of them. She was oblivious to the dangers of the mission that they were going to embark upon.


    But Zavier was not as heartless as to douse her spirits with reality. He just let her be and so did Dah.


    The trio did not have to wait very long before their teacher arrived to take them along for the F rank mission.


    Valerie was not dressed in her usual clothes. This new attire seemed to be a professional one. Itprised of a tight-fitting set of clothes that clearly borated her exaggerated figure.


    Even Zavier had never seen her dress in that way. She had always worn dresses like the nobledies wore for as long as he had known her.


    She didn''t seem to be conscious of what effect, her dressing had on the only male figure in the team and was busy addressing the three of them with a calm but solemn tone.

 Chapter 39 Old Man James

    Though it looked quite seductive, her dressing was perfect for very practical reasons. In such missions where danger was very high, agility and high mobility were required. Her normal dresses would have only gotten in the way.


    <o>,m "You three! Listen up very carefully. The mission we are going to perform will be a graded activity and will go a long way towards getting good grades in the finals. I want you three to put in your best efforts to get it done in the best possible manner. Especially you Alissa, your grades in practical magic are not very high, so you need to perform well if you want to pass. This might be your chance. And that means no cking off and absolutely no hiding your strength to look cool."</o>


    Thest sentence was something she directed towards Zavier alone. She was staring at Zavier with an icy gaze when she uttered thatst sentence.


    Zavier couldn''t help but feel shivers down his back. Although, looking cool was never his intention, he couldn''t just tell the real reason to his family right then.


    So, he just agreed with her after giving her an understanding but serious look. That worked like a charm because Valerie seemed to have been convinced and stopped singling him out afterwards.


    "One thing you should keep in mind before we set off."


    The three listened to themands like obedient chicks following after the mother hen.


    "This is my mission. You are onlying with me for educational purposes. I will make sure that you don''t suffer too much harm but that''s it. You need to do this for yourself and you need to do it good, after all my reputation is at stake. So, remember this; if you cause me to fail my mission just because you didn''t take it seriously, keep in mind that there will be hell to pay."


    The three shivered in fear as if a poisonous snake was crawling up their bodies twisting and twirling around them.


    After she felt that she had threatened them enough, she led them out and headed towards the mission disy.


    She went through the task list and chose the task that had been assigned to them. Although she had known about the task beforehand, she needed to find out who their employer was since they needed to report the result of their mission to their employer in the end.


    The employer lived close to the outskirts of the city, in a ce that was more wilderness than it was an inhabited area.


    Valerie stopped outside the ce that looked like the residence of a human being and reported out loud to the employer.


    She wanted to confirm the mission details as mentioned in the tasking list.


    Zavier could clearly see that the employer didn''t look at her at all. He was staring at Zavier the whole time as if Zavier owed him money or something.


    The employer was a 60-year-old man with flowing beard and a solemn aura who stood outside the hut and looked as if he was waiting for someone. He looked frail and weak and without any strength, like a withered corpse.


    Valerie was the first to speak but seeing that there was no response at all, she shut her mouth and maintained her silence.


    Zavier took over for her and repeated her words in ditto. His words seemed to have some effect, as the old man finally showed some response to his voice.


    His movement felt as if an extremely old tree that was devoid of all life had finally begun to sprout new leaves.


    "We came here to fulfil your request. We wanted to confirm the details of the F-rank mission that you posted earlier."


    "Oh, so they sent you¡­are you sure that you can handle it?"


    He spoke in a hoarse creaking voice that felt extremely old and ancient, even more than it really was.


    The old man looked slightly contemptuous which should have offended the three girls because he was clearly ignoring them and was only talking to Zavier alone.


    But Zavier saw how elegantly Valerie handled the situation. She didn''t even bother to reply to the old man and turned her face away.


    She had given tacit agreement to Zavier to be their spokesperson. This was a very mature and professional thing to do and Zavier felt impressed by her professional attitude. This was exactly in contrast to what he had thought of her temperament up until that moment.


    Valerie aside, even Dah and Alissa didn''t care about the babbling of the old man. Zavier felt the burden growing there and then when he saw how seriously every one of them was taking this job.


    He on the contrary was nowhere near asmitted. He vowed to himself that he would be better so as to not hold the girls back because of his own carelessness andziness.<sub> </sub>


    "Old man¡­"


    Zavier was cut short by the old man before he could even start speaking.


    "What old man¡­my name is James. Call me James."


    "All right, James. What is it that you want us to do? We havee here for the F-rank escort mission."


    The old man gave an approving look.


    "Yes, I want your group to escort this box to the ce marked in the map. But you have to make sure to protect it. It is more precious than anything you might haveid your eyes on, in your whole life. I want it to remain unscratched till it reaches the destination marked on the map."


    As the old man started to talk, he indicated with his fingers towards a spot adjacent to the wall of the house.


    There lied a stone beside which a piece of paper had been put under an intricately decorated wooden box.


    The box was so beautiful that it was screaming ''treasure''.


    "And I want to go with you."


    James didn''t have to go with them at all. They had taken the job and would havepleted it either way. But it looked as if the package was of immense importance to their employer who wanted to take it to the destination while apanying the people that he had hired to protect it. The old man sure was cautious. Why hand it over to other people in the first ce if you couldn''t even trust them?


    As such the four and the old man set off for their destination that was quite far away.


    Zavier estimated that the whole mission would take at least two weeks.


    He was worried that the already long mission had been extended further with the addition of James who might even dy their pace following after them.


    Still, the task had to bepleted since they had taken the job and from the looks of Valerie and the other girls, they weren''t against Jamesing. Or rather it would be more prudent to say that they didn''t care at all if the old man wasing or not.


    They just wanted toplete the mission as soon as possible.


    And as for Zavier, he was even less interested in what the old man wanted to do. Not only that, he wasn''t even a little bit interested in the mission that had been sprung on him out of nowhere.


    He had his own things to do, mysteries to figure out, enemies to chalk out which would finally enable him to release some of the pressure around him so that he could take a breather.


    He was worried about what was happening at home. What if someone came after him at his home where Nadia and Kacie still lived?


    His mind was constantly moving back and forth between the mission and home.


    Therefore, to avoid any confusion, he simply switched his consciousness with that of a clone that was close to his home.


    The original body that was following along Valerie and the girls for the mission had now turned into a clone while his consciousness swapped with that of the clone that was training next to his house.


    Zavier wasn''t worried that there will be any problem in letting the clone handle a boring job such as escorting the wooden box. The way they were moving, it was bound to be a long way there anyway.


    He was sure that even if he left for a while to look for clues, the clone would be able to make prudent decisions in his ce.


    After all, the clones had the same consciousness as his own and would have followed the same thought process and would have ultimately reached the same conclusions no matter what. This set his mind at ease but the problem remained.

 Chapter 40 Time Space Eye

    Zavier had a lot of questions that he had no way of answering. He was stumbling his way forward going by the seat of his pants, not knowing where to even start looking.


    The thing that currently worried him the most was his Uncle Val. If his Uncle Val was involved in the plot somehow, what were his reasons for turning on him.


    Zavier didn''t think that he was important enough for Uncle Val to have put in ce such a big n. Why bother bringing Zavier home in the first ce if he only wanted to get rid of him?


    He didn''t know if his enemy was Uncle Val or not but he was sure about one thing; that Uncle Val knew what was happening and he didn''t inform him or warn him in any way.


    As it stood, it was too difficult for him to count Uncle Val as a helper or even a well-wisher.


    He had to think of him as a potential enemy that was trying to kill him which made it all the worse.


    After his parents died, it was his Uncle Val who had taken him in. That was the reason that Zavier wasn''t sure what was Uncle Val''s motive behind all this.


    <o>,m Even this mission seemed fishy to Zavier. It hade very abruptly.</o>


    If something like this was a part of the curriculum of the school, it should have been announced earlier on and the students would have been briefed repetitively on their personal safety. But nothing of the sort happened.


    All of this happened just when another attempt at his life failed and his Uncle Val came back home and tried to get information out of him through various means.


    Since he couldn''t find anything out, he needed to see for himself. Zavier suspected that Uncle Val was behind this mission scheme, that it was only authorized after approval from Uncle Val.


    Zavier could be sure that there would be hidden dangers in this mission. It could also be that this mission itself was a trap for him so that he wouldn''t be able to move away.


    But most of all he was afraid of the monster that was inside Alissa. Even she wasn''t aware of the monstrous presence in her mind.


    Zavier was not very powerful since his powers were only developing but even that wasn''t something just anyone could handle and yet the existence in her body had rendered him fearful and cautious in a single breath.


    It had rendered Zavier unable to use even a little bit of his mental strength to free himself from its suppression. He felt like he waspletely powerless in front of it and would have died had he not pulled back his consciousness out of her body in time.


    Zavier felt that the reason behind Alissa not being able to sense any magic was because of the monster in her body. It must have been suppressing her magic sense just as it had directly cut off his mental and magical strength.


    He had so many things to worry about but not many leads to follow in order to resolve those worries.


    It was only through luck that he hade across the ally of the assassin that had killed his body and from him he had fortunately found out the name of the assassin; Pacer.


    Just the name was a breakthrough in his otherwise empty world of lies and deception.


    Before this, he had always addressed the assassin as Mr. Killer but now he had a name for him.<sub> </sub>


    The name itself could turn out to be a hoax because Zavier couldn''t be sure whether the name was his real name, nickname, or some code name that his assassin organization had given him so that all assassins could remain hidden while working even among themselves.


    Whatever it was, it was at least something. It was something that he could work on instead of going about on his own like a headless fly.


    While he was busy contemting how to use this information to acquire new leads. Clone that had been practicing perception system all this while spoke out in his mind.


    "I can try to find all information rted to that name. The name is a little different and there must not be many with that name in the city. You need to enable the shared mode so I can also see through the information that you are hoarding about this person."


    "System, enable sharing mode."


    [Shared mode has been sessfully enabled.]


    [You are now connected to four other clones.]


    A flood of information was transferred from the original to the clone having perception system. After he had sessfully analyzed the memories, the clone was finally up to date with the situation.


    The clone had the same suspicions as the original Zavier. He too thought that Uncle Val might be involved in the assassination attempt or at least had the knowledge about the attempts on his life. Therefore, the moreplicated a thing was, the more carefully hidden it tended to be. So, the chances of dredging up any information regarding the name was very little especially when that mysterious man, who had unintentionally revealed the identity of the assassin, knew that Zavier had learned that name.


    The clone that had been practicing the perception system in the clock tower had seen many things over the period of time. He knew many secret trades, underhanded deals, unfinished ns, information that could be used to find out more about Pacer.


    He knew exactly which people to approach and how to go about it. He had observed countless people doing it.


    The thing that he was looking for was the birth records or any extended family members of Pacer. As such the only way to know something was to talk to the person who he had seen selling such records to people on little bribes.


    He approached the information broker with a face mask and a colorful costume draped around him. Therefore, it wasn''t easy to figure out who was the person looking for information.


    The clone gave him a bag of coins and said a single word that he and his cronies used as a check word for safe customers. After all, nobody knew when someone who intended to bust them came around. If he hadn''t just said the safe word, the broker would have broken contact with him right there and then.


    As he had known about the safe word beforehand, the information broker simply nodded and indicated for him to continue with his request.


    "I want you to find any details regarding the man known as "Pacer". He is an assassin probably of high repute among the low to mid-level assassins."


    There was not just one such information broker, and the clone decided to go to the most effective ones.


    The result; there was no such assassin named Pacer in the city which was not believable at all.


    He had used his Time Space Eye to note the behavior of the information brokers and was shocked to see that they really were telling the truth.

 Chapter 41 Basement

    The only other alternative was that the information regarding the person had been blocked through all channels. No one had ess to his information any longer especially since the mysterious man had given out his name idently.


    The clone had already predicted the oue when he had gone through the memories of the original.


    It was also possible that the information that he had been looking for might have been gged by the enemy so that whosoever tried to inquire about it would be marked.


    That was the reason that the clone had never taken the initiative to inquire on his own but had hired those information brokers.


    The reconnaissance was very difficult since the enemy had shut down all channels that he could think of. This showed how terrifying the means of their enemy were.


    At one of the ces where he had gone to extract information, the broker looked at him with strangely vignt eyes as soon as he called out the name ''Pacer''. The clone knew that he had either struck gold and this broker knew who he was talking about or this was a trap and the broker was working with the enemy.


    He used his Time Space Eye and noticed that he already had a tail behind him. Turns out it was thetter of the two oues.


    The enemy had finally noticed his covert movements and his hidden inquiries into Pacer. They hadid a trap for him and he had fallen for it. As soon as he did, someone had started following him.


    The individual tailing of the clone was a veteran in the art too. He immediately noticed that the clone had noticed him and changed his pattern. When he knew that no matter what he did, the clone had his eyes on him at all times, the tail started to retreat.


    The clone finally had the chance to get some real information from this person; therefore, he couldn''t let him retreat and followed after him at high speeds.


    The surroundings changed at a faster pace and the clone kept on following after the shadow that was now barely visible in the front. If it hadn''t been for the Time Space Eye then it wouldn''t have been possible for him to keep track of the trail.


    The city centre where the chase had begun started to clear away and the buildings started to clear out. Soon the buildings grew more scattered and the crowds were nowhere to be seen. They had now entered into the suburban area of the city where even houses were very distant from each other.


    In such an area it should have been very easy to keep track of the person that the clone was following but instead he lost him. The clone even with his Time Space Eye was unable to follow the person in front of him in an open area such as the suburban area.


    The person had entered into a hut that looked quite lonely and abandoned at the corner of the suburban area. Following that the clone lost all ability to track him. There were no signs at all as to where he might have gone.


    The hut had been covered in vines and algae which was a clear indication that the hut had not been used for living for quite some time.


    This hut was clearly being used as a transition point. Could it be that there was some kind of teleportation magic inside, or some kind of a barrier that prevented his Time Space Eye from prating into it? No matter the cause, the reality remained that the person he had been following had disappeared inside and he had no way to know where he went.


    Now that this had happened, the clone started to feel that he had been led into a trap by the person that he had been chasing. If it really was a trap then it wouldn''t be prudent to follow the person into the hut.


    Maybe the person had deliberately shown his presence to lead the clone into the current situation. The curiosity of what was inside the hut was enough to lead him in further.


    The clone wanted to go in to investigate but he felt that it was better to tell this situation to the original who was better suited to make such a decision.


    As soon as this thought appeared in his mind the consciousness of the original came reeling in and took over his body.<sub> </sub>


    The shared consciousness meant that the two could be connected in senses and thoughts at the mere mention of it. Therefore, a single thought from the clone was enough for the original Zavier to know about what the clone wanted to tell him urgently.


    Zavier who was until then busy conducting a search for the clues regarding Pacer, in parallel with the clone with the perception system felt that it was necessary for the clone to explore the hut. Instead of telling the clone to continue in, he decidedly took over his body ording to suggestion of the clone and moved towards the dreary hut that looked more like some witch''sir in fairy tales.


    Zavier cautiously entered the hut and took a look around to see if there was any sign of danger in the hut. There was nothing in there that cried out ''Danger'' or was even the slightest bit suspicious.


    Zavier found that the Time Space Eye, that had been blocked from the outside, was now once again usable and could clearly tell him what the interior of the hut held, not that he needed it to because the interior space was no more than a few yards.


    The space was ufortably small, if there was a trap for him here then it was quite difficult to avoid what wasing for him.


    He stood in that space for some time but nothing of the sort happened, which meant that the so-called trap was not in this small cramped space but somewhere else.


    He activated the Time Space Eye and found that there was another space beneath the ground of the hut. The protective barrier around the hut was only to prevent others from scrying from the outside but the same didn''t work from the inside.


    There was a floor mat covering a part of the ground. Zavier moved it to the side and there was a trap door that led to a series of stairs. The staircase connected the interior of the hut to some kind of basement.


    Zavier had already seen what was behind the trap door with his Time Space Eye so he had no qualms about opening the trap door. If it had been anyone else, he might have contemted opening the door because of the uncertainty and the possibility of hidden dangers behind the door.


    Zavier opened the trap door without a hitch and took a step to enter the opening hidden behind it. The staircase spiralled down into the dark. Zavier was always looking ahead of what was visible in his field of view in an attempt to know about any hidden danger at the first instance.


    His Time Space Eye was his safety measure as well as his life line. He wasn''t willing to fall into danger and experience that feeling of death once again.


    His eyes constantly darted back and forth in the dark as if looking for something even the slightest bit dangerous or suspicious.


    The basement grew closer and closer, the little hall emerged in front of him as soon as he experienced thest turn in the always spiralling staircase.


    The air was stuffy with damp and smell of algae along the walls which made breathing a little harder. The darkness itself was not a problem for him who had the Time Space Eye. He was able to look beyond the darkness like a nocturnal animal who was unaffected by darkness of the deep night.


    The furniture in the basement wasn''t as ancient as the hut but it was still quite old and creaky. Maybe it was due to the damp that the furniture had crumbled at the pace that it did.


    Papers and files were scattered on top of the study table in a haphazard manner. It looked as if someone had already looked through the papers searching for something. If he hadn''t known any better, Zavier would have thought that the basement whoever it belonged to had been the victim of burry.


    Zavier wanted to figure out who this basement belonged to, so he rummaged through the papers scattered across the table.


    He was speed reading through them all. All the papers were records of assassinations, the names of the targets and how they were killed was all mentioned in them. This looked as if it was the record of all the assassinations of this killing group. These papers were the reports that each assassin had to write after they had aplished their tasks.

 Chapter 42 Key

    While going through the pile of papers hurriedly, his fingers came across one that sent shivers down his back. His whole body came to a halt as if there was no life in it and it was some statue by the side of the road.


    His pupils were all dted in the shock of what he had witnessed. Countless thoughts were running through his mind with the speed of light inside his mental consciousness.


    The note that had sent him reeling in shock was another report, an assassination report, his assassination report.


    In ce of the name of the target was his own name staring back at him. It was the cause of death that shocked him further.


    "Target ''Zavier Adam'' was confirmed to have drunk poison, Mission Completed."


    Being the party that had died as a result of the assassination attempt, Zavier felt affronted that the assassin hadn''t even filed the report urately. He had clearly died of strangtion instead of poison.


    "Wait a minute¡­poison?"


    Only then did a thought struck Zavier, who filed the report when the assassin that had sessfully assassinated him had already be a corpse under his Necromancer system.


    The fact that there was an assassination report meant that the attempt had been sessful and the killer had returned to file the report.


    "Could it be another Zavier?"


    But that was highly unlikely.


    And then it struck him with all the ferociousness of thunder and lightning and illuminated every part of his brain with enlightenment.


    How was he able to take over the body of the original Zavier? He should have died in order for him to take over.


    Maybe this was the reason for the death of the original Zavier since after his rebirth, he had never drunk any kind of poison.


    ording to the report, the assassin hadn''t truly witnessed the death of the target but had seen him drinking the poison.


    So, when the target was still parading in front of the world after having drunk that deadly poison, the assassin must have made another attempt to put him down. And his strangtion might have been the assassining back to finish the job.


    If that was the case, there was also a high chance that the report in front of him might have been filed by Pacer himself after the first sessful attempt that had led to his arrival in this world.


    This might have even been the reason that he was able to so easily take over the body of Zavier without any resistance. After all, the dead never struggled for supremacy.


    But if that was the case, then it was all the more reason to be worried because the assassination n centred around Zavier had started long before he had evene to this world.


    Zavier''s body was trembling all over at this point, the information that he had gathered up to this point had been too much for him to handle at once. He wanted to sit down and take a minute to gulp down all that he had figured out first but the danger around him had yet to diminish.


    The only good that came out of all this was that he had be sure of one thing at the very least. It was that for whatever it was that Zavier was being hunted down had nothing at all to do with the current Zavier and the enemy was unaware of the true strength of the Zavier they were trying to murder now.


    At this point, Zavier could be a hundred percent sure that the person that his clone had been following had clearly led him up to this ce.


    It was either an borate n to kill him or an attempt to bring him the information that he so desperately needed. The other person had not revealed even the tip of his killing intent until this moment. This was either because he was a top-notch assassin who could easily rein in his killing aura or he never intended to harm Zavier in the first ce.


    Could it be that the other person was trying to give him the information that his clone had been looking for?


    But how did the other party know who he was or what he had been trying to do?


    Zavier wanted to figure out the answers to those questions as soon as possible and he knew that the answers must be in the basement otherwise that person would have never brought him here.<sub> </sub>


    Zavier operated his Time Space Eye once again andpletely turned over the ce with his vision. He looked in every corner and every nook and cranny in the tiny and cramped ce.


    Zavier was sure that there must be more hiddenpartments and secrets, it being a ce used by a bunch of assassins.


    Putting in his best to search around was the minimum requirement for being able to find out something in this ce especially in the dark.


    Zavier searched to the point that his brain started to hurt. The headache returned with a screeching pain followed by the throbbing of his temple but Zavier forced himself to look, all the time believing that the answer was within the basement.


    In the corner of the basement, behind a wooden nk covered by algae and fungus, lied an intricately carved wooden box that he was unable to see through even with his Time Space Eye.


    The contents of the box were a mystery even to him and the curiosity of what was inside was killing him on the inside. But he maintained his calm so as to not miss something obvious that he mighte to regret in the future.


    He operated the highest level of vignce in the opening of the box to be ready for any dangers that might emerge from the box.


    He started by using low level lock picking magic often employed by low end thieves first but to no avail.


    He slowly made his way forward towards higher level magic but the lock didn''t budge in the slightest. This made him unsure whether magic even had any effect on the box at all.


    Zavier decidedly brought out the bigger guns. He used the cold ze that was currently his most powerful offensive magic. Even that didn''t produce any obvious results instantaneously.


    Only after the box had been doused in the cold me for a while that it started to creak and break open. This was an indication of how strong the box actually was.


    Zavier was consuming his strength at a rapid pace since the requirements for cold ze were quite high for the current him. Fortunately, the box broke open before he had spent all his strength otherwise it would have taken him even longer to recover his strength to continue.


    Inside the box was a key. It looked quite ancient based on its looks but there was no carvings or description along with it to determine where it could be used.


    Zavier couldn''t figure out what the key was for after deliberating over it for a while. He kept it in his pocket and was about to head out when the system prompted him for the first time since all this fiasco started.


    [User is advised to keep his items in the system storage.]


    [This will give all your clones ess to your items at all times and will increase your survival probability.]


    Zavier felt that the system had told him this specifically for the key. Maybe the system knew something about the key but hadn''t told him about it.


    He knew that doubting the system wouldn''t do any good at all since they were both on the same side as the system was designed to support him. Also, its advice had never turned out to be an impediment to his own designs.


    Another thing that helped make up his mind was that the key could be used by any of his clones regardless of the location of the original body and the location of the key.


    When he had finally made up his mind, Zavier wanted to share the memories of the incident with all of his clones to get them in the loop about the whereabouts and the source of the brass key in the system storage.


    He had already had a splitting headache ever since he had over used the cold ze to split open the box. He was very tired at the moment so he rested up a bit to wash away all the exhaustion before sharing his memories with all the clones.


    He sat down in a corner of the basement and regted his breathing. He was so tired that his eyelids were droopy and his face looked haggard like he had pulled an all-nighter to prepare for an exam in the morning.


    Zavier was not such a fool as to fall asleep in such a hostile environment. There was no guarantee that his enemies were not lying in wait for him to show an opening.


    So, he had to force himself to stay awake while trying to recover. It was hard but had to be done for his own safety.

 Chapter 43 Bakc To Mission

    After a while, the exhaustion started to fall off and Zavier recovered his strength and vigor. He didn''t wait any longer and asked the system: "System, please enable the sharing mode."


    [Shared mode has been sessfully enabled.]


    [You are now connected in senses and thoughts to four other clones.]


    As soon as the system messages appeared on the disy screen, a flood of information started to flow from one of the clones to the rest of the connected nodes across the informationwork through the connected consciousness.


    Four fully masked and colorfully dressed bodies scattered across the city were inplete sync as of this moment. To others, they would have all looked as if they were in a trance or were undergoing enlightenment, for there would appear slight changes in their facial expressions from time to time. If one could have seen them all simultaneously, then one would have easily noticed that the changes in their facial expressions werepletely in sync with each other, as if they were all undergoing the same ordeal.


    The information being shared was the experiences of all the clones during the time that they had stayed disconnected. Despite working in individual mode all this time, the fact couldn''t be denied that the clones were a singr entity because the consciousness supporting all their mental faculties was singr and belonged to the original.


    The clones were soon all caught up with the progress that each of them had made during the reconnaissance drive that the original had initiated to find any further clues rted to the killer Pacer and the organization that he belonged to. From what information was avable, it was fare to say that the greatest headway was made by the clone with the perception system, as it should have been. After all, it was something that clone specialized in.


    As it was, all the clones and the original had put in their best in their reconnaissance efforts but the result was far from satisfactory. The only clue that they had managed to uncover was the brass key which was also a courtesy of someone else; someone whose identity was still a secret. It was impossible to determine whether that helper was a friend, an ally or even an enemy trying to lure them in with some benefits but beggars couldn''t be choosers.


    One thing that he could be sure of was that the helper at the very moment was acting like an ally or a guide. The information he had provided alone was enough to consider him a valuable asset. There was no need to think of him as an enemy or a hostile agency until there was such an implication from his behavior or his decision making.


    That aside, at the moment Zavier was not in a position to trust anyone let alone someone as suspicious as the secret helper who was even unwilling to show himself. Even his closest rtive, his Uncle Val, was under strict scrutiny; what to even mention, an outsider who had appeared out of nowhere.


    Zavier was not recovered to his prime and couldn''t handle such intense information sharing session for long. When they were done with the information exchange, Zavier put in anothermand to the system.


    "System, shut down the sharing mode."


    [Individual mode has been sessfully enabled.]


    [User is now disconnected with all the clones. The clones will keep acting on theirtest orders.]


    Evening had set in; the sun was close to making the final plunge behind the mountains. Stars were dimly appearing on the darkest portion of the sky that was now painted in various hues ranging from light grey to reddish orange.


    The silhouette of the moon was already hanging in the background waiting for the sun to set which would enable it to disy its brilliance once again.


    The light was barely enough for the task at hand. The five travellers were currently busy pitching their tents in the clearing in between the rocky path and steep climbs.<sub> </sub>


    They had already had to ditch their transportation because of how difficult to traverse the path ahead was. But even that didn''t lower their motivation toplete the mission. The teacher that was supposed to be their protector had already issued the threat for notpleting the mission earlier in the day. Not one of them wanted to be on her bad side because they knew that she held grudges and wasn''t very keen on forgiveness too.


    The pitching of the tents should have been pretty smooth considering they all could use magic except the anomaly Alissa who ording to Zavier was being held back by the monster inside of her.


    But the strict teacher once again intervened in their happy thoughts and robbed them of the opportunity.


    "You should all use your physical strength to pitch these tents. Remember that all of us are on an escorting mission and the most important thing to watch out for in escorting missions is preservation of strength. You must not use your strength for trivial things because that mightpromise your strength in the longer run causing you to fail in protecting what was really important just because you wanted to take it easy."


    All three of them nodded while hiding their grievances thinking what even was the use of magic if it couldn''t even make their lives any easier?


    "Good that you understand. Now hurry up and set up the tents so that we can work on dinner then."


    Zavier had never been on such trips before but the previous owner seemed to have experience in this field. His memories yed an important role in the perfect pitching of the two tents.


    Moreover, Valerie seemed to be quite experienced in the whole thing, after all she had been going on these missions for quite some time now. She knew the ins and outs of the whole process and guided them through it the whole way, though Zavier kept feeling that she was purposefully ignoring him and spending more time teaching the female students which irritated him. Zavier had some memories but there was no practical experience whatsoever so he found the bias extremely unfair.


    On the other hand, Valerie knew that he already had enough experience so she decidedly focused on the two girls.


    The ground was softpared to the rough and rugged terrain that was awaiting them which was the reason that the pegs could be driven into the ground very easily. The tents were erected in no time after that.


    The tents they had brought with them were rectangr in shape with spacy living area inside and a door and three windows on all sides for air venttion. There was also a mosquito covering the so as to prevent any kind of insect from wandering in.


    Major portion of the groupprised of girls so it was a popr choice amongst them.


    By the time that they had finished their chores it was already night and they still hadn''t had their dinner. After working likeborers for so long, Zavier and the other two students were starving like deprived children who had been hungry for a month.


    Valerie despite being the eldest woman there ended up being a total burden when it came to cooking. Even Zavier was better than her. He wondered what she did when she had to go on solo missions. How had she been able to survive for so long with such disastrous culinary skills?


    Fortunately, they had an absolute expert amongst them or they might have had to eat the packed snacks and rations that they had brought for emergencies.


    Though Alissa was no good at magic, her culinary skills more than made up for it. She was practically a life saver for all of them. Even Valerie seemed grateful that she had brought Alissa along.

 Chapter 44 Danger

    While Zavier and Dah carried back some firewood, Valerie hunted some game with her tracking magic.


    Soon she was back with a couple of rabbits and a trio of pheasants. Of course, the dirty job was thrown to the only male student that Valerie had.


    Zavier was responsible for gutting and skinning the rabbit while Alissa busied herself plucking the feathers off of the pheasants. Soon both the rabbits and the pheasants were ready for roasting.


    Alissa had carried some spices and seasonings in that huge bag of hers. It was like she had already anticipated that they would be having barbeque along the way. She really was well prepared for an outing.


    She was more than good enough to fill up the shoes of Valerie in this aspect.


    She found some sticks and soon set up a barbecue stand by raking the firewood beneath the stand. The dressed carcasses of the rabbits and the pheasants were soon put on top of the stand. The rising mes caressed them and their color started to brighten into a slight golden hue.


    Alissa was prepared for every change and was monitoring the sticks at all times. She would professionally rotate the sticks while skilfully sprinkling seasonings all over the barbeque sticks.


    A dense mouth-watering aroma arose from the fire and aroused the hunger of all those waiting for dinner.


    All of them were not only tired but also hungrier than hundred years old ghosts. Without any further wait, they let themselves gorge on their portion of the meal given to them by Alissa.


    The old man James turned out to be the odd one out who refused to eat. Zavier wondered whether the old man was a ghost who could go hungry forever or he still didn''t trust them enough to eat their food.


    Valerie and Dah on the other hand didn''t even bother with the old man. Going by the speed with which they were stuffing themselves, they must have thought that their portion would have to be shared with the old man if they didn''t finish fast enough.


    Zavier didn''t bother with them and heartily praised Alissa for her cooking skills.


    Alissa couldn''t help but blush when she heard him praise her so. She wanted to dance her heart out in happiness but they were in the middle of nowhere, and not mention that Valerie would have never let her waste her energy like that.


    Dah finished her food and wiped her mouth like a demuredy as if she didn''t remember the way she had been eating previously like some beast.


    She turned to Alissa who was now shyly eating her own food and startedvishing her with praise.


    "Your cooking skills are so great. I wonder if I have ever eaten such delicious barbeque ever in my life. I don''t know what we would have done without you."


    "I am sure that Zavier would have made you something just as good even if I wasn''t here."


    Alissa subconsciously spoke out her thoughts that she never wanted to publicize. In her heart, Zavier could do everything that she could do.


    She covered her mouth shut following the escape of the words and had to lower her face to hide the blush crawling over her face.


    Zavier never noticed this transaction as he was busy contemting the oddities of the old man that was travelling with them. He seemed very attached to the wooden box that they were supposed to escort and was holding it in his hands like it was his baby that he couldn''t part with easily.<sub> </sub>


    Zavier wondered what was inside the box that was forcing the old man to act in such a manner even to the limit that he had forgotten all about his hunger and other needs.


    In a fit of impulse, Zavier activated his Time Space Eye and tried to peek into the box using his prating vision.


    As expected, there was a protective barrier around the box and all he could see was darkness.


    Zavier didn''t try again thinking that the old man might be alerted to his peeking attempts if he interacted with the barrier again.


    He figured that there would be more opportunities to find out the contents of the box.


    It was alreadyte at night when everyone was done eating. They all felt bloated and didn''t want to leave even the tiniest of morsels of food remaining but Valerie insisted that they take care of their condition at all times. They had to remain alert and in peak condition just in case there was an attempt to rob the old man of the box that they were tasked to escort.


    Though Valerie could be irritating, her words were quite reasonable and no one wanted to mess with her anyway, so they silently stood up went towards their resting tents.


    Alissa and Dah went to Valerie''s tent to sleep. It was an all-girls tent where Zavier wasn''t allowed so he headed towards the tent on the other side.


    His new roommate turned out to be the freaky old man James who was so obsessed with the box that he had no time to talk to his only roommate. He was already treating Zavier like air and didn''t care that Zavier was going to be sharing a tent with him.


    Since there was no topic that could divert the old man''s attention away from the box long enough to have a conversation, Zavier didn''t make any attempts at the impossible feat and drifted off to sleep in a peaceful manner.


    A silence prevailed in the surroundings that was only disturbed by the croaking noises of the frogs and the buzzing of the cicadas in the vicinity. The noise could be loud enough to awaken the heaviest of sleepers but to those who got used to the noise would feel the peace and serenity hidden behind it. This was what it felt to sleep in thep of mother nature without the shells that humans constrained themselves in with a self-deception offort and protection.


    At this moment, Zavier and the others were experiencing what their ancestors experienced before they thought of the unnatural ways of building houses and owningnds. Man was supposed to live on and take care of the earth that supported them. This was supposed to be the natural order. Man should have been the caretaker and the earth was supposed to be the provider. This should have been the natural order but humanity took it upon itself to re-establish those beliefs seeking morefort and protection and in turn moved far away from nature.


    The same thing had happened to Zavier''s previous world. The magic that was all around them had been forgotten in that world because humanity had let go of the old ways in their search for more power and wealth andfort; the irony.


    Despite being asleep Zavier''s senses were working at their peak. He could sense the tiniest of movements around him thanks to his Time Space Eye. The perception system was not something he had to operate consciously. It was a system designed to be operated through subconscious thoughts, intuition, gut feelings and instincts. The user didn''t have to be awake to operate this system so that they could instantly sense danger without having to consciously search for the source of the danger.


    Therefore, Zavier could sleep peacefully because the system would warn him of any danger in his vicinity.


    It was veryte into the night when it happened.


    [*Warning* Hostile intent sensed in the vicinity of 100m from the user.]


    [Source of the danger is unknown.]


    A loud warning sounded in his brain as if it was trying to send him to hell instead of only jolting him awake.

 Chapter 45 Fast

    Zavier bolted awake with a disgruntled expression but his eyes revealed the sharpness hidden behind his casual behavior.


    "Who could it be?"


    Zavier thought out loud before getting up from thefort of his sleeping bag.


    Zavier''s eyes darted towards James but the old man was still fretting over the box instead of just resting. He wondered why the old man even hired them if he was going to do the job himself.


    Since the old man was unsurprisingly useless and refused to say a thing, he had to figure this out for himself.


    He didn''t want to be surprised by the enemy so he had to move out of the tent to locate the source of danger that the perception system had sensed.


    Thanks to the perception system, his senses had been honed to the extreme. The tiniest changes to the wind stream, the most minuscule sound waves and the tiniest of movements around him could be sensed from so far away that it was unbelievable for any ordinary person. Just based on this perception ability, he could have be a royal scout or a better tracker than anybody in the field but he had to keep his abilities under wrap until he was able to figure out exactly who his personal enemies were.


    Zavier sensed movement from the west that was nothing but shrubbery and trees. He could tell that if someone had wanted to hone in on them stealthily, this was the direction to move in from because it had better ces for hiding and affinity towards camouge.


    The sound of a broken twig and the slight changes in the wind stream told him that someone was heading towards them while trying to conceal himself. But judging from how that person had broken a twig while moving, he didn''t seem very professional at his job. Or he was so strong that he didn''t care whether he was sensed by them or not.


    Zavier moved out and came across Valerie who was already out of her tent and looking out into the distance towards the approaching hostile agency.


    Her eyes had an edge to them and her expression showed how apprehensive she was at the moment.


    Zavier could tell that it wasn''t just a coincidence that he had found her outside at this time. She had already known about the hostile agency heading their way even before the system had woken him up through that threat warning.


    Valerie was not an A rank magician for nothing. Her range of perception and her threat detection skills were obviously better than even Zavier who had the perception system that boasted the greatest detection abilities in the world.


    Obviously, that was only because Zavier was just beginning to understand the perception system and was currently at the lowest rank otherwise, he would have left Valerie far behind in the dust.


    Zavier cautiously headed towards her with a vignt eye in the direction of the threat. Valerie caught sight of Zavier and showed a surprised look.


    The look of surprise soon vanished and Valerie regained herposure. She had never imagined that someone other than her in this group had the ability to notice the threat headed their way.


    It had to be known that perception abilities were very hard toe by and not just anyone could get their hands on them. She was an A rank magician but even she had to strive very hard to learn such a skill and yet Zavier casually showed his hand and out came a threat detection ability that was close to the uracy of her own skills. The only thing that Zaviercked seemed to be the range given that he had detected the enemy after herself.


    Valerie didn''t ask him to stay out of it, after all they hade together toplete the mission so she called him close to herself by curling her fingers inward while pointing her hand towards him.


    When Zavier hade over, she put a finger on her lips to tell him to keep his mouth shut while keeping all her attention towards the target.


    Zavier nodded to indicate that he had understood what she was trying to say. Valerie looked at him with the corner of her eyes and was satisfied.


    Valerie used her finger to point forward and started walking in the direction of the approaching figure.<sub> </sub>


    Zavier followed after her but stayed behind her. He knew that Valerie was supposed to protect them and would never let him get ahead of herself even if he had been better equipped to do so.


    Both of them vigntly moved in the direction of the threat while taking care to avoid making the slightest bit of noise, so as to not alert the iing figure.


    Zavier operated his Time Space Eye and kept an eye on their surroundings to avoid any kind of ambush that they might have been heading into.


    Fortunately, there was no need for such extensive vignce because he soon found a singr individual hiding behind a tree right in front of them. He was using no camouge skills or stealth skills as evident from how poorly he was hiding. The person really was an amateur as he was acting like somemon burr.


    Zavier knew that in a world full of magic, this kind of person was an absolute trash. The fact that this person hade to retrieve the box meant that the box must not be too important to the enemies.


    Before he could get the chance to point the target out to Valerie, he saw something that left him in utter shock and veneration.


    He blinked and Valerie who had been right in front of him all this time, vanished and reappeared in front of the target hidden behind the tree. It had happened so fast that it had been impossible for him to even react.


    His facial expressions appeared as if ing to the wonder that had taken ce. All his movements felt sluggishpared to the lightning-fast response of his aunt. His sight allowed him to look at the scenes that followed after Valerie had blinked over to other side.


    What he saw was a haggard man lying face down onto the ground unconscious and utterly defenceless. He wondered if Valerie had a means of teleportation or some magic skill that increased her speed to the extent where it is hard to spot her during her movement.


    Thanks to that Zavier had only seen the aftermath even with the help of his Time Space Eye. Had he seen the scene of his aunt raining down on to the victim, he would have probably dropped his jaw on the ground.


    In fact, as soon as Valerie had shed behind the figure, she had grabbed a hold of the back of his head and had plunged it into the ground with enough force to break his skull.


    Fortunately, the person was not dead but had only lost consciousness and would possibly suffer from a concussion afterwards that would let them have an opportunity to question him.


    For that reason, Zavier had been worried about Valerie directly killing him off. Thankfully, she had not really lived up to his expectations and her personality.


    Her power and lightning-fast agility had left him so amazed that stars were sparkling in his eyes. Zavier wondered how he had gotten the better of her in the ss thest time. How could she not have seen himing from a mile away when he had cast that low level illusion on her?


    Could it be that she had let it go on purpose?


    Zavier was confused as to how he had pulled it off. Was that illusion really a sess or she had pretended to be under its influence?


    Zavier remembered that the system message that he had seen at the time indicated that the illusion was sessful. Therefore, it could only mean that he had surprised her with his new powers and that she had underestimated him because of the weakness of the previous Zavier Adam.


    Whatever the circumstances that lead to her losing the bet, Zavier was only happy that everything had worked out at the time. Moreover, he had earned the right to ask her to do one thing for him which was quite a boon now that he had seen how capable she was.


    Zavier came back to his senses and rushed towards her and the downed man.

 Chapter 46 Weird James

    When Zavier came close to Valerie, she had already woken the downed man, whether it was through magical means or through physical means, he had no means to find out.


    But the scene that he saw left him dumbfounded to say the least. The person that they had been so threatened by turned out to be nothing but cannon fodder.


    He was currently on his knees begging Valerie to let him go. He had absolutely no conviction and dedication to his mission. Zavier knew because he had already encountered a professional earlier and had lost his life to him, twice.


    Zavier saw the man waving his hand in fear and awe of the strength that Valerie had shown him.


    Therefore, he asked Valerie to take a step back because it was the best way to acquire more information.


    Valerie didn''t say anything but nodded and gestured him to be cautious. The only reason that she had agreed to do so was because she had already determined that the downed man was just amon man and had no magic or other skills whatsoever. Therefore, there was no harm in letting Zavier take over.


    Zavier gave the man a solemn look before continuing with the investigation.


    "What are you doing here?"


    The man showed a grateful expression on his face. He really had been afraid that the girl would kill him.


    "I was hired by someone to steal a box from you. That''s all I was hired to do. We don''t have any personal grudges. Please, I am begging you¡­Please don''t¡­don''t kill me."


    The man had already started sobbing midway and was stumbling between words.


    If he was acting, then he was quite a good actor because to Zavier at least, the crying and the story seemed genuine enough.


    But he didn''t want to leave any hidden dangers behind so he wanted to be sure of everything that he did and every decision that he made.


    "Who hired you?"


    "I don''t know. I was hired by means of an anonymous letter."


    "How did you know where to find us?"


    "I didn''t. the letter that I received contained the route that you were going to follow and the time. There was nothing else. I tracked you on my own. I swear that it is the truth. Please believe me."


    Zavier showed a disbelieving expression and the thief grew frightened instantly and continued to exin.


    "Please¡­please¡­you have to believe me. I had to do it. The letter contained information about the box and an advance payment. There was no address on it and no information about the sender. It was waiting for me at my door when I came home a week back. I would have gotten the rest of the payment onpletion of the job. I am sorry but I needed that money and I couldn''t just say no."


    "And you don''t even mind dying because of that?"


    As soon as the fear took over the man and his pupils dted because of his intense fear, Zavier cast "Tell the truth" on the man. In case of the illusion type skills, the skillpletion was quite dependent on the mental state of the target which was the very reason that Zavier had agitated the target like that.


    Valerie looked on and appreciated his strategy inwardly, though no signs of that showed on her face.


    The man started stuttering and his eyes showed resistance at first but soon he was put under.<sub> </sub>


    Zavier once again repeated all his previous questions and reconfirmed that all the answers he had received earlier were theplete truth.


    Only then was he satisfied and he let go of the man. The man came back to his mind and didn''t even remember what had happened when he was under the illusion.


    He thought that his answers had reassured his assants and they had decided to trust him out of the goodness of their hearts.


    Valerie took over the situation once again after the truth had been confirmed and Zavier willingly stepped back.


    "We cannot afford to hand over this thief to the police authority. We don''t have that kind of time so we need to take care of him ourselves lest he go back and report the details to his employer."


    Valerie looked at the thief with a piercing gaze that made him think of the cold breeze of hell.


    The thief grew frightened out of his wits and kept looking at Zavier hoping that he would save him but Zavier didn''t intend to intervene at all. He only nodded to Valerie and stayed to the side.


    Zavier wanted to see what Valerie would do in such a situation. He wanted to see if she really was as heartless as she pretended to be or there was something soft hidden underneath that tough exterior.


    "Please let me go¡­I won''t tell them anything. I am just an ordinary man."


    "You should know that we can not do that. We have to be sure and that''s why you can''t leave here. I won''t be sorry because I have to be responsible for the safety of my students."


    Valerie had given him a death sentence with her words.


    The man grew so terrified that he tried to get up but kept falling back on to the ground due to his trembling legs. Consequently, he started dragging his body away while crawling away from Valerie.


    He was caught before he could move a few yards away from them. Valerie bound him with her magic to the nearest tree. Zavier made sure that the man was properly restrained before turning to Valerie with a look of appreciation in his eyes.


    "WHAT? You thought I was going to kill him? For real?"


    Valerie acted hurt on the outside but Zavier could tell that if the situation had called for it, Valerie might really have killed him. She had the mental resilience to carry out such a task. During the whole situation, she had been as calm as a stone. It was obvious she had been through worse situations during her previous missions.


    Zavier gave her a smile and joked it off as if he hadn''t seen the seriousness behind her eyes.


    Both of them were tired and walked back to their respective tents together.


    "You can rest at ease and sleep peacefully. I am here."


    Zavier nodded with a smile and headed back to his own tent to doze off again. When he went back inside, he found that the old man James was still sitting in the same position cuddling the box in the same manner.


    Zavier had to admit that the old man was the single most obsessed individual that he had evere across. He ignored the entric behavior of his roommate andid down in his own sleeping bag.


    The sleep wasn''t far away after that and he nodded off while staring at the ceiling of the tent.

 Chapter 47 Endless Harassing

    It was already bright and early by the time Zavier opened his eyes. He didn''t remember how he had slept after the incident in the night. But he felt overly fresh and ready for the new day.


    Valerie called for a team meeting after breakfast. Until then she told Zavier to hold off on the information that they had yet to disseminate to the other girls.


    Zavier also agreed to her suggestion thinking that it wouldn''t have done any good to either of them even if they found out about the incident before they could properly open their eyes. He thought it would be good to let them have breakfast first before dropping the bombshell and asking for their vignce.


    They enjoyed their breakfast together but the old man James still refused to say anything that was unrted to the box and didn''t eat anything at all which made Zavier wonder if he was even human. For as long as they had been out, Zavier had never seen him eat with them. It was probably because of his suspicions regarding them.


    When the meeting was convened, Valerie used a strict tone to convey the message.


    "All of you should know what happenedst night. Zavier had been vignt enough so he had sensed it but you two need to be more cautious."


    "Ahh¡­What happened?"


    Alissa asked bewildered at the thought of what had happened that she was supposed to be alert for.


    "A thief snuck into the camp and was quite close to us. He had been tasked to steal an item from us. Can you guess what it could have been?"


    This time Dah was the one to answer while Alissa looked at her nervously.


    "It should be the box that we are escorting."


    "Correct, the thief was amon man and knew nothing about magic but the fact that the enemy has acquired the help of muggles makes this even harder."


    "What? Shouldn''t it be easier going against someone with no magic than against someone with magic?"


    The somewhat sensible question was asked by Alissa and Valerie had been expecting this question from her.


    "No, it makes our task even harder. First, we need to separate themon ones from mages so we don''t unnecessarily hurt the muggles. You need to understand something first. Use of magical force against muggles is strictly prohibited unless the drastic nature of the situation demands it. Even if we are on a mission, and they are trying to steal from us, we are not allowed to hurt them beyond a justifiable level that can be held against us in front of the council of mages."


    At that moment Zavier understood why Valerie had so calmly handled the situation. She was afraid that it might be used against her if she hurt the thief beyond justification.


    Zavier apuded her again for how she had handled the situation the day before. She clearly knew that she couldn''t do anything to the thief but she still appeared ferocious enough to scare the hell out of him. Intel retrieval was quite easy because of her.


    Valerie had given a pause between her lecture because she wanted to let this reality sink in. She knew that it must be hard for them to understand the profundities of thew and it must have seemed unfair to new mages.


    She had thought that Zavier must have known about thew but from his lost expression she could already infer that it must have been the first time that Zavier hade across such a thing.


    After waiting a while, she continued with what she had been saying earlier.


    "All of you should remain extra vignt the next few days. I fear that the storm is yet toe. If the opponent has decided to use muggles for the job, he must not have been so na?ve to think that a single thief would be able to steal from four magicians. Therefore, if I was in his ce, I would use numerous thieves to bear us down until one was sessful. Prepare yourself for what I fear is about toe in the next few days. I want each of you on your toes, keep your eyes on the cargo and your senses on the surrounding area. Understood?"


    "Yes Ma''am."


    "Yes Ma''am."<sub> </sub>


    Both the girls called out at the same time, after which Valerie looked towards Zavier in an incredulous manner because he had failed to answer.


    "Uhm ¡­I understand."


    When Valerie was finally satisfied, she broke up the meeting and they started to pack their bags and the tents that they had worked so hard to pitch.


    When all was done, they continued on their way. They still had to traverse a long distance to reach their destination.


    Zavier walked with his senses alert to his surroundings, the old man looked even more nervous than he was previously. Zavier figured that he must have known about the attempt to steal the box as well which was making him even more jittery than he already had been.


    For the next few days there were constant attempts to steal the box. It was just like Valerie had previously told them. The enemy was trying to wear them down and dull their senses through the use of wave tactics. If he sent enough people to attempt to steal the box, then it really was possible. Zavier knew that and thought the enemy had really chosen a fearsome tactic.


    If only he had sent mages instead of muggles, the job would have been so much easier. Valerie was an A-rank magician, she was strong enough to handle any of those magicians and could have wiped out hoards of them in one sweep.


    The frequency of attempts started to increase and after various sessions of interrogation, they came to know that all of them had been hired using the same method; an anonymous letter with advance payment and the information about their route and the item that they had to steal.


    After doing it a few times, Valerie decided that the interrogation was no use anymore. The enemy was very good at hiding his tracks. It would have been impossible to deduce his identity just based on the information wrung out of the petty thieves.


    After that, whenever they came across another attempt, they would just tie up the thief at some remote ce so that they could continue on their way.


    This kept happening but Zavier and Valerie could tell that their senses were really affected just like their enemy had nned. If not for the length of the journey, this level of tactics wouldn''t have worked at all. The excessive boredom and the istion tended to be the catalyst.


    The others were even starting to show signs of aggression. Only Valerie always had a professionally calm expression on her face. Behind that, Zavier knew that even she was tired of the constant harassment. The difficulty of the mission was not very high but it was so tedious and the enemy so persistent that nobody at that level would have managed to take on and sessfully carry out the job.


    Dah was the first to show the signs of aggression. She had been thoroughly agitated by the thieves. Keeping your senses alert at all times was taxing on the body not to even mention the nerves. Dah was past her breaking point and she almost killed the new thieves that came to steal the box.


    Her ice magic had immense pration and immobilization power. That ice magic when strengthened past a certain point could cause frostbite. The ordinary thieves could hardly protect themselves.


    In her anger, Dah cast a skill that would have caused instant death for normal humans, hell even mages would have died to that. She wanted to thoroughly pulverize them without any mercy and turn them into popsicles.


    Fortunately, Valerie had already noticed what was happening and blunted her edge with her shield magic; otherwise Dah would have encountered disaster after the mission. Being her teacher, Valerie couldn''t let the situation develop any more than necessary.


    "Take a rest; you three. I fear that we cannot go on like this. Sooner thanter, all of you will be showing such tendencies. I will not have you do that as long as you are with me. Zavier, we can take turns taking rest. You can tell me once you are good to go. Okay?"


    "Hmm."


    Zavier couldn''t just tell her that his instincts did not require any mental strength. Even if he didn''t do anything, the perception system would still alert him to any danger in the vicinity. It was like a passive skill for him that he didn''t need to activate at all. It was an instinct that he could not just turn off.


    Still, he could take it easy and let her do all the work for some time. He knew that if he suggested that she take a rest first, it might have hurt her pride or it might have even angered her.


    Therefore, Zavier decided to take over after a while so she could rest.

 Chapter 48 Who Is James?

    Dah didn''t say anything once the suggestion was made. She knew that she had be unhinged the moment that she had unleashed the extreme ice magic on the thieves. Fortunately, Valerie had been attentive and had saved her from the disaster.


    She had currently shut off her senses and was just blindly following behind Valerie like a chick following mother hen.


    Alissa too could not remain her cheerful self any longer. Even though she had nothing to do with the part thatprised of defending against the thieves, her mood had been put off by the constant attempts. She was in no mood for travelling any longer. She had thought that it would be wonderful field trip with Zavier but they didn''t even have time to talk due to the constant harassment.


    Zavier tried very hard to rest a bit and not think of anything but it just wasn''t possible. He was still quite fresh and didn''t need any rest. As such he decided to divert his thoughts towards something else, something other than the approaching threats.


    His eyes darted around randomly and soon rested on the old man who was travelling with them. He was surprised that the old man had kept up with them for so long without asking them to rest even once.


    But the old man James was still as miserly with his words as ever. The only thing in his eyes was the box that he was caressing like his lover. Even the thieves didn''t deter him at all. It looked like he trusted the four of them after all and left the security to them for real.


    No one tried to talk to the old man. Zavier figured that it was because the old man never replied to any of them and didn''t think of it much.


    Before long, Zavier was analyzing the whole situation from the beginning. He remembered the interrogations that he had conducted previously.


    All the thieves had simr instructions from the boss behind the scenes. The more he spected, the more wrong the whole situation seemed.


    He thought back to what those men had said. Judging from the information, Zavier felt that it must have been impossible for the boss behind the scenes to not have known about the mages protecting the box when the information given to the thieves in their letters was urate beyond belief.


    Even assuming that the boss didn''t know about the escorts being mages, there was no way that he didn''t know that the owner of the box was a mage.


    The boss had known how many people would be escorting the item and what their route towards the destination would be. He had even known that the owner of the item had been old man James since the first man had divulged that information. Since he knew that then he must have known that the old man was a mage and not some ordinary muggle.


    Zavier was unable to make sense of the situation. Why would the boss behind the scenes still sendmon thieves to retrieve something from a mage when he could have just as easily sent mages to do the same job by spending less than that. Especially when it didn''t look like the boss wascking any money in the first ce.


    Zavier found this contrary to themon sense and wanted to share his thoughts with Valerie, and so he did.


    As soon as he mentioned his analysis to Valerie, she gave him an odd look as if he was telling her something unintelligible. Zavier grew confused too due to her reaction. He had never thought the Valerie he considered to be so clever and cunning would be unable to understand the meaning of what he was trying to convey.


    He grew a little flustered and began to exin it all over again but was interrupted by her through the means of a hand signal. She practically shoved the palm of her hand in his face to stop him from talking anymore.


    "Do you still not see what I am trying to tell you?"


    "Stop¡­.Stop first. Tell me how do you know that the owner of the box is an old mage?"


    Zavier thought that Valerie must have hit her head or something, or maybe she was just so tired that she was unable to make sense of anything. She had even ignored the old man who had been travelling with them all along. Therefore, he decided to relieve her of her scouting duties.


    "I think you have grown very tired. Why don''t you take a rest first and then we can continue this conversationter?"


    Valerie gritted her teeth to stop herself from hitting Zavier with her magic instead or from severely cursing loudly at him.


    "What do you mean? Do you think the problem is with me?"


    Zavier didn''t say anything but his silence was saying it all. After all there was no easy answer to that question.


    Valerie''s tone grew heavier and she asked Zavier with furrowed brows: "You tell me where did you find out that the box belonged to the old man. Stop worrying about my condition. I want to hear your answer."


    "All right. The old man James who has been travelling with us all this while. The one who is currently holding the box in his grasp right here."


    Zavier pointed to a ce behind him in unison with his words but when he turned around, there was no one there. The old man James he had just seen behind him had vanished into thin air.


    He was worried that some thief had stolen him away and was about to call out to him when he heard Valerie''s voice that broke all sense of reality for him.


    "What the hell are you talking about? Who the hell is this James?"<sub> </sub>


    Zavier couldn''t help but stare at the space where James had just been. He wondered why Valerie had forgotten about him or was unable to recognize even his name; was she under some kind of spell?


    "He is the one who gave us the mission. Don''t you remember when we went to ask for the mission details at his hut?"


    Valerie did recall that so she answered instantly which made Zavier feel relieved.


    "Of course, I remember that."


    "Then you should also remember who gave us the confirmation of the mission. It was old man James who asked us to escort him along with the box."


    Valerie was looking incredulously at Zavier as if he was imagining the most wildest of all fantasies that she was unable to make sense out of.


    The tone of her voice turned grave instantly revealing the seriousness of the situation.


    "There was no old man at the hut. Only an anonymous letter with the box that was addressed to us. All along the journey we have never seen or heard the old man you are speaking about."


    Zavier was dumbfounded at her answer. He was trying to figure out the exact situation but the story kept on twisting and turning like the roads along the mountainsides.


    Since Valerie seemed so sure about it, Zavier knew that at least one of them had to be wrong about the situation. The only thing left was to confirm it with the rest of the girls.


    He turned and faced Dah and Alissa and asked them the same questions. The result; they hadn''t evere across an old man like that across the entire journey. All the girls said the same thing that the old man had never been with them and neither had they found anyone when they went to ept the mission at the hut.


    Zavier felt that the whole situation had suddenly gotten out of hand. He needed to get his grips on the reality once again. The way it was he still could not ept that he had been wrong all along, that the old man had never existed. It had all felt so real to him. Maybe that was how it felt when one was under an illusion because that was all it could have been if it was not the reality.


    Zavier pondered over the whole situation trying to figure out some part of the puzzle that was still remaining. He wanted to look for some holes in the girls'' story just like they had found in his but was unable to figure out where to start amidst all the confusion that he was feeling.


    But then he figured it out, the key to all of it, the box.


    "If you think that the old man is not real and he hasn''t been along with us on this journey, then where is the box if he is not the one carrying it then who is? From what I have seen up to now, you three don''t have it either."


    All the girls looked at him in shock. By this time, Valerie''s gaze fell on him, it felt full of pity. Zavier felt ashamed looking into her eyes, he was gradually losing his grip on reality. He was unable to tell what was real and what was false which made him feel weak. He needed to be strong again. He was waiting for their answer but when he witnessed the changes in their expressions, he had already known what the answer was going to be.


    "It''s right in front of us. You have had it all this time. It''s hanging on your belt at the moment."


    Valerie was the one who had spoken out in an answer to his question.


    Zavier looked down at the ce on his waist where Valerie was pointing and found it there just like they had described it. It had been tied to him for the whole duration, it seemed.


    Zavier''s mind started to get cloudy. He lost all semnce of reality and seemed as if he was standing there mindlessly.


    His head started to hurt just like it did when he overtaxed his mental strength but this time, it was worse, way worse than anything he had ever felt before. It was a headache that caused him pain exponentially greater than what he usually felt and left him battered and busted. It was like a swarm of bees was hanging around his head and were stinging him everywhere from the inside. His mind was stuck between illusion and reality and was unable to make sense of any one of them.


    His head continued to throb with increasing intensity until it grew unbearable but at the same time memories shed through his mind. Even in such a situation, Zavier wanted to figure out the truth.


    He remembered how the old man had only talked to him and had treated the other girls as if they had been non-existent from the very start. He hadn''t eaten anything throughout their travel and hadn''t talked to any of the girls.


    Given all the evidence, he had to believe that Valerie had been telling the truth all along and he had been the one who was either stuck in an illusion or had the wrong take on things.


    Zavier was unable to believe that the old man had only been a figment of his own imagination and nothing else.


    The pain in his head finally grew more intense which capsized his mental strength. His eyes began to roll upwards, the world around him grew blurry and he felt as if he was looking at it through a tunnel. He finally couldn''t stand it and passed out.

 Chapter 49 The Box

    Dreams, nightmares, vividly lucid hallucinations ¡­ and most of all; PAIN.


    This was the recurring theme during the time Zavier spent unconscious. When the young man finally stirred from the abyss of endless nightmares that had threatened to swallow him, a flood of memories and pain besieged Zavier like a host of enemies lying in ambush.


    Not even affording him time to collect himself, all the previous worries that had gued him before rushed towards the surface of his mind, and with blinding speed theytched onto his consciousness like parasites, feeding off of his paranoia and enming his already deep seated fear of the unknown.


    Zavier''s eyes slowly opened and the first thing he saw was Alissa dozing off next to him. Clearly she had been assigned the duty of watching him, but even at a task as simple as this, Alissa had somehow managed to botch it.


    For a minute, Zavier found out he couldn''t move. His eyes rolled about frantically as the fear of death intensified with each passing second that he remained paralyzed. His mind was fully conscious, but it was almost as if his body was yet to awaken.


    His eyes on Alissa, he tried his best to scream out. But his body didn''t respond. The empty silence mocked him, amplifying his fear of dying like a helpless chicken.


    After an agonizing twenty seven seconds of sleep paralysis, Zavier gradually began to regain control over his own body. Very slowly, he rolled over on his side. The moment he attempted to sit up, a surge of horrendous pain greeted Zavier.


    It took the whole of his will power not scream out loud.  He gritted his teeth firmly and grasped the sheets. To him, it felt like he had mmed his head against a brick wall while he was unconscious, and he was only just feeling the pain now. He remained still for a moment hoping the pain would pass, it didn''t.


    He focused on his surroundings and tried to listen for any clues as to what might be happening.


    Thankfully, he heard the vague voices of Dah and Vrie outside. His mind weed the familiar voices gleefully.


    Zavier decided to take full advantage of the privacy and confer with the Multisystem. He had a ton of questions that required immediate attention. He called on the system.


    "Multisystem?"


    Even in his mind, his tone was charged with frantic worry. The system replied him promptly;


    "Yes Zavier?"


    Another wave of pain swept through his frontal lobe and Zavier grimaced. He waited a couple more seconds before he continued with his inquiry.


    "Have I in anyway been subjected to an illusion spell?"


    The system''s replies were almost always instantaneous. But this time, for some reason, it lingered for a while before answering him.


    Even before the system replied him, Zavier already dreaded the answer.


    "The multisystem currently cannot answer that question."


    The agitated Zavier asked the most logical follow up question;


    "WHY???"


    "Currently, the multisystem cannot detect an illusion spell because that ability is contained in the Mesmer system''s advanced techniques which are yet to be unlocked."


    Zavier didn''t dwell on that particr bit of information longer than he had to. This was a serious problem that required the full attention of his mental faculties.


    An illusion spell was no trifle matter. And the fact that he had been on the receiving end of such an artfully crafted illusion spell confirmed that he had been the intended target.


    But why? To what end? Who was responsible for this? Who was close enough to him to have executed such a spell?


    Zavier immediately went to breaking down the facts that were avable to him. He had to start from the very beginning, which was when he had embarked on this mission.<sub> </sub>


    As Zavier racked his brain, he deduced that there were only two viable possibilities and none of them looked good.


    From his perspective, it was one of two things; either he had stumbled into an intricately woven web of illusion that had been spun by an advanced mage, or someone else had. It didn''t take much deliberation for Zavier to know that the odds of thetter being the case was closer to zero than the former.


    "Damn it!" he cursed inwardly;


    "This does not look good at all! I can''t even count on the objectivity of this damn system!"


    Zavier''s mind steered towards the people around him and another cold fact crept up on him with a chilling slyness.


    His aunt Vrie was a top mage, if she had been with him all this while and hadn''t noticed anything off, it simply meant that the illusion spell (and by default, its caster) was way beyond Vrie''s scope of expertise.


    Zavier''s blood ran cold at this sudden realization. He had just managed to profile the invisible enemy and somehow, the enemy appeared to be more daunting than they appeared to be just a few minutes ago.


    It was the motive behind all of this that baffled Zavier the most. It was the most pertinent question;


    "Why would anyone cast an illusion spell so advanced on me?? To what end??"


    It was clear to Zavier that if the enemy wanted him dead, considering his level of stealth, expertise and dexterity with spells, the enemy would definitely have dropped Zavier a long time ago.


    So what was the purpose of this unholy dalliance? Zavier grasped his head between his palms in frustration. The storm of unanswered questions tormented him, they were tearing him apart from the inside out, threatening to drive him crazy.


    With his head bent in frustration, just as Zavier was about to close his eyes, his eyes led him to his first clue; right on his waist was the wooden box. But it wasn''t just the box, it was the keyhole that stole Zavier''s attention.


    A fresh surge of hope swept Zavier off his feet. He gingerly unhooked the box and examined the keyhole. He was suddenly overwhelmed with a strong desire to open the wooden box.


    For some reason, Zavier made a connection between the key he had in the basement in the middle of nowhere and the keyhole on the wooden box in his hand.


    A part of Zavier felt like he was grasping for straws, but at this point, Zavier couldn''t be deterred. He had found a streak of light in an otherwise dark tunnel and he was determined to chase it all the way through.


    Expertly, Zavier summoned the key from the system. He whipped it out and took a closer look at it and juxtaposed it with the keyhole.


    They appeared to match. Zavier''s mind started to reel with the possibilities of what awaited him inside the box.


    There was a rule that bound employers and employees when it came to delivering packages. It was more of a code than a rule, but it stated clearly that no one but the employer was qualified to open a protected box/package.


    Even in dire situations, this rule was to be respected no matter the cost. Zavier was well aware of this rule, but at this time, he had already entered into a frenzy.


    He looked and acted like he had been taken over by something else, almost as if he was possessed. His eyes were bloodshot, his facial expression resembled that of a crazy person''s. Even his ears seemed to pick up on eerie whispers that were actively spurring him on, encouraging him in inaudible whispers to open the box.


    His arms trembled even as he held on to the box. The normally calm Zavier was now a nervous wreck. One thing and one thing only upied the entirety of his thoughts; the content of the box.


    He took a deep breath and slowly brought the key a little closer to the keyhole. Shaking with curiosity, Zavier sunk the key into the keyhole. He half-expected a genie to pop out or something out of the norm, but nothing happened.


    The box simply remained as it was, waiting for Zavier to turn it to the side and reveal its secrets. The key fitted the keyhole like a glove. A soft click sounded, signaling the fact that they were a match.


    The nervous Zavier fought desperately to rein in his excitement. He began to perspire profusely, great beads of sweat formed on his forehead and trickled down his face like small rivers seeking out their course. Just as he was about to turn the key, Vrie stepped into the tent.

 Chapter 50 Mr. I-Have-To-Be-Serious-All-The-Time

    Zavier was livid with fury. But he hid it well. He was surprised that despite his perception skillset, somehow, Vrie had managed to creep up on him without warning. Quickly, Zavier made a move to hide the key.


    Faster than the average eye can follow, Zavier immediately transmitted the key back to the system to prevent it from being discovered. With her head poking through the tent, Vrie inquired after his well-being;


    "Zavier! How long have you been awake?"


    Zavier mischievously feigned a yawn and answered something inaudible and vague. Vrie took a closer look at him and noticed that he was drenched in sweat.


    "You had bad dreams huh?"


    The clueless look on Zavier''s face showed that her question was lost on him. Vrie pointed to his sweaty face;


    "You''re sweating like a pig Zavier, get a hold of yourself."


    "Yes ma''am!" He replied promptly.


    Alissa who had been asleep all this while stirred. The voices in the tent had awakened her from her slumber. Both Zavier and Vrie watched her as she yawned and stretched. Vrie''s cold, sharp voice mocked her with sarcastic humor;


    "Nice of you to finally join us Alissa. I am d you had your beauty sleep while you left my nephew unattended."


    Though Alissa was awake, she wasn''t fully awake. So, Vrie''s humor was lost on her. As she finally became aware of her surroundings, she noticed that Zavier was also awake. Her eyes suddenly brightened and she assaulted Zavier with what sounded like an unending stream of questions;


    "Zavier are you okay? What happened¡­?"


    She yawned briefly before continuing.


    "¡­and why did you suddenly faint like a girl? I thought you were supposed to be tough¡­"


    Alissa kept yawning, and yet she still somehow found a way to bnce her yawning with bombarding Zavier with questions and conclusions, inadvertently ignoring Vrie who was standing at the entrance.


    Zavier didn''t even get a chance to reply any of her questions, he simply sat there as Alissa let loose on him a torrent of words. Vrie watched the drama unfold before her with little interest. She rolled her eyes and exited the tent, leaving the kids behind her to chatter on.


    "Okay Alissa that''s enough. Go back to sleep."


    She stubbornly protested;


    "But you haven''t answered any of my questions!"


    "I promise I will answer all of them when you awaken from your sleep. You''re obviously still very sleepy."


    Even as Zavier spoke to her, she was still yawning. She reluctantly conceded and turned to her side to snuggle with her pillow. She was already fast asleep even before Zavier left the tent.


    Zavier stepped out and was greeted by a gust of fresh air. It waste evening and dusk was fast approaching.


    Zavier scanned the camp site looking for his aunt. He didn''t need to look far, his eyes wandered up ahead and found her just a short distance away. She had taken a vantage position and was scoping out they of thend.


    On a normal day, Zavier would admire her constant need to be on top of things, but Zavier was in no mood to paypliments right now.


    He walked up to her and stood by her side.  A few minutes passed by in silence before Vrie finally broke the silence;


    "How long Zavier?"


    "Ma''am?"


    "How long have you known you were under an illusion?"


    Zavier shook his head.


    "I wish I could tell you Aunt Vrie. But I really don''t know."


    She turned to face him fully before she asked his next question;


    "So you can''t ce the exact time you fell under the illusion spell?"


    The clueless Zavier shook his head once again.


    Vrie searched his eyes deeply looking to uncover some sort of devilry, but his eyes were as empty as they could be. Truthfully, it seemed like the boy knew nothing.<sub> </sub>


    "Something''s been off about you Zavier¡­"


    Zavier froze. The statement itself was ambiguous. He had to thread carefully or risk exposing a whole lot more than he should. Trying to sound as normal as he could, he replied her casually;


    "What do you mean aunty? Are you referring to the illus-"


    She cut him off briskly.


    "Don''t be coy with me Zavier. You know I am not just talking about the illusion spell¡­"


    Her deep piercing gaze was fully fixated on Zavier now. The young man felt like the woman standing before him was gazing into his soul. He knew that any slip up right now would set a different course for him. So he smiled his best smile and encouraged her;


    "Don''t worry Aunt Vrie, I assure you I am still me."


    After a very ufortable fifteen seconds, Vrie decided to avert her gaze. Although Zavier didn''t show it, he was very when she did.


    "Well¡­"


    She began again with in a fresh tone;


    "In lieu of everything that has been happening, this mission has been upgraded to at least a level B mission."


    When no protest came, she continued;


    "That being said, it goes without saying that the three of you have to quit this mission on ount of you being high school students."


    Zavier remained quiet while she continued with the update;


    "Of course, there is definitely a possibility that the three of you might get ambushed along the way back, so for that purpose I will be escorting you all back to school. There I will regroup with other top mages and we will conduct further investigation and ns. Do you understand?"


    Zavier nodded firmly in agreement. He tried his best not to sound too enthusiastic about calling off the mission as he answered her.


    "Yes ma''am. Everything you''ve said is correct.  It''s the right call to make given the circumstances."


    "Good. I''ll inform the others."


    As Vrie left, Zavier felt no shame in finding joy in the fact that this whole thing was over. He wasn''t the type that got excited by difficult challenges. That was for the likes of Vrie and Dah. In fact, right now, he was particrly afraid of dying. The threat now seemed too real. Right now, he need to stay off the grid. He agreed with everything Vrie had put forward. This was definitely not the best time to go off on a mission.


    It was already toote to begin the long and tedious trek back. So Vrie ruled that they would camp there for the night. She went ahead to draw a schedule that guaranteed everyone took turns keeping watch. The night passed quietly. Nothing out of the ordinary happened.


    Dawn broke on the group the next day. The new day came with a fresh wave of hope for both teacher and students. It was a refreshing change of pace for everyone, the hope was contagious, and it was undeniable.


    Maybe it was the thought of returning back to school, maybe it was the feeling of gratitude that no one had been hurt, it might have also been the silent agreement which no one voiced out loud, the agreement that stated that they had all bonded during this mission.


    Whatever was the true reason, they all reveled in the liveliness as they made their way back.


    Back to her chirpy self, Alissa skipped and ran ahead like a young buck. asionally, Vrie would caution her to fall in line and maintain formation, but there was no imminent danger, so the lead teacher indulged her yfulness.


    Even the usually cold Dah didn''t seem as tense as she usually was. They had all settled in to a rxed mood, everyone except Zavier.


    From Alissa''s point of view, it truly seemed like Zavier had decided to wage a full war against all things pertaining to rxing. Alissa yfully teased him as they journeyed through the woods;


    "Hey there Mr. I-have-to-be-serious-all-the-time! Why don''t you lighten up a bit?"


    Zavier sighed in exasperation.


    "Stop it Alissa, I really am not in the mood for your shenanigans this morning."


    Alissa skipped closer to him with the energy of a ten year old who had just had her first taste of candy.


    "Shenanigans?? Look at you bringing out the big fancy words!"


    Zavier ignored her. After several failed attempts at cheering him up, Alissa soon found something else to upy her attention.

 Chapter 51 Encounter

    As the group trudged on through the woods, Zavier sank deeper and deeper into his own sea of thoughts. A good night''s sleep had given him some rity on his problems.


    The more Zavier thought about it, the more convinced that the recent trend of events was a very unlikely coincidence. It made him terribly ufortable. Zavier ran the simtion in his head several times over;


    "No doubt, the most logical move right now would be to retreat. But what if this is what the enemy wants? Could this have been their intentional n all this while?"


    Zavier knew that it was not entirely inconceivable that a diabolical mind could have set all this in motion. If this had been the intention of the enemy all this while, then it was very likely that they were headed towards trouble.


    Zavier knew that his Aunt had factored the probability of them being attacked. This was the primary reason behind her suggesting that they stay off the main roads and stick with forging their own path through the forest.


    It was a brilliant maneuver on her part, but if she could think of it, then the enemy would have most definitely thought of it as well.


    The Marquess- Zavier hadn''t forgotten about The Marquess.


    It was a long shot, but Zavier strongly suspected that his uncle had a hand in the authorization of this mission.


    The way the whole thing had sessfully uprooted Zavier from thefort of his daily routine suggested that this had been a subtle move by Val to keep Zavier away from both school and home.


    Vrie''s presence here probably meant that his uncle wanted to keep him safe. And now, they had chosen to go back, against the original n. It slowly began to dawn on Zavier that the decision to go back had been a misguided one.


    If this was what the enemy wanted, then they had to abort, FAST!


    Unfortunately, in a way, it was already way toote for that.


    Once again, Zavier had been too consumed by his own internal monologue that he hadpletely nked out on his physical surroundings.


    The moment Vrie suddenly stopped, Zavier instantly knew that a major problem was afoot. As he lifted up his eyes to take in thendscape, Zavier swallowed hard. How could he have missed this? The terrain was perfect for an ambush!


    Instinctively, he activated his sense of perception and turned towards the direction his aunt was ring at.


    Soon, Zavier picked up two very unique and distinct energy surges heading their way with undeniable aggression. Even from a distance, Zavier could tell that they wereing in hot.


    rmed by the sudden tension in the group, Alissa blinked in terror.


    "You all are scaring me! What is going on?!"


    She was instantly hushed by the others. Simultaneously, Vrie gestured her the hand sign to be quiet, Dah simply red at her, and Zavier shushed her, As the only one without magic, Alissa''s imagination ran wild at the thought of what had suddenly gotten the normally calm Vrie so worked up.


    Zavier felt a mixture of tion and fear at the same time. On one end, he was d that he could finally have a showdown with the cowards who had been hunting after him from the shadows.


    But that tion quickly turned to despair when he honed in on the second energy signature.


    "Unbelievable!!"


    Zavier thought to himself;


    "This isn''t the energy signature of a normal person!!"


    It was a close call, but Zavier estimated that the second person was probably on the same level as his Aunt Vrie. It had already begun.


    Zavier''s first move was to step in front of Alissa. He admonished the frightened girl strongly;


    "Listen to me carefully Alissa¡­"


    Alissa''s eyes were open, but it was very clear that she wasn''t physically present. Zavier snapped his fingers angrily in her face twice.


    "Get a hold of yourself Alissa!"


    Zavier rasped.


    "Listen, when the fight starts, make sure you stay behind me. DO NOT WANDER OFF ON YOUR OWN! Do you understand?"


    Dah also began to sense the raging energy signatures of the enemy. She also assumed a battle stance with that cold haughty re that was typical of her.<sub> </sub>


    As the enemy approached, the very air around them began to boil. The atmosphere grew dense from the pure bloodlust that was emanating from the enemy that.


    Zavier was amazed. This was the first time he would face an enemy of this caliber. The mysterious masked man he had battled in the past, even Shiranui, none of them came close to what he was sensing from these enemies.


    They were yet to be seen, and yet Zavier could practically taste their desire to ughter.


    Zavier''s nervousness gradually began to manifest on his face and in hisposure. Even though he knew he wouldn''t really die if his body was destroyed, he couldn''t stop thinking about the others.


    Like a General issuing amand to her lieutenants, Vrie issued her first set of orders to Zavier and Dah;


    "You two, make sure you protect Alissa at all costs! I don''t need you two interfering in this fight! Leave them to me! Understand?!"


    Zavier and Dah chorused their battle trained answer simultaneously;


    "Yes ma''am!"


    Zavier couldn''t believe it! It was all happening so fast. His heart rate began to shoot up sporadically and his breathing grew heavier with each passing second.


    Dah''sforting voice stabilized his already troubled thoughts.


    "Rx Zavier. You underestimate your aunt, today you''re going to see why she has that fearsome reputation as a genius mage."


    Zavier looked at her with a nd expression on his face, trying to mask his fear. Dah saw through his bravado and encouraged him once again;


    "It''s the enemy who should be worried okay? Not us! Imagine going up against Vrie Adam? Chill okay?"


    Dah had barely finished her sentence when two unkindly figures emerged. Their faces were hidden behind eleventh century Japanese ritual masks. At their backs, they bnced two katanas that were crossed to form an ''X.'' Head to toe, they were d in ck.


    They looked identical in every way, but the level of their energy signatures were not. One was significantly powerful, while the other appeared to be very basic.


    They looked every inch like the assassins that they were. They had the aura of mysteriousness, seriousness and death.


    A ck cloud seemed to hang over them like a halo. The moved like their feet didn''t touch the ground, almost as if they were gliding. Zavier, Dah and Alissa did nothing but stare at them in awe.


    As their physical forms came into the full view of the group, one of them sighted Vrie and paused for a moment, almost in hesitation.


    A deep booming voice that seemed to reverberate across the forest came from behind one of the masks;


    "Well, well, Miss Vrie Adam This is an unexpected surprise. We didn''t know we''d be running into a celebrity such as yourself."


    Zavier was bbergasted. Here were two terrible assassins acknowledging his seemingly ordinary aunt. It was unthinkable.


    Zavier was yet to fully grasp the full length and scope of his aunt''s reputation in the industry. He remembered what Dah had told him and it suddenly made more sense now. He furtively turned towards her and shot her a questioning look.


    Dah didn''t even need to answer, the other sinister figure stepped forward and began to recap Vrie''s past aplishments.


    "Vrie Adam, the young prodigy who pioneered the engineering of one of the boundaries used by Caesar, the Capitol of the Hilling Empire."


    The Hilling Empire was the name of the country where Zavier currently was.


    "You''re also the youngest mage to have ever be proficient in boundaries spells."


    Zavier absorbed all of this information at lightning speed.


    The young nephew couldn''t believe that the aunt he had been living with all this time was a living legend of such terrible and fearsome repute.


    It was weird, especially to Zavier having to hear all this from two strangers who had been contracted to kill him.


    It was almost as if the assassin was offering up adtion to his aunt. There was no trace of mockery or sarcasm in either of the assassins'' voices. It genuinely seemed like they held her in high regard.


    Zavier hoped that his aunt''s terrible reputation would y to his favor, and maybe the assassins would leave him alone. Of course, on both a conscious and subconscious level, Zavier knew that there was no way in hell that was going to happen.

 Chapter 52 Really Weird

    Vrie did not attempt to reduce her status by engaging the two masked men in meaningless banter. Her reply was more fitting- she answered them by disying her full prowess with the boundary spells that they themselves had openly acknowledged.


    Like an ethereal deity, like a goddess in her full element, Vrie''s graceful cat-like movements mesmerized everyone. It was like watching a panther prowl.


    With her hands stretched forward, Vrie gracefully made several hand signs and immediately, a boundary in the form of a glowing golden colored rectangr prism enveloped Zavier, Alissa and Dah in a kind of protective force field.


    Zavier was the only one who could truly see the true depth and strength of the barrier that Vrie had so casually created around them.


    With his time-space eye, Zavier was gifted a unique perceptive of just a scratch of Vrie''s power.


    Although it was a simple boundary spell, and the barrier was not particrly hard, Zavier was amused by the fact that the force field Vrie had created around her three students was cackling with raw energy.


    It was strong enough to withstand the attack of a nuclear warhead, and at the same time, keep its upants safe from any form of intrusion.


    The real genius of the whole barrier was that despite the powerful force of repulsion on the outside, those who were inside weren''t trapped by the overwhelming surge of energy. This posed a serious conundrum to Zavier.


    No matter how he tried, he just couldn''t figure out how she had done it. This was indeed the work of a true mage. And clearly, she was just scratching the surface of the depth of her skill.


    Zavier''s time-space eye robbed him of his chance to witness firsthand the destruction of the first masked man at the hand of his aunt.


    He had been so distracted by the glowing force field all around him that he only began to pay attention to the battle outside when a loud noise disrupted his mental process.


    KABOOM!!


    The suddenness and urgent nature of the destruction brought Zavier back to earth again. He tilted his head in the direction of the noise and was taken aback by the shocking sight.


    Right before his aunt, sprawled in an unnatural angle on the ground was the broken and disheveled body of the masked man.


    Zavier looked on with horror at the decimated corpse. The assassin was clearly dead. Once again Zavier found himself struggling to figure out what his aunt had done.


    Judging by the shattered bones and crushed skull, it genuinely seemed like Vrie had dropped an entire mountain on a single man. In ce of the arrogant assant from just a few seconds ago, was now a bag of bones that had been smashed in by an invisible hammer from above.


    It was clear that it had all happened so quickly.


    There had been no time to react. Zavier instantly knew that being distracted was a luxury he could not afford at the moment.


    From that instant, he focused the entirety of his perception magic on the incredible Vrie Adam.


    It was obvious she didn''t need any help, but Zavier was determined not to miss any glorious moment of this incredible showdown. He fixed his time-space eye on Vrie and the other masked dude.


    The other assant was the one with the higher energy signature which Zavier had detected from afar. He was the one whose potency as a mage came close to Vrie.


    Somehow, he had been able to discern Vrie''s blinding attack and jumped on a nearby tree just in time to escape it. The other cocky fellow hadn''t been so lucky.


    Dangling upside down like a bat, his sarcastic voice came from behind his mask;


    "Now, now Miss Vrie, there''s no need to get so worked up..."


    Zavier couldn''t believe that anyone could find the mental bandwidth for jokes at a time like this. If anything, it proved that this other man wasn''t to be taken lightly.


    His voice had the semnce of a toad croaking in the dead of the night. The taunting and yet serious way he made his daring utterances made Zavier feel like he was something of a fat, ck serpent, slowly coiling around its victim as it looked it dead in the eye with mesmerizing eyes.


    Vrie had to kill this one, and fast!


    His taunting voice came again from the height he had taken refuge;


    "This is only a mission you know, it''s not worth risking our lives for¡­"


    Vrie did not give him the chance to keep talking, sheunched the second wave of her attack. It seemed like she shared Zavier''s thoughts on the urgency of the matter at hand regarding the swift execution of this strange mage.


    He hadn''t made any move yet, all he had done was talk up to the present moment. It irked Vrie, but she maintained her cool.


    She hadunched her attack while he was still rambling hoping to catch him off guard and at the same time, shut him up for good.<sub> </sub>


    It was almost impossible for any ordinary set of eyes to follow the sequence of her hand signs and the attacks that followed, but this time, Zavier followed it closely with his time-space eye.


    As Vrie waved her palms in the air, Zavier saw a massive golden palm before her, mimicking her every move like an avatar and delivering the corresponding force of her energy surges on an infinitely significantly higher scale.


    As Vrie shed at the masked man, the air itself seemed to have been weaponized against her opponent, turning into a sh of lightning or briefly visible blitz. The other man disyed an impressive amount of speed himself.


    Almost as if he was bending thews of time and space, he seemed to be zapping in and out of ces as Vrie''s lightning quick shes followed him across the terrain.


    Again and again, he evaded each attack,nding on the ground across different locations and asionally, even on top of a tree. As he dodged, each spot he left was quickly visited with an electrifying st in quick sessions.


    The look of indifference on Vrie''s face suggested that she wasn''t even putting in effort to this, and yet, to Zavier, it seemed like two celestial beings were battling it out.


    It truly was an extraordinary sight to behold, both in sight and in spirit.


    Even with Zavier''s time-space eye, it took real conscious effort to follow up. He could only imagine what Alissa and Dahlia were seeing as they tried their best to follow the events of the battle.


    Unrelenting, and with an unquenchable bloodlust, Vrie stayed close on his heels with a diabolic speed that was just out of this world. She shed behind the masked man began tounch a series of lethal attacks.


    Every where she left, she left behind and in her wake, a trail ze of destruction with shes of gold lightning. Her attacks weren''t just random, she was always aiming for his heart. Zavier knew that the masked man was aware of just how imperative it was to stay ahead of her.


    One slip up would mean his heart, ribs and body would get sted to a million irreparable pieces.


    Everywhere she left, she left behind and in her wake, a trail ze of destruction with shes of gold lightning. Her attacks weren''t just random, she was always aiming for his heart.


    It truly was an extraordinary sight to behold, both in sight and in spirit. Zavier saw his aunt in a whole new light. Amazing just didn''t cut it.


    Even with Zavier''s time-space eye, it took real conscious effort to follow up. From Dah''s perspective, she was only able to make out just a fragment of the entire battle.


    She saw mere glimpses and only heard sounds and ringing from different locations. To Dah, both parties seemed to be disappearing and appearing in less than a second. Alissa on the other hand waspletely lost.


    Vrie''s whole attack routine was nned. It was high octane energy and electrifying speed. She was confident that she could end the masked man''s life without having to break a sweat.


    It reflected in the assertive and self-assured way she attacked. Zavier, as a more objective third party wasn''t entirely sure his aunt was truly on top of things.


    It wasn''t that her routine was wed, no, with his time-space eye, Zavier could see a mysterious amount of energy dangerous building up in the masked man''s body. This unique energy was dangerously close to finding an outlet.


    The defining moment in the battle finally came, Vrie who was always aiming for the masked man''s heart finallynded on her target.


    Like a lightning goddess, she came up behind him with a quickness and struck his heart. Zavier watched as the confident look on her face quickly turned into a frown.


    Her glowing golden palm hadnded with a terrifying sh, but somehow, her fingertips had bounced right off his heart like a sword on an iron breastte. The attack which should have been able to pierce through stone was deflected.


    From then on, things took a very interesting turn. Vrie (and Zavier) watched in horror as a pale spike of bone rose out of the masked man''s back.


    Vrie recoiled in disgust and jumped back. With a look of surprise on her face, she assessed the masked man''s newly unveiled ability.


    The abnormality stood out of his back like the pale white tusk of an elephant.


    Clearly, his bone structure waspletely different from that of regr peoples. Vrie stared at the aberration before her, and for the first time since the battle began, doubt crept across her confident face.


    Zavier gazed in wonder at the mutant standing before him.


    "So this is the special energy that had been building up in him?!"


    He thought.


    "This is some really weird shit!!"


    Zavier was truly stunned. Some of the extraordinary magic he had seen in this Isekai was way different from the type of digital content he had seen.

 Chapter 53 Bones

    The whole scene was shocking. The brief look of shock that registered on Vrie''s face was a clear testament to the fact that even she had been taken unawares by the masked man''s new growth.


    But as a seasoned mage who had been tested by battle, Vrie quickly recovered. Like a cobra whose tail had been stepped on, Vrie prepared to strike back with an equally destructive attack.


    But once again, her opponent surprised her. The masked man''s theme seemed to be unpredictability, Vrie realized this with his next attack.


    With the air charged with the unmistakable energy of battle and chaos, Vrie''s vision was tinged with red. So, as she looked on, it was almost as if she was watching in slow motion.


    The most logical thing at that instant was for the masked man to rush at her with his new ability, but instead, Vrie watched with a mixture of horror, disappointment and fear as he rushed towards her students. She clenched her fists as she immediately moved to counter him.


    Praying that she would make it just in time to fend off his attack, Vrie cursed him inwardly;


    "This sicko! What type of demented sycophant attacks defenseless teenagers!!??"


    She was just about to find out.


    Dah''s face twisted in a sick smile when she saw that the enemy had chosen to willfully ignore the super mage that was Vrie and had instead turned on the group. Judging by the look on her face, it was almost as of the ice queen was d that the attacker wasing towards them.


    As Alissa cringed and Zavier remained undecided, the proactive Dah took the initiative as usual. She stretched out her arms as though she was gliding like a bird, then she lifted up her arms towards the sky like she was a shaman about to call down rain.


    Her eyes turned a milky white and immediately, the temperature dropped by at least fifty degrees in less than a second. What followed was simply remarkable.


    Even Zavier was impressed. He finally understood why she had been in such a hurry to attack her enemy surging towards them at lightning speed. Clearly after herst defeat at the hands of Shiranui, Dah had refined her move.


    Even the climate responded to Dah''s cold summons. Thick heavy storm clouds appeared overhead, blotting out the sunpletely.


    Then suddenly, what seemed like heavy hailstones shaped like arrows descended upon the masked man. Almost as if the climate had a mind of its own, angry looking ice prisms honed in on just the masked man from all sides like divine judgment.


    Somewhere in the back, Alissa screamed in awe. Dah merely kept the sick smile stered on the lower part of her face.


    "The masked man is finished¡­"


    She whispered to herself in a congratting tone.


    The smile on Dah''s face quickly faded as she saw the impossible happen before her eyes. She didn''t even have the time to reprimand herself for presumptuously announcing her victory. The masked man moved like lightning through a storm.


    To Dah, it genuinely seemed like time had slowed down just for him. Somehow, he dodged every single wave of Dah''s lethal ice prisms with a tarrying series of maneuvers.


    In fact, not only had he managed to do that, he had gained a considerable distance on them within the blink of an eye.


    Dah wasn''t quick enough to respond. In less than a nanosecond, the masked man who had been atst ten to fifteen feet away from the group suddenly appeared right outside the barrier.


    Unable to keep up with his movements, Dah and Alissa only knew that the masked man had struck the surface of the golden barrier when a shattering BOOM quaked their little protective space.


    BOOM!! BOOM!! BOOM!!<sub> </sub>


    The deafening crash came again and again with the unrelenting energy of a predator at the door of its prey. For those inside of the protective barrier, it was no joke at all. To Alissa, it seemed like her whole world was falling apart.


    The very earth on which they all stood re-echoed the urgency of the situation.


    Alissa''s eyes flipped around wildly, hoping to find a little sce in the midst of the ensuing chaos all around her. She nced at Dah, the ice queen clearly still hadn''t gotten over the fact that her ultimate attack hadn''t as much as grazed the madman actively trying to break into their protective barrier. Alissa was too terrified to even cry.


    At that point, the only struggle Alissa was involved in was having to fight back the horrible imaginations running through her mind.


    She fought not to dwell on the unspeakable things the masked man would do if he indeed managed to break through.


    Zavier on the other hand had his eyes fixated on the masked man. With his time-space eye, Zavier was able to detect a new mutation in the masked man''s physiology.


    Right on his left fist, on the very hand he was using to constantly badger the barrier, a hard, cone-shaped bone had formed in top of his fist.


    The impact of this Cone-shaped bone on the barrier gave off a thundering BOOM. Each collision with the boundary sent maddening shock waves through the Barrier, weakening it and causing it the golden glow to dim.


    The earth quaked beneath them.


    Zavier knew that if just one of these attacks were tond on any of them, it would be instant death for them.


    Vrie finally caught up with the masked man. From behind, she shed at him with her golden palm, he didn''t even as much as nce at her, the vicious assant simply sidestepped an avoided her attack without lifting his head in her direction.


    Vrie pressed on her advantage. She kept advancing, trying her possible best to keep as much distance between him and the barrier.


    Vrie was convinced at the time that the reason the masked man had been so fixated on the barrier was that he was using it against her as her weakness.


    But there was just something about the way he had so insanely unrelenting in his attacks on the three students.


    Vrie noted that during that brief period of his attack, his animal-like resilience had been like a fox, fighting to enter a chicken''s roost.


    Clearly he was strong enough to go toe to toe with her but even now, after she had forced him back, he wasn''t attacking her with the ferocity she had been expecting.


    Vrie couldn''t figure out why he was so fixated on going around her. So, she fought to keep him away from the barrier.


    The masked man soon caught on to what Vrie was doing. That was when he snapped. Pale, rock-hard bones began to sprout not just from his fist this time, but from his torso. As they emerged out from his body, they tore through his clothes and rendered his apparel useless.


    His new form was frightening.


    The assant now resembled a human porcupine with pale bones (the color of elephant tusks) sticking out of him like an acupuncture doll model. Vrie knew that he had taken this form because she was in his way of getting to the students.


    This troubled her deeply. But she didn''t have the luxury of being worried, at that moment, just when she thought things couldn''t get worse, the sickening bones sticking out began to shoot out of the assant''s body like a real porcupine.


    Everyone watched the atrocious sight as bones flew out of his body like arrows. The scene was cringe worthy.

 Chapter 54 He’s Coming

    The pale white bones rode the wind like arrows. They shot through the air at an insane speed, raging towards the students in the barrier.


    The arrows were intended for Zavier, but since the members of the group were all huddled together in a bunch, it was the logical conclusion that the assant''s target was the entire band. Zavier, Alissa and Dah were much too horrified to move.


    If Vrie''s barrier hadn''t been their covering, there was no doubt that they would have all been impaled by the twelve three foot, sharp edged bones.


    But fortunately for them, Vrie wasn''t fascinated by the stardom of the assant''s abilities. Weaving through the ensuing chaos like a dissident gas, Vrie tore through the wind seething with suppressed rage.


    She just couldn''t understand why the attacker was intent on destroying her students. Vrie could forgive anything else, but there was no way she was going to go easy on anyone who would go after defenseless minors. Vrie sneered underneath her breath.


    "Does he really think I will just stand here and allow him perpetuate such a vile act??"


    Enraged by the sheer audacity of the masked man, she raged towards the barrier at an unnatural speed.


    The earth trembled lightly beneath her as shended between the barrier and the bone spurs with a graceful thud. In a blink of an eye, the lead teacher extended her left hand towards the bone spurs racing towards her.


    Immediately, the impressive glorious form of an enormous golden palm appeared between her and the masked man. The raging bone spurs collided with the golden palm and instantly turned to dust.


    The masked man had no time to regroup for another attack. Out of nowhere, with the ferocity of divine retribution, another massive golden right palm emerged from nowhere above him, bearing down on him with the intensity/urgency of natural disaster, and with the unexpectedness of a lightning strike.


    It had all been a beautifully coordinated counter attack. And yet, despite the suddenness and speed of the golden right palm descending on him with deadly stealth, somehow, the masked man managed to evade the attack!


    The entirety of these events had urred at a terrifying speed and on a quantum level. Inadvertently rendering it impossible for Dah and Alissa to follow the doings of the battle.


    From their perspective, their lead teacher and the attacker might have as well been blurs and glitches at this point.


    Only Zavier had the full scope of the entire battle. It had almost been as though both Vrie and the masked man were on a whole different level. Alissa and Dah only caught on when the cackling voice of the assant.


    The masked man who had barely escaped Vrie''s counter attack had retreated a good distance away. Marinating a poised and confident posture, from afar, he praised Vrie saying;


    "Ah! There is that famous Adam family legacy! You truly are everything they say you are Vrie Adam!"


    His words rang through the empty space that had been ravaged as a result of the destruction from the ensuing battle.


    "Miss Adam, I really must confess; your talent is truly remarkable! I owe you that much to tell it to you inly."


    It was unnerving just how sincere he sounded. His words had no atom of ridicule in them. This only made it much harder for Vrie and Dah''s rational minds to psychoanalyze him. As of this moment, he was merely a shadow to them.


    A shadow that obviously had a sense of honor. It was a chillingbination. The masked man took the battle to the next level by unlocking another disturbing ability.


    This time around, Alissa and Dah weren''t left out of the loop. Clear as day, they all watched the chilling scene y out before their eyes. Just when the group thought they couldn''t possibly be repulsed any further, once again, the masked man took them by storm.


    What the masked man did next beat their imagination by a long shot.


    The first disturbing thing was the sound.


    It sounded like the gurgling of a very troubled stomach, only amplified to a more frequent and more agitating degree. When it gradually became louder and more sporadic by the second, everyone braced themselves for what woulde next.


    But there was no amount of preparation that could have possibly prepared them enough. The masked man''s stomach began to bulge like a puffer fish.


    Like a bloated corpse or like a balloon filled with foul gas, huge amounts of ck smoke began to escape out of him from his mouth.


    With his head thrown back at an unnatural angle, his bloated stomach, coupled with the insane amount of ck smoke escaping from his open mouth, the masked man looked like a scene from a horror movie.


    This was too much for Alissa, mouth agape, she watched the whole scene unfold before her as her brain melted with a mixture of dread and shock. Even the normallyposed Dah looked on with a bbergasted look on her face.


    Like a dark smoke rising from an altar, the ck smoke steadily rose up in the form of an airy sturdy pir and gradually enveloped the atmosphere above the terrain until everywhere outside of the barrier was enveloped in a haze of darkness.


    Like a gue, the ck smoke had singlehandedly rendered visibility impossible. Alissa moaned softly in fear. Virtually unable to see anything, Dah steadily edged her way towards the feeling of nervousness. Only Zavier retained his ability to see.<sub> </sub>


    With his time-space eye, Zavier picked up a series of quick sporadic movements stumbling in the ckness like a ghoul gliding through a cemetery in the nighttime. But just because he could see it didn''t mean he could discern its intentions or purpose.


    It was only at thest moment that the truth of the whole situation dawned on him with a staggering suddenness. Zavier cried out with all his might and at the top of his voice;


    "Look out Vrie!! He''s right behind you!!"


    In the urgency of the moment, Zavier hadpletely neglected to address Vrie with her appropriate title as ''aunt.'' But that was the least of anyone''s worries at the moment.


    The masked man''s n was simple and yet elegant. He had takenplete advantage of the ensuing ckness to carry out a sneak attack on Vrie. He was well aware of the fact that h had already established a pattern in his attacks.


    It was more than obvious at this moment that his first priority was the students locked safely in the barrier, so he knew that Vrie''s full attention would be on safeguarding the barrier.


    Consequently, this meant that her guard would be down and she would be open to a sneak attack from the back.


    So, like an African masquerade creeping under the cover of darkness with diabolical intentions, the creepy masked man actually managed to sneak up on Vrie unannounced.


    But unfortunately for him, he failed to ount for one thing; Zavier''s warning. And it came right in the nick of time, just when he was about to pounce.


    In the ensuing moments, again, the masked man was met with another unfortunate oversight; Vrie''s reaction time. The lead teacher deftly swung her arm in the direction Zavier had hinted in his warning cry and struck out with her huge golden palm.


    Vrie had already proven her dexterity with the golden palm time without number, but once again, somehow, by a twist of fate, the masked man managed to escape Vrie''s wrath.


    The masked assant''s speed wasmendable. At thest moment, he flew backwards. And in his bid to escape Vrie''s notoriously potent golden palm, he crashed through tworge trees, destroying them in the process.


    In spite of the destruction he left in his wake, the mysterious masked attacker didn''t seem to have sustained any real damage.


    Zavier who had been following the battle looked closely at the masked man and discovered that there was a uniqueyer of special energy wrapped around the masked man''s appearance.


    Dah''s gaze shifted from the sounds of destruction all around her, to the young man with her in the barrier. She looked curiously at Zavier as he stared hard in the direction of the battle.


    By this time, she knew that somehow, Zavier had found a way to see the full details of the battle outside despite the epassing darkness. She was in desperate need of urate information, so she swallowed her pride and inquired of Zavier.


    "Zavier¡­"


    She called his name coolly, not wanting to seem apprehensive like the clearly terrified Alissa.


    "What''s the situation out there?"


    She cocked her head in the direction of the battle. Zavier shook his head disappointedly and gave her a fair and objective assessment of the fight.


    "Not good Dah. The masked man''s bone density is too hard. His entire skeletal system is just too dense for Vrie to breakthrough his defenses in a short time¡­"


    Halfway into his speech, Zavier suddenly stopped. He shifted his gaze from Dah and looked beyond the barrier, towards the scene of the battle. Zavier suddenly grew tense as his eyebrows furrowed.


    Dah quickly noticed the change in his state and picked up on his agitation. Unable to hide her nervousness this time, Dah asked Zavier frantically;


    "What is it Zavier?! Talk to me! What do you see?"


    Even as Zavier replied her, Dah felt her bones quake at the bad news. His voice barely above a whisper, Zavier answered her coldly;


    "He''sing¡­"


    Zavier cursed aloud.


    "Damn it!! He''s heading towards our direction!!"

 Chapter 55 Injured

    Hope seemed to vanish before all of their eyes at Zavier''s revtion. Alissa began to wish that Dah hadn''t inquired of Zavier.


    Clearly, the masked man wasn''t pleased with Zavier. The disruptive brat had meddled in his ns andpletely robbed him of his expected result from his calcted attack. Obviously, the attacker was done ying mister nice guy.


    He was going to kill Zavier first! Vrie didn''t need visibility to tell her what was up. She could practically taste her opponent''s bloodlust in the air. But she couldn''t do much with little or no visibility. She knew she had to get rid of the ck smoke first.


    Doing so would level the in field for her.


    So, Vrie unveiled another side of her ability. Using wind magic, she spread out her arms and a whirlwind began to blow with an rming speed.


    Like a tornado, it angrily swished through the terrain, and within a few seconds itpletely dispersed the odious smoke around her. The masked man stopped dead in his tracks once he saw that he no longer had the covering of his own smoke anymore.


    Once again, Vrie stopped the masked man from executing his diabolic n.


    But the battle was far from over. It turned out the assant had learned a thing or two from Vrie. He copied her initial tactic andunched a speedy counter attack, this time not on the barrier, but on Vrie herself.


    Unfortunately, the lead teacher''s mental energy had been fully devoted to securing her students and the barrier around them, so she had left herself wide open for a sneak attack.


    A three foot long two inches thick bone spur (shot from the masked man''s torso) ripped through Vrie''s arm.


    Alissa, Dah and Zavier watched with horror as their dear teacher and protector took a hit. They couldn''t tell if it was lethal, but from the size of the bone spur, they could tell that it was bad. But Vrie didn''t let her injury deter her.


    She fought on with an incredible tenacity and repelled the masked man. Having forced him back, the turned in the direction of the barrier and enhanced the boundary spell till it had been restored to its original strength.


    Dah, Zavier and Alissa had nothing but reverence for her.


    When the masked man saw that Vrie had casually strengthened the barrier despite her injury, he spread his hands and shrugged his shoulders. Then he said conclusively;


    "Well, this was an honor. I never thought I would fight a genius like you Miss Adam. For this joust, I am truly grateful."


    Thus, the masked man left, as quickly as he and his dead colleague hade. The atmosphere of calm and peace that followed was unbelievable.


    As expected, at first, nobody truly believed that the masked man had willingly retreated. They all believed that this was probably some mean trap.


    So, they waited for a painful ten to twenty minutes before they began to ept the fact that maybe the man was truly gone. Only after Vrie confirmed that his energy signature had truly retreated did she turn to undo the boundary.


    As the barrier finally came down, for the first time in what seemed like an eternity, the group of three finally heaved a sigh of relief.


    But their relief was short-lived. When they recalled that Vrie had been pierced by a bone spur the feeling of joy turned sour in their mouths.


    They rushed towards her with concern and ambushed her with a storm of questions. Alissa shrieked when she saw the injury up close.


    "Miss Vrie are you okay¡­?"


    "Does it hurt too much¡­?"


    "What can we do to help Miss Vrie?!"


    Vrie was overwhelmed by their concern, but she didn''t show it. She assuaged their fears.


    "Rx everybody. I am perfectly fine as you can see."


    The questioning looks on all of their faces told her that none of them believed her. But Vrie wasn''t one to seek public empathy or praise.


    She returned to her usual self and took charge immediately, issuing new directives and analyzing the situation.


    "We can''t afford to rx at this point. If anything, we need to speed up. There''s every possibility that more dangers may lie up ahead.


    So, everyone get ready! We leave in five!"


    Zavier watched his aunt carefully. He wasn''t fooled. He knew that her injury wasn''t just a surface wound. But he couldn''t ask her in the presence of everyone.


    His aunt was egotistical like that. So, the prudent Zavier waited till the others had dispersed before approaching her privately before they could set off.


    "Aunt V¡­"


    Vrie looked up and met her nephew''s concerning eyes.<sub> </sub>


    "Tell me the truth aunt V, what''s the real situation regarding your arm?"


    Vrie brushed him off.


    "It''s just a small flesh wound Zavier. It won''t bother me at all."


    Zavier immediately knew she was lying. So he countered her. With his time-space eye, he could clearly see that the toxin from the bone spike was eating through her arm and spreading progressively like a virus.


    Zavier was stunned that Vrie couldn''t notice the tiny pathogens gnawing away at her arm from the inside. Still Vrie maintained her confident front.


    p "I said I am fine Zavier!"</anda>


    She rasped.


    "There is no poison okay?"


    Again, Zavier moved to protest. He could clearly see the poison. Why was his aunt fighting him on this?


    "But Aunt V, I am telling you that¡­"


    She cut him off angrily.


    "Zavier Adam¡­!"


    Zavier recoiled inwardly. His aunt used his full name only when she was truly annoyed. Even now, Zavier could see the embers of anger in her raging eyes.


    "Listen up¡­"


    Vrie began;


    "You''re still very much a student who hasn''t graduated yet, your judgement is anything but wed!"


    Vrie''s words stung the already riled Zavier. It wasn''t her words per say, it was the hidden meaning which she had cleverly concealed behind her well structured speech.


    It dawned on Zavier that his aunt wasn''t just trying to act tough, no.


    The real reason behind her sudden outburst was rooted deep in her responsibility to the entire group as the lead teacher. The astute Vrie had correctly judged that they were indeed in a very precarious situation.


    This simply meant that she couldn''t Afford to attend to the poison right now. To do so would drain them of their most valuable resource which they were running low of at the moment; TIME. Every second was precious.


    Vrie knew that she couldn''t afford to waste the time they could have spent fleeing on attending to her poison.


    Zavier examined his own presumptuousness and shame dwarfed him from the inside. It was indeed a serious oversight on his own end. Of course Vrie knew about the poison.


    She had simply chosen to downy the seriousness of her injury just so she could protect her young students from any more worries. But she hadn''t anticipated that Zavier would see through her charade and discern the truth.


    Compassion slowly reced the storm of emotions that had been raging in Zavier''s mind. He was truly touched by Vrie''s strength of character despite her condition.


    Her care wasmendable and her actions were justified, but Zavier just could not run the risk of losing Vrie. Her sacrificing herself for the sake of saving the others wasn''t something that Zavier was willing to go along with. So, he stood his ground and challenged her ruling;


    "No."


    He said quietly and with a confidence that resonated his unflinching resolve.


    "I will not go along with this aunt V. If you do not treat your injury, I will abandon this team at once and set off on my own towards the school."


    Vrie didn''t think she could experience so many levels of shock within the space of a few hours.


    The Zavier who stood before her now seemed like apletely different person altogether. She assumed that his battle with Shiranui was the trigger that had caused him to grow up so much.


    The determination in his eyes showed that he was driven. She knew more than anyone that it was better for her and everyone else to give in.


    She sighed and dropped her shoulders in defeat.


    "Fine. Let''s have it your way."

 Chapter 56 Measures

    There wasn''t even the slightest look of joy on Zavier''s face at his aunt''s concession. This only further proved the fact that he knew that he was going to have his way. He quickly delved into the matter at hand.


    "What''s is nature of the poison aunt V? Is it something we can actually contain? At least till we get professional help?"


    Vrie shook her head firmly.


    "The more I use mana, the faster the poison spreads. This isn''t like anything I have ever seen before. Even if I were to return to school, the medical examiners would have to spend a significant amount of time analyzing the poison before they can even begin to think about treating it."


    Zavier already knew that her condition was dire, but with the new information she had just uploaded to him, Zavier knew that even if they got back in time, it wasn''t to be guarantee that things would go well. They had to act fast and they had to act now. After deliberating for a few moments, Zavier finally spoke up.


    "I think I have a solution¡­."


    Vrie burst intoughter for a brief moment. She looked at him unsurely, and scoffed.


    ? "You are not a healer Zavier, making an antidote would be impossible for you to do."


    Zavier refused to be discouraged by his aunt''s pessimism.


    "I can at least try to analyze theposition of the toxin. That way, we could lessen the burden and speed up the job for the school''s medical staff..."


    Vrie remained still as she watched Zavier present his n. He was brimming with a confidence that was dangerously contagious.


    "¡­so they can make the antidote as soon as possible."


    Within a few minutes, Zavier had collected a decent volume of blood sample from Vrie using the syringe and test tube from the emergency medical supply kit. He wasted no time and immediately began to analyze it with his Time-Space eye.


    He easily picked up the chemicalponents within and ryed it back to Valerie.


    The first step of the n had beenpleted. The second step was to now ry the information back to the school.


    So, Vrie whipped out the Emergency Scroll. As the name implies, the Emergency Scroll was a valuable scroll that was used in for urgentmunication. It could only be used for a one-time, one-way instant transmission.


    Under cases that demanded urgent attention, the Emergency Scroll was the best way to get important messages and information across. In an era that ispletely devoid of cell phones, this was the best bet for mages who needed to transmit messages.


    So, as the senior mage, Vrie used the Emergency Scroll to alert the school authorities. She sent them all the information they would require to reverse engineer the poison, and also requested that additional reinforcements be sent as they worked on making the antidote.


    With the threat of imminent danger looming like an ominous shadow, Zavier had no option but to be proactive. He had to act.


    He couldn''t take risks when it came to the well-being of Valerie who had gotten poisoned while trying to save him, therefore, he called out to the clone with the perception system and asked it to remain close to the school''s healers and to keep track of all their activities.


    Although he had conveyed the ingredients of the toxin that had been used to poison her, he was still unable to rest at ease thinking that the healers would make some mistake that would aggravate the situation. To avoid that, the clone with the perception system stayed near the school and kept an eye on the healers through his Time Space Eye.


    "Make sure to tell me beforehand if they make a blunder. We can''t afford any blunders. Valerie''s life is on the line."<sub> </sub>


    Another task that Zavier had given him was to make sure that the anti-toxin is sent over as soon as it is prepared by the healers.


    There was bound to be another attack on their camp and the situation was too nerve wracking for Zavier to keep track of everything himself. There couldn''t be any room for dy.


    In case of another attack, given Valerie''s current situation, it would be hard for her to hold the enemies back. Moreover, since the previous enemies had failed, the new wave wouldprise of even harder enemies. The boss behind the scenes would have made sure of that.


    The mage who had made the toxin that had potentially handicapped Valerie''s abilities would also have been lurking around waiting for a chance to strike like a poisonous snake.


    Zavier was on the lookout for that as well.


    The second task that he gave his clones was to rush to his location as fast as possible. He needed his clones to support them in the uing battle. He had already poised himself to take the lead should the need arise. He wasn''t about to put all the burden on Valerie again especially with her current condition. That would have only led to her death on a faster pace.


    The presence of all his clones would have at least given him a better chance at fighting the stronger enemies that were likely toe.


    But he needed an insurance for his own life. He couldn''t put all his eggs in one basket. The cloning skill gave him an invulnerability in all situations by preserving his life in all such situations but he had to leave a clone behind as the next ce for the preservation of his consciousness. He wasn''t about to die due to stupidity.


    In the end, he ordered the clones with the Magus system and the clone with the Necromancer system toe to his aid while the clone with the Perception system kept an eye on the anti-toxin. The clone he kept for insurance was the clone with the Mesmer system who was in his usual ce of hiding, the closet in his room.


    He had made this decision because the Mesmer system could hardly y any role in the battle between high rank mages. The illusions that were currently at his disposal were so low levelled that they did not have the potential to harm those enemies in any way. Even if the clone had been called over, it would have been useless. So, the final force that he had umted turned out to be the two clones with the Magus system and the Necromancer system.


    After having disseminated all the orders, Zavier now had a fighting force that would soon be avable for him.


    The next step in his mind was to increase his fighting prowess. The previous fight between Valerie and the two mages had significantly decreased his confidence. He had thought that he was already quite strong among his age, but the strength that Valerie had shown had sent his confidence reeling. His pride had shattered and his self-confidence scattered into ashes. Just two years older than him and had already reached such a high level.


    He was too far away from her. Even the mages that she had beaten up so easily gave him a sense of fright. His perception was quite urate so he was sure that the two had been frightfully strongpared to him.


    He needed strength, and needed it quickly before even stronger enemies took the stage. He had to be able to protect Valerie and the others since Valerie couldn''t do it.


    "System, do you have a way for me to increase my strength significantly? I need to increase my strength quickly or I would end up dying."


    [User is advised to follow the standard path of evolution. Any shortcuts would harm the potential of the user in the longer run.]


    "System, I don''t have the time to do that. The situation does not allow me to wait until I am stronger. So, forget about the normal path and give it to me straight."


    [User should reconsider his decision because the strength that you are asking for wille at a price.]


    "I don''t have the time to think about the consequences at the moment. Just do what I am telling you."


    [Searching for a suitable technique as per user''s requirements¡­]


    [Found 7,996,334,657 techniques that match user''s requirements.]

 Chapter 57 Blood Blade

    This message was enough to blow the fuse of Zavier''s mind. He had never anticipated how vast the system knowledge had been until this moment. Suddenly he felt that he must respect this system more.


    [Sorting the techniques based on the physical and mental level of the user¡­]


    [Found 734 techniques that the user can handle with his current strength.]


    "System find me the best among those techniques. I want something that has the least possible side effects and gives me the most significant boost in strength."


    Zavier blurted out as soon as he saw the system message on disy. In reality, he didn''t have to say anything at all. The system would have still found the best possible match for him because it seemed to him that the system was even more worried about him than he himself was.


    [Sorting the techniques based on the power output and the cost of activation¡­]


    [Found three techniques that match the user''s requirements.]


    "Which one is the strongest among them?"


    [Blood de]


    [A skill long forgotten in the annals of history but once it was considered to be the deadliest of all ck magics. It was as cruel as it was powerful and deadly to the enemies. Only the most glorious geniuses in history had the ability to learn the devastating technique but even they were all short lived.


    The users of this technique were even considered evil in the past due to how cruel the technique was. In the current world, no one practices this technique because the users who have such a genius talent never have to resort to this method to increase their strength.]


    [Requirement: The skill requires the user to store all his energy in the form of blood. The ck magic infused in the blood of the user acts as the trigger for the skill. The caster has to use his own blood as the medium and the weapon to cast the powerful skill essentially using his own life to attack. After sessfully casting the skill, the user will be forced into a state of weakness due to loss of blood if the energy within it is depleted. The status effect can be removed by consuming more blood or through sufficient rest during which the body can regenerate the blood lost.]


    [Side-Effect: Using ck Magic, and that too as powerful as thises with potentially permanent side-effects. The user has to undergo the awakening of his blood to store the energy within it treating it like a living object or at least like a weapon that is very high-maintenance. The user has to consume blood from an outside source, whether human or otherwise, at least once a month to keep on living or the awakened blood in the user''s body will consume the user from the inside out. Therefore, the user has to shift to a vampiric lifestyle once he has learned this skill.]


    When Zavier heard about the side-effects and the cost of activation, he knew that the skill was bound to be powerful though he felt it to be quite evil. Beggars couldn''t be the choosers and in the situation that they were in, any increase in strength could prove to be a difference between survival and a cruel death.


    But still, Zavier wanted to know what the other two options entailed.


    "What about the other two skills that have simr power?"


    [User can rest assured that Blood de is the most suitable skill for you in the current situation.]


    [Lightning Spirit]


    [¡­]


    [Requirement: User has to be struck by lightning and survive until a lightning seed is born in the body of the caster.]


    [¡­]


    [....]


    [Abyssal Star]


    [¡­]<sub> </sub>


    [Requirement: The skill can only be practiced under the light of the Abyssalet that can only be seen by the fated ones when it travels across the world every two millenniums.]


    [¡­]


    [.....]


    Zavier could see that although there were little to no side-effects, the requirements for practicing the two skills were so harsh and based on luck that even he didn''t have the ability to practice them. The only skill avable to him was the Blood de that had the potential to slowly kill him at least once. Dying was inconsequential to him but that didn''t mean that he didn''t fear dying at all. After experiencing it a couple times, he had to say that he wasn''t very fond of it. And as for the requirement of high talent, Zavier had nothing to be afraid of because if he was sure about one thing ever since he hade to this world, that was his own potential and his own talent that he had received from the cosmic consciousness.


    After a whole day of standing at the precipice of a fight while fearing the return of the mage who Valerie had fought off in the morning, all of them were tired beyond their limit. They wanted nothing more than to sleep their worries away but the threat of their enemies kept looming over them like a naked sword hanging above their necks with no guarantee of when it would fall.


    <o>,m Though Zavier felt tired as hell, he wasn''t about to hand his life over to his enemies for nothing. He was expecting that something might happen that night and was busy thinking of countermeasures.</o>


    Just like him, Valerie was thinking of the same. Despite being injured, she was only thinking about her students who were her responsibility. She had resolved to bring them back to the school no matter what price she had to pay.


    Just when Zavier intended to go and discuss his intentions with Valerie, both of them stood face to face.


    Zavier looked haggard and worn out but Valerie looked even worse than him. She had not only been affected by a toxin that was currently eating away at her health, her constant worry about the students made her situation even more precarious than it already was.


    One could only feel pity for her considering the situation that she was in. Zavier had never ever thought that he would ever see her in a situation like this where she looked so vulnerable and weak.


    "Is there something you need? If you need anything, you can just tell any of us. Currently your only priority should be rest so that you can keep the toxin from spreading any further and causing your body more harm."


    "It''s nothing I can''t handle. That aside, I wanted to discuss something with you."


    Zavier smile a little and understood that Valerie wanted to discuss the same thing with him.


    "Why are you smiling like that?"


    Valerie asked while trying to hide the pain behind an expression that revealed nothing but strength and confidence.


    "Because we really seem to think alike. That was something I would never have thought would happen before. I came to discuss the same thing with you. I am afraid that this night would not be a calm one so we should be on the lookout for any impending enemy activity."


    Valerie seemed satisfied with the level of caution being exercised by Zavier and showed a relieved expression on her face.


    "What do you suggest then?"


    "I think we should take turns keeping a lookout so that we can all replenish our strength."


    Valerie was expecting the answer and wanted to take the initiative for the first shift.


    "I think so as well. I will take the first shift and then you can take over afterwards."


    But that was of course uneptable for Zavier who was already adamant on forcing her to rest.


    "You don''t need to trouble yourself. We will take turns doing that. You just need to recuperate."

 Chapter 58 Alissa

    Valerie tried to resist his goodwill but Zavier wasn''t taking no for an answer and insisted that she leave this to the three of them. Valerie agreed to him subconsciously or it might even have been her weakness taking over her decision-making abilities. But deep within, she liked the feeling of being cared for that she hadn''t felt in a long time. Ever since she had been promoted to an A rank mage and a teacher in the school, she had never been treated as a child again despite the fact that she had been less than 20 years old at the time.


    Zavier sent her back to rest and talked to the others about keeping watch. The girls agreed to his suggestion and the night watch was divided into three parts so that all three of them could take ample amount of rest and be prepared for the next day which was bound to be even harder.


    p The first turn was volunteered by Alissa because she knew that the other two werepletely worn out. She had nothing to offer in terms of magic and strength, therefore, the least she could do for them was to take over the first shift to give them some breather before they had to be back up again.</anda>


    Dah nodded her head in understanding. She wasn''t a girl of many words but her expression showed her gratitude towards Alissa after which she went to her tent to sleep until it was her turn to keep watch.


    Zavier on the other hand didn''t want to take a rest yet. Even though Alissa had taken the first shift, Zavier couldn''t just leave it up to her. She had no magic and no power to hold off her enemies.


    So, Zavier wanted to stay by her side during her watch since his perception system didn''t require any active skills. It was just his instinct and his senses that he had to rely on. He could do so while resting by the fireside.


    Alissa did feel bad that Zavier had not gone to rest and was going to apany her but, on the inside, she couldn''t help but snicker. She finally had the chance to spend some alone time with Zavier which had been the only reason that Alissa had decided to take on this trip and the very reason why she had sounded so happy in the beginning and had been treating the mission like some excursion.


    The two of them sat around the campfire that was not very far but fairly centred in between the two tents. This was to keep an eye on the entire camp instead of focusing on a single direction.


    There was no need for the awkward silence between the two of them when they sat together around the campfire.


    "Zavier, I am afraid."


    Zavier was of course able to empathize with her predicament. She was someone who couldn''t use a smidge of magic and had been stranded amidst mages who were busy fighting a life and death battle.


    Amongst all of them on the mission, Alissa was the most vulnerable target. He felt that even the calm demeanor she had shown until that point was quitemendable considering the circumstances.


    If it had been anyone else in her position, and she wasn''t screaming her lungs out even that would have been a cause for celebration.


    "It''s okay to be afraid. But you can rest assured that nothing would happen to you. Miss Valerie is strong enough to protect you."


    Alissa looked into his eyes and continued: "I am not afraid that something might happen to me. I am worried that this mission is a huge setup and someone is after you. The illusion from before cannot be a coincidence. Since the target of the illusion was you alone, the goal of those people might be you as well. I can''t help but think what would I do if something were to happen to you. The thought scares me to death."


    Zavier felt that his entire being had melted from the warmth of her words. This warmth, he had craved it his entire life in the past world and had died hoping that someone would care.


    The cosmic consciousness had really given him everything to make up for the past regrets, his current power, his family, his friends and the warmth of all those rtionships that made him feel full and satisfied.


    Alissa had revealed more of her feelings than she had ever said before and her face had turned red as a tomato. Her face felt hot and the blush spread towards the back of her neck as well.<sub> </sub>


    Zavier could of course feel what that girl was trying to tell him. Even if he acted blind to all her gestures, he still couldn''t disregard the fact that she hadid her heart open in front of him.


    At the same time Zavier could tell how kind Alissa was. In this time of crisis, she hadn''t cared about herself but was worried about his well-being.


    He had seen a world where family members didn''t care about each other in times of crisis and focused only on their own survival. So, he was in a position to appreciate the kindness and selfless love that Alissa had shown for him.


    He couldn''t just tell her that he was close to being immortal until the secret of his clones was safe. He was keeping the secret from her, not because he didn''t trust her, but because a secret that was between two people could never be safe.


    Secrets could only be kept by the dead or by oneself. Secret told to another person was just gossip, it would instantly lose the essence of secrecy.


    This was Zavier''s life insurance and he couldn''t just divulge his biggest secret to anyone else.


    Therefore, he did the only thing that he was capable of doing, he reassured her. He reassured her that he couldn''t be killed off so easily. He didn''t want her to worry about him unnecessarily, not that he didn''t feel good about it, he just wanted her to worry more about herself in this precarious situation that they had found themselves in.


    "You won''t be able to understand how happy it makes me feel that even in this situation you are worried about me. But you should also know that it is the very reason that I am feeling very nervous. The way you are worried about me, don''t you think I am worried about you too?"


    "Hmm¡­I know."


    Alissa lowered her head trying to hide how shy she was feeling at the moment. She had finally told her loved one how she felt about him and turns out that he felt the same about her. The happiness that she felt at the moment was greater than any euphoric bliss.


    "I want you to take care of yourself. As for me, don''t bother being worried about me because I have several lifesaving tricks. It isn''t very easy to kill me even if the opponent is at the level of the mages that came today. So, you have to promise me that you would not worry about me anymore."


    Alissa looked like she wanted to protest after all what kind of girl would not worry about the person that she loves. She couldn''t do it even if she wanted to, therefore she only promised what she could.


    "I promise you that I will take care of myself but you have to promise me something as well."


    "All right. What is it you want me to promise?"


    Zavier felt so full of warmth that he would have promised her anything at that moment. He wanted her to be happy no matter what.


    "I want you to be safe. I don''t care how you do it. When I get back home, it must be with you or I would not go back either and would rather keep youpany."

 Chapter 59 The First Kiss

    Both the memories of the previous Zavier and the memories that he had made with her, the day he had first met her and the time when she was avoiding him, all shed in front of him and eventually Zavier couldn''t distinguish whether the memories were his own or those of the previous Zavier.


    The moment she linked her life and death to him, he had decided that anything rted to her was beautiful, even the world that she belonged to was beautiful regardless of the fact that everyone in it wanted to kill him off. He would protect anything that was slightly rted to her so that her smile wouldn''t ever fade off.


    "I promise you that we will go back together once all this is over. I promise you that I wouldn''t die even if they destroy every part of my body. I promise that I will protect you with everything I have and everything that I am capable of. And I will make sure that toe back to you. After all, I cannot miss my first meeting with your parents."


    Zavierughed after uttering thest sentence. The previous time that he had told her about meeting her parents, he had only done so to figure out the situation with the monster that was hidden inside of her, but this time he had deliberately changed his tone and the context of the meeting to show his intentions about her.


    A girl as good as Alissa was definitely a keeper. He wasn''t about to let go of her so easily especially when the girl felt the same about him.


    Following the masculineughter, there was dead silence, not the awkward kind but the kind where the two people holding a conversation no longer needed any words tomunicate their feelings; their expressions, their eyes and their bodynguage said it all.


    The two were sitting side by side in the vicinity of the campfire that was close to burning out. The temperature had started to decrease again but the two were unable to feel the cold surrounding them. The burning feeling due to the blush on their faces and the warmth of love that kept on spreading was enough to keep the cold away from them.


    When someone loved another person, their very souls would resonate with their loved ones. There would no longer be a need for words or gestures. Just like a mother always knows what her child wants without having to ask him about it.


    At this moment, both Zavier and Dah knew what the other person wanted without having to ask anything. When they made eye contact, Alissa''s eyes would dart toward the sides in an attempt to hide the longing hidden in the depth of her eyes.


    She knew that she was looking forwards to it just as much as Zavier but she didn''t want him to feel that she was the kind of girl who would do something like this very easily.


    Zavier couldn''t have known what was going on inside her mind. He thought that she was just feeling shy so he decided to take the initiative even though he was worried on the inside that he might offend her.


    Distance between the two bodies had decreased to nothing and was diminishing further by the seconds. At some point the two bodies had tilted towards one another. As if under some kind of spell or control of someone else, Zavier kept moving his face forward.


    The two had long forgotten about everything in their vicinity. The mes on the wood had died down but the burnt wood and the two people sitting nearby were still smoldering and releasing heat continuously.


    Alissa was too shy to go about it while facing Zavier so she closed her eyes and let him take over. She was telling him to go ahead with what he was thinking, through her gestures instead of asking him for it directly.


    Alissa felt a cool sensation on her lips not long after she had closed her eyes. She knew what was happening clearly but was unable to believe her senses. She wanted to reciprocate the kiss with her lips but her whole body felt limp at his touch and she almost fell into Zavier''s arms after having lost all the strength in her body.


    She was lost in the magic of her first kiss. She felt that there couldn''t be a stronger magic than that in the world.<sub> </sub>


    Therefore, she let Zavier hold her and kiss her however he wanted while she enjoyed his loving caresses on her lips like someone who had been starving for ages and had suddenly found food.


    She knew that this was the moment that she would remember countless times in the future and might eventually be her fondest memory of him provided that they survive this mission.


    She wanted to remember every detail about it, the number of stars in the sky, the warmth of the campfire, the silence of the night, the caresses of her lover and his cool touch on her skin, the warmth in his eyes and the intoxicated expression on his face as he went in for the kiss; she took note of every single detail.


    The kiss didn''tst very long but it jolted Zavier awake. His senses were tingling just like his body that was trembling without stop. No matter how much strength he had acquired in this world, Zavier still had no experience with girls in his current life. This was his first kiss in both the previous life and his current one.


    The two didn''t talk afterwards but maintained the romantic silence that seeded the tense but sweet kiss that the two had shared.


    They gazed at the stars that were the only witnesses to what had transpired between them.


    Alissa felt otherworldly happiness following her first kiss. She stayed close to Zavier so as to maintain a semnce of reality.


    It was alreadyte into the night when it was time for change of shifts.  Alissa had gotten tired during her shift and had unconsciously fallen asleep after cing her head on Zavier''s shoulder.


    She had no recollection of how she had managed to sleep like that. When Dah came over and saw her sleeping in such a pose no less, Alissa felt extremely embarrassed. It had been her shift but somehow Zavier had ended up doing it for her.


    Zavier on the other hand happily lent her his shoulder so she could get some shut-eye.


    Alissa felt that it was all his fault, he should have woken her up if she had fallen asleep. Instead, he had made an embarrassing situation like this for her.


    She red at Zavier in front of Dah but the blush creeping all over her face and neck gave out what she was really thinking. She was just extremely embarrassed that she had fallen asleep during the task, and was angry with Zavier for not waking her up.


    Before Dah could have said anything, Alissa rushed off towards their tent in order to sleep some more. She didn''t have the face to talk to her after what she had done during her shift.


    Zavier slightly shook his head thinking that the girl was taking matters too seriously, after all, wasn''t he still awake when she had gone to sleep. The important thing was that someone keep watch. It didn''t have to be her specifically.


    Zavier continued sitting in his ce and waited for Dah toe over. It was Dah''s turn to keep watch.

 Chapter 60 Option

    Zavier wasn''t sure why but he didn''t go to sleep during her turn either and kept herpany. During the whole mission he had found certain anomalies when it came to her. She had been way too calm during all this.


    Any normal student their age would have been freaking out by the time Dah had only been slightly worried. She hadn''t shown any fear for her own life even in the most distressing of all situations and was not even worried about killing off her opponents.


    Either she did not have any emotions and was a mechanical existence from the sci-fi movies of his past world or she had nerves of steel. He was hoping to get some of these answers from her to get a better understanding of her.


    The atmosphere once again returned to silence but that silence wasn''t romantic at all. It was that awkward silence when two people can''t make any conversation at all, either because there is nomon topic between the two or they don''t know how to broach any topic at all.


    It usually happened when one of the two didn''t show any interest in conversing or the two people were so different from each other that there was nomon point between the two.


    But in the case of these two people sitting by the camp side, both of the situations held true. Zavier didn''t know how to proceed with his questions while Dah seemed the least interested in holding conversation.


    She was acting like her cold steely self even Zavier had taken the initiative to keep herpany during her shift. In the end he steeled himself and initiated conversation with the cold witch.


    "I noticed that during the events of the past few days and especially those of today, you were unexpectedly calm andposed."


    "So? Weren''t you the same as well?"


    Zavier had been caught as well. Of course, he hadn''t been afraid because there was no real danger to his life at all. He had his clone in his closet at home.


    Until the time it was killed off too, he was immortal. Since he couldn''t just tell her that, he only smiled andughed off her question before putting forth his own question.


    "Do you not feel afraid, for your life and for yourself? Are you not scared of dying?"


    "In this world, there are scarier things than just dying. Don''t you think?"


    ''What can be scarier than dying? Isn''t that the ultimate end?''


    Zavier wanted to ask this question and was practically at the tip of his tongue about to be flung out but he held himself back thinking that every one of them had their own secrets just like he had one of his own that he couldn''t tell anyone.


    So, he hesitated in asking about her secrets too; otherwise, he would have felt too much of a hypocrite.


    An awkward silence prevailed between the two of them once again. Nobody was willing to break the ice between the two. In the end it had to be Zavier who took the initiative because Dah looked as if she could stay there for the rest of her shift without saying a single word.


    "What do you think we should do if more enemies appear in the morning?"


    Dah felt that the question was easy to answer. She had already known that the teacher would never let them fight as long as she was there.


    "Miss Valerie would be there to take care of them so we don''t have to do anything."


    Zavier looked at her incredulously wondering whether the girl was trying to act oblivious or if she really was that na?ve that she hadn''t noticed that Valerie had only been pretending to be all right in front of them.


    In reality she would only worsen her condition if she used any magic. He didn''t break her little bubble and continued to prod.


    "You are forgetting something here. What if she has really been affected by the toxins of the enemy and is unable toe up with enough power to hold off the enemies that woulde next? What would we do then?"


    "You are right. We need to figure it out beforehand or there would be confusion on the battlefield."


    Dah could be pretty straight forward when it came to it. She epted the situation quite easily. It looked like she had also known that there might be such a possibility and had always been open to such a suggestion.


    She had only been trying to see how much grasp Zavier had of the current situation.


    "Do you think that our strength can even make a dent in the current situation? Can we hold off the enemies even if we try our best? If I was the enemy then I would surely send someone who was stronger than the two who hade earlier if I wanted to avoid more casualties.<sub> </sub>


    If the purpose of all this was only to prod the strength of the teacher or us, only then it might be possible that they send someone of simr strength to those who appeared earlier. That would be our only chance to survive this ordeal."


    "Even escaping in such a situation would not be as easy as it appears. Those mages were able to injure Valerie so they should at the very least be B rank mages.


    Our current strength is unable to handle such difficult opponents even if we bash them with our heads. That would only lead to pointless death and injuries."


    "Looks like you have reached the same conclusion as me."


    Dah looked at Zavier in a joking manner but the answer she was expecting wasn''t a joke at all.


    "Yes, it seems so. One of us has to stay behind with the box since the target of the mission seems to be either the box or myself."


    That too was just spection based on what they had known so far. The only one that had been cast an illusion on was Zavier. There had to be a reason for that.


    Since they had no way of knowing why that had been done, they had to incorporate that into their n so that there wouldn''t be any mistakes during the execution of it.


    Dah looked delicate and precious like a little ice princess but Zavier was sure that she must have either led a harsh life or she might just have been that cold and devoid of any and all expressions whatsoever, because she was not even the least bothered about choosing a sacrifice.


    Before Dah could speak any further, Zavier took the initiative to say what he had been holding back.


    "I will stay behind with the box and will hold the enemy off in case they try toe after the rest of you. You have to make sure that you escape with Alissa and Valerie before I am unable to hold them back any longer."


    Dah seemed shocked for the first time during their discussion. She must not have expected that Zavier would actually take the initiative to stay behind.


    She was thinking that Zavier would try to push the responsibility onto her since he had better chances of escapepared to her because of his superior strength.


    It was not that Dah was trying to shy away from the task but that she truly thought that Zavier was the best possible candidate to stay behind because he was stronger than she was.


    He could hold off the enemy longer than she could have which would have enabled him to earn more time for the escaping ones. She had been waiting to see what Zavier would do.


    She had seen the strong acting ''holier than thou'' while pushing others into the sacrificial pit with their own hands just because they were stronger. She wanted to know if Zavier was one of those and would choose to save his own skin instead of caring about the people who were rted to him.


    Humans had the tendency to show their true selves in times of crisis, she knew that.


    She had been waiting for the moment that she would discover more about Zavier who had always been the greatest mystery for her.


    He had hidden himself too deep and even she had been unable to figure him out. The curiosity about his reasons had been eating her from the inside out but she hadn''t asked him about it. She knew that some taboos couldn''t be broken.


    Therefore, his suggestion caught her by enough surprise to force her to reveal what she actually felt. Overwhelmed by what he had said, she had forgotten to maintain her fa?ade.


    She was wondering what his reasons for staying behind were. She couldn''t even tell whether it had anything to do with the fact that he was rted to Valerie and there was something going on between him and Alissa as she had witnessed earlier.


    Whatever the reasons, Dah felt his resolve from his bodynguage, he really was determined to do so till the end. Therefore, she too vowed to protect the two girls, after exploiting the opportunity provided by Zavier, until they reached home.


    Zavier nodded in appreciation of her understanding. It looked to him that he had given her less credit than it was due. He could see that the girl was incredibly practical.


    If the situation had demanded her sacrifice, Zavier was sure that Dah wouldn''t have shied away from it.


    At the same time, he felt that it was better that he was here or the girl might have had to remain behind since she was the strongest in the ss other than him.


    It was not as if Zavier wasn''t bothered by this kind of solution but the same was the demand of the situation. There was no other option avable to all of them.

 Chapter 61 Sacrifices

    Sacrifices had to be made if one wanted to maintain any semnce of peace in one''s life. Even a healthy body has to cut off rotten parts in order to survive.


    Their team was like that single body that was fighting against its enemy and had to sacrifice a limb in order to take down or at least survive the opponent that was stronger than them in terms of raw power and strength.


    It was the only choice that had the potential to cut back their losses to the minimum. Both Zavier and Alissa understood that and were rushing to decide the actions to be taken in the worst-case scenario.


    On the inside, Zavier didn''t want to use such a method at all. He was sincerely praying with all his heart for Valerie so that she might be able to ovee the toxin present in her body.


    If she really sumbed to it, then they would have to go ahead with their n that would involve his sacrifice.


    He would have to die once again. The pain from the previous ones and the ufortable out of body feeling that came with it made him wince in anticipation but he steeled his resolve.


    This was the least he could do for the girls after all, for him it wasn''t a permanent death at all. He could keeping back as much as he wanted.


    He had been nning on this from the very beginning. He knew that there was no way for the enemy to actually kill him, not to mention that he was the strongest out of all three of them which made him the most suitable one to be the sacrificial pawn in order to divert the attention of the enemy.


    So, he had nned to stay behind while Dah took Alissa and Valerie away from the enemies while he tried to hold them off.


    That was the reason that he had stayed behind to talk to Dah. Another reason for doing so at this time was that he couldn''t do it in front of Alissa. That girl would have done anything to stay with him if the time ever came.


    So, he had wanted to discuss it with Dah beforehand so that she would be able to take her away even if she had to incapacitate her to do so.


    Valerie who had just barely gotten the toxin under her control had been listening to the conversation from the entrance of her tent where she was standing.


    Their backs were towards her which was the reason that they kept going further with their discussion. This was not something that they wanted to discuss in front of her so as to avoid hurting her ego and pride.


    Valerie on the other hand didn''t feel that her pride had been hurt at all. She was happy that her students were willing to stay behind to help her even when it had been her responsibility to safely see them home.


    Though she found their resolve sweet, she wouldn''t just let them go through with it even in the worst-case scenario. She had to be the first one to die not because of her pride or ego but because it was her responsibility to see them all home as she had promised them at the start of the mission.


    She knew that even if their n seeded, there were hardly any true chances of escape. Killing any one of them would be a sin that the school would pursue till the very end. Any enemy in their sane mind would never let any of them escape if they had any say in it.


    Therefore, she resolved that she would let them escape even if she had to die with the enemy by using her magic despite the presence of the toxin in her blood stream.


    She walked towards the two of them with an upright posture depicting the usual grace and otherworldly charm that she carried herself with usually.


    There was no trace of weakness in the way she moved about but her expression and the pale face behind that revealed the weakness that she was feeling and the strength of her resolve to get them out of this predicament.


    Zavier noticed her as soon as she started walking so, he motioned for Dah to stop talking. She caught on extremely fast but Valerie had already heard their whole conversation. She appreciated the effort though in her heart.


    Overtly she couldn''t do so because that would make her a bad teacher who cared more about her life than that of her students.


    She stopped in front of the two of them and looked them straight in the eye. Dah was the first to break down and managed to look away in time but Zavier didn''t back down at all and stared right back.<sub> </sub>


    Valerie smiled slightly before saying: "Things have not reached such a point as to warrant the sacrifices of the students while the teacher is still there. You can discuss such things after I am dead. Don''t you dare think of doing something this stupid before we have run out of all the options.


    You need to understand that the school won''t let you get hurt, no matter what. If I am not here any longer, someone will be here to take my ce but you will reach home safely just like I told you earlier. Do youprehend what I am telling you or not?"


    Thest sentence had been uttered while staring at Zavier. It had be a norm for her to give special instructions to Zavier every time she had to lecture the students.


    He was always the oddity amongst all her students, someone who dared to challenge her and stand up to her without any fear in his eyes. So, she had to single him out every other time just to make sure that he wouldply with her instructions.


    "Your teacher can still fight, okay?"


    "Hmm."


    Dah responded in the positive and left to go back to her tent. It was time for the end of her shift so she wanted to go and have some rest. After all, the teacher looked all right so there was no need for her to be so tense.


    Valerie sat down next to Zavier and looked at him. She had never thought that the boy that she had thought wasn''t worth her attention had been such an uncut gem.


    Not only was he stronger than his peers with a monstrous talent, he also had a sense of responsibility and charm that was only found in those who had gone through tremendous hardships and had lived for decades at the very least.


    Zavier unlike Dah had looked through her fa?ade as soon as he hadid his eyes on her. He had lived at Valerie''s home immediately following the death of his parents which had been quite early on so, the memories in his mind were enough of an indication to reveal her bluff.


    She might have looked the same to the others but he could spot the difference in a jiffy.


    Zavier was worried in his heart but didn''t show it in front of Dah so that she might be able to take some rest after being relieved by Valerie.


    Another reason that he did not ask her anything was that he already knew the answer to the question that appeared in his head.


    She was doing this to put on a show for the masked man who had been hiding in the shadows waiting for an opportunity to strike while she was at her weakest. He wouldn''t have found it odd even if the man was hiding in the vicinity right at that moment.


    Valerie had of course thought about it all and knew that she had to make an appearance and she had to act strong in order to deter those that were lying in wait and that was why she hade out of her tent in the first ce even though she was not feeling good at all.


    This was both an act of deterrence and a way to confuse their assants. Zavier could only appreciate the effort that Valerie was putting in for them.


    He already felt that she was in the situation because she had to take care of the three of them in the first ce or she could have easily escaped on her own when she was confronted by the two masked mages.


    Zavier felt guilty towards her for the same reason which was why he wanted her to escape even if he had to stay behind.


    Zavier didn''t leave like Dah at the end of the shift even though he was dead tired and close to passing out.


    Instead, he sat side by side with Valerie and kept a lookout while focusing on his surroundings in order to try to figure out the location that the masked man might have been hiding in.

 Chapter 62 Responsibility

    Zavier felt that he needed to express his gratitude towards Valerie since they might not get a chance to do soter, given the current situation. Another reason that he had stayed with her was that he knew she was actually very weak and would need his protection should the masked mage decide to attack her despite the front that she was putting.


    "Thanks for doing this. I know that you don''t feel too good."


    Valerie hadn''t expected him to express it to her like that. She had thought that Zavier would not have liked her much considering the way that she had always treated her.


    "It''s my responsibility, after all I was the one who chose this mission and brought you all along with me."


    Zavier lowered his head and did not respond for a while. He was thinking of some way to tell her that all of this might have been his fault considering the fact that he had several unknown enemies who might have been aiming for him through this trick.


    No matter how much he pondered on the subject, he couldn''t find a way to tell her that because that would require an exnation as to who his enemies were and how he came to know about them. Therefore, he could only make a show of his resolve and gratitude for the care and protection that she had shown towards him and the other girls.


    He held onto her hand in order to convey his feelings to her in the most solemn manner that he could have mustered.


    "You have already done your best. You have protected us so far and we have seen it with our own eyes the effort you have put in and the blood you have shed. Now that you are injured, you need to rest and let me protect you from now on, all right? I will make sure that we can go home and back to our daily lives together. I promise you that."


    If Valerie had been only surprised when Zavier had held her hand, then his words had touched the innermost part of her heart.


    If Valerie had not been in front of Zavier and there had been no outside threat, her tears might have leaked out because of how emotional she was feeling but she couldn''t let loose yet, as the situation demanded her to give her absolute best performance.


    p Valerie didn''t pull away her hand from his grip. In her heart she felt that it felt nice somehow.</anda>


    "Those should have been my words. I feel like you took the words right out of my mouth and reuttered them back to me."


    She let out a low giggle to hide the blush that was slowly creeping up on her face.


    Zavier unconsciously tightened the grip on her hand thinking that she hadn''t taken his words seriously.


    "I meant what I said. I will not let you stay behind even if you want to. If it came to it, I really would do what I said earlier. You should have no doubt about that. I have the means to escape anything, even someone at your level might not be able to kill me off. So, don''t push yourself too much. All right?"


    Even if she had a heart of stone, it would have melted when she heard him say that. In order to hide her embarrassment, Valerie prodded her hand out of his grip. She had done it naturally so Zavier would not feel rejected. She couldn''t have just told him that her heart had skipped a beat right there and she was afraid that she wouldn''t be able to control herself if he kept on holding her hand.<sub> </sub>


    Before she had the chance of seeing his expression, the sound of fighting in the distance distracted her and she came back to reality where she was still his teacher who was responsible for his life and the life of the other two students that were there with them.


    Dust was rising in the air following the explosive sounds that could be heard in the distance. Not only them, but Dah too stepped out of the tent awakened by all the noise. Alissa on the other hand didn''t look like she was disturbed at all. She was sleeping soundly through all the explosive noise without a care In the world. Nobody wanted to wake her up. It was better that she stayed that way until they could get a handle on things and figure out whether there was an ally among the fighting parties or not.


    "You two, stay put right here. I am going to check the situation."


    Zavier protested loudly as soon as he heard her but Valerie gave him such a frightening look that he shut himself up with a lot of difficulty.


    Valerie on the other hand was not quite sure that Zavier would listen to her so she had nned on leaving a fail-safe behind in the event that Zavier decided to ignore her instructions and follow after her.


    Valerie raised her hands and chanted a spell in a low voice. Zavier could swear that he had seen the flow of magical energy that Valerie was emitting and it was so dense that Zavier was amazed. No wonder she was known as an absolute peak genius.


    Valerie brought her hands together in front of her with both her palms joined together. Slowly she began to pull apart her hands and a small spherical ball shape began to take form in between. As she moved her hands further apart, the sphere grewrger until it was enough to cover several metres around her. With the push of her arms outward, the sphere expanded and covered the whole camp site.


    "You will be safe inside this barrier. Wait for me here until Ie back. Let me warn you once again; no matter what happens you are not supposed toe out of this. But if you do, you better be prepared for the consequences after we go back home."


    Valerie looked like a demon by the end of the sentence and Zavier knew better than to oppose her by that point.


    He knew that even if he did, Valerie would put him down before he even had the chance, so he acted like the obedient student and stayed put as Valerie left to investigate the fighting noise.


    She had only left when it became unbearable for Zavier. It was like there was an itch in every part of his body. He knew that if Valerie had known that he was unable to die, maybe she would have let him go instead. But since he had hidden his secret, Valerie had gone in alone in her condition and Zavier felt extremely guilty and afraid that something might happen to her.


    Zavier was contemting whether to let her in on his secret by that point just to avoid a situation like this again.


    But he knew that it wasn''t feasible at all. He couldn''t trust anyone in this world until he had determined who his enemies were. For example, Marquess Val was someone he couldn''t trust but he was also Valerie''s brother. Telling her was tantamount to giving information to the opponents. Since his secret was both his hidden strength and his weakness. Once the opponents knew his secret, it would only be a matter of time before he was murdered.


    Therefore, the only thing he could do at the moment was to keep his head down and pace around in worry and anticipation of what was toe next. Valerie hadn''t been gone very long but the worry mixed with guilt was eating away at him like cancer which was the reason that he couldn''t stay still at all and was pacing around like a worried wife waiting for her husband in the courtyard.


    Even Dah looked worried from her dark expression but she wasn''t as expressive about it as Zavier was. He was unable to sit down and wait calmly like she could.

 Chapter 63 Calista

    Zavier had already known that the boundary set by Valerie was only a one-sided barrier. It didn''t allow anyone to enter into the boundary but didn''t stop those on the inside from exiting the boundary.


    Therefore, he had nned on escaping the boundary to go after Valerie from the very beginning. He was not going to wait a single second when Valerie''s life was at stake. In her condition, it was impossible for her to even escape from their attackers unscathed.


    He was still thinking when the fighting noise in the distance dwindled down and silence once again prevailed all over the vicinity. He hoped that it was not the calm before the storm. Whatever it was, he hoped that it was just some travelling hunter who had attacked some wild animals or monsters in the vicinity, and he just happened to be close to them at this time so that Valerie wouldn''t encounter anything bad.


    No matter what he told himself, there was no way to calm his heart that was stuck in the middle of a typhoon and was floating over raging waves.


    Zavier was about to move out of the boundary when he heard footsteps quite close to them. Instead of pushing through the boundary to meet them outside, he used the more reasonable approach and immediately moved towards the centre of the camp so as to observe the iing enemy.


    The footsteps, whoever they belonged to were firm and strong. From the looks of it, these weren''t the footsteps of some thief who wanted to hide his whereabouts but of someone who wasn''t afraid of a confrontation.


    The enemy seemed to have sent the bigger guns. He was worried about Valerie who had gone outside the barrier alone but he had to be alive to look for her whereabouts so he couldn''t be reckless. The lives of Dah and Alissa depended on it.


    The footsteps grew closer and relying on his keen senses, Zavier soon discovered that they didn''t just belong to one individual, but two. The enemy had sent a pair of enemies once again. One of the two seemed to be injured because the sound of his footsteps was extremely light and incoherent. The only thing he could infer from the sound was that either the other party was injured gravely or the individual was quite drunk.


    Zavier only had to wait a little more before the answer to his questions was revealed.


    Standing in the clearing of the campsite, Zavier soon noticed two silhouettes in the distance hidden by the dense foliage heading towards them at a pace that was neither too fast nor too slow.


    The green foliage parted on either side to reveal two women. Zavier was both shocked and relieved to see the two women who had already entered the vision of his Time Space Eye before they had exited the foliage.


    One of the women was thankfully Valerie who had gone out earlier. She must have been the source of the stumbling footsteps that he had heard earlier.


    The other woman was quite a surprise to him but also the source of relief that he was feeling at the moment. It was none other than Calista, the ss teacher of the A ss that Shiranui had belonged to. He had noticed during thepetition that there was some sort of rivalry between her and Valerie which must mean that she was at least the level of Valerie if not stronger than her in terms of strength.


    This would ensure a safe passage back home provided that they soon get the cure to the toxin flowing in Valerie''s body. The clone with the perception system had been tasked to ensure that. So, Zavier wasn''t too worried about it being transported to them.


    The two beauties returning together was a sight for sore eyes. Calista wasn''t as alluring as Valerie but she more than made up for it with her sunny attitude and smile which was quite the opposite of the icy and strict demeanor Valerie was known for.<sub> </sub>


    "You are back."


    Zavier could only utter those words when Valerie returned. After all he couldn''t just say how worried he had been about Valerie since he was the student and she was the teacher in the scenario and the right to be worried seemed to have been reserved for the teachers alone. Moreover, he couldn''t say something like that in front of Calista who would have definitely made fun of Valerie; being her rival and all.


    "Yes, I am back and thankfully it was a friend. You three don''t need an introduction, right?"


    "So, it''s Teacher Calista. Of course, we remember her."


    It was Dah who took the initiative to answer Valerie''s question. The teacher of ss A Calista had left a deep impression on her just like her student who had beaten her so easily - Shiranui. Calista had seemed immensely proud of her student''s talents but Zavier had shattered that dream with the overwhelming prowess of his white me.


    The scene had been etched in her memory and she remembered that crestfallen expression and the shock on her face as well. Dah too wanted that kind of strength to get revenge for herself by taking down Shiranui the next time. She had conducted her research not only about her enemy but also those closer to her, her family and friends. Her teacher Calista was naturally included in that research.


    Calista was a descendant of a prestigious family of elves and was very proficient in wood magic and nature magic. She was someone who proved to be an asset during a team fight. She could not only heal through her wood magic and her elven inheritance; she could also provide support through crowd control and her powerful offensive techniques. She was an all-rounder who was on par with Valerie, in terms of overall utility, who was considered to be the youngest prodigy among the teachers in their school.


    Calista sensed some hostility from her tone of voice but then thought that it was only natural considering what had happened at the sspetition that day so she didn''t mind and yfully replied:


    "Oh, if it isn''t the lovely Dah. Are you doing all right? I hear Teacher Valerie is quite strict, she hasn''t been giving you all a hard time, has she?"


    Valerie maintained her aloof expression and replied with her icy gaze. Dah had already been very tense, and she had clearly not had enough sleep after her shift which led to her being overtly irritated. She felt like punching Calista in the face but held herself back thinking about the consequences of her actions.


    No matter what, they had to rely on Calista for the time being as Valerie had been benched due to injury. She looked at Valerie once before shifting her gaze back to Calista.


    "Teacher Valerie has taken exceptional care of us throughout the trip and even got injured trying to keep us safe. I think she is an excellent teacher. Thank you for your concern."


    Thest sentence had been uttered in an exceptionally cold tone that was even felt by the others. Zavier understood that Dah was on edge and ced his hand on her shoulder to calm her down.


    Calista did not know how to keep the conversation going. Although she had her rivalry with Valerie and everyone knew about it, she had no ulterior motives at the moment. Even Valerie had known that much. She was embarrassed but she didn''t want to bicker with the students.

 Chapter 64 Remittence

    Zavier saw her dilemma and gestured to Dah to remain calm and let him handle the situation.


    Dah let out a slight grunt and agreed but was still overly cautious about Calista whose elven beauty and charm was enough to wipe out a nation by itself.


    "Teacher, we really were in a pinch. Thankfully you are here now. Teacher Valerie is injured and is in need of medical attention. She can''t fight and we have to rely on you for the next part of the mission. We will be in your care from now on."


    Zavier had expressed himself in a good-natured manner which lifted the fallen mood of Calista. She had thought that the one who would react the most strongly to her amongst all of them would be Zavier since what had happened at thepetition was not something that she was very proud of. Shiranui had not only attacked him despite him having gone easy one her, she had also won in the end by causing him that injury.


    This improved her mood a little bit and color returned to her face. Even Valerie on the other side showed an appreciating smile. She was happy to see that Zavier was not so small minded.


    "But there is one thing I don''t understand. Howe you are here already? It is quite a distance from the school and we only sent the emergency signal yesterday."


    They were more than a week''s distance away from the school and he was expecting it to be a long wait. Zavier had not expected that the help would arrive so early on, otherwise he wouldn''t have burdened his nerves with all that worry.


    "I was on my way back from a mission and was only a few dozen miles away from you. Compared to yours, my ss''s mission was actually an F rank mission so I was done early on. All we encountered were some petty mages and boredom. Since we were done anyway, I sent them back earlier and responded to the emergency signal that was transmitted to me by the school authorities. Since I was the closest to yourst position, I was tasked with supporting you. I rushed all night and thankfully made it in time before something irrecoverable happened."


    "Oh¡­turns out that you were already here¡­but wait, your ss was on a mission as well."


    Zavier sounded confused since he had thought that only his ss had been given that mission in order to trap him.


    "Did you think that this was something only for your ss? All teachers who want to take their students with them can do so provided that the students meet their standards."


    Zavier was even more confused than he was previously. He was starting to doubt whether this was a n to trap him or not after hearing her words. Maybe he was just being paranoid and this was only them being unlucky in the selection of the mission.


    Zavier then turned towards Valerie and shot out thest question in his mind.


    "Then what about the fighting noise and the explosive sounds from earlier? Did you find out who it was?"


    Valerie shrugged her shoulders and replied: "Why don''t you ask her instead?" while pointing towards Calista with her hand.


    Zavier moved his eyes in the direction of Calista as if asking for a confirmation from Valerie to which she nodded in the positive.


    Before he could have said anything, Calista interjected and exined the whole situation.


    "I was on my way to you when I found someone snooping around your camp. He was heading towards the ce that Valerie was sleeping in. He saw me and then rushed away at a fast pace. I followed after him for some time and managed to catch up to him. As soon as I did, he attacked me without any indication so I assumed that he must have been one of the enemies. I attacked him in kind which must have startled you, I think. The enemy was quite strong so I wasn''t able to neutralize him easily. Thankfully Valerie arrived right then and we fought him off together. And then we came here straight. Would that be all of the questions?"


    Calista had used a slightly sarcastic tone towards the end. Zavier could hear the sarcasm but he ignored it since he needed to know everything as well.


    Zavier turned towards Valerie and asked her his next question.


    "Was he the same guy you fought in the morning?"


    Valerie nodded with a solemn face which proved that they had been right all along. The enemy really was lurking in the vicinity and had it not been for Calista who had arrived earlier than expected, they were able to avert a disaster that might have befallen them had they been alone.


    "How were you able to avoid his poison? Did he not use it?"<sub> </sub>


    Calistaughed as a result and jokingly replied: "Oh¡­the poison¡­of course he did¡­or at least he tried."


    Zavier didn''t notice anything funny about what she had said and was waiting for her answer with a straight face.


    Calista saw his expression and tsked: "You are no fun. My poison resistance is very high. No poison can affect me as much as it has your Teacher Valerie."


    Zavier finally understood how she was still unaffected.by the deadly poison that had so adversely affected Valerie.


    Now all that Zavier was worried about was the cure that Valerie still hadn''t received for the poison.


    "Can''t you heal Teacher Valerie. I have heard that your healing skills are very good."


    Dah had spoken this time based on her research. She knew that Calista''s elven knowledge may be helpful in dealing with the toxin that was disturbing Valerie.


    Zavier heard her words and became hopeful as well.


    He looked towards Calista with anticipation waiting for her response.


    Calista couldn''t bear to disappoint the two students and nodded immediately even though she was sure that she wouldn''t be able to remove it from her systempletely even if she tried.


    Despite her elven heritage, she was only immune to various poisons but was not capable of healing or drawing them away from those affected by it.


    That was the reason that she knew that Valerie needed aplete anti-toxin in order to recoverpletely.


    "I will see what I can do. Help her into the bed first, she can barely stand as it is."


    Zavier moved forward to help her but then thought of something when he saw the odd look in Calista''s eyes.


    He pulled back his hand and gestured for Dah to take over and support Valerie back to the tent.


    Zavier grew embarrassed but tried to hide it. The flush growing on his face still revealed what he had been feeling at that moment. Even Valerie forgot about her health for a moment when she saw him blushing like that.


    Dah supported her by putting her arms around her own neck and rested Valerie''s weight on her shoulder.


    As soon as Valerie was down on her bed, Calista came over, bent down and ced her hand on Valerie''s chest.


    Magic from her hands was released into Valerie''s body. Zavier could tell that this was something that she was doing to check Valerie''s condition.


    Valerie on the other hand had closed her eyes and was lying peacefully on the bed with her eyes closed. She didn''t have much hope that Calista would be able to draw out that poison because she had seen many such instances of unknown poisons. Almost in all the cases healers suggested to wait until thepletion of antidote.


    This was a fact but Valerie wasn''t too worried about it. Her main cause of concern had been the safety of her students after she had been injured. But now that Calista hade to support and protect them, she had let down all her burdens and was resting peacefully after handing everything over to Calista.

 Chapter 65 Obstinate Girl

    Zavier and Dah left Valerie in the tent and went outside to give Calista some space for correct diagnosis.


    After a while, Calista came outside while rubbing her hands and sighs escaped her mouth continuously. Both Zavier and Dah grew worried that there might have been someplications.


    "Don''t be too worried. It''s just that her situation is more precarious than I thought. The toxin had been too widespread for me to have drawn it out. Usual poisons take some time to spread but this toxin had been engineered to spread rapidly uponing into contact with blood. It has already taken root inside her body and drawing it out forcefully would have caused harm to her body too. Therefore, I did what I could. I stopped it from propagating any further and Valerie can even use magic without causing its effect to spread further in her body but the weakness that she has been feeling will remain that way until the school delivers the antidote for the poison."


    "Don''t be too hard on yourself. What you have done is already good enough. This will help us get through this situation and that is all I need for the moment. We can fight our way out to safety and then I can get treated as well."


    Valerie had opened her mouth to answer this time. She had expected that Calista wouldn''t be able to do anything at all to help but on the contrary she had stopped the promulgation ability of the toxin so easily.


    Calista stared at the wooden box following that. It was still there hanging by the side of Zavier looking all harmless.


    "So, this little box is the root cause of all this?"


    She was quite curious about the box that had caused them so much trouble and tried to look through it with her perception ability. To her astonishment, even she was unable to look through the contents of the box. The barrier surrounding the box had been cast too ingeniously for her to be able to decipher it.


    "This box is not as simple as it appears so don''t bother trying to check its contents. The contents are not something that you or I could check. The boundary surrounding the box is so strong that I can''t even tell what kind of boundary it is let alone how to break it."


    If even Valerie had been unable to look inside, Calista wouldn''t evene close to figuring it all out. After all, Valerie was considered to be a genius when it came to boundaries and barriers.


    She could set one or break one up in a matter of seconds with her eyes closed. In contrast Calista didn''t evene close.


    Calista took a look at the box once again and then at the one who was carrying it around on his waist. Compared to them, he was a walking target.


    "Why don''t you give it to me? It''s dangerous for you to carry it around like that. If Shiranui found out that something happened to you during the mission and she might not get a chance to apologize to you, the guilt would forever remain with her. She won only because you were trying to protect her and she not only took the win but also injured you in the process. How could that kind of guilt just go away? So, you better not die and break my most prodigious student."


    "It''s okay. I can manage this much at least. The responsibility to keep me safe relies on you, after all. If you can''t do that then we might as well throw it to the enemies for safe passage."


    Calista was dumbfounded after hearing what he had to say. He had so easily shifted all the responsibility to her and had left Valerie out of it all. But she couldn''t find anything wrong with it either. She was irritated but she couldn''t find fault with a single statement of his after all, no one would pursue responsibility with Valerie when she was injured and Calista on the other hand was perfectly fine.


    In his heart, Zavier felt that it was a little unexpected that Shiranui was still carrying on what had happened in the past. He had already forgotten all about it. But surprisingly enough, that girl whom he had thought to be heartless had actually carried the guilt of that event with her with the intent to make everything right soon.


    Calista had conveyed what she wanted to anyway so she didn''t linger on the topic any longer but had given food for thought to Zavier to ease the way for her student.


    They had all been talking out in the open for some time. It was already the afternoon and the situation had been calm ever since the mage had been wiped out. There had been no indication of an enemy or anyone else for that matter. To curb the boredom, the only thing they could have done was chat. As it turned out, Calista was quite chatty and began to tell them all kinds of stories and events that they had not been privy to. Sometimes, Valerie would make an addition to what she was saying but otherwise only smiled to the side.


    Zavier was only taking in everything like a whale gulping down sea water. His knowledge base regarding the world came from the Zavier Adam who had nevere into contact with magic and was not very learned as well. Therefore, Zaviercked knowledge that Calista had been imparting to them.


    It was then that the partition that acted like the door to the tent parted towards the side and Alissa walked out with a bent posture. She was still rubbing her head and scratching it with her fingers trying to straighten her bed hair. To Zavier she appeared exceptionally cute even when she was acting that way.<sub> </sub>


    She ran her eyes over the people who were busy talking and chatting with each other and noticed someone that shouldn''t have been there at all; Teacher Calista. The moment she saw Calista, her mind that was still fuzzy from the excessive sleep that she had just woken from, told her some horror story that confused her further. Her eyes widened and she addressed Calista in panic and fear.


    "Teacher you should not be here, It is very dangerous here. Quickly go back."


    Everyone was able to hear her words so they all let out a hail ofughter at her.


    Alissa was unable to understand what they wereughing about when Teacher Calista''s life was in danger.


    "Don''t worry, I came to solve that danger for you. So, you can rest assured that I will be okay."


    Though Calistaughed along with them, she was touched to see that the girl was more worried about her getting in danger instead of asking for help when her own life was at stake.


    This was a moment for all of them to rx and feel better after the stress of the previous day. Nobody had been able to rest considering the threat looming all around them and an enemy watching their every move.


    Most of all, Valerie had been injured and had not had a single moment of respite since then because of the effect of the poison.


    Arrival of Calista was a big deal to all of them. It had made their morning brighter and the night peaceful, most of all life had returned in their very being. The lost souls had returned to their bodies and they were busy making merry; after all, the threat had already been eliminated by Valerie and Calista earlier. Now, unless there was another wave of even stronger enemies employed by the individual who wanted the wooden box, they were safe for the most part considering they were not more than three days away from home.


    But when Zavier saw Calista among them and recalled her words about the yellow skinned girl, he couldn''t help but think of her. He lost focus and was in a state where he was able to hear the chatter around him but was unable to understand even a little of it. His thoughts dragged him elsewhere towards the yellow skinned girl named Shiranui.


    He remembered how utterly focused and merciless Shiranui had seemed when he had fought her. But he hadn''t taken what had happened in the end to his heart. Instead, it was that girl who still remembered it all and probably felt guilty about the way she had won. And that was only if Calista''s words could be believed.


    From what he had seen, Calista seemed pretty genuine about everything that wasn''t rted to Valerie. About Valerie though, her opinions seemed a little biased towards herself.


    Zavier had felt Shiranui''s unquenchable drive to win that he himself had beencking. He didn''t know what made her feel that way about a simplepetition but it seemed as if she had been fighting a life and death battle.


    Zavier was sure that even if it had been a deathmatch, Shiranui still wouldn''t have backed out or conceded defeat. She would have rather died than ept defeat. Zavier knew because he had seen it in her eyes, the resolution to be strong, the fighting spirit and the unbending will. What he wanted to know was why she wanted to win so badly? Was she on some kind of an ego trip? Or was it something else?


    He had to know what was the case with her so he proceeded to ask Calista about it.


    "Teacher, I want to ask you something if it is okay with you."


    Calista saw the look on his face and seemed to understand what he was going to ask but still wanted to hear him say it before giving her answer.


    "Ask me anything you want."


    "Why was Shiranui so obsessed with winning that match? It wasn''t that important a fight, so why go that far for it?"

 Chapter 66 Yamata

    Calista made a face that revealed how helpless she felt at that moment.


    "Ask me anything but this, because this secret isn''t mine to tell. This secret belongs to her alone and she should be the one to tell you. The next time you see her, go ask her yourself. That poor child has gone through a lot. It might help her if she actually had someone who could understand her."


    Zavier could see how worried Calista was about her student so he didn''t persist in getting that answer.


    "I understand. I will ask her myself when we get back."


    Calista nodded in approval at his understanding.


    Before the conversation could continue any further, Dah rushed towards him and pulled him away from the crowd towards the back of their tent.


    Neither Valerie nor Calista inquired into the situation since they were both teachers and it wasn''t very bing of a teacher to prod into the personal matters of their students.


    They looked at each other in tacit agreement and acted as if they hadn''t seen the two going somewhere privately nor the usually chirpy Alissa who was smouldering right beside them with jealousy apparent on her face.


    "Do you want to know why she acted that way?"


    "Who are you talking about?"


    Zavier was confused as to who she had been referring to. All of them were girls and he didn''t know who she was talking about.


    Dah grew irritated and all icy in an instant.


    "Who do you think? Weren''t you asking about her from Calista just now?"


    Realization dawned on him and he understood why Dah was ring. She had pulled him over to answer his questions that he had asked from Calista earlier.


    "Oh¡­yes yes¡­sorry¡­I mean sorry that I didn''t get it earlier. So, do you know the reason for behavior that day?"


    "Yes."


    Zavier could tell that Dah was back to her miserly behavior towards words.


    "Can you tell me then?"


    "Hmm."


    Zavier waited with his ears at the ready while standing on his toes in anticipation of the secret that even Calista wasn''t privy to tell.


    He was wondering how Dah had gotten her hands on that information but he decided not to irritate her before getting the answers that he was looking for.


    "Have you ever heard of Yamata no Orochi?"


    Zavier prodded the dusty memories left behind by the previous Zavier Adam and found the answer to the question.


    "Yes, the mythological serpentine creature in the myths with eight heads and eight tails, right?"


    "Yes, then you must also know the person who defeated it in the myths?"


    "Susanoo?"


    "That''s right. Orochi was first defeated by Susanoo but the second time he escaped from the moon, he was defeated by Yamata Takeru and Oto. They used Yasakani no Magatama to suppress Orochi once again."


    Zavier was confused as to why Dah was giving him a history lesson.


    "How is this all rted to Shiranui?"


    "Because Shiranui is the descendant of that Yamata family and their guardian heritage is the very same Yasakani no Magatama."


    Zavier didn''t say anything but his eyes revealed the shock that he was feeling at that moment. He urged Dah to continue with his eyes.<sub> </sub>


    "The Yamata family holds the Yasakani no Magatama, one of the three imperial regalia that hold immense power.


    Shiranui has an older sister named Yamata Kyouko who was once hailed as the greatest genius that the empire had ever seen. She had a talent that could only be found once in a century.


    From a young age she had been groomed as the heir to the Yamata family but her ambitionsy further than anyone in her family could have imagined.


    She didn''t just want to be the family head; her desires had grown beyond the bounds of what was usible. She wanted to take the Yasakani no Magatama for her own. Since everyone in the family opposed her idea, she set out to get them out of the way. One day when Shiranui was away from her family, she murdered all who got in her way including her parents, rtives, friends and family.


    The Yamata family was eradicated in a single day by the talent that they had cherished.


    The sole survivor of the incident was Shiranui. When she came back and heard of the terrible cmity that had befallen her family, instead of crying and wailing, she held her head high and vowed to kill Kyouko with her own hands in order to bring honor back to her family.


    She swore that until she beat her sister, she would not lose to anyone ever again. It was a kind of shackle that she had bound herself with, so as to stay strong and not deviate from the path that she had set for herself."


    Zavier was dumbstruck. He had never imagined that the girl was bearing such a burden all alone. No wonder she wasn''t willing to concede at all.


    "I could never have imagined that she was so pitiful."


    Dah nodded at his words. She too had been taken aback once she discovered the truth about her and had wondered if taking her own revenge was the right way forward given the situation.


    Zavier looked at her questioningly and asked her: "How do you know all this? Teacher Calista wasn''t willing to tell me. Who did you hear it from?"


    Dah had a smug expression on her face, or at least Zavier felt that she looked quite smug at that moment. The reason being that there was hardly ever a change in her expression no matter the kind of situation they were in.


    "I have a habit of knowing everything about all my opponents. Since she beat me, I gathered all the information that I could find about her. Oh, I also did the same with you."


    Zavier''s mouth turned into the shape of a giant O. He looked at her like she was quite interesting.


    Before he could say anything, Dah continued talking.


    "I have to say, amongst you two, I am interested in finding out more about you. There is no way someone can improve this fast. I am almost sure that you have been hiding your strength all this time. I still have tomend you on the fact that you haven''t left any traces behind at all. I had a hard time trying to look into your life but hardly found anything interesting, just the things that you wanted others to know."


    Zavier burst intoughter thinking the girl was a serious piece of work. It was just a schoolpetition, why did she have to get sopetitive? She had even scoured through his past.


    "Hoh¡­so you have done your homework. I must say you are quite meticulous about this."


    "Of course, you have to know your enemy more than yourself if you want to win a battle."


    Zavier raised his eyebrows before he shrugged his shoulders in helplessness. He didn''t want to be involved in such a rivalry since he knew that his enemies were far more powerful than this but relented in the end in order to bring some semnce of normality back to his life. He deserved to live the way normal people did. Wasn''t that why he hade to this world filled with magic; to experience it all?


    "Yeah, it might just be more fun this way."


    Zavier almost didn''t say the sentence that was about to be spat out from his tongue but lowered the volume so that only he could understand what he had said.


    "Huh¡­what did you just say?"


    As expected, Dah asked him about it.


    "Nothing¡­I said nothing at all."


    Zavier was busy smiling mysteriously while Dah was trying to coax the answer out of him when Alissa came out from behind them. To her it looked as if the two were yfully flirting with each other. The jealousy that she had suppressed with much difficulty reared its head once again inside her.


    Not only Zavier but Dah too noticed the tsunami building up inside her. She was afraid that it would blow them both off the face of the earth based on a misunderstanding.


    Only after seeing Alissa like that made Dah realize how misleading her earlier action of pulling Zavier away from there had been. Not only had she conveyed a message to the others that there was something between the two, she had also managed to upset Alissa over it at the same time.


    Dah felt embarrassed but refused to admit it and chose to remain expressionless as she faced the fuming girl.

 Chapter 67 Relief

    As Alissa walked towards them, Zavier felt nervous for some reason while Dah started to move towards Alissa.


    When the two girls came across each other, Dah whispered something in Alissa''s ear before walking away.


    "He asked me to protect you in the event that there are enemies blocking our path again. You have found yourself a good one. He''s worth putting your trust in."


    If it had been anyone else, they might not have been able to hear what she had said to Alissa but his perception ability wasn''t exactly normal.


    He had heard her exact words and couldn''t help but be grateful to her. Even the icy princess could say something good every once in a while.


    She had made it all good between Zavier and Alissa with a single sentence which was obviously a well-crafted lie. A lie that was spoken for the good of others was not exactly a lie. There was no ill intent involved. She had even thrown in some praise about him. That made it all sound even better.


    As expected, Alissa had a 180 degree change in expression and behavior. She became chipper and giddy in an instant and practically skipped the rest of the way towards him.


    Zavier couldn''t help but marvel at this ability of hers.


    Zavier thanked Dah and her impromptu actions in his heart. Unlike the way she looked and acted, she was quite an understanding girl it seemed. And it looked like she had already known about the two of them from the beginning. Otherwise, she would have never exined herself like that to Alissa.


    Alissa had a flush on her face that refused to leave her peachy skin even after she was standing right in front of him. Some of it was due to her previous anger and some of it was due to her guilt for jumping to conclusions on her own and not giving him a chance to exin.


    "I am sorry. I thought that you two¡­that both of you¡­Uhm...I misunderstood you."


    "It''s okay. Anyone could have made that mistake. I am happy enough that you don''t me me for it."


    Zavier acted generous and said it was nothing but in reality, he had been the one at fault and was only enjoying her good grace because of Dah''s quick thinking.


    Zavier wasn''t concerned with trivialities like this; he was more concerned with the monster that resided inside of her. It not onlypromised her safety, it also rendered it impossible for her to learn magic. He wanted to get back and discuss her condition with her parents as soon as possible. Because what he had seen inside her had made him feel terrified, both for himself and her.


    But before he could do that, he needed to get some information from her about her parents. He needed to make sure whether her parents knew about her condition or not. So, he prodded her with questions that didn''t make his intentions very obvious to her.


    "Tell me something, have you always been unable to use magic?"


    Alissa was confused as to why he was asking such a question.


    Seeing her confused expression, Zavier knew that he had to exin himself before she started to doubt his intentions.


    "I just want to know more about the girl I like."


    As expected, everything that he wanted to know, sprung out of her like an overflowing fountain.


    "Ever since I knew what magic was, I have seen my parents'' disappointed faces staring at me for not having any talent in that regard. So, I think that I was just born wrong."<sub> </sub>


    "Didn''t your parents try to teach you magic on their own like I tried to do?"


    "No, at least I don''t remember such an instance. They have always told me to stay away from magic, probably because they don''t want to see me get hurt since I have no talent in this regard. I think they have always known that I couldn''t make it as a mage and kept me away from it so I wouldn''t feel bad.


    Even though we live in a world where magic is an undeniable part of our lives, I only know as much about it as any other muggle or only what I have learnt in school.


    Even when I wanted to attend school, they had initially refused me. I had to feign anger with my parents due to which they eventually relented and let me go to school."


    Her words only confirmed what Zavier had been thinking. They were aware of the actual problem with Alissa and therefore kept her away from magic deliberately. Only an extremely optimistic person like Alissa could possibly think that all of this had been done for her own good. Anyone else would have thought that they were being deprived of their basic rights.


    Zavier''s worry for her was eating away at him from the inside. He wasn''t sure whether her parents knew or not. He was only sure of one thing. And it was that there was a monster sealed inside of her which was like a ticking time bomb that could explode any minute. Therefore, he wanted to meet her parents to be sure about what was going on with her and why had her parents never told her about it?


    He needed more information.


    "Alissa, I want to meet your parents. Is that alright with you?"


    Her breath left her for a moment when she heard those words. They had just taken the first step towards their rtionship and Zavier already wanted to see her parents. Her face revealed a blossoming blush and her voice started to stumble but she somehow uttered her answer in the positive.


    Even though she felt that they were moving too fast, Alissa had already decided on her part that she would eventually move on to that step with only Zavier and no one else.


    Therefore, she did not hesitate to agree to his somewhat unreasonable demand.


    On the other hand, Zavier didn''t feel that he had asked a question with such a double meaning. He had only wanted to test the waters regarding her situation by interacting with her parents and had no other intention at all. He had been misunderstood once again.


    Alissa did not have the courage to hide her bubbling emotions at the moment. So, she rushed off in a hurry to get away from Zavier lest he saw her fidgeting like that.


    Zavier was left alone with his thoughts regarding her. He had a basic n in mind about how to go about her situation with her parents. He was sure that they would either retaliate against him or would deny his ims altogether but he was willing to take the risk. He had to get to know the hurdle that he would have to cross eventually as he was already in a rtionship with her.


    A little bitter he managed to crawl out of his thoughts and returned to the campfire where not long ago all of them had been having fun conversing with each other.


    But this time, it waspletely deserted. The fire was close to being extinguished so he raked the coal a little with a nearby stick and put in some new firewood to keep it going.


    He looked around but Valerie and Calista were nowhere to be seen. He went close to the tent of the girls and heard their voices. They were busy chattering among themselves.


    Zavier could feel that her arrival had given the team a sense of confidence; after all they now had two A rank mages to assist them in getting back home safely. There was no other guarantee that could make them feel any safer. The two magesbined even had the ability to take on an S-rank mission andplete it.


    Therefore, all of them were feeling especiallyfortable that night but since the girls had shifted the party to their tent, Zavier could only go back to his tent to get some well-deserved shut eye. He had been awake most of the time the previous night as well, so he was considerably tired and his eyelids were especially droopy. Heid down in his tent and tried to sleep through the girly chatter next door.


    It was a peaceful night for Zavier who had finally been able to rest without any worries.

 Chapter 68 Now Talk

    The very next day, all the members were well rested and had had their breakfast early. They were nning on travelling for the most part of the day since it was still three more days before they would have been able to reach Lyon city, their hometown. Since they were not expecting any more surprises or dys, it would take them the same amount of time to reach back to their school.


    Since the mission had been allotted by the school, they had to give their debrief regarding the mission to the school as well.


    As nned, they all set out as early as they could and kept a slightly faster pace on their way back. All of them had various ns for when they reached home. Valerie had to go for detoxification of the poison that was guing her while Calista wanted to take a hotfortable bath, for she had been out for about the same amount of time that they had, and that was a lot for any girl out in the wild.


    Dah didn''t reveal any such wish as she continued to be the ice queen. The person who had been anticipating their return home the most was undoubtedly the person who couldn''t bring herself to say it out loud, Alissa. She was both dreading and anticipating the moment when she would bring Zavier along to meet her parents. She had been fidgeting around in the same manner ever since Zavier had asked her to let him meet her parents. She had been thinking about how to introduce Zavier to her parents when she brought him to meet them.


    Should she introduce him as a ''friend'' or should she straight away tell them that he was the person she liked? She wanted to introduce him as her beloved but she was afraid that her parents wouldn''t agree to it or worse still, they might forbid her from meeting him again. Introducing him as a friend was a safe bet but she was afraid of hurting Zavier''s feelings. If only she had known the reason for Zavier meeting her parents, she wouldn''t have had to go through such mental agony.


    Zavier on the other hand was not as free as the rest of them to discuss his future ns. He was busy keeping an eye on the whole situation with the help of his clones.


    He wasmunicating with the clone having the perception system the whole time. Theposition of the poison that he had provided had been extremely helpful in the production of the anti-toxin that would be used by Valerie when they reached home. He had to make sure that it wasplete by the time they reached so that there won''t be any permanent effects on her body. The clone had been keeping an eye on the researchers and their progress. So far, they had been moving forward in the right direction and the antidote was almost within their reach unless they made some blunder.


    The other two clones were currently headed his way and Zavier could easily notice that they weren''t very far apart. The two parties were headed towards each other as they were travelling towards Lyon city while the two clones were headed towards them from Lyon city.


    The distance between them had been reducing with twice the normal speed. At the rate the both parties were moving, Zavier expected to meet up with his clones after an hour at the maximum if they maintained their current speed.


    Zavier couldn''t let his clonese close to him or his party fearing that Valerie and Calista might take them both to be hostile and might even attack them. Since they were his own people, his clones would have no choice but to surrender and get killed. Wouldn''t he suffer a loss in such a case?


    Therefore, he had ordered his clones to keep their distance from their party and follow them in the shadows. Since he was acting as the beacon, there was no need to maintain a close distance to keep the party in their line of sight. All they had to do was be avable in times of crisis and help out.


    Another reason why he wanted the clones by his side was that the clone with the Magus system had finally had a breakthrough in the ''Blood de'' skill.


    Through the clone, even Zavier had received the relevant skill and experience along with the memories. He had be just as good as the clone who had practiced the skill with all his might.


    When he received the memories of the skill, only then could he begin to imagine the power that he would be able to wield as he progressed in the skill. As it was a self harming skill, the power output would only increase with the sacrifice that he would have to make for it.


    Zavier was not the only happy person in the party. Each of them had been exceptionally cheerful since they had woken up. Zavier wondered what the girls had talked about at night that had made them so giddy in the morning.


    The reason was actually nothing more than the fact that there wouldn''t be any more attacks since they now had two A rank mages. Even the enemy would have to think before doing anything else.


    The sun was shining, the chill from the night had died down and a warm winter morning weed them in its bosom as they walked. It was peaceful all around. None of them was expecting an attack after their ranks had been strengthened, not even the most pessimistic of them, Valerie.


    But it had been raining bad luck for them ever since they had embarked upon this mission. Nothing else should have been expected as the unexpected event still took ce.


    Their route seemed to be blocked in front with a huge parasol stuck in the middle of the road, its canopy covering the sky and its shade looming over three chairs. Only one of the chairs had been upied by a yellow skinned beauty while the other two had been left empty.


    Zavier couldn''t recognize her in any way.. He had never seen her before but she had an uncanny resemnce to another yellow skinned woman he had seen before. She was definitely a bigger and more blessed version of the girl he knew, Shiranui.


    The woman was almost the same as Shiranui, the girl he had previously fought and lost to. The only differencesy in her even more exaggerated posture, her hips that had been pushed out to the extreme beyond their limits, and evenrger breasts that were barely contained by the tiny amount of clothes she had been wearing. Her clothes were somehow even more revealing than those of Shiranui.


    Zavier wondered whether it was some kind of family custom or some tradition that these girls were following. Otherwise, why would such a beautiful girls dress that way?


    If it were anyone else who was so alluring and right in front of him, Zavier would have stared at her until his eyes popped out of their sockets but this woman was different.


    Zavier could already sense the tension in the atmosphere. Even Valerie and Calista had broken into a sweat after a single sight of the yellow skinned woman. Zavier could sense that the woman must be a powerful opponent.


    Upon casting the very first look at the opponent, both Valerie and Calista had be apprehensive.


    "The three of you, no matter what happens you are not allowed toe close. Stay away from it all from now on."


    Valerie shouted out to them before she started to gather her own magic power, probably for defensive or evasive purposes.


    Zavier was shocked that even Valerie wasn''t sure about being able to take care of them.


    Thest time this had happened, she had cast a boundary around the three of them but this time she hadn''t done so. There could only have been one reason for such an action which was that she wasn''t sure that her boundary would be able to stop the enemy. In front of the enemy, she had lost all confidence.


    Zavier could finally begin to ept how terrible their enemy was this time. She was surely beyond S-rank.


    Zavier was a hundred percent sure that this was the murderous older sister of Shiranui who had probably killed her entire family to get her hands on Yasakani no Magatama. Only someone like that could be powerful enough to shatter the confidence of two genius A-rank mages.


    Before Valerie could get ready, Calista let out a helpless smile in her direction and said:


    "Leave it be. Can''t you sense it yet? It is of no use anymore. There is no escaping this."


    Valerie heard her words and her expressions twisted out of shape and she stopped taking her countermeasures. It seemed that the enemy had put them in a checkmate. There were no possible moves for them to escape out of the trap unscathed.


    Zavier soon understood the reason as well for he sensed two immense auras that were almost as powerful as that of the yellow skinned girl, though they fell slightly short of her.


    Three enemies who were as powerful as her could only mean that they had no chance of survival. His legs went weak with fear. Death was once again following after him. He wondered how many times it would take for him to escape the fear of death. Everytime he died he felt the same pain and anguish.


    The powerful aura of the enemy was bearing down on all of them equally. Dah seemed to be the most vulnerable. The strong headed girl was trying to push back against the overbearing aura and resultantly she was heavily suppressed. She almost copsed in the wake of that suppression.


    Alissa, who didn''t have a speck of magic in her, could not feel the pressure but she could judge what was happening based on the tense atmosphere and the expressions of her teammates.


    She was afraid too which was the reason that she chose to hide behind Zavier until the danger passed. In such an unfavorable situation, only Zavier could give her the sense of security that she needed.


    Valerie was feeling the same fear as Zavier but she had been a headstrong woman her entire life. She wouldn''t just show her vulnerability to her enemies in any situation.


    She acted all nonchnt and asked the woman under the parasol: "Are you trying to buy me and Calista a cup of coffee, Kyouko?"<sub> </sub>


    Valerie wanted to discuss a way out through negotiations if possible. She couldn''t put the lives of her students at stake.


    "Why not? Come sit."


    Both Valerie and Calista moved towards the two empty seats and faced off against Kyouko in the uing battle of words. They needed to convince her to let go of the students.


    Kyouko used the teapot on the table and poured coffee for the two of them.


    "Now talk."


    She was giving the two of them a chance to talk it out. Valerie and Calista looked towards each other and gave each other a nod.


    "We don''t need to fight each other here. You want the wooden box, I can hand it over to you without any trouble. You just have to back off."


    Valerie had finally put her pride down and had asked Kyouko to let them all go peacefully in return for the wooden box that they were after.


    Valerie had basicallyid down her career and her reputation as a mage. Handing over the property that was meant to be escorted would have given her a bad reputation in the industry, yet she had knowingly offered it to Kyouko to save the lives of her students.


    But sadly she was mistaken when she thought that Kyouko would back off if she got what she wanted. Rather she had wrongly assumed that Kyouko was after the wooden box.


    "Don''t act like you have to give it to me for me to take it. If I wanted that box, I wouldn''t need you to hand it over. I like taking things my own way. But don''t worry I don''t need that worthless box anyway. You can keep it for yourselves."


    "Then what do you want if not the box?"


    It was Calista who had spoken up this time.


    "I am looking for a girl¡­umm¡­that one." She pointed towards Alissa who had been looking at them after sticking her neck out from behind Zavier.


    "Why do you need her? She has no magical abilities at all."


    Valerie asked Kyouko because she wanted to know what it was that Kyouko was really after. She couldn''t bring herself to believe that Kyouko was really after Alissa. She thought that Kyouko must have a hidden purpose for doing so.


    "That''s none of your business. If you know then you know, if you don''t then you just don''t."


    Valerie showed a hardened expression on her face. She could have given her everything but she asked for the one thing Valerie couldn''t give her, her students.


    "Then it seems we are at an impasse. I can''t let you take her away, no matter what."


    At that moment Zavier had already sensed who the women were talking about. The nces that they cast towards Alissa gave him a brief idea regarding the true purpose of Kyouko. Although Valerie and Calista didn''t know what it was that Kyouko wanted from Alissa, Zavier was sure that it had something to do with the monster sealed inside Alissa.


    A sense of urgency developed inside him. He wanted his clones to be faster and get close to him as soon as possible. If things came down to it, he would have to step up in order to let them all get away. Therefore, he needed to be prepared.


    Both the women had already decided to not concede to Kyouko as soon as she had mentioned that her target was Alissa.


    Kyouko on the other hand did not feel any sense of urgency at all. She was taking her sweet time trying to convince the two A-rank mages to back off so she could achieve her ends easily. She didn''t want to have to deal with them as that would have onlyplicated the matter.


    Before she could begin to describe their situation to them, Kyouko was startled by the sound of an explosion in the vicinity. In fact, it came as a surprise to all of them.


    Valerie and Calista both simultaneously turned their heads and looked in the direction of the explosive sound. They threw out their senses in order to determine what was happening out there.


    Both of them noticed the same thing and their expressions changed to that of disbelief.


    The two who were tumbling with each other at that moment clearly had the energy signal of S-rank mages.


    Apart from the two with Kyouko, there should have been no one else there. Could it be that the two of them had started a fight among themselves?


    Before they could ask the question that was bubbling up inside their mind, Kyouko seemed to have seen through their thoughts and delivered the answer to them.


    "Of course, it is a given that she would be protected by someone of at least the S-rank. If there hadn''t been any such silent protectors, I would have been even more worried."


    Kyouko felt that it was only right that Alissa was being protected by someone of S-rank at the very least, given her potential. That''s why she had brought the two helpers with her as well, just in case the protectors were too strong for her to handle by herself.


    On the other hand, Valerie and Calista were having trouble trying to understand why an S-rank mage was protecting Alissa in secret?


    She was just a normal kid with no affinity for magic.


    Why would she need so much protection and from whom?


    It took a while for Zavier to notice what was happening. He tried to sense the third party as well and could barely make out two energies shing with each other.


    From the looks on the faces of Calista and Valerie, the new participant seemed to be on their side, so Zavier wasn''t too worried. It only gave him more confidence to escape with their lives.


    He was thinking that this was their chance to escape. While the other two were upied with the new entrant in the fight, he could try to handle Kyouko for a while so that the others could escape.


    At the same time Valerie was thinking of the same thing. How could she have let Zavier stay behind when she was there? She had already made up her mind to stay behind so as to give them a head start.


    "Don''t feel too optimistic about your situation. All of this is within my calctions. You think that you can escape from me with just your little ability, then dream on."

 Chapter 69 Under Control

    "That we have yet to see. We won''t know until we have tried it out and failed."


    Valerie snorted and spat her answer out in an utterly straightforward manner.


    "Don''t think that retaliation is the only course left open to you. You still have the chance. Why do you want to kill your other two students for one useless girl? If you continue to be stubborn, you will not only die yourselves but will also implicate the other students."


    Kyouko was trying to convince the two of them to back out and handover Alissa of their own volition because that will save her a lot of trouble.


    In fact, she was afraid of the revenge that woulde once she took out both Valerie and Calista toplete her objective. The school would definitely not let her go if sheid a hand on the students so she would have them at her tail once the job was done. Another behemoth that she was afraid of offending was the Adam family.


    Valerie being the genius of the Adam family was their precious one. If she wasted her in the course of bringing away Alissa, Kyouko knew that she would suffer from the mad retaliation of the Adam family until they had avenged her death.


    "My n is fool proof. Stop struggling and surrender if you want to avoid meaningless bloodshed."


    Therefore, Kyouko kept suggesting to the two of them to stop wasting time and surrender in order to avoid certain death that awaited them if they tried to fight back.


    "Why don''t you stop going after our student then? Wouldn''t that be the best method of stopping bloodshed?"


    Once again it was Valerie who retorted verbally against her which irritated Kyouko even further.


    "Stop being stubborn. Give up the girl and I will let you all leave. This is my final offer and is non-negotiable. You don''t have the power to resist me anyway."


    "Why don''t you keep that offer to yourself? As it stands, there are only two ways this will go; either you will die at my hands or I at yours."


    Kyouko was finally done. She knew that a falling out with the Adam family was inevitable at this point.


    She snorted in anger and dissatisfaction initially since things hadn''t gone as she had intended. But soon a terrifying smile appeared on her face that seemed to be hiding a terrifying demon underneath waiting to devour everything in its path. She nodded with a smile on her face like a primdy from an elite household and dabbed her mouth with a napkin, indicating that the negotiations hade to an end.


    The three women on the table got up at the same time as if by some previous arrangement and moved towards their respective camps.


    Valerie and Calista stood in front of their students while Kyouko carefully packed her things up from the table and got the parasol out of the way.


    No one could have imagined that this was only a prelude to the battle that was on the horizon.


    "You three, don''t even think of helping us. Stay away from us at all times. Do you understand?"


    All three of the students nodded at the same time and moved themselves further towards the back so as to not stray closer to the battlefield unknowingly.<sub> </sub>


    Surprisingly, Kyouko was not the first one to make a move. It was Valerie. She knew that only by seizing the initiative could the strong be brought to their knees.


    Kyouko had already been stronger than the two of thembined and if she was allowed to control the rhythm of the battle as well, they might as well have offered themselves up on a silver tter to her.


    But her attacks didn''t garner any surprise from Kyouko as if she had expected it. She stood at her ce and let Valerie attack all she wanted as if she was dealing with some random fly that was buzzing around her.


    Valerie hadn''t expected that her attacks would be so useless against an S-rank mage like her. She knew that she had to bring out the big guns if she wanted to take Kyouko out of the way.


    She looked at Calista towards her side and motioned her with her eyes. They had been friends for a while and actually knew each other quite well and could understand the tiniest of signals.


    "You take over and buy me some time to gather mana."


    Just when Calista was about to make her move, there was an explosion in the vicinity. This was not the direction that the two S-rank mages had been fighting in which meant that somewhere along the way, another fight of the same level had begun.


    It could have only meant that they had gotten another unexpected ally who was busy holding off another of Kyouko''s S-rank mages.


    Terrifying sounds kept ringing in the surroundings as if the entire forest was being ripped apart branch by branch. The terrifying might of S-rank mages pitted against each other wasn''t just for show. This was something at the level of a natural disaster that upended anything in.


    Zavier was the only one with enough spare time on his hand to notice the arrival of the new S-rank mage who had engaged the remaining opponent. Even then he had been unable to catch a look at the person. He had only sensed the energies shing in the distance so he couldn''t tell more about it.


    One thing that he was sure about was that he was keeping the other teammate of Kyouko froming back and wreaking havoc. Two S-rank mages would have torn through them in a matter of seconds. Fortunately, at the moment thepetition wasn''t as unfair.


    Kyouko who was engrossed in the battle didn''t even have the time to curse. She hadn''t anticipated that there would be two S-rank mages protecting Alissa from behind the shadows. It looked like she had underestimated her importance.


    Thinking everything was under her control, she had growncent beyondprehension. She had previously anticipated that there would be only one S-rank mage guarding Alissa, since using two would have been overkill. But there she was, staring at the mess of her own making. Her calctions had gone wrong for the first time in forever. It took some time for the facts to sink in but her mind seemed unable to process it.


    But she was not one to give up so readily and decided to put in her all to do her part first and stopped worrying about other things.


    Of course, her part included getting rid of the two pestering nuisances blocking her path to Alissa. Although they were weaker, they were somehow keeping up with her by taking supporting each other.


    Kyouko grew angrier that the two were dragging the fight, so she decided to turn it up a notch too since she had noticed that Valerie was going to make a big move. Valerie was the main offensive strength and she was busy casting while Calista protected her. Kyouko could tell that it had to be Valerie''s trump card, given the circumstances. She too git in position to protect herself.


    Kyouko pushed back the ground with her feet and rushed towards Calista who was standing in front of Valerie like her guardian.


    Calista began to raise her hands in slow motion and as if following the same motion, some nts sprouted from the ground beside her, vines that grew longer and thicker with each passing second, moving endlessly all around her.

 Chapter 70 Defence

    Calista might not have had enough offensive strength but her excellent crowd control abilities and her magical restrictions more than made up for it.


    She had always been a team yer who did not shine as bright when she worked alone. Her ability to change the rhythm of the battle, to control multiple enemies at once and an improvisable defence would have been an asset to anyone working with her.


    So, any team would have weed her with open arms had she shown any intention to join them but she had chosen to be a teacher at the school.


    The vines that had just broken ground could already be called trees based on their thickness and strength but were still as malleable and flexible like a vine would have been. They moved towards Kyouko who was rushing towards her in fury.


    Kyouko could not have cared any lesser about the iing vines. To her, this skill was like burning down grass. It came naturally to her. She showed a contemptuous smile that was supposed to both irritate and stress her out at the same time. Even though Kyouko considered Calista to be a small pest in her way, she wanted to thoroughly crush her for making it harder for her toplete the job.


    But Calista was too smart to fall for a trick like that. She had gone against many enemies albeit not as strong as Kyouko, but she had alwayse out on top because no one could challenge her survival capability. Her vitality was too strong both because she was proficient in nt-based magic and her elven heritage that made her even closer to nature.


    While her skills were an asset for survival and crowd control, they had surprisingly flexiblebat potential. She had a million ways to attack and restrict the opponent before they could even think of making a move. She was nning on dragging it out with Kyouko as well since she had no confidence in keeping her away otherwise.


    Her tree-like vines started to rotate and twist around each other before forming a rotating spear that grew stronger with each twist and roll like a rope. The spear was headed straight for Kyouko as she tried to approach Calista and would have pierced through her body if she didn''t reciprocate her attack.


    She had always known that this would not be enough to stop an S-rank mage like Kyouko.


    In fact, Calista was trying to force her to parry her attack so she didn''t have the time do anything else, like going after Valerie.


    Who were S-rank mages? They were top notch geniuses who had amazing battle potential because they had a powerful mind that was able to deduce the best alternative in any situation.


    Kyouko did not feel that the attack could do anything to her at all. She kept moving in her direction with a smile that was hiding the annoyance that Kyouko had begun to feel. More than that, it was the feeling of being bitten by a mosquito despite it being a tiny creature with no strength.


    The trees wrapped around her like an anaconda coils itself around its prey to strangle the breath out of her.


    Kyouko didn''t do anything at all. She wanted to crush her opponent''s spirits with her overwhelming power show.


    She revealed an insidious smile and used her fingers to flick in the direction of the trees and vines since she wasn''t able to use her arms while being tied down by the trees.


    That single flick turned out to be the spark that ignited all of the trees. The ck spark gave birth to a terrifying ck me that eroded the very existence of Calista''s attack.


    At first Calista had seemed happy thinking that her distraction had done its job but that spark burnt all her hope down like a thatched hut in a firestorm.


    Even Zavier and the girls were able to recognize the me. It was the same ck me that Shiranui had used that day when Dah and Zavier had both fought her.<sub> </sub>


    <o>,m The foliage that Calista had managed to conjure with much difficulty was being burnt away by the fire like it was nothing.</o>


    As soon as Kyouko got free from the hold of the vines, she spread her hands and two huge ck balls started to surface on top of them.


    Calista knew what she was nning to do, she wanted to wipe everything out in a single attack. She couldn''t let that happen in any case because that would have left Valerie out in the open and prone to the next attack.


    Kyouko swayed her hands in her direction and the two balls were thrown her way.


    She motioned her hands and a dome of vines and thick foliage started to grow all around her just in time before the two balls of me could have reached them. This was the only thing she could have done to protect herself and Valerie.


    The balls exploded into raging mes when they came into contact with the foliage that Calista had conjured up as a barrier.


    The ck me was creeping through the foliage like a hungry wolf wading through a sea of sheep leaving only carnage in its wake. There were holes springing up in her defence and she was busy patching it all up over and over again.


    She was holding on to the hope that the ck me would soon run out of energy and stop burning but that was too farfetched. She could not leave it all up to fate.


    So, Calista did the only thing she could, she held on. She continued to produce more vines and trees to keep the ck me from spreading over to their side. She was somehow keeping the defence strong but that was taking some toll on her body due to the excessive consumption.


    She had been casting continuously all this time after all.


    The ck me proved to be powerful beyond her means. It was nearly powerful enough to take her on many times over since all she had done to resist it until then, was to give it more food.


    The struggle between the two finally pushed Calista back and sent her flying back and forth as Kyouko watched on in amusement with a sadistic smile on her face.


    Since she was unable to hold the barrier around herself and Valerie at the same time, she withdrew the barrier around herself and let it all burn. She only focused on protecting Valerie through the barrier and dodged the enemy attacks with her superior movement skills. She was as light as a buck springing around in the meadows.


    Calista had been overburdened before, but now that she had chosen to focus on Valerie, her vigor still remained strong.


    Even that was only a matter of time. She had patched up the barrier tens of times before she was overpowered by the me and was sent flying backwards in an explosion of dirt and ash.


    Calista was horrified to see that the ck me had been pushing her body backwards with the force of the explosion and she was headed straight in the direction where Valerie was standing.


    She wanted to stop her momentum somehow. In desperation, she raised some vines that grabbed hold of her midway in the air but the me razed them all to ashes crushing thest of her efforts.

 Chapter 71 Genius

    She closed her eyes with weariness, afraid that she had ruined the chance for Valerie toplete her casting.


    But the crash that she had been anticipating never came. Her momentum slowed down and she came to a halt before the unthinkable could have happened.


    When she opened her eyes, white color reflected in her retina as if she had seen something excessively bright.


    She felt as if she had been blinded by the light but her sight returned to normal after that and she saw the light for what it truly was.


    It was a white me that felt bone chillingly cold and had a bluish centre with a snow-white exterioryer.


    She was relieved to see the me that was wrapped around her and was busy repelling the ck me.


    Calista could have recognized that me even if it had been one of her dreams. This me had managed to beat the ck me of her student previously so she was aware of its prowess. It was an exact antithesis to Kyouko''s.


    The ck me was like a waterfall falling into an endless abyss as it was being devoured by the cold me which managed to break the momentum of Calista as well and stopped her from interrupting Valerie in her cast.


    Calista cast a nce at Zavier which was full of gratefulness. She knew that the White me hade from him.


    This slight interaction was witnessed by Kyouko who was already close to freezing point after her me had been stopped.


    She was not shocked that her me had been stopped but that the thing that had stopped it was none other than "Cold ze". A skill that was even harder to master than her ck me and was enough to stop her me from doing any damage at all.


    Kyouko was afraid that the skill had belonged to Calista who had only revealed her trump card at that moment. But then she saw Calista looking towards Zavier at her back.


    It was then that she found out who the skill actually belonged to. It was none other than one of the students standing inconspicuously at the back.


    Kyouko didn''t feel angry anymore. Rather she felt relieved at this oue. Had it been Calista who had cast the skill, it would have ruined her fighting capability against her. Thankfully for her, that wasn''t the case.


    As for the puny Cold ze cast by the kid, Kyouko had the perfect way to crush his spirit.


    Though he was on the opposite side, Kyouko had no choice but to acknowledge that Zavier was indeed a prodigy, a prodigy who could one day have surpassed herself.


    Learning Cold ze at such a young age was no easy feat after all. His potential would have been endless had he not showed it to her then.


    Kyouko didn''t let her ck me extinguish and gave it more magic power to fight against the opposing Cold ze.<sub> </sub>


    Zavier had already started to sweat from the effort that it was taking him to keep the ck me at bay.


    At the beginning it had been as easy as the flick of his finger but with the passage of time, the me continued to grow stronger while he was unable to endure the increasing energy contained within his white bone-chilling me after devouring the ck me repeatedly.


    Kyouko on the other hand looked as leisurely as she could. She had been overpowering Calista without even breaking a sweat. And now even the "Cold ze" that had momentarily stopped her was close to losing its ground against the ck me.


    Kyouko stared at Calista with a smile that hid her malicious intentions she was harboring.


    "I have to say that I''m impressed. Hoh¡­do not be happy too soon¡­I wasn''t talking about you; I was talking about that student of yours. It''s not every day that you find someone this talented and aplished at magic at his age."


    Calista''s face twisted in anxiety because she knew what woulde out of Kyouko''s mouth next. She felt that it would have been better had Zavier not helped them. Then she wouldn''t have had to face a situation where she had to choose between her student and Valerie.


    She gritted her teeth and stared at Kyouko with reddish eyes, looking for an opening to make her move.


    But how could Kyouko have left any openings?


    She was in perfect control of herself unlike Calista who was already drowning in a sea of worries. Worried about Valerie, worried about herself, worried about Alissa, and now she had to be worried about Kyouko killing Zavier too for he had shown his true potential that was threatening to Kyouko who wanted to strangle him in the cradle lest he grow up to be a threat to her safety in the future.


    "I haven''t seen "Cold ze" of this level in a long while. You must be very proud of yourself kid, for it is not something that just any genius can do. You have a talent that even I cannot ignore, and your potential is among the highest I have ever seen. However, unfortunately for the both of us, you are standing on the opposite side. So, if I were to let you go today, wouldn''t thatpromise my mental ability and my decision-making skills?


    Therefore, I have decided that instead of ignoring you like I usually would have so you would die in the hands of someone crueller than myself; I will grant you the honor of being killed off by my own hands. Be grateful, it is your reward for being so talented. You have earned the honor with your own genius."


    Kyouko burst intoughter after her monologue but nobody else found it funny, especially Calista and Zavier who found it rather gut wrenching that Zavier too had be one of her prime targets after he had shown what he was capable of.


    Zavier had no energy in him to retort to her excessive gift. If he had had the energy to respond, he would have definitely returned the same courtesy to her.


    He had his hands full trying to block the ck me. But suddenly everything changed, the me that had been trying to resist and fight back against his white me, stopped resisting and allowed itself to be devoured endlessly by the white me. It felt as if it had given up but the reality was far away from it.


    The Cold ze was in fact more powerful when it came to the hierarchy of skills but the level that it had been developed to had been far shorterpared to the ck me. Zavier had just gotten it a while back while Kyouko had been practicing the same art for as long as she had been a mage which was quite long considering that she was older than even Valerie.


    Not all mages advanced at the speed that Zavier was progressing. They had to hone their talent from their childhood and advanced step by step until they finally achieved their goal. He on the other hand had just be a mage in a single day without even lifting a finger. So, it was only natural to assume that Kyouko had practiced the skill since childhood just as Shiranui was doing after her.


    Therefore, the output of skill was definitely greater than that of Zavier. Most importantly, her magic power was as vast as the sea while Zavier''s was more like a little well. He was nowhere close to her league yet he had walked into the yground of the professionals somehow.

 Chapter 72 Eyes

    Kyouko increased the input of magic power into her ck me and produced it endlessly, feeding it to the Cold ze with an intense look in her eyes, She wanted to figure out the limit of the skill cast by Zavier and wanted to crush his spirit at the same time.


    Zavier on the other hand had a feeling of disgust in his mind. He didn''t know from where the feeling came from but he felt that it was the emotion of the Cold ze that he had been wielding. It was feeling disgust at being fed the ck me in such a huge quantity.


    Zavier could only feel sorry for it and continued trying to maintain the status quo so as to give more time to Valerie who was still busy gathering up her magic. Moreover, his intervention had also given Calista the breathing room that she had so desperately needed until then.


    But there was a limit to everything and soon the Cold ze felt as if it was full and could no longer absorb the ck me without any consequences. It was close to bursting apart. The reason for this was not because the cold me was weaker but because the caster was weak.


    Zavier was unable to handle the tremendous amount of magical energy that was now contained inside the white me. Kyouko had injected a huge amount of her own magical energy inside the Cold ze through the help of the ck me that it had been devouring endlessly. Originally all of it should have been burnt off inside the Cold ze, but the energy it could draw from the caster had been minimum. So, the mana channelled by Kyouko had gathered up on the inside and had grown to be a behemoth.


    Zavier could no longer contain it and the explosion that took ce as a result almost blew the whole ce into smithereens. The explosion was even more intense than the explosion caused by Kyouko''s ck me earlier.


    Thankfully, Calista could see what had been happening even if Zavier himself had been unaware. She was already prepared for the oue and had prepared a shield for herself and the students. Thanks to that, no one suffered any harm or injury. After the firestorm had passed, the shield finally turned into ashes and was blown away by the wind.


    There was silence all around and it was hard to hear any sound at all. That was because even the air itself had been burned to nothing. The vacuum in its ce couldn''t transmit sound at all. It was only a whileter that their hearing sound returned and he could hear Calista shouting something to him.


    "¡­back. What you have done is enough. Let her take over now. It seems that she is ready."


    Zavier understood what she was trying to tell him so he went back to protecting the two girls with him and let the teachers do the fighting once again.


    The fight earlier had taught him how difficult it truly was to fight against opponents who were stronger than himself. He was still bound by limitations when the level of his opponents continued to increase.


    Considering that he had already gotten involved with Alissa, her enemies had naturally be his enemies as well. there was no way that he was going to leave her alone even if he had to pay an arm and a leg for it.


    The only choice he had was to grow stronger and increase his rank but the problem that he was faced with was that his enemies were already at the peak of this world while he was just beginning. Even if he wanted to be left alone, he got caught up in schemes that either targeted him or were rted to him. To catch up to them, he had to have the same Magus rank at the very least, or at least the fighting capability of the same level.


    When the cosmic consciousness had told him that he would have the greatest potential of improvement in the whole world, he had never told him how difficult it would actually be.<sub> </sub>


    What use was fighting potential when the enemies were so much stronger than yourself. The only way forward was to improve fighting capability and by making use of that potential that he had been given after birth; after all, even the most excellent of skills would fail in front of absolute power if it was not backed by enough magical prowess.


    Fortunately for him, they had sessfully managed to hold her back till the time Valerie was ready. Valerie had finished gathering the magic power for her ultimate trump card.


    As soon as she opened her eyes, a golden sh escaped her eyes. Her eyes had turned a brilliant golden color that was exceptionally radiant and resplendent like the sun at its strongest. But unlike the sun, it was easier to look into her eyes and gave one a sense of peace and serenity just like the warmth that could only be felt when amidst friends and family.


    In fact, they looked kind and mercifulpared to her normal cold self. It was like her cold temperament had receded towards the back somehow and her body had been taken over by a golden buddha.


    Valerie raised her both palms from the sides of her body and brought them together in front of her chest. It was like she was praying to the heavens for the peace and splendor of all mankind just like a devout nun or a merciful buddha.


    As soon as she revealed the stance, the careless eyes of Kyouko finally revealed a serious gleam. She had anticipated the danger that the move might bring her. She might not have known Valerie personally enough to know about her strongest skill, but she definitely knew most of the ultimate skills of the Adam family.


    This was without a doubt one of those skills and she had to make preparations to defend against that. Even if the caster was weaker, the skill was powerful enough to make up the difference.


    Zavier who had been under the pressure of Kyouko since the fight began, immediately felt the change in the atmosphere.


    The wilful and overbearing magical power was being pushed away by an almost sacred and divine aura that had finally unleased its authority to cleanse the world of the horrendous aura that had been guing the natural order of things.


    Zavier felt awe and inspiration for the first time since he hade to this world. He had received only the best of resources since he hade to this world.


    He had any and all the skills at his disposal so he had never bothered what trump cards others in the world held. His knowledge regarding the strength ceiling of the world was only elementary. He had never perceived it from the point of view of the strong.


    He had believed himself to have the very best of all the things but witnessing the miracle in front of him opened his eyes to the reality of it all. He was nowhere close enough.


    The problem didn''t lie with the system; the problem was with him and the time that he had spent learning magic. He was not capable of wielding such magic anyway. He still remembered the system messages that he had received when he had asked to find a skill that would make him stronger in the shortest of durations.

 Chapter 73 Strength

    The list that the system had had to look through to find Blood de for him had consisted of billions of skills and most of them had been rejected because his rank had been too low.


    If his rank had been even close to Valerie''s he would have been able to perform the same skills with even more proficiency than she could. Of that, he was sure.


    He couldn''t help butment the low rank that he was stuck with for the moment. At the same time, he vowed to himself that he would do his best to increase his rank after he escaped and reached home safely.


    While he was busy plotting the chart of his future course, Dah who had been with him for the entire duration had been suppressed by the horrid aura so badly that she had been nauseous the entire time and had found it hard to even breathe.


    The divine power that Valerie was releasing had calmed her down and her physical distress vanished as if it hadn''t existed at all. Moreover, she felt morefortable by the second just by being in the presence of the sacred aura that was being released by Valerie.


    Dah started whispering to Zavier since she had seen the dumbfounded expression of Zavier as he stared at his aunt. She felt that it was quite incredulous how two people who lived together could be so ignorant about each other. The aunt hadn''t known that Zavier could not only practice magic but was also so good at it while the nephew knew nothing about howpetent his aunt was and what her signature skills were.


    Even she had known themon knowledge about Valerie that she had found when she had looked into her which wasn''t very hard because Valerie was quite famous for this skill.


    She stared at Zavier for a while and decided to tell him some of the information that she had gathered about his aunt.


    "Teacher Valerie is actually quite famous for this skill of hers. Do you know what a sacred skill is?"


    Zavier shook his head in ignorance while Dah wanted to stuff her face in the sand. She was wondering which mountain had this guy lived his entire life to have be this ignorant about the world. Even kids these days knew what a sacred skill was and dreamed of having one of their own and yet this highly talented genius was ignorant of it.


    Dah wondered if he was actually that ignorant or he was just pretending to be dumb and his acting skills had already reached the pinnacle. Whatever it was, she didn''t want to delve into it too deep. She figured that he must have had his reasons for hiding it even from his family.


    She took a deep breath and began anew.


    "In this world there isn''t much difference when ites to the gap between ranks when ites to magic. It is only a figure of how much mana you can wield, but there is a huge gap when ites to the difference between A rank and S rank mages. The difference is the sacred skill. It is the dividing line between the A rank and the S rank. Only the magicians who could control the sacred energy proficiently could be called S-rank mages. The skill that Teacher Valerie just cast is called ''Vestal''s Pray''. It is the skill that is exclusive to Teacher Valerie, meaning that there is no one else that has learned such a technique in the current world."


    Dah thought that Zavier would look amazed but instead he showed a confused expression as if he hadn''t understood something. Dah felt that she must have given him too much credit since he was unable to understand even such a thing.<sub> </sub>


    "Then wouldn''t she be an S ss mage ording to what you just said. She has already learned a sacred skill."


    Dah finally understood the reason for his confusion and finally felt at ease considering that she had almostbelled him to be an imbecile without even giving him a chance to exin.


    "She hasn''t got enough control over the energy as you have seen for yourself. She had to gather the energy slowly just to cast this one skill. Though I am sure that if she isn''t already an S rank mage, she is the closest to reaching it in the current world as she is the only A-rank mage who is able to cast a sacred skill."


    Only through her words did Zavier gather how awesomely talented and prodigious Valerie actually was. What he had previously witnessed or heard about her didn''t evene close to describing her true potential.


    Zavier could feel his own horizons expanding with every word that Dah uttered. He only now begun to acknowledge and appreciate what he had been given. He had been given the most terrifying potential that this world had ever seen. If he managed to reach the peak in any of the systems, he would definitely be far beyond the peak of this world.


    When Zavier saw the stance that Valerie had taken to cast the skill, he had thought that the skill must have been some kind of buff skill that raised offensive attributes or some kind of protection spell given the feeling of intimacy andfort that all of them had been feeling ever since she released her aura.


    But what transpired next, shook his beliefs and forecasts to the very core. He had failed to consider that the skill had never been cast with them as the target so they couldn''t feel how oppressive the skill truly was. Only Kyouko who was racking up her defences knew the horror of it.


    Zavier witnessed the execution of skill that practically rained down palms from the sky. It was nowhere close to the merciful and kind aura that Valerie emitted nor was it a buff skill. It was a purely offensive skill that rained heavenly wrath on to the target in session.


    The current Valerie had numerous golden palms behind her at the moment. Her figure seemed to be too small whenpared with the palms that floated behind her but there was no doubt that at that moment, she was the only deity there and the palms all formed the essence of her wrath.


    Divine golden palms rained down one after the other and fell on Kyouko as she tried to resist with a shield barrier that she had cast for herself with the ck me. The result was that the barrier dissipated with the very first hit and was blown to nothingness.


    The second palm managed to break down all her defences and almost managed to reach her body. But before it could haveid her body to waste, Kyouko managed to dodge it at thest moment.


    Kyouko had figured out the strength of the palm from the first hit that had dissipated her me barrier and had therefore known that she didn''t have the strength to defend against it at all.


    However, the attack didn''t stop just because she managed to avoid the first and second hit. It was a volley of attacks each stronger than thest. Following the second came the third, the fourth and the fifth and so on. The palms kept thrusting towards the punching bag that Kyouko had be and each and every hitnded on her squarely since she had been unable to escape.

 Chapter 74 God’s Gift

    She only managed to escape by dodging the first few hits but soon was ovee by the sheer number of the attacks that had been waiting for her.


    The earth around her quaked and trembled. Vibrations could be felt in the whole forest as if the forest itself was throbbing but nobody could be sure what was happening at ground Zero since the cloud of sand and dirt and obscured it from the vision of those who were busy witnessing the fight.


    The golden light vanished but the dust had yet to settle down so nothing could be assumed immediately.


    They were all waiting for the dust clouds to scatter in order to determine the status of Kyouko who had been so heavily bombarded by the golden palms.


    This was not the first time that Calista had seen this skill of Valerie but every time she saw it, it gave her the same sense of awe and worship as it was giving her now. She was feeling very optimistic about the result. Hopefully, Kyouko would have perished but even if they were lucky, she should at least be heavily injured and her battle capabilities should have been lowered.


    The silence after the attack had made it impossible to discern what had happened. They could only wait.


    "Is it over? Did it actually work?"


    Calista murmured to herself as if she couldn''t bring herself to believe it all.


    Just then the ominous silence was broken by a sharp sound that originated from the ground zero. The ground had clearly sunk in and the Kyouko was currently busy getting out of the crater that she had been smashed into.


    A wave of me erupted from around her and the surrounding dust clouds produced a shattering sound as they fell on the ground. The high temperature of the me had caused the sand to turn into ss which had then fallen onto the ground.


    As soon as the sight was restored, the first thing that they saw was a string of ck beads that were revolving around Kyouko seemingly floating in the air around her.


    "If I didn''t have the Yasakani no Magatama, I really might have been killed by you. I am impressed. You really didn''t hold back."


    As she said that, she dusted off her clothes in an attempt to show that nothing had happened to her at all.


    Other than her slightly tattered clothing, her body had no signs of physical injury at all. The Magatamas revolving around her had born the brunt of the attack from the looks of it.


    Calista could not bring herself to believe it at all. She had seen it for herself. There was no way that an attack of that level was unable to harm her. She had thought that the worst-case scenario would be that Kyouko would be injured and not dead but fate had something else in store it seemed. The enemy wasn''t even dazed in the wake of the power that Valerie had released.


    Calista thought that they might have underestimated Kyouko by assuming her to be an S-rank mage. With the power of the imperial regalia, she was clearly stronger than most S-rank mages.


    Valerie on the other hand did not reveal any expression at all despite the frustration that she had been feeling on the inside. This had been her strongest technique but Kyouko had managed to guard against it with the Yasakani no Magatama.<sub> </sub>


    Zavier too felt that this was a bit too much. Just how powerful were the imperial regalia? They were practically game breaking if they were on the same level as the Yasakani no Magatama.


    Only now did he understand why she had killed her whole family for it. It was just that powerful.


    Zavier could do nothing in a fight of this calibre so he was hanging at the back waiting for Valerie''s signal regarding their next move. He felt that escaping was the best option in the current scenario but that was only possible if someone could hold Kyouko back and stop her from pursuing the rest.


    Zavier had been prepared to take on that duty since this death meant nothing at all. His consciousness could travel to his other clone at the moment of his death. Therefore, he didn''t want anyone else to stay back.


    Kyouko''s voice rang again and brought him back to reality. She was staring right at Valerie with her cold gaze. Though Valerie was panting due to excessive consumption, she revealed not the least bit of regret, helplessness or fear. She stood straight with an erect back, unwilling to bow down.


    "You might have risen to be the most peerless mage among your generation, if you had more time. You might even have be better than I ever was but luck is also a kind of strength. And as luck has it, I was born earlier than you were. So, I have be stronger than you are. And you on the other hand would die a horrible death because of the rotten luck that you were born with and your repulsive instinct to protect those who are weak."


    Kyouko raise her right hand and her body began to float while the Magatamas that had been revolving around her sped up and released a dark light.


    "Since you have such potential, you have earned my respect. I would love to give you a gift as a token of my respect for you."


    With that she stopped talking and started to chant inaudibly but the movement of her lips revealed what she was up to. With each passing second the Magatamas started to spin faster and the light emitted by them became more and more dense.


    The aura that was being emitted was nothing like that of Valerie. It was purely malicious and harmful and had the same oppressive air like before. But Zavier felt that the attack had been at the same level as that of Valerie''s sacred skill.


    The Magatamas gathered up in front of her and started to stick to each other with more of her chanting. The resulting mass scrunched up together to form a dark round mass the size of a watermelon.


    "This skill of mine is called ''God''s Gift'' and just like your ''Vestal''s Pray'', it is a skill that is exclusive to me. Though mine is not as famous as yours because those who have everid their eyes on it have already left ahead for the yellow springs. You will be able to meet them soon enough. This is my gift for you. Enjoy it while you can."


    As soon as she finished talking, she released the dense ck sphere and it shot straight in the direction of Valerie like a bullet shot out of a gun.


    Valerie had long seen through the power hidden inside the ck ball but she didn''t intend to evade it at all.


    Zavier had been constantly looking at her and was worried that she might not be able to handle the attack after herst attack but the unmoved expression on her face gave him the impression that she had something else up her sleeve. Otherwise, there was no way she could have stayed that calm.


    He had been waiting for her to make a move or try to evade the uing attack but how could he have known that Valerie had already decided on taking the attack head on so that she could keep all of them safe.

 Chapter 75 In Time

    If she tried to evade the attack, all of them would have been danger. Valerie knew that Kyouko had intended it to be that way. It was a choice that both Kyouko and her knew didn''t exist. The result was inevitable.


    Therefore, she could do the only thing she could. She mobilized the golden palms behind her in an attempt to stop the attack in its way. One after the other the golden palms wrapped themselves around the ck sphere and tried to contain the power that was about to erupt from within.


    Cracks began to appear on the golden palms and they started to shatter on by one while the oppressive force being felt from the sphere increased in intensity with the same proportion.


    The sphere began to vibrate while the light hidden on the inside of the sphere began to sprout from within. The vibrating sphere continuously collided with the palms. The shockwaves from the collision almost sent Zavier flying even though he had been standing so far away from the centre of it all. He could only imagine what it was like for Valerie who was at the centre of it.


    ? Even Calista had to brace herself with her vines as the intensity of the shockwaves kept on increasing. The palms were shattering with an increasing pace but somehow theyers of the golden palms were holding it back.


    But then the light hidden inside the ball tore its way out and Zavier knew what was about toe next. The sphere was about to explode and the energy contained within that ball was endless. His legs grew weak at the feedback that he had received from his transcendent senses towards this skill called ''God''s gift''.


    Zavier could not hold back his fear any longer and shouted at the top of his voice hoping that Valerie would let go of the madness and would retreat.


    "Get back Valerie, or you will die. This is not something you can handle."


    Valerie acted as if she hadn''t heard anything. She continued to try to hold the sphere back but when the light escaped from its centre it tore down any and all defenses in its way.


    Zavier thought that it was like the big bang was happening all over again. The first explosion amidst darkness that gave birth to light and then made up all life except that was the genesis of all things and this was meant to be the end of everything.


    The light prated the palms wrapped around it and blinded everyone as if the sun had stepped down on earth from the sky. The air itself was boiling and steam was rising up from the ground, the earth was both scorched and parched like that in a desert.


    Valerie who was the target of it all had already felt that she had reached her limit and was intent on dying to protect her friend and her students who were at the moment looking at her back.


    Time seemed to have slowed down for her, the light that was heading her way was taking a long time to reach her. She ignored the stinging pain in her eyelids and closed her eyes to avoid the re of the bright light and weed it with open arms thinking that her time hade.


    However, the instant seemed to have passed but there was no pain at all. Valerie wondered if she had been instantly vaporized so she hadn''t felt anything at all.


    She opened her eyes but to her astonishment, nothing like that had happened since the light had never reached her at all. She was still standing in her ce while the whole area around her was either scorched, parched or still burning.


    The heat had yet to dissipate and it was hard to speak but the scene in front of her was a memory she knew would be etched in her heart forever.


    In front of her stood two individuals. One wearing a mask and one who was very familiar to her and yet she felt that she knew nothing about him at all. Zavier had always been surprising her in simr ways at the most critical of moments.


    His cards were endless and he could always bring about the most fortunate of results.


    She could see that their clothes were in tatters and their skin was burnt but they had taken the brunt of the damage in her stead. They had protected her with their life on the line.<sub> </sub>


    "Why don''t you listen? I told you that I would protect you¡­didn''t I?"


    Zavier had looked back to stare at her with a smile on his face and uttered somewhat charmingly amidst all the pain that he was feeling.


    Her eyes widened in shock and she realized that at some point, in her sight another figure had ovepped with his own and a smile formed on her face. A genuine smile that she had hardly ever shown anyone in forever. Her tears started to drip but her smile did not diminish in the slightest. She was just that excited.


    Valerie was mesmerized in that instant. She had never felt that Zavier had been this handsome ever before. Even though he was dressed in rags, half burnt and had singed hair, he still looked more endearing to her than ever before.


    Obviously, the masked man was none other than one of his clones who had arrived just in time before God''s gift hadnded on Valerie.


    The clone with the Magus system had already learned Blood de and his corpse that was under the control of the clone with the Necromancer system also learned it through the inheritance as per the rules of raising the dead decreed in the necromancer system.


    Since the clone with the necromancer''s system had no fighting potential of his own, he stayed on the outskirts and hid himself while controlling the corpse remotely.


    Both the corpse and the clone with the Magus system made it to them just before something disastrous could have happened.


    When they noticed that Valerie was so close to death, the clone with the necromancer system ordered the corpse to release "Blood Wall". It was a defensive manoeuvre in the Blood de battle skill that the clone had managed to learn.


    The wall of blood had been erected from the blood still contained in the corpse. On the other hand, the clone with the Magus system refrained from taking any action. He was to act only in case of an emergency.


    As soon as the light hit the bloody curtain, it pierced through it after a little resistance. Its momentum had been immense.


    Since the energy was still heading towards them, the corpse cast another "Blood Wall" in session but this time it consumed all its flesh and blood in order to cast the skill. The clone with the necromancer system managed to barely stop God''s gift with the help of the second wall by sacrificing Zavier''s corpse.


    Since the body had been destroyed and nothing of it remained, Zavier took advantage of themotion and entered the dust clouds following the aftermath.


    "System, enable the shared mode at once."


    [Sharing mode has been sessfully enabled.]


    [You are now sharing your senses with four other clones.]


    Zavier felt a flood of information through his consciousness but he managed to focus on the information that he had needed. He had been keeping tabs on what was happening through the senses of his clone.


    So, when the dust settled, he was already beside her and had known everything that had happened at thest second.

 Chapter 76 Insane Status

    <o>,m So, when the dust settled, he was already beside her and had known everything that had happened in thest second before god''s gift hadnded.</o>


    Calista was shocked to see that there was a masked man next to Zavier. She hadn''t felt his arrival at all amidst all the confusion and the ruckus caused by god''s gift.


    But she was happy to see that at least it was an unexpected ally this time who hade to support them instead of an enemy that might have bolstered Kyouko''s ranks even further.


    The one who was the most surprised at this moment was someone who had actually managed to catch a glimpse of the skill that had stopped her god''s gift.


    It was something that she had thought that she wouldn''t be able to witness in her entire lifetime. Because only someone who was the most desperate and the most talented individual at the same time had it in him to even think about the skill known as Blood de.


    At one point she too had been obsessed with looking for ways to increase her strength exponentially in the fastest way possible but her enthusiasm had onlysted until she had found out about the side effects of the skill.


    At that time, she had thought that only a madmen would choose such a skill that sacrificed the future of the individual for present strength.


    But now she was witnessing one such individual right in front of her; someone who had not only learnt Blood de but was even fighting on the battlefield at the expense of his life.


    Her face could not shake off the surprise she was feeling. She wondered what it was that drove him to learn such a self-harming skill when he was such a prodigy when it came to magic.


    "Is he really a madman?"


    Kyouko could only wonder to herself regarding that question because at the moment she felt that it was unnecessary to ask such questions.


    "Color me surprised. I wonder if it is your foolishness or your madness. No matter your reason for learning this skill, let me tell you something out of respect for your determination. Even the craziest of my fellows would have thought twice before even looking at a skill like ''Blood de''. I wonder if you will be the one to break the taboo or will you sumb to an early grave as well."


    "You don''t have to worry about that."


    Zavier retorted with an expressionless face.


    "Of course, I don''t. after all, you won''t be living past today. If you had practiced the skill for a little longer than you might have been able to unleash enough of your potential to bring me down but the way that you are now, you are only a slightly stronger and berserk ant; but an ant nheless."


    Zavier could not help but agree with her. It was ''time'' once again that was not on his side. He was barely equivalent to a mage of C rank. Even if there were two of them, they could hardly make a dent on a battlefield filled with S-rank and A-rank mages.


    Zavier wondered if he had been sent to a wrong era. This wasn''t what he had been promised. He had been given a life that could be used as apensation for his regrets. But following his birth, he had already died twice and from the looks of it, it didn''t seem like that was thest of it either.


    He was now facing an S-rank mage with the strength of two C-rank mages.


    [User can activate the ''Insane'' status to increase his strength further.]


    Zavier of course knew what the insane status was but he had not tried it before because it was a time constrained ability that gave him manifolds power in return for a period of intense weakness afterwards provided that he didn''t consume all his life force by then.


    Zavier didn''t feel that it was the best option for him to use the insane status of the Blood de skill because he knew that it was supposed to be the veryst resort. Using it at such an early stage, would have only led to a disaster that would have resulted in him dying a horrible death.


    As such he wanted to dy it as much as he could. But the more he looked for an alternative way to survive the more he got convinced that the only feasible option avable to him at the moment was to activate the insane status.


    Valerie had already exhausted all her energy in casting Vestal''s pray earlier. Despite her ability to cast a sacred skill, she was still an A rank mage that was only capable of forcibly casting the sacred skill. She was not truly an S rank mage and had to pay some price for activating such a demanding skill. It was terribly difficult to control the sacred energy that was required for casting a skill of that calibre.


    Other than her there was only Calista who was an incredible A rank mage but she had expertise in a different way ofbat. She was suited towards group fights instead of one on one showdown like the way they were facing.<sub> </sub>


    Since they had no one, Zavier had to take over otherwise one of them would have ended up dead at the very least while trying to cause a distraction for the others to escape.


    Zavier took a deep breath and asked the system the question that he had been meaning to ask since he himself did not know the answer to.


    "What is the maximum time that I can sustain the insane status for in my condition?"


    [User can barely hold on for 180 seconds at the maximum considering the current condition of the body and the magic rank provided that the user does not end up consuming all his blood before the time limit expires in which case the user will fall into aatose state.]


    Zavier had anticipated that the limit would be short considering that his power was being increased manifolds and he who had been a mere student at the moment would be instantly equivalent to the two teachers who hade with him.


    Zavier finally made up his mind and asked the system to go ahead and activate the insane status for him. He knew that Kyouko had already made her mind to not let go of him and Valerie both since they could eventually threaten her. Therefore, if he wanted to survive, he had to make sure that he had enough power to stand up to Kyouko and beat her.


    The only other way led him towards a horrible death so he wanted to go out on his own terms at the very least.


    As soon as he initiated the insane status of the Blood de skill, he felt that all the blood in his body had been reced by burning and scaldingva. He could feel how close he was to immting at the pace that he was overworking his body. The unimaginable pain and the difort of being burnt from the inside out was the least of his worries though. He was wondering if his true limit truly was the three minutes that he had been led to believe.


    At the moment he was having difficulty even breathing, how was he supposed tost three minutes in such a condition.


    But then all his questions were answered by his body itself. The pain that he was feeling was sent into the background as if it was never there.


    It was then that he understood that the so-called ''Insane'' status was nothing more than fooling the body into using all itstent potential. Since consuming thetent potential was harmful to the body, there were natural fail safes in ce to stop such a thing from ever urring until and unless it was a life and death situation.


    Zavier had heard in his previous life that there were some people who would suddenly break out with enormous power in the middle of a crisis situation in order to save their own or someone else''s life. Someone had lifted a 1-ton stone; someone moved faster than what was humanly possible and someone managed to survive below the rubble of a fallen building for a week long until they were excavated from below the heavy masster.


    It was only now that he felt what all of them might have actually done. They had made their body ignore the pain that they felt by overclocking their body and had eventually forced their bodies into using itstent potential.


    As soon as Zavier''s pain vanished, the inhibitors in his body were all released and he felt that he had fallen into an ocean of blood that was constantly filling him up with unimaginable power; a power that he longed for but had yet to even get close to.


    The muscles on his body all bulged with the unbelievable power and strength that had been forced into them as a result of the activation of the insane status. Nerves all over his body could be seen because his whole body was under immense stress but was unaware of it. The pain was the key to the inhibitors putting everything back into ce but when it was switched off, there was nothing to stop Zavier from going berserk.


    "Three minutes; I have to make them count."


    It was not only that one Zavier who activated the ''Insane'' status either. The clone with the magus system also activated it at the same time as him. Therefore, there were now two of them who were at least equivalent to an A rank mage. They were more than enough to maintain the status quo just as Valerie and Calista had managed to hold off Kyouko for a while on their own.


    Zavier felt that he was on the verge of bursting out in extreme anger and madness. His eyes grew more ferocious and bloodshot, his pupils dted as if he was in some kind of trance. In reality, Zavier was experiencing the feeling where his world had slowed down for the very first time. His mind was taking in things all at once and was processing them as if it were nothing and yet instead of feeling the amazement and the emanating strength; all that Zavier was capable of feeling was a bubbling rage and inexhaustible wrath that he had to direct at someone. Fortunately, that someone was the opponent in front of him who wanted to wipe him out.


    Kyouko was the sole target of the maddened Zavier. He kept growling at her as if he was some rabid animal but in reality it was him trying to hold himself back from lunging at her. His condition was anything but normal after he had activated the insane status of the Blood de skill.


    Kyouko could see what Zavier was doing but didn''t move to stop him. She was too busy feeling shocked at what the youngster was doing. She could tell how talented Zavier was. It was the very reason that she had wanted to get rid of him herself earlier. But now she wasn''t so sure that she needed to interfere just to get rid of him. To her Zavier was his own worst enemy. Not only had he practised an inhuman skill like Blood de to get stronger faster, he had also not hesitated to forcibly raise his status for a short duration at the cost of his future potential just to fight Kyouko.


    She felt that she didn''t even need to lift a finger and Zavier would die an early death based on his inclination towards recklessness.


    Kyouko carefully monitored the rising aura of Zavier so that she could move in to eliminate him at any time that he felt like a threatening enemy to her in any way.

 Chapter 77 Beyond

    The rising aura of the berserk Zavier and hispanion finally came to a halt and Kyouko was surprised to find that the both of them had managed to reach A rank based on their temporary strength boosting skill.


    If there had been only one of them, Kyouko would haveid waste to him in an instant. But the two of them were enough to cause trouble for even Kyouko.


    In her overconfidence, Kyouko had underestimated the two of them. If it had been a more cautious enemy, they would have put a halt to their strength boosting method as soon as they could and yet Kyouko had given them a chance to do that precisely.


    She was curious to see how far Zavier could go with a forbidden technique like Blood de. She wanted to see if he could ovee the limitations of the technique or if he would be the next victim.


    The result both surprised and disappointed her at the same time. She was surprised because both the people in front of her had managed to learn the blood de and had activated the same strength boosting method at the same time. She could smell the blood lust and their killing intent. Fortunately for her, the two had not learnt the blood de for a long time and could not draw out its full potential.


    The cause of her disappointment was that the two were barely holding on to their insanity. She became sure that no matter how high the talent might have been, they were doomed the moment that they had decided to learn a self mutting skill like that. None of them had managed to get over the side effects. She could feel their life burning away as soon as they activated the strength boost.


    Two A rank mages with oozing strength and a time limit of three minutes against an S rank mage with an Imperial Regalia that was stronger than any weapon and any defensive armor ever built. They could only hold her back for a while longer as per their strength on paper or in theory but beating her was something that they had to acknowledge was a pipe dream with their strength.


    The showdown between the two sides was about to begin once again. Zavier looked at his clone to determine if anything looked out of ce and was satisfied when nothing seemed out of the ordinary. There were almost no simrities between the two of them. So, suspicion was out of the question.


    "Teacher, please try to distract her while I go in for closebat. It will be harder to get close to her without your help."


    Zavier had moved close to Calista and had said this to her in a low voice that no one else could have heard.


    Calista nodded in return and took out her long bow that was almost taller than herself. Despite it being a wooden bow, Zavier felt that the bow was sturdier and deadlier than any projectile weapon that he had ever seen before. He wondered if it was an elven bow or some kind of ancient relic.


    Whatever it was, it didn''t need any kind of arrows at all. The only arrows that it shot were made up of mana of the wielder. Calista kept pulling the bow back and a trio of arrows would shoot out of the bow every time that she did.


    Her deadly arrows made up of mana were even stronger than the regr metallic arrows. Their pration power was exceptional and could have shot through anything in their path.


    Calista might have been an A rank mage, but she was the master of rangedbat who had plenty of experience in wielding a bow given her ability to shoot three arrows at the same time. She not only shot the arrows at the same time, she was also able to control the arrows with her mana to adjust the target after releasing the arrows. Her skill in archery coupled with her excellent movement skills made her into the perfect distraction that Zavier wanted. She then became a headache for Kyouko who now had to deal with three A rank mages at the same time while Valerie was recovering her magic power once again at the sidelines.


    Kyouko knew that she would be in trouble once Valerie recovered. Therefore she had to finish it all off as soon as she could but the problem was that Valerie was not the only one who had almost exhausted herself off. She too had cast a sacred skill that had taken quite a toll at her albeit not that much whenpared to Valerie since Kyouko was a genuine S rank mage.


    In such a condition, Kyouko had to take on the elusive Calista and the maddened Zavier and his clone. This was not an easy task even for her if she didn''t give it all that she had.


    Zavier and his clones started to ooze blood from their pores at the same time as if they had sensed what Kyouko was about to do. They too had unleashed the maximum of their power. Since Blood de relied on the bodily blood for the execution of the skill, both Zavier and his clone had pulled out their blood and were busy transmuting it into different shapes to counter and counter attack the skills cast by Kyouko every time.


    Whenever Kyouko went after Calista who was like a buzzing fly in her ear, either Calista used her excellent mobility to dodge or Zavier and his clone would use a bloody shield to block the attack in front of her.


    As a result Calista ran freely on the battlefield while Kyouko was being restrained more and more under the pressure of the three of them.


    Kyouko was soon on the defensive as the situation was being controlled by her enemies at all times. They had taken the initiative to attack her and were relentlessly pestering her with their continuous attacks and distractions caused by Calista towards the same purpose. Once caught up in the deadlock, Kyouko found it more and more difficult with each passing moment to get out of it.


    Neither Calista nor Zavier and his clone relented whenever she tried to escape out of her predicament. They would start to attack with more fervour and suppress her once again.<sub> </sub>


    Despite what it looked like, Kyouko was not injured at all. The Yasakani no Magatama lived up to its name. Even though the offensive skills of Zavier and his clone had increased a thousand fold due to their berserk power at the cost of their blood, the defence produced by the Yasakani no Magatama was flexible and mobile enough to defend against each and every one of their attacks.


    They had yet tond an attack on Kyouko herself. But to deny that they did not have the upper hand in the confrontation would have been a lie. That much was evident from the expressions of Kyouko. She was not only shocked but there was disbelief on her face.


    She was unable to ept the fact that despite having given it her all, she was unable to handle three weak A rank mages; two of which had only boosted their strength for a small duration of time.


    At the same time her mind had been running at the pace of a tiger on a hunt. She found that the attacks of the two maddened individuals were a little strange. There was uncanny coordination between the two. It was at the level that was difficult to achieve even for siblings born from the same womb or for that matter even twins were hardly capable of such a thing.


    The masked man was able to exploit every opportunity that Zavier created with his attacks without the dy of even a single millisecond. It was as if the two could read each other''s minds or had been training together since their birth. The pattern of the attack was indecipherable for Kyouko who was unable to handle the cooperative attack method and the cumbersome meddling of Calista who herself was shocked at the offensive power that Zavier had unleashed.


    It had to be known that even Valerie and herself with their strength of original A rank mages had been unable to gain the upper hand over Kyouko and yet Zavier and his friend were doing just that without a cinch or a frown on their brow.


    The sparks produced with each sh of the Yasakani no Magatama and the blood des started to increase as the coordinated attacks started to breach the defences of Kyouko. The Magatamas started to gather behind each other to prevent the blood de from prating the defence.


    Kyouko sensed the crisis and tried to back off but the unrelenting attacks didn''t give her an option at all. She was dead set on getting out of the deadlock so she could fight back with all her strength.


    As soon as she found a hole in the offensive, she used all her strength to gather up her dark mes and began to counter attack.


    The result; her attacks were devoured as if they were a nice and tasty snack.


    Her earlier lustre and strength were nowhere to be seen. Every move that she made was blocked by the bloody walls, or a bloody sword or a bloody pir. The blood had the ability to change into all and everything that the user could imagine. At one point it even formed a cocoon around Zavier to protect him from attacks.


    Moreover, Zavier had cast ayer of the white mes over the blood de. The blood itself had been infused with the ability of the cold white me.


    Now that he was an A rank mage for a short amount of time, the prowess that his cold me could deliver was not to be scoffed at.


    Kyouko was unable to breach their offensive even with the help of the Magatamas. Instead her Magatamas were pushed back until they could defend no longer.


    Her defences had been breached and she had yet to draw blood from her enemies. Two puny A rank mages had brought her into such a crisis. She could only look on as the injuries on her started to grow while her own attacks felt as if they had been falling into an abyss and had no effect at all whatsoever.


    Even Zavier had been shocked by what he had pulled off by coordinating his attacks with that of the clone. He had not left the shared mode on voluntarily but the battle hade so suddenly that he never had the chance to turn back to individual mode to avoid distractions.


    Now that he thought about it, it was better that he didn''t. Only now did he see what the benefits of a shared consciousness were. He had only seen it now as a headache but the collective consciousness of the main body let the clones act as if they were all parts of a single body.


    Despite their advantage, it didn''t mean that the strength of the clone and Zavierbined was greater than that of Kyouko. She was undoubtedly still the strongest of them all but for a short duration; the excellent cooperative attacks had given Zavier an edge over her.


    Valerie was dumbfounded at the disy put forward by Zavier and the masked man with him. She was unable toprehend who the masked man was but one thing that she was sure about was that Zavier had known this masked man for a long while considering how easily they had been cooperating with each other under the duress of such a battle against an impossible to beat enemy.


    She found that despite having lived with Zavier all this time, she had yet to understand him at all. Had she extended a helping hand to him instead of giving him the cold shoulder all that time, she wondered if she would have been able to draw out all his worries that forced him to go to such an extent to hide from her.

 Chapter 78 Mutation

    Despite what Valerie was feeling regarding the things that Zavier had hidden from them, she was genuinely worried about him. She knew how much pain and anger he was suffering from at the moment to protect them all. Just by imagining it, her heart had begun to hurt.


    Therefore, all that she could do was to diligently try to get back on her feet and recover from her drained state so as to take over from him again.


    Despite what it looked like, the one who was shocked the most about the recent development in the fight was none other than Dah who was until that point an innocent bystander that was unable to participate in a fight of that calibre.


    She was confounded by the hidden strength that Zavier had revealed only then. She was sure that she would not be able to take a single blow from Zavier in his current state.


    Strength was not something that was apparent to everyone. Only the strong had the ability to tell the truly strong from those putting up pretence. Dah had known that some people liked to hide but she felt that at their age that kind of wisdom had yet toe. The kids their age liked to boast and show off based on their abilities.


    Out of all the contemporaries that she hade across, only Zavier had had that farsightedness. She had seen him being bullied before but had never extended a helping hand just because he was weak in her eyes. She had never expected that the kid who was being bullied all the time was actually so strong that she wasn''t capable of even reaching his shoes. At the same time she wondered who he had been hiding from. If someone had the wisdom to hide his abilities at such a young age, there was bound to be a reason for that. She vowed to dig deep and find out that reason once they made it back; if they made it back safely.


    Alissa, on the other hand, was not surprised at all. She had long since put all her belief in Zavier and had decidedly brought him up to the highest pedestal of strength in her heart. She was not shocked at all once Zavier revealed his cards. Instead she kept praying for him to be safe and for him to not feel any pain or suffer from any injuries. All she wanted was for him toe back safely.


    Girls in love really were different. She had even forgotten about her own safety and was concentrating on praying for Zavier with her eyes closed. At the same time she wished that she could have helped him somehow.


    While she had her eyes closed, the battle was unfolding in the most unexpected direction. Kyouko was being thrown about in all directions but she was unable tond a scratch on Zavier or his clone. Their defences were airtight.


    Several trees would burn to the ground whenever Kyouko was thrown off by Zavier as a result of a sh. She had smashed through many trees and had burned the grasnds to cinders. She was like a burning pyre that burnt everything around her wherever she passed.


    Zavier had managed to break through her defences many times since his clones had created some excellent opportunities for him to exploit.


    Her blood had dyed her scanty robes red and her clothing looked as if it was about to fall off but her eyes were still showing her strength and her anger. She was unwilling to give up.


    The situation looked very promising to Calista and Valerie who were able to observe each and every detail of the fight. The path that the battle was following would eventually lead to the defeat of Kyouko at the very least provided that Zavier was able to hold on until then.


    Kyouko looked tired. The proof of it was the fact that Zavier was able to prate her iron defence.


    Just when everyone finally felt a semnce of hope for getting out of the deadly trap that had been set up for them, something unexpected happened that put them in a precarious situation once again.


    The battles on the outskirts of their battlefield were wrapped up all of a sudden. But no one knew who the final winner was. All eyes were in that direction except those of Zavier and his clone who began to attack with a renewed vigor and force so as to end the fight as soon as possible. They knew that if the winner of those battles turned out to be their enemies, they would be done for. The time for their madness to end had been approaching fast as well. Before the sands fell to the bottom, Zavier had to finish off the battle or they would be powerless to do anything else.


    Kyouko understood the same thing and decided to avoid Zavier and the masked man. She was trying to prolong the battle as far as she could because she knew that the attacks were only temporary and the boost to the strength would onlyst a small duration.


    Calista too didn''t ponder for very long about the end victor and focused on Kyouko as well.


    Only Valerie was able to put her mind into finding out the result of the battle. She found that the mana signature of the two towards the west had already faded meaning that they had somehow ended up dying together or the winner had sumbed to his wounds after the battle and had died as well.


    On the eastern battlefield, the result was obvious as well. There was a clear signal indicating that only one had survived the battle. Whether he was an enemy or an ally was something that was yet to be known.


    Kyouko too was very tense at the moment. She had been waiting for the result of the two battles. She wanted to know if it was one of her people so that she could throw some of the burden onto him and focus on getting rid of the pests who had managed to bring her down to their level.


    She detested asking for help but her situation wasn''t exactly morous and she had to rely on something.


    Valerie soon found that the mana signature was on the move and was headed in their direction. She judged the speed of the approaching person and knew that he was in a rtively good condition. She desperately hoped that it was an ally and not someone associated with Kyouko.<sub> </sub>


    But all her hopes crashed when she saw the relief that washed over Kyouko once sheid eyes on the man.


    At that moment, Valerie knew that they were doomed. There was no way that they were able to hold off two S rank mages at the same time. She wanted to move but she had yet to recover from her fatigue. The only other option that was open to them was for Calista to stop the new enemy and for Zavier to keep pounding Kyouko as earlier.


    Even Valerie knew how impossible the task was for Zavier but they had no other choice.


    The approaching man was covered in blood, his clothes were tattered and were equivalent to rags but the toned muscles and the rxed expression that was slowly twisting into a devilish grin revealed how powerful he was.


    As soon as he saw Kyouko''s crisis, heunched forward like a guided missile and headed straight towards Zavier and  the masked man only to be intercepted by Calista midway; three of her arrowsnded right at his feet and forced him to halt.


    With Calista''s pestering out of the way, there were fewer opportunities for Zavier and his clone to exploit and the pressure that they had gradually built up over Kyouko started to get relieved as if the muscr man had opened the pressure relief valve to make it all okay.


    It was as easy as snatching candy from a kid to hold back Calista at her best from intercepting Kyouko again. Though he was tired from his earlier battle, Calista was only an A rank mage who specialized in group battles instead of one vs. one offensive battles. Therefore, he was able to match her up to a draw very easily.


    He even had the time to taunt Kyouko while fighting Calista at the same time.


    "You really don''t deserve that weapon. It should have been in more capable hands. Unable to even beat two barely A rank mages; truly pathetic. One of them is even a kid who has barely outgrown his baby teeth. Humph¡­you disgrace that sacred weapon. I am sure that it would love to change owners considering the inability of its master."


    Kyouko did not have time to engage in a meaningless banter that would have served no other purpose other than distracting them from the battle in front of them. She wasn''t as brainless as her helper to do that. She had to take the overall picture into ount before getting down to settling the grudgester.


    Zavier and his clone were having a hard time in the absence of Calista. Kyouko was able to tell the direction from which they attacked somehow. Maybe it was because she now had the time to think and n before returning fire. Only now did Zavier understand how much of the credit for the earlier battle belonged to Calista.


    They were being pushed back further and further with each of her blows. The blood shield itself remained undamaged but their consumption started to increase with every blow that they managed to block.


    The addition of the new man had upset the bnce of the fight in the favour of Kyouko. Without the help of Calista, it took all he had just to keep up with her.


    Time was running out for him along with the decreasing amount of blood in his body. Same was the condition of his clone who had been consuming his blood at the same pace.


    The end of his berserk state would result in a period of weakness which was akin to certain death when he was in front of Kyouko. Following the same reasoning Kyouko had also started to draw the fight out even though she had the upper hand in the battle following the absence of Calista.


    Valerie waspletely aware of the whole situation and was also busy evaluating the various alternatives avable to her. No matter what she considered, she knew that there was no way that Zavier could lead them to victory. All the paths led to his demise which disheartened her to arge extent.


    Still, Valerie had to look after the rest of her students as well. She couldn''t just shower all her attention on one individual. She understood that the moment Zavier had learnt and used a skill like Blood de, he had been doomed to die an early death. There was no way out. Therefore she wanted to make sure that Dah and Alissa didn''t get caught up in the storm that he was creating.


    She looked towards the girls with a serious expression on her face. Alissa, who had already been feeling terrified because Zavier had been pushing himself too hard, felt a horrible sense of anxiety jolt her back to reality.


    She could sense what the expression on the face of Valerie meant but she chose to ignore it. It was easier to do so than to keep the hope kindled. That would have been more exhausting than letting all of it go but Alissa was determined to carry that burden. She wasn''t going to leave Zavier mid way.


    Valerie was concerned about the two girls so she chose a lower but firm tone so that there was no room for disobedience.


    "You two! Move further back. I don''t want you to get caught up in whates next."


    Dah was both sensible and practical. She knew that the level of the fight was way too high for her to take part in it. Therefore, she wanted to keep her distance in the first ce, Valerie telling her so only affirmed her intentions.

 Chapter 79 Fusion Mode

    It was not because she was afraid of dying or was afraid of fighting it out but because she believed in necessary sacrifices and not in illogical and impractical ones.


    But just as she was about to move back, Alissa, who had been standing mum beside her the whole time, opened her mouth and uttered some unbelievable words.


    "I don''t want to go. I will stay with Zavier. I won''t leave him alone and escape on my own. You can go if you want."


    Valerie took another look at Alissa who was refusing to budge and found that there were no signs of trauma or false bravado in her appearance but only a fierce determination that was evident from her eyes. She hadn''t seen Alissa this assertive ever since she hade to know her.


    Valerie was moved to see how much Alissa cared about Zavier. She could tell by the fact that Alissa had opted topromise her own safety just to stay by Zavier''s side. She had practically decided to live and die with him. Such a decision needed courage and a strong heart full of love and devotion and was worth admiring. But the more she dyed their retreat, the more would be the danger for herself and for Dah.


    Therefore, Valerie was very reasonably incensed at the reckless behavior that Alissa had shown that had put Dah''s as well as her own life in danger. Valerie admired her sentiments but she was angry about Alissa not looking at the bigger picture.


    Valerie herself was quite a practical woman who made all her decisions after thorough calctions and logical reasoning. She didn''t want any more sacrifices than were necessary and the order that she had given out was based on that very ideal. So, when Alissa refused to obey her, she was very reasonably incensed.


    Valerie let out a sigh and decided to leave her alone for the time being. She thought that if a situation where they had to make a run for it arose, she would forcibly carry Alissa away herself if possible even if she tried to resist.


    Zavier on the other hand was totally unaware of what was happening around the periphery of his battlefield. He was too busy trying to get in some hits at Kyouko before he ran out of juice. His three minutes were almost up and Zavier had already started to feel that he was living on borrowed oxygen.


    He wanted to weaken Kyouko as much as possible so that the others could at least make a run for it.


    He had no other method in mind that could alleviate his problems.


    Just when he was about to copse from exhaustion that followed his three minute time limit, a system notification rang out and a message was disyed on the screen in front of him.


    [User can choose to use ''Fusion mode'' under the current circumstances.]


    [Fusion mode: Provides a forcible extension of the duration of the Insane status by fusing the blood and the body of one or more casters into the body of the user to elevate the temporary magic rank. It provides an immense power boost and stamina boost to the user at a huge cost.]


    [Duration: There is a limit of one minute and the countdown begins once the user has absorbed another caster through fusion.]


    [Conditions of use: User needs another caster who has learnt Blood de and is willing to sacrifice himself for the fusion mode to take effect. The skill can not be used if the target of the skill is not willing or is being forced.]


    [Limitations: The strength boost provided by the skilles at a price for the user as well. The user will sumb to death as soon as the one minute duration is over.]


    Zavier was starting to see why Kyouko had acted so shocked after seeing that he had learnt Blood de. It really was a terrifying skill but not just because of the strength that it gave to its user but because of how heavy the consequences for its usage were.


    Before this he had only been bumbling about the periphery. He had only just witnessed the basics of what the skill was capable of turning him into. But now, he knew better than to think that he could handle this skill easily.


    ? Anyone who was the least bit talented would never learn it and those who could learn it would never dare to do so out of fear of death. It in reality was the skill for the desperate and at the moment there wasn''t anyone who was more desperate than himself.


    "System, if I use this ''Fusion'' skill what mage rank would I be equivalent to?"


    [Taking into ount the current condition of the clone and the amount of blood his body can provide, the user can hope to reach the strength of an S-rank mage ording to the standards of this world for one minute.]


    If he had a real person instead of his clone with him fighting the battle, it would have been impossible for him to activate the Fusion. After all, the other person would have had to sacrifice himself. Nobody would have been willing to do that even if they were going to die soon. The fact is that everybody kept that hope of survival in their hearts. They wouldn''t knowingly give their own life away to save others. Blood de really had some of the harshest conditions.


    His time had run out so he had no other option but to do what the system had suggested. All the routes that led to their survival were being closed one after the other except this one.


    While Zavier was still busy contemting and conversing with the system, the clone with the Magus system had already initiated the process to self destruct. His body started to disintegrate into tiny cells that appeared reddish in hue and his red blood cells flew and twisted around his body as if unwilling to part.


    Zavier''s body emitted a force like the gravitational pull that forcibly pulled the disintegrated body towards himself and started to absorb the condensed blood into his body through the pores on his skin.


    While the clone was being broken into tiny pieces, it refused to utter a scream despite feeling the worst torture imaginable to humankind.


    The same was the case with Zavier. He was still connected to his clone through the shared mode and all their senses were mutually connected. So Zavier was feeling the same despair and same pain as the clone who wasmitting suicide to help him. Zavier could feel his helplessness and his angst against Kyouko who had forced him until that point.<sub> </sub>


    Zavier couldn''t help but curse himself for not shutting down the shared mode before initiating his clone''s self destruct.


    He was dying once more. He could feel his life slowly flowing out of him but this time the experience was that of a suicide. He was already sick of dying and had been trying to avoid it as much as possible but death still found a way to track him down.


    He wondered if this was his curse. He had been made close to an immortal after his death, by the cosmic consciousness which was antagonistic to the principles of death which sought the end of everything at their appointed time.


    Maybe it was death trying to take back what it had already imed. That was why he kept suffering the pain of death time and time again. It was death trying to reim him for his time had long since passed.


    While he was under immense pain and suffering, his body was gradually gaining strength and improving in rank.


    Meanwhile, Kyouko was witnessing the miracle with her own eyes. She had seen how Zavier''spanion had sacrificed himself for him without a single word or thought.


    She couldn''t help but wonder who these people were exactly.


    No matter who it was, dying for someone without a word or care was not something humans were capable of. She had seen it first hand but her entire belief was being bulldozed by Zavier and hispanion who was nothing but a steady stream of blood by this time.


    The clone hadpletely merged into Zavier by exploding and disintegrating. To Zavier, absorbing him and his blood had been as easy as breathing contrary to what he had thought.


    Another advantage that he received from the clone was that his mana was iparably purepared to that of his original body. Unlike Zavier, the clone had actually practised each and every skill that Zavier used and that had led to the rotation of mana in and out of his body.


    The continuous breathing of mana had made his body more adept at handling and storing mana.


    Therefore, when Zavier absorbed his clone, he not only doubled the blood that he had in his body but also didn''t have to waste time on gathering mana. He had received a double of that as well.


    As soon as the transfusion wasplete, Zavier could attack with full force considering that he had only one minute to execute his strategy.


    Kyouko had only looked on at first but then the fear induced by Zavier who was getting stronger by the minute took over and she rushed in for an attack.


    She wanted to stop the skill mid way so that she wouldn''t have to deal with Zavier at his best.


    Contrary to what she had thought, the task proved harder than her wildest imaginations.


    The cocoon of blood floating around Zavier was like an iron curtain protecting him from all sides. There was no opportunity to exploit there.


    Kyouko did her best and continued to attack the cocoon in hopes that she might be able to deplete some of its energy but the only thing she actually managed to do was tire herself.


    The transfusion was unstoppable. Of course, something that was only possible through the willing sacrifice of a life wouldn''t be stopped by a measly half hearted offensive.


    Kyouko was growing nervous and her nerves were getting taut with tension at the fact that Zavier had grown to a level that was at least equal to her if not higher than that. And Zavier had still been growing in strength.


    Kyouko was truly afraid for the first time since the fight between the two parties had started. She felt that Zavier as he was now was more than capable of killing her off. She was terrified thinking that she might die in the next bout.


    As soon as Zavier was done with the transfusion, he struck the ground with his feet and propelled himself forward like an arrow released from a bow and headed straight for Kyouko who was responsible for the pain that he and hispanions had had to go through.


    Since he didn''t have enough time to take care of her properly, he wanted to end it as swiftly as possible.


    While moving, Zavier mobilized his blood to move out and cast a protectiveyer over his body. He had done it to reduce the time that he took to gather the blood for an attack. This boosted his strength readily as the blood constantly changed shape around him and struck to exploit all the openings that Zavier found.


    The blood that was rushing to his brain had been condensed to the extreme and increased Zavier''s mental capabilities as well. He felt that his brain had increased in functionality considerably in analytical reasoning and impulse decision making after he had fused with his clone.


    As soon as he felt that he had an opportunity to strike at Kyouko, Zavier urged his blood and transformed it into a huge red blood de that seemed to be symbolizing bloodshed and wrath of the gods.


    He kept on striking with the red de and constantly forced back Kyouko who was unable to hold him off now that he had attained strength that was greater than her. The quality of skills he had were always better than Kyouko but he never had time to grow properly. But the Blood de skill had given him a chance to stand at the same height while challenging her.

 Chapter 80 Mirror

    Kyouko was crestfallen at the way that Zavier had been ying around with her. It had not even taken him twenty seconds to best her. She was constantly being pushed around as if she was some pushover inparison to him. She was one of the best geniuses to have ever existed and she was being beaten ck and blue by a kid who had barely reached puberty. There was no greater shame in her eyes.


    Even her Magatamas had been unable to defend her properly against the huge red blood des that came out of nowhere. She was no doubt having the most difficult time of her life.


    Instead of the shing sounds that she had been expecting from the nging of the sword and her shield made up of Magatamas, there was an explosive noise every time the sword struck the Magatamas. They were not only being pushed back but the blood colored de was constantly damaging the Yasakani no Magatama that she was so proud of.


    In her desperation she could think of nothing else. She had to bring the situation back under her control because she was afraid of dying under his hand. She could see that she could not do it on her own if the situation persisted. She didn''t even know for how long Zavier could maintain his current strength. She had made a simr assumption in the past when she had beaten Zavier and hispanion but she had never thought that Zavier had such a card hidden up his sleeve.


    She didn''t want to suffer the same consequences by dying more time. Who knew whether he had an even stronger form hidden away?


    Therefore she decided to choose the only option that was avable to her or for that matter anyone who was in a pinch and was powerless to help himself. She asked for help as loudly as she could yell. Her voice portrayed the urgency that she was feeling and the fear that was hidden deep inside of her; the fear of death.


    "HEY! Leave that one ande over to help me. I can''t handle him alone. He seems to have gone insane."


    The words were directed towards the man that seemed to be Kyouko''s ally. He had already had his hands full while fighting Calista. He had already changed the bnce of the game once, Zavier was afraid that another such situation woulde to be if Calista let him leave.


    He didn''t bother informing Calista to hold him off. He knew that Calista would not let him go no matter what. So he set his mind to taking Kyouko down as soon as he could.


    As expected, Calista lodged three of her arrows right in front of his feet and managed to stop the man from moving out to help Kyouko.


    The man had already been injured very severely in his previous bout with the mysterious S rank mages and had barely been keeping up with Calista. That was the very reason that Calista had been able to hold him off. Otherwise he was just as strong as Kyouko as was evident from his words that didn''t seem to contain the slightest bit of respect earlier.


    Zavier was relieved when there was no outside interference and the man became busy fighting Calista again.


    Kyouko grew frustrated and yelled out loud at the man who was still struggling against Calista.


    "What the hell are you waiting for¡­MY DEATH?"


    The man acted as if he had not heard anything at all and began ying with Calista like he had been earlier with none of them taking any damage and both of them getting tired at the same time. The battle was a thorough stalemate between the two of them.


    Kyouko couldn''t help but curse him under her breath. She vowed to kill him herself if she ever got out of her predicament alive. She was determined to seek blood in return for the affront that he had done against her.


    Zavier on the other hand took this as another opportunity to take care of her permanently. She was mentally unstable and was not capable of rational thought. Zavier would not have gotten a better chance than that.


    He madly rushed at her and kept throwing out des made of blood at her. The des surpassed her imagination in strength and even overcame the defences of her Magatamas.


    ? Zavier didn''t even care about himself as his fate had already been sealed. He was bound to suffer the pain of yet another death.


    He recklessly consumed his blood and threw out attacks more powerful than thest without a pause in between. Overconsumption of blood was shortening the duration that he couldst but at this point Zavier had already given up on attacking for the whole minute. He just wanted to get rid of her before dying.


    Kyouko on the other hand was not as out of her mind as it seemed to Zavier. She was constantly thinking of ways to escape her trial but was unable toe up with a safe method.


    Kyouko in reality had been thinking about releasing ''God''s Gift'' again but her mana was nowhere near sufficient enough to cast a spell as huge as this. Her mana had depleted over the period of time that she had spent fighting it out with all of them in turn and was still strong enough to survive in front of Zavier who was no less powerful than a true S rank mage.


    She was desperately struggling to survive while looking for a ray of hope amongst theyers of clouds that was hiding the sky.


    And then, it happened; something that she had been waiting for all this time. Zavier finally revealed an opening. He opened his mouth and spit out blood uncontrobly that shook his rhythm for a moment. But that was all that Kyouko needed.


    She could see that the Zavier in front of her was only in a maddened state that was seemingly stronger than thest one. But all such skills had a weakness and Kyouko was an experienced fighter. She figured it out even sooner than most.


    It was that such skills came with shorter time limits and a period of massive weakness.<sub> </sub>


    The blood that he had sprayed out earlier was an indication that Zavier was very close to reaching his limit. He was on hisst legs. Kyouko decided to wait it out.


    She focused all her energy on dodging away from all the iing attacks of the maddened Zavier. She was indeed a genius who had fought her way to the top. Zavier was not even close to her when it came to fighting experience. He was easily led by the nose when Kyouko finally got a hold of solid ground. Any other S rank mage would have died in Zavier''s hands where she had managed to barely survive.


    In her attempt to survive, Kyouko had already sacrificed parts of her clothing and Zavier''s des had grazed her on many asions so she was bleeding from some parts of her body as well.


    Her overall outlook looked wretched and foul. Her clothes had been torn at the portion that was covering her breasts. She had already been wearing scanty clothing and Zavier had managed to tear even that apart with his attacks.


    After the spiral of attacks, Kyouko''s breasts were hanging loose as there was nothing to hold them off. They were massive to say the least. The buds in the centre of her breasts were blushing pink and sparkled like jewellery in the sunlight and seemed to be as tender as the skin of a newborn baby. Such divine scenery had been ced right in front of Zavier but he was adamant on not paying any attention to it. He had bigger concerns at the moment.


    If it had been any other time, he would have definitely stopped to take a look at her divine melons and take in the heavenly beauty, but now he didn''t have such leisure. He did wish that he was a bystander in this fight so he could stare at her as much as he could.


    He had been constrained by the time that was left. It was ''time'' once again that had gotten in his way. He really had a bad connection with the concept.


    Only ten seconds remained in his fusion to end after which his life woulde to an end as well.


    Therefore, he didn''t bother about any distractions and started to prepare a final attack in the form of a charge.


    He gathered up all the blood in his body in front of him and turned it into a rapier like de and rushed straight towards Kyouko seemingly not caring about his defence at all. He knew that he was going to die anyway so he didn''t think that defence mattered much to him any longer.


    Kyouko could see an opportunity in the mindless rush. She used the imperial regalia Yasakani no Magatama not for defence but tounch an offensive this time.


    Zavier didn''t bother about the Magatamas heading his way and lost his idle arm to the Magatama that managed to cut it off from his body.


    Zavier didn''t care after all he had to abandon the body soon enough.


    He wielded the sword in his good hand and aimed for the heart of Kyouko that was now right in front of him. Kyouko could immediately tell what Zavier was nning.


    Kyouko subconsciously tried to protect herself by manipting the Magatamas into attacking Zavier''s vitals.


    She wanted to force Zavier to back out of attacking her in the vitals by aiming for his heart in return. If Zavier wanted to hurt her, he would have to get hurt in return as well.


    The result of that was obviously out of Kyouko''s expectations after all, she could not have known that Zavier''s life was already forfeit and he didn''t care about his own life at all. The only thing that he was concerned with at the moment was how to take down Kyouko with him.


    Color faded from Kyouko''s face when she saw how Zavier had taken her threat. She found him to be utterly mad and utterly insane person who was not only least bothered about his own life but also didn''t care about anyone else''s.


    However, as luck would have it, the Magatamas easily pierced through his heart and came out of his back but the attack that was supposed to have taken out Kyouko had somehow not had any effect at all.


    The blood sword had failed to prate her body. Zavier kept looking as if trying to find whatever cheat Kyouko had employed because Zavier had been dead sure that he could bring her down with his attacks.


    The sword that should have sliced through Kyouko''s body as if a knife passed through tofu had gotten stuck right at her chest and was unable to move. It was pushed back due to the sheer defensive force that it had encountered and was deflected off its original target.


    So while Kyouko''s magatamas had pierced Zavier''s heart, he had been unable to do the same to her quite strangely. Zavier could tell that he was done for but he didn''t stop struggling.


    Zavier just wanted to know what hidden card did Kyouko have to defend herself against such an attack where even her strongest weapon, the Yasakani no Magatama, had been rendered useless.


    Just then, a ripple passed through her huge breasts and they started to shine radiantly, illuminating the surroundings. The light was in fact being emitted by a transparent mirror that had appeared out of her chest. The mirror was the reason for the white light that had fended off his attack earlier. It wasn''t her body that he had been unable to pierce, it was the white light that was responsible for his current condition.


    Zavier couldn''t help but wonder why Kyouko hadn''t brought it out earlier? If she had such a strong defence she should have used it earlier to save herself. Why did she only bring it out now?

 Chapter 81 Yata No Kagami

    Zavier wanted to at least test the limits of the mirror before falling. So, he made another huge de with thest of his blood and rushed in for another flurry of attacks.


    As soon as he shed the round mirror at her chest, a clear nging sound rang out that almost burst the eardrums of those standing nearby.


    At the same time Zavier felt a repulsive force so great that it shook his innards that had already been injured earlier in the fight.


    The defence was stronger than anything that he could have imagined. It had no loop holes. It was a perfect defence that any S rank mage would have been unable to prate.


    That was thest of Zavier''s blood. He didn''t have anything else to keep him going. Even the system that gave him ideas at crucial moments was silent this time which meant that he truly had exhausted all his avable options. The only route forward was the death that was awaiting him.


    The round mirror hardly had a scratch on it but Zavier had fallen like a wilted corpse onto the ground. The loss of blood made him look pale, nauseous and withered but his eyes still had some life in them that had yet to be extinguished.


    Kyouko herself on the other hand was as surprised as Zavier. She didn''t have any such skill until the moment that she thought she was going to die.


    But then out of nowhere she finally awakened her ancestral blood, the blood of the Yamata family.


    She had always been looking for a way to awaken her ancestral talent but had been unable to find a method for it. Even her family hadn''t known how to awaken their bloodline. All they kept telling her was that, "It has to choose you. Be patient and it will happen when it should."


    Their family''s power was considered another one of the imperial regalia specializing in defence and was known as the "Yata no Kagami".


    Yata no Kagami had an X rank defence that was as imprable as was humanly possible. Even Zavier who had gone beyond the S rank and into the limits of SS rank by fusing with his clone, couldn''t think of even putting a dent on it. For him, it was as hard as climbing a mountain barehanded with weights tying up his feet together.


    Kyouko was busy fantasizing. Her voice had grown shrill enough to bepared to the irritating sound of a steel rod grating against solid ground.


    "It chose me¡­it chose me¡­just like they said it would. It really did choose me. Hahaha¡­it chose to help me in my hour of need. Hahaha¡­so that''s it¡­that''s the answer I have been looking for all this time¡­"


    She kept murmuring to herself in an excited tone that depicted her inner joy and relief ating back from the dead.


    Alissa was dumbstruck at what she had just witnessed. She had seen Zavier overpower Kyouko with immense strength and had pushed her back definitely but in the end the result had been so out of ce. She had never imagined it even in her dreams.


    She hadid her eyes on the scene when the Magatamas managed to cut off Zavier''s hand. Her gut feeling at that time had screamed from the inside out that something had gone terribly wrong. She had been too hopeful. She should have known better than that.


    She watched as the de that Zavier stabbed at Kyouko''s chest was deflected. She even remembered the look of disbelief on the face of Zavier. From the start, the one to have been surprised had been Kyouko. This was the first time that she had managed to surprise Zavier and it had worked like the dagger hidden in the sleeves.


    Alissa wanted to rush forward but before she could have even begun to move, Kyouko''s next move had already reached Zavier''s heart. She had been unable to do anything at all. She could tell that there was no hope for Zavier who had fallen right in front of Kyouko.


    She found that she was the unluckiest and the most useless person in the whole world. She had no words to say anything about herself. She wondered what a person who had gotten her lover killed in front of her was called. Was calling her utter trash and useless space was enough or was there some specific word for this kind of waste? For the very first time in her life, she found her existence to be both pitiful and disgusting.


    For the first time in her life, she truly felt how awful it was that she had no magic and had no ability to protect herself and her loved ones. She felt pathetic to the extreme.<sub> </sub>


    When she saw him fall after the attack of Kyouko her heart broke into a thousand pieces. She wanted to rush to his side tofort him or to try to shield him from the pain. But was midway caught by Valerie who was adamant on not letting her go to him despite what she wanted. Valerie was her teacher and had greater concerns. She couldn''t let the death of one student be the cause of death of another student.


    In fact, Valerie was even more upset than even Dah. He was a blood rtion to her whom she had ignored for so long. She had been feeling so guilty for her past behavior that she couldn''t put it into words. But she had seen what Zavier had done. He had learnt a self sacrificial skill despite having been in the Adam family. Why would he try to hide himself from the family if not because he didn''t trust them? She felt that her behavior with him might have been the reason that he was so indifferent to the family and had never told his woes to her or anyone else. And instead he had opted to protect himself through such a skill.


    Thanks to that he had used up all his potential and was just waiting to die right in front of her in an effort to protect her and hispanions. Valerie was ashamed to the extreme but she couldn''t let all his effort go to waste by letting Alissa hand herself over to the enemy.


    Valerie could already tell that Zavier''s life force had already been depleted or was quite close to it. Dying was the next step in such a situation. There was no other option left.


    Valerie was devastated on the inside but she refused to let her emotions show on her face. Her tears threatened to fall but she held them all at bay. Her eyes grew red but not a single person noticed the changes because she skilfully avoided eye contact with any of them. Valerie tried topose herself because she had to lead them all out of there in order to escape.


    Since the major fight hade to a conclusion, the side attraction had alsoe to a halt. Both Calista and the injured S rank mage were on a standstill. There fight had been suspended for the time being, since they more or less knew who the ultimate victor was. There was no point in fighting any longer.


    Calista took a step back and then headed to the group of girls led by Valerie. The man didn''t try to stop her because his purpose had already been achieved and the opposite party no longer had the strength to oppose them. He had seen what the kid was capable of and with him gone the opposite party was more or less done for. So he let her leave and tried to tend to some of the injuries that he had suffered.


    Calista stood in front of Valerie and had the same expressions as her. She too had figured out the current condition of Zavier in detail and was aware of his imminent end. She was of the opinion that they should leave as urgently as possible before Zavier truly falls because then it would be as easy for Kyouko to take Alissa with her as snatching candy from a kid.


    "You need to escape with the students as soon as I make a diversion. Make sure that they reach Lyon safely."


    Calista was visibly stunned when she heard Valerie''s words. They had already discussed that this scenario might arise and what they had to do in such a situation. Since Calista had inferior fighting prowess and greater agility, she was a better option to be the part of the escaping party and Valerie could act as the diversion to stop the enemies by using up her own life force if she had to.


    Calista had known all that but she had never actually thought that a situation like that might arrive. Two A rank mages had been forced to such a situation. Before today she would not have even thought of such a scenario. She wondered what was so important about Alissa that the enemy made such thorough preparations and even sent three S rank mages which led to the current disaster.


    The only thing that she could do at the moment was to grit her teeth and nod in agreement to Valerie''s words and her facial expressions returned to normal as well. She appeared to be her calm normal self again. Both Valerie and Calista did not do anything out of their bulging emotions. They had already agreed that sacrificing Valerie in such a situation would bring about the most positive results so they had chosen to do so without any hassle or hesitation. On the other hand, had Calista been the one who stayed behind, chances were that she would have either been ignored by the enemy since she didn''t have the ability to hold two S rank mages back on her own or they might take her down so fast that the escapees wouldn''t even have the time to escape out of their reach.


    Valerie on the other hand not only has the mana that she had gathered throughout the time that Calista and Zavier had been fighting the enemy, not to mention that she also had the ability to cast her sacred skill again using her own life force instead of magic. She would die but she would probably be able to create the difference between life and death of the rest of them.


    Usually, Valerie would never have opted to choose that option since it was her trump card that she could use in dire situations and crisis of the utmost extreme. But the current situation was nothing if not a crisis of life and death.


    Just as Valerie was about to begin her diversion, she noticed Zavier motioning to her discreetly.


    ? Her eyes had been on Zavier this whole time which was the reason that she had known that he was still alive and breathing but was on the verge of death. Another reason was that she was unable to stop herself from looking at him. She felt as if a part of her soul was about to go missing.


    Thanks to that she was able to notice his signal to her. He was telling her to run with the rest of them. She didn''t act at first and decided to see what he was trying to do and why he wanted them all to run first. And then she saw what he had been holding in his hand while he was gesturing to her. It was the same wooden box that they had to escort in this mission.


    As soon as she saw the wooden box, Valerie understood that Zavier was up to something. Whatever it might be, it wouldn''t be small, of that Valerie was sure of. So she made up her mind to run along with the rest of them.


    "Change of ns. Get ready to run, I aming with you."

 Chapter 82 RUN AWAY!

    Calista was unable to understand what Valerie was doing. One second she was all like she would be staying behind and the very next second she had changed her mind. But Calista trusted her judgement. She had firm belief that whatever Valerie had nned must have been thought of after careful evaluation of all the alternatives avable. She wouldn''t put all of their lives in danger just to save her own life. Valerie was not that kind of person.


    So, she agreed in a blink and gavemand of the escape operation to Valerie and asked the girls to get ready as well.


    Before Alissa could open her mouth to show her resistance, Valerie had already caught up to her and was running away while dragging Alissa with her. She was not going to see another student fall based on stupidity. She understood her emotions but she wasn''t going to let her do something impulsive like that.


    Simrly, Dah was carried by Calista and they escaped like lightning. All this had happened in the blink of an eye and even Kyouko and the injured S rank mage didn''t manage to catch a wisp of their n until it had been perfectly executed. It had only been possible because both of them had been too focused on Zavier who was still breathing slightly. They were worried that he might still have some hidden trump card that he had yet to reveal. After all he had been doing the same thing ever since the fight had begun.


    In their cautiousness, they had let their actual target escape. Kyouko on the other hand thought that the escape party might have been a diversion to get them to go after them which would give more time to Zavier to pull another trick so she was adamant on not leaving. She had alreadye very close to death today, and she was not a fan of it.


    When they were getting farther and farther and Zavier had yet to make another move, both Kyouko and the other mage got worried that there might not have been another scheme and that they had been fooled.


    They intended to follow after them with the highest speed but as soon as they made a move, a burst of icy aura engulfed their very existence. They felt as if in front of that aura, all they could do was offer up their lives on a silver tter and be happy about it too.


    It was so frightening that the two S rank mages weren''t sure that they could survive for three seconds in front of it. Their instincts were screaming to run but at the same time their brain was telling them that it would be no use even if they tried to run.


    Kyouko was afraid that Zavier had revealed his trump card finally. This was what she had been afraid of and the reason why she had been unwilling to leave earlier.


    In reality, it might have been called Zavier''s trump card but it wasn''t exactly his. He had the key to the wooden box that had been given to him by a mysterious person who had appeared to be helping him but Zavier wasn''t sure of his intentions.


    Just as Kyouko and her aide had turned to chase after hispanions he had turned the key in the wooden box to release whatever was sealed inside of it. He himself had not been sure of the result of opening that box. Whatever it was could have either been good or bad.


    This was a gamble that he was willing to take at this point. If it was something good and he could take advantage of it to make aeback; that would have been the best. But if it was something bad, Zavier wanted it to be the worst of them all so that he could engulf Kyouko and the S rank mage in that misfortune with him.


    Zavier was feeling peaceful since he had done his best and had helped hispanions escape. He had even held the enemies at bay and had given hispanions as much of a lead as he could have. He had done his best and he could finally rest which in his case meant moving to another body.


    But when the box was opened, the peace that he had been feeling ran out the window and was reced by a nerve breaking and mind shattering fear. A horror so intense that Zavier even forgot about the pain that was wrecking every part of his body.


    Icy fog escaped the box like an endless stream and started to converge on top of the wooden box. The fog continued to grow dense and soon took the shape of a face, a human face made up of icy fog. It wasn''t a mature face but the face of a baby which was even more freakish. A baby''s face floating in the air without a body; nothing came close to being more freakish than that.


    The baby face soon twisted into a bizarre smile that looked nothing like a baby''s. It was not an innocent smile but the smile appeared to be sadistic to him. Zavier had seen such smiles before so he could tell that the monster was anything but good. For the first time, he was thankful that he had had his heart pierced and was on his way to death.


    He wanted tomit suicide to make it faster so as to escape the horror of this monstrosity that he had released but was unable to move anymore due to his injuries and blood loss. He was so close to death that just a millimetre more would have taken him away but instead he had been left with a wisp of life in him so that he could remain in the grasp of the ugly and freakish monster.


    Just as he was cursing his fate, the moment came and everything returned to silence. His consciousness traversed and merged with the clone having the Necromancer system.


    The clone had always been on standby in a ce that was far enough away from the battlefield after he had lost his fighting prowess earlier in the fight with Kyouko. The corpse that it had been controlling had been expended while trying to fight off God''s gift. Since, he didn''t have any individual fighting ability; Zavier had asked it to stand a little further away from the battlefield.


    As soon as Zavier woke up in his new body, he could appreciate his luck atst. He didn''t have to be there when the monster went about its daily routine with Kyouko and the S rank mage. He wasn''t sure if he would ever be happier after having died.


    In the meantime, Kyouko and the S rank mage had been trapped with the monster on their own. Everyone else had managed to escape, some on their feet and some in their soul form. Kyouko couldn''t help but curse Zavier. Even in his death, he had left a surprise for her; a surprise that was more than capable of killing her. She wondered who exactly was that brat and why would he have such a thing in his possession.<sub> </sub>


    The baby face made out of white fog had been fully formed and there was no longer a stream of mist flowing out of the wooden box. All of it had been released and the monster was truly free.


    The face was more than dozens of feet in size and had that creepy smile stered all over it. Smiling faces were pleasant to look at but not this one. The eternal smile was creepy beyond any extreme. It was only capable of making others ufortable and horror stricken.


    Its huge eyes were currently focused on the S rank mage in Kyouko''s team. The man felt that he had been paralyzed, as if all his strength had been sucked out of him through that gaze. He had been rendered motionless, without any ability whatsoever. Even his mana had stagnated in his body. He was unable to feel the presence of any magic inside him. The ghastly face had the ability to overwhelm all his senses it seemed while at the same time it could heighten the fear and horror that one felt during all this.


    If it had been any other situation the man would have had the ability to remain calm even in the face of death. After all he wasn''t a newborn baby, he had been through many life and death battles like earlier in the day. He had always known that he might be the one to fall one day and he had made his peace with that ending. But today he felt terrified, of death, of pain, of leaving behind regrets, and of the cmity in front of him.


    This was not normal. The man felt that the fear that he had been feeling had not been normal which brought some rity to his mind. He focused and the answer that had been looming around him all this while came to him.


    The monster wanted him to be afraid for some reason.


    Of course he was unable tomunicate his thoughts to Kyouko due to the paralysis. He senses felt as if they were wading through a thick marshy area.


    At that moment, the huge face gradually approached him and stared him right in his face.


    Kyouko was horrified. She shouted at the top of her voice, "RUN¡­.RUN AWAY!"


    But there was no response from the man. The man hadn''t even looked at her. He was frozen in ce waiting for the monster to do anything it wanted.


    At that moment, the grin on the face of the monster grew evenrger and was almost reached the edge of its face. It felt as if the lower half of its face was just a weird smile that it had long forgotten was there.


    The monster let out an eerieughter. The sound of it was so shrill and so terrifying that it prated into their very souls and made them feel horrified.


    The mouth that had previously been curved into a smile was now opening like the maw of a great chasm. The curvature of the mouth had taken up almost all of the face below the eyes. There were the eyes and then the great opening in its face that looked like its mouth.


    Kyouko''s voice got lost inside her. She could only move her lips in an attempt to warn the man to move. The man on the other hand never looked at her. She couldn''t have imagined the horror that he might have been feeling at that moment. The monster wasn''t even attentive towards her and she was hardly able to bring out her voice. She could only specte on what was happening in his mind at that time.


    The face got closer to the man, opened to its widest and chomped down. The man was swallowed whole, not even a speck of blood was left behind. It was as if he had never been there and Kyouko had imagined it all.


    As soon as the gaping maw closed, the monster turned towards Kyouko with a sudden movement that took her by surprise.


    It then gave out augh as if it had pulled a prank on her.


    Kyouko had been feeling disgusted by the monster ever since she hadid her eyes on it. But the moment that the monster made eye contact with her, she came to understand the true horror of it.


    She realized why the S rank mage had never replied and why he had never tried to move away after being stared down by the monster.


    Kyouko instantly realized that this must have been the ability of the monster. Even if she knew about it, it was impossible for her to do anything. The ability was really too broken. Even if she wanted to escape, she couldn''t.

 Chapter 83 Stuck

    Moreover, the mental coercion that the monster put everyone through didn''t allow anyone to truly think. The fear was so heightened that even the most prepared and most chiselled individuals would have faltered upon feeling that much fear at the same time. It had the ability to heighten the fear that one felt and it took pleasure in seeing its targets afraid and in tears.


    Even Kyouko felt that it was quite a sick monster.


    The huge face began to close in towards Kyouko just as it had done with the S rank man with her.


    Kyouko had witnessed the sight earlier so she knew what wasing for her. When you knew the magnitude of the threat but the timing was uncertain, that was when one felt the true horror. The waiting was the most difficult part and the monster especially tried to move as slowly as possible when it was about to devour its victim. It wanted the target to experience the fear in its most primitive and heightened form.


    Kyouko was going through the same mind breaking fear. Her whole body trembled and her legs grew weak as if all the blood had been drained from them. Even then she was unable to fall. She was in a suspended animation where she was soaking in her sweat, her bowels about to let loose, her mind drowning in the worst fear imaginable, her body trembling from the horror of her situation and about to be devoured by a monster that took pleasure in seeing her terrified appearance.


    As the monster was enjoying itself, Valerie and the others were busy running away from it. They were literally breaking their legs trying to escape. Just the aura of that monster had been enough to tell them about the ordeal that they had somehow managed to escape from.


    They wanted to keep it that way and maintained their pace so as to increase their distance with that thing. Where they were now, they could still hear that piercingughter of the monster that sent chills down their spine.


    Alissa who was lying on Valerie''s shoulder at this time had witnessed the entire scene of the monster devouring the S rank mage. On the other hand, Valerie had avoided it since she had been looking forward in order to determine the best path for their escape.


    Valerie didn''t know what kind of monster that was so she proceeded to ask Valerie about it.


    "What was that monster, teacher?"


    Valerie didn''t expect her to ask such a question now. But she knew in her heart that Alissa was thinking about Zavier. She was worried about him lying there within the reach of the monster.


    "Don''t worry about such things for now. We will have the time to talk about thatter. For now let''s focus on escaping from here. Otherwise, the opportunity that Zavier created for us would be in vain."


    Unknown to them all, there was another spectator who had witnessed the entire thing without any of them having noticed.


    There was a masked man who had been hiding in one corner of the battlefield which had now turned into the ughterhouse for the monster. He had been there from the beginning and had been keeping watch on the entire situation.


    As soon as the huge face appeared, the masked man muttered to himself, "The mission is a failure this time."


    The man let out a huge sigh as if burdened by a great ordeal and left at a fast pace. Just as nobody had noticed his arrival at the battlefield, none of them witnessed when he left.


    Kyouko had her eyes closed as she trembled in fear while the huge face kept creeping closer and closer to her. Her very existence was one chomp and one gulp away from being extinguished. Even the great genius wasn''t able to think of a solution in such a situation and could only fear for her life.


    She was like a fish on a chopping board with a knife hanging over her head. She had no ability to defend herself whatsoever. She could only wait until the chef used his butcher''s knife and ughtered her.


    The face finally revealed its abyssal mouth and opened it to the extreme very slowly so Kyouko could feel the death creeping closer to her. Kyouko could tell that the monster was watching her desperation and her fear with extreme happiness as if tormenting her was a source of joy for it.


    As soon as the face chomped down at her, their came a bright light from her chest and the Yata no Kagami that had been hidden inside her body popped out to protect her from the giant mouth.


    The light from the Yata no Kagami was able to repel the monster somehow. It screamed in pain and its expression twisted into something even more terrifying. Kyouko could feel that she had angered the monster by denying it the food that it had been looking forward to.


    As soon as the monster was thrown off of her, she felt that her body was free from all types of oppression and the suppressing force had also disappeared. She could not only move about but could also mobilize her magic power.


    Previously in her terror, she hadpletely forgotten her X rank defence when she had been within the grasp of the monster. Thankfully, Yata no Kagami was able to protect the owner without it being ordered. It sensed the danger on its own and was activated in response to it.


    The sacred light had been able to hurt the monster but wasn''t capable of finishing it off. Kyouko also understood that the Yata no Kagami was a defensive treasure and was not capable of bringing out a powerful offensive that was capable of taking it down.


    Therefore, the only option that was avable to her was to escape from that ce, as fast as she could and as far as she could go.<sub> </sub>


    She didn''t want toe within a million miles of that monster ever again. Without thinking about any means of counter attack, she ran as fast as her feet could carry her. She made use of her magic skills to further enhance her speed through eleration magic.


    Within no time, Kyouko was nowhere to be seen.


    The monster on the other hand seemed to be more incensed than before. It led out a loud shriek that was shrill enough to pierce through the eardrums of all those who managed to endure it.


    Both Kyouko and the group of escaping girls heard the same scream and knew that the monster was about to go berserk.


    Valerie didn''t look back for fear of slowing down. She didn''t want the monster to notice all of them. Same was the case with Kyouko who knew that if she was caught again, the monster would tear her from limb to limb.


    Valerie could feel her heart pounding in fear and terror. She was afraid that the monster would turn towards them if he didn''t find Kyouko. She wished for it to locate Kyouko instead of them. Calista was hoping for the same thing. Unlike Valerie she had been watching the situation progress with her own eyes. She was faster than Valerie so she could afford the slight dy in order to stay abreast of Valerie.


    Sometimes the bad vibes are an indication or a warning of what was toe. Both Valerie and Calista had been unable to rest at ease ever since they had heard the scream of the monster.


    As their luck would have it, the monster did show up and apparently it had chosen to go for the easy prey instead of the one that had hurt its teeth.


    Calista felt that icy chill while she had been busy running for her life. The suppression came an instantter and she found herself unable to move despite trying her best. It was then that she knew what true terror was.


    Calista couldn''t make sense of anything any longer. A second ago, she had witnessed the monster get injured and wail in pain. At that time, it had been more than a mile away from them. It should have taken some time for it to catch up to them. That was what they had been counting on. Zavier had given them that lead just to avoid a situation like this.


    Apparently, it was an oversight both on their and Zavier''s part. The monster that he had unleashed was stronger than their wildest fantasies all put together. And now it had turned its fangs on them. It had taken only a blink to get to them who were already more than a mile away.


    Distance was only a perfunctory word for a monster like this. There was no difference to it as long as they remained within its sight.


    Even Valerie was dumbfounded at how game breaking the ability of the monster was. She had never anticipated that they would be the first ones to be caught and so easily at that too.


    Dah had already been afraid since she too like Alissa had seen it swallow the man whole. She was already freaking out but now that the monster was about to attack them, she truly lost her mind and mindlessly charged towards it to attack. She used her icences to puncture through the giant face that was sneering at them.


    Of course it was useless. None of hernces made any difference. It was like attacking the air itself. They couldn''t connect at all with their targets. Considering the number ofnces that she had thrown at the monster of that size, at least one of them should have hit it. But the result was quite the opposite. The enemy remained unaffected and untouched.


    For a body that size, it was quite flexible for it had managed to everynce there was.


    The only result that Dah received from the attack was that she had brought an even creepier grin on that giant monstrous face that had been crying until that moment. It appeared to be ying with its prey and Dah''s desperate but harmless attacks had made it especially happy and joyful.


    It had already started to shift its attention towards Dah. Valerie knew that once she was stared down by the monster, it would all be over for Dah. She wouldn''t be able to handle the fear at all and might even die from the shock of it.


    She couldn''t take the risk so she pushed her out of the way and attracted the attention of the monster on herself.


    The cmity that was about to descend on Dah, she had taken it upon herself. The suppression that was about toe missed Dah andnded on her instead.


    Valerie felt as if her limbs had been tied up and her legs had been stuck in stone with no way for her to pull them out. She was unable to move anything let alone her legs to escape, not even her eyelids were listening to her. She had forgotten to even blink after being stared down by the monster.


    Valerie knew what wasing next.


    The monster in front of her was gradually increasing in size which meant not that it was expanding its size further but that it wasing closer to her with each passing second. The monster had a stretchy smile on its face as if it found her actions amusing like that of the final struggle of a chicken that is due for ughter. Who went first didn''t make much of difference to the monster anyway.


    Before it could even open its mouth properly, an arrow appeared right in front of its eyes with a whooshing sound. Of course, even Calista wasn''t powerful enough to leave a dent on the monstrosity. The arrow missed but enraged the monster in the way that it had distracted it and had allowed its prey to escape, the prey being Valerie.

 Chapter 84 Inside The Monster

    Valerie could feel her limbs again as soon as the monster had been disturbed. She looked around and found that instead of her, it was Calista who was now struggling to move. The gaze of the monster was fixed on Calista during that time.


    Valerie felt that she had figured it out, the only w in the offensive of the monster. She deduced that it was the vision of the monster that had the paralyzing effect and the reason that its target was afflicted with the fear status causing it to hallucinate and be tied down by fear.


    Valerie in order to test what she had just determined deliberately created confusion by mobilizing her mana. She created a dust storm in an instant and created a curtain to act as interference between the monster and Calista. If Calista recovered from the paralysis the test could be considered to be a sess.


    Valerie kept her eyes on Calista and tried to determine whether she was right. As it turned out, she was right but the determination of that answer came with a price that she was unable to pay.


    The monster had been joyfully ying with them all this time but this little trick of her displeased her greatly. Her clever attempt to disrupt its meal had the exact opposite effect to what she had been expecting.


    The giant faced monster raised its face, opened its mouth wide and produced a soul shaking scream that reverberated in their very souls and shook them up from the inside. All of them spat out blood and Valerie even leaked blood from her ears.


    All of them lost their sense of bnce and fell on the ground. Their internal gyros had been dismantled temporarily because of the auditory hallucination that the scream had produced. It had rendered them all paralyzed at the same time by shaking every cell in their body.


    Dah threw up as soon as she fell on the ground. The nausea was the least of it. All their internal organs had been shaken badly and the weaker ones were even bleeding internally.


    Since the monster had chosen to take an extreme action like this, the only reason could be that it had been fed up with their consistent interference.


    The monster made its move once again. This time there was no one to disturb its meal. All the disturbances were lying in front of it. The anger that it had been showing on its face faded and was reced by that creepy smile once again; the smile that said, "I am going to eat you now."


    Valerie was lying weakly on the ground. The earlier scream had been targeted towards her so she had suffered the most harm.


    Valerie was only happy that it had been her instead of anyone else. She could not let anything happen to anyone else. It was her responsibility being the strongest of them all.


    Therge eyes of the monster were sneering at Valerie, as if daring her to try any of her tricks again.


    Unlike its previous attempts, this time the monster no longer wanted to enjoy rather it only wanted to eat without all of its antics. Valerie guessed that it was getting impatient since its prey kept running away and was getting increasingly frustrated.


    Calista wanted to move but even her finger wouldn''t move. She was still unable to relieve herself of the effects of the scream.


    She had secretly started to heal herself already and was trying to reach out her hands to get a hold of her bow that was lying very close to her. She wanted to use it to save Valerie from her predicament.


    But the speed at which she was recovering the feeling in her body was nowhere close enough for her to save Valerie. There was nothing she could do to prevent that oue. She could only hope for some kind of miracle.


    Valerie on the other hand wasn''t worried about herself at all. She was constantly urging Calista with her signals to escape as soon as the monster attacked her.


    While the monster had yet toe close to her, she was still free from the fear that it induced in its targets. That was the reason that she still had the sense to convey her thoughts to Calista through the signals.


    But as soon as the monster was all that she could see in her field of view, she felt that fear that made all humans lose their minds, the fear of death that was inevitable.


    She was so afraid that she had forgotten to even breathe. She was in a state of stasis. She was so overwhelmed that she became incapable of rational thought. In such a state, even if the monster was not staring at her, she still wouldn''t have been able to move.


    Seeing her in such a state, the monster seemed to be satisfied. It opened its mouth wide with a huge grin stered on it to swallow her whole like it had done with the S rank mage earlier.


    Before the monster could close its mouth, a figure leaped in front of its mouth and used the blood wall to block it from reaching Valerie who waspletely defenceless at the moment.


    Valerie opened her eyes and noticed that the suppression on her had vanished. The blood wall had created a curtain between her and the monster''s eyes. She was free from its debuff.


    The one who had saved her this time was none other than Zavier. She did not immediately realize that the Zavier that had saved her was already dead as far as she knew.


    The next second it hit her and hit her hard. Her jaw almost dropped and hit the ground very hard from the shock that she was feeling. She wondered how a corpse was capable of moving just like a normal person. There was no way that it was possible but it was already happening in front of her.


    Despite her shock, Valerie had already determined that the corpse definitely was that of Zavier since it was still missing the arm that Kyouko had cut off earlier but was unable to understand how it was possible for it to save her at this time.<sub> </sub>


    Zavier on the other hand wasn''t feeling too well. He felt that he had been trapped. Not just in body because he was being stared down by the monster, but because he couldn''t even take back his own consciousness that he had been using to remotely control his own corpse.


    As it turned out, Zavier had been heading towards the girls after taking over the clone with the necromancer system when he had heard the scream of the monster from their direction.


    As a precaution, he had taken control of his corpse and had been operating it to get close to the monster so as to avoid dying. But the result was too terrifying. He was unable to withdraw his consciousness. It had been locked in the corpse. Even the clone with the Necromancer system was unable to do anything about it.


    Zavier panicked for the very first time ever since the battle had begun with Kyouko. He had never been worried about his own survival even once since he had two more clones to fall back to. The one that was hiding in the closet at home was the safest one and the one with perception system was also avable for him to take over. There was no problem even if he died one more time.


    But the way that his consciousness was unable to move and change bodies like before in the presence of the giant faced monster scared the wits out of him. His survival depended on him changing bodies. If even his consciousness was affected, there was a high chance that he might not be able to make it out of here alive.


    The monster let out another scream indicating his anger on being disturbed yet again. It didn''t want to y with the lousy bunch any longer. It opened its mouth in a wide motion and bit down on Zavier who had already been restrained by him. As a result, Zavier was swallowed whole into wherever it was that the food of the monster went.


    Zavier''s biggest fear had been realized. The consciousness that he was so dependent on to change bodies after death was not shifted to the other clones that he had left behind. Instead it was him who lost connection to all of them. He had been somehow imprisoned inside his own body.


    Zavier slowly lost all the feeling in his body after having been devoured by the monster. It was as if the outeryer had been peeled away without even him knowing and only the soul had been left.


    He found himself shoved into a dark ce that was as dark as the mouth of the deepest abyss. Screams of anguish and pain reverberated all around him, wails and screams seemed to be the endless music in the ce yet there was not a single soul to be seen in the vicinity.


    Zavier wondered if that was what hell looked like. The tortured souls and the constant screams reminded him of the definition of hell that he had heard about in his previous life. This was exactly the same scenario.


    Before he could get used to the screams, the surroundings shifted and he felt as if he was falling. He was in ce but the feeling of weightlessness that he was experiencing could not have been more vivid.


    As soon as the feeling left him, he found himself in a ce that looked like a crowded market ce during a sale. Soul upon soul and each more terrified than thest could be seen everywhere his sight could reach.


    He found that his surroundings were filled with all kinds of souls who were in constant pain and were screaming out a chorus of their pain and suffering at regr intervals. There were all kinds of human souls. Zavier even saw the man who had been thepanion of Kyouko and had been swallowed by the monster before him.


    Zavier would have paid more attention to the souls around him had he been able to do so. He felt intense pain in every part of his soul as if someone was pulling it apart from all directions.


    As it turned out there really had been phantoms of arms all around him trying to divvy up his soul amongst them. The pain of one''s soul being ripped apart was not something that one could imagine without having experienced it for oneself.


    Zavier was also learning about it the hard way.


    "Tell me how do I get out of here and into another body?"


    "Can you hear me?"


    "Are you still around?"


    ¡­


    Zavier tried to contact the system in this ce but found that the system was not responding at all no matter how much he called out to it.


    Zavier felt that it was this ce that had somehow cut off his connection to everything else. Not only the system, but Zavier was also unable to contact any of his clones. It was as if he was not getting any signal reception in the ce.


    In fact, Zavier had guessed right. The connection with his system had also been cut off by the ce that he was stuck in. Zavier felt that the stomach of the monster was a whole other world that was full of pain and the tortured; nevertheless it was a domain of its own that didn''t allow any external element to operate within its boundary.


    The clones on the outside had shut down and had lost all ability to function as soon as Zavier had been stuck in the monster''s maw.


    The reason was that the system that had been responsible for controlling their automatic responses had gone offline and there was no consciousness capable of taking on their reins.

 Chapter 85 Alissas Transform

    Both the clone in the closet and the one on the outside were just like wooden figurines at the moment without a speck of life in them.


    On the outside, everyone was in despair at what had just happened. Zavier who had been still alive by some kind of miracle had been gobbled up by the monster in his attempt to save Valerie. He had embraced death once again to give them all a chance.


    Valerie had forgotten herself in fear in front of the monster. Both Calista and Dah had prepared themselves for what was in store for them. They had seen how even Valerie, the strongest of them had sumbed to fear and terror in front of the monster. They knew that their fate would be the same.


    It was only Alissa who felt as if her entire world hade crashing down on top of her head. She had been holding on to the hope that Zavier might still be alive since she hadn''t truly seen him falling.


    When he had appeared in front of Valerie to save her, Alissa had been unbelievably happy at his heroic return but the very next second, the monster had taken him away from her forever. She had lost thatst semnce of hope that she had kept hidden away in the deepest portion of her heart.


    She was so shocked that even her tears had dried up. She had forgotten to shed tears in her shock. Even though she was filled to the brim with sadness, despair and shock her tears refused to fall.


    The promise that she had made to Zavier, to take him to see her parents, came to her mind once again. She could truly feel that the day would nevere now that Zavier had fallen in such a way; after all, miracles didn''t ur in session.


    In just half an hour her worries had gone from "What she would say to her parents about Zavier" to "What was she going to do without him in her life".


    None of the happy things that she had imagined would evere to pass. All her dreams had been shattered and even the pieces had been swept away so she couldn''t gather them once again. Her heart was the same; in a million pieces.


    In her sadness and grief, she started to walk towards the monster who was the reason that her happiness had been snatched away from her.


    She had the subconscious thought that it might let Zavier go if she pleaded with it. She wanted to exhaust all her options to get rid of the guilt that she was feeling upon her survival. She wished that it had been her in ce of Zavier that the monster devoured.


    She was sure that unlike her Zavier would have been able to figure out a way for the rest to escape. She felt how useless her own existence was at the same time.


    More than anything else, she wanted to see him once more. For all that she was able to understand, she had been heading towards Zavier instead of the monster.


    It was only when she reached right in front of the monster that she came back to reality and looked at the terrifying giant face in front of her. She wasn''t the least bit afraid.


    The monster couldn''t have taken anything more from her that mattered anything to her. She had a deadpan expression on her face but the eyes betrayed the thoughts behind it.


    ? "Please¡­please¡­please let him go. I am willing to do anything you say. You can have me instead of him. Just let him go¡­please¡­I am begging you¡­please don''t take him away from me¡­he''s all I have¡­please¡­please¡­"


    Her grief was evident from the red eyes and the tone of her voice. It was the pleading of someone who had lost everything she had in her life and was willing to do anything to get it all back.


    The tears that she had been holding back for so long came all at once. The dam had been broken and the tsunami tool over the ce. The amount of tears that she shed in front of the monster was enough to be called a massive amount.


    The monster of course wasn''t interested in what she had to offer at all. Instead it showed a mocking expression on its giant face like it was rubbing it in her face even more. It stuck out its tongue and destroyed all the hope that Alissa had. It was the same expression that children made when they were being mischievous but the giant face doing the same thing was nothing if not creepy. It felt as if it was trying to show off the cruel things that it had done.


    Alissa lost her footing with such a cruel gesture in return for her pleading and her requests. She fell down to her knees and her tears kept falling and wet the ground as if it was raining.


    All the girls on the scene witnessed her grief and couldn''t help but be sad for her too. They had seen how much she cared about Zavier and how much she wanted him back but they knew that it was close to impossible for him to still be alive.


    While the others were busy showing sympathy, Valerie noticed one other thing. The giant face had been staring at Alissa for quite some time but she was not affected by its gaze at all. She was still moving around as if there was no suppression.


    The monster was enjoying the expression of grief and hopelessness that it saw on her face. It kept circling around Alissa in an attempt to tick her off further. It wanted to let her negative emotions run wild. As they had already deduced, the monster enjoyed ying with its prey and seeing them terrified out of their minds made it feel happier.


    It was circling around Alissa in an attempt to gain her attention and to mock her some more but it hadn''t expected that it would tick off something darker and more powerful than itself.


    The rain of teardrops slowed down and came to a halt unknown to the monster. The expression of Alissa turned icy but no one noticed since she had her face to the ground. The cold chill was even more terrifying than the one that they had felt upon the unsealing of the giant faced monster.<sub> </sub>


    Valerie was the first to notice the change in her followed by the monster floating around her. It stopped its y and thoroughly scanned the change that had taken ce in the girl who had been begging and crying in front of it for a while now.


    The expression on his face changed to that of curiosity and puzzlement. It was confused since it was unable to determine the change in the girl but it wondered what had happened to her. It no longer felt those enjoyable negative emotions from her, and instead felt that she was devoid of any and all emotions.


    Alissa opened her mouth slightly and a voice that was not hers and was colder than any cier spread out and brought chills to all who were witnessing the situation.


    At first the girls were unable to understand what she was trying to say but soon the chorus of words kept repeating and gradually her voice started to increase in sharpness and volume until it became piercing, maddened and devoid of any expression.


    "Spit him out¡­spit him out¡­spit Zavier out¡­"


    This was all she said but the emotions behind those words changed from the initial sadness to slight anger and then into divine wrath. Her voice felt like a demon from the deepest and darkest abyss of hell.


    And when she raised her head and the girls were able to witness the dark expression on her face that they had never seen on her ever, they were unable to believe that she was even capable of making a face like that. They had always seen her to be a cheerful and easygoing person.


    What they failed to consider was the importance of Zavier in her life. She was willing to part with her life but wasn''t willing to let go of him.


    As soon as the terrible expression stered onto her face, endless ck smoke spread around with her as the ground zero. The ck aura felt ominous to anyone who came into contact with. The monster wasn''t an exception either. It kept backing out as if it was afraid of something, something it had yet to show.


    The ck aura wrapped itself around Alissa and converged towards her. She was encased in a cocoon of the dark and ominous energy and was undergoing some kind of change that Valerie and the other were very wary of. They had never seen Alissa as angry as this and they sure as hell hadn''t seen anything like this before. She had always been someone who had been incapable of using magic but the dark aura surrounding her at the moment was telling a totally different tale.


    Gradually the cocoon around Alissa started to take shape and turned into a humanoid monster lying t on the ground on all fours which was quite a bizarre position for any humanoid creature and a little creepy as well.


    The monster that took form from the ck aura was about the same size as that of the giant faced monster. The only difference was that it felt even more terrifying somehow.


    Alissa had gotten lost somewhere and in her ce some kind of demon hade out to bring down her wrath.


    This monster was nothing less than those terrifying demons in the stories. If the giant faced monster could be called a nightmare then the monster that hade out of Alissa was nothing if not the Bogeyman himself.


    Valerie had never felt such a cold and bloodthirsty aura before this. She was afraid that this monster was even more terrible than the giant faced one.


    She could only hope that Alissa had not lost all her sanity and some semnce of memory that might be able to save them. If she really had gone berserk then the chances of their survival might not be good.


    Valerie was so cautious and afraid of the newly arrived monster that she didn''t even dare to breathe for fear that the monster might turn its attention towards them instead of keeping it on the giant faced monster like Alissa had wanted.


    Calista and Dah too were taken aback at the new development. They were unable to understand how a girl like Alissa had turned into such a terrible monster.


    The monster was feeling the same thing as them for the first time after it had been unsealed. The appearance of the monster had not only startled it but had terrified it.


    Just the aura had ticked it off and it had begun to back out in an attempt to escape and be far away when she transformed. As its luck would have it, the sole target of the humanoid monster was the giant faced monster.


    As soon as it felt that it was about to escape the range of the dark humanoid monster, it was held and caught by one of the hands of the humanoid monster. The monster had the ability to stretch its limbs which had enabled it to catch a hold of the fleeing giant faced monster without even moving an inch.


    The giant faced monster struggled like its life depended on it and shook its body hurriedly in an attempt to escape the grasp of the humanoid monster but was unable to shake its iron grip on its body.


    The monster that had been dexterous enough to dodge hundreds of icences shot by Dah without being hit once had been caught so easily by the humanoid monster in its grasp. It was throwing it about like some ragged doll being yed with.

 Chapter 86 Fearsome Alissa

    The arm of the humanoid monster kept wrapping itself around the body of the giant faced monster like a snake coiling around its prey to strangle it. In the end it opened its mouth forcefully and pulled the tongue out. The same tongue that the giant faced monster had used to mock Alissa earlier.


    The giant faced monster wailed in terror and pain and its screams echoed around for hundreds of miles of radius. The tongue was exceptionally long as the hand of the humanoid monster kept pulling it for sometime before it was able to rip it out of its mouth.


    ck blood flowed out of the body of the giant faced monster that had a terrible stench to it.


    The humanoid monster didn''t wait around for it to gather its wits and tore its mouth apart like it was tearing open the wrapping of a gift. As soon as it was done it continued to look into the torn body of the monster as if looking for Zavier''s body but found nothing.


    The humanoid monster became so angry that the amount of ck aura continued to increase and the monster was hidden inside the terrible energy. Its angry roars reverberated in the surroundings.


    In its wrath, the monster tore apart what remained of the body of the giant faced monster as if thinking that one of the pieces might contain Zavier.


    ck sticky blood spilled everywhere and the gooey blood stter almost made Dah vomit.


    It might not have looked that way to another person who did not know who the monster really was but Valerie and the rest of the girls were quite sure that it was what Alissa was trying to do even after she had lost all sense of reason.


    Since the humanoid monster couldn''t find what it was looking for, in its anger, it wanted tosh out at something.


    The closest were of course the three girls and it soon turned its attention to them.


    Valerie couldn''t help but scream in fright and terror. She could see that Alissa had lost her mind and in her ce a monster was looking to tear them apart.


    The earlier scream was meant to get the other two girls moving to make an escape. She on the other hand decided to stay back and hold the monster back for some time so as to give them a slight lead.


    "You two¡­.RUN!"


    Calista understood her meaning and took Dah by the arm. She could tell that Dah''s legs were turning to jelly and she needed help moving away from this.


    The monster reacted at the same time as they were nning their escape. It stretched out its arm yet again.


    The elongated arm headed towards Valerie who was the closest to it.


    Calista didn''t bother looking back and ran with Dah in her arms. She wanted to make sure that at least one of the students made it back alive.


    Valerie wanted to resist for as long as she could but she didn''t exactly have the strength for it.


    Just before Valerie was about to be attacked by the elongated arm of the humanoid monster, a figure arrived in time to deflect it off of her with a blood wall.


    Valerie was almost moved to tears. She wondered how he got there every time whenever she was in trouble and was able to save her despite not being stronger than her. He was younger than her but his spirit and his courage exceeded that of the most aplished men that she had ever seen.


    He was unafraid of death and took the most risky paths to reach his destination and yet he was able to survive each time.


    Despite him bringing about miracles with every step, Valerie wanted him to stop doing such things. She didn''t want him toe to harm. Previously she had thought that he had died while trying to defend her from Kyouko and had even used such a self sacrificial skill in order to save her. She had felt so much grief that her heart had almost given out but somehow he was still standing in front of her against all odds and was still hell bound on defending her from an even more terrifying enemy.


    Valerie would have rather died than let hime to harm once again. She wanted to tell him to run but the previous fear had left her body close to paralyzed. She had difficulty saying anything. Whenever she tried to say something only some garbled nonsense escaped her tongue.


    It wasn''t as if Zavier had some kind of teleportation skill for whenever Valerie was in danger. As it happened, Zavier had gotten released from that hell hole as soon as the humanoid monster had ripped the giant faced monster apart with its hands.


    The escaped consciousness had rushed straight towards the nearest clone that was the clone bearing the necromancer system. Ity there at its ce like some dead marite that had escaped the clutches of its master but had found itself incapable of doing anything on its own.


    The clones cut off from Zavier''s consciousness were of no use at all. They had no consciousness of their own nor were they capable of even following orders like when Zavier cut his connection from them.


    The basic requirement of their activation and normal operation was the connection with Zavier''s consciousness. In their normal operation, even if there was no transfer of signals between the clone and the original, that didn''t mean that, there was no connection at all.


    Therefore, when Zavier was released, the clones that had lost their signal and had stopped their tasks revived once again.


    Zavier took over the body with the necromancer system as the new main body.


    When he got used to the new body, Zavier started to look for the girls once again. He was worried about them who had exhausted all their skills and mana.


    Also, Zavier hadn''t known how long he had stayed inside that monster and that hellishndscape. He couldn''t sense the flow of time within that ce but he was sure that it hadn''t been that long.


    He rushed at his fastest speed and headed towards thest location where he had been eaten by the giant faced monster.<sub> </sub>


    Thankfully for him, the clone with the necromancer system hadn''t been very far away from the ce that he had designated as his destination and was most likely the ce where he would be able to find the girls.


    He could hear the terrifying roars of the monster along the way but he chose not to think about anything unfortunate. He kept running and soon glimpsed another scene that left him dumbfounded.


    There were no signs of the giant faced monster. But in its ce there was another monster that was humanoid in shape but liked to crawl on the ground like amon lizard on all fours.


    The terrifying roars that he had previously heard hade from the monster in front of him and the giant faced monster had vanished into the wind and nobody had an idea about its whereabouts.


    Other than that, Zavier noticed another major discrepancy that sent him into a fit of anger. Alissa was nowhere to be seen. He was afraid that in just the time that he had been captive inside the giant faced monster, something had happened to Alissa. Her absence was causing him great distress so as soon as he prevented the attack of the humanoid monster on Valerie; he rushed towards Dah and asked her the question that he had been longing to ask.


    "Hey, where is she¡­Alissa I mean?"


    Dah felt both sad and angry upon the events that had taken ce. First that monster had been unsealed by Zavier and now one of their own had transformed into a monster. She wondered just where these monsters of such a high calibre had been hiding all this time while biding their time.


    She was sure that if a couple more of these monsters ran rampant, the days of humanity would have soon been over.


    Dah knew that she had to tell Zavier the truth about what she had witnesses and the true identity of the humanoid monster that had been attacking them at that moment.


    The fear that she felt for her life was preventing her from uttering any understandable word. Therefore instead of throwing out garbled words, she chose to use a hand signal. She pointed towards the monster stating that it was Alissa.


    Zavier was unable to understand what she wanted to say. He thought that Dah was telling him that the monster had eaten her up so he asked for a rification.


    "What do you mean? Did that monster¡­eat her?"


    Dah shook her head immediately stating that Zavier had misunderstood what she had been trying to tell him.


    Dah once again pointed towards the monster and managed to say her name this time.


    "Alissa¡­"


    That''s when Calista put in her word as well.


    "That monster is Alissa¡­"


    Realization dawned on him as he stared at the monster in front of him. Others might have been oblivious to it but he had already known about the monster inside Alissa. He had no problem making sense of the situation that was unlike what the others were feeling at the time.


    As soon as Zavier had interrupted the attack of the monster on Valerie, just like the others even the monster froze for a moment.


    Before Zavier was done with his questioning, he was interrupted by the monster that had taken a fancy to him and was now after him instead of his original target Valerie.


    The monster ignored Valerie and blinked to the side of Zavier in a sudden motion. Zavier hardly had any time to dodge the onset of attacks at all. As such the monster opened its mouth and gulped him down in a fine motion.


    As soon as it was done eating Zavier, it fell into stasis. There was no further movement in its body. It seemed as if a robot had shut down after achieving its task.


    The sudden scene scared the hell out of the others who were also in the close vicinity of Zavier at the time. Dah who had been conversing with Zavier albeit with her hand signals almost fainted with fear due to the sudden attack of the monster.


    One second she was listening to Zavier''s questions and the next second Zavier had been eaten.


    Even Calista was not spared the shock. She too had simr feelings to Dah. The attack hade so suddenly that Calista had no time to distract the monster so that Zavier could have had more time to escape.


    As a result the monster stuffed himself with Zavier and they could only watch it gulp down Zavier in fear and panic.


    Valerie cursed the fates as much as she could. Why was it that Zavier suffered every time that he tried to save her? Previously he had tried to save her from Kyouko and had ended up with a de in his heart. She didn''t understand how he survived that but then he was swallowed by the giant faced monster in an attempt to save her from it once again.


    Valerie had been sure that he had died but even with his almost lifeless body Zavier had been able to stop the giant faced monster and was swallowed up.


    Valerie was sure that he was dead that time. But contrary to all sense, he had showed up again to save her from the humanoid monster once again. Valerie wondered what was it that made Zavier so tenacious and his survival ability like that of a cockroach.


    She had yet to establish how he had escaped his fate at the hands of the giant faced monster and he had already been gulped down by the humanoid monster.


    Misfortune was following him around like all of it was reserved for him.

 Chapter 87 Dark Barrier

    All of them surrounding the monster had been untouched but Zavier had ended up being swallowed. As if that wasn''t enough, the monster came to aplete halt after swallowing him. It was like the catastrophic turn of events that were happening were all meant to bring misfortune only for Zavier.


    All the girls hoped for Zavier to survive this ordeal as well and go back together with them. Only thest hurdle remained, the humanoid monster.


    As soon as Zavier was swallowed by the monster, he felt his skin being corroded by a sticky substance. He soon understood that the liquid might be a highly concentrated acid used by the body of the monster to digest all the rubbish that the monster ate. It waspletely ck in color like the color of his hair.


    His skin was constantly being corroded by the liquid and he could feel the burning sensation all over his body. He felt the need to itch all over but he knew that once he tried to scratch, he might start bleeding a fountain of blood.


    Therefore, he left that feeling in the background and tried to focus on the means to escape.


    Zavier continued to move and escaped the sea of dense ck liquid. Only here there was a ck fog that had the same effect as that of the liquid albeit a little less in intensity.


    Unlike before when he had encountered the ck liquid, the effect of the fog could be controlled to some extent with the help of the Blood de skill that he had. It was at that moment that he had understood how useful of a skill the Blood de was.


    It was not only the best of the skills at offence; it was also equally good at defensive manoeuvres due to the excessive flexibility in its usage and the degree of freedom and imagination that it gave to its user.


    Basically, the user was able to do anything that he was able to conjure up with the help of his blood.


    Zavier had drawn up a curtain of blood fog around himself that didn''t require much of an effort on his part and protected him at the same time.


    The fog kept roiling and moving around him in a spiral motion and kept the dreadful ck fog at bay that was looking for an opportunity to enter his proximity and take a bite out of him.


    He moved around and came to a sight that he had seen previously when he had tried to peek into her body in an attempt to look for the trouble that had been hindering her from using magic.


    He was currently in front of the same abyss that was like the gateway to the underworld. This was the ce where had first seen the monster hidden inside Alissa.


    Zavier knew that if there was a ce where he could find Alissa, it had to be that bottomless abyss.


    Previously when Zavier had peered at the abyss, there had been no light at all. It was all so pitch ck that not a single speck of light could be seen in it. Zavier was sure of it.


    But this time that he had taken a look at it, there was a tiny speck of light that was as prominent as the moon in the night sky.


    Although it was very small, Zavier was sure that it was there. He immediately used his enhanced vision to make out what was emitting such a brilliant light in the middle of the abyss.


    Upon a closer look, Zavier ascertained that the speck of light was the soul of Alissa who was currently busy crying while clutching her knees tightly.


    She looked unbelievably weak and timid at the moment to Zavier who had been with her ever since he hade to this new world.


    He had even seen her get bullied by the students younger than her but even then she had not looked so pitiful. She had always had a smile on her face and a happy go lucky attitude.


    For some reason, when Zavier saw her looking like that, an intense pain assaulted his insides. He wanted to bash the walls around him but there were no walls in sight. All around him was only darkness in which he could hardly see his own hands let alone any territorial demarcation.


    Zavier couldn''t help but feel desperate when he saw the condition that Alissa was in. He had even forgotten that he too had been swallowed by a monster and was quite close to death with no exit in sight whatsoever out of the god forsaken abyssal darkness.


    He shouted in the loudest voice he could muster and tried to get her attention


    "ALISSAAA¡­ALISSAAAA¡­"


    But she was too far away to even hear the echo of his voice. The abyss seemed to have the effect of dampening the voice as well.


    Sound could not travel very far in the thick and potent darkness. Sound required a medium to travel but if the medium in question was the darkness in front of him, Zavier wondered if it was even possible. From what he had gathered the result was not very positive.


    Either Alissa was too aggrieved to even hear his voice in this silence or his voice was unable to reach her. Even though both the oues were not in his favour, Zavier prayed that it was the former. That way there was still a chance that she will be able to hear him out.


    Following that he kept calling out to her in the loudest voice that he could muster and kept reassuring her.


    "ALISSAAAA¡­.I''M COMING¡­"<sub> </sub>


    Alissa on the other hand seemed unaware of the new development as she kept her face hidden in her knees throughout and tears streamed down her face constantly. There was no way she would have stayed like that had she heard the voice of the person that she was longing to see.


    Since Alissa was not able to hear his voice, Zavier could only get closer to her in order to attract her attention. His gut said that the only way to get out of the ce was to get to Alissa who was the main source of the tragedy that had taken ce. The monster had been inside her so she might have some means to control it that had been unknown to her up until that point.


    Zavier started to move towards Alissa. Even if there was no way out, Zavier was not willing to let her shed tears in loneliness in a ce like this. He vowed that he would send her out at the very least and ran in her direction.


    As he continued to rush towards her, the resistance towards him started to increase. It was as if the world itself wanted to stop his advance but like a drill Zavier prated the resistance posed by the dark fog.


    It had started to grow denser as he moved towards the centre where Alissa was. The increasing density lent strength to the fog and made it capable of even corroding his Blood de skill.


    The blood around him that was protecting him from the corrosion had to be replenished with decreasing intervals as he moved towards Alissa. The fog was trying to prevent him from reaching Alissa at any cost but Zavier was determined as well.


    Zavier could feel that his limit was approaching. At the point he had reached, he had to constantly reinforce the blood film around him to even think of moving forward. It was being eroded in real time leaving for no interval in between.


    Zavier''s breath had gotten heavy and he was practically panting. His bodily condition was also faltering as he was getting delirious due to blood loss but even then he didn''t stop calling out to Alissa who was still his number one priority in this situation.


    Zavier hade to understand the structure of the abyss as he traversed his way across it to Alissa. He hadn''t noticed it earlier but the abyssal darkness in fact consisted ofyers of darkness of varying strengths. The deeper one went the stronger the effect of erosion of the ck fog.


    With the diminishing effect of his bloody defence, Zavier found himself in direct contact with the fog as soon as there was a breach in his defence that he was unable to put back together.


    The skin on his hands and his face began to turn blood red before being scorched away by the corrosive darkness. His body was being mutted as if he was being skinned alive. The flesh beneath his skin was already visible and several ck spots had appeared on it as if his flesh was about to be dposed.


    Zavier didn''t pull back but kept going forward irrespective of the damage he was suffering. He had already died too many times. Once more was like scratching his back at the moment. At the very least he wanted to save Alissa before he moved to another one of his body.


    The pangs of pain that he had to endure were enough to make an ordinary person unconscious or at the very least traumatized yet Zavier refused to back away from it.


    He approached Alissa with faltering steps and a body afflicted with erosion and dposition. The pain was evident on his face yet he refused to make a sound. He grit his teeth and eventually stood in the vicinity of Alissa.


    He swayed his hand in front of him as if to confirm that what he was seeing was actually real.


    There was some kind of dark barrier in front of him that was preventing him from moving forward.


    He shouted at the top of his voice almost coughing up blood in the process since opening his mouth had given the dark fog an opportunity to assault the insides of his body. Pain shot throughout his body as the ck fog eroded his insides but he refused to give in.


    At a closer look, it seemed to be anotheryer of the Abyss that was holding Alissa at the moment.


    The barrier was made up of an even denser ck fog. It was practically a sea of darkness with that kind of density.


    Zavier knew that a hell of pain awaited him once he tried to cross into thestyer. His alreadycking defenses would be torn apart as soon as he shed against the barrier.


    Yet, the only thing in his mind was the fact that Alissa was in there. He was unwilling to turn back without her.


    Alissa was at the bottom of the abyss and separating her from Zavier was thest barrier. Yet she was unable to hear his voice.


    Zavier knew that the only option left to him at that point was to cross the barrier to approach her since nothing else worked.


    Zavier took in a deep breath and raised his arm in order to judge the strength of thestyer in front of him.


    As soon as his hand came into contact with the barrier he felt an overwhelming pain that even he had never felt before considering he had even died several times. This was practically the definition of a pain worse than death. He felt as if the sensitivity of his pain receptors had been heightened in this domain.


    In fact, the nerves on his arms had been ruthlessly torn apart by the barrier which had led to the soul tearing pain he had experienced earlier.


    Someone really didn''t want him reaching Alissa, otherwise there wouldn''t have been such a barrier separating her from the rest of the abyss.


    This strengthened his resolve even further and he ventured into the world of blood, tears and soul crushing and spirit devolving pain as he came into contact with the barrier. But this time his whole body was pressed against the barrier in an attempt to break through the cursed thing.

 Chapter 88 Wake Up

    p Through his unyielding efforts and his undying tenacity and perseverance, Zavier managed to break into the barrier. His arms though bloodied were the first to pass through the barrier followed by his shoulders, his head and then his upper body.</anda>


    Just this had brought him to the brink of death. He could feel death approaching in the distance. Zavier had grown familiar to the sensation so he knew that he was about to sumb to his death.


    Only half of his body had made it through the barrier but he had the feeling that Alissa would be able to hear his voice if he called out to her now.


    He grit his teeth to ovee the suffocating pain and called out to Alissa in a muffled voice that was able to portray the extent of the torture that he was going through.


    "Alissaaa¡­"


    Alissa jerked her head up in a swift motion as if a marite had been jerked awake by the puppeteer. She looked around in confusion since she had heard his voice.


    In fact, she had been hearing his voice all around her after she had witnessed his tragic exit from the world but on a fundamental level even she had known that his return wasn''t possible. Therefore, she had been ignoring the voices that had been swarming her mind like a group of mosquitoes buzzing around her ears trying to get her attention.


    But this voice that she had heard had woken up her very soul. She was sure that there was no way that this voice could have been a figment of her imagination. It had the power to stimte her very existence.


    She had therefore jerked her head up to look around for the source of the voice lest it disappeared before she was able to witness it.


    Alissa was still able to distinguish his mangled body. Even though his skin was burnt and he looked like a walking blob of blood, Alissa recognized him at the first nce.


    Her tears hadn''t dried up yet but the smile that had vanished from her face returned and adorned her beautiful face like it had never left. Her chimingughter rang in the darkness as if trying to bring music back to the silent abyss.


    She lunged at Zavier in an attempt to grab his arm so he could pull her outside thestyer but the ck fog acted like a deterrent and pushed her away from him.


    Zavier knew that the girl wasn''t strong enough to escape the bounds of the ck fog so he had to make an effort to get to her somehow. But he also knew that once he went inside that barrier, the probability of him ever getting out was very low. That was the feeling that he was getting from thest barrier that separated Alissa from him.


    That was the reason that he had only pushed his upper body in the barrier and had kept his lower body on the outside. This was only a contingency measure in case there was a restriction on moving out.


    Some barriers acted that way. They only allowed entry and didn''t permit exit or vice versa. Zavier prayed that it wasn''t a barrier of that kind but in the end he had to leave himself some leeway if that was the case.


    Since Alissa was unable toe closer, Zavier moved his body further in and only one of his legs was left on the outside while the rest of his body had prated into the barrier.


    Alissa was finally able to grab hold of his hand since the strength of the ck fog on the inside of the barrier was almost non-existent. This didn''t mean that the fog didn''t try to interfere with the rescue efforts of Zavier.


    The ck fog kept trying to pull back Alissa but the hold of Zavier on her hand never relented.


    Zavier pushed back out of the barrier. Following his foot, his upper body and then his arms came out of thest barrier and after that came Alissa whom he had managed to pull out with all his strength.


    As soon as they were out, the ck fog covered them from all sides. Even Alissa''s skin was being corroded by the fog.


    Zavier pulled her towards himself and she clung to him like a ko clung to a tree. She had gripped him tightly and wasn''t willing to relent on the force of it even if it meant squeezing him to death. She was afraid that he would leave her again if she let him go this time.


    Zavier covered her with the protectiveyer of blood that had been protecting him so far and left himself open to the erosion of the fog in turn. He didn''t have the energy to keep patching up the openings in the defense so he decided to focus on protecting the girl in his arms.


    He silently suffered from the pain and closed his eyes as he clung to the girl in his arms. He was ready for what wasing next. He could already see death engulfing his very existence but he was sure that this wasn''t like thest time where his very soul had been locked. At the very least even if he died, he would be able to get back to another one of his clones.


    While the two had their eyes closed, there was a humongous change in their surroundings that they were unaware of.


    In the outside world, Valerie and the other girls witnessed as the humanoid monster that had previously shut down turned to liquid and washed off of them like it had never existed in the first ce.


    In fact the copse of the monster had begun the moment Alissa had been yanked out of the bottomyer of the abyss by Zavier. Fortunately, Zavier didn''t have to die this time as well.


    As soon as the monster vanished Alissa and Zavier appeared in its ce all the while clinging to each other like they were not willing to part.


    Valerie noticed that Zavier was hardly breathing and immediately called out to Calista.<sub> </sub>


    "Take a look at his injuries."


    Calista was in front of the clinging duo in a jiffy andid a hand on his back.


    It was at this time that the two became aware that they had returned to their world once again.


    Zavier had suffered too much from the ck fog in the abyssal world to stay conscious any longer. He had been eroded by the fog and was suffering from soul tearing pain in every part of his body.


    Even Calista was dumbfounded after she saw the extent of damage to his body. She was wondering how the hell he was still alive after suffering from such terrible damages to his body. Anyone would have at least passed out but Zavier had been braving through it as if it was nothing. There wasn''t even a pained yelp from his mouth.


    "Alissa, you need to let him go. We need to treat his injuries as soon as possible. He has suffered from excessive corrosion from something that I am unable to determine the source of. The fog has prated his body and is eating away at him from the inside. We need to purify it as soon as possible or there would be a danger to his life."


    Alissa heard her words and reluctantly separated from Zavier and handed him over to Calista but still kept a hold of one of his hands and insisted that she be allowed to stay by his side the whole time.


    Zavier on the other hand already knew his condition. He knew that he had barely managed to escape death and full recovery might not be possible in the near future. He had been excessively traumatized by the ck fog both physically and mentally since he had been exposed to it without any defense for a long time.


    Zavier wasn''t too worried about himself anyway. He finally saw that the people he cared about were all in good condition. Only then could he allow himself to pass out. Even when he had been in the abyss he had been wondering what the monster might have done to the girls in his absence.


    He was relieved to see that all of them were just as he had left them. The instant relief washed away all his worries and he passed out before he knew it.


    The next time he opened his eyes, Zavier found himself lying on afortable bed instead of the makeshift tent that they had been using their travels. He rubbed off the sleep from his eyes and managed to sit up in his bed.


    Though there was still some pain in some parts of his body, most of it had recovered to the point that he wasn''t even able to feel the damage. He looked at his hands and arms especially since they had been the most affected from the ck fog in the abyssal world.


    He was in a familiar ce. This was his bedroom. He was relieved to see that they had managed to return home safely and a huge burden was lifted off of his shoulders.


    Sitting by his bedside was someone he hadn''t expected. At first Zavier hadn''t even noticed his presence beside him and Val hadn''t cared to disturb him. He let it take it all in before attracting attention.


    When Zavier was done taking in his new surroundings, he finally noticed Val who was casually sitting by his bed looking at him with extreme interest.


    Zavier put up his guard instantly after all Val was one of the people that he had previously suspected for his assassination attempts. He had even considered that Val had been the mastermind behind the plot that had followed after they had left on the mission.


    But judging from his current actions, Zavier seemed to have been mistaken. Still that didn''t mean that he was going to unconditionally put all his trust in Val.


    Zavier wanted to see what he was doing by his side. He wanted to carefully judge for his own what this uncle of his wanted to say to him.


    Val had seen this nephew of his flinch after noticing his presence. His transcendent senses couldn''t have left that part out. This implied that at the very least Zavier had noticed some things that he shouldn''t have.


    Val and his household had tried their very best to keep him out of the loop so that he could live a normal life that a kid should have. But seeing his reaction, Val knew that some of the details had to be divulged if he wanted to earn Zavier''s trust.


    Therefore, he looked into Zavier''s eyes and proceeded to tell him what he could.


    "First of all, I need to thank you for saving Valerie and the other girls. If it weren''t for you, the result would have been very different."


    Zavier''s face didn''t change even a bit. He was still vignt towards him and his guard was still up.


    Val was a busy man and he hardly had time to visit the sick in his daily routine. Zavier knew that. That was the reason that he was slightly taken aback at this generous gesture which looked suspicious to him.


    He wanted to know the true purpose of his visit this time. At the same instant, he wanted to rify the doubts that he had been having regarding him ever since the attempt at his life. This came across to Val as Zavier regarding him as a potential enemy, someone to be vignt around.


    Val chuckled a bit but his face turned grave and in all seriousness he proceeded to tell him the true purpose of his visit.


    "It''s good that you are awake. Your wounds were quite serious this time. They told me that you almost died."

 Chapter 89 Conversation

    For some reason Zavier felt that the concern that Val showed towards him was quite real. There was not a shred of hypocrisy or duplicity in his words or his expressions. Zavier felt that either there was something wrong with him or his uncle Val really was sincerely his well wisher.


    Zavier didn''t interrupt him and his expression told Val that he was listening and wanted him to continue saying what he wanted to say to him.


    "I know that you must be having a lot of questions and I might even have the answer to all of them. But I want to tell you something in all sincerity as is my right since I am your guardian at the moment. You are better off not knowing about anything right now. Let nature take its course and you wille across those answers by yourself some day."


    Zavier looked at him incredulously with an expression that was quite a graphic representation of what he was feeling and he made sure that Val understood his meaning.


    "You are thinking that I am talking bullsh*t. But believe me when I say that this is all for your own good. I don''t want you to concern yourself with things that a kid your age should not have to burden himself with."


    Zavier gave him a piercing re and looked him right in the face before throwing his counter argument.


    "Then do you think that those who want my life would stoping once I stop asking about them?"


    Val looked crestfallen at Zavier''s reply. He had hoped that Zavier might not have known anything about it but his words had crushed whatever of it remained.


    "Of course, they would not."


    Zavier had known that Val wouldn''t be able to answer that question of his.


    "Then why shouldn''t I know more about my enemy beforehand. Wouldn''t that give me an edge over them and a way to survive as well?"


    "You are a kid. You shouldn''t have to worry about things like that. You should be enjoying your school life."


    Zavier rolled his eyes and sarcastically replied, "Maybe I should tell this to my enemies. They might agree to give me an extension to enjoy my school life beforeing for my life again."


    Val looked slightly angry at this point. He was trying to talk to Zavier earnestly but he wasn''t taking him seriously.


    In fact, Zavier had never denied whatever Val was trying to tell him. He just didn''t believe that he could actually live such a life. Ever since he hade to this world, he was either being assassinated or was being hunted down by S rank mages or was dying to monsters capable of killing everyone.


    It was hard to take it easy once you had experienced all that in such a short duration. This was more excitement and more terror than all his previous lifebined.


    Zavier too got serious about the discussion that had taken him by surprise. He had to clear some of the confusions that had been hounding him until now.


    "I want you to answer some of my questions honestly, at least those that you can answer."


    Val took a deep breath and let out a sigh that seemed to imply that he had long seen thating as if he had known that this day woulde and Zavier would demand to know those answers.


    "I know that you deserve to know those answers but I won''t tell everything to you at this moment. I am worried about what you will do with that knowledge especially now that I know what you are capable of."


    Zavier showed slight anger in his expressions. He wanted to know why Val was hiding that information from him.


    "Why? Why won''t you tell me everything?"


    "Because you are too weak. You can ask me the the same questions when you have grown as strong as me and I will not hide anything from you. You won''t be able to handle the truth with your current strength. I am worried that you will harm yourself if I told you everything right now. When you are strong enough you won''t even have to ask me. I will tell you everything of my own ord."


    At this point Val appeared unlike his usual self to Zavier. He had never seen him like this before. He felt mysterious and vague somehow.


    "Do you know of any assassins trying to kill me?"


    Val had seen the questioning from his earlier words so he answered what he was willing to answer.


    "Of course I know. It isn''t the first time something like this has happened, you know. Assassination attempts on you have been going on since you were born. We have tried our best to protect you so far and we want to keep it that way. I think that it would have been better had you not found out this early."<sub> </sub>


    "Who is it?"


    "What do you mean?"


    Val tried to feign ignorance in an attempt to not answer the question but Zavier saw through it.


    "Who is it that is trying to kill me ever since I was born? I want to know the culprit behind those assassinations. You told me that this has been going on for so long. You must have investigated everything by now. You must know who my enemies are."


    Val showed a sombre look on his face and shook his head in the negative.


    "I cannot tell you that. You are too weak to face your enemy currently. Knowing about such an enemy will only hamper your growth and will give rise to paranoia."


    Zavier showed an understanding look as he was beginning to feel what his uncle Val was trying to do. The information that he could retrieve from him was quite limited since he would only tell him of things that he was able to handle.


    Zavier felt that he would have to find out those things on his ownter. Therefore he was going to ask as many questions as Val was willing to answer.


    "Then, tell me this. Were you the one who secretly ordered that mission from our school? It was very odd that there was no mention of it beforehand but out of nowhere we were told to proceed on a mission. That had happened around the time you came back."


    Val nodded and continued talking.


    "Your reasoning is quite valid. It was indeed me who authorized this mission but we had no inkling as to what was waiting for you on that mission. The main reason for sending you away was that we wanted to send you away from school so as to protect you. I had gotten wind of the assassination attempt on you and I knew that since the assassin was still alive, he might havee back to finish the job because that''s what assassins do. Sending you away was not only for your safety but also because I wanted to be at ease regarding your safety. Therefore, while you were away, I investigated thest attempt at your life in order to find out the culprit responsible. I couldn''t just let such a threat to you roam freely after trying his hand on assassinating you. So I investigated the incident and found the real culprit behind the assassin. You don''t have to worry since I have gotten rid of him. Let''s just say that he won''t be nning any more assassinations."


    Val gave a smile at the end of hisst sentence that was both enigmatic and charming. Of course Zavier understood the meaning underlying his words.


    At the same time, Zavier was quite shocked for the reason that he was sent on the mission. At the time, he had even thought that Val was the culprit and the mission was a death trap he had designed for him to finish the job that the assassin could not. He was surprised that his uncle had been able to solve the problem that had haunted him so easily.


    On his own, Zavier had tried his best to look for clues and had tried to investigate the people behind his assassination with the help of his perception system but to no avail. There was hardly a clue left behind by the assassin that he could have used to follow his trail. He remembered being quite exasperated at the time. But his uncle had solved everything in such a small amount of time with such limited information. This was quite a surprise to him.


    At the same time, he was relieved because he now had one less thing to worry about.


    He contemted about asking a question that had been in his mind for some time but in the end decided to clear away all his confusions.


    "Have you investigated this incident too? Why were we ambushed and what did they need from Alissa and me? Why target us? Does that have something to do with the¡­"


    Val put a finger on his lips to indicate him to stop talking.


    "Let me stop you right there. You need to understand that whatever happened to you or whatever you all encountered during this mission has been ssified as a national secret and you are not allowed to divulge the details of the subject to anyone; not even me. So, when I say that I won''t be able to answer that question for you; that means I truly can''t. It is a top secret government file at the moment and any leak in information regarding the subject wille back to haunt you, so keep your lips pressed tight or avoid talking about the subject altogether. It isn''t as if it is a pleasant memory that you want to discuss with your friends."


    Zavier was disappointed since he wanted to know the reason behind the enemy''s interest in Alissa. Had the enemy known about the monster inside of her?


    Unfortunately, his questions had to remain unanswered at the moment. Zavier felt that he would have to slowly look for those answers on his own as he got stronger.


    Zavier was eager to solve all the mysteries surrounding him but he also understood the reasons behind Uncle Val not telling him anything. He truly was too weak to handle the knowledge that the answers to his questions entailed. For example, had he known the enemy that was targeting Alissa, what could he have done? An enemy that was capable of sending out three S rank mages was surely more capable than that. Zavier would have been nothing more than a buzzing fly in front of him. Even though he had managed to live through the ordeal, he knew in his heart that he was very weak and had it not been for the multi system, he truly would have died in the wilderness or in the belly of that monster. Therefore, he understood what Val was trying to do by keeping that information from him.


    The only hint that Val had dropped for him throughout the conversation was that he had to get stronger if he wanted to control his own destiny and wanted to get rid of those who wanted to get rid of him. The answer to all his questions and all his problems at the moment was to get stronger. Only with strength would he have the right to know who his enemies were. This only meant that his enemies were stronger than he could imagine and he had to at least have a fighting chance before Val revealed the rest of the information to him.


    Val understood what was happening in Zavier''s mind at the moment. Therefore, he patted his back with some strength in it to bring him out of his reverie that was taking him in the direction of self loathing and depression slowly.


    "Don''t show me that face. I didn''t tell you these things so you can make a gloomy face like that. There is no need to be depressed. You Uncle here will take care of your problems until you are able to handle them on your own. After all that''s what families are for. We struggle in the darkness and wade through rivers of blood and evil so that our families can rest at ease and livefortably. Guess what, you are part of my family so I will do absolutely anything for you. I am willing to tell you everything once you have grown a bit stronger and the right time hase. But until that moment arrives, I want to ask one thing from you in return for all my effort and struggle."

 Chapter 90 Conversation II

    Zavier was a little touched so he didn''t exactlyprehend what his uncle had said at the end. Then it struck him that he might have left him hanging for a moment which was evident from his uncle''s expressions.


    "Uhh¡­What is it that you need?"


    "I want you to stop looking for that truth actively. I want you to enjoy your life like those others in your school. I want you to stop looking over your shoulder all the time like someone is after you the whole time. I want you to make friends and goof around with them like you should have been doing. I want you to learn all the joys that this life has to offer until you have to look the other way and have to delve in the darkness that surrounds you. I want you to ignore that darkness until it purposely arrives in front of you to gain your attention again."


    "Umm¡­you do realize that it was not just one thing¡­right?"


    Zavier looked embarrassed, whether it was because of the things that his uncle had said when he got carried away or because he had to tell him that was unknown.


    Val let out aughter that almost shook the room. There was a warning in thatughter and Zavier understood his intentions easily considering the piercing gaze that was about to prate his body to the other side as if challenging him to say a word more about it.


    "Since I have satisfied your curiosity, it is time you satisfy mine."


    Zavier nodded in response. He knew that there must have been huge plot holes in the story since no one knew about his cloning skill.


    Val had a change in expression as soon as he nodded. It turned somewhat frightening and admonishing at the same time.


    "You should have told me that you had learned Blood de. In fact you shouldn''t have learned it in the first ce. You didn''t have to learn such a self destructive skill at all. Was there such urgency that you had to opt for such a technique? It was better that you didn''t know the truth or you would have gone and learnt an even more powerful suicidal technique. Am I right?"


    It might have looked quite threatening to a third party but to Zavier, it felt like home. Val was acting the way an elder of the family was supposed to. He was scolding Zavier for something he should not have done but at the same time he was telling him to ask for help from the elders once he couldn''t handle it on his own.


    Val had puffed up his face in anger but calmed down soon enough.


    "I am not interested in how you managed to learn this godforsaken skill in the first ce. Neither do I care how strong it makes you in battles. But what I am concerned about it is the risk that it poses towards your health and the risk of death that it represents for you. If possible, never use this technique again because it poses a threat to your life, to your potential and to your talent."


    Once again, Zavier could do nothing but nod in reply to his uncle''s rant.


    "If you are ever in dire need of blood in the future you just have to tell me and I will arrange it for you. You should know that doing so is not against thew. As long as you don''t harm anyone in the process or do it against someone''s will, thew permits it. You might not have known before but there are a plethora of skills out there with weaknesses that need to be patched up using blood so it is quite amonmodity in the circle of mages. Not only that, you have to ask for my help if you are ever in need of it. If you had done that in the first ce we wouldn''t be here discussing about ways to get you blood."


    Zavier felt that Val was angrier because Zavier had not asked for his help and not because he had learned the Blood de skill that might be the cause of his end.


    Val had finally released all the pent up anger that he had regarding Zavier''s recklessness.


    Previously, Val had hesitated whenever he thought of telling something to Zavier. He had wanted him to be carefree and happy. He had not wanted to put more psychological stress on Zavier who was already mourning the loss of his parents and was having difficulty adjusting with them. But the bubble of safety and protection that he had put around Zavier had to pop eventually.


    He had been thinking of telling some of the things that he had hidden from him now that he had grown up but he didn''t ever get the right opportunity.


    But now that he had already be stronger and had born through some hardships, Val had felt that it was the right time to reveal what he had wanted to tell him.


    "Who else knows?"


    Val looked confused and tilted his head towards one side as if asking him "what do you mean?"


    "I mean who else other than you knows all about me and the enemies that I am facing, the assassination attempts and what not."


    Understanding dawned on Val at the same time.


    "Nadia, Kacie and Rainbo arepletely unaware regarding the whole situation. Even your recent escapades have been kept from them. Valerie and Bob on the other hand know part of it since they have been involved in the strategy to protect you for quite some time. As you know that I have a tendency to be absent from home from time to time due to work, I needed to have someone who could handle your protection in my ce."


    A sense of relief washed over Zavier as if a huge burden had been taken off of his shoulders following those words. Previously he had been thinking that he had been the only one in the dark while the whole family knew what was going on with him.


    Now that he knew the truth, he didn''t feel betrayed and alone anymore.


    Zavier understood that all this had been done for his benefit so that he could have lived a normal life instead of the life of a hunted.<sub> </sub>


    He understood Val''s thinking that he should enjoy it while time still allowed him to. After all the future hardly held opportunities for his enjoyment since he had to wage war against his enemies sooner orter, whether by his initiative or due to being forced by his enemies.


    He vowed that he would live his life to the fullest until his enemies were revealed. There was no point wasting his own life away chasing unknown enemies.


    "Can you tell me onest thing?"


    Val nodded with a smile on his face. He was extremely satisfied with Zavier''s response and his maturity in handling and understanding what he had told him so far.


    "Ask away."


    "Is Alissa all right? How is she doing?"


    "She is fine. You managed to save her in time. She is recuperating in a safe ce that is far away from here. She won''t be able to meet up with you or anyone else for that matter for some time since there were things that needed to be addressed and things that needed further control before they could be brought in front of the people again."


    Zavier understood his meaning from his words. The people were cautious of another monster on the loose.


    "You have to be careful not to reveal anything that you know or saw about Alissa in the mean time. It is not something the repercussions of which you or I will be able to bear."


    Zavier opened his mouth to ask "Why?" but he closed it just in time so that the word became muffled in his mouth and only garbling noise came out. Val looked at him oddly as if saying, "What happened to you?"


    Zavier knew that information of that level was bound to have been designated as a state secret. Naturally he wouldn''t be allowed to discuss such matters out in the open for fear of disclosure.


    That''s why Val was forbidding him from asking the rted questions. Zavier felt that the reason must definitely be the monster that was inside Alissa. The incident if discussed with the general public would have led to severe panic and distrust at the very least. Government trying to put a lid on it was very reasonable.


    Zavier thought of a roundabout way to ask his question.


    "Will I be able to meet herter?"


    Zavier wanted to know if she would be safe in the hands of the government.


    "You probably will be able to meet her sooner orter but you need to be prepared. I can''t guarantee that you will find her exactly the way that she was before. She might have changed a lot by then. There are many things at stake, a lot of uncertainty is involved and even I don''t know what will happen as we proceed to help her with her situation."


    Zavier understood what Val was implying. The monster inside of Alissa had been very terrifying. If possible Zavier never wanted to see it again. When such a monster was involved, uncertainty was the least of all problems.


    Since the government knew about the monster, Zavier was sure that there must be relevant experts working on helping Alissa in whatever way possible. Even he hadn''t known how to help her when he had the multisystem with him so he had no choice to leave it to those who had a semnce of understanding as to what they were doing unlike him who would have been akin to a headless fly trying to swim across the ocean.


    Seeing that Zavier had a relieved look on his face, Val kept the conversation going.


    "I need to remind you of onest thing before I go. You are not to use the Blood de skill in public ever again. It is an inhuman technique that will cast a shadow over the honor of our family. It would appear as if we treat you like an outsider and have kept you from learning the family skills. Remember that once you are able to handle them, all the sacred skills of our family will be avable to you. You don''t have to waste your potential every time to keep fighting."


    Zavier repeatedly nodded his head at the mention of the sacred skills. He had witnessed their power during the fight with Kyouko. God''s gift had been a truly terrifying skill.


    On the other hand, he agreed with Val and decided to not use the Blood de skill ever again for he did not want to experience such a painful death anymore. He still remembered the suicide that he had experienced through his clone. It was painful beyond imagination and he had to be really, really desperate just to think of using such a skill ever again after such an experience.


    "Take care of yourself; you have surprised even me with your survival capabilities. Valerie told me about your persistent and courageousebacks after every downfall. But don''t overdo it. I want you to think of yourself as well even if you have good survival skills. Just because you have them doesn''t mean that you have to be a human shield for others. Understand?"


    Zavier nodded in response. Val seemed satisfied with the answer.


    "Well, I have so much work leftover. Looks like I won''t be getting more free time any soon."


    Val looked deste and depressed but his health wasn''t affected even a little. Zavier knew that he must be monstrously strong in that case.


    Val got up from his chair and left the room with heavy steps as if he didn''t want to go back to work after a vacation.

 Chapter 91 Conversation III

    Just as Val left the room, Vrie came rushing in as if she had been waiting outside for her brother to leave him alone. She didn''t say anything and looked very desperate as she rushed towards him while clutching her hands into fists.


    Zavier was unsure of what to say so he kept his mouth shut and let her do what she wanted.


    Vrie practically jumped into his bed and hugged him so tight that he was gasping for breath.


    Zavier felt that this must be an attempt to kill him since it sure as hell didn''t feel like a hug.


    But soon he felt the force lessen as he was able to breathe again. He noticed a reddish hue color Valerie''s face as well.


    She had not intended to hold him so tight but in her nervousness she had ended up suffocating the patient.


    She held him in her embrace for a while and was not nning to let him go any sooner. What Zavier didn''t know was that Valerie didn''t want him to see her face that was now cherry red. That was the reason that she was refusing to let him go.


    Zavier enjoyed the treatment that he had never received before. The ce he had been resting his head at was surprisingly soft and mushy. So he didn''t have any qualms about her holding him longer.


    "I am so sorry. Please forgive me for the way that I have treated you so far. You have to know that I never intended to do so. Even if you didn''t have magic you would still have been an important part of our family."


    Zavier didn''t say anything in response. He had always felt that she was distant and antagonistic towards him. It wasn''t easy for him to acknowledge what she was trying to tell him now.


    "I didn''t do it because I wanted to or because I actually feel that way about you. It''s because I had to do it. It was all part of the n. I had to follow the n to ensure your safety. Ever since you came here, you have had to be protected from external enemies and I was left as thest line of defense for you. My cold attitude towards you was a means of throwing off the enemies into letting their guard down."


    Zavier could feel her sincerity from the strength of her hug and the way she was desperately trying to exin herself even though she had done nothing wrong. Just that was enough to tell him how much she actually cared about him and what she had had to endure by pretending to be that cold towards him.


    Zavier had started to understand the true reason for her cold attitude towards him in the past but he was unable to utter a word after he had witnessed the change in attitude of Valerie. He was unable to believe what he was seeing. He was being held so close by Valerie who had never even looked at him without showing her utter disgust towards him as if he was some kind of an untouchable freak or a pile of dung that would have dirtied her eyes.


    Valerie thought that Zavier did not want to believe what she was trying to tell him as he was not responding to her at all. Valerie grew terrified at the fact that she might not be able to convince Zavier to forgive her. She had never imagined a scenario like that. In fact she had always been very fond of him and now that he had revealed how talented he was, she had grown to love him even more.


    Not to even mention the number of times he had saved her from life threatening situations by putting his own life at stake. She was unwilling to see him look at her with wary and vignt eyes.


    She decided to exin herself further so that he would be able to understand her circumstances and would be able to forgive her as well.


    "I am sorry that I had to act like that towards you. It has always hurt me so much that I had to look the other way whenever you got bullied in school or on your way home from school. When I had to ignore you on the dining table and in the school I had to pretend as if you were a bone stuck in my throat, you can''t imagine how it hurt my own heart to do so. I could never put you in danger so I had to stick to the role given to me for your protection. I know that it is hard for you to believe me but rest assured that this is the cold and hard truth that I have been hiding from you. We wanted you to have a normal childhood where you could make friends andugh and make merry with others your age without doubting their intentions for getting close to you."


    Zavier this time lifted his head and looked into her trembling eyes. He could see how flustered she was, how wronged she felt and how afraid she was thinking that he might not forgive her for her transgressions against him, just from that one look in her eyes and her expressions.


    He still refrained from saying anything. He wanted to hear more from her after all she wasn''t asposed as Val and might let out some other key fragment of information that might be useful in him trying to locate his enemy.


    "Thankfully, I don''t have to do that anymore. I can just show my true feelings about you. I can pamper you as much as I want. I can favour you to my heart''s content now that you have revealed your power. This has put us at ease and we can now focus on developing your fighting prowess so that you can protect yourself but you have to make sure to never use that self harming skill ever again."


    Zavier nodded this time in response. This was the first time that he had given any response to her remorseful confessions.


    Valerie felt that all the happiness had fallen into herp at that moment. She could see that it wouldn''t be long before Zavier would forgive her for what she had done before.


    Before she could express that happiness to Zavier, she heard him mumbling something in his mouth. He seemed dissatisfied as well from his expression.


    In fact Zavier had been hoping that she might give him some crucial clue but it appeared that she had only been following orders and the mastermind behind the n for his safety was the only one who knew all the details about him and his enemies. Or it could have been that the girl was more capable andposed than he was giving her credit for.


    Whatever the reason might have been, Valerie had not let anything slip up even in her flustered state. That had been the true reason for the dissatisfied expression on his face that Valerie had caught earlier.


    Valerie had used her heightened sensitivity and had heard what Zavier had been mumbling in his mouth.


    "Humph¡­let me guess¡­this must be another one of those top secret ns that you are not allowed to divulge any details about."


    Since Valerie had heard what he had said despite it being not his intention, she nodded to him as an answer to his question though she too was slightly embarrassed.


    "Damn it¡­she heard me¡­"<sub> </sub>


    This time Zavier was prudent enough to not say it out loud to keep Valerie from hearing what he had been thinking.


    Zavier had been very cross with her and had always wondered why she treated him so. He thought that maybe she did that because she considered him to be weak and unworthy of her attention the way he was then but all his assumptions had been proven wrong.


    In fact, Valerie might have been the one who cared about him the most. She had even been willing topromise her rtionship with him just so she could protect him. She was willing to protect someone who would obviously hate her due to her actions sooner orter and yet she had not hesitated to take on the job.


    While Nadia and Kacie enjoyed an amicable rtionship with him, she had to oversee them as an outsider or a parent. She had never been able to be a part of the family that was always in front of her. It must have been hard for her too.


    This was what made Zavier feel helpless. At the same time he was moved by her sacrifice and her care. He had no option but to forgive her for all the things that had eventually turned their rtionship distant and sour. Just the close hug at this moment was the perfect depiction of the feelings that she had kept bottled up all this while.


    "It''s all right. I know that you had no other option at the time. I forgive you. Let''s start fresh, that is if you want to."


    Valerie was so happy that her smile spread so far on her face that it was about to escape the confines of her face if it grew any wider. Her face was flushed red like that of a ripe tomato. She had only nowe to notice how brash her actions had been and in what state the two were currently in.


    If anyone else had seen them at this time, they would have thought that there was an ambiguous rtionship between the two of them. Thankfully for her, not a single soul was around to witness the sight of the powerful Valerie blushing so fiercely.


    Even though Valerie was embarrassed, she didn''t dare move away from Zavier for fear of him seeing her face as warmth spread all over her cheeks. She could imagine how she must look at the moment.


    The decision of letting bygones be bygones was an easy one for Zavier. He remembered why Alissa''s parents had stopped her from earning magic ever since she was a child. At one time, he had even wondered whether her parents were biased against her or whether they were doing this for some selfish reasons. Only after his attempt to teach her magic did he understand the truth regarding her. She had that monster inside of her that was threatening to not only her but to those around her. In hindsight, no parent would harm their own child knowingly no matter how aloof they might be regarding their child.


    Thetest mission had only confirmed his suspicions. The trauma from the death of his clone had almost left Alissa paralyzed which had led to the monster wreaking havoc everywhere in its berserk state. Witnessing the destruction that Alissa was capable of once the monster inside her was unleashed; Zavier could understand what her parents had been trying to do.


    They had been trying to protect her with all their might even if that caused paint to their child. It was at least better than beingbelled as a monster and shunned by the society. Even now he wasn''t sure what treatment the government would have towards her and when would he be able to see her again.


    Therefore, Zavier didn''t judge his own situation from his perspective like he had with Alissa''s. Just like Alissa''s parents, his own family that included Val and Valerie had gone to great lengths to produce a scenario where he could live normally without fearing for his life. He had no right to judge them based on all the efforts that they had put in and the lengths that they had gone to.


    Val had even personally taken care of the assassins that hade after him and in return he had only asked him to live like the kid that he still was.


    It was only now that he understood why Valerie had never moved out of the school. It was so she could keep an eye out for him. Even though she was a talented mage who was infinitesimally closer to bing an S rank mage, she had never properly trained to be one. Instead she had taken on a teaching job.


    Zavier felt that all the pieces were now falling into their ces. Some things that had not made sense to him previously were bing crystal clear.


    Zavier remembered that just after the assassination attempt on him had seeded, Valerie had taken over their sses from their usual ss teacher.


    "Tell me something."


    Valerie made a muffled sound that reverberated in his chest as her face was quite close to his chest. The sound gave Zavier a feeling that she was asking him to go ahead and ask her what he wanted so he did exactly that.


    "Was the reason that you took over my ss to protect me too? Or was it just a coincidence?"


    Valerie struggled for a bit because Val had forbidden her from talking on this topic with Zavier. But she couldn''t tell him off after he had forgiven her for everything that she had done to him. Whenever she remembered the things that she had had to do, she felt so remorseful that she wanted to bury her head in the sand in shame.


    "Hmm¡­Val had found evidence of another assassination attempt and had to go around tracking the assassin so he asked me to stay close to you at all times so that I could get rid of the assassin if he ever came back."


    Zavier nodded in response as if he had expected the same answer. At the same time, he was grateful that she had truthfully answered him. He had almost expected that she would refuse to answer like Val but she had surprised him a bit.


    Zavier decided that he wouldn''t me his family no matter what. Just like with Alissa''s family, he knew that there must have been some unknown reasons that his family was being so cautious.


    Val had made it clear to him that he wasn''t strong enough to handle the truth which was the very reason that they had been protecting him while hiding the truth from him at the same time.


    The princely treatment was only until the moment he was strong enough to face his enemies head on.


    Therefore, Zavier had decided that there was no point specting meaningless conjectures until he had the strength to handle the reality. Only searching blindly for his enemies would not have led him anywhere. So he had to be focused on increasing his strength and stop wasting his time on imagining his enemies everywhere based on baseless conjectures.

 Chapter 92 Adjust

    Zavier needed to adjust himself to the new pace that he was preparing to follow in the uing days. The days where he had to be worried about his life constantly even at home hade to an end. He knew that there were people who were worried about him and were protecting him at all times. But that didn''t mean that he stopped being cautious; it only meant that he stopped being paranoid and started to change a little.


    Zavier meditated during this time using his original body and started to work on adjusting his mindset. Not only was his strength increasing at a visible rate, he had also be steadier.


    [User has increased his understanding of mana surrounding him. User is now able to feel the existence of mana like another element of nature.]


    [The amount of mana that can be extracted from the atmosphere has been increased permanently by a small amount.]


    [User has achieved a state of selflessness during meditation.]


    [Perception range has increased by a small amount. All senses will be heightened and all passive perception skills will have an enhanced effect during the period that the user maintains the selfless state.]


    [User has gained a higher understanding of mana circuits within the body and has understood some of the principles governing the storage of mana in the body.]


    [Mana capacity of the user has been increased permanently by a small amount.]


    [User has immersed himself in the profundities of the mental realm for an increased period of time.]


    [User''s increased mental activity has resulted in a permanent increase in mental strength.]


    The meditation not only increased his strength gradually but also improved his mental realm as the more he thought about his way forward, the more he felt his burden easing away slowly.


    The main reason that Zavier had decided to adopt this approach was that the wishes that Val had for him were the same as the wishes he had after his first death.


    Even the reason that he had been sent to this world by the cosmic consciousness was because of the regrets and the paint that he had suffered in his previous life. This life was supposed to have been a sort ofpensation for him but instead his life had been filled with danger, death and pain for the most part.


    The cosmic consciousness had wanted for him to experience all the good things that he had missed in his previous life and instead he had been experiencing different forms of pain during this period. He had died more than three times and had brushed death countless times despite the advantages that he had in this second chance of a life.


    He had yet to experience most of the joys that the world had to offer but he had already experienced many of the pains that were on the menu. He had already felt the pain from being strangled, the asphyxiation that it resulted in, the pressure on the lungs and the eventual death. He had also felt all life leave his body as hemitted suicide. The despair was still seared into his memories. He had felt his body disintegrate after using Blood de after all. Such a memory definitely was enough to leave asting impression.


    His original purpose of finding happiness that he had been initially denied had been turned into something that only brought him pain and death.


    That was the reason he wanted to get back on track so he could go back to experiencing the joys that the world had to offer. He deserved that at the very least. Yet he himself had been the one to chase after misfortune. The only one standing in between his happiness and him had been his own curiosity and apprehension regarding his enemies.


    Multisystem had been given to him so that he could control his own destiny by gaining a strength that far surpassed his peers and was able to help him reach the pinnacle of the world in the shortest amount of time. Only then could he be truly free to enjoy whatever he wanted and to experience everything that he deserved but had to miss out on due to his disease.


    Compared to his previous world, this world was truly filled with endless magic and wonder. The things that he had always thought of as a work of fiction had turned into his life and yet he had been unable to appreciate everything regarding it. He had yet to witness even the daily routine of amon mage in this world not to even mention the wonders of the world.


    Multi-system did not exist so that the cosmic consciousness could keep him at the edge of his seat the entire time. It was intended to pay him back for all the pain and suffering.


    Zavier felt that all this was going in the wrong direction.


    Instead of experiencing the things that he had missed out on, he was too busy ying games that included putting his life at stake.


    Realization dawned on Zavier after he had meditated for a while. He decided to take theid back approach. To take a break from all the fuss, Zavier invested himself fully into ying his time away as he continued to recover from the injuries that he had suffered.


    Even though the ck fog had been sucked out of his body through magical means, it had burrowed too deep inside of him for a speedy recovery.


    Zavier made use of this time that he wasn''t allowed to move around, and enjoyed himself fully.


    The rtionships that he had never had in his past life, the joys that he had missed out on, the smiles that were never directed towards him, he had the chance to get it all.


    Zavier got very busy ying around with Nadia whom he liked the most among his cousins. She was straightforward, kind and had always been the one who never cared whether he had any magic or not. At least towards this cousin of his even the original Zavier had never harboured any grievances. She had always been the one to keep himpany whenever he felt alone and depressed in their household.


    It might have been because she was the youngest one but she was never under any constraints and was pampered by everyone else. Zavier had previously thought that the girl was only so friendly towards him because she wasn''t forced to do anything in the house. Otherwise even she might have been told to stay away from him considering the fact that he thought that everyone else in the house hated him or didn''t care about him at all.


    Valerie looked down on him which felt more than real to him while Kacie waspletely indifferent towards him for whatever reason. Val was already negligent since he was barely ever home. How could it ever have felt like home to him?


    Therefore, the only ymate growing up who was willing to y with him was Nadia.


    Only now, he was enjoying every bit of it without any stress or worry crowding his mind.


    Other than the fun and games, Zavier had not forgotten what was important.


    He still had to grow stronger since he needed to be capable of handling the answers that he might receive from Val in the future.


    Therefore, the clones were busy practicing the relevant systems that would contribute to the increase in Zavier''s strength and power in the future. Their training routine was strictly being controlled by him so as to bring out maximum efficiency.


    Of course during the course of this leisurely time, Zavier didn''t forget the girl that he had gotten close to and had shared an intimate moment with. He had previously even nned to meet her parents but had yet to fulfil that promise as well. That girl was none other than Alissa who had been Zavier''s only friend for a long time and hadter taken the next step with him too.


    Zavier remembered her innocent smile and carefree nature and then recalled the moment when he had found her in her most helpless state because of him. He hadter learnt from the girls that her transformation had started after she had fallen into despair because of his death at the hands of the giant faced monster.


    From this he had been able to ascertain the extent of her dedication and her lover for him. That was the very moment that he decided to never let her go in this life. He was willing to wait for her as long as it took for her to take control of her situation.


    Therefore, he was looking forward to her return and theiring reunion with fervour and impatience.


    In the meantime, the environment of the Adam household took a turn for the better. The previous situation where each meal was carried out silently like a chore was nowhere to be seen. Valerie looked happier than she had ever before and her treatment of Zavier had turned a hundred and eighty degrees in the opposite direction.


    The most surprised with the sudden turn of events was not Zavier himself since he was already aware of the reason for the change. The affected included Kacie and Nadia mainly and Rainbo to some extent.


    They had never seen Valerie being so chipper and chatty and acting like her age before. She had been more like their parent in the absence of Val. She was always strict and hardly ever looked at Zavier for more than a few seconds due to her hatred for him.<sub> </sub>


    Only now, they could see Valerie being more and more attentive towards Zavier. She would constantly smile at him at dinner table as if there was something that they had been unaware of. They wondered what could have brought such a huge change in her attitude towards Zavier.


    Kacie who was a little more sensible could feel the change to a heightened degree. She felt that the change that they were witnessing had only urred after the two had returned from the mission that they both had left for two weeks ago.


    Nadia didn''t think much about it since it was a positive change after such a long time. She was happy that Valerie would get along with Zavier in the future so she didn''t care much about the reason for the change at all.


    So when Kacie raised her doubts about the reason for Valerie''s change in attitude towards Zavier, Nadia agreed with her hypothesis but didn''t care about the answer itself.


    Kacie on the other hand couldn''t let it go and tried to investigate the reason by herself. She even approached Dah to learn about anything worthwhile that might have happened during the mission but of course there was nothing she could get out of Dah.


    Although she was weaker, Dah wasn''t a pushover. She knew that the information about the mission was strictly being managed and had been ssified as top secret by the government and if she tried to divulge it in any way, it would have hurt her family.


    Therefore, Kacie couldn''t find anything at all. She looked for Alissa as well but never found a single clue about her whereabouts. The school records showed that Alissa was on leave but no one knew the reason for that.


    Alissa was unreachable, Dah was unwilling to tell her anything, she couldn''t directly ask Valerie as she might return to her previous self if she was doing this unintentionally, and Zavier couldn''t be approached regarding the subject at all. All her sources of information had been blocked and she was unable to dig out a single clue about the unnatural situation.


    Valerie''s hatred for Zavier was something that they had seen with their own eyes so Kacie was sure that it wasn''t something that would vanish in a day. She was even considering the scenario that the Valerie who had returned was someone else since the Aunt Valerie that she knew was incapable of showing that much concern regarding Zavier.


    The world where Zavier had been reborn in this life was rigid in some aspects. For example, the information that was ssified as top secret could not be divulged to even family members.


    The disclosure of information was almost always followed by a severe punishment so as to deter such an act in the future. The punishment came even if there were no serious consequences despite the breach of trust through the disclosed information.


    But no matter what it was in the world, it couldn''t survive without changing just like all rules were meant to be broken, all kings were meant to be toppled and all mountains were bound to crumble at some time. The terrain was supposed to shift in the direction that was more favourable whether one liked it or not.


    This was the way of the world, a way for it to evolve into something greater, something the audience had yet to witness.


    Before long Zavier was all patched up and was ready to face the world once again. He was started to attend school as usual as if nothing had changed from before.


    But something had changed something that he could not ignore no matter how hard he tried. He kept rubbing his temples in an attempt to throw that person out of his mind or to dull the pain and sadness that he was feeling but there was no medicine to the emptiness that he felt inside his heart.


    It was not as if the school was a very happy ce for him or the previous Zavier Adam. He had been constantly bullied, extorted and tortured just because he couldn''t use magic at the time. In short, that was not something he missed very much. The only thing that hecked this time was thepany that he previously enjoyed. Despite all the hardships someone had stood by him all this time and had shared his pain in its entirety.


    This time his solepanion through those adversities and his only friend at school, Alissa, was missing from his side which made him sadder than he appeared. Moreover, the sorrow was heightened considering the fact that their rtionship had already gone beyond friendship.


    Even though there were so many things on his mind, Zavier had somehow managed to stayposed in front of everyone else. No one could tell what he was feeling on the inside despite the number of gazes that lingered around on him these days.


    There were two reasons for that. First was that he had suddenly grown in strength and had been revealed to have powerful magic that was even capable of beating a monster like Shiranui from the other ss. The second reason was the result of the recent mission that they had been sent on.


    To cover up the story of the monsters and the S ss magicians'' ambush on their team, a false story had been released in the school.


    It was stated that the mission had ended up being a failure because of both Zavier and Alissa. Both of them had been the reason for the failure so a penalty had been imposed on the both of them.


    Alissa, being the one who was responsible for the major damage to the mission and the reputation of the institution, had been suspended indefinitely and had been asked to reflect on her actions while she recovered from the illness that had been guing her after her return from the mission so that she could try to get stronger in order to alleviate any weakness that she might bring to any of her future teams.


    Anyone who heard the story was able to believe such a scenario that was being recited in front of them because the whole school thought that Alissa was just a waste of space who couldn''t even do a speck of magic. But only Zavier and the mission party knew of the existence that slumbered in the depths of her tiny body and the potential destruction that the monster was capable of causing once the monster escaped its confines within her body.


    This was the lie that was more believable for the audience since it contained an inkling of truth that was generally epted by the public.


    On the other hand, the things that were being said about Zavier hardly made any sense to anyone who heard that he had been one of the reasons for the failure of the ss mission.


    Not only was Zavier the most aplished amongst all the students in his ss and the parallel sses, he had also shown immense talent in the field of magic so it was hard for people to understand what had happened. The more they thought about it, the more curious they became.


    That was the very reason that the number of gazes that were focused on Zavier had grown exponentially after his return. It was like a group of hungry hyenas looking at gourmet food from outside a ss window. Even though they were unable to satisfy their hunger from the information that was avable, they were still trying to discern something from his attitude or from the few words that he uttered.


    Since the authorities had to make a false announcement in order to cover up the truth, they had to make it believable for the audience. The two losers were the best way to cover it up without any difficulty.


    Zavier might have be a big shot in the past few weeks but he had been a loser without magic for a lot longer. People wanted to believe that he had been having a lucky period and someone like him could never aplish the things that he had, therefore they were quick to believe the announcement that Alissa and Zavier had been the ones to drag the feet of the rest of the members of the mission group even though the opposite was probably true.


    If it had not been for the two of them, there would not have been a single survivor amongst the group. Unfortunately, those who knew the truth could not say anything and even Zavier did not have an inclination towards such an idea.


    Zavier acted aloof as if the announcement that was currently tarnishing his newly built reputation had nothing to do with him at all. He was acting as if the people weirdly staring at him from everywhere were nothing more than bugs that he constantly ignored. He didn''t want to crush every single one of them to convey the truth of the scenario to them. Therefore he let them be and bypassed every opportunity to tell them the truth.


    The reason for this was that Zavier had long since gotten past the point where he would care about such trifling things like reputation, fame and what other thought about him.


    He did not have to care what other thought about him since he had already lived a life that was full of misery, judgement and pain. He had long since stopped caring about those who didn''t hold any meaning in his life.


    On top of that, this life of his was meant for him to live a worry free life. It was supposed to bepensation for his misery and he had somehow even turned this life into a miserable existence.


    Zavier did not want to continue on that path that brought him more and more sorrow. Even though he did not care about rifying his side anymore, there were some people who took it to mean that Zavier could be messed with again. They thought that he had gone back to bing the weakmb who could be bullied and suppressed whenever they felt like it.


    One of those people was an old acquaintance who had regrly bullied the old Zavier. Baird was someone who didn''t know when to back off and was too self absorbed to even imagine that the target of his bullying would be someone who could snuff out his puny life with his pinkie finger if he wanted to.


    Baird had been treating Zavier like his own personal ATM which he could use whenever he felt like he wascking money. The old Zavier had always given in to his excessive demands since he really was weak as he had no magic.


    Both Alissa and Valerie had known about it for a long time. Alissa knew since she had seen it happen in front of her countless times as she too was a target of such bullying being the only other person who was just like Zavier. Even though she hated Baird and wanted to help Zavier, she could never have done anything to help him out because of her weakness.


    On the other hand Valerie knew everything, had the power to help him out but still did nothing, not because she did not want to but because she had to keep up the pretence. In reality she wanted nothing more than to tear apart those who had hurt Zavier but she had remained stern throughout and had been merciless when it came to Zavier. The whole school had known about her prejudice about Zavier therefore bullies like Baird never even thought for a second before hurting him.

 Chapter 93 Recommendation

    Baird had been living off of Zavier for a long time. Whenever he needed money, he would stop Zavier in his way and would rob him of everything that he had on him at that time.


    Zavier had be a sensation worth fearing before he had gone on the mission that almost took his life. The students had been both curious about him and afraid of him at the same time. There was a lot of attention on him for his superior prowess and battle capabilities. Baird at that time had never dared to show his face in front of him for fear that Zavier might return all that he had done to him over the period of time.


    Yet as soon as the news of his failure spread, Baird gathered his guts once again. He thought that the lucky period of Zavier was over and he could be exploited by him once again.


    As a result he confronted Zavier as he was going towards the ss. He blocked his path and started to move towards him in an attempt to push him back towards the corner of the corridor.


    Zavier could see the idiot moving towards himself. He didn''t show any reaction and continued to stand still as if the person moving towards him was entirely inconsequential, as if he wasn''t bothered by him at all.


    Baird felt that something was different about Zavier but he couldn''t quite put his finger on it. Instead his fanatic thinking led him to believe that Zavier was trying to scare him off with false bravado and was actually hollow from the inside as evident from the fact that he had failed his mission terribly.


    "Well¡­Well¡­look who it is. Isn''t this the guy who caused the failure of the ss mission?"


    Baird put on an intimidating look and started to take heavy steps towards Zavier who was still expressionless.


    Baird felt that he needed to do more to break Zavier so he continued talking in a provocative manner.


    "Did you think that you had be a big shot by lifting Teacher Valerie using a puny float spell? Hmm¡­looks like some things really can''t change. A loser will always be a loser no matter if he has learnt any magic or not."


    Baird was only this precocious because he thought that Zavier''s future was bleak considering the mission failure. The school rules stated that those who managed toplete a mission like the one that Zavier and party had been sent out to do would have a chance to be selected by a prestigious institution. But almost everyone was reluctant to ept such a mission. That was because the consequences of failure were the exact opposite. The failure of such a mission would put a huge blemish on the track record of that mage and he would be unable to enter any prestigious institution for learning in the future.


    Therefore, only those who had the ability toplete the mission perfectly would take part in it. Moreover, the difficulty of the mission was quite low. One could even say that the mission was just a way for the school to showcase their top students so no one ever failed in such a scenario. But Zavier had done it due to which Baird believed that Zavier was weak.


    In fact Baird hadn''t witnessed the fight between Shiranui and Zavier earlier. If he had, he would not have had the guts to even stand in front of Zavier at this time. At that time, he had been unable to witness it with his own eyes but he had known the result of the fight which was a loss for Zavier.


    Therefore, Baird hade to think that Zavier only knew shy magic skills and had no power to fight back against him even if he wanted to.


    It was not just Baird who had that mindset. Most of the people at the school still thought that Zavier was actually a waste of space that had shone brightly for some time by using some kind of unfair means.


    They thought that Zavier had never left the bottom where he had stayed since the first day of school.


    Unlike the previous times, Zavier was in no mood for bullsh*t. He was already tired of experiencing the school bullying that he had missed out on in his previous life. Though a new experience, he didn''t particrly like this one. He had had enough of this and wanted to set an example.


    Previously, he had been tolerating because he had not been able to locate his enemies and wasn''t able to distinguish between his enemies and his allies. Now that he was past that phase, he did not need to hide any more. He needed to make sure that those aiming for him would think a thousand times before doing anything against him.


    The clone in his closet had been quite busy as it had only one task which was to increase his Mesmer rank in whatever way possible. It had barely left the closet since its inception because of that reason.


    Due to its continuous practice and meditation, the clone had finally reached the third level of illusions. He had be proficient in level three illusions to the point that he didn''t even need to break a sweat before casting such a high level skill.


    Without even a thought he cast thetest level three illusion that his clone had managed to get proficient in.


    [Fear Lv3]


    [A skillmonly used by illusionists to deal with those who are mentally weaker. The skill induces the target to hallucinate and witness their greatest fear as if it was right in front of them. The effect of the skill will be more enhanced when the mental level of the target is significantly lowerpared to the caster. In cases where the difference is too great, there is a small probability that the target might suffer from cardiac failure due to sensory overload.]


    [Requirement: A level three illusionist with preferably higher mental capacity. A higher mental strength is necessary to avoid the backfiring of the skill if the target seeds in breaking out of the illusion.]


    [Duration: The skill can be maintained for 10 seconds currently. The duration can be increased by either increasing skill proficiency or by increasing the Mesmer rank or mental energy.]


    [Current Skill Proficiency: 1.00%]


    In reality, it was quite overkill since students like Baird could hardly defend against level one illusions but Zavier had directly jumped two levels higher.


    [Fear has been cast sessfully.]


    [Target is fairly weak; the effects of the illusion have been amplified further.]


    [Target is fairly weak; the duration of the skill has been increased further.]


    As a result the bully could hardly bear the effect of the skill and screamed like a little girl while pissing his pants.


    The skill worked better than Zavier had expected as the effect didn''t vanish even after 15 seconds.


    During that time, Baird was rolling around on the ground trying to escape from something intangible. At least that was what Zavier thought that Baird was trying to do. In reality, he appeared to be iling around on the ground like his whole body had turned into jelly.


    Before long, his eyes rolled back and he started to foam at the mouth. The screams that were echoing all around stopped abruptly.


    Zavier wondered what Baird might be seeing for him to look like that. It had to be at the level of the monsters that he had seen at the very least.


    Zavier stayed long enough to make sure that he wouldn''t get scared to death. When he noticed that Baird was in a state where he was unable to even scream due to fear but had enough vitality in him to survive, Zavier made his way towards the ssroom.


    Fortunately for him, no one witnessed the scene as it was quite a deserted corner of the school.


    Zavier had an evil smile hung on his face as he left the scene of crime. He hardly cared about people like Baird who terrified others just because they could. He had already witnessed what these people did in moments of crisis. Therefore, he wasn''t even the least bit interested in what became of Baird as he left him in the deserted hallway rolling about in his own faecal matter.


    Zavier walked towards the familiar ss as if he had done nothing wrong, as if there was no one who was roiling about in the hallway foaming at the mouth because of him at that very moment.


    The evil smile on his face had yet to leave and he looked devilish as he made his way back to the end of the ssroom where he usually sat. But this time, the person who sat beside him was nowhere to be seen.


    This saddened him a little for a moment as he was slowly trying to get ustomed to her absence after he hade back to school.


    He shook his head slightly and focused on the fact that he was going to meet her again soon when everything was under control. He was sure that Alissa must also be thinking the same way. The time for their reunion would definitelye soon.


    A hanging face was therefore, not necessary.


    Zavier calmly sat down on his seat and was able toe back to reality as he thought of that.


    Despite his attempts to stay normal, the other students kept staring at him as if he was a character of their favourite show. Wherever he went their eyeballs moved with him. Zavier didn''t care about these people but the constant gazes at his back irritated him. Still, he managed to control himself somehow.


    Just after his return, the teacher came rushing in right at the start of the ss timings. It was none other than his aunt Valerie who had recently warmed up to him.


    She was still maintaining her grace and exuded the air of a strict and principled teacher. Zavier on the other hand couldn''t picture her like that. Whenever he looked at her, he was reminded of the time when she had jumped into his bed to hug him after they hade back alive from the hellish mission.


    Zavier noticed that Valerie was acting differently from her usual self. If it was any other day, she would have begun teaching by now and would probably have hit someone with chalk already to set an example. But today, she was waiting around for everyone to settle. It looked as if she had something to say to the whole ss.<sub> </sub>


    "Settle down please. I have an announcement to make today before we formally begin our ss."


    These announcements were usually important urrences so there was a flurry of movement before everyone was seated on their positions.


    "Since everyone is done, I don''t want any further distractions while I announce the names of those students who have received the school''s rmendation for self admission quota of the most prestigious universities of the empire."


    Although all of them wanted to talk and whisper their concerns to their friends, none of the students dared to move their lips. They already knew the result of such an action as Valerie had never tolerated such an action in her ss before. They were bound to be hit by her precision chalk strike if they even thought about doing that.


    More than the pain, it was the embarrassment that stopped them; after all, Valerie hardly cared whether they were smack in the centre of the ss or not.


    Moreover, the rmendations were a huge thing for all the students since it was the one thing that could put them on the fast track of bing a powerful mage. All the S rank mages who were alumni of their school had received such a rmendation except for some whose talent sproutedter on in their lives.


    In fact it was not just their school, institutions all across the empire gave out these rmendations to the most talented students of the institution. Each institution received a requisite number of spots based on the prestige and ranking of the institute in the empire.


    Only those rmended by the school would then be eligible to take part in the preliminary tests for early admissions conducted by the universities.


    The universities had to conduct such preliminary screening tests despite the rmendation of the schools in order to curb the tendency of the schools leaning towards nepotism whether in return for benefits or just because they felt like it.


    Cheating incidents had taken ce in the past which had led to embarrassing situations for the universities and they wanted to avoid any such urrence through any means possible.


    Some incidents where powerful families had used their fame and wealth to hoard the rmendations for their family members had taken ce in the past which had resulted in eptance of subpar candidates. Only then did the universities manage to take into the ount the lengths that these families were willing to go to in order to preserve their false honor and to care for their family''s losers. They didn''t have any bottom line whatsoever and were willing to twist the situation to satisfy their ends no matter the cost.


    This had caused quite a stir in the past among the universities selecting such candidates which was the very reason that the screening tests had been initiated.


    Through such testing mechanisms, universities had the right to select only the candidates who had enough talent and skill to be enrolled into those universities.


    Merion High school was considered one of the most orthodox and one of the finest institutes for high school students in the whole empire. Therefore, the number of rmendations that the school had the right to give out was fivepared to other institutions that could barely nominate 5 participants at their very best. Not only that, Merion High also had no restriction that the student had to be from the senior year to be promoted to the universities. The rmendation could be given out to anyone as long as they were talented enough to get past the screening tests held by the university.


    The announcement was so important for the students that a hush had spread in the ss. No one was willing to talk so as to miss out on hearing the names of the selected. All of them were hopeful that their name would be called out and they didn''t want to miss out on the announcement just because they were busy gossiping with someone else at the time.


    The silence was the answer that Valerie was looking for. Therefore, she took out a piece of paper from a file that she had been holding from the moment that she had taken her first step into the ss.


    Everyone in the ss held their breath in anticipation of the result. Of course there were some who were least bothered about it. They were the ones who knew themselves better than the rest. They knew beforehand that they did not have any chances of being rmended by the school. Some of them had disciplinary issues, some had academic issues and some had trouble casting skills. In short all of them were terrible at one thing or the other. Hence they had no hope and were busy gossiping away in tiny whispers so as to not disturb the others.


    Valerie started to read out the names and the students held their breath and some of them even closed their eyes to pray.


    "As usual, the school has decided to rmend a total of five students this year for the pre-screening test conducted jointly by the best universities of the empire. Most of these universities have furnished some of the best S rank talents in the past. The school hopes that those of you who have been nominated should also strive to be same if not better than those who have gone before you. I am now going to announce the names of the five students who have been nominated by the school this year. Their names are¡­Kacie Adams¡­"


    There were a lot of hushed voices as soon as the first name was called out but there were none in protest, as if all of them felt that the first name was as they had been expecting.


    Kacie Adams was the perfect student in every way possible. She had everything starting from good looks, academic talent, high discipline score, high moral and ethical standards, excessive magical energy and fine mana control talent. She was the perfect all rounder that any university would give an arm and a leg for. There was a loud cheer from her fans and even those who didn''t know a lot about her didn''t raise any voice against her. All of them had at least heard about her and her prodigious talent and supreme beauty.


    "¡­Nadia Adams¡­"


    The second name had been announced. A smile appeared on Zavier''s face as soon as the name was announced. He had always liked this cousin of his. She was sometimes mischievous and sometimes clingy but Zavier never found her to be bothersome. As it turned out heter found that Nadia was the top sophomore in the school too. She was monstrously talented if she put her mind to it and had extraordinary potential. The whole school acknowledged her prowess and therefore no one protested to her name as well.


    Hearing the names of his two talented cousins in a row, he couldn''t help but be happy. He had changed his views regarding Kacie as well after the incident where she hade to deliver medicine to him at home.


    He had always thought that Kacie had never liked him but that had turned out to be untrue. Kacie had trouble revealing what she felt but she had never hated him or pretended to hate him like Valerie had.


    Therefore, he was cheering for the both of them. He felt proud and at the same time he felt bad for the original Zavier since he must have felt very inferior living in that household considering the fact that all of them were such prodigies when it came to magic. Val was such a high official of the empire which was a testament of his power, Valerie was a huge genius who had be a teacher at such a tender age and even his two little cousins were budding prodigies. Only he had no talent for magic. Such a situation could be very difficult to handle.


    Thankfully, Zavier didn''t have to feel that way since he had the potential to be the strongest out of all of them.


    Valerie continued reading the names of the chosen from the list in her hand.


    "¡­Shiranui Yamata¡­"


    The third name on the list was that of someone in the same year as them. She had previously beaten the top student in their ss, Dah. Not one of them cared to remember that she had been beaten by Zavier as well and had only won because Zavier had avoided hurting her.


    Now that Zavier had lost his earlier lustre, everyone just thought that he was weaker and that was why he had lost to her.


    Despite all the whispers no one could change the fact that Shiranui was indeed an outstanding talent when it came to the quality of magic skills and the fighting capability she had. Other than that her fierce and persistent will probably made up for anything sheckedpared to the other nominees. Even Zavier had to acknowledge at least that much.


    "¡­Dah¡­"


    Valerie looked towards Dah as soon as she took her name as she was seated in the front row. Valerie nodded at her in an attempt to congratte her.


    The whole ss cheered as this was the first name that was from their own ss. Dah had always been the top of the ss so everyone was willing to acquiesce to her.


    Dah grew flustered from the cheering noise and looked towards the back where Zavier was seated. She felt that she did not deserve to be the one who was nominated because Zavier was clearly better than her. She did not even deserve to carry his shoes if his real talent were to be revealed in front of everyone. She felt that the excuse that the school hade up with was very unfair to Zavier whose future path had almost been cut off because of that.


    Zavier saw her troubled face and nodded at her with a smile. He didn''t want her to feel guilty about it because it didn''t matter much to him anyway. He didn''t have to study in some school to properly learn magic as he had the best guide avable in the world. He was bound to surpass them at some point even if they did get a head start. Therefore, he just gave her aforting look to ease her troubles.


    Now all the heavy hitters had already been named so the ss was trying to anticipate the lucky winner who was getting thest remaining rmendation. Valerie was taking a long time in uttering thest name.


    It was like she was purposefully doing it to create suspense. But as usual there was no expression on her face that indicated that she was doing it on purpose.


    "st but not the least¡­Zavier Adams."


    A hush spread over the whole ss. No one had expected to hear that name. It was thest thing that they had expected. Some voices rose up in protest regarding thest name as soon as they had managed to digest what had happened.


    "How can it be him?"


    "There is no way that is true¡­right?"


    "Teacher, is there some kind of mistake?"


    "Did you really say ''Zavier''?"


    There was a huge uproar in the ss soon after the announcement because none of them were expecting to hear that name. Zavier had cause the failure of the ss mission so how could he be the one to get an endorsement.

 Chapter 94 Prepare

    Zavier too was shocked to hear his own name. Though he had some fighting ability and his strength exceeded that of his peers, that didn''t mean that he was eligible for the endorsement at all because the endorsement also took the academic score into ount.


    Zavier had always been at the bottom when it came to the scores so he had never dreamed that he would even be considered for such a thing.


    Moreover, the test scores were also an important criterion for the pre-screening carried out by the universities. Zavier had a negligible chance of being epted by any of the universities even if he was rmended for the test due to his poor performance and perennially low scores.


    If even Zavier was not convinced as to how his name came to be there, the students in the ss were even more doubtful. First they thought that it must have been some kind of mistake but when Valerie cleared away their doubts, reality befell the poormbs.


    Some of them stood up in protest but Valerie shot each of them down by asking if they were trying to judge the decisions of the school.


    No one had the guts to say that the school was trying to cheat so they had to shut up. Some angry gazesnded on Zavier but he pretended as if he had not seen anything.


    Since they had no other way to take out their anger, the students started to discuss among themselves.


    "Maybe his uncle had something to do with it. I hear he is a high ranking official in the government. His aunt is our teacher as well."


    "You might be right about his uncle. As for Teacher Valerie, I heard that she hates him and always grabs any opportunity to torture him. So you can exclude her from the conspiracy. It must have been his uncle who has cleared the road for him."


    Zavier could hear those conversations clearly even though he was sitting at the back of the ss. His hearing had been enhanced by the perception system.


    Once again he had to acknowledge the effort that Valerie had put in to be the bad guy in order to protect him. No one was willing to believe that she would side with him and would try to give him preferential treatment.


    Zavierughed at that. Valerie was probably his greatest supporter out of all those they had associated with him.


    If it had been earlier, Zavier would have probably tried to figure out the person responsible for the sudden rmendation or would have tried to prove his innocence through some means. But this time was different. He did not care who was responsible for the maniption or who had pushed him up the ranks. He was past all that.


    All he was concerned about at the moment was that he had to enjoy every moment that he had. Since he had been nominated, he was going to make sure that he got epted by whatever university he wanted to go to.


    Zavier had died many times and he had been close to dying for real when he had been trapped by the giant faced monster, so his perspective on life had changed a little after he had that conversation with Val. He had decided to temporarily forget everything about conspiracies, assassination attempts, maniptions and deception meant for him in order to live his life and to get some time to improve his strength in the meanwhile.


    Therefore, he wasn''t about to argue with his ssmates like a petty person over such trivialities. He had returned to the time when he didn''t care about being at the bottom. This made him feel freer than ever before.


    While the whole ss full of students was busy regretting their past actions in the most noticeable way possible, the lucky winners who had won the rmendations from the school had their own fatigues that they had to tend to.


    Zavier and Dah had to figure out the details regarding the preliminaries that they had to attend due to the endorsements that they had received from the school. They had no information as to when, where and how would those preliminary tests be conducted? Their ss teacher had not bothered to exin anything to them because she wanted to conduct her ss right after the announcement had finished.


    Dah had even asked her for further boration but had been stared down into silence by Valerie. Valerie had a stern look on her face as she had told them off to go find their group leader for the relevant information as if she was daring them to waste one more second of her ss.


    Zavier wondered if the result of that would have been the same had he asked her the same question. After all,tely she had been doting on him quite a lot.


    As soon as the thought crossed his mind he felt as if he had been struck by something heavy right in the middle of his face as he came back to reality.


    A small piece of chalk that was smaller than the top of his pinkie finger hit him square in his face. The force behind the throw had been enough to make him feel like he had been hit by something heavy.


    "Where do you think you are? Be attentive in ss otherwise stay away from my sight."


    A cold and stern tone that sent shivers down his spine emerged out of the mouth of Valerie. Her gaze was piercing a hole in his forehead and he couldn''t help but feel ufortable in front of her for the first time ever since he hade back from the mission.


    At that moment he was sure that the result might have been even worse than it had been for Dah.


    Valerie might not be concerned about others knowing about their rtionship now but she sure as hell wouldn''t have tolerated him trying to get favourable treatment. No matter how close they might have gotten, Valerie was a good teacher who put her principles before everything else. Therefore, she still would have continued with her ss regardless of who had been the one to ask the question.


    Before the ss was about to finish, Dah managed to look back towards Zavier once or twice when Valerie was not looking. She secretly told him to follow her after the ss as she pointed towards Valerie at the same time.


    Zavier understood what she was trying to convey and hastily nodded his head since he too wanted to know the information regarding the next phase.


    As soon as the ss was finished and Valerie left the ss, Zavier and Dah dashed outside to catch a hold of Valerie who was moving away at a brisk pace. They wanted to stop her in order to get some information out of her.


    Since that wasn''t ss time they didn''t have to be afraid of getting a chalk in the face as a result of asking those questions.


    As soon as Valerie noticed Dah and Zavier running after her she came to an abrupt stop and waited for them toe closer.


    Before they could even ask her anything, Valerie raised her voice to shush them down.


    "I don''t want to hear anything about the preliminaries. You two can ask me anything else. So, is there anything else or can I leave now?"


    Both of them were dumbfounded as to the way that this was progressing. They had not expected to receive the cold shoulder from her after everything that they had been through.


    As they turned to leave, Valerie''s expression softened a little and a weird expression shed past her face.


    "Go ask Calista, she will be your group leader this time."


    Valerie said what she wanted to say and left hurriedly as if she was afraid of being held down by the two of them.


    It was that moment that Zavier understood the reason for her odd behavior. She was just feelingpetitive with Calista again. Before the mission the two hardly had a rtionship that could have been called good. They were extremelypetitive as evident from the fact that he had had to fight her battle when she had decided to confront Calista''s ss for almost no reason at all.


    The hint that gave away what she was feeling was that weird expression that had flitted past her face just now. It felt as if she had a guilty conscience and had only been angry that she was not being sent as the group leader this time and Calista had been nominated instead.


    Zavier too felt a little disappointed that Valerie had not been nominated. Although his rtionship with Calista had gotten better it still couldn''t bepared to the one he had with Valerie.


    After roaming around a little, the two headless chickens soon figured out that the main notice board of the school was bearing a notice with the names of all the staff and the students who had been given an endorsement.


    The notice indeed indicated the group leader to be Calista and a bunch of names that corresponded with the names called out by Valerie earlier. Moreover some of the teachers had also been named who were responsible for the paperwork up until signing them up for the preliminary tests. It looked like Calista had the job of escorting us back and forth and such burdensome tasks had been left to the others.


    Even though he would have liked if Valerie had been the group leader, Zavier preferred to spend more time with the legendary Elf descendant, Calista.


    The reason for that was none other than the fact that she had the perfectly lethalbination that any bombshell could have; an angelic little girly face and an exaggerated bodily proportion that would have made all the maturedies out there feel shy. Sometimes it felt to him that Calista was even more seductive whenpared to Valerie.


    Valerie had her own charm but her seductive charm was dragged down by the stern expression that she always maintained on her face.<sub> </sub>


    Therefore, Valerie only came about as an ice cold beauty and was wasting the potential that she had for seduction. On the other hand, Calista was someone everyone could approach and fantasize about yet no one had the guts to offend her.


    Another reason that neither the students nor the teachers at the school ever thought of revealing their thoughts about Calista was that despite her girly looks, she was actually a very fine A ss mage who was enough to handle most of them in groups of tens without even breaking a sweat.


    ? No matter what, an A rank mage was a scarce resource for any school. A decent mage of that ranking was hard to hold back in schools as these mages needed to increase their rankings through missions that could give them constant practice. An A rank mage of Calista and Valerie''s calibre staying back to teach was a rare urrence.


    The school must have had a lot of other tasks pending for Valerie as she was one of those A rank mages that the school currently had. She couldn''t just keep on spearheading the roles that kept her away from the school for too long.


    Therefore, Zavier understood why Valerie had not been assigned as the group leader this time and why she was feeling aggrieved about Calista being sent in her stead. She must have wanted toe along with them but must have been refused by the higher ups.


    Zavier and Dah tried to look for Calista but were unable to find her at all. She was probably busy somewhere else, therefore they had to reluctantly leave it up to the next day.


    After Zavier returned home after a full day of running around, he was considerably tired. His body was refusing to move and he wanted nothing more than to dive into his bed upstairs.


    But someone was already pacing around in the living room impatiently while waiting for him.


    Ever since Nadia had heard the list of the luck winners of the rmendations from the school, she was iparably excited. Her happiness was not because she had been one of the ones to get the rmendations but because the people she loved the most in the world were going to be apanying her. Both Kacie and Zavier had also been rmended and she could not help but jump around at the news that she had never expected.


    Kacie was an outstanding student so her rmendation hadn''te across as a surprise to her but Zavier had never been a good student and he had only revealed his magic talent recently so that came as a huge shock to her. Nadia had never even considered the fact that he might have be stronger despite the magical prowess he had shown during the sspetition that she had witnessed.


    Nadia clung to him as soon as he crossed the threshold of the household. She was so happy that her voice came across to him as a sweet and shrill chirping bird. Even Nadia herself had no idea what she was saying but she continued to spew everything that came to her mind.


    Zavierughed while looking at her antics lovingly. He loved how free spirited this girl could be sometimes.


    Nadia saw that Zavier wasn''t saying much and thought that he was nervous about the uing test so she proceeded to reassure him.


    "Don''t worry too much big brother. I will protect you during the test so you don''t have to feel afraid at all. I will do my best so we can attend the same university together. We might even be ssmates once that happens."


    Nadia patted her chest that was like a t in with not a single mountain in sight. After reassuring Zavier with a serious expression she broke out into a fit of giggles.


    Zavier patted her head dotingly as she continued to cling to one of his arms. This action of his seemed to have fuelled the fire even further as the girl grew even more energized.


    Zavier felt that the limit to her excitement was really hard to fathom. He wondered where all that enthusiasm wasing from.


    It was quite an ordeal for him to get rid of Nadia just to get to his room to ce his stuff beforeing back for his meal. He had to promise to talk to her some more before he was allowed to take a single step away from her.


    At the meal Zavier finally got some information regarding the uing tests. It looked like both Nadia and Kacie had gotten their hands on some of the information regarding the qualifiers. Other than that Valerie had also let go of her anger at not being chosen to go as the leader. She was not being as tight lipped about it as she had been in the morning when he had approached her with Dah in tow.


    Zavier thought funnily that if the school had allowed her to go with them then the trip would have definitely turned into a family trip for the four of them.


    It was Nadia who was busy iterating what would happen to them in the qualifying tests that were waiting for them.


    "We found that the preliminaries would have various tests that would focus on determiningbat and survival capabilities of the students out in the wilderness. There would be considerable danger in the scenarios that would be created for that reason. The teacher tried his best to hide it from us but we were able to deduce that even though the chances of fatality appearing would be close to zero, the chances of serious injuries would be quite high."


    Zavier wondered what method she used to coerce the information out of the teacher. He wondered if she had annoyed him into giving her the information because that was what this younger cousin of his was best at. He knew that even if the answer was not exactly what he had imagined, then it would have been quite close to it at the very least. Therefore, in order to avoid the same fate as that of the teacher, Zavier decided not to ask her how she had pulled it off.


    Valerie had been watching everything in silence while feigning ignorance but when she saw that even after hearing the dangers of the tests, Zavier was totally indifferent; she felt that she had to do something to make sure that Zavier understood what he was getting into.


    "Don''t think that the test would be easy. If you are thinking of showing off your strength at the start of the test to impress the professors, you have a whole other thinging. Don''t overdo it no matter what. The preliminaries would consist of a series of tests so you need to conserve your strength and make sure to not reveal your trump cards until the very end. You have until the end of the test to impress those professors so you don''t need to hurry or you will get injured very easily."


    Zavier acted as if what she was telling him was something that he had already known and the level of difficulty described was not enough to faze him at all.


    He appeared quite calm andposed to everyone there as if he had taken everything into ount and was able to handle all the challenges that were waiting for him. But the words that came out once he opened his mouth were the exact opposite and Valerie felt like dragging his useless tongue out of his mouth.


    "All of you don''t need to worry about my any longer. I have no need to pass a measly test like that. I have seeded in securing a backing for myself already. Even if I end up failing the qualifiers, wouldn''t I still be the descendant of a noble family. I would still be living a shy andfortable life that others my age would only be able to envy. I have no interest in attending a university anyway. How great would it be¡­spending my days loitering around the city like a rich yboy chasing skirts. Now that I think about it, I feel like not taking the test at all."


    Zavier was joking on the outside but in his heart for the first time he could feel the warmth of having a family. For the first time since he came here, he was sure that the people with him were all his well wishers and wanted him to live a better life. He had previously joked around so they wouldn''t be too worried. Even though Valerie knew how strong he was, the other two still had no inkling of his true strength and from their determined looking faces Zavier could already guess what the two were feeling at the moment.


    "What should I do with you? You really have no motivation at all. Anyone else in your ss would have been jumping up and down if they were given an opportunity to be in your shoes and yet you want to throw it away like it is household waste. You should keep in mind that not everybody likes rich yboys."


    Valerie had seen how obstinate and persistent Zavier could be in times of need. She didn''t have to worry too much about him not putting his best effort. Therefore, she kept ying along with Zavier in a light hearted manner.


    But Zavier was able to read through her lines and had received her message as well just as she had understood that Zavier was only trying to make her feel at ease by saying through his joking manner.


    Kacie as usual was a miser for words but Zavier hade to know that she was actually a kind and nice girl on the inside. She pretended to be indifferent but actually cared about him.


    Unknown to Zavier, Kacie had already been nning to protect him as soon as they left for the preliminaries. Even though she hadn''t dered it out loud like Nadia, her determination to do so did not lose out to her at all. If Kacie had actually known the true strength of Zavier, she would definitely have felt ashamed at even thinking of doing so; after all, Zavier was powerful beyond her wildest imagination.


    The meal concluded in a joyful manner and everyone headed towards their respective rooms. Both Nadia and Kacie kept looking towards Zavier as he was going back to his room. Zavier could feel them staring his way but was unable to establish what they were thinking. He was unable to measure the determination that hadid its foundation in their eyes.


    Zavier knew that the uing test would be difficult even for him as per the instructions that he had received from Valerie. He had to set up some precautionary measures just in case of an emergency. Even though he did not have anything to lose in case of failure, he knew that he wasn''t alone in the qualifiers. He had to make sure that the futures of Nadia and Kacie would be akin to smooth sailing. He would crush any and all tides and typhoons that came their way. Therefore, to cater for all contingencies he began moving all his pieces in ce.


    Zavier had already used the self cloning skill to produce more clones and had touched the upper limit of the number that he could hold with his limited mental strength.


    Excluding the one that was an eternal resident of the cupboard in his room at home, he sent the other three clones on the journey ahead of them to their final destination.


    He didn''t want to repeat the same instance where he had to wait for the clones to make their appearance before letting loose. This time he was taking the clones with him in case there was a repetition of the previous scenario where he needed their help.


    Thest clone continued to stay in the closet in his bedroom as it was busy meditating to increase the reservoir of mental strength that Zavier had. Only through that would Zavier be able to create more clones and use more of the multi-system privileges.


    Also this clone was Zavier''s absolute insurance of his life. Even if the rest of his clones ended up dying, Zavier would still be able to survive if this clone continued to meditate in the closet like always. Therefore this clone was the key to Zavier remaining immortal.


    Only after he had set up everything in advance did Zavier manage to close his eyes to sleep.


    Despite his vow that he would take it easy and enjoy every moment of his life, Zavier could not truly do it. His instincts screamed at him every time he tried to let down his guard which was the reason that he had to arrange for safety measures beforehand.

 Chapter 95 Caesar University

    A few more days passed and the excitement of the girls didn''t calm down in the least. Looking at them finally enabled Zavier to understand how truly big of a deal the qualifying test actually was and how many individuals would have been willing to sell their soul to get an opportunity like that.


    Zavier didn''t feel the same way because his progress was not dependant on a mere university. He had to rely on himself for everything but he still didn''t douse their spirits with what he thought. He acted as if he was as enthusiastic as them all and ran about everywhere in tow of the leadingdies.


    In the course of that they also managed to make contact with previously elusive Calista and learned about their destination and the time for their departure.


    Time flowed by and the moment when they had to depart for their destination became reality.


    The five rmended high school students; Zavier, Kacie, Nadia, Shiranui, Dah were all gathered in front of the school entrance. This ce had been designated as the rendezvous point for the whole team. The five of them were all set and ready to depart but they still had to wait for the teacher who was responsible for leading them throughout the way.


    It wasn''t long before Calista could be seen strolling towards them from the inside of the school. Her exaggerated body proportions were still as heart throbbing as before. It took a moment before Zavier could get back to himself from thend of fantasies.


    Earlier he had never felt the same thing about Calista because the centre of his attention had never been her when Valerie and Alissa had been with him. Moreover, the situation never allowed him to worry about unnecessary things.


    He shook his head twice in order to ovee the seductive charm that she was exuding with each and every one of her steps.


    Unlike Calista''s bodynguage, her facial expressions were as far away from seduction as was possible. Her face was like that of an angel that was pure and untouched.


    While her body was a killer attack that was enough to steal the hearts of any individual gazing at it, her face could cleanse any impure thoughts directed towards her.


    Zavier too was affected by that angelic countenance and his soul returned to his body as the throbbing in his heart subsided as well.


    Calista seemed to have not noticed the war that Zavier had had to fight with his inner self and stopped right in front of the group with a smile on her face.


    She was exceptionally happy and excited because after a long while she had felt that she had triumphed over Valerie. She knew that Valerie had also been trying to go as the group leader yet the higher ups had sent her instead of Valerie.


    The reason for Calista''s jubnt mood was that she had somehow managed to twist the reasoning of the higher ups in her mind and had turned it into her being better than Valerie. Of course all this was only in her head and she didn''t express it out loud.


    Moreover, her excitement had led her to arrive earlier than the appointed time. So there was no one who was waiting at the school entrance for her.


    Taking advantage of the extra time at her hands, she went inside to discuss something with the higher ups of the school and also managed to get the rmendation letters of all five of them in hard copy before they left.


    The female students in front of the gate waved at her as soon as they saw her. She had a smile on her face as she stepped in front of them.


    "Are you ready to go on the most important trip of your lives? This trip is going to decide whether your future will shine as brightly as the sun or will be short lived like a firework. Get into your best mental state as we head towards Caesar."


    Caesar was the capital of the Hilling Empire and the city where the qualifiers would be held.


    Their final destination was Caesar University that would be acting as the host for the preliminary testing. All the participants would first be gathered at the Caesar University before they would be allowed to take part in the test that would mark the future that their lives would move towards.


    Soon all six of them boarded a carriage that wasrge enough to hold them allfortably and the path beside their carriage began to move backwards at a rapid pace in their vision.


    There was an awkward atmosphere prevailing in the carriage mainly because of the dynamic between Shiranui, Dah and Zavier.


    Dah considered Shiranui to be a target that she had to best no matter what and befriending her would have been against what she thought. Meanwhile, Shiranui was too ashamed to talk to Zavier. She was busy analyzing the words that she was going to say to Zavier over and over in her head but had no courage to say them out loud.


    Calista saw Shiranui fidgeting around in her peripheral vision. She could tell how troubled Shiranui was feeling from the fact that she had been unable to look Zavier in the eye from the moment they had all met. Every time Zavier looked at her, she would fling her head downwards as if she was avoiding something extremely unsightly. Although Zavier hadn''t sensed it yet, Calista had been able to understand what was happening at the very first sight.


    Calista being the teacher could have done something to lower the temperature of the car but she too had been involved in that fiasco; after all she had been the director of the y along with Valerie. Therefore, she felt that she didn''t have the right to interfere anymore. The children had to solve this on their own so she kept silently kept an eye on the overall situation.


    If there hadn''t been for Nadia who didn''t care about anything and just wanted to enjoy the journey, then the situation might have be direter on.


    Nadia opened her chatterbox as soon as she got on board the carriage. She was designed by god to never shut up and that was bound to touch some nerves at some point. But both Shiranui and Calista felt relieved at that point considering the dreary atmosphere of the carriage and they left her to her antics.


    "Aren''t you all excited?"


    Some answered Nadia and some didn''t but that didn''t bother Nadia at all as she continued ying with her hair. She was busy rolling her hair around her fingers unknowingly.


    "Teacher¡­you as well?"


    Calista nodded in response to her question which made Nadia giggle in response.


    "When will we get there?"


    "It is going to be a long and tiresome journey so you need to prepare yourself."


    Nadia didn''t seem to have heard her.


    "Okay, then when are we going to reach our destination?"


    Calista''s brows furrowed in response but she didn''t say anything to dampen the mood.


    "I told you that the journey has only begun and it will take us a long time probably a week or more depending upon the pace."


    "Should we y a game to pass the time?"


    Nadia looked at each of the member of the group in anticipation but the response that she received was not very encouraging.


    Shiranui was busy looking at herp as if she was looking for something. She was flustered, her face was red and she looked like a lost puppy.


    Dah was busy nning her revenge while Kacie was indifferent to her questions as if she had heard nothing. Unlike the others, Kacie knew Nadia intimately. She had already developed an unconscious habit of ignoring Nadia whenever she was super excited like she was today.


    Kacie already knew that her constant chatter could be quite annoying at times. Even Valerie sometimes ended up snubbing her at home but it seemed that nothing could deter the outspoken Nadia in the least.


    As the journey progressed there was no one who was listening to her except Zavier who loved her antics. She was the life of the journey for Zavier who was feeling ufortable for the most part since no one in the carriage was talking to each other. Listening to Nadia talking mainly to herself brought him some sce.


    Since no one was listening to her, Nadia had no choice but to talk to herself as she narrated every part of the journey from the first person point of view.


    "I see some pine trees in the distance. Look at the huge mountains. I wonder if I can climb them some day. Would I need a flying skill to do that? I hate walking for too long. It looks like I need to learn a flying skill soon or I would have to hike to see the top of those mountains. I wonder if I will be able to touch the clouds once I learn a flying skill. Are the clouds as fluffy as they look from here? Maybe they are even fluffier than the marshmallows I ate yesterday. If that''s true I really want to touch them and eat them if possible. Are clouds even eatable in the first ce? Big brother! Can I eat the clouds?"


    Zavier had heard her entire monologue and could not help but be intrigued by her unique way of looking at things. She had been pampered a lot at home so she still retained her child like wonder despite being a sophomore in school.


    "Sure."


    That cheered her up and she started jumping around in the carriage which made others feel cramped and ufortable.


    She was still a child with a vivid imagination and a good sense of humour but that also meant that her ability to read the room was a littlecking.


    The girls in the carriage were baffled while looking at her. They were wondering where all her energy wasing from.


    Calista had an unpleasant smile on her face as if she had been forced toe with them. Nadia was slowly starting to get on her nerves but she couldn''t just tell her to shut up right off the bat.


    "Big brother, will I be able to learn a flying skill if I get admitted to the university?"


    Zavierughed at her and asked dotingly.


    "Why are you in such a hurry?"


    Nadia made a face as if he had asked her something that was painfully obvious.<sub> </sub>


    "Of course that''s because I want to eat the clouds as soon as possible."


    "I know about the universities almost as much as you do. How would I know what kind of skills they might teach you over there?"


    Zavier didn''t want to lie to Nadia so he told her the truth without breaking her hopes. But his love managed to push someone else under the bus.


    Nadia homed in on her target as soon as she heard Zavier''s answer.


    Calista saw what wasing as soon as Nadia turned to look at her.


    "Teacher, you must know all about it. Would I be able to learn flying skills at the university?"


    "Yes, they have some of those skills at the university but you will have to be exceptionally talented in order to learn something like that. They don''t teach just anyone who manages to get enrolled in the university."


    Nadia seemed slightly put off by the answer. Inwardly she was thinking that she might have to postpone her n of tasting the clouds tillter.


    Nadia was about to open her mouth once again to pester Calista into answering her questions but Calista''s patience seemed to have run out.


    She told her to stop talking and stay quiet for the rest of the journey. She had been forced to that point by Nadia''s constant chatter. Calista was feeling annoyed like never before. She was considered to be the most patient and tolerating amongst all the instructors but in front of Nadia even she had been forced to furiously scratch her scalp bloody in order to hold her frustration in.


    Nadia ignored her order and was about to talk once again when Calista used a spell to achieve the same purpose.


    The ''shut up'' spell that Calista had used was amonly used spell that teachers used to stop the elementary school students from crying in the ss.


    The spell had the effect of forcibly mping both the lips shut together.


    Due to the spell, Nadia could no longer open her mouth no matter how hard she tried.


    For the first time since the journey began, Nadia felt flustered and congested in that carriage. She felt that she had so much to say but no way of saying it.


    She felt so frustrated that her tears were about to fall off but she was not someone who could be stopped that easily.


    Even though her lips had been sealed shut, she let out a muffled noise in an attempt to convey what she wanted to say.


    In the end, Calista even had to cast a silencing spell just to stop her from letting out that noise.


    Left with no way, Nadia started doing something that no one was expecting. Everyone was expecting that she would finally go quiet and would start to behave like an obedient girl in order to get the speaking restriction off of her. But instead the girl started doing a weird pantomime show which might have been the first time that such a thing had been performed in that world. She began making weird expressions and her otherworldly acting made everyone who looked at herugh hysterically.


    Even the cold Dah and the flustered Shiranui couldn''t help themselves andughed alongside Kacie.


    The charade that Dah had been maintaining up until that point was broke apart like ss. Shiranui too managed to raise her head up after looking at her. She had forgotten that Zavier and Dah were still there for a moment.


    Shiranui looked all around and noticed that Zavier too wasughing along with them. Both Dah and Kacie had a peculiar expression on their face that said they wereughing past the point where it would start hurting their stomachs.


    She thanked her luck that a naughty and springing catfish like Nadia hade along with them or she might really have passed out from the stress that she had been feeling.


    She had been dreading this meeting for a long while. Both the people that she had to apologize to were riding in the same carriage as her. Of course she was nervous.


    When they had all rendezvoused outside the school for departure, she had wanted to apologized right there and then but no matter how hard she had tried, her voice had refused toe out.


    Once dyed, she could think of no way to start a conversation like that. As a result, she was feeling extremely fidgety and embarrassed in facing the two of them honestly.


    Shiranui was sure that both Zavier and Dah would be antagonistic towards her by this point so she didn''t try to exin herself to them for the rest of the journey.


    It was not until a few dayster that they managed to reach their destination, Caesar University.


    Due to their previous experience, Calista had forced them all to stay on the move most of the time and camped outside only during the night when it was almost impossible for the carriage to move safely.


    Unlike her fears nothing unforeseen happened along the way. They not only managed to reach safely but they even managed to arrive earlier than they had anticipated.


    The journey had been unlike the previous trip that Zavier, Dah and Calista had taken so they were very thankful that no incident had taken ce in between.


    Caesar University was not one of the best universities in the world; it was THE best university. Any individual who managed to get themselves enrolled in that university was bound to have a bright and streamlined future. A hundred percent sess rate was guaranteed to all the students. Even if one didn''t manage to make it till graduation due to any reason, the rtionships built and the links established in that duration were enough tost that individual for a lifetime.


    The university was like a dividing line between those who were bound to be mediocre for the rest of their lives and those who would make it bigter on.


    Unfortunately, everyone could not be admitted into the university since thepetition was so strict that even those considered absolute geniuses in their hometowns could not make it sometimes.


    When Zavier had firstid his eyes on the building of Merion High School, he had thought that the infrastructure was gigantic and full of grace. But now that he had his gaze stuck on this mega-structure he was thinking of his past self condescendingly. In this world the standards of magnificence were somewhat rted to the size of things it seemed.


    The university was huge and spread out over a humongous area. As far as the eyes could see, it was the area that was within the boundary of the university. If the university was a hundred-room pce then the Merion High school inparison looked at most like a cramped studio apartment.


    Zavier was amazed at the sheer magnitude of the institution. His mouth had yet to close after his chin had hit rock bottom due to surprise and awe.


    Unlike the students, their instructor was a veteran who had travelled to the most parts of the world and had already seen sights that were more incredible than even the wonder in front of them. She had already developed immunity to such things despiteing from a humble background.


    Calista let them all take in the sight so that they could all calm down and not act like some hillbillies from the countryside. People were already looking at them weirdly and wereughing at them for acting that way.


    Although that mockingughter was not directed at her, Calista couldn''t just let her students be wronged. Therefore, she asked them all to carry themselves with grace and dignity.


    Soon the charm of the university died down and the students got used to it.


    Calista then started to lead them towards a huge stone gate manned by guards on either side. Calista knew that in order to pass through the gate, they had to show their identity cards and the endorsement letters of the school to the guard.


    As soon as they got near, the guard on the right side came forward and greeted them with a stern expression. From the way they had been acting earlier, the guard had already deduced that they were outsiders and was already treating them like that.


    Calista was a veteran and knew how to deal with such individuals. She didn''t point out how rude the guard was but just took out her identity card and handed the documents of the students to them.


    She then showed her ID to the guard. The guard was quite knowledgeable and stern.


    As soon as heid his eyes on the card, there was a visible change in the expression of the guard. Zavier was the first to notice the change. He hoped that Calista was not in some kind of trouble.


    In fact, the guard had taken a look at the card that showed her age to be 38. He could not understand how the girl who looked like a teenager both in person and in photo could actually be a 38 years old woman.


    The guard was about to raise the rm when he decided to take another look at the card of the woman who was iming to be 38 and that''s when his expression twisted beyond the normal range of expressions. It looked like he had seen something truly terrifying but still managed to stop the scream at the edge of his mouth.


    The guard looked terrified somehow despite the amicable expression on the face of Calista. The tone of his voice softened and a smile appeared on his face that no matter how Zavier judged appeared to be forced and revealed the nervousness of the guard.


    Zavier wondered what the guard had seen for him to be so nervous. The curiositysted not more than the moment because the guard became more diligent as a result of whatever he had seen.


    He not only appeared to be more helpful, his tone had softened and he became quite the gentleman as he not only carried out the necessary procedures on their behalf but also guided them on how to get to their destination easily.


    In fact, what the guard had seen was her identity as an A rank mage and since the card appeared to be genuine, the guard had no way to stop them even if he wanted to. He only regretted that he was unable to make their acquaintance by leaving a good impression from the start. If only he had known that the woman was an A rank mage, he would have behaved better.


    Finally the guard returned their documents to them and moved sideways to indicate that they could pass.

 Chapter 96 Mabel

    Caesar University was an elite institution and of course the lodging provided to the students also conformed to that standard. The fact that each of the students participating in the test had extremely great potential also ensured that the university provide them the utmostfort so as to rein them all in before the testmenced.


    The dormitories had been divided based on gender. All of them received their own rooms in their respective dormitories where they could rest until the beginning of the test.


    Zavier who was the only male student was left at the gate of the male dormitory while the rest of the group moved onwards towards the girls'' residence.


    The teacher that was responsible for escorting the students were stationed in a separate building that was even more grandiose than the dormitories of the students. So Calista too broke off from the group of girls after they reached the girls'' dormitories.


    Zavier soon found the room assigned to him and got the key for his room from an attendant who was wearing neat and clean clothes with a prideful expression on his face.


    As soon as he entered the room, the temperature lowered a bit and became even morefortable. He got the feeling that there was an air conditioner in the room but of course this was nothing like his past world. Therefore, the only exnation for the change in temperature was magic.


    Zavier was sure that the temperature was somehow being regted using magic. Whatever the case, Zavier felt happy with his current room.


    Not only was it beautifully decorated, the infrastructure looked extremely user friendly as well. Zavier had always thought that the elitepromisedfort for grace and prestige. But when heid his eyes on this room that was like a piece of finely crafted art, he could get a glimpse of what the truly rich were really obsessed with. The room was a blend of artistic nuance and extremefort that was good for both the body and the soul.


    He threw his luggage towards the closet and dived into the softness of the bed. The clear smell of sunshine and lemon wafted from the covers of the bed. It appeared to have been freshly washed so Zavier took no time in making himselffortable.


    Before he closed his eyes, Zavier had to make sure of one other thing that had been constantly on his mind throughout this time.


    "Turn on the sharing mode please."


    [Sharing mode has been enabled sessfully.]


    [You are currently sharing your senses with four other clones.]


    Familiar set of messages greeted him on the system screen.


    As soon as he was done confirming the whereabouts of the three clones who he had sent ahead of the group, Zavier decided to go to sleep to shed off the weariness that he was feeling after the journey. This was his first sleep on the bed after a week of travelling and sleeping on the ground.


    "Turn off the sharing mode."


    [Individual mode has been enabled sessfully.]


    Zavier closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep in an instant due to how tired he had been. His droopy eyelids could finally rest at ease.


    Zavier had no recollection of the night as he woke up the next morning. It was a death like sleep that made him forget everything else momentarily.


    Zavier stretched himself straight after getting off the bed and headed off to the bathroom to freshen up.


    Once he had put on one of his best looking but extremelyfortable outfit, he took some necessary things in a small bag and headed outside.


    The rendezvous point that had been decided was in front of the girls'' dormitories as it was in between both Zavier''s and Calista''s residence and the girls had the majority when it came to the number of people.


    When Zavier reached there, he could see everyone waiting for him. It seemed like he was thest one as even Calista had already arrived and was busy talking to the girls.


    From afar, Zavier felt that Calista was busy instructing the girls regarding something.


    When he stepped closer to the girls, Calista looked at him with nted eyes as if ming him foring eventer than the teacher. Still, she did not call him out on it in front of the girls.


    "Now that all of us are here, we can move towards the stadium where the participants will be gathering before the test."


    Before the others could reply, Calista had already turned around and began walking towards the direction of the stadium.


    The students including Zavier all followed behind her. Calista looked like a mother hen leading her chicks back home.


    Of course Zavier could not care less about how they looked to the general public. The only thing he was concerned about was the test that they needed to take soon.


    The stadium that was also their destination for the day was as huge as they came. The capacity that it had been built for was a hundred thousand spectators and five thousand participants could be amodated in the centre of the stadium.


    What Zavier had deduced through word of mouth of countless strangers along the way was that the total number of participants for the preliminary tests was far lower than that.


    Therefore, they did not have to worry about being cramped in the centre of the stadium together with other participants. There was plenty of space for everyone.


    There was an orderly queue for those moving towards the centre of the stadium.


    Zavier''s group too got in line and waited for their turn to enter.


    After they managed to get in, they stood in a corner of the stadium away from all the noise and gossip.


    This was a rather small section away from the centre and away from the eyes of the people.


    They formed up a line and quietly waited for the next announcement to be made.


    The influx of people did not stop even after they had gotten in. Judging from the number of people still walking in, they had made it to the stadium slightly earlier.


    It looked like they were not thest group at the very least.


    The waiting period had to be extended because of those people who were already gettingte and had gotten stuck within the line at the entry point.


    As the entry line continued to move the seats in the stadium continued to get filled. Not only the seats, even the space in the centre of the stadium was gradually being filled with the new participants.


    Zavier''s perception system was still active so his ears were perked up in all directions. He kept an eye on the participants and heard everything they said just to find out if someone knew anything more than they did.


    He heard a lot of useless information that he filtered out and ignored without a thought.


    During the course of that he found out that the total number of participants arriving at the stadium that day was capped at fifteen hundred.


    That meant a ce that was meant for five thousand people would be used by only fifteen hundred people. Surely someone had nned for theirfort quite thoroughly.


    Calista while standing beside them looked like a student herself due to how young she looked.


    The high school students surrounding them couldn''t help but sneer at them with a mocking expression on their faces when they saw Calista leading them.


    "Hmph¡­looks like the Merion High School has really fallen from grace. They could not even send a B rank teacher to apany the endorsed students. They had to make do with a student leading the team. How pathetically pitiful!"


    Someone who was passing by managed to get his whole speech in.


    Zavier looked at him and thought to himself that some people really liked getting pped in the face.


    Zavier knew that this group must have been from their empire since they were able to recognize about Merion High School so well.


    The teacher leading the group of loose lipped boys was angry enough to spit fire. He admonished his students strictly but the kids refused to relent. They felt that they were justified in saying that as Merion High had really sent a student as a group leader unlike their school that had sent a prestigious B rank teacher as their leader.


    A color of embarrassment passed on the old teacher''s face as he looked at Calista with an apologetic expression.


    Before the old teacher could have said anything, Shiranui who had been holding her anger so far finally couldn''t stop the lid from popping out.<sub> </sub>


    ck mes emerged in both her hands and the high temperature was enough to scare off the boys who had been insulting her teacher.


    Unlike the rest of the students, Shiranui had a special bond with Calista. She had been her teacher for a long time and was now even her current ss teacher. Shiranui couldn''t let anyone badmouth her if she could help it.


    The boys looked as if they had lost their souls. They recognized the skill that and knew how dangerous it could be. They were finally able to judge the magnitude of the cmity that they had invited.


    With pale faces and trembling legs they looked at their teacher hopefully but he only snorted as if they had brought upon that fate by themselves and he had nothing to do with it.


    Shiranui threatened them with a cold and terror inducing voice.


    "You better apologize fast to my teacher or my mes might go out of control. There won''t even be a wisp of your soul left if that happened. My ck mes can even burn souls, you know."


    Before the boys could gather their wits, the old man that was their teacher stepped forward first and bent his back to look at the young looking teacher in front of him with an expression that was full of remorse and repentance.


    "You are a noble and respectabledy. Please forgive my students. I apologize for the harsh and demeaning words that my students have uttered. They are young and foolish and cannot see Mt Tai even when it is right in front of them. In their ce, I must ask for your forgiveness and understanding. Being their teacher, I am willing to bear any punishment that you may want to give me for their transgression."


    Calista''s expression did not change throughout. It was as if she had already known the whole routine by heart. In fact, this was definitely not the first time that there was such confusion. People often misunderstood her position because she didn''t look the part.


    Some of them even resorted to calling her a fraud or a deceiver and taunted her due to those misunderstandings. It would have been wrong to say that she never felt mad about it even at the beginning but slowly and gradually she learnt to take it all in a stride and forget about unnecessary events as soon as possible. This led to her bing used to such taunts and misunderstandings and her immunity towards such incidents grew to unprecedented heights.


    Though Calista wasn''t surprised that such an event had taken ce, Zavier was truly shocked.


    He had just witnessed a middle aged old man humbly bending his back in front of a little girl and asking for her forgiveness as if it was the greatest blessing in the world.


    Though others didn''t find it odd, Zavier thought that the scene was slightlyical. The old man asking to be punished and the little girl acting aloof and mighty as if the old man weren''t worth anything.


    Calista waved her hand tiredly as if she had seen countless such scenes before indicating to him that she wasn''t interested in his apology and that the old man could leave.


    Nadia who was witnessing the expressions of Zavier the whole time began to exin the situation to Zavier as if he had not been able to understand any of it.


    "Teacher Calista used to be very famous even though she might not look like it now. A few years back she was one of the brightest stars of our empire and thatsted until your Aunt Valerie rose to prominence. She broke all the existing records and her speed of progression was even faster than Teacher Calista. The spotlight shifted from Teacher Calista to Teacher Valerie but those who still recall Teacher Calista know how famous she actually was. Therefore, the attitude of the old man isn''t wrong at all. It must be like this. If it had been any other person and not Teacher Calista, the old man would have paid in blood for embarrassing them. An A rank mage is a big deal after all. There is no way someone as important as that could take insults to their face lying down like that."


    Zavier heard her words and came to understand some of the dynamics of the world that he had taken at face value earlier. He had never thought that even A rank mages had such prestige.


    Those who had witnessed a better view would look down on the view that was notparable to what they had seen before. Since Zavier had fought against even S rank mages before, he didn''t think that A rank mages were a big deal. But that was where he was wrong.


    What Zavier had failed to understand was that the world that he was living in was the world of the mages. Even B rank mages were considered among the general public to be masters who could live infort and wealth if they wanted to.


    Someone who considered even A rank mages subpar would never have bothered to even look at B rank mages and that was exactly what Zavier had been doing.


    Therefore, Zavier did not know the true worth of a B rank mage let alone that of a veteran A rank mage like Calista or the even higher S rank.


    Usually it was extremely rare to witness a battle between 5 S rank mages since no empire could afford the loss of an asset like an S rank mage in any case. But the first battle that Zavier had witnessed was thatprising of five S rank mages, two A rank mages, a student (himself) and two monsters. Therefore his understanding of the dynamics of the world was slightly screwed up.


    The worth of the B rank mages could be guessed from the very fact that such talented students with extremely high genius were being escorted by B rank mages in most cases. That only meant that the B rank mages were the highest level instructors at the high schools that these kids were attending. This was also the case with the middle aged old man who was escorting those foul mouthed kid earlier.


    Zavier noticed the fact and couldn''t help but think how great Merion High School actually was for it to have sent an A rank mage to escort them and one other to spare who was still busy looking after school affairs.


    The mages started at the bottom most level and made their way up progressively. Each time they moved up a level, the magnitude of the difficulty kept on increasing and exponentially.


    That was the reason that the mage progression became slower as one kept moving upwards. For example, it was rtively easy to advance till C rank and the progression was quite fast too but beyond that the difficulty of advancement enhanced steeply beyond reason.


    Beyond that only a fair number out of them were able to reach the B rank which could be considered to be touching the periphery of being a master.


    The vast majority who somehow was able to reach the dividing line that existed between the B rank and above made them feel despair. It was not a dividing line by that point but a chasm that had no end in view.


    The phenomenon could be observed from the fact that the teacher Calista who had been such a high talent that even elves would have rushed to take her in was still stuck at being an A rank mage when she had taken that step close to 20 years back.


    At that age bing an A rank mage is an achievement that hardly anyone can muster. Zavier hardly knew this but her progression to A rank mage was far faster than any other mage in history and was following right after Valerie. It had already been 20 years since she had be an A rank mage and had been stuck at the precipice to S rank ever since.


    The reason why Valerie was so acimed back in their school was because she had broken any and all cross ss records pertaining to the speed of growth. Valerie had overtaken Calista in order to be the person who was now called the closest to bing an S rank mage.


    Just from these two people it could be judged that Merion High school was an upper tier school that was better than most of the average schools out there in the empire.


    It was not very hard to see the reason that the boys wanted to mock Merion high school. The reason was that they wanted to bring its name down to their level since their backgrounds weren''t strong enough to be admitted into a school like that. It was just a way to make themselves feel better after all those students truly didn''tck talent. What they werecking in was social status.


    It was not long after that the close to fifteen hundred participants had gathered in the centre of the stadium. The teachers were apanying the students and were leading from the front.


    There was a loud bang that seemed to be the indication of the beginning of the proceedings as following that sound the president of the Caesar University arrived at the podium and addressed the audience and the participants. It was a few formal remarks that mainly weed them all and marked them as the guests of Caesar University.


    The main highlight of the speech was the announcement of the beginning of the Neer Qualifiers.


    Huge apuse rang out from the audience and the participants alike following the announcement of the president. The apuse was strong enough to shake the stadium strongly as if countless elephants were running about in unison within the stadium.


    It wasn''t long before the president withdrew from the podium and walked away.


    The eyes of the audience were still stuck to the podium even though the president had already gone off. They were all waiting for someone who could tell them more about the tests that they were about to take.


    After the president had left, a young and beautiful woman took over the podium and announced herself as Mabel and was going to be the host of the preliminary tests.


    However the expression of the host didn''t look too good. For whatever reason, the audience wasn''t giving Mable too much attention or the respect that she was due because among the audience there were also teachers who hade as escorts for the students. Some of them were B rank mages while there were also some A rank mages like Calista mixed up among them.


    The audience was gradually turning away from the stage. Some of them had even managed to make a circle in the centre towards the back. This was the result of the president having made his appearance early.


    Otherwise they would have at least remained respectful until the address of the most powerful man in the university. Others were simply not worthy of that much respect in their eyes especially when it was a little girl who was still wet behind the ears.


    These people didn''t think that the little host on the stage was important enough for them to listen to what she had to say. And that was gradually worsening the mood of the host and her expression was falling with each passing second.


    The effect of this was only worsened by some of thements that the audience was busy passing around in whispers.


    "Why is a little girl like her presiding over the test?"


    "Hey, do you think there is something else at y here?"


    "Do you think she pulled something with the president in order to climb to this level?"


    "Usually it is always an A rank or an S rank mage who presides over the qualifiers. I am sure she had to go through the backdoor. She has the looks for it after all."


    "Mabel? I don''t think there is someone like that in the higher ups of the university and I know all their names by heart."


    "She is just a snotty nosed brat who got a lucky break. Don''t give her that much importance. Don''t you understand? This is what she wants in the first ce."


    These were some of the nicestments that the audience passed among themselves. Zavier had heard them all since he had heightened senses as a result of perception system. He only hoped that the host didn''t hear all the things that were being said about her.

 Chapter 97 New Rules

    Zavier looked at the changing expression of the host and knew that she had heard at least some of the toxic spew.


    If he were in her ce, he would have ignored the people and would have continued on with what he had to say since the opinion of the people didn''t matter much to him but the host was different from him it seemed.


    "Please be attentive towards me for a little bit. You will then have plenty of time to talk among yourselves. I implore you all to observe basic etiquette at the very least. Since I am here on behalf of the university, you should at least give me the courtesy that I am due by being in that position."


    Her words fell on deaf ears. The group at the centre back was still gathered in a circle and was listening to one of the men talk. He seemed to be giving them some instructions. Zavier wasn''t interested in hearing that drivel so he was busy filtering all of it out. Sometimes the perception system could really be a chore.


    They still didn''t give face the girl despite the fact that she had used the name of the university to get their attention.


    As Zavier was one of those who were attentive towards her, he was shocked when she suddenly disappeared from view as if she had never been there.


    In the very next instant she was standing next to the middle aged teacher who had been beside Zavier''s group from the start.


    There were loud gasps from the audience members who had seen the scene of her appearing out of nowhere in the middle of the audience.


    ? The middle aged teacher who was the nearest victim of Mabel''s surprise attack was an odd man who had been mumbling to himself for the most of that time. The old man was the teacher of the group of students next to Zavier''s group.


    Zavier knew because he had been trying to ignore him for that much amount of time but his heightened hearing had proved to be quite troublesome for him to control.


    The speed of the host was faster than the blink of an eye. Zavier was dumbfounded. He had not expected that she was fast enough to deceive even his transcendent senses. He had been unable to follow her with his eyes that had been improved after he had learnt the perception system. The perception system had granted him 360 degree vision with no blind spot as a passive skill and yet he had only noticed the girl after she had shown herself in the middle of the audience.


    The middle aged teacher looked as if he had lost his soul. He was too frightened to even utter a single coherent sentence.


    There was dead silence all around the gymnasium. The audience that had been busy mocking her was now afraid that she might have heard what they had had to say about her before. Each culprit was sweating buckets in nervousness and yet the girl seemed to be unfazed as if she was already expecting this response.


    The audience members were afraid to make any more noise as they didn''t want to be the next target of the host. The way she had appeared out of nowhere had given lots of people goose bumps. The scene would definitely keep those who had badmouthed her awake for several nights in a row.


    There was pin drop silence in the hall. Some of the audience had even forgotten to breathe as they gazed at the girl who they hadn''t paid any importance to before.


    Mabel''s speed had confused all the audience, even some of the teachers weren''t sure what she had done.


    None of them had managed to follow the path that she had taken. Either she was using some means of stealth, or she was just fast beyondprehension. They were busy deciphering the method that she had used.


    Only the few of the top notch mages were able to deduce the essence of the bizarre movement skill. Of course, even though he had been unable to see her with his Time-Space Eye, he was able toe to the right conclusion by using the knowledge that he had gathered. This was only possible because he was confident in his Time Space Eye.


    Zavier didn''t believe that she could have moved fast enough to avoid the Time-Space Eye. He was sure that she couldn''t have used any stealth or eleration skill, so there was only one other possibility that was practically obvious.


    Based on the data that was avable to him, Zavier hade to the conclusion that the girl had used some kind of teleportation magic or some other magic skill.


    "What was that skill? Sure looks pretty useful."


    Almost immediately he received a system message that confirmed his earlier doubts.


    [User has witnessed the execution of one of the advanced spatial magic skills.]


    "Is it possible for me to learn it as well?"


    [User can learn any magic skill that exists in the system.]


    [Current level is insufficient to learn this skill.]


    Zavier had seen thating. He had expected the answer to be something like that. Ever since he hade to this world, he had been hearing the same thing. He was either too weak or hadn''t had enough time to get better.


    Zavier was really sick of it but he had no choice to acknowledge that answer as it was the truth. He really was too weak.


    He told himself that he hade here to do exactly that; to get stronger.


    Mabel had achieved her goal with the hall being so silent and in awe. She was finally being given the respect that she was due.


    Mabel seemed satisfied as she turned towards Zavier''s group; specifically she was looking at Calista who was standing at the front of their group.


    Mabel nodded her head towards Calista with a smile on her face as if to greet her.


    Calista looked calm as she nodded her head back at her in courtesy. The smile on Mabel''s face grew deeper as she looked at Calista''s greeting.


    Mabel turned around and walked a step forward before she vanished once again and returned to the podium with the same spatial technique that she had disyed earlier.


    The audience couldn''t get used to a godly movement like that. The students especially were still in awe of the skill as they looked at her with stars twinkling in their eyes. They were hoping that they might get to learn such skills if they qualified the test that the university had prepared for them.


    This time all the eyes were on Mabel as if everyone hade here to see her instead of the qualifiers.


    While the audience was mesmerized with her movement skills, Zavier was shocked to see something else entirely. He was one of those who had witnessed the exchange of greetings between Mabel and Calista.


    From this he could easily infer that their teacher definitely knew Mabel before evening here. They were already acquaintances at the very least, friendly enough to exchange greetings in the middle of a huge audience without a care.


    Since Mable had already deterred those who might have interrupted her midway, she didn''t have to be worried about starting over again.


    As such she started announcing the rules of the test that was about to be conducted. She had to make sure that the audience heard her clearly so that there was no imter about not being told about the rules in advance. The university had to deal with many such cases every year. Those students who had always believed themselves to be absolute geniuses, when failed would resort to almost anything to get that passing grade.


    "For the first qualifying test, the participants have to regroup into teams of three people each. All the participants will be spread out randomly. You will be starting out at a random position within the location that the test will take ce in. As soon as the test starts, you will look for other members of your team to gather into a three man cell. There are fifteen hundred of you, so at the end of this activity hopefully there will be a total of 500 three-man squads."


    As soon as she said thest line, Zavier''s brows furrowed. He felt that there was something wrong with that sentence. It was almost as if she was announcing the extent of the danger thaty in that location. It seemed that not every one might be able tost until they found their team members.


    "Only the participants who manage to re-form their team sessfully will be able to take part in the subsequent tasks since they will all be group tasks."


    In fact all the randomness was only an illusion. Caesar University had a great amount of prestige in the world and they would not just leave the testing of each individual to luck. If the team selection was truly random then that would have surely left some gaps in the testing process. Therefore, the university had already nned it thoroughly and the teampositions had been decided. The university had excessive data on each individual who was participating in the test. Categorization of each individual was carried out based on the his/her usual test scores and the teamposition made use of that data in order to establish bnce between overall team strengths. All the teams as a whole would have a simr strength at least on paper.


    This would ensure that there would be the same chance of sess for each individual participating in the test and would leave no leeway forints and dissatisfaction.


    "The venue that has been selected for the test for you all is called Dark Forest. Some of you might have heard of it but for those who are unaware, let me tell you that it is a training ground carefully designed and nurtured by Caesar University in order to develop a forest that is as close to the real deal as possible. Countless resources and mana are constantly being invested in that ce to maintain it. The dangers within are real and very much capable of hurting even a fully fledged mage if they are not careful. The environment within is harsh and unpredictable so you all need to be on your toes at all times or you might be heading back early."


    In fact Mabel wasn''t trying to scare off the participants by telling them all about the dangers. She was only trying to make sure that no one got hurt beyond recovery by giving them a heads up. She had done this out of goodwill alone yet many of the participants were already shaking. She wondered whether it was out of excitement or out of fear.


    "The squads would then have a list of tasks to aplish within a set time limit. Thepletion of each task would yield points depending on the difficulty of the task. Within the time limit the squads will have freedom to do absolutely anything toplete the task list. But the squads failing to gather a specified minimum number of points before the expiry of the time limit would be disqualified and they would be immediately sent back to their hometowns. Only the ones who manage to cross that threshold will advance to the next task. As for the task list and the time limit for thepletion, they will be announced after the testing begins."


    The participants were mostly sweating buckets by then. They had never thought that the testing would be thatplicated. They had only heard that the test was difficult but they had never imagined the scale of difficulty to be that high.


    Just when everyone thought that the instructions had concluded, Mabel opened her mouth once again and the words that came out brought a fierce light in the eyes of all the participants.


    "I know that you all might be feeling a bit pressured at the moment but you can rest assured that the scenario with random teaming would notst for long. The second phase will include teampetitions between the different schools. All of you who share the same high school would be teaming up together. You would then represent your high school in the second event. Those who fail to clear the first scenario would not be allowed to represent your school in the team event."


    Zavier''s eyes turned sharp as soon as he heard the announcement. He carefully looked around and found that some of the individuals had the same reaction as him and knew that they too had understood the essence of the early announcement of the second event that Mabel had made.


    Zavier looked at Mabel oddly. She was definitely not a good person if she had done this just to get back at the audience who had failed to give her the proper respect earlier.


    In fact, it had looked as if Mabel was only telling them the contents of the second test early out of goodwill but the daggers hidden behind her beautiful smile were visible to Zavier. Due to her words, the participants would never be able to properly team up with people from other institutes. They would try to sabotage all the others so as to make it easy for themselves in the second round.


    Zavier and some others had understood the scheme perfectly so they knew how dangerous the first task could be. All their hopes rested on their teamposition for the first test. As long as it wasn''t someone truly unbearable like Baird from his school, Zavier was sure that he would be able to make do somehow even if they were weak. He would just have to work a little harder even if he had an ipetent teammate but that was at least better than having a teammate who you wanted to kill more with each passing second.


    "Now that I have announced all the rules of the tests that lie ahead of you, I wish you all to stay safe and sound till the end of the test. Best of luck for the uing hardships headed your way."


    After the final parting words, Mabel was done with her announcements. The test could finally begin.


    Another person came forward and stood at the podium with a list in his hand. It was an old person who didn''t like anyone important so no one paid him much attention.<sub> </sub>


    "All the people whose names I call, pleasee forward and meet up with your team members. Henceforth, the teachers please stay back and leave your students to handle themselves on their own."


    But as soon as he began announcing names, all the eyes and ears turned towards him in full attention. The man was hardly concerned with whether the people heard him or not.


    Each person whose name would be called would rush out of the crowd towards the spot right in front of the podium. The team of three would gather at that point and would then move towards the back once they had met up with each other.


    The same process was being followed in order to divide all the participants into three man cells but the process was turning out to be rather long.


    Zavier too was waiting for his name toe out of the mouth of the announcer but it seemed to be taking a long time.


    Since he had no other thing to do at the moment other than waiting, he began listening to the conversations of the other participants who were like him waiting to be assigned to their teams.


    His perception skills made sure that he didn''t even have to move in order to hear their conversations.


    "Why is this happening?"


    "Why are the rules so different from what I have heard? It wasn''t like this thest time. My older brother also participated thest year and told me all about it. There were no events like this at that time."


    "Yes, the difficulty of the test is on a whole other level this time. I wonder why that is."


    "Didn''t you hear? The test has been altered to make sure that no one pays for their way in this time. I heard that the previous year some idiots managed to enter the university through unfair means, cheating and family influence. The difficulty has been raised and the test has been altered to avoid such a situation again."


    Zavier had heard that such a thing had happened on another asion as well so he was sure that the kid must have known about it beforehand. After all, among all the participants he had seen so far, that kid was clearly the least flustered. He was also the most knowledgeable regarding the situation. All others were just running around like headless chickens in terror and nervousness.


    "The difficulty has been raised to destroy the monopolistic attitude of the influential families. I heard that some families forced the schools to give out the rmendations to their own family members instead of the deserving kids. If so then this is really the best method to keep the influence of those arrogant families from extending into the university as well."


    Zavier managed to find another one who had some level of intellect. He felt a little better to see some individuals who were actually quite promisingpared to the ones he had seen so far. The idiotic ones weren''t even able to elicit apetitive spirit out of him.


    Zavier felt that the testing method was the best method to judge the true character of a candidate. By teaming them up with strangers, the university had made sure that the candidates would not hesitate to show their true selves without and hindrance. For Zavier the true test was that of one''s character. Everything else was only second.


    The test would also be a good measure of the squads'' decision making skill and team spirit. Zavier could tell that a lot of effort had been put into the designing of the new test. He didn''t know what the contents of the previous tests were, but the new test was truly a multi-dimensional test.


    While Zavier was consumed by his own thoughts, he heard the surprised exmation that Calista had let out. It looked like even Calista was shocked to hear the contents of the revised testing system.


    This was the first time that a testing system like this was being implemented so she was impressed with the sheer ingenuity of the person that came up with it. At the same time she was a little worried about the participants who actually had to go through with it.


    Of course her pity was only reserved for the other students. She was fully confident in the student she had chosen. Of course that student was none other than Shiranui. Calista had great interest as well hopes for Shiranui who was not only a great talent but also the person that she had taught the most among all the students who hade with her this time. So it was obvious as to who she was rooting for in thepetition.


    She knew that Shiranui was someone who would shine everywhere due to herpetitive spirit and her rock hard will. Other than her if there was one person who she was sure could pull this off, then it had to be Zavier. She had seen his recent rise and the extent of his abilities. He was not weaker than her when he pushed himself to the limit. Calista knew his abilities because she had witnessed it all, and had also been saved by him countless times during the mission that was still vivid like a nightmare to her.


    While everyone was busy waiting for their names to be called out, they hardly noticed that Mabel who had left the podium earlier, walked down the stage and headed towards Zavier''s group with slow steps as if she had nothing to do with the things happening around her.


    To Zavier she was the cause of all the mayhem that wouldeter. But for now he could only watch as she headed towards Calista. As soon as they came close to each other, Zavier lost his hearing for some reason. It was like all sounds had been distorted around Mabel. She was the only addition to the scene so he assumed that she had done something so that no one would be able to hear their conversation.


    Although Zavier was unable to hear, he could still see what was happening with his Time Space Eye. From the looks of it, Calista and Mabel seemed to be old acquaintances. From the pleasant atmosphere surrounding the two, Zavier was sure that the rtionship between the two was not ordinary.


    Calista seemed to be a little excited as she started talking to Mabel. Zavier could tell the extent of it from just her facial expressions that were blooming like the spring.


    Calista called all the students closer and Zavier took this as a chance to listen in to the conversation between the two. As it turned out, Calista only wanted to introduce everyone to Mabel.


    "This is my student, Shiranui. Her talent is so great that she might even surpass me and Valerie soon."


    Mabel politely greeted Shiranui who was unable to raise her head for some reason. Mabel wondered why that was. In fact, at the same time, Zavier too had been looking at Shiranui which was the very reason that she was unable to face his gaze calmly.


    Calista then proceeded to introduce the next person that she thought was the best among the students that she had brought along with her.


    "You don''t need the introduction about the whole Adam family but you need to meet this neer. His name is Zavier and he just might be the greatest talent that the Ad¡­"


    But before Calista could evenplete her introduction of Zavier, someone interrupted her by grabbing the attention of Mabel who was Calista''s only audience.


    The conversation between the person who had interrupted Calista and Mabel had been silenced once again. Zavier was unable to make out anything they said.


    He looked towards the other girls and found that they hardly felt that something was wrong. They were looking back at him with normal expressions.


    Zavier felt as if he was the only one who was being kept out of the loop but of course that wasn''t the case. In the noise of over fifteen hundred individuals all the sound had been drowned out and the girls could hardly hear the person next to them with their full focus. After all, they didn''t have enhanced hearing senses like him.


    From the obvious discontent, Mabel appeared to be slightly disappointed that she had been unable to stay longer for a chat with Calista.


    "Sorry, I need to get back now. There is something that they need me for. If you need any help here, feel free to look for me anytime. Sorry, you will have to excuse me this time."


    It looked like Calista had some serious business to attend to since she had left in quite a hurry. She didn''t even bother to look back as she left due to her work emergency.


    Calista seemed a little put off since Mabel had left in the middle of their conversation. She hadn''t even introduced all the students to Mabel before she had had to go.


    Zavier could tell just by looking at the slightly puffed up cheeks of Calista. Still he couldn''t keep staring at her and started to ignore her.


    When Calista was sure that it was about to be the turn of her students to make the appearance near the stage, she gathered them all up to pass on some instructions and in order to give thest minute motivational pep talk.


    "All of you listen up. You just need to keep one thing in mind during the test. No matter what happens you do not give up or lose your will to fight. Give your best at all times because only then would you be able to enjoy the win afterwards. I expect all of you to do really well in this test. I even boasted about all of you to Mabel so don''t you dare go and make me lose face.


    Especially you Zavier should not think that this test would be easy. All of you put in your best efforts and leave the rest up to luck and providence. Good luck to all five you."


    One by one each of the girls had their names called and they all went to join up with their teammates for the first round while Zavier had to wait a little more.


    The girls managed to form their teams sessfully with other high school students and Zavier was left alone.


    The wait was longer for him as he seemed to be at the very bottom of the list of the names. Finally, Zavier too heard his name being called and he let out a sigh of relief as all the waiting had been making him nervous. It had got him thinking that somehow his name wouldn''t be announced even after the activity was over. He was worried that somehow his name had been taken out of the list.


    Thankfully, his fears proved to be groundless and he soon left his group behind to join up with his new teammates. On his way towards the stage, Zavier kept wondering what kind of teammates had been assigned to him.


    The teams that had already gathered up had been given a list during this duration. The listprised of all the tasks that they had to aplish in the duration of the test.


    Since Zavier hadn''t met up with his team yet, he still didn''t know much about the contents of the task. He wondered how difficult they were since many of the individuals who had read through them had been making weird expressions.


    The list also had a number written in front of each task. This was the number of points that the task would yield uponpletion. There was a lot of other information as well but the one thing that stuck out like a sore thumb was the option that even Zavier was a little worried.


    "A card will be given to each individual that can be used to redeem the number of points after thepletion of each task. The holder of the card has to protect it at all costs. If an opponent manages to snatch it away, all the points will be transferred to the enemy participant.


    Any participant that fails to keep a hold of their card and their card ends up stolen, that participant will no longer have the qualification to keep participating in the trial since no card means that the participant will no longer be able to redeem points for their taskpletion."


    Zavier understood with just one look at the contents of information written on the list given to him. The true test was not to see who was able toplete the most tasks without getting too injured. The true test was the protection of their cards from other participants since that was the easiest way to pass the test without doing anything at all. All they had to do was to knock down some weak ones and get a hold of their cards.


    Zavier felt that if he did the test that way, he might be able to beat the test without any trouble at all since he still had the overpowered skill Blood de and not to even mention that he alone had a team of three individuals; of course his clones included.


    Zavier also found that there existed another technicality in the information on the list. Although it stated that anyone who lost his card would be unable to continue with the test, nowhere did it mention in clear terms that the participant would be eliminated from thepetition.


    This meant that all those who managed to lose their cards to someone would still remain in the field and would continue to prey on other participants in order to get a card back to continue with their test.


    Just this little detail had increased the difficulty of the test by a huge margin because even if there was one person who resorted to such means, then a vicious chain would begin that would result in all of them being dragged into the turmoil that would only bring about more misery and more failures.


    Zavier had to admit that whoever had designed the test was not only quite ingenious but was also very depraved foring up with such a situation where not even one''s own teammates could be trusted. After all, they might screw you over just because the next test had been announced earlier which was a teampetition between various schools.


    Therefore, the teaming at the moment was only a way to increase the difficulty even more.

 Chapter 98 Cards And Points

    Zavier''s team consisted of a tall and beautiful woman, and an average looking boy who seemed a little sturdy.


    The girl was named Reba while the boy was called Andrew.


    Reba had a slender waist. Zavier thought to himself that it was so small that he might even be able to grab it with only one hand. Her slender body only entuated her perky breasts and the bulging chest even further. As a high school student, assets like that were basically top tier. Her figure was something girls her age would kill for.


    However Zavier didn''t find her to be very enticing. Even Calista had seemed more charming to him whenpared with Reba. The reason for that was the dressing that she had done. It was overly shy like an arrogant peacock hade out to dance among themon birds. It was extravagant and downright shy to the point of being blinding. Most of all,  he abhorred the expressions on her face as if standing along with them was tarnishing her reputation or like she was being forced to step into dung. She had folded her arms around herself in an attempt to shield herself from the disease thatmoners suffered from.


    Zavier was disgusted by such people the most. They had ego for blood and shit for brains and yet pretended to be the most noble existences in the world.


    Zavier took one look at her and understood what kind of a person she was. So he didn''t need to associate himself much to her. He greeted her before turning to the more honest looking person among the two.


    Andrew had no distinguishing features, or an exceedingly handsome appearance. He had one of thosemon faces that one woulde across while walking around the street every day. But due to that Zavier felt that he might have known Andrew from somewhere. Although that wasn''t possible, Zavier still managed to cultivate goodwill towards the boy just based on that feeling.


    Though Andrew looked in, he had quite a sturdy physique and looked fit. It looked like he worked out a lot and had paid a lot of attention to the development of his physique. Either that or he was naturally gifted with such a marvellous physique.


    Zavier liked this person based on his gut feeling. Zavier felt that this person could be trusted. More than his gut feeling, it was because Andrew did not hide his goodwill at all. He was the kind of person that expressed his feelings on his face at all time. Zavier was thankful that he had note across a calcting and manipting bastard and had instead found a genuinely good guy.


    On the other hand, Reba couldn''t have been more different from Andrew. Her every action, her bearing, her attitude, the choice of her words and even her gaze spoke of her arrogance and pride. Reba was never even a little bit interested in the other two teammates. She had already set herself on the highest pedestal and had judged everyone else to be worthless.


    Zavier wondered if there even was a limit to her self-indulgence. She was too self-important to even have asked them of their abilities. Being an arrogant bitch, she had already assumed that they wouldn''t be any use to her so she hadn''t even considered getting to know them from the get go.


    Zavier wondered if she had even heard their names but didn''t bother with her. With a character as lousy as that, Zavier had already disqualified her from the list of potential people that he wanted to get to know and befriend. She just didn''t seem to be worth it.


    Therefore, he didn''t stop her show and let her carry on being ying the noble amongmoners.


    "You two, listen up carefully. I am not interested in you or what little abilities you have. Just make sure that you don''t get in my way. I won''t forgive you even if you luckily ended up in my team somehow. You should really thank your god for this fortune. Thanks to your luck you are almost guaranteed to seed."


    Zavier knew why she was behaving in this way. He had already recognized her to be from Caesar High School that was the most prominent institution for high schoolers in the world. It was not because Zavier had researched about hispetitors but because she was wearing their badge after all. It was hard not to miss where she came from. Maybe that was what she wanted in the first ce looking at her smug expression.


    Zavier though disliked the girl up to the core; he still had to acknowledge that she had to have a certain level of skill to get a rmendation from Caesar High School.


    As to why Reba was already treating them like they were low level country bumpkins was because the teams were being built based on bnce and since she was one of the strongest contenders, she had assumed that there would not be anyone stronger than her in the team so that the bnce could still be maintained.


    How could she have known that she really did have a monster in her team but had been ssified lower based on his average low score in the school? His strength far surpassed what the University had assessed through heir means.


    "Since you know where Ie from, you should know your ce and don''t hold me back. For the rest of the game, you two can simply stand behind me while I handle everything. It will be a free ride for you so be thankful and don''t get hurt by overestimating yourself."


    Zavier wanted to punch her in her face but held himself back. He understood her hidden meaning. She wanted to be the one to collect all the points while they will have nothing in their cards. The team points mattered but the performance would definitely be judged based on individual points since the teams were only temporary.


    Zavier knew that from her perspective this was probably the most logical strategy since they were too weak to hold on their cards in her eyes. But Zavier still felt that she was too rude for not even exining herself properly.


    Zavier could only curse himself for having an atrociously bad luck for teaming up with a bitch like Reba. The more he listened to her, the more she got on his nerves. If it had been anywhere else, he would have already stuffed her mouth shut.


    Since he was having trouble handling Reba and her shitty attitude, Zavier decided to sneak away.


    HEmunicated with the clones that he had already positioned nearby and switched his consciousness with the one having the necromancer system. He had left his clone to listen to the bullshit being spouted by Reba and instructed that one keep doing as Reba suggested.


    Meanwhile, he was looking at a team of his own. He had already taken over the clone with the necromancer system, but the clone with the mage system and the perception system to enter the forest along with him ahead of time.


    They had already known about the contents of the test and had no one holding them back from entering the forest on their own.


    On top of that, no one would be able to know that it was him since his clone was already standing there with his team waiting for the test to begin.


    The storage system that the system had could be shared among the clones so it wasn''t too difficult to hide the card in the storage so that it could be essed by all the clones and the original in tandem.


    This made their lives easy as they didn''t have to miss out on any of the points whether the task waspleted by the clones or by the original didn''t matter at all.


    As soon as his original body had gotten a hold of the card, his clones could begin harvesting points by entering the Dark forest earlier than the rest.


    Zavier found the two clones in the forest and the Zaviers formed a team of their own. They started to clear off the tasks from the list one by one and the point total began to increase little by little.


    The first task they managed to check off the list was to find a hidden box in a random tree in the forest. Lucky for Zavier that he had brought out the clone with the perception system who used his Time-Space eye and found the box that was located in a hole in one of the inconspicuous looking trees after a short while.


    Zavier took out the card from the storage space and out it over the box. As soon as he did, the point total on the card increased from a Zero to five.


    Zavier could almost figure out what was going to happen from that moment onwards. This card was going to be the most precious possession on any person and everyone is going to be willing to kill for it.


    While Zavier was busy point hunting, someone was shocked by what was happening. Had Zavier known that he was being monitored in real time through the point total, he might have refrained from beginning earlier than the rest.


    Mabel had been sitting in front of the screen that was currently showing the names of the participants and the number of points that they had. She knew that the point total couldn''t change before the test began but somehow she had seen one of them jump from zero to five while taking a random nce at it.


    At first she was quite surprised since she had yet to allow the students to enter the venue and she was quite sure that all the teams were still in the gymnasium. But then an excited grin spread all over her face as if she was enjoying the development.


    Mabel was not someone who would call something like this as cheating. She felt that if the person was really capable of pulling off such a feat than that was the truly capable person. Therefore, she didn''t report anything to anyone. She just sat there and monitored the point total of the students.


    As she continued to look, her facial expressions changed to that of someone who was quite intrigued about something.


    "Thispetition is turning out to be quite exciting."


    There was a smirk on her face like that of a child who had found something good for the very first time.


    After all the teams had been grouped up and were done reading the instructions and the list of the tasks, Mabel appeared at the podium once again but this time not a single soul dared to not listen to her.


    Seeing that everyone was focused, Mabel started to speak in a voice that seemed a little excited to Calista.<sub> </sub>


    "Since all of you have found your team members, thepetition will now begin. All of you need to move out within the minute because the timer will start without you if you fail to enter the Dark forest by then."


    There was a rush of footsteps and flurry of movement before the gym looked as eerily silent as the graveyards.


    Calista and some of the teachers were the only ones who had remained. Still Calista found this oddly ufortable. She started walking in the direction of her friend slowly in order to join up with her until her students needed her again. But until then she was free to watch it all with her old friend.


    ¡­.


    Zavier had a white glow on his hand that was turning sharper by the second. Of course the glow was none other than the cold ze that Zavier was quite proficient at wielding. Zavier was using it to conjure up a de that was both hot and sharp at the same time; a ming sword that could cut through anything like a hot knife through butter.


    As if to prove that point, the head of a wind wolf went rolling in front of him but not a single drop of blood was spilled. It was because the wound had been cauterized at the same time as it was cut off.


    This was one of the tasks that the list had on it. He brought the card and ced it on the dead body of the headless world and gained another 20 points. Both Zavier and his clone with the Magus system could use Cold ze and Blood de if needed so there was no difficulty in dealing with the beasts at all. Some of the tasks mentioned on the list were none other than to hunt different kinds of beasts. The bounty on wind wolf was one of those tasks.


    Zavier had already collected a hundred and fifty points through thepletion of the tasks but there was something that he was dreading more by the second. It was that while people like him were busy collecting points, someone out there would start to hunt them for the points since it was the easiest way to go about it. He wanted to believe that there was a tiny possibility that none of those involved would follow that path but he knew how humans were and the evil that they were capable of even when they had no power, like in his previous world.


    This was a world full of magic so the evil that the humans were capable of would only be magnified. Zavier only hoped that he was wrong and stopped thinking about it.


    In the meanwhile, the collection of points was going too smoothly. After fighting the S rank mages in his previous mission, not to mention the monsters he had to face, this difficulty was basically child''s y to Zavier. This was not enough to even make him break a sweat.


    Zavier was even wondering whether the difficulty of the test had been lowered slightly since this was the first time that the test was being conducted. Because the way it was going, Zavier didn''t feel any difficulty whatsoever.


    As he was lost in thought, his Time-Space eye witnessed some people closing in on his position. From their formation it was easy to see what they were trying to do. They wanted to box him in and surround him from all sides.


    Zavier felt a little angry at what these people were trying to do and he knew that the thing that he was afraid of had already started happening. Although he wasn''t worried that a couple of idiots would want to try and snatch his card, he still cared about his fellow students from Merion High especially when two of them were his cousins. He was especially worried about Nadia since she had always been the pampered one. He wondered if she would be able to handle something like this.


    In order to confirm his suspicions, he concentrated his mana and used his normal "Repel" spell on the bushes surrounding him because he had already seen the three idiots hiding in them all around him.


    As soon as he released the skill, a shockwave spread through his vicinity and managed to send them all reeling out of the bushes.


    There were three in total and did not look very intimidating. They had average build and did not look like the bully stereotypes. Still Zavier had to make sure what their intentions were.


    "What the hell are you three doing?"


    "Nothing, we just wanted to see how you took care of the wind wolf."


    One of them who was surprisingly fast on the uptake knew that they were in a pinch and decided to improvise. Of course, from the expressions of the other two, Zavier was sure that he was lying.


    "You better not doubt my intelligence. Since you came here to witness how to kill the wind wolf, let me throw you to one as I have already demonstrated how to take one down. What do you think about that?"


    This was thest nail in the coffin and the three deted like a punctured balloon.


    "It seems like you are ready to tell me the truth now. And believe me that if I so much as just feel that you are lying to me, so help me god, I really will throw you to the wolves and I will make sure that they take really big bites out of you before you are rescued by the university; that is if there really is such a thing and university really cares about your puny little lives."


    "No¡­.no¡­please don''t do that. We didn''t mean any harm. We saw you taking down the wind world earlier and thought that you must have a huge number of points. I swear we just wanted your card. We never wanted to hurt you at all."


    "Taking my card would have been worse than killing me at this juncture. Let me show you how that feels. I promise I won''t hurt you either if you hand me those cards right now,"


    The heart of the contest wasn''t the collection of enough points. It was to eliminate all those you could before the start of the next round. This round''s difficulty was based on the level of internal conflict. The more infighting there was, the more difficult the tasks would truly be.


    After all, it all became meaningless as soon as someone managed to snatch the card that held all your points.


    Therefore, you either had to be strong enough to defend your card from all enemies or you had to be prepared to snatch them from others.


    ¡­


    In the monitoring room Calista had managed to join up with Mabel and was busy watching the results with her.


    She was surprised by how thorough the university was acting this time.


    "You really have outdone yourself this time, throwing my students into the turmoil of your making. I especially liked your announcement about the second round. Way to make thispetition interesting. If I am right you must have been the one to make the rules this year. You must have received a lot ofpliments for this."


    Mabel was unable to figure out whether Calista was scolding her orplimenting her. She was having a headache listening to her and she already knew that Calista was only joking so she didn''t take it to heart. Still she had to retort with something at the very least. She couldn''t just let Calista one up her like this.


    "Nah...The interesting one here is not me but the students you have brought along this time. Of all the people, the boy that you brought along was the first one to get points. But guess what, he got his first points when the test had not even started yet. Tell me, how did he do that?"


    Mabel had thought that Calista would be surprised after hearing about it but to her astonishment, it felt as if Calista already knew something about it.


    "What? You knew about how he managed to pull it off?"


    Calista didn''t exactly know how Zavier had done it but she was not about to be surprised about anything that the boy did because she had already seen the miracles that he was capable of.


    She had seen him dying twice at least and he hade back every time to save them all over again. It was as if he had infinite lives or something that he continued to sacrifice himself to save others.


    Therefore, she would not put anything past him at this point. That was the reason that she wasn''t too shocked after hearing what he had done this time. Herck of surprise had caused Mabel to think as if Calista had somehow helped him out.


    ? "Don''t think too much. That kid has his means. Even I don''t'' know how powerful he is. Believe me or not, but up until a few months ago, he was someone who couldn''t wield a bit of magic. I don''t know if he was pretending or hiding from something, but he only revealed his power a few months back. Isn''t that intriguing?"


    Of course, Calista only mentioned the things that she could and didn''t recount the surprises that he had brought them during the mission. After all, the details regarding that were still top secret and she could not willingly reveal any of that.


    The more she talked the more sparkly Mabel''s eyes became. She was excited to see the surprises he would bring to thepetition. She was happy that someone like that had participated in thepetition, otherwise the monitoring would have been quite boring for her.


    Both of them talked about Zavier for a bit after which they focused on the monitor again that was disying the point total of each individual. Mabel felt that this was a tedious and boring job so she was thankful that Calista was here to keep herpany for the duration of it.

 Chapter 99 Rebecca

    Zavier was busypleting the tasks with his two clones who were both d in masks and were using magic to alter their voices as well. Otherwise there would have been four Zaviers running around on the field.


    Since he was currently in the body of a clone as well, he was wearing a mask as well. Three masked men with matching fashion made up for one hell of a team. If only the people knew that they were one and the same person, there would have been an uproar.


    Zavier''s attackers who had been asking for forgiveness up until a few moments ago were now busy trying to take him down with their lives on the line. The change had urred just because he had asked them to hand over their cards since they had wanted to rob him earlier.


    Their eyes had turned sharp at the mention of the card and they all rushed at him simultaneously to take him down.


    Of course to an elephant, whether it was a single ant or a group didn''t matter. The elephant crushed them all under its feet.


    Zavier was soon standing above their dpidated bodies suffering from various abrasions and cuts.


    Zavier didn''t even have to summon the two clones with him. He made mincemeat out of them in a second using just his physical strength and bodily speed. He didn''t use any strengthening or eleration spell either. He had yet to mobilize his mana at all but the idiots were already down for good.


    He had not expected that the geniuses from a high school would be that weak.


    In reality, Zavier was the weird one. The general strength of the average high schooler was just that much. He had be a monsterpared to all those who were his age.


    At most the high school students who were his age at average were only equivalent to an F rank mage at best. Those who were able to receive rmendations from their school were slightly better than the others and could be ranked equivalent to an E rank mage. Only those who were known as absolute monsters in the high school were considered to be equal in power to some D rank or C rank mages.


    Zavier on the other hand had even fought against S rank mages while he was still in high school. Not many could boast about that. After he had learned Blood de, Zavier had be someone who was equivalent to a C rank mage. Conditionally, he could even go beyond that so Zavier was sure that he was among the top dogs of the batch of participants this time.


    Zavier checked their trembling bodies and retrieved their cards from their pockets.


    They could have avoided the beating if they had only handed it over at the beginning. That would have saved all of them the trouble but Zavier knew that it was only natural that they had resisted with all their might considering the fact that he was practically snatching their futures from them.


    Zavier did not feel bad about it considering that they also wanted to do the same to him.


    Zavier had managed to get his hands on their cards but when he looked at the total number of points the three had gathered, he was shell shocked because that number seemed to be an impossibility after so much time had passed.


    "Looks like you runts really are the dregs of thispetition considering that all of you are still stuck at zero points."


    Zavier felt that it was only natural considering how easy it had been for him to beat them all on his own.


    In reality, Zavier had misjudged them. The three were not the weakest amongst the participants at all. They were average at the very least.


    The fact that they had no points at all meant that their points had been stolen which meant that the internal conflicts had begun a long time ago. Teams had be focused on grabbing the cards of others instead of trying to earn some points on their own.


    Everyone liked a good shortcut. Since one was avable, no one wanted to work hard enough to earn points when they could just snatch them from others who were busy earning them legitimately.


    Zavier was starting to grow worried about the girls. Kacie, Shiranui and Dah might have been girls but Zavier knew that they could handle themselves. He had worked with Dah before and knew how resourceful she could be. Also she was smart so Zavier was sure that she would have figured everything out by now.


    Kacie was too mature and would never fall for the tricks of the others. As for Shiranui, she was strong enough to handle herself.


    That only left Nadia, his naughty little cousin who was the cause for his eternal worrying.


    She had been the princess of the house and had never encountered situations like this before. Zavier wondered what she would do if someone tried to dupe her like that. Would she be able to hurt them back?


    Zavier had always found her to be the nicest of the bunch. He was worried that someone would take advantage of her kindness.


    Zavier ran around a bit and spread out his perception to find the girl as soon as possible but he could not find her no matter how hard he looked. This Dark Forest was too vast for him to cover alone in a short time.


    Zavier mobilized his clones at the same time. They all headed in different directions within the Dark Forest. Their only order was to locate Nadia and to inform Zavier as soon as they did.<sub> </sub>


    This was the fastest way of looking for her that Zavier could think of at the time. So after giving the orders to all the clones, he switched his consciousness back to the original body that was still travelling with Reba and Andrew.


    Zavier felt likeshing out as soon as he saw the arrogant expression of Reba. He could not understand what she had that made her so damn narcissistic and prideful. No matter how great of a genius she might have been, she couldn''t have been better than Valerie. So when even Valerie didn''t act like that, what right did she have to behave in that manner and look down on everyone else?


    She was getting on his nerves. The more he looked at her and her way of doing things, the more disgusted Zavier felt.


    No matter how much annoying Zavier felt her to be, she was still within the normal range when it came to being prideful and narcissistic. The others who were as good as her had their eyes on the top of their heads and looked down at everyone else.


    Zavier too understood this once he went through the memories of the time when he had been away in the body of his clone.


    He found that during his absence, Reba had been using the two teammates for finding the locations where she could get more points. She would then ask them to lead her to the next location where she wouldplete the task to get points.


    Since she would not let any of the two use their cards for the collection of the points, all the points of their team were with her. She had not allowed them to keep any of it.


    Zavier felt like cursing himself for ordering the clone to follow after her in his absence. He was the one at fault for having be the scout for the self obsessed girl.


    Although the total points of the team were calcted based on the total points on the cards of each member of the team, so whether they held it or Reba did not make any difference at all.


    On paper they were still just as strong. The only drawback was that the entire spotlight was on her and the other two had been made to feel like burdens even though she had not allowed them to even demonstrate the extent of their abilities. At the very beginning she had proimed herself to be the all powerful team leader who did not even care whether they had any useful skill or not because she was so powerful that she could handle everything singlehandedly.


    Zavier regretted not putting her in her ce as soon as he had met her. Faced with her insufferable arrogance, Zavier had handed over the battlefield to one of his clones while he had gone on toplete tasks with his clones. But now he felt that he had made a mistake. If he had taken her down a notch at the very beginning, he wouldn''t have been feeling this unease at the moment.


    Still as insufferable and exhausting as it was; Zavier felt that based on her point of view what she had been doing was at least the logical decision and not just based on her arrogance and false ego. Since they were both weaklings in her eyes, it was only natural that she kept all the points with her as the safest ce for it was with her in her narrow field of view.


    Zavier felt that the girl was too focused onpleting the tasks as if she didn''t understand that they had to steal cards as well if they wanted topete for the top spots.


    They had to both steal cards andplete tasks in bnce if they wanted to get ahead of the others who were following the same path. As the carnage had already started, Zavier was sure that the teams who were willing to be ruthless would be far ahead of them at the moment.


    From the looks of her, Reba did not look like an idiot so Zavier was sure that Reba must have known about the situation as well. He waited for a while thinking that Reba might act but the moment never came. The girl was still busy trying to look for more tasks toplete. She was too engrossed in the map trying to figure out the location of the next task.


    Zavier felt frustrated as he tried to break the news to her softly. He wanted to make sure that she heard about what she needed to do without thinking that she had done anything wrong up until that point but he didn''t expect her response at all. It was definitely not what he had expected.


    "I think you must already know but the essence of thispetition isn''t toplete enough tasks. I mean that it is important but not by that much. What I mean to say is that we can''t possibly seed if we just keep onpleting tasks to gain points. We need to steal the cards as well since the game has already begun. It is the only way that we can beat the others."


    Reba scoffed at Zavier as if he had uttered such nonsense that she was unable to gulp down.


    "Did I ask for your opinion? Who do you think I am? Don''tpare me to yourmon standards. I am the number one student of Caesar High School, got it? Not some useless school for gutless worms like you. I can win on my own. I don''t need to resort to your underhanded schemes. Just my own strength will suffice if I want to excel in thispetition. At the very least, I don''t want to hear your opinion during it all so I would be thankful if you refrained from passing on suchments again."


    Zavier finally understood how narcissistic she truly was. She really thought that she was capable of mowing down everything in her way no matter what just because she had never lost to anyone at Caesar High School. Zavier really just wanted to show her who was the boss here but Valerie had told him not to stand out too much just to attract attention. He calmed himself down thinking that there would be more asions for him to confront her since more tests were waiting for them after the first one.


    Unlike the other two, Zavier was highly perceptive of his surroundings at all times. His senses had be razor sharp thanks to the perception system. Zavier sensed movement in the periphery of their current location and was immediately on full alert unlike the other two teammates who from their expression were still clueless about the danger heading their way.


    Zavier activated his Time Space eye and watched his surroundings with a critical eye. Soon he was able to notice various individuals closing in towards the three of them. He counted a total of six different signatures in his vicinity.


    Since the others were still unaware and he feared that they would be caught by surprise, Zavier turned to Reba once again and tried to alert the snobbish girl once again of the iing danger once again.


    "I am not sure if you have noticed or not but there are at least six different individuals who are currently heading towards us and from the way they are moving their intentions might not be the purest."


    Reba seemed a little annoyed at first but then she put on a serious expression as if she thought that there was no harm in listening to a worm every once in a while even if she did end up feeling exasperated in the end.

 Chapter 100 Encounter

    But soon an expression of surprise adorned her face as she looked at Zavier who was beside her and was cautiously looking in the direction of the enemies.


    AT this point even she had to acknowledge that the perception of Zavier was good enough to be even better than her. He had seen the enemy long before she had even managed to get the tiniest inkling about their advances.


    "Looks like there is something you are good at. It isforting to know at the very least. It appears as if I should give a little more credit to the Merion High School for at least producing a slightly useful one instead of pure losers like others."


    This could have barely passed as apliment seeing as it hade from a snobbish, petty and arrogant girl. Zavier didn''t gloat as the enemy had gotten closer. Still he couldn''t help but mutter under his breath.


    "You would have known had you bothered to ask us about it."


    Zavier had said this in a very low voice as if he intentionally didn''t want Reba to hear it. But she still felt like Zavier had said something.


    "Did you say something?"


    "Nope¡­nothing at all."


    "Huh¡­I could almost swear I heard you say something."


    "Still nothing¡­didn''t say a word."


    Zavier was adamant on not falling for her bluff. Even if she might have seen his lips moving, she wouldn''t have heard a word of what he had said. From her earlier sensory skills, Zavier had already felt that perception was not her strong suit. She could barely be called average when it came to sensory skills.


    When Zavier refused to say anything, Reba felt that she might have had a misunderstanding so she didn''t bother anymore about the subject as there was something more important than that headed their way.


    She became fully alert and was focused in the direction of the enemy.


    Zavier on the other hand couldn''t help but hate his condescending teammate more and more. Zavier was only tolerating her because his twisted fate and ever increasing bad luck had made sure that he got stuck with this disaster of a teammate. He vowed in his heart to defeat her miserably if she ever crossed paths with him during thepetition. She was safe from him at the moment only because she was currently his teammate and attacking her wouldn''t be in his favour; otherwise he would have long since discarded her or at the least spanked her back to her best behavior.


    It wasn''t long before the enemies they had been waiting for revealed themselves to Zavier''s team.


    Despite the number being twice of their team, neither Zavier nor Reba had a single crease on their forehead. Zavier of course wasn''t fazed by the strength of the enemy team; after all he had already fought against S rank mages before. On the other hand Reba was overly confident in her own strength so she didn''t take enemies in front of her very seriously. She was sure that she could take them all on without suffering a loss.


    There was a sneer on the faces of the enemies who had encroached on them as if they were their next victims. Their leader was a man with full beard who looked more like a middle aged man than a high school student. All the high school boys were either in the period where their beard was still a few scraggly hairs on the chin but this person had a fully grown and strong beard that made him look older than he truly was. Either that or he really was a mature old man who was shamelessly pretending to be a high school student to take part in thepetition.


    <o>,m Andrew was the first to recognize the leader of the group. His expressions changed into that of panic and fear as he gazed at his face with wide eyes as if he was unable to believe that the person was really in front of him.</o>


    "I know the person who is their leader. I mean, I don''t personally know him but I have heard about him. His name is Kevin. He is another one of those elite five star students who have been judged to have the most monstrous of talents among all the high school students of the continent. I have heard that he is very powerful and hasn''t ever lost to anyone. He is considered to be one of the few who will definitely be able to pass and enter the university. Physical body augmentation skills coupled with his close quarterbat skills are his specialty. I will advise you to avoid fighting him if possible and in order to do that we need to move¡­and fast."


    Reba had a disdainful sneer on her face as she listened to the information. She once again felt that the teammates she had really didn''t have a backbone. One strong enemy and all he could think about was running away to avoid the fight.


    "So, you make the decisions now?"


    Andrew couldn''t help but flinch at her questioning gaze and looked down to avoid that condescending look on her face. He constantly shook his head to the side so as to indicate his answer to her domineering question.


    "Then do me a favour and stay the hell back and don''t think about anything while keeping your mouth shut."


    That seemed to have stopped the raging thoughts of Andrew who calmed down slightly.


    The leader of the enemy force on the hand was unconcerned about what the three of them were talking about. He was busy ogling at Reba whose seductive visage was enough to intoxicate anyone who gazed upon her.


    Kevin looked her up and down as if he was busy scanning her insides as well. His lecherous grin was enough to tell Zavier what he was imagining at that moment. He was practically looking at Reba through her clothes.


    Reba wasn''t fazed by his excessive behavior. Instead she looked slightly proud as there was an inkling of a smile at the corner of her lips that was more like a twitch rather than a smile but Zavier had witnessed it in that passing moment. It looked like she was enjoying it all.


    "These two uglies are dead anyway but I can consider giving you a chance. What do you say?"


    Reba looked both intrigued and excited at the proposal given to her by Kevin. Zavier was wondering what the malicious woman was nning since he was sure that there was no way that Reba was going to give in to the enemy leader. He knew how prideful she was and people like that didn''t bend easy.


    "Oh¡­what would I have to do then?"<sub> </sub>


    Reba asked him in an increasingly seductive and charming voice.


    Kevin couldn''t get over the urge that had risen in him as soon as he hadid his eyes on the seductive girl. He wanted to have her as soon as possible. For that he didn''t mind letting go of a few insects even.


    "It''s simple. Sexy women like you are meant to serve true men like me in bed. If you agree to do that, I will consider sparing you since you would be my woman by then. I am soft like that¡­to my women I mean."


    "What if I don''t agree?"


    "Then I would have no choice to first dispose of these two hindrances before I help you decide to willingly submit to me."


    Reba understood the hidden meaning in his words. He was going to forcefully **** her if she didn''t give in to him.


    Zavier was somewhat dumbfounded as to what was happening in his presence. He had only seen such cheap dialogues in the B grade movies in his past life and even then he had found them to be quite dumb. But now that he was witnessing it live, he finally believed that such incidents could really happen in real life. Dumb people like these who didn''t feel any shame while uttering such disgusting words truly did exist in this world.


    Still he wanted to know whether doing such a thing was against the rules or not. As far as he knew, the there was no rule preventing such a thing from happening during thepetition. After all the rules stated that the participants could do anything and employ any means to acquire points within the duration of the test apart from killing or dealing a fatal blow to the other participants.


    Therefore, such a thing was within the bounds of the rules of thepetition. Zavier felt that the rules had to have been made by some kind of sadistic bastard.


    As he was wondering, Andrew answered the question that was bugging his mind until then.


    "It really can happen. No one from the university will interfere for such a reason. There is precedence for such a case in the past. The previous year, a girl had been raped during thepetition by another participant but the authorities had refused to intervene at that time too. Though the rules at that time weren''t as strict as they are now, they still didn''t care enough about such an incident."


    Zavier heard his words and deduced that although nothing had been mentioned in the rules, this kind of thing had a tacit approval from the university itself. He wasn''t sure what kind of kick the university was getting out of the sick situation but he could establish one fact at the very least; he couldn''t rely on the authorities even to save his own life.


    The fact that anything other than killing was tacitly allowed made thispetition a truly terrifying one. The possibilities were endless since there was no limit to the madness that a single individual like Kevin could bring to the testing grounds.


    While Kevin was making his perverted offer, Zavier was switching his gaze between Kevin and Reba in order to determine how angry and furious would the girl be upon such disrespectful remarks.


    But contrary to his expectations, Reba''s lips curled upwards in a smile that was close to a seductive charm or a love potion.


    Zavier could hardly believe that Reba would lower herself to such a degree. He figured that there must be some underlying trick of that woman''s.


    Reba unaffected by Zavier''s or Kevin''s gaze continued to y the part of a charming minx.


    She brought her hands to the sides of her huge breasts and pressed them inwards as if to make them collide with one another. The softness of those jugs could be imagined just from the fact that her hands were not visible when she tried to press her hands inwards. They had gotten lost somewhere in between the softness.


    Kevin could hardly hold himself back anymore. There was a fire in his loins that he was unable to suppress. If he waited any longer he would have been spraying fire from his crotch at this rate.


    Reba could see him twitching with excitement so she decided to nudge him a little more.


    "If your dick is hard enough to satisfy me, I might open my legs for you. If you are strong enough I might even let you prate me to the deep end. Let me tell you something else; if you do manage to get me into bed, you would be the first to explore it. But it all depends on your dick whether it can handle the strength of my grip or not."


    She was teasing him openly using crass words that Zavier would never have expected from a girl. Yet this girl Reba was surprising him at every turn.


    Kevin was looking at her crotch as she talked her conditions. He was thinking of being the first explorer to ever invade that space. A flush could be beneath all the hair on his bearded face. He was sure that he would seed in bringing the woman to his bed because if there was one thing that he was confident in, then it was the hardness of all his body parts.


    The reason behind that was that Kevin had been adept at augmentation magic. He could turn all his body to steel at will through the consumption of a rtively small amount of mana. It was an exclusive and rare ability that only he had managed to learn in his entire school. The usage of his skill meant that his member too was as hard as steel.


    "You don''t have to worry about my dick being hard enough. It will be as hard as steel. Strength is my forte so prepare to be ravaged until you submit to me."


    As he said this, Kevin''s hand started to turn to steel as the metallic lustre of the metal started to spread all over his arms.


    Sparks were flying between the horny bearded man and the minx like woman who was toying with the man.


    Suddenly, Andrew jumped in between the two of them and shouted as loud as he could. He announced that he was going to defend against the attackers and would buy enough time for the two of his team members to escape from their grasp.


    He alternated looking between the team members that didn''t need his rescuing at all. Reba looked at him in disdain as if he had ruined her mood by opening his mouth in front of her despite his unnecessary attempt at self sacrifice. On the other hand, Zavier at the very least looked slightly appreciative of the kid.

 Chapter 101 Steel

    As soon as he took the middle ground, Andrew unleashed his skill that somehow controlled a boulder and sent it flying in the direction of Kevin. By the way Andrew was sweating, Zavier was sure that he had expended a lot of strength to unleash that skill but Zavier shook his head slightly as if saying ''What a waste''.


    The reason was that the enemy that had a skin made of steel wouldn''t even feel an itch even if the boulder managed to hit him up front.


    Though Andrew only wanted to create a diversion big enough for the two of them to escape, he failed to take into ount the fact that they didn''t need to escape in the first ce.


    Kevin''s teammates had a panicked expression contrary to his own confidence in his strength. They flung themselves out of the way of the boulder in order to avoid the aftermath of the collision of the boulder and Kevin''s steel frame.


    Kevin saw the stone that had been flung in his direction. He let out a sneeringughter in order to show how pathetic the diversion that Andrew had tried to create.


    Kevin''s whole body started to be covered in steel. It began from his right arm and spread evenly on his whole body. It wasn''t like a protective shell of steel over his body. Rather it felt as if his body was made of steel instead, like it was filled with liquid metal on the inside in ce of blood. Strength was oozing out of his entire frame heightened only by his self confidence.


    Kevin took a punching stance and punched the boulder with his steel arms using all his strength.


    The force of the collision was so huge that the boulder was unable to handle it and crumbled into tiny fragments before being blown out all over the ce. The shards of stone were sharper than des and faster than bullets as they flew all over the ce. Some wedged themselves in tree trunks while some managed to hit Zavier and the others.


    Only Andrew who had been directly in front of Kevin faced the brunt of the force. The exploding stone fragments hit him head on which made him spit blood instantly. Though his frame was sturdy, Andrew was not very skilled in defensive manoeuvres. Even if he had been good at defense, the explosion was hardly something that he could have protected himself from, given the little reaction time that he had.


    Zavier saw the person who had tried to help him earlier bend down in pain and vomiting blood and could not help but want to return the favour.


    He rushed forward and grabbed Andrew before he fell downpletely on the ground. Zavier held him up by using his shoulder to support him from the side.


    At the same time Zavier gave a furious look to Kevin who was busy smirking with a smug expression on his face.


    Kevin saw that another ant was trying to defy him when even the strongest out of the three had agreed to sleep with him to save herself. He thought that the rest of her team should have been like her and should have given in to him a long time ago.


    This made him feel slightly annoyed by the drama that was noting to end. He decided to rile things up a little more.


    "WHAT? Please don''t tell me that you are like him as well; all bark and no fight. At least don''t spew blood all over the ce like your friend there. Do you know how disgusting that looks to the onlookers?"


    This time the target of his taunts was none other than Zavier who had threateningly looked at Kevin earlier.


    Zavier had been feeling anger bubbling up inside him with every taunt from Kevin and he only wanted to smash him to pieces. As soon as his bottled up anger burst past the tolerance threshold, Zavier rushed towards Kevin in an attempt to teach him a lesson.


    But before he could have moved more than 2 feet distance, something gripped him tightly. A trembling hand was currently holding his wrist with all his strength.


    Zavier looked at the trembling fingers that were barely holding him back. If he had wanted then, he could have easily broken away from that hand to strike at Kevin but he didn''t want to hurt Andrew more than he already was. So stayed put to listen to what Andrew had to say.


    Andrew had a pained expression on his face as he tried to stop Zavier from attacking Kevin.


    Zavier looked at his face as Andrew shook his head from side to side motioning him to stop. He was trying to tell Zavier how absolutely impossible it was to fight against the monstrous strength of Kevin. Andrew had never gone against someone who wielded this much strength without even breaking a sweat so he buckled under the slightest pressure. But what Zavier found admirable was that even under such conditions, he was worried about the well being of his teammates instead of himself. He was willing to sacrifice his own future for them.


    "Don''t engage him head on. He is too strong. Believe me; we can never match up to him. Stop thinking about fighting him and run. Both of you need to run as far as possible without looking back. I will try to hold him back."


    The only reason he wanted them to escape was because Andrew had never known the true strength that Zavier was hiding behind his fa?ade. In front of his team, Zavier had yet to show any of his strength.


    Of course, had Andrew known, he would never have put himself in harm''s way when the other two could have easily dealt with all the troubles.


    Reba who had been looking at the drama with a disgusted expression finally spoke up.


    "Losers will always be losers. Weaklings should just stay weaklings instead of trying to be heroes. Do you think that you trying futilely to sacrifice yourself for your team looks heroic or something? To me it is nothing more than another pathetic attempt of a weakling to get past his status of an ant."<sub> </sub>


    Zavier felt more and more infuriated with every toxic and malicious word that came out of her mouth. No one could have imagined that such toxic spew coulde out of the mouth of such a beautiful girl but reality was often times cruel and unpredictable.


    Zavier wanted to retaliate but the pressure on his wrist increased slightly. Andrew was indicating for him to stand down and not to do anything for him even though he had not hesitated to put himself in harm''s way in order to save his teammates.


    But his silence only allowed Reba to continue spouting bullshit.


    "You pathetic idiot can''t even follow simple orders. It''s actually my fault that I trusted you enough to follow my orders. As expected, I really can''t rely on you losers to listen to what I say. Didn''t I tell you to stay at the back in any such situation so you don''t get in my way of handling it on my own? Yet you tried to be a hero without an ounce of strength behind your actions. The mostughable part is that you knew that you were in for a beating if you opposed Kevin and yet you did exactly that. Is your mind skewed or something? He practically bulldozed you because you wanted to y the saviour. If only you had listened to me earlier, you wouldn''t have been in this situation. You have only yourself and your stupidity to me for your pitiful state."


    Reba''s tone changed from cold to mocking as she continued to lecture Andrew for what she considered to be stupidity and foolishness.


    Zavier finally could not hold it in. His patience had run out. He was practically bursting with indignation and anger and needed a release.


    Zavier was gritting his teeth with immense strength that was responsible for the sound of teeth rubbing against each other that wasing from his mouth. His tone was aggressive and his manner furious as he retorted verbally against Reba while threatening her at the same time.


    "If his stupidity is to me, then you too should me yourself for the enemy you have made today. I will be sure to fu*k you like the little arrogant bit*h that you are. I will stomp at your dignity just the way you have done with Andrew. I will make sure that you see how big the world truly is and how little that power that you consider to be the ultimate is inparison to the true horror that lies dormant and away from public eyes in this world. Pray that we don''te across each other in thispetition after this fight or you will have to face something you won''t be able to deal with. I will then witness what decisions you make at the time, you narcissistic bitch."


    Reba saw the look in his eyes and flinched a little at first. She could tell that Zavier truly meant business as the ferocity in his eyes could no longer be hidden. He was no longer the Zavier she had seen at the start of thepetition. There was something that had changed in him, and something primal had taken over, something driven by bloodthirst and killing intent.


    Even though she felt slightly ufortable with his murderous gaze, Reba''s facial expressions hardly twitched. She looked back at Zavier and gave him a thoughtful look.


    "Well, if you really want to stay true to your words then you better be someone powerful enough to bear the weight of those words. Only someone strong enough to make me look up to them, can make me yield. As you are now, you barely qualify to lick the soles of my shoes let alone to fuck me."


    Before Zavier could have told her how wrong she was if she thought that this was all that he was capable of, Kevin got in between the two of them.


    "Stop with the infighting now. I ept that it was slightly amusing in the beginning but it is getting boring by the minute."


    Kevin rushed forward and headed straight for Reba since he knew that she was the strongest out of all of them. He didn''t even bother to give a second nce to everyone else who was there.


    As he started moving, the steel that had receded into his body somehow grew back on the surface of his body. He used the entirety of his momentum and punched out with his greatest strength. He wanted to make the girl beg for mercy before epting her into his bed.


    His steel fist was headed straight towards Reba''s face.


    Andrew almost closed his eyes at what was about to happen. He had wanted to prevent the same thing from happening.


    Zavier on the other hand wanted to see how the girl was going to get out of her predicament.


    To his surprise, Reba didn''t even attempt to dodge the iing steel fist. She stayed rooted to her ce with a cold expression as if this steel fist wasn''t enough to faze her at all.


    Kevin could also feel that something was wrong but he was already mid motion and couldn''t cancel out his attack.


    Before the punch could have connected with her face, Reba raised her hand and flung her palm in the direction of the punch in order to defend.


    There was a loud ng as the fist that carried the momentum of his steel transformation was stopped by the weak looking palm of a measly little girl.


    By looking at Reba one couldn''t tell if she had exerted any strength at all. It felt as if she had deflected the heavy looking attack barehanded. Zavier finally felt a little admiration for the arrogant girl. She truly was strongpared to her peers.


    Kevin had been thinking what a shame it was that he had to destroy one of Reba''s hands before pummelling her in bed. But he told himself that some things were necessary and had to be done.

 Chapter 102 Diamond

    Ever since he had gotten good at his steel transformation skill, Kevin hade to like the crunching noises that emanated once his fist broke through all the obstructions in its path; bone, flesh and all. He was used to destroying it all. But for the first time ever the series of crunching noises that he had been waiting for never came.


    Reba had stopped the momentum of his fist with her palm somehow. She had deflected all the force with so much ease that Kevin could hardly believe it despite being the first hand witness to the event.


    A tinge of terror sneaked its way into his heart at that moment. His hair stood on end as he began to think that the woman was truly dangerous; someone he should never have taken easy.


    Reba''s t palm curved inward and subtly got hold of the fist attacking her with enough force to hold it in ce.


    Kevin tried to pull back his fist but he was unable to move it even an inch. It was already toote.


    Panic spread over his bearded face and turned his manly face a shade darker than it already was.


    "Steel is indeed very hard but do you think that it is the strongest when ites to hardness. Your arrogance is unwarranted if you know that there are things even stronger than steel. For example, I have the backbone to be prideful and confident because I know I am the best. You see, when ites to hardness and strength there is nothing that canpare to diamond, not even steel."


    As Reba said that, the palm that was holding Kevin''s fist started to turn crystalline like that of a beautiful diamond that was both strong and sparkly.


    Reba arched her body backwards in an arrogant manner that showed how prideful she was of her diamond transformation.


    Kevin let out a terrible scream that reverberated in the surroundings acting like a warning to the others regarding the dangers posed by Reba.


    The sounds that he had so impatiently wished to hear did fall on his ears but he was unable to feel any joy due to the excruciating pain that apanied it.


    Unlike the previous times he was the victim instead of the aggressor. The change in point of view was the difference between intoxicating to ecstasy and mind numbing pain.


    Reba had twisted the fist out of shape by exerting a huge force using her fingers and her wrist. She had basically crushed all the bones in his reinforced hand.


    The earlier feeling that he had about Reba having a hidden trump card really came out to be true. She really had the skills to back her growing arrogance.


    All the bones in Kevin''s wrist and the palm of his hand had been fractured so thoroughly that Zavier was sure that Kevin wouldn''t be able to recover even with the help of healing spells.


    Healing spells basically healed tissue structures, any muscle ruptures and would reattach bones together.


    If the healer wasn''t properly versed in the anatomy of human body, the pieces of crushed bones might be reattached in the wrong sequence. Kevin would end up as a cripple if that happened.


    Even if he managed to somehow avoid total paralysis of the limb, the flexibility and movement of the limb would never be as good as it had been in the past. And even that was only possible if Kevin somehow managed to find a godly healer who could put all the broken shards and powder of the bone back together in its initial shape and length without error.


    Zavier felt that this was something he deserved. It was nature putting him back in his ce. Someone that disgusting deserved to be spit on by everyone.


    Reba had already crushed his hand into pulp but it looked like she was not satisfied with only that much because her hand left his limp one and started heading downwards towards Kevin''sher region.


    A look of horror was stered on Kevin''s face as he had already anticipated what Reba was nning to do. He wanted to speak but only squeaks and wails came out because fear had taken over all his senses.


    Reba emotionlessly reached out and grabbed his erect c*ck which had been reinforced by his steel transformation as well.


    Kevin was now regretting showing off his hard member to her earlier. If he hadn''t done that, his member could have been saved.


    He wanted to apologize for his earlier actions but no words came out of his mouth.


    There was a slight movement of Reba''s hand and another crack resounded. Kevin''s erect member was now oddly misshapen and bent at a weird angle.


    If previously it had been ance that was both awe inspiring and full of power, then it was nothing more than a broken twig now that no one would care about.<sub> </sub>


    A piercing wail that was like a hollow''s cry came out of his mouth and all the strength left his body. His once straight shoulders became hunched as if all his pride had been lost with the crack in his d*ck.


    The c*ck that had been reinforced with steel had been broken like it was nothing. Her diamond grip was not something that they could handle.


    The other five couldn''t help but grow afraid for their own. They were only young kids who had yet to experience the joys of conjugal bliss. They were even more afraid of Reba now.


    As soon as she looked their way after she was done with Kevin, the other five fell to their knees asking for forgiveness.


    Reba gave out a low grunt and asked the five of them, "What do I get in return for letting all of you go?"


    All five of them offered up their cards to save their members from the girl who would have destroyed them and quite painfully at that.


    Zavier saw the scene and found it funny somehow. At the same time he had to acknowledge that the pride that Reba unted so heavily was quite justified. She did have the strength to be that arrogant around her peers but that was of course excluding Zavier who could still make a short work out of her.


    She was strong but that was only amongst those who could be called her peers. Zavier had long since crossed over to the next level. He had fought equally with an S rank mage, someone she might not even have seen yet. Reba was still a few years too early to confront him but he didn''t point that out to her. The rules of the tournament were quite strict. If he taught her a lesson right then, the whole team would have lost points so Zavier did the one thing that he could to make sure that he didn''t have to see her arrogant mug again; at least until he could actually beat the crap out of her without hitting himself in the feet.


    "Since we have established that you can take care of yourself on your own, there is no need for you dragging us along now, is there?"


    Zavier called for a split with those words.


    Reba got angry but she too was limited by the rules. She huffed and puffed in anger but eventually had to ept his decision forck of any other alternative.


    Zavier was already fed up with her so this gave him a chance to be away from the insufferable b*tch and earn some points on his own.


    As he was about to move away, he looked back at Andrew who was still standing still like a statue and called out to him.


    "Youing or what?"


    Andrew was dumbfounded at the question. He had been thinking that he would be stuck some more with Reba but Zavier had called out to him as well.


    Andrew didn''t need to think after what had happened earlier. He didn''t need to expend so much effort for someone who didn''t appreciate it even a little bit. So without a second of wait, he started to walk behind Zavier as if it was the natural choice.


    Reba who had been left behind all by her lonesome stomped the ground with enough force to create a crater in her anger. She couldn''t believe that the two weaklings could survive the test on their own and yet they had audacity to throw away her kindness.


    She hoped that she would meet them in the future tests so she could teach the two of a lesson.


    Andrew and Zavier both freely roamed the ck Forest. They hit every spot that they believed would be able to yield them some points. They had to keep raising their point total if they wanted a chance at individual rankings since they were starting with zero points already.


    Of course, Zavier wasn''t at zero since he had his clones working for him. It was only Andrew who believed so.


    Over the next few hours, Zavier and hispanion followed the instructions in the manual and points starteding in an endless stream. For Zavier who was even stronger than Reba, earning points through taskpletion was even easier than it looked.


    Throughout their promenade amidst the forest, they came across no one who meant them harm like the earlier individuals who hade out to snatch their cards forcefully.


    However that didn''t mean that the participants had turned over a new leaf. The participants were still at each other''s throats. It was a cutthroat world after all. In order to not get a surpriseter on, Zavier had activated his Time Space eye and was keeping a watch on the surroundings throughout.


    The proof of human nature appeared soon in front of them. Zavier was the one to witness it first since he had the Time Space eye.


    Three boys had surrounded a girl in between them and were trying to suppress her with all their might. The girl on the other hand was desperately resisting all three of them at once. ck mes danced around her hands as she fended them off every now and then.

 Chapter 103 Converging Attack

    Zavier was slightly surprised because he knew the girl. It was none other than Shiranui who had gone her own way with her new team. From the looks of it, either she had been abandoned by her team or she had gone her own way like them.


    But what he failed to understand was the reason why the opposing team was able to hold her down so easily. She was strong, stronger than she looked. No team should have been this strong after all the university had made sure that the teams all had an average strength at best.


    Zavier didn''t have time to monitor her any longer since the situation was getting disadvantageous for her fast. He told Andrew to stay put for a while as he handled the situation.


    Zavier stayed in the shadows and in the bushes as he headed towards the battle.


    Shiranui was surprisingly in serious trouble. She was unable to hold them off all on her own. Her clothes were torn in several ces and there were some slight wounds, some were more like scratches while some were deep enough to cause bleeding.


    The more Zavier witnessed the battle, the more he came to believe that all three individuals had simr fighting prowess to that of Shiranui. She was essentially fighting three enemies who were equally as powerful as her.


    Since Mabel had exined that each squad could only have average power at best, Zavier was sure such a powerful three man cell could not exist. Therefore, there was only one possible exnation for what was happening in front of him.


    But he needed to observe some more before he coulde to a final conclusion. Although he was worried about Shiranui, he knew that she was a strong mage who could handle herself even against a tough enemy like that so he continued to keep watch to save her if she actually was in trouble.


    At the same time he needed to assess the information to predict how the rest of the participants had been operating. Unlike him who was earning the totality of his points throughpletion of tasks, some had resorted to stealing cards using the strength of the whole team like the ones he had stumbled upon in the start with his clones. Some had ganged up with those from other teams and were going about terrorizing people like Kevin''s team. The scenario in front of him was clearly another loophole that the participants had made use of to make up a stronger team.


    "Keep pushing her, she is about to run out of mana. She can''t keep this up for much longer."


    "Yeah, there''s three of us and only one of her. This is going to be a breeze."


    "I can''t help but admire Teacher Bert foring up with this method. This way we can definitely all progress to the second round and deal a blow topetition at the same time. We have to make sure that our high school ranks first in the next test."


    The three of them took turns attacking Shiranui in an attempt to get her to run out of mana. Therefore at all times, two of them would be free to chatter. Zavier found this fortunate as he was able to guess a lot from their conversation.


    From the looks of it, the three belonged to the same high school.


    His earlier suspicions had turned out to be correct after all. The third method that the participants were using was this one. Students from the same school were banding up together right after the start of thepetition. They had abandoned their original teams and had joined up with the students that they were able to trust whole heartedly. This not only helped them be at ease, their overall team strength also increased by leaps and bounds.


    Zavier felt that he was such an idiot for missing something this obvious. Finally he was able to understand the reason that Mabel had announced the next test earlier. It was to generate this type of situation. Competition between different schools was the best method to reduce the number of participants for the next round as far as the university was concerned.


    Zavier stayed still and kept an eye on Shiranui.


    Shiranui was unable to attack with all her strength after she had been surrounded since she had to be ready to defend herself from all the sides. Therefore, her fight was purely defensive while her opponents were the ones who were constantly on the offensive.


    Her opponents were slowly tiring her out but her ck me was truly a powerful skill that kept disrupting the rhythm of her opponents.


    They were unable to defeat her even after surrounding her. The major credit for such a feat had to be given to the skill with which Shiranui wielded her ck me. Even Zavier learned a thing or two while looking at her; after all he too had a simr me skill in his arsenal and an even more powerful one at that.


    Still, one against three Shiranui could not hold on for much longer and was about to be hit by one of her opponents after faltering a bit due to exhaustion.


    Zavier had already noticed her predicament andunched a long range illusion from the shadows.


    [Skill level is very high. Some of the restrictions will no longer be applied on the user.]


    [No eye contact is necessary. User can now cast the illusion without making any eye contact with the target.]<sub> </sub>


    [Dizziness Lv. 3 has been cast sessfully.]


    [Your mental strength is very high. The target will unconditionally fall into a state of dizziness. The skill can''t be resisted because User''s mental strength is excessively higherpared to the target.]


    This was one of the earliest skills that he had learned. With constant meditation and practice of the clone with the Mesmer system, Zavier now had a high level of mental prowess and could cast low to medium level illusions as easily as breathing without even tiring himself out.


    The target of the skill felt his world spin for some time and when he came back to his senses, the skill he had cast hadnded so far out from his target that he could not help but curse out loud.


    His teammates who had been waiting for the end of the fight were dumbfounded at such an obvious miss. Of course they had been unable to sense the interference of a certain illusionist.


    "There is someone else hiding around us. The girl has another teammate. Whoever it is, just cast an illusion skill to make me miss."


    As soon as they heard the target of the skill speaking about another hidden enemy, they finally knew what had happened.


    Since they had been together in school, nobody amongst the three doubted the other and they got their guards up in order to draw out the one who was still in hiding.


    Although the other did not know who it was that had saved them, Shiranui could already make an educated guess about her not so mysterious helper. She was sure that it was Zavier.


    Although ordinary mages were capable of casting low level illusions using mana, there were subtle mana fluctuations apanying such skills and could be found out very easily. Moreover her helper was so skilled that they had managed to cast an illusion sessfully on a mage who was as good as her which she knew for a fact was quite close to impossible. But she had heard about one person who was that good at it and had even seeded in casting it on an A rank mage.


    Not just everyone could boast that achievement. It was none other than Zavier from her school. Therefore, she was sure that it had to be Zavier who had saved him.


    Although it was close to being correct, she needed her guess to be the truth. She couldn''t afford another enemy eyeing her card.


    Thankfully, her opponents had gotten cautious and they started to throw all sorts of long range spells towards the bushes, which was the supposed hiding spot of her helper. Despite having guessed the identity of the helper, she couldn''t move out to help them because she had to make sure.


    Thankfully, her guess seemed to be correct as Zavier came rolling out of the bushes in order to avoid one of the skills and finally revealed himself to everyone.


    Shiranui felt at ease knowing that Zavier was in the vicinity. More than that, conflicting emotions gued her mind. She didn''t know if she should feel happy that Zavier had helped her out when she was in trouble or if she should be worried that Zavier might be thinking that she was a heartless girl who only cared about winning and didn''t care if she hurt anyone in the process.


    Shiranui wanted to tell everything about herself to Zavier in order to apologize but whenever she tried to say something, her voice would get stuck somewhere inside.


    And currently she wasn''t in any position to discuss such things with him. She had to focus her attention on the fight at hand.


    Since the blockade around her had been disturbed by the arrival of Zavier, Shiranui rushed to his side and stood beside him.


    "These three are all from the same school and are incredibly strong. Each one of them has a unique skill that distinguishes them among a hoard of participants. Their skill level is almost on par with me. If you hade anyter, I would probably have been eliminated by then."


    Zavier nodded in return with an expressionless face. In fact he had wanted to smile so as to reassure her but the way she had been acting around him ever since their journey had started made him reconsider. He didn''t want to make her feel awkward. So he kept their interaction as formal as possible.


    "Anything I should know about these three?"


    "One of them uses blood magic since he is one of the Vampires. One has inherited the powers and inhumane strength of a werewolf. He can transform into one at will. Thest is a supposed Dragon Rider but I have yet to see his so called dragon. But even without it, he is plenty strong."


    Zavier nodded in understanding. He knew that the situation was dire but after he heard about the skills of the enemy he finally knew how powerful they actually were. Zavier felt that they must be saving their energy forter otherwise they might have already taken down Shiranui by now.

 Chapter 104 The Reason

    On the inside though, he wanted to say that his Blood de was a million times more powerful than any of their skills but managed to keep it in. Still it was a fact that these individuals were quite powerful among their peers, quite exceptional if one were to judge them based on their attributes.


    Despite how powerful they were, Zavier could have beaten all three of them even if he was on his own. He had that much confidence in his strength at the very least. Fighting against an S rank mage and facing two monsters beyond S rank would give you at least that much.


    ? But the condition for that was Blood de. Zavier would have to use the cursed technique if he wanted to deal with all of them at the same time.


    Val had told him before that he should not take out this skill for the sake of the family reputation but Zavier knew that more than the honor of the Adam family, Val was concerned about his health. He did not want Zavier to use such self harming skill again. Though Zavier had understood his heart at the time, he had not pointed it out and had epted his demand.


    Zavier intended to fulfil that promise by any means. Since he could not beat the opponents without unleashing his Blood de, he decided to not confront the three of them directly.


    Also, from the way Shiranui was panting, Zavier was sure that her stamina and mana were close to depletion which meant she would neither be able to help him out during the fight nor would she be able to protect herself during the fight. Zavier would be too preupied to that for her. Therefore, there was only other alternate for the situation.


    He had to escape somehow with Shiranui in tow.


    But that would require a huge distraction; somethingrge enough to have an impact and something that could act as a screen for them to help them avoid the eyes of the opponents so that they could make a run for it.


    Zavier thought a bit before the skeleton of a n was formted in his brain.


    He urged all the mana to gather towards his hand. At the same time he started absorbing the mana from the surroundings greedily to act as a reinforcement for the spell that he was about to cast.


    "Cold ze"


    The mana gathered for the casting of the skill was so huge that the me would have burned down everything in the vicinity if Zavier had not focused on the output being more shy than destructive.


    The Cold ze was meant to act as a sh bang from his previous world. He wanted to inflict his opponents with a Blind status before breaking into a run. The blindness came with a searing bonus that did not sit well with any of the three attackers.


    The three of them shrieked in pain and started rubbing their eyes shouting curses while panicking as if they had lost their eyesight permanently.


    Zavier made use of the opportunity to escape with Shiranui in his arms. He carried her in his arms and kept running until he was sure that the opponents would not be able to find them easily.


    Even then he took the necessary precautions and took a detour before finally stopping in front of a hollow tree trunk. The trunk was wide enough to amodate three to four individualsfortably. Since there were only the two of them, it was a spacious ce considering that they only needed it toy low for a while.


    Zavier too was in a simr state to Shiranui. Both of them had expended a lot of mana in order to escape. They both needed to recover the mana that they had lost before they could venture out into the wild again. After all this was not going to be thest battle that they were going to face in this test.


    Zavier was lost in thought trying to figure out their next course of action and hadpletely forgotten the girl in his arms who was hiding her face in her hands. In fact, Shiranui could feel her cheeks burning and knew how bright red her face would have looked to anyone else. At the very least she wanted to hide what she was feeling from Zavier. She didn''t want him to find out.


    Zavier on the other hand had only been carrying her so she wouldn''t get hurt. He was unaware of the feelings that Shiranui was currently trying to hide.


    Soon Zavier had finished plotting their next course of action and left the world of his imagination and took a look around him. Only then did he notice the girl that he had been carrying in his arms.


    He was about to let go of her but he was surprised when Shiranui held him even tighter than before. She refused to let go of his neck no matter how much he urged her to let go.<sub> </sub>


    "Are you hurt anywhere? Does it hurt when you try to move on your own?"


    Shiranui who was still unable to look him in the eye only shook her head in negation at his question. How could she have possible told him that it was not that she couldn''t get off but that she didn''t want to let go of him.


    In the end, she managed to get out some words that described her pure feelings to some extent. Even then the volume of her voice was so low that it couldn''t even be called a whisper. Zavier practically had to go inside her mouth in order to make sense of what she was saying.


    "I am veryfortable. I would feel more at ease if you keep on holding me like this."


    Zavier felt that her demand was quite odd but didn''t make a big deal out of it. He thought that she was just being a little paranoid considering that she had been alone for the most part of the test with no one she was able to trust. So he gave her the benefit of doubt and kept on holding her in his arms.


    A blissful smile blossomed on Shiranui''s face as she kept on trying to trying to hide her burning face.


    There was a period of silence in the tree trunk as Zavier got busy trying to recuperate and replenish his mana. Since she had nothing to do as well, Shiranui started to gather some mana as well, or at least she tried.


    Shiranui was unable to concentrate even the least bit. How could she? She was in the arms of the person that she couldn''t help but look at every minute or so. In such a ce, how could she have even thought of concentrating on gathering her strength?


    After some time, Shiranui could finally not hold it in together and she asked him the question that had been hounding her all this time. She finally managed to voice it out loud enough for Zavier to hear it. But even then it was only as loud as the squeaking noise made by a little mouse.


    "Why did you do it?"


    Zavier did hear her but he was unable to understand her question since it was quite an open ended question. He didn''t know what she was referring to.


    "Why did you change the direction of the attack at thest second when we fought thest time in school?"


    This time her voice didn''t falter or lose volume and instead she was gaining confidence with each word she spoke in his presence. This question had been hounding her dreams at night ever since and she had been constantly thinking of some way to apologize. Guilt for hitting him with her skill at that time had been eating away at her. She wanted to apologize but had never gotten a chance.


    Still she wanted to know the reason Zavier had avoided hurting her at the time.


    "I just couldn''t bear the thought of hurting a cute girl like you. I would rather have gotten hurt myself before having to hurt you."


    Shiranui had been listening intently to him but was unable to register his answer for a moment.


    She batted her eyshes innocently while she gazed at him with eyes filled with fear and hope all jumbled up together.


    And that was when it struck her. Out of all the answers, this was something that she had least expected.


    The face that had barely cooled down started to heat up like a bun being baked in the oven. She wanted to hide her face so badly but she couldn''t just cover her face up in front of Zavier who had been talking to her so honestly.


    In fact, Zavier had already learned about her tragic life from Dah before so he knew how much this girl had suffered already. He didn''t want her to wallow in guilt because of him too. Therefore, in order to put her mind at ease he had answered her in a light hearted manner. He knew that Shiranui wanted that answer very badly. Calista had previously hinted at it but he had not realized it at the time that Shiranui was extremely guilty about hurting him.

 Chapter 105 Kiss

    Aftering to know the hard life she had lived, Zavier developed a strong sympathy for the unfortunate girl. He could see his own shadow in her, a life that lonely wasn''t very worth living. He had already experienced it and he wanted to save her from it.


    Her tragedy had invoked a protective instinct in him that made him want to shield her from all kinds of harm. It made him want to be the wall that kept her away from the fierce winds and the shelter that prevented her from getting wet in the rain.


    Zavier looked at her with more and more tenderness like he wanted to give her all the good things in the world to make her realize that she was not alone and that she deserved to be happy as well. He wanted to tell her that her life could be more than some tragedy and a revenge story that she had to follow through to the end.


    Zavier didn''t want to hold her back from taking revenge for her family but he didn''t want her to make it the sole purpose of her life that prevented her from enjoying all the good things that she so obviously deserved.


    Shiranui on the other hand was going through a whole other lot of emotions. While Zavier was full of empathy and tenderness for her, Shiranui''s heart was pounding out of her chest. She could feel her heart throbbing past the normal stic limits. It was so obvious that she could hear it out loud.


    As Zavier''s hold on her got stronger along with his desire to protect her, Shiranui too continued to burrow deeper into his chest. She had never felt so pampered in her life; not after the death of her family at the very least.


    She wasn''t used to feeling this vulnerable but for the first time since the death of her family, she felt like opening up to someone; toy herselfpletely bare with nothing to hide and nothing to gain. She wanted to rely on someone other than herself; someone who could make her feel safe and could let her feel the emotions that she thought that she had lost.


    She felt her burning face with both her hands and managed to sneak a peek from behind her hands and saw the smiling and somewhat teasing face of Zavier who was happily watching as she made the transition from being a maddened avenger to a lovely girl who was more than just that; from someone who was alone to someone who was loved and pampered and just happy.


    Shiranui took a deep breath and decided to take the final leap. She took off her hands from her burning face that was beet red by that time and looked Zavier straight in the eye; albeit for a moment before she had to look away because there was nothing that had ever looked more dazzling to her than Zavier''sughing face at that moment.


    She took up the courage to look again but this time she seeded in making the eye contactst longer.


    As she looked into his eyes, time seemed to have slowed down. Everything fell into its rightful ce like it had always belonged there, like pieces of a puzzle that had finally found their proper position.


    Shiranui didn''t know if their surroundings were really as silent as she felt at the time but all sounds around her had disappeared. There was absolute silence in that tree trunk and amidst the darkness she was being held by the one guy who made her feel the safety of home.


    Tears were forming at the edge of her eyes but she kept them in for fear of getting even more embarrassed in front of Zavier who had already seen her face dyed the hue of blood.


    Zavier had witnessed every expression on her face; from the moment she had thought of taking the first step to the moment that she did. He couldn''t help but root for her in his heart.


    He still remembered the first time he had seen her during the sspetition. He had thought that Shiranui was slightly shameless for she was wearing such exposed clothing. The fact that she looked absolutely seductive like a minx did nothing to tone that impression down.<sub> </sub>


    But now that Zavier was seeing her blushing red face and her shy demeanour, he couldn''t help but think how wrong he had been in her assessment. He had never looked past the clothing and the obvious charm to take a look at how cute and innocent this girl truly was.


    At least at this moment, Zavier was sure that a cuter girl could never exist. He wasn''t able to look away from her and her cute antics no matter how hard he tried. And when she looked him in the eyes, Zavier finally felt it for real that he had been caught in an inescapable. His soul had been marked and locked on. It was useless for him to try to escape; not that he wanted to escape from her in the first ce.


    Zavier watched her adorable eyes flutter with excitement and when she eventually closed her eyes and leaned in towards him, Zavier lost the feeling in half his body as if his brain had short circuited right there and then.


    Zavier was slightly nervous because he already had a girlfriend. At the same time, he didn''t want to disappoint Shiranui for she might never trust somebody enough to open up to in the future because of his refusal today. That coupled with the fact that Shiranui was extremely beautiful made him want to give in. Her slightly parted lips were calling out to him and he wanted to heed the call.


    If it had been his previous world, Zavier would have definitely refused her since such an act was disgraceful and against convention there. But in this world there was no such restriction. On the contrary, polygamy was quitemon with various nobles having multiple wives.


    In his previous life Zavier had never been in love. In reality he was the furthest thing from it because of his sickness and the fact that he could hardly ever leave his hospital room. He had never experienced the tender emotions and the feeling of absolute devotion to someone.


    Now that he hade to this isekai, he wanted to fill in all the gaps left in his life from the previous world. Beautiful moments like these were exactly the ones Zavier had been chasing after. Sadness and depression had been the constant part of his life over the course of his previous life. He wanted to break away from it in this world. Zavier needed these tender feelings and sweet moments like these to fulfil the purpose of his transmission into this new world.


    Owing to the custom of polygamy in this world that allowed men to have several women, Zavier finally let go of thest shred of hesitation that had been left in him and leaned in as well.


    As he moved in for the blissful kiss, Zavier saw the usually aloof and cold girl look like a normal adolescent girl who was filled with anticipation and soaking with happiness. Her cheeks were flushed like a bleeding tomato and her slightly parted cherry red lips were trembling slightly as if expecting something from him. Zavier could hardly keep his eyes off of her. He had never felt that this girl could appear to be so cute. Her shyness coupled with her simplistic behavior made her look more endearing than seductive despite her way of dressing and her overly exaggerated body.


    There was a slight furrow in her brow and her nose cutely scrunched up a bit since Zavier had taken quite some time ining out of his moral dilemma. Just before she was about to open her eyes when Zavier finally made contact.


    He closed his eyes and slowly began to kiss her lips with as much tenderness and care as he could. From the level of her shyness, Zavier was sure that this was her first time kissing someone. So he made sure that it would be memorable for her too.


    The softness of her lips took him by surprise. Zavier felt as if her lips were made of water. He couldn''t help but devour them greedily. He sucked on them with all his might and tightened his grip around her back.


    He pulled her in for an even tighter embrace. Shiranui relented to every single one of his advances. After her family, she had finally met someone she could trust with all her heart. She wanted to give him her everything without hesitation. As a result the kiss had turned into a fierce battle.


    The two heated bodies were twined into a tangled mess. Shiranui could hardly keep track of whether she was on top or bottom; whether her leg was twined around him or the opposite. She could barely understand what was happening but she didn''t want it to stop. She had never felt happier than she had at this moment.

 Chapter 106 Unattractive?

    Zavier felt her soft mounds pressing against his chest like two water balloons about to burst due to pressure. That sensation on his chest turned him on like never before. He pulled on her further until he could clearly feel the contours of her chest. He still didn''t feel satisfied as if he wanted to merge with her entirely; body and soul.


    Zavier felt her hands wandering around his back and felt her restlessness. The constant rubbing of their bodies had left them both in heat and yet Zavier wasn''t ready to let go of the luscious lips that he was busy devouring. And from the way she was constantly pulling on his neck, Zavier could tell that she wasn''t either.


    Shiranui didn''t know how but she found herself sitting on hisp as he sat down on the ground. She had been too engrossed in the kiss to remember how Zavier had basically pulled her into the sitting position.


    Shiranui didn''t care how it happened but she continued kissing him all over his face and neck desperately. She could feel her mind dissolving into a gooey mess but she didn''t care. She had never desired anything as desperately as she wanted Zavier at this moment.


    Just like her, Zavier didn''t want to stop either. He slowly started to take off her top in between breaths and kisses. He was breathing heavily while trying to dy the monster inside him that wanted to have his way with Shiranui desperately.


    Shiranui too felt ufortable around her chest which was heaving up and down with her heart threatening to break out of her chest.


    Zavier''s hands began to explore the softness of her chest. His hands groped and grabbed everything in their range as if he wanted to make himself familiar with every nook and cranny, every crust and trough, every rise and depression of the soft mountains.


    Soft moans escaped Shiranui''s mouth as she couldn''t help but feel pleasure fill her entire being. She felt the embarrassment of it at first but when she heard the low voice of his grunts, she too began to moan louder and louder.


    The soft moans turned on Zavier more and more as his animal instinct awakened that wanted him to ravish herpletely. He began to kiss and bite every inch of her skin that was by then glistening with ayer of sweat.


    Zavier pulled her in closer and lifted her up slightly. When his face was even with her chest, he started to such on her mounds while yfully using his tongue to tease her flower buds.


    Shiranui in his arms struggled as if she had been electrocuted but soon gave into passion. Her breathing turned more ragged as she felt increasingly ufortable around her crotch. It was like something was heating up on the inside. She was leaking more fluids with each of Zavier''s caresses.


    <o>,m This was the first time that Zavier was enjoying this kind of moment so he too couldn''t control himself entirely. Hisnce was standing erect in response to his arousal and was throbbing with anticipation.</o>


    Zavier wanted nothing more than to relieve himself of the pain that he was feeling in holding himself back but he had to think of the cute girl who was responding to all his whims and advances with a reddened face and lowered gaze.


    Zavier was sure that even if he asked to go all the way, she wouldn''t say no to him. But he had to take into consideration the fact that the girl was still a virgin who had no experience in these things whatsoever. If he didn''t let her prepare herself, he might even hurt her. Therefore he wanted to give her enough time to think it over.


    Fortunately, he didn''t have to hold himself back any longer as the girl used her hand to grip his heated rod that had been knocking against her belly all this time. Zavier wondered how she could have reddened even further than she already was but that was what happened as she shyly used her hand to grip his little soldier at attention.


    Zavier didn''t know whether it was because she had felt ufortable due to the constant throbbing or because she wanted to take a feel but she had seeded in drawing out the monster inside of him that he had been keeping at a tight leash for fear of hurting her.


    Zavier removed whatever sparse clothing was left on her swiftly while Shiranui did the same to him as if had somehow managed to understand his thoughts telepathically.


    Zavier gave her a reassuring smile which would have looked quite evil to a third party. Shiranui managed to look up into his eyes albeit with a little difficulty because her face was burning with embarrassment as she was still holding on to little Zavier. Zavier moved her hand to herher region and managed to grip her pearl in between his thumb and index finger.


    At the same time he managed to feel the wet sensation from the fluids she had been leaking throughout. He could sense what she wanted but he didn''t suggest it to her. He wanted her to ask it of her own volition. Just as this was important to him, he wanted her to not have regrets about this in the future given that she was going to be his first woman in this world. He wanted it to be a fond memory for the both of them.<sub> </sub>


    As she continued to stroke his member with her hand, he too made sure that she was in paradise the entire time.


    Shiranui felt her throat constricting. She was parched due to constant exertion so she used her own saliva and gulped it down repeatedly to moisten it. She was feeling impatient and slightly nervous at was about to happen.


    In a sense a moment as this involved the most difficult decision in a girl''s life because she had to choose the person that she wanted to spend the rest of her life with. A single wrong choice could lead to a life time of regret. A girl''s first time was precious in this world where men could skip to another woman without a thought. On the other hand the girl had to carefully deliberate before choosing the person that she thought would take care of her and would love her for a lifetime.


    Shiranui too was under the same dilemma at the moment. She couldn''t help but look at Zavier twice and she could feel what he wanted from the way his member was aching for her. She got a good look at the person that she wanted to spend the rest of her life with.


    She remembered the moment they had first met and the moment when he had saved her from the trio. She had never felt such a sense of safety and a need to depend on someone before.


    At that moment she decided what she wanted to do with her life. She had chosen the person that she would lean on in difficult times. She had selected the person she wanted to give all her love to.


    Zavier could see it in her eyes but was waiting for her to say it out loud.


    Before long his lips were attacked once again by a soft feeling that wrapped around them. Shiranui was kissing him passionately without a sense of hesitation. Zavier couldn''t help but enjoy her soft and warm caresses, her little tongue that wandered in at times and explored the insides of his mouth. He couldn''t help but want to fight it out.


    The two tongues entwined like snakes twirling around each other. Zavier was madly sucking her tongue and her lips with the ferocity of a wild animal. At the same time, his fingers were busy exploring the crevice around herher region, a crevice that had never been explored before by anyone. He felt like a pioneer venturing into the unknown because it was his first experience as well.


    Shiranui on the other hand would undergo a fit of shivers every now and then but Zavier wouldn''t stop his exploration due to that. From the shy expression that was stered on her face, Zavier was sure that she didn''t want it to end as well.


    Before long, the lips that were covered in the saliva of their partners parted for a little while and Zavier stared at her beautiful visage.


    He barely managed to control the fire in his loins and caressed her face with his hand and pushed some tendrils of hair to the back of her ear in order to get a good long look at his lover. He wanted to keep this image of her forever ingrained in his heart. He wanted to remember how beautiful and irresistible she looked to him in this moment.


    "Do you want to stop?"


    Zavier finally asked her the question that had been worrying him.


    "We can stop if it isn''t what you want."


    Shiranui looked at Zavier with a sad expression as if her heart was about to break.


    "Am I unattractive to you?"

 Chapter 107 Take Me

    Zavier felt like pping himself in the face after taking one look at her aggrieved expression. He inwardly wanted to protest at that question thinking, "Have you seen yourself in the mirror you little minx? It would already be a blessing if someone didn''t think you were seducing them considering your alluring figure and the clothes you wear. How can you even think that you would look unattractive to any man let alone a single dog like me?"


    But he couldn''t say that all to her surely. So he moved in to kiss her strongly on her lips and pushed her into a lying position where he was on top of her.


    He was careful to not put all his weight on her. She looked so fragile that he was afraid he might break her if he put his entire weight on her.


    Shiranui seemed satisfied by his answer as she tightened her hold around his neck and reciprocated the kiss.


    At the same time she was prying off all his clothes slowly. It wasn''t long before they were akin to primal variants of their species thoroughly engaged in the animal urges hidden in their instinctive nature.


    Zavier raised his head up after kissing and exploring every part of her body who knows how many times. He could see the nervousness visible on her face as if she was dreading what wasing next. He couldn''t help but lower his mouth near her ear lobe and bit on it slightly to bring her out of her reverie.


    "We can stop here if you are afraid. It is okay to feel nervous."


    Despite what his mind was shouting at him, he betrayed his own feelings and urges to stop for a moment in order to give her an option.


    A drop of tear escaped her eye but got stuck at the periphery of her eye as if she was holding it back by force.


    As Zavier was about to withdraw his head back to take a look at her, she held him tightly by the arms around his neck and murmured something inaudible in his ears this time.


    "Take me."


    "What?"


    Zavier heard it when she repeated the same answer for the second time. He tried to look at her but she was still clutching at him with all her strength.


    "Okay. Tell me if it hurts."


    Shiranui nodded in response and Zavier knew what he had to do next.


    Since Shiranui was still not letting go of him, he prodded his member with his hands and guided it to her p*ssy. She slightly flinched in anticipation but Zavier managed to calm her down with little pecks on her cheek.


    The doors of the castle that had long remained closed to any intruder had finally opened its doors to the knight wielding hisnce. Thence kept pushing against the doors and managed to squeeze into the narrow passage.


    Loud moans escaped Shiranui''s mouth as she endured the pain of being prated for the first time. With low grunts Zavier managed to drive in hisnce to the deepest part of her ravine.


    The shock of the pain of her first time allowed her hold to falter on his neck and Zavier raised his head to look at her face directly.


    Zavier finally saw the reason she was not allowing him to see her. There was a trail of tears on her face as she looked at him with a look full of bliss and fulfilment.


    Zavier bent down and kissed her eyes before slowly wiping away her tears with his finger.


    "Does it hurt a lot?"


    Shiranui shook her head and caressed his face and motioned for him to continue with her eyes.


    Zavier began to move slowly. Shiranui bit her lips to hold back her pain. It was her first time so she could barely stand the pration.


    She felt Zavier reaching deep inside her as blood dripped on to the ground beneath them.


    Zavier could tell that she was suffering so he moved as slowly as possible. He kept caressing her face as if it was the most precious thing in the world. Knowing that she was going through this pain for him made him feel slightly guilty. But he could clearly tell how much pain she was holding in just so he wouldn''t find out. And ignoring that made him feel guiltier.<sub> </sub>


    "It''s okay. It''s going to be okay."


    "I heard that boys jump to the next one after they have done the deed. Don''t leave me, okay¡­ever."


    Shiranui couldn''t help but cry a bit. Zavier wiped her eyes dry once again and kept kissing her.


    "I promise."


    Zavier kept moving to and fro while Shiranui could feel the pain lessen gradually. It wasn''t as if the pain had vanished into thin air. Rather the pain was now mixed with a certain pleasure that she was unable to describe thoroughly.


    It was as if joy was oozing out of every pore and every time Zavier touched or kissed her, it was as if lightning struck her very being. She slowly lost herself in this newfound joy that she had never felt before.


    She didn''t know how to contain her joy that leaked from every fibre of her being. She wanted Zavier to move faster as she began to enjoy the rhythmic pounding that shook her very soul with each thrust.


    She could finally understand the euphoric bliss of satisfying one''s carnal desires.


    The erectce kept pounding into her time and again and made her want to scream. With each thrust, her legs that were wrapped around Zavier''s body grew tighter and her moans grew louder and lewder as she lost herself in the moment.


    Zavier too didn''t hold back and gave everything he had to her. He had turned into a wild beast that was mindlessly mming his body against her with all the force that he could muster.


    Shiranui had gotten over her pain and reciprocated by moving her hips as well. Whether she was doing out of her own volition or she had lost herself in the bliss was unknown.


    Zavier felt that he was close to release and from the way her body was twitching, Shiranui was too.


    The moans and the grunts grew louder and the thrusts increased in force and momentum. Lewd sounds of their bodies shing against one another rang out within the hollow tree before the final note rang out which was followed by long and heavy breaths.


    Zavier hade inside her. He wasn''t too worried though, because he had already epted Shiranui as his woman.


    From the happiness practically stered on her face, it seemed that Shiranui too wasn''t bothered about it.


    They were both sprawled on the ground facing the sky. Though there weren''t any stars on that sky. The reason was that they were still inside the tree and the sky was nothing other than the darkness inside the tree.


    Shiranui was unable to hide her happiness. The cold woman who could do anything to win had finally lost a battle. She had lost her heart to Zavierpletely and didn''t regret it even a bit. Not only that, she had also managed to give her first time to him. She had seeded in bing the very first woman to do so.


    After she had caught her breath, she turned her head to look at her man lovingly. She tried to roll over to him but the pain of being ravished by him still stung a bit.


    Zavier noticed her predicament and opened his arm wide before pulling her in for an embrace.


    Shiranuiid her head on top of his chest and closed her eyes in order to soak in her new reality. This man was going to be the only family she was going to have in this life. Tears started to fall once again from her watery eyes.


    Zavier felt the wetness on his chest but didn''t say anything to her. Instead he pulled her in closer and hugged her tightly in his embrace.


    The strength of his arms around her and the strong heartbeat that she could hear with her ear pressed against his chest reassured her of his presence. She opened her heart to him and cried as much as she could. She let out all the sadness that she had felt over the years that she had been separated from her family to the only person who was going to be her family for the rest of her life.


    Zavier didn''t stop her and continued to caress her back with his hand cajoling her until she fell asleep.


    He watched as her breathing grew constant and her abundant chest heaved up and down on top of him. Zavier stared at her lovingly until the weariness caused by the tiresome activity took over and pulled him into the dreand.


    It wasn''t until the next day that he managed to open his eyes. When he did, Shiranui was still sprawled on top of him entirely defenceless but her lips were slightly curved into what he thought was a smile. He wondered what kind of dream was making her that happy that she was smiling even in her sleep.

 Chapter 108 After The Event

    He used his index finger to lightly poke her puffy cheeks which startled her awake. Zavier felt a little sorry for surprising her like that so tightened his arms around her and kissed her forehead in an apologetic manner.


    "How are you feeling now?"


    Shiranui remembered how she had cried herself to sleep and a flush spread across her body.


    "I am fine now." She said in a barely audible voice.


    "Are you sure that you don''t feel any pain anywhere?"


    Shiranui nodded even though she still felt ufortable and slightly twitchy around her crotch that he had so heartlessly ravished.


    "If you want, you can rest a little more. I will go take a look at the situation outside."


    "Let mee with you."


    Shiranui hurriedly replied in fear. She was afraid that he would abandon her now that he had had his way with her.


    Although he had promised herst night, she still couldn''t help but be terrified at the thought of being alone again. Therefore despite feeling the slight paint that lingered in her body, she had rejected his offer for rest in order to apany him on his scouting mission.


    Zavier could practically see the fear in her eyes, so he didn''t stop her. He had seen the same expressionsst night as she had asked him to never leave her. His expressions softened and he nodded in eptance of her demand.


    Finally pulling his numb arm from under Shiranui, Zavier managed to stand up and began scouring the space for their clothes that had been strewn around in their battlest night.


    As he handed Shiranui her underwear, she couldn''t help but redden. Zavier on the other hand found her cute reactions quite pleasant to the eyes.


    He got into his clothes within a few seconds and was ready to go out while Shiranui was still struggling with her clothes.


    The fact that her knees had almost buckled as soon as she had tried to stand was enough to understand how tired she was. Therefore she took her sweet time getting ready but Zavier was thoughtful enough to not urge her to hurry.


    When she was done, she gave him a smile and held his arm for support as they exited the hollow trunk of the tree.


    Zavier stretched his body a bit as he came out into the sun. Shiranui had reverted back to her cold and aloof self since she was now on the outside where she needed to have her wits about her. Though from time to time her eyes would still dart towards Zavier''s face causing her to break into a smile every time.


    Shiranui had gotten used to the difort and could move around as well as she could the day before. Therefore she didn''t feel any difort following after Zavier who was carefully retracing their steps back to where he had found her yesterday in a brawl with the trio.


    The reason was that he had to look for Andrew who he had tasked with hiding there. He felt slightly bad that he had left Andrew all alone in the wild with instructions to hide until he came back.


    All the time that he had been enjoying himself, Zavier wondered what Andrew had been doing and whether he had managed to stay safe from the danger posed by other participants still in thepetition.


    They carefully backtracked and soon found the position where Zavier had first found Shiranui in a pinch. He called out to Andrew loudly in the hopes that he would be around.


    Andrew didn''t look like the type who would wander around despite being told to stay put. Therefore, Zavier was almost sure that Andrew was still waiting for him. Another reason was that Andrew wasn''t strong enough to survive on his own which he was aware of. That was the reason that he had been hovering around Zavier and Reba in the beginning.


    The dense bushes around the area rustled loudly in response to Zavier''s loud call. Andrew appeared from behind the bushes and from his appearance and the way he was rubbing his head, it looked like he had been asleep there.


    Zavier couldn''t help butugh at the sight. He had believed that Andrew wouldn''t move about but he had never imagined that he would have slept at the same ce where he had left him.<sub> </sub>


    "Sorry for leaving you here. Something really important hade up and I couldn''t get away earlier."


    Despite hiscking strength, Andrew was quite observant. He had already seen how Shiranui''s face had turned red as Zavier mentioned how he had gotten busy. Through that Andrew was able to guess exactly where Zavier had gotten busy at but he didn''t think he had the right to question him regarding that. After all, currently Andrew was the one who was being carried by Zavier.


    "It''s all right. I didn''t have anything better to do anyway. Not that I could even if I had, with my strength."


    "Have you been waiting here for me all this time then?"


    "As I said...nothing better to do. So, I figured that I would wait for you here. I was worried that you wouldn''t be able to find me once you came to look for me."


    Zavier nodded and felt slightly embarrassed at how he had gotten distracted and had forgotten about him.


    Zavier found Andrew looking over at Shiranui with a questioning gaze. Therefore he felt the need to introduce her to him as they were going to be temporarily teammates during thepetition.


    "This is Shiranui from the same high school as me. She was the one I went to save yesterday."


    Andrew nodded to her and managed a slight smile that reassured the blushing Shiranui somewhat.


    "And this is Andrew who is currently my teammate. We have been working together all this time since the start of thepetition."


    Shiranui nodded to him in acknowledgement as well. She too felt slightly guilty about Zavier having to leave him behind because of her so she wasn''t as cold to him as she usually would have been.


    With the introductions out of the way, the air around the newly established team calmed down a bit. Zavier then began thinking their next course of action.


    "From ourst encounter, I am sure that the remaining participants would no longer be following the same team pattern that had been assigned at the start. Either the participants have decided to group up based on the schools that they were from or they have teamed up with other teams to survive the former. Therefore, from this moment onwards any team that wee across, we have to assume that they would be stronger than us."


    Zavier looked at Andrew to see what he thought about his opinion but his nk look made him want to p himself in the face for expecting something from him.


    In fact, Andrew had decided to follow after Zavier during thispetition no matter what. So he wasn''t too bothered as to what Zavier was thinking. He just epted everything that came out of Zavier''s mouth as the truth and was willing to follow him anywhere.


    Zavier turned to look at Shiranui when he knew that Andrew was going to be of no use to him in this matter. As expected, Shiranui was especially expressive when it came to her analysis regarding battles and thispetition.


    "I think that it would be exactly as you described. Before I ran into the three of them, I had already seen two or three such groups who had banded together to survive. As for the ones like the three I came across before, I think there wouldn''t be many more such groups with that kind of strength."


    Zavier agreed with her. The probability of different teams gathering together was higher since not everyone would have been able to sessfully locate their schoolmates that easily in such arge area. Those three might have been extremely lucky or they might have had some kind of skill that allowed them to find each other easily. Otherwise such a scenario was extremely unlikely.


    Still, it was possible that like them, various other individuals would be looking for their school mates at this time and some of them might have even formed up together. Therefore, Zavier decided not to waste any more time and start looking for their team.


    Zavier immediately contacted all his clones one by one in order to figure out what they had been through thest night. But he found nothing that was out of the ordinary. They had been umting points albeit a bit slowly but at the same time the team of the clones had scoured most of the area around them.


    Zavier''s clones were already on the lookout for Nadia so Zavier changed his instructions slightly and told them to report any of his teammates that they came across so that they could easily band together toplete the test.


    After he was done with the clones, his consciousness returned to his body and he began to move while Shiranui and Andrew followed after him while trying to keep up with his speed.


    They hadn''t gone very far when he finally received news about his naughty little cousin who he had been so worried about.

 Chapter 109 Nadia Is Okay

    Zavier immediately switched his consciousness to the clone that had ryed the news to him.


    <o>,m Zavier found himself in a slightly hilly terrain that was filled with sky rising trees. In between some of those trees was a cherub like little girl with a friendly smile on her face.</o>


    But the atmosphere surrounding her looked anything but that of a friendly girl. The space around her was constantly being bombarded by bolts of lightning. It was like even the air around her had been charged to the extreme and would shock anyone in the vicinity without any reason.


    Zavier could feel the amount of mana that had beenpressed in that space enclosing Nadia. It was as if the mana was somehow alive and the lightning bolts were like dragons swimming through that pond of mana.


    Anything or anyone that Nadia deemed as her enemy would be burnt to a crisp with enough lightning to drown thempletely.


    Zavier was shocked to see the sight of her enjoying her serenade through the forest with a smile on her face while her enemies were tumbling and jumping around trying to escape the surrounding lightning.


    At that moment Zavier felt how much he had underestimated his little cousin who used to pester him to teach her basic illusions and who loved to hear his stories. He had never imagined that this chatty girl was so powerful in reality. Not to even mention how strong her mental fortitude was for being able to beat down so many enemies without flinching. Her attacks really left no space for mercy as she didn''t even bother to nce at her fallen enemies.


    Zavier could finally feel at ease. The girl wasn''t a pampered girl who was fragile as ss as he had previously imagined. She really was born among the Adam family that was famous for geniuses like Valerie. How could she have been ordinary?


    Zavier berated himself for thinking that she would not be able to handle herself. He had forgotten that like him, she too had gotten the rmendation based on her true strength and potential. She had been the ruling queen of the sophomores and was considered to be the strongest among her year.


    Looking at her foolishly while she took care of the enemies surrounding her with ease, Zavier felt immensely proud of the girl. Like him, the clones beside him were standing still as if they wouldn''t move if they didn''t receivemand from him.


    Nadia didn''t take long beating down the stooges and came towards the three masked individuals. She was curious about the three people who had been looking at her from afar but didn''t make any move. They neither moved against her nor did they show their intentions towards her.


    Nadia wanted to find out about their intentions but more than that, their attire seemed to have attracted her. She was curious as to who these three individuals were and why they were wearing those masks. She could tell that they belonged to the same team even though they were dressed differently.


    They were all supporting different masks on their faces but their physique was almost the same. She wanted to know what was behind their masks and why were they hiding their faces.


    She wondered if their faces were scary since they wanted to hide them so badly.


    As she got near the three of them, she looked at them apprehensively and opted to ask them the question that had been in her mind.


    "Do you want to take my card as well like the others who came earlier?"


    Although her tone had no indication of any animosity, Zavier knew that Nadia would really burn his clones to a crisp while supporting the same cheerful smile on her face if needed.


    Zavier didn''t dare to y around with her; after all, her skill looked to be quite troublesome.


    "Not interested in the card of a little girl. We were just passing by." Zavier said with a deadpan expression as if he wasn''t the least bit interested in her card.


    "That''s good then."


    Zavier nodded in response.


    "Why are you all wearing masks? Are all of you perhaps ugly?"


    Zavier let out augh and looked at Nadia lovingly. Of course that was all hidden behind the mask and Nadia couldn''t see his expressions.


    "Guess?"<sub> </sub>


    Nadia pouted in response for being teased by the masked man in front of her. She wanted to st him but she could not bring herself to do so. There was something familiar about the person.


    "What is your name? I think someone was looking for a girl of your description. She seemed to be a little worried about you."


    Nadia brightened up at the thought of getting together with the others from her school.


    "Who was it? Was it Kacie who was looking for me?"


    Zavier could see her happiness. The chatty girl was walking around alone in the forest so he was sure that she was feeling bored and was in dire need of someone to talk to.


    "No I think that girl called herself Shiranui."


    Although Nadia was a little disappointed that it wasn''t Kacie but she still wanted to meet up with the others from her school.


    "Where is she now?"


    She impatiently asked the three masked men as if she was suddenly in a hurry to go somewhere. Her feet were already in motion while she waited for the three to point her to a direction.


    "It''s not very far from here. Follow my instructions carefully and you will be able to see her soon."


    Nadia looked at the three with a questioning gaze.


    Seeing that her patience was running out, Zavier told her in detail where Shiranui was at the moment. He didn''t mention that he was there with Shiranui as well because he knew that she would recklessly run to him in that case.


    He wanted her to be careful as she made her way to him while he sent his clones to look for the others in the meantime. He didn''t have the manpower to spare for keeping an eye on her, after all.


    Zavier didn''t linger around her for long after he had disseminated the required information to her. He knew that she would eventually make her way to him and Shiranui so his mind was at ease.


    He ordered the clones to move and locate the remaining two girls, Dah and Kacie. The team of three fanned out in order to cover more ground but the expanse of the forest could hardly be covered by the three of them. Therefore, the process was taking longer than Zavier had initially expected.


    In order to speed up the efficiency of the search effort, Zavier would ask any individual he came across about the two of them. Some told him voluntarily what they knew and the others had to be ''asked'' more thoroughly before they became more obedient.


    Zavier came across some teams with differentpositions. Some were teams of five while others had seven or eight. One thing he was sure about was that the teamposition of three was long since obsolete. Only his teamsprised of a trio as far as he could tell.


    Whenever Zavier asked whether those teams had seen Kacie or Dah in the wild, the only answers he received were in line with ''piss off'' and ''eat sh*t''.


    Zavier wouldn''t have taken any offense at their foulnguage had they told him what they knew but the arrogant kids needed a beating to be set straight.


    His cold me danced and turned into various shapes as he beat the crap out of them all. Sometime it took the shape of a de as he hacked and shed at them like a samurai out of the movies while sometimes it was in the shape of gauntlets that wrapped around his hands as he punched them all in the gut. Wherever the cold me touched them, it burned but not because its temperature was high but because it froze their very cells. The temperature was so close to absolute zero that it froze their body parts over giving them frostbite. A little threat of a frost bitten limb oiled their tongue that didn''t stop afterwards.


    Zavier''s strength was a powerful deterrent to all of them which was the reason that anyone hardly ever tried to be smart in front of him after he had beaten them to within an inch of their lives. His conventional fighting style and the cold me that danced around him was something that any regr mage could hardly fight against and Zavier had yet to even use Blood de, the source of his true strength. If only those kids knew that Zavier was still holding back, they would havemitted suicide out of shame.


    Though most of them knew nothing about the girls and hadn''t seen them, he appreciated their honest answers and did not take their cards.


    The first news he heard was about the cold as ice girl who had been with him on the mission where they had encountered one monster after another. And from the looks of it, she was in need of his help if the statement of the recent couple that he hade across could be counted credible.

 Chapter 110 Trio

    Still, it was better than nothing at the very least. He didn''t have to walk blind thanks to the information that they had willingly conceded to him. It could have been a trap but from how weak the two appeared, Zavier was sure that they weren''t capable of harming him.


    ording to them, they had seen Dah being attacked by a team of three individuals. Since, the couple was afraid of trouble, they had avoided the battle and had passed by them unnoticed.


    Zavier followed their directions to the best of his abilities and before he even reached the area they had specified, he heard a loud explosion that caused him to speed up. At the same time, he employed his Time Space eye in order to scout ahead.


    What he saw in front of him some distance ahead was a very familiar scene.


    It was like the situation when he had found Shiranui was being reyed in front of him. Dah was being surrounded by three individuals. But unlike Shiranui who had been able to counter her three assants, Dah seemed to have lost the battle and was worn downpletely.


    The interesting thing to Zavier was that the three attackers were the same ones who had previously tried to harm Shiranui.


    Zavier was incensed at the surprising turn of events. He had previously encountered the three but had not engaged them in battle for fear that he would have to take out Blood de which he wasn''t willing to do after he had been warned off by Val.


    From the looks of it, the explosion might have been the final attack that had brought Dah down because the three men were in process of moving in towards her slowly from all sides while Dahy sprawled on the ground unable to lift an arm to defend herself from her attackers.


    Zavier gained momentum and hurried off in the direction that the battle had been taking ce while keeping a watch with his Time Space eye.


    ----------------------------------------------


    Melbourne High School was not considered the best out of all the others but it was well known for only epting elites with powerful bloodlines. Rumours stated that the school was being run by some elite families with powerful bloodlines in order to school their own children in Bloodline magic and hereditary skills of their families.


    The school was also renowned for their ridiculously lower number of attendantspared to other elite institutions. But that also meant that the quality of those epted into the school was quite highpared to the other institutions.


    This could also be inferred from the fact that despite being a school with very low number of students, the Melbourne High School was allotted three rmendations which was quite a big deal.


    The three students who had been terrorizing the testing grounds with their overwhelming strength and their powerful bloodline abilities were named Gabby, Ibeniah and Macbeth.


    The overly skinny and pale one that looked sick in one look and overtly handsome the next was called Gabby. He was someone who had inherited the bloodline of the vampires and was the leader of the group due to his high resilience and mental acuity that levelled that of the most mature teacher at their school.


    Although he had the looks of the vampires that Zavier had heard about, he was not actually a true vampire. He had just inherited some of the abilities of the vampires through his bloodline. Due to that, his looks had altered slightly and he looked more like a vampire than any human.


    The same was true for the other two members of his super bloodline team from Melbourne High School. None of them were true bloods but had only received a part of the abilities of those fantastical races.


    Zavier knew that there were many different races in this new world but this was the first time he had evere across anyone who was remotely simr to such races. Since many races existed in harmony with each other, there was always a possibility of intermixing of races in such a scenario and from the looks of it, interbreeding wasn''t very odd.


    Instead it had be a source of pride for humans to unt their non-human racial heritage. There were plenty of mixed bloods in the world. While some inherited strong abilities and were able to be strong mages based on that, some couldn''t break past the necessary threshold despite having inherited the skills from their bloodline.<sub> </sub>


    Ibeniah was another mixed blood with the racial abilities of werewolves. He had inherited the super strength, physical damage resistance and enhanced response time and reflexes from his werewolf bloodline. Even though he was not a match for Gabby in terms of strategizing and skill rarity, he more than made up for it with his battle capabilities due to his extraordinary fighting strength.


    Macbeth, despite having the most distinguished bloodline of them all, was still the weakest among them. He had inherited the bloodline of the dragon riders.


    The reason he was considered the weakest among the trio wasn''t because his fighting capability was any weaker than them but because his main skill and all his abilities rted to the dragons could only be activated under some special conditions. Therefore, Macbeth had trained his sword arts to the extreme. As a dragon rider he had been trained by his family in the art of sword fighting. Macbeth therefore was able to pull his own weight in the team despite the restrictions on the usage of his skills.


    The trio had already charted the next course of action as soon as their instructor in charge had told them what thepetition might entail in the testing grounds. Based on that they had decided beforehand that they would all gather together and would form a team with the only ones they could trust; themselves.


    As soon as the trial started, the three of them had abandoned the teams that they had been assigned and had found each other. It would have been more pertinent to say that Ibeniah had managed to find the other two based on his heightened sense of smell and the extremely pungent smelling flower that the two had been carrying in their pockets.


    It wasn''t long before they were all gathered in the form of their original squad once again.


    They didn''t bother with umting points by gathering points through taskpletion. They knew that in order to truly stand out by earning a huge number of points, they had to keep snatching the cards of the truly elite participants. As such they didn''t mind letting go of the pocket change that the others were busy earning through taskpletion and only looked for high profile targets to loot points from.


    The best way to reduce the number of participants for the next trial was to eliminate them using this trial. So, the three of them set to besieging the elites of other high schools in order to loot their cards. They did so in order to make sure that the others got eliminated while they themselves got their hands on more points and advanced to the next trial.


    They were hopeful that by doing so they might be able to eliminate some of the potentially stronger individuals that they might have encountered in the second trial.


    So far, the three had been steamrolling their way through the first trial and had managed to loot various individuals of their points except the one incident where they had targeted a strong and seductive girl who wielded ck me. Not only was she strong and gave them a bit of trouble, but also her helper had been smart enough to escape their chase when they had finally managed to get her under their control.


    If not for the intervention of her teammate, the trio would have had a clean record without any blemish.


    Still, what they had already aplished was something that other teams could only be envious of.


    Since things had been going on so well for them, they had moved from target to target while epting the points of all their victims. Theirtest victim was a girl who had been quite smart and had managed to evade their attacks for a long time. She had been ying guerri tactics to counter their excessive difference in the overall strength. One against three wasn''t exactly fair after all.


    They had chased after her a lot and had finally managed to corner her and surround her.


    Left with no options she fought with them head on with the ferocity of aunched missile.


    The girl despite how she had been evading them earlier was quite proficient in battle magic. Her ice magic was at a level that even they felt envious of yet they were able to easily beat her because they had the perfect counter for her magic.


    It was because of Gabby. Vampires were a race that was often associated with bats based on the simrities. Therefore, Gabby''s abilities were quite bat-like as well.


    Gabby was able to use sonic attacks like Bats who were able to emit ultra high frequencies tomunicate and for echo location.

 Chapter 111 Lick The Dust

    Due to his proficiency in the skill, Gabby was able to manipte the very vibrations of the air molecules that were responsible for the transmission of the sound. He was able to match the frequency of the sound waves he emitted with his skills and matched that with the resonance frequency of the water molecules within ice.


    As the amplitude of the vibrations continued to increase, the sonic attack resonated with the water molecules and seeded in breaking them away from the ice. In a matter of seconds the ice that was supposedly stronger than even stone would melt away under his sonic attack.


    Dah felt her attack shatter and liquefy as soon as she released it. She didn''t understand how it was that they were able to cancel out her attack so easily but when she found out what was happening through Gabby''s mouth, she felt how truly useless her fighting back was. She could hardly get over the natural superiority that Gabby had over her ice magic.


    This was the first time that the magic that she had been so proud of had been rendered ineffective in front of an individual that was almost the same age as her. Her pride had been hurt and she didn''t want to back down.


    Dah had never even imagined that she would be going against such a powerful team by herself. The mere existence of such a powerful team was against the rules as the teams that had been decided upon the start of thepetition had all been equal in strength.


    Although the heart of the problem was Gabby, another issue was that he wasn''t alone. The two others that were surrounding her weren''t any weaker than him.


    Dah had witnessed their strength first hand. The slightly bulky one named Ibeniah was a strong mage who specialized in brute force and closebat. She had seen him take down one of her teammates earlier.


    Ibeniah''s huge body and brute strength gave him an uncanny advantage in fights that involved closebat or hand to handbat skills. He had been so swift in taking down her teammate that Dah hadn''t even gotten a chance to get her teammate out of his predicament before his card was taken. Not only that, but in that short period of time, Ibeniah had managed to injure her teammate seriously as well.


    Before Ibeniah could have hurt her teammate any further, the medics arrived on time and managed to stop the crazed Ibeniah from hurting her teammate. They scooped him up on a stretcher and carried him off the battlefield towards one of the infirmaries that had been established just on the outskirts of the dark forest. This had been done to ensure that the death toll remained zero during the test.


    Ibeniah didn''t try to stop the medics from taking her teammate away because his purpose had been to eliminate potential enemies from the test not to kill them anyway. As long as they were taken off the field, his mission was aplished.


    Dah had only one thing in her mind and that was to escape as far away from the three who had attacked her team. Since she was the only one left, she had to prioritize her own survival over everything else. But even that proved to be as difficult as reaching the sky. The trio was powerful beyond her imagination and they had the perfect counter to her magic as well.


    Out of options, Dah did the only thing that she could; she fought back with everything that she had. She threw ice constructs at her enemies indiscriminately without stopping. As expected, Gabby retaliated by using his unique sound magic to counter all her moves. But Dah refused to stop without having given it her all. She conjured morences and ice bullets and threw them at all three of them. This not only served the purpose of crowd control but also acted as a means of testing the limits of Gabby. She wanted to find out for how long Gabby could maintain his spell.


    ? The battle turned into a battle of attrition between Dah and Gabby as the other two were upied trying to defend themselves from thences and bullets of ice that managed to make their way to them without being nullified by Gabby.


    This was the toughest battle that she had fought yet so she was struggling to hold on, tost another minute while looking for an opportunity to escape from her predicament.<sub> </sub>


    But Gabby''s endurance surprised her. Such a powerful spell needed focus and concentration but he was able to counter her perfectly without stopping.


    Gabby didn''t feel at ease at all. He had to give in everything he had to keep her from injuring his teammates. He didn''t want the battle to go on for very long. Therefore, he put in all his strength and mana into his spell at once as if a fragile tunnel was being pumped full of mana. The result as expected was a huge sonic explosion that shook the very forest. All the trees in the vicinity of him crumbled away like they were never there. The shockwave sent the remaining flying so far into the distance that there was now a clearing in the middle of the dark forest.


    Dah conjured an ice shield and reinforced it with all her mana around her. The shockwave did not send her flying into the distance only because she had encased her feet in ice and had used the ground as her anchor through that ice.


    Despite having survived the excessively strong shockwave, her troubles had not ended. Gabby was panting and looked somewhat spent but otherwise he was fine. On the other hand his teammates were perfectly fine. They must have known what was about to happen and must have taken the necessary precautions to avoid taking any damage from the shockwave.


    Ibeniah struck one of his feet on the ground in order to propel himself forwards and lunged in the direction of Dah with all the momentum he could muster. The ground caved in where he stepped and the strength oozing out of him somewhat caused Dah to suffocate under the pressure.


    Even though she could see the giant Ibeniah flinging himself towards her at top speed, she could hardly muster any strength to even dodge his attack. The reason was that her mana had stopped listening to hermands; or at least what little of it she still had.


    She willed her body to move out of the way but it was of no use and Ibeniah with his bullet train like momentum punched her in the stomach with so much strength that she almost lost her senses and her eyes threatened to roll back into their sockets.


    Pain coursed through her body, so much pain that brought tears to her eyes but Dah wasn''t about to let her helplessness show on her face. She held back her tears and the same cold and expressionless look adorned her face even at a desperate time like this.


    She fell down on the ground and the slightly moist but soft ground gave her some relief. It was cool to the touch and after such a long and consuming battle, a little bit of respite was more than what she could have asked for.


    Ibeniah, the unstoppable golem had finallye to a stop after taking down his target. There was a lewd and fiendish smile on his face as he looked down at his target.


    Even his teammates had been sick of this habit of his. He loved to have his way with beautiful girls that he managed to take down. It gave him a sick sort of sense of superiority as well. Ibeniah was the textbook kind of viin who felt a sense of importance only by stepping on the weak. That was the reason that he wanted to repeat the same ritual again with Dah.


    He looked towards Gabby and Macbeth in turn and the lewd smile on his face gave away his intentions to the two of them who had been with him for quite some time now. Even at Melbourne high school among the elite bloodlines, Ibeniah had still managed toy his hands on some of the girls there. He had a reputation for being a sadistic bastard when it came to any girl thatnded in his hands.

 Chapter 112 Again

    Since Dah was already in his grasp and was entirely defenceless, Gabby and Macbeth knew that they would not be able to force him to move beyond this point if they didn''t let him sleep with the girl that was practically out ofmission.


    Macbeth let out a low grunt after taking a look at the girl who was still on the ground; thereby giving his tacit approval to the beast like Ibeniah.


    Gabby on the other hand had an exasperated expression on his face.


    "Hurry up and get on with it. The sooner you are finished, the sooner we can move to our next target. Don''t forget that we still have a target on the loose."


    Ibeniah gave him a look that said, "Don''t start again."


    It looked as if this was a routine among them. The same situation arose between them on more than one asion and Ibeniah had been given the same lecture on more than asion. He was already tired of it but he understood where Gabby wasing from. Though they were a team, there were things that they had to tolerate amongst themselves. For example, Gabby liked to toy with his opponents and neither of the other two ever intervened in his fun. While Ibeniah had his own way of fun in that he liked to sleep with his defeated opponents.


    Ibeniah slowly creeped towards Dah with a lewd look that contorted his twisted expression even further.


    Dah did not even have the slightest strength to prevent the cmity that was heading towards her. She looked towards Ibeniah with half opened eyes but there wasn''t a pleading look in her eyes but a fierce intent to fight it out more. She was a strong girl who had always relied on herself and had never felt as weak as she did at this time.


    Ibeniah liked girls like that who refused to give up. He liked to see their broken spirits as he had their way with them. He was looking forward to doing the same with Dah.


    He sat down on his toes right next to her and grabbed the side of her skirt. Slowly lifting it up, he revealed her pearly white skin for all to see.


    Dah refused to give in to the fear that she was feeling on the inside. She raised her head and looked him straight in the eyes with her evesting cold expression to show her defiant attitude.


    Ibeniah smirked seeing how she was acting to be strong even while her panties had been revealed out in the open for all to see. There weren''t many girls in his memory who had managed tost past this point. All of them had begun to give him pitiful looks filled with pleading before they had reached this point, but not Dah. She still gave him a defying look while baring her teeth.


    Ibeniah was looking forward to breaking her spirit while listening to her pitiful cries and moans.


    The white panties were as pure white as her skin. Ibeniah put his finger inside her panties and pulled on it. While tugging at it he sneered at Dah while looking forward to her terrified screams.


    When Dah didn''t entertain him at all, Ibeniah pulled it all the way down to her knees and tore them apart with his monstrous strength. The pieces of her panties were strewn around her as her crotch was revealed to him.


    The pinkish hue of her tight pussy attracted him like nothing else. He could tell that she was a virgin in a single nce. This excited Ibeniah even further. He was hardly able to hold himself back.


    Dah was in pain and now the enemy who had inflicted that pain was looking at her private parts with a remorseless expression. This made her want to vomit her guts out and a terror like none that she had ever encountered took root in her heart and tore at her mind bit by bit.


    She knew that he was waiting for her to break apart and beg him but she couldn''t hold back her tears that were breaking the barrier of her eyshes and were threatening to fall.<sub> </sub>


    Ibeniah saw how desperate she was feeling and he got turned on even further. His sick mind found this all very entertaining. Without waiting any further, he pulled down his pants and revealed his crotch as well.


    Dah could finally feel the horror of it all. She had no way out of her situation and the only thing she could do was hope; that someone would save her from the horrifying nightmare that she had found herself stuck in.


    ? Ibeniah seemed awfully proud of his member that was just as thick andrge as the rest of his body. The arrogance that could be felt in his posture and the smile that was stered on his face was the proof of that.


    Ibeniah spread apart her legs like they belonged to a chicken due for dismemberment and sat down in front of her on his knees.


    His soldier that was by then standing at attention full of vigor and passion was throbbing in wait. The same throbbing and the popped out veins were the source of the growing terror in Dah. The only reason she was sane at the moment was because she was hoping that someone would see her predicament and would save her from the monster who was about to ruin her innocence.


    She was wriggling like a worm and was resisting by trying to move her legs that were currently being pinned down by Ibeniah as his soldier marched towards the crevice between her legs full of strength and determination.


    Ibeniah being as strong as he was didn''t let her squirm around for long and exerted some strength to hold her in ce.


    Without further ado, Ibeniah was about to push his thick throbbing soldier inside the crevice but was stopped mid-march by Gabby who had grabbed his shoulder at some point.


    Ibeniah looked back at him with annoyance and anger for being disturbed just as the fun part was about to begin. He was red faced and barely containing his wrath. His eyes motioned him for an exnation and were telling him of the consequences if that reason ended up being not good enough.


    Gabby''s tone turned stern and in a voice that was full of caution and vignce he told Ibeniah that his entertainment was over.


    "You were so focused on your d*ck that you didn''t even bother to keep an eye on your surroundings to check who else might be watching. But thankfully for you, I have been keeping a watch while you were all blinded by your libido."


    Gabby really had noticed a masked figure that was hiding in the vicinity. Gabby felt no evil intentions at all from their watcher and it felt to him that the masked figure was keeping an eye on them as if he was waiting for someone or something.


    Gabby was afraid that there was another team like his own that the masked figure had called upon even after he had witnessed their strength. Although he wanted to collect more cards to earn more points, he didn''t want to endanger what he had already collected. If the hidden individual called upon his teammates, Gabby and his team might really be in danger.


    He pulled Ibeniah from the ground, who quickly fastened his belt again after pulling up his pants. Macbeth gathered around with him as well as they got into a defensive formation that enhanced their senses and their line of sight. They wanted to eliminate any blind spots in order to avoid any surprises that the enemy might have already been nning.


    Though they had been preying on many teams, this was the first time that Gabby felt that they had been caught up in a web that had been spinned by someone else.


    Zavier had been keeping constant tabs on all his clones who had rushed out in search of Kacie and Dah. While he had found the location of Dah from one of the participant whom he had run into during his search, his other clones were still busy looking for Kacie.


    But what was really unexpected for him was that the group that wasmitting that atrocity towards the girl was the same girl that he had previously run into. He had previously encountered the trio that had tried to harm Shiranui.

 Chapter 113 Werewolf?

    He had seen what the giant had been about to do the defenceless girl thaty on the ground. He couldn''t help but think what could have happened to Shiranui had he not found her in time. Previously he might not have felt so strongly about it but now that she was his woman, he felt strong hatred towards the trio.


    Not only that, he could truly feel at this moment how heartless the test truly was. He wondered what kind of a sadistic bastard could have developed such a test. The participants were about to **** a girl who had been knocked out and yet the examiners had yet to show themselves. Even the medics only arrived when the individual was about to die and was within an inch of meeting their maker.


    It appeared to Zavier that the innocence of the girl apparently held no value to the university. He had already expected such heartlessness but seeing it for himself still left a deep impression on him.


    The medics really did show up to carry Dah''s teammates but never even bothered to look her way as she was about to be vited by the giant one among the three.


    Zavier looked at the three of them through his Time Space eye to get a closer look at their abilities. His vision had levelled up quite a bit and he could even see the mana surrounding their bodies and unlike the mono-coloured mana that was usually surrounding various mages, they had a blood coloured mana surrounding them and oozing out of them. The blood coloured mana was apparently their respective bloodline energies.


    Although all of them were using the power of their respective mixed bloodlines, they didn''t have the same aura. There were not only different shades to it but also different ways in which it manifested. For example, as Gabby used his bloodline abilities, it was as if a bat had manifested behind him and was supporting him while he cast his magic.


    He had seen simr special energyst time as well when they were on the mission where they had encountered Shiranui''s sister and the other monsters. He remembered the A rank mage who had fought against Valerie and had managed to poison her as well. That mage had simr special aura around his body but his hadn''t been as borate as that of the trio in front of him.


    While his aura had been murky and chaotic, the aura of the three was clear and had a definite shape and was easier to identify. Due to that aura, the mage had been able to use a weird magic that let him mould his bones into weapons. He had proved to be quite a formidable foe despite only being an A rank mage.


    Zavier expected the same kind of strength from these three. Since they had the same energy inside their bodies, he was sure that they were proficient in some kind of special magic as well.


    Though he was wary of the three, not even for a second had he felt afraid of them. The reason was that he had checked out his surroundings and found no one. Since no one out of the three knew him, he could finally let out his true strength. He could use Blood de without holding back.


    Zavier was sure that when he used Blood de, his strength would be invincible among all the participants no matter how strong they were.


    He could use Blood de to crush them as much as he wanted. There was no one who was capable of stopping him when he wielded that skill without holding back.


    Ibeniah grit his teeth with enough strength to produce screeching sound as his teeth rubbed against each other. His anger was bursting through and was fairly evident on his face and the way he was clenching his fists at his side.


    He hated the masked man who had interrupted his fun. He hated Gabby for stopping him midway when it was only a single individual who was busy spying on them. There had still been time for him to have fun before the full reinforcements of the other party arrived. He believed that the masked man was alone in this endeavour based on the fact that they had been vigntly keeping an eye on their surroundings and there had yet to be another enemy in sight.


    Those who knew Ibeniah, especially the ones who knew him as closely as Gabby and Macbeth, knew what he hated the most. He would be especially red eyed and vengeful when someone interrupted his carnal activities.


    His body was slowly twisting out of shape as if some kind of monster was awakening inside of him. His blood vessels appeared to be as taut as steel wires as thework of them became visible on his body. The ones on his temple were especially throbbing as if the blood coursing through them had sped up.<sub> </sub>


    His hair started to grow longer and it seemed as if he would turn into some kind of a giant hairy monster but the transformation couldn''t reachpletion. It seemed as if it was being controlled. Either Ibeniah was trying to stop his transformation on his own or there was something missing inside his body that made itcking to support the transformation to its full extent. Zavier thought that it was also possible that the bubbling wrath inside the giant enemy was somehow interfering in proper deployment of all his mental faculties that the needed for aplete transformation. There was yet another possibility that Zavier had failed to consider and that was the thin bloodline inheritance that all three of them possessed.


    Zavier knew what type of a mix-blood this giant among the true was. When he hadst confronted the trio, Shiranui had told him about his abilities. If he remembered right then, this giant had received the inheritance of the Werewolves.


    Based on that premise, Zavier already knew what kind of abilities to expect from this one. ording to legends, the werewolves basically had enhanced physical abilities and regeneration at best. Zavier felt that if that was the case, he didn''t have much to fear. He was basically another mongrel with the blood of the beasts.


    Still, the transformation would somehow make the process of defeating this one a little bit harder.


    Thankfully for him, it looked like Ibeniah wasn''t able to fully transform into the wolf form. Instead he had be something that was in between the wolf and human form. It was some kind of primal form of the werewolves that could not be termed as a werewolf per se.


    Zavier felt at ease thinking that the idiot giant was unable to wield his powerpletely. So he didn''t disturb him and let him lunge at him after gathering his strength. He waited for him patiently.


    As Zavier expected, Ibeniah''s physical abilities had gotten enhanced to the point that even Zavier found somewhat astonishing. He couldn''t have imagined that his thick frame after transformation would be capable of moving at such a fast speed.


    In the blink of an eye, Ibeniah had lunged in his direction and was in front of him before he could even register it.


    The ws that his nails had turned into were razor sharp; just one look at them had been enough for Zavier to judge what would happen if he got caught up between the ws.


    Ibeniah in his anger had failed to hold himself back and had left his teammates behind to attack the masked figure. All he could see was blood after he had transformed. He was in some kind of an induced berserk state because of his boiling anger. In his frenzy, he wanted nothing more than to tear apart every inch of Zavier''s skin and feast on his blood.


    But there was something he had misjudged, and that was the strength of the opponent he intended to brandish his ws against.


    Contrary to him, Gabby had sensed something was wrong. The masked figure was standing still as Ibeniah rushed towards him.


    If it had been someone else, they would have felt that Zavier was too shocked by Ibeniah''s awesome speed to even try to respond to the bulging threat but Gabby was too cautious to think in such a manner.


    From the moment he had sensed the masked man in his vicinity, he had been constantly keeping tabs on the masked figure with all his senses focused on him for the smallest signs of trouble or danger towards him or his team.

 Chapter 114 Foresee

    So, he had carefully noticed that the movement that had seemed like a blur to all third parties had been seen with ease by the mysterious man watching them. It wasn''t that he was unable to react to Ibeniah''s speed but that he was waiting for him. His eyeballs had followed the trail of Ibeniah''s movement path from the start to the end.


    The senses of the mysterious man were extremely terrifying.


    Gabby wanted to stop Ibeniah but the moment a voice escaped his lips, Ibeniah was already attacking Zavier with his ws which the masked man was dodging with so much ease that all the dangers that Gabby had felt from the figure were being realized one by one.


    He cursed Ibeniah for being so impulsive and at the same time berated himself for not being able to warn him about the instinctive feeling that he had about the masked man.


    It was already toote by the time he even realized how true his gut feeling had been.


    Before Ibeniah could have even begun to move, Zavier had started to use his Time Space eye to monitor the trio. Not a single detail about the trio managed to evade him as he began to take in the whole view. His brain started to process all the information that his ocr senses were feeding to it. He was taking in every little detail and the perception system was helping his brain form theplete image and was helping him analyze all the details.


    He was able to see the slightest twist in the position of Ibeniah''s foot as he moved his toe in his direction. This was the first indication that he was about to rush towards Zavier. Each little detail, each flustered movement caught Zavier''s eye and he analyzed all the possible implications that came with that movement. Thanks to the superior perception he was close to being able to see the future as he was already aware of what was going toe next.


    Zavier felt that he was at the cusp of a breakthrough and focused all his senses on his enemies. His concentration made his mind delve into details that he would have never noticed otherwise or he thought of them as too unimportant to have mattered.


    But reality proved otherwise as each little detail mattered in the determination of whether he would be prepared against the next iing onught of attacks or not.


    His concentration deepened to the extent that all other things faded into the background, all unimportant details blurred out of existence; only Zavier and his enemies remained.


    Zavier felt that he had entered something akin to bullet time as time seemed to have slowed down around him without him having done a thing. Either that or his senses were working overtime and were processing things before they even happened.


    The manic werewolf that was barely a wolf at that point appeared to him as if in slow motion. He was moving as if he was running towards Zavier through an immensely concentrated g that was slowing him down to the point that Zavier had the leisure to look around while waiting for him to appear in front of him and attack.


    Gabby looked on dumbfounded as Ibeniah constantly attacked with all his strength but was unable to catch even the glimpse of the masked man with his ws. The entire time, his enemy was able to dodge by the slightest margin without making a single mistake. His movements were precise and urate without a tinge of error or vulnerability.


    Gabby cursed their luck for encountering such a troublesome enemy and wanted to p Ibeniah on the back of his head even more for not even being able to understand the extent of danger that the mysterious man posed to them before leaping in to exact his vengeance for being disturbed.<sub> </sub>


    On the other hand, Zavier had felt that his attacks had been very easy to dodge. He easily evaded his ws that wanted to gouge out his eyes and wanted to tear apart his neck. He could feel the bloodlust and the killing intent in Ibeniah''s eyes.


    But despite being so desperate, Ibeniah couldn''t evennd a single blow on Zavier''s body. Let alone his body, he was not even able to touch the hem of his shirt.


    Zavier was able to predict his next move without breaking a sweat so it became quite easy to dodge all the attacks of the enemy. Being in the berserk state, Ibeniah couldn''t figure out why all of his attacks were missing their intended target. Not for a single moment had he paused to think that his enemy might have been more skilled than he had anticipated. He had already put himself on the highest pedestal in thispetition but his bad luck wanted to p him in the face by pitting him against Zavier who was a monster on his own.


    Zavier had not used the perception system in such a way before so he took some time getting used to the continuous attacks of Ibeniah. At the same time he was testing the limits of the system by dying his reaction time as much as he could without taking any damage.


    The conclusion that he managed to reach was that Ibeniah wasn''t strong enough for him to test the limits of his senses. He was not even qualified to be considered a threat despite his attempts to put himself in a difficult situation. The sense of danger never even once raised an rm in his mind so Zavier stopped working towards a useless goal.


    The next moment he dodged the set of ws that were heading towards his chest by rotating his lower back just enough to barely avoid getting scratched. The minimum movement gave him enough time to counter attack with the fists that had already been aching to get in touch with the enemy. He used the momentum of the enemy against him as he dodged the w and returned a punch of his own that connected with Ibeniah''s abdomen close to his sr plexus.


    Ibeniah got his breath knocked out of him. He had been feeling full of himself when his enemy was only dodging all his attacks thinking that the masked man was unable to do anything else but defend due to his mighty offensive. But only after taking that punch did he establish how wrong he had truly been. The masked man had been getting a read on his movements through his earlier actions. When the masked man had felt that he had gathered enough information, he initiated his counter with a strength that was so immense inparison that it broke apart all of Ibeniah''s senses.


    The moment that Ibeniah came back to his senses, he found himself flying in reverse with so much speed that he was hardly able to orient himself with his surroundings.


    p Gabby and Macbeth witnessed the demise of their teammate as he was sent hurtling back like a bullet with a single punch from the masked man. His flying figure didn''t stop until he had broken a hole and had mowed down various trees in his path and had finally managed to lodge himself in a small hill at the end of his long flying sortie.</anda>


    Gabby gulped and tried to calm down his heart that was threatening to beat out of his chest. He had been on guard against the unknown enemy but he had never imagined that the difference between their strength would be that immense like a chasm that was impossible to cross without falling into the abyss of death.


    Gabby turned his head and looked into the direction where Ibeniah had left a deep impression on the hill. Ibeniah''s wolf transformation had partly worn off and Gabby took that to mean that he had suffered quite a bit of damage from that small exchange. But when he looked back at the masked man, he felt dread taking over as the masked man didn''t even appear to be concerned about the oue of the exchange as if he didn''t consider Ibeniah a threat at all.


    Macbeth looked at Gabby and they both knew that they couldn''t stay on the sidelines any longer. They both converged towards the direction that Zavier had been standing still from both sides andunched a pincer move on him.


    Gabby cast an illusion on him that made use of a high pitch frequency to disturb the fluid present in the inner ears which in turn disturbed the sense of bnce of the body.

 Chapter 115 All Rounder

    This induced a sense of dizziness and nausea in his enemies. So far, Gabby had note across someone who was able to dismiss his illusion.


    To be fair, what Gabby called an illusion was not an illusion but a sonic attack in reality. Zavier who was well versed in illusions could tell at a nce what Gabby was trying to replicate. Therefore, he focused all his spiritual energy and mobilized it towards his auditory senses in order to strengthen them. The illusion broke apart like a sand castle on the beach that had been run over by tidal waves.


    Macbeth on the other hand was about to engage in closebat with Zavier; something he was very good at. He wielded his long sword and took quick strides towards Zavier.


    This was amon tactic that he and Gabby hade with during their long tenure together fighting as a team. Gabby would disrupt the senses of the opponents and he would rush in to deal deadly blows to the unaware enemies.


    Zavier couldn''t help but feel that the team dynamic of the trio was quite good. They had a specialist for hand to handbat who specialized in brute strength in the giant oaf he had sent flying earlier. They had a good support in that guy who was trying to imitate dizziness through sound magic and the swordsmanship of the third one was quitemendable. Zavier felt that the three had a lot of potential just based on thebination of tactics that they coulde up with based on their diversity ofbat styles and their long term cooperative tactics.


    Zavier had fought against far deadlier enemies and not to mention that his illusions were far too sophisticated; so much that evenparing those to Gabby''s would be an insult to the Mesmer system that he had received from the cosmic consciousness. He not only nullified the effect on his senses, but also managed to cast his own spell of dizziness on to Gabby who had not expected that he was up against a Mesmer who was good enough to foil all his tricks.


    After immobilizing Gabby, Zavier focused entirely onto Macbeth who was thest remaining fighter who was still in perfect shape. His swordsmanship skills were the real deal and Zavier had to focus a bit in order to avoid or parry his attacks. Macbeth seemed to be very proficient in the art of sword as he was able to utilize each and every gap in Zavier''s defense and alwaysunched a critical strike through those weak points. Although Zavier did not have any trouble facing Macbeth with his 360 vision granted to him by the perception system, an ordinary individual would have died a hundred times to Macbeth before even figuring out the reason for their death.


    Zavier was able to tell at first nce that Macbeth was perfectly utilizing the blind spots in his vision. An ordinary individual without any perception skills would have felt that the sword was appearing out of nowhere if they managed to fight it out with him. Thankfully, Zavier was not an ordinary person at all.


    Zavier first condensed the white cold ze into a thin sword that was slightly shorter in length to the long sword that Macbeth had been wielding. The white sword shed with the sword art of Macbeth and nging noises resounded throughout that part of the forest. The two sword energies were tremendous and just the wind from the shes was enough to send patches of grass flying in all directions.


    Although Cold ze was powerful, it required extensive control and mana which was difficult for Zavier as well. It didn''t take long for Zavier to lose focus and the Cold ze lost its short sword form.


    Macbeth took advantage of the small opportunity that he had fortunatelye across. He didn''t want to lose the small window where he could possible hurt the enemy that seemed to be able to see his move one step before he even managed to think about it.


    Zavier knew that it was not going to be easy so he had always been prepared to make use of his Blood de in case he needed to. He wasn''t afraid to use it because he was too far away from prying eyes at the moment and was wearing a mask as well to hide his identity.<sub> </sub>


    Before Macbeth''s sword could have lodged itself in his shoulder, Zavier urged the blood coursing through his veins and managed to form a de with the solidified blood. It shone with a bloodthirsty light and looked exceptionally beautiful as it glittered in its ruby radiance despite how dangerous it truly was.


    Zavier brought the blood coloured de in front of his chest and managed to not only block everything in front of him, butunched a curt offensive that was so fast that Macbeth was put on the defensive for the first time since the start of the fight. Zavier''s powerful offensive had caught him off guard and Zavier managed to draw blood from his face. If Macbeth hadn''t instinctively moved his head to the right, his neck would have been pierced through. This not only surprised him but also managed to remind him that it was not a friendly fight at all. They could any kind of means to win and his opponent was not one who showed mercy based on hisst strike.


    Previously though Macbeth had been unable to injure Zavier, the both of them had been fighting on an even ground but the difference had started to be obvious as Zavier took out his blood coloured de.


    The de was very surreal to Macbeth as he was unable to believe that such a magical de could even exist. It was not only capable of changing its length and breadth but was also capable of changing shape into any kind of weapon that the user desired.


    Macbeth was unable to keep track of it and often walked into traps. Just when he would think that Zavier had missed the sword strike from above, he would be pushed away by the shockwave from the broadsword hitting the ground around him. Just when he would think that he was out of the reach of the sword, it would change shape to ance and would prate his defenses tounch a strike at him.


    He had never fought someone like this before; someone who had such a flexible fighting style that Macbeth couldn''t keep up with all the changes during the battle. He had to put his entire focus on his opponent in order to pre-empt what the opponent was going to do in order to just barely defend himself.


    Gabby who was still recovering from the paralysis spell was feeling the terror of the masked man as he was witnessing the fight from a third person point of view. He was able to notice even the most minute changes and the tiniest of movements. He was able to see that not even the movement of the pinkie finger was wasted by the masked man. Every little action served a purpose.


    What Gabby did not know was that Zavier was not any better than them when it came tobat skills after all he was not some kind of a great fighter in his previous life. It was only because of his exceptional perception skills that he was almost capable of predicting the future thereby enabling him to dodge and parry all attacks directed at him with finesse and ease that came off as exceptional skill. The only advantage he had over the rest of them was the number, quality and diversity of skills at his disposal which was considerably higher than the rest.


    Gabby knew in his heart that there couldn''t be a more terrifying man in thepetition. He had already dered the masked man as the number one participant in thepetition in his heart.


    The masked man was an all rounder whose skills were better than even the specialists in their team. For example, the masked man had so easily countered his illusion with his own and Gabby hadn''t even been able toprehend what had happened let alone retaliate. Ibeniah had lost to him in terms of physical strength and had been sent flying with that giant wolf form of his despite the advantage that looked obvious enough just by looking at them which meant that the masked man had physical capabilities that far exceeded those of Ibeniah who was the best of them in terms of hand to handbat.

 Chapter 116 Forgiveness?

    If it were just that, Gabby might have not reached the same conclusion but when he saw how he used micro movements to beat down on Macbeth despite his sword skills, Gabby became sure that there wouldn''t be a stronger opponent than him among the participants.


    Gabby felt that he had to remedy the situation somehow or they would end up on the losing side despite how far they hade. It was even possible that they might be unable to escape and might have to hand over their cards to get his forgiveness if things continued to escte with him. He knew Ibeniah was too vengeful while Macbeth was too proud to do that. Therefore, he being the leader had to lower himself in front of Zavier.


    From what he had seen, the masked man had onlye over and was fighting them to save the girl that Ibeniah had been about to ravage. The girl didn''t look like she was an acquaintance of the masked man as he hadn''t even bothered about her well being after he had started attacking the three of them. Someone concerned would have definitely tried to make sure that she was okay.


    In his judgement, either the masked man had helped her out of pity or he was somehow interested in the girl himself. Gabby felt that both the situations yed out in his favour because in any case it would be easier to convince the masked man to let them go in both cases.


    The first scenario being true meant that the masked man was a softie at heart despite his overwhelming strength and if they pretended to be remorseful, they might get his forgiveness with ease. Warm hearted people were the easiest to deceive since they sought positivity in others and encouraged those who wanted to turn over a new leaf.


    In the second scenario, where the masked man was interested in the girl himself; they could just hand her over to him and get out of the way. That would make for the optimum solution since they would not have to act or pretend to be remorseful for things that they didn''t feel bad about. Moreover, they would not have to beg him to be merciful and to spare them.


    Gabby hoped with all his heart that the second case was true for the masked man. He wondered what the masked man looked like behind that obnoxious looking mask that seemed to be mocking them and their meagre strength at all times.


    If only he could make out the expressions of the enemy, Gabby would have had a higher chance of escaping unscathed then.


    Gabby soon felt his strength returning as the blurry and spinning vision came to a halt. The unmoving world had never looked as beautiful as this. The vertigo from the dizziness illusion had been so overwhelming earlier that Gabby was unable to believe that a normal mage had been able to cast such a strong illusion. Not only was its effect stronger than any of the illusions that he hade across, it alsosted for a longer duration. Gabby wondered if that was some kind of bloodline ability that the masked man had or if it was really magic skill that had been refined to the ultimate but he didn''t dare ask his opponent.


    For a second there, Gabby had even thought that he was up against an illusionist instead of a magician. Only after the masked man had conjured the white ming sword did he believe that Zavier was a mage who had a good grasp on an illusion skill that was as strong.


    Gabby moved as soon as his senses were back to normal and he appeared in between Macbeth and Zavier as swiftly as possible. He raised his hands towards the both of them and managed to stop them both in their tracks somehow at the veryst second.


    Zavier didn''t want to fight them as well when he could take Dah with him without doing that. Still he couldn''t show any weakness on his part so he had to wait until they brought it up on their own. Moreover, he was not Zavier at least in the eyes of Dah; after all, he was wearing a mask over his face.


    Since he couldn''t take Dah away with him, he had to get the trio to leave them of their own ord so that he could sneak away afterwards while Shiranui and his original body could find Dah soon.


    "I think we started off with the wrong foot. There appears to be a misunderstanding among us so I suggest we solve it amicably among ourselves. There is no need for unnecessary violence that won''t be beneficial for any of us, I assume. What do you say?"


    The masked man slightly tilted his face towards the right as if he was slightly confused at Gabby''s suggestion following which his slightly raspy voice terrified Gabby''s heart.


    "What do you mean by that when it was you people who attacked me first? Do you think it is that easy to offend someone and thene back running right after in order to ask for an amicable solution when things don''t go your way? Do I look like a pushover to you?"<sub> </sub>


    Zavier started gathering his mana in an attempt to scare Gabby who was already apprehensive.


    "Please we ask for your forgiveness regarding our earlier transgressions. We thought that you had ill intent towards us and our Ibeniah is quite impulsive. He jumped to conclusions on his own before we were able to stop him. You know he is our teammate, no matter how impulsive and brainless he might be. We couldn''t just leave him to fend for himself after he had already engaged in battle with you. But after seeing your strength we had no other option but to engage in negotiations. We couldn''t keep going towards an end that we both don''t want to see no matter what. I am sure there must be something that you want and we will be happy to help to the best of our abilities if only you let bygones be bygones and are willing to work out a solution with us amicably."


    Zavier didn''t reply for a while and acted as if he was thinking it over before replying.


    "I don''t think you have anything that you can offer me for letting you go. There isn''t anything in it for me at all."


    Gabby knew that Zavier was willing to concede if they could ascertain what it was that he wanted.


    "I know that you came here for yourpanion. In our defense we didn''t know, neither did she mention that she had apanion as capable as you otherwise Ibeniah wouldn''t have done what he did."


    "Whatpanion?"


    Zavier acted as if he didn''t know that they were talking about Dah and proceeded to take their frustration to the next level.


    "Isn''t the girl sprawled on the ground over there yourpanion? We thought that she was the reason that you were watching us and even attacked us."


    Zavier snorted in disgust.


    "Don''t make it look like I was the one who attacked you when it was your foolishness that made me defend myself. And as for the girl you are referring to, while it is true that I was watching you because she caught my eye. It does not mean that she was mypanion. I only wanted to teach you a lesson because that oaf was eyeing to f*ck the girl who had managed to catch my eye. And on top of that you idiots had the guts tounch an attack on me."


    Gabby felt a little sheepish at the scolding that he received from the masked man. The raspy voice made Zavier appear older than he really was and Gabby couldn''t help but feel like a kid who was being scolded by his elders for an inappropriate act. Gabby told himself that he had to hold his anger and had to please Zavier somehow.


    In fact, Zavier had only told them that Dah wasn''t hispanion because he didn''t want them to even doubt that his true identity was that of her teammate. He was sure that theparison could be made easily if his connection to Dah was known.


    "Since you are interested in the girl, why don''t we leave her to you then? You can do as you please with her."

 Chapter 117 Give It Our All

    Gabby yed his final card. He knew that Ibeniah would be angry with him and might even try to fight it out with him but he had to do something to get Zavier off their backs.


    Zavier tilted his head towards one side in confusion.


    "Although I want to roll around with her in passion, there is a time and ce for everything. I can''t start acting like some uncivilized oaf spreading the legs of a fine girl like that in the open for everyone to see. Such a sight should be enjoyed in solitude."


    Gabby was a little happy that the masked man seemed to be quite perverted. He felt that the chances of negotiations seeding were quite high. Gabby thought that he had already figured out Zavier''s true intentions by asking carefully thought questions.


    Gabby felt that he had to nudge Zavier a little more in order to make him agree to their offering. After all, he understood that Zavier had to keep his face as well.


    "You seem like a likeminded person and a well cultured one at that. Although I agree with what you said about there being a ce and time for everything but there is a certain charm in giving in to the wild animal instinct hidden inside us and engage in the most primitive carnal activities just like our ancestors who used to do it out in the open beneath the clear sky without anyone judging them for it."


    Zavier let out an excitedugh and replied.


    "For the first time since you began your pitiful ''negotiations'', you are talking sense. I feel like trying what you suggested. I might even find myself a new fetish for doing it out in the open."


    Gabby nodded his head repeatedly in appreciation with so much enthusiasm that he felt vertigo all over again.


    Everything had proceeded ording to his n and he had even managed to bag the masked monster home without suffering any real loss.


    Zavier patted him on his shoulder and pushed him aside to move past him and head in the direction of the half naked girl who was either still unconscious or was pretending to be so.


    But before the smile on Gabby''s face could even fade away, Zavier backtracked and came face to face with some backward steps.


    Gabby couldn''t tell what kind of expression Zavier had under the mask but he had the feeling that he was being mocked; like all of him and his ideas had already beenid bare in front of the masked man, as if the man already knew what Gabby wanted to do by offering him the girl who was undressed and ready to be f*cked.


    "I don''t think that I am going to f*ck her right now. Don''t get me wrong. I loved your idea of doing it under the sky with only the trees at witnesses but I don''t have to do it right now. There are some important things that I can do in the same amount of time. What do you think? Don''t you think that I should be doing something more rewarding during this time in thepetition?"


    Gabby was flustered and was almost unable to answer him at once but gathered about his wits in a matter of seconds.


    "No...no...no, I am not trying to imply anything but I felt that going with the flow was one way to enjoy it a little more than normal."


    Zavier let out his aura to act even more intimidating as he moved closer to Gabby''s face.


    "Say what are you three called?"


    "I am Gabby, therge unconscious one is called Ibeniah and this young looking swordsman here is named Macbeth. We are all the students of Melbourne high school. With your strength, I am sure that you must have heard of it."


    The masked man didn''t show any indication as to whether he had heard of the school or not.


    Gabby couldn''t understand whether Zavier had felt intimidated or not but at the moment his heart was beating like crazy which of course Zavier was aware of. His super sensitive hearing allowed him to monitor the heart beat of the opponent that he was currently negotiating with.


    Therefore, Zavier always knew when to press Gabby a little more and ording to his judgement, this was such a moment.


    "Gabby, is it?"<sub> </sub>


    Gabby nodded in answer to his name being called out by the masked man in that raspy voice of his.


    "Do you take me for a fool, Gabby?"


    Gabby felt dumbstruck. He knew that his little tricks to avoid a catastrophic result had been in vain as soon as he heard the anger in the masked man''s voice. He knew that his tricks had been found out and the masked man was probably furious at being treated like a fool.


    Gabby didn''t answer his question. Rather he assumed that it was a rhetorical question and didn''t need to be answered since the masked man probably already knew about the scheme that he had tried to pull off.


    Since the leader of the trio named Gabby didn''t answer, Zavier continued to talk.


    "I think I want something else at the moment rather than having mindless sex with a half conscious wench."


    Gabby was dreading the next demand of the masked man. He could only hope that it wasn''t something that he could not deliver since that would mean that there was a chance of losing and suffering injuries that might hinder their progress in the test.


    "Aren''t you going to ask what it is that I want?"


    Since Gabby hadn''t been answering, Zavier nudged him a little to push him further into the abyss.


    "What is it?"


    Gabby finally let out a sigh filled with frustration and asked him in a low tone that felt as tired he did.


    "I can see that all three of you have some interesting abilities. Even your bloodlines are quite distinguished. I think I would go a long way in this test if you give me your cards as well. That will earn you my goodwill and I will even let you go about your own way without giving you all a beating."


    Gabby had a terrible look on his face. This was the very thing that he was dreading. Now that the masked man had mentioned their cards, amicable solution was no longer possible. They had to fight their way out of there otherwise they might end up losing their cards anyway.


    Even though Gabby was disappointed that his earlier n didn''t work out, he wasn''t as angry because he knew that anyone in the position of the masked man would have demanded their cards as the very first bargaining chip. It was perfectly normal.


    But Ibeniah who had been until then lying on the ground pretending to be unconscious got up with his nostrils ring in anger. He had heard the words of the masked man earlier and was full of wrath knowing that the masked man had already taken the girl from him and now he even wanted their cards.


    His anger andck of impulse control lead to another situation where his teammates were unable to hold him back as he transformed once again. But this time, the transformation was moreplete albeit not entirely perfect but better than his previous attempt.


    The werewolf that Zavier saw in front of him this time was moreplete and more intimidating than the previous one. Zavier wondered what the reason for the varying degree of transformations was.


    Seeing his transformation, Gabby knew that there was only one way that they could get out of there with their cards still in their possession and that was by using the full extent of their abilities in order to throw off the masked man in order to escape when he least expected it.


    "Macbeth, we can give it our all or we can return back home thinking that our journey was only up till here. If we hold back even a little, I have a feeling that we either won''tst until the end of the first test due to excessive injuries or we would be washed up among the losers due to the difference in points umted."


    Gabby knew what Macbeth wanted with his ring aura and oozing strength of the bloodline from Macbeth who was the sharpest sword of their team.


    Ibeniah rushed in and so did Macbeth with a long sword in his hand.

 Chapter 118 Split

    There was little to no difference between their timings of attack as if they had pre nned everything and knew exactly when they were going to resist against Zavier.


    It looked as if three of them had all but forgotten about their earlier defeat at his hands as they proceeded to use the same tactic as before.


    The three of them spanned out and surrounded him from all sides before attacking in their own individual way.


    Ibeniah rushed in to engage him as the rest of them prepared their own attacks. Unlike before, his ws were even deadlier and longer. He made a bee line for Zavier and used his superior hand to handbat skills that he specialized in. But this time, he tried to keep a semnce of sanity so that he could avoid an iing attack too.


    Last time, he had been too confident of his strength to even take countermeasures against being one upped by a skinny looking person.


    Zavier saw himing and released his blood wall to defend against his ws. Unlike before where he had handled him one on one; this was a one vs. three fight that might prove to be slightly difficult for him. Therefore, he found it necessary to use Blood de in order to wrap up the fight as soon as possible.


    Like a moth towards me, Ibeniah too struck the wall with all his strength in an attempt to take it down but he didn''t know that even S rank mages as strong as Kyouko had been unable to take that blood wall down with their normal attacks. Sparks flew in all directions originating from the collision of Ibeniah''s ws and Zavier''s blood wall.


    At the same time Zavier had to keep track of the other two enemies as well so he employed his Time Space eye that provided him the whole view without any obstructions.


    He looked at Gabby first who was preparing some kind of huge spell as tiny bat like shadowy creatures rose up from beneath Gabby''s cloak as if it was some kind of infinite holding space for those shadowy creatures who seemed to have no end to them.


    The bats flew in his direction from all sides while he kept trying to defend against Ibeniah who was raining fists like there was no tomorrow.


    As soon as the first bat touched the blood wall, Zavier found out the ability of the bat-like creatures. They were like precision guided bombs that homed in on their target and exploded on contact.


    A rain of explosives ensued as a result. But of course Zavier remained untouched as if all the explosions and the sweat on Ibeniah''s body had nothing to do with him.


    As Zavier was busy trying to defend himself against the explosive shadow bats, Gabby began preparing a sonic attack that would have put even his ownst attempt to shame. The sonic attack took Zavier by surprise as his vision had been restricted by the bats that were surrounding him from all directions.


    Zavier started feeling some vertigo as soon as the sonic attack disrupted his senses. A bout of dizziness took over him but he was still struggling to stand straight and was somehow busy warding off the explosive bats and the continuous barrage of attacks from the already crazy Ibeniah.


    For the first time since the start of thepetition, Zavier felt that someone had managed to affect his fighting capability.


    While his two teammates had been fighting the battle in order to wear down Zavier who was too strong for even the three of thembined, Macbeth had been gathering mana. Zavier didn''t know what this third idiot was nning but he had been keeping an eye on him in case he was preparing tounch a surprise attack towards him when he wasn''t looking.<sub> </sub>


    Zavier hade across many such hyenas during the course of thepetition so he was confident in being able to determine when the hyenas would pounce. He could tell the difference between those opportunists and the other with just the look in their eyes.


    Macbeth had been chanting some weird sutra for a long time and Zavier couldn''t'' tell whether he was really trying to cast magic or he was praying to some unknown deity.


    Unknown to Zavier, Macbeth had been doing both. He had been chanting toplete his strongest spell while praying at the same time that his teammates would be able to hold him off until then.


    Macbeth sighed in relief when his dragon sword finally released a giant dragon that raised his head in absolute superiority that could make even the gods bow their heads in front of it.


    The dragon looked so real that at first even Zavier thought that the dragon sword in Macbeth''s hand might have had a dragon sealed inside it that was waiting for an opportunity to wreak havoc upon its release. But then he managed to really look at it with his Time Space eye and saw it for what it truly was.


    To the normal eyes, the dragon appeared to be as real as life itself but Zavier was able to distinguish what it was truly made up of. It was nothing more than an illusion; nothing remotely close to a real dragon but was only a shadow that was more like an attack made up of surging mana.


    Of course Zavier didn''t take it for granted either because it appeared to be the bloodline magic of the kid, so it was bound to be somewhat special. Moreover, the amount of mana that had been condensed to form the dragon figure was not low by any means. Zavier could not take any chances when confronted with a giant ball of mana that had been condensed into the form of a bullet. Even the air surrounding the dragon looked warped and was constantly twisting and turning which was an indication of how much the trouble it could put Zavier in.


    Therefore, Zavier pre-emptively released a lot of blood from his body in order to be able to both attack and defend using the flexibility offered by the Blood de skill.


    Zavier locked eyes with the huge dragon while maintaining the blood wall that was holding off against the attacks of both Ibeniah and Gabby.


    The dragon flew towards him at breakneck speed and Zavier focused on its path. He wanted to determine if the dragon could change its path midway but he felt at ease looking at Macbeth who was out of breath and was barely standing after releasing the mana dragon. It must have taken quite a lot out of him to be able to release that attack.


    Zavier finally mobilized his blood and formed a huge de spanning the length of his entire body and more. It could hardly even be called a greatsword because it looked as if it belonged to some giant from the age of mythology of his previous world.


    Zavier swung his de vertically downwards and split the approaching figure of the huge dragon. The dragon kept moving due to momentum as it passed by Zavier and the rest who were now watching the result of the confrontation with open mouths. This attack that Macbeth had unleashed had never failed like this before. This had always been their trump card for beating opponents who were more powerful than them.


    The strategy had always worked because half of their opponents became terrified at the sight of the dragon and the other half were not strong enough to handle such an attack that consumed all the mana inside the body and some from the ambient air and discarded it all at once in a giant condensed ball of mana which led to an explosion upon impact; an explosion that wasrge enough to take care of most of their enemies at their level.


    The dragon split in the middle and its two portions fell towards the sides as it crashed into the ground a little further from the battle. An explosion that shook all of them took ce but it was too far away for them to be affected much.


    Since Zavier had taken care of the greatest threat, he wanted to get rid of the small fries as well since he had to ascertain if Dah was all right or not. Even though he didn''t show concern for her in front of her assants, that didn''t mean that he truly didn''t care for her at all.

 Chapter 119 Scream

    She was a friend who knew about his Blood de after all. She had been through the same ordeals as him during the mission. So she was a kindred spirit and a friend to Zavier.


    Zavier immediately cast Dizziness on Gabby who was still unable to believe that the mana dragon had been cut in half like amon vegetable. His mental state had been so disturbed that he was unable to resist against Zavier''s illusion at all.


    [Target has been affected by Dizziness. The duration of the illusion has been increased as the target has failed to put up any mental or magical defenses.]


    Gabby was having trouble trying to even stand at his ce. His feet felt as if they were made of jelly while the whole world around him was constantly spinning. As he tried to get out of the illusion, his head hurt with each attempt and he lost focus immediately.


    While Gabby was preupied and dizzy, Zavier decided to get rid of the idiot who had been bashing his barrier unscrupulously for a long time now.


    Zavier focused some of his blood towards his hand and turned into a ball around his fist. Instead of a sword, Zavier turned into a bludgeoning weapon that would only be capable of breaking some bones at best. Since, Ibeniah had a stronger body, Zavier was sure that he would be able to survive the hit.


    After all, if Zavier had truly used a de against him, there was a high chance that Ibeniah would have been split like the dragon. And there would have been a high chance of him dying to his de which would have made the situation only that much harder for Zavier.


    So, he resorted to using blunt weapons against the muscle brained idiot.


    Zavier kept on blocking with his blood wall and as soon as he found the opportunity; he moved in with his fist covered in a bloody glove and managed tond a solid hit in Ibeniah''s gut.


    The single punch sent him flying into the distance like a rocketunch gone awry.


    Ibeniah felt that his insides had been crushed to the pulp as the pain coursed through his whole body. His insides twitched with excruciating pain that was constricting his chest and was restricting his breathing capability.


    His breaths came out in short but frequent bursts and each time he exhaled or inhaled, it hurt his chest. From the looks of it, his lungs had been covered by ribs that had caved in due to the excessive force that Zavier hadunched in his body with his blood red punch earlier.


    Gabby had fallen into the deepest pit of despair and hopelessness. All of his tricks, all of his schemes and all of their team strategies had been destroyed by a single individual who from the looks of it was not even trying his best.


    He had casually destroyed their time tested strategy and had beaten them all down without even trying. What kind of gap was there between them and the masked man? Gabby had fallen into a depression that he might not even be able toe out of in the future no matter how hard he tried.


    Both Gabby and Macbeth had been watching the battle as they weren''t exactly able to contribute. They had been watching him when he took care of the dragon and when he almost punched through Ibeniah. Macbeth would have even felt worried that the masked man might have prated Ibeniah''s chest had he not seen his body flying backwards in a scrunched up position.<sub> </sub>


    At the very least, the three of them had managed to keep their lives. At this moment giving their card away to him didn''t seem like a very bad idea but Macbeth was worried that the masked man might not even give them a chance to escape after they had tried to fight back once.


    Had they known the difference in their strength was so vast, Gabby would never have allowed the three of them to engage in a battle with the masked man. But the depth of the abyss can only be determined by jumping into it.


    And unfortunately the three of them had already jumped into the abyss without even estimating the danger to their lives.


    The consequences of their feeble attempt were now threatening their very existence. Gabby wanted to escape this terrifying ordeal somehow. His mind was constantly being gued by the fact that thispetition had a monster in the form of the masked man. How could there exist a high school student who was as powerful as the masked man? His very existence was game breaking to say the very least. Gabby was sure that should the masked man want to be the only one to pass, there was no way there would be another participant who would be able to survive past the first test.


    Gabby and Macbeth exchanged looks and even Ibeniah who had trouble standing up managed to catch that look. Both Ibeniah and Macbeth started to move towards Gabby with a determined expression. At the same time, three of them began channelling mana like their lives depended on it. From the looks of it, the three were ready to fight it out once more and were about to unleash their unique skills through the use of their bloodline power.


    Of course whatever they did was under the scrutiny of Zavier''s Time Space eye. He knew that they were nning something by monitoring their expressions and their bodynguage but he didn''t put a stop to their movements and let them prance around like monkeys. He was looking forward to the y that they could put forward for him and there was even slight amusement in his expression.


    Ibeniah and Macbeth came to the front of Gabby and faced towards Zavier as they made a triangr formation that used Gabby as the rear support while the two in front acted as both the offense and defense after being augmented by Gabby.


    Zavier felt the breathing of Ibeniah and Macbeth synchronize as even their auras began to merge. Zavier wondered what this meant as this was the first time that he had seen the synchronization and the merging of auras in such a manner. He wondered if it was something that was only possible with those who had bloodline abilities but didn''t linger on the idea as something interesting was taking ce between Ibeniah and Macbeth.


    Their joint aura had been forcefully condensed together in the form of a horn that looked as real as the mana dragon that Macbeth had conjured previously. Zavier finally understood what was happening. Somehow Ibeniah had managed to share the mana in his body to Macbeth who had then managed to use his bloodline ability to give shape to the mana in the form of the dangerous and sharp looking horn in between them.


    Finally, Gabby who had been standing by behind them opened his mouth as wide as if he was about to swallow the world whole and let out a  loud and piercing scream that reached up to the heavens and contained the resentment, frustration and anguish umted over various life times.


    The horn that had looked quite dangerous to Zavier was in fact a loud speaker in the form of ancient horns. The scream let out by Gabby was immensely amplified beyond what was bearable. The sonic attack had manifested its physical form as the sonic tide spread out like a ripple towards the surrounding andid waste to everything in its path.


    Zavier only understood what was happening at the veryst moment but his perception was fast enough to give him time to forge some defenses before the sonic tide attacked him.


    He used the blood that had been surrounding him like a cloak and made it into a wall that resisted against the rippling tides of sound. The tides managed to mow down all the trees, ravaged the ground in various ces, and even managed continued to tear down the blood wall slowly. The erosion was not very fast so Zavier was able to hold on and repair the blood wall when needed with more blood until the attack passed.


    The scream reverberated for a total of thirty seconds during which the forest had been rendered unrecognizable around Zavier. It was like some almighty force had pushed out the forest in order to create a clearing in the centre.

 Chapter 120 Join The Organization?

    Fortunately, his shield had held out until the time it was over. Zavier looked towards the trio as soon as the attack was over but found that the three were nowhere to be found.


    Zavier jerked his head backwards and looked towards the ce in the distance where Dah stilly helplessly. Thankfully she was still safe and the three were nowhere close enough to be caught by his Time Space eye so he felt at ease and calmed down his increasing desire to fight it out with them.


    Zavier shook his head in disappointment at not being able to get his hands on their cards but then thought that he still had a chance until the end of thepetition. Now that many of the participants had already been eliminated, Zavier was sure that he would run into the three of them soon.


    As obvious from thest time, the three seemed to be fated with him as they came across him from time to time without him even trying to look for them.


    Zavier turned around and started walking towards Dah with slow but firm steps. He didn''t want to startle her as he was still wearing the mask and didn''t want her to think that he was another bastard who wanted to take advantage of her.


    Dah had opened her eyes and was sprawled on the ground with her eyes towards the sky as if nothing else mattered.


    As soon as she heard movement near her, she slightly turned her head towards the masked man and took a good look at him. She didn''t seem to be afraid that the masked man wasing towards her; after all, she had seen simr masked men before. They were the same people who hade to help out Zavier in the past.


    Dah''s panties had previously been torn open by Ibeniah so she was currently goingmando and her private parts were onplete disy to anyone who wanted to see her.


    She didn''t even have enough strength to speak loudly let alone move her body to get into a decent position.


    Still her eyes didn''t reveal the slightest nervousness or the slightest feeling that she was concerned about her dignity being put on disy in front of a masked man who despite being her saviour was aplete stranger to her.


    "Did Zavier ask you to help me?"


    The masked man didn''t answer at first but then acted as if he didn''t know anything.


    "What do you mean by that?"


    Dah tsked out loud and let out a frustrated sigh.


    "It''s no use trying to hide it. I saw people from the same organization as you when they came to help Zavier thest time. They were dressed the simrly so I am sure you are a part of the same group. Tell me did Zavier send you to me?"


    Zavier didn''t answer the question despite knowing that she had already figured out some things. It wouldn''t be long before she woulde to find Zavier for answers regarding the clones that always came to his help. He figured that he would deal with that when the time came. For now he needed to get out of here so that his real body coulde here with the rest of the group to help her out.


    "HEY...I understand if you don''t want to answer my question. Seeing as to how sneakily you are acting, I am assuming that you don''t want others to find out about you."


    Zavier turned around and looked at her sharply thinking that she was trying to coerce him into answering her.


    "Don''t misunderstand me. I am telling you that I will keep your secret. I just want to know whether I can join the organization that you belong to. From what I have seen, you all seem to be exceptionally powerful and even Zavier belongs to your lot. I want to know how I can be one of you."


    Zavier smiled on the inside and somewhat understood where she wasing from. She had seen how the clones had sacrificed their lives to save Zavier in order to give him a fighting chance against Kyouko and the monsters. If it had been Zavier in her ce, even he would have been tempted to join the organization where every member was that powerful and that loyal.<sub> </sub>


    Even though Zavier had been trying to keep his clones from being grouped up together by others, somehow the disguise that he had designed for them had be the very thing that brought them recognition in the eyes of the others.


    Zavier couldn''t fault Dah or his clones for this mess. It was something that he himself had created.


    "I have received your request. Let us ponder on it a while as we ascertain your intentions and desires for wanting to join us. Be patient for a while and do not bring this up in front of others."


    The masked man didn''t even look back before breaking into a run that was fast enough to put even the fastest mana beasts to shame. Dah watched him vanish from her eyes and hope reignited in her heart as she began to wait for the answer from the organization.


    At the same time as Zavier escaped away from Dah''s vision, he immediately shared his senses with his other clones to check the status of the original body that was currently apanying Shiranui and Andrew,


    As soon as he ensured that they were still safe and sound, Zavier entrusted his original body to move in the direction of Dah so that she would not remain unprotected for long.


    He wanted to gather all his schoolmates into a single team. Up till now, Zavier had found no clue regarding the whereabouts of Kacie while he had managed to locate the others.


    His clones had been huge help in discovering his allies. Both Nadia and Shiranui had been located by them. Now that he had found Dah, he wanted them to act together with his clone while he went on the lookout for Kacie.


    As soon as he was finished giving out instructions to all the clones, Zavier received a signal from one of the clones who he had sent out to look for Kacie in the meantime.


    It looked like the clone had picked up a trail on Kacie somehow.


    It wasn''t long before the clone that was acting as the original led the girls and Andrew to the ce where Dah had been. In this way all the four girls had been gathered together. All that was left was for the real Zavier to bring back Kacie with him for them to have a happy reunion together.


    Zavier who had just saved Dah ran off to join up with the clone that had managed to locate Kacie. At the same time he ordered the other clone that was working towards the same goal to join up with him.


    p In such a way the trio of masked individuals set out together to look for Kacie while another clone continued to pretend to be the original him and managed to lead the girls forward till the original Zavier returned.</anda>


    Since Zavier had already faced off against the trio of evildoers who appeared to be quite strong among the participants; at least near the top of the pyramid, Zavier became sure that he was capable of handling any kind of situation by himself.


    After all, the level of the strength of his opponents seemed to be very lowpared to him. On top of that when he acted in tandem with the other two clones, Zavier was in an almost untouchable state where he wouldn''t be worried about facing off against any participant or any number of them for that matter.


    Seeing as he was in absolute power, Zavier decided to get rid of all the opponents he found during thepetition to make it easier for his teammates in the next round. Although he was powerful, not everyone in his team was like that. Both Shiranui and Dah who were strong as well had lost to the trio either because their powers were ipatible with the enemy or they were tired out by the enemy that was more in number.


    Zavier wanted to eliminate all those who posed a threat to them early on.


    Zavier was going to be killing of three birds with a single stone by doing that. First of all he would be able to eliminate enemies in the current test who could cause trouble for his group while he was away.

 Chapter 121 Meet By Chance

    Secondly, he would be able to collect cards from all fallen enemies which would solidify his position on the rankings.


    Thirdly, he would be able to eliminate potential enemies who could prove to be a hindrance to his team in the next test that involved the fight between high schools.


    As he continued to be on the lookout for potential enemies with the help of his Time Space eye, Zavier came across a little girl who was carrying a fruit basket that lookedrger than her own size. He wondered how she even managed to carry it with a body that small. It must have been quite heavy for her but the girl wasn''t breaking a sweat as she cheerfully made her way towards him.


    The little girl was as friendly as his little cousin Nadia. She was humming throughout the time he watched her. She was skipping along the path or at least tried to do so as he watched her try to lift off the ground but the burden of the fruit basked kept her tethered to the ground.


    Zavier could feel a special energy coursing through this little girl through the use of his Time Space eye. It was like her bloodline energy was in harmony with her surroundings. She seemed to exude nature just by breathing. There was not an ounce of hostility in any of her actions towards anybody let alone Zavier whom she had only met by chance.


    Something told Zavier that the girl was not even capable of showing a hostile attitude from the way she acted.


    As soon as the girl saw Zavier, she greeted him in an overly loud voice as if she was unable to contain the excitement in her voice. She looked as if she wasn''t the part of the deadlypetition but hade out on a hiking trip in the forest. There was no worry or frustration whatsoever in the way she presented herself.


    Zavier couldn''t help but find that very endearing somehow. When the girl smiled at him, his wariness and anger seemed to melt away.


    The basket in her hand was full of many fruits that she seemed to have freshly picked. There were different kinds of berries and some apples that looked fresh and juicy at the first sight.


    As soon as she greeted Zavier, she took out an apple from the fruit basket and held it out in front of Zavier.


    p Zavier didn''t understand what she was trying to do but from the smile stered on her face, it seemed that she was offering him an apple from her basket as a greeting gift.</anda>


    The little girl seemed to have been born with an irresistible charm that attracted him and endeared her to him. He tried but could not refuse her smiling face. So he reached out and took the apple that she had offered to him.


    Despite what he felt about the girl, he did not forget to check the apple for any toxin otherwise he might have even be the new Snow White. He had only taken it after thoroughly checking the inside of the apple using his Time Space eye.


    Just as he was looked up from observing the apple in his hand in order to thank the little girl, there was no one in sight. It was as if she had vanished into thin air. Not even the ambient mana had been disturbed that would have allowed him to find the direction that she had escaped towards. It all seemed very strange to him. Had it not been for the apple in his hand, Zavier might have even doubted the existence of the girl itself.


    Zavier wondered if he had found some powerful contestant that was capable of casting high level illusions that could fool even him. There was no other exnation for the little girl. But whatever it was, Zavier didn''t think that it meant him any harm.


    He took a bite out of the apple in his hand that looked as delicious as it appeared. The taste was so sweet and the texture felt so soft that Zavier was hardly able to believe that this was still an apple. He finished it in one go and threw away the seeds in the bushes nearby.


    And by the time Zavier was done eating the apple, he hade up with the n to look for the strongestpetitor in this test because that person would yield thergest amount of points. Also, he was going to be the greatest danger to his teammates in the next round.<sub> </sub>


    The clones and Zavier went on their way to find the strongestpetitor but the result of their search was not what they expected.


    It was neither his clones nor him who found the next target. Someone had found Zavier instead.


    It was none other than Reba who had previously been a great headache to Zavier. Zavier had even threatened to fuck her like a bitch if he ever encountered her during thepetition again.


    From the looks of it, the proud Reba had finally discovered the benefits of stealing cards. When Zavier had suggested the same, she had acted like she was disgusted by the very idea and now she was happily prowling the forest in search of her next prey.


    Zavier couldn''t help but smirk menacingly at the thought of what he was about to do to this heartless girl.


    Zavier already knew that she was amongst the strongestpetitors as her diamond body would have been hard to handle for any single individual unless it was someone that didn''t rely on physical confrontation alone. Still, Reba had crushed various individuals and had managed to grab a lot of cards from the opponents that she had beaten down.


    Reba''s sense of self and narcissistic attitude deepened every time Reba crushed a team of yers all by herself. She felt her strength to be invincible amongst her peers and grew more and more confident in it. She grew more fearless as shebed through the forest and threw caution to the wind as she looked for more prey.


    Thanks to that carelessness, she didn''t know who she was up against now. She even failed to notice the two more clones that were still nearby. Zavier didn''t fault her for not noticing as he had already known that she wasn''t very good at perception skills from the time that he had teamed up with her.


    Zavier was put into a dilemma when he was confronted by her. Not because he couldn''t beat her because whether he beat her or not, the point total of his team wouldn''t have changed at all. It was quite meaningless for him to fight her for no benefit at all. He didn''t want to waste the precious time that he could use looking for Kacie or fighting individuals that could actually yield more points to him.


    Zavier decided that fighting the bitch wouldn''t be worth all the time that he would waste. Thinking about that he was about to escape but a string of words from Reba stopped him in his steps.


    "What did you just say? Care to repeat it for me?"


    Zavier''s voice contained as much venom as it could contain. He had decided to avoid her because it was a waste of time for him but the goat had presented itself for ughter and had even taunted the butcher. How could Zavier reject an opportunity like that?


    Reba who was ever ready to butt heads with everyone who was not her, didn''t back down as expected and repeated the words that she had previously uttered in order to lure her victim.


    "Has the standard of men deteriorated so far that they run after seeing the shadow of a pretty woman? I was hoping to run into a man who would be able to handle the needs of a little woman like you but it seems that your qualifications in that regard aren''t enough to call you a man. Go on...run along now."


    She had not only repeated her earlier remarks, she had even added some things to rile Zavier even further. She had gone so far as to use seduction tactics to lure him as the previousment hadn''t seemed effective.


    She had never been good at tracking and perception so she had to lure her targets with bait or a snidement so they wouldn''t try to escape from her before she was able to suppress them. She wasn''t an agility basedbat magician after all.

 Chapter 122 Horror And Shock

    Reba was very proud of her beauty and her strength and she was sure that any man whose system functioned normally would not be able to escape either due to his pride or due to the temptation that she offered to them and as she had expected, even the masked man stopped in his steps and his fiery gaze turned towards her once again.


    Zavier in fact wasn''t able to bear the smug expression on her face that was as insufferable as her unfounded arrogance. He wanted to ingrain fear into the heart of this arrogant bitch. He wanted her to remember that there were people in this world that she couldn''t afford to offend no matter how high a pedestal she managed to step on to.


    After hearing her thoughts Zavier decided to fulfil that promise he had made to her. He was going to fuck her like the prideful bitch that she was.


    Zavier rushed towards her with a bloody aura surrounding his body which was enough to intimidate even her. Reba hadn''t expected to feel this much threat from an insignificant participant like this who was about to run away after a single look at her.


    Therefore, she put forth all her strength to defend against the attack. Once she had deployed her diamond skin, the frustration vanished from her face like it had never even existed. She was so sure that her diamond skin would be enough to deal with the masked man''s offensive that she didn''t even bother to look at the iing attack. She was hoping that the masked man would figure out the difference in strength after the attack failed to leave a scratch on her. This way it would be quite easy for her to retrieve his card. She had used this method on various enemies and had always found it to be quite helpful.


    People found it easier to hand over their cards once they had no way out of the fight.


    Zavier used the blood to cover his hands like a punching glove made out of blood. As soon as it struck the diamond skin, there was a low thumping sound as if mud had fallen on top of solid ground.


    Reba found the result of the confrontation to be within her expectations. The attack strength of the masked man had proved to be quite a bit more than she had anticipated but it was still not enough to break through her tough exterior.


    She smirked as she turned her head and looked at Zavier.


    Zavier found that this girl had a talent for infuriating others with her smug look and the smirk that was as hateful as the worst evil.


    p Zavier felt that he needed more pration strength if he wanted to break through her skin. The blunt boxing glove wasn''t going to cut it.</anda>


    Therefore, he used his blood to form a gigantic de that was quite slim looking. The only reason that the de looked to becking in width was because it had been condensed to the extreme so that the power stored in the de was enough to cut through space itself let alone diamond.


    Reba who had been feeling superior due to her talent so far showed contempt towards another futile attempt that the masked man was about to initiate.


    "Just changing the shape of your skill isn''t enough to contend with me. You need to do better if you really want to challenge me. You should know which school I belong to so don''t embarrass yourself further. Leave your badge and I won''t stop you from going your own way. If I have to take it for myself, I will make sure that you won''t be able to participate any longer."


    Zavier didn''t bother to listen to her idiocy and rushed in her direction to attack with the newly formed de.


    As soon as the de connected with her skin, Zavier found that the defenses were too strong to be broken through without activating the berserk status of the Blood de skill.


    Zavier used his perception skills and found that he was very close to breaking through her defense. He just needed to give his de a slight nudge and it would rip through her body and cleave it in half.


    Both Reba and Zavier felt how close Reba hade to death if not for her defenses having the slightest advantage.<sub> </sub>


    Zavier needed to increase the cutting strength of the de and its pration power. For that reason he knew the perfect tool that could be used in such a scenario; the chainsaw.


    Zavier replicated the principal of the chainsaw and used his blood to form tiny teeth on the de that rotated around the seam of the de and increased the pration power of the de by rotating at a very high speed.


    The mana in the vicinity cooperated with his skill and produced vibrations around the sword by applying pressure on the nearby wind. Both the factors increased the pration offered by the de and even cut through all her defenses.


    Had Reba not pushed her body out of the way at the veryst second, the cleaving of her body would have really taken ce. Fear gripped her heart as she looked at her arm that was currently bleeding from the cut where the de had broken her defenses.


    The facial expression that expressed the horror and shock that she was feeling was put on disy for Zavier to enjoy with snacks.


    For the first time since the start of thepetition, someone had been able to break her defense which was utterly uneptable for her. This was something that she had never imagined before.


    Reba had always considered herself to be the greatest genius among her peers and felt that someone who was even at the same level as her would not be found even if they looked withmps in both hand and a torch in the mouth. She wanted to believe that she was the pinnacle of talent and genius among her generation as she belonged to Caesar high school that was the best of them all.


    Although Reba was flustered, she didn''t give Zavier a lot of time to enjoy her predicament. She immediately started gathering mana as she bared her teeth towards the masked man in animosity.


    Frustrated with the result of the sh, she decided to unleash her unique skill that she had never used against any opponent before since no one had been able to force her to do so. But the fact that she was using it now made her feel humiliated somehow. It meant that she had met someone who was almost the same calibre as her.


    Zavier didn''t move and let her unleash whatever move she was nning to use. It had been obvious to him that she was going for a trump card and Zavier wanted to know what that trump card was. Moreover he wanted to break whatever trump card it was so as to plunge her into the deepest abyss of depression and powerlessness. He wanted her to feel how weak she was in front of the truly powerful.


    As Zavier managed to prepare his defenses by using some blood to form a blood mist cocoon around him, Reba''s whole body started to glow and the radiance of it was enough to put the stars to shame.


    The radiance on her body started to converge before settling on to her fist that was as radiant as the sun.


    Just when Zavier thought that this was a kind of physical augmentation to her diamond skin, she shot out aser from her fist in his direction that was fast enough to put a fist sized whole through his body had it not been for the defense that he had already prepared in anticipation of the strength of her trump card.


    The beam of light put holes into several trees andid devastation to the rocks that it passed through before reaching Zavier who was by then prepared.


    The blood mist solidified into a wall that managed to somehow withstand the impact of theser with the constant augmentation from Zavier.


    If theser hadsted a moment longer, Zavier might have not been able to hold up his defenses but thankfully it seemed as if Reba couldn''t casually use such a move as well.


    In reality, she was using the refractive index of the diamond to concentrate light on her body before using her fist as the medium to release the absorbed light in the form of high intensity beam capable of prating several feet of reinforced steel.

 Chapter 123 Please

    When even her trump card failed to put a scratch on the opponent, Reba had to acknowledge that she wasn''t the strongest participant in the test at all. The masked man was quite a league ahead of her. Whether it was physical confrontation, defense or offensive skills, he was better than her by a huge margin. The only option that she had was to safely escape somehow to save the reputation of her school.


    She rushed out in the opposite direction of the masked man but somehow her surroundings grew ck and she felt that she had lost her vision and was running ck. Then there was a loud thud and she felt the cool sensation of the ground against her skin. She thought that she must have tripped and fallen to the ground. She tried to get up so she could continue moving but sleep took over all her senses and all her limbs refused to listen to her as she fell into deep slumber.


    Zavier had seen her try to escape right afterunching theser on to him but how could he have let her go so easily. He cast an illusion within a second and put her into a briefa. It was an advanced illusion that could only be cast on those with weaker mental strength than the caster. Moreover the difference had to quiterge otherwise the target would only feel slightly sleepy and wouldn''t fall into aa as intended by the caster.


    Thankfully for Zavier, Reba wasn''t any good with spirit energy or mental strength as evident from her non-existent perception or sensory skills.


    Zavier smirked as he saw the running Reba fall to the ground like a sack of rice and moved towards her in a leisurely manner.


    Reba felt that she had been dreaming for a long time and all that had happened with the masked man had been nothing more than a dream that she had conjured because there was no way that someone stronger than her could actually exist.


    But when she managed to open her eyes slowly, the reality of it all struck her like a boulder in the face. All that she had been through wasn''t a dream at all. The masked man really existed and he had also been the one who had put her to sleep. She was horrified to find that her limbs had been tied up to a slim tree and she was unable to move.


    Not that she could escape even if she hadn''t been tied up. Zavier could easily catch her once again if that happened. Therefore, Reba felt that it was futile trying to escape from within his sight.


    The first thought that came to her mind was to beg for mercy from Zavier. A strong man like him might not act petty if she properly apologized to him regarding her earlier transgressions.


    But she didn''t know that Zavier really was going to be petty because he had already suffered under her superiorityplex before and had been raring to teach her a lesson for so long.


    "Please let me go. Strong men like you should let the misgivings of women go. If you want, I am willing to follow you. Before you, I have never met a man who was capable of defeating me so I have never felt the joy of following after a strong man like you. Untie me and I will show be a loyal follower of yours and will carry out your will like my duty."


    Zavier let out a grunt and he made sure that it was audible to Reba. He didn''t bother to give a reply to her. He wanted her to feel frustrated and terrified at the thought of what was going to happen to her.


    Several thoughts flooded her brain but she was unable to figure out the deal of the masked man. He had tied her up and hadn''t even asked for anything from her till then. ording tomon sense, he should have at least asked for her card by then.


    Still Reba felt that it was better for her if he didn''t bring up her card and she too cunningly didn''t mention anything about it. Her freedom wasn''t as important to her as the card that was her only ticket to the Caesar University.<sub> </sub>


    From time to time, she tried to bring up the topic of bing the follower of the masked man but the man didn''t make any kind of response. It was as if he had suddenly be deaf and dumb.


    After she had pestered him long enough, the masked man turned towards her and replied, "You are too weak. Just hand over your card to me and get lost."


    Reba felt ashamed of herself. She had never imagined that there woulde a day when she would be rejected by someone because she was too weak. In the past she had been too strong for anyone to even try to be in her team. She was always the strongest in the room among her peers but now the masked man was telling her that she was so weak that she was unworthy of being a member of his team. How unfair was that?


    Unconsciously, her tears began to flow out of her eyes. She used the diamond skin to break apart the rope that was tying her up and fell down to her knees with a thud.


    "Please, I am begging you. Do not take my card. It is the only thing connecting me to my dream. Please, I am willing to do anything else. You just have to order me and I will follow you willingly."


    Although Reba appeared to be begging him, she had been concocting another borate n in the back of her mind. Since everything else had failed, there was only one thing that she could offer to the masked man if she wanted to save her card from being taken.


    There was only one solution that Reba felt was feasible at this time. Although she had failed in thepetition of strength and had lost to the masked man, there was one battlefield where every man would lose out in front of her. She still had her beauty that men could only drool after. Reba was certain that this masked man would also lust after her if she offered herself to him. She was confident that she could make a deal with him using her body. That was the reason that she had slightly hinted at it in her previous conversation with the masked man.


    Reba appeared to be very indifferent when she thought of offering her body which was quite the opposite of any other woman in her position. It seemed that she didn''t even consider her own body worth anything whenpared to getting into the Caesar University.


    When Reba thought that her current approach seemed to be the urate one she continued to plead her case while still on her knees and tearfully looked at Zavier.


    "You might not know this but the honor of Caesar high school has beenid down on my shoulders now. I can''t lose my card and get eliminated in the first round here. I need to make it to the end. And for that purpose I am willing to do anything...absolutely anything. Please, there must be something that I can do for you. I beg you to not discard me."


    Zavier gave her body a good look. She appeared to be excessively seductive at that moment. Her huge breasts shook with every sob and her flushed cheeks told the story of a girl who was willing to go to any extent. Although Zavier knew that all of this was a n that the bitch was concocting, what man would not act in front of such a show?


    Moreover, this way he could also fulfil the promise that he had made with her that included something along the lines of fucking her like a bitch. Following that line of thought, Zavier nned to fuck her in the most humiliating manner possible in order to teach her a lesson that she would not be able to forget even if she wanted to.


    Zavier bent down towards her with his arms outstretched. Reba thought that the masked man had finally found his conscience and was about to lift her up. Maybe she still was of some use to him; after all she was very strongpared to the rest of the participants even if she was not on the same level as him.

 Chapter 124 F**K Her As If A Bitch

    But her hopes came crashing down on top of her head as the hands that she thought were the helping hands turned out to be the predators that assaulted her breasts.


    Zavier grabbed onto her breasts with so much force that Reba felt that he wanted to tear them off of her chest. She felt fiery pain course through her chest and she felt a significant force pull on her breasts from above.


    Tears flooded out of her eyes and she cried out in pain but she didn''t resist Zavier. She knew that herst attempt at salvation had worked out and the masked man was in heat. But she had never expected that her first experience was going to be so brutal.


    Zavier pulled her up by her breasts and continued to knead them like flour buns. He wanted her to remember this humiliation for the rest of her life.


    Even though he was groping her with his full strength, Reba didn''t cry out in pain even though she so desperately wanted to. Instead she forcefully brought a smile on her face and looked towards Zavier seductively.


    "You can use your body as the price for your freedom if you don''t want to give me your card. You would like that, wouldn''t you?"


    As soon as he said that, he tightened the grip on her breasts as if daring her to say no.


    As expected Reba showed a smile and put her arms around his neck seductively while she clung to him like a ko bear in an attempt to reduce the strength that he was applying to her breasts.


    "With a man as strong and powerful as you, what kind of woman could ever feel unsatisfied? Especially a weak woman like me. I want to serve you with everything that I have."


    As soon as she said that, Reba coiled herself around Zavier like a snake and rubbed her whole body against him, especially her lower body constantly made contact with his spear that was bursting out of his clothes.


    Her actions set a fire inside Zavier''s body that made him feel very ufortable as she continued to tease all his sensitive spots. She seemed to be very skilful in the art of whoring herself.


    Zavier didn''t stop her actions and let her continue with what she was doing.


    When his libido finally took over his senses, Zavier moved his mouth close to her ear and whispered something in her ear.


    Reba seemed lost and he could tell from the nk look that she was giving her in return.


    Therefore he repeated his instructions slowly so she could understand him properly.


    "Use your mouth."


    As Zavier said that, he subtly pointed towards his own dick so Reba would understand what he wanted.


    As if on cue, Reba sat down on her knees and grabbed his dick with her soft hands. She didn''t even bother to take down his pants and pleased him with her hands without actually touching his skin. Unconsciously she had been trying to dy the set oue that she was heading towards for so long.


    Zavier was dissatisfied and a grunt escaped his mouth that attracted the attention of Reba. She understood that her actions had drawn the dissatisfaction of the masked man.


    As such, she could only do as she was told.


    She grabbed onto the belt around Zavier''s waist and undid it with such efficiency that even Zavier was surprised at how adept she was to her new situation.


    She pulled down Zavier''s pants and underwear in a swift motion to reveal the member hidden underneath. It was the first time that she had seen such a thing in her life and she wondered how any woman could evere to hold such a thing on her own volition.


    Today had been a day full of a lot of first times for her and she was destined to have many more of such experiences by the time the masked man would be finished with her.<sub> </sub>


    She grabbed the attentive soldier and started to stroke it slowly by curling her fingers around it and by moving her half clenched fist up and down the length of it. She didn''t know what the normal length of a cock was supposed to be but what she had in her hand couldn''t be normal. It was a bulging rod that was pulsating with vigor and strength like the owner and was impatiently waiting to explore herher region.


    Reba had to follow the will of her captor even though she was afraid of what kind of fate awaited her.


    She put her mouth around the tip of his dick and used her tongue to stimte him further. Before she could ready herself and take it in her mouth slowly, Zavier grabbed the back of her head with his hands and pushed it down her throat in one swift motion.


    She found herself out of breath and gagging on the dick that had been forcefully stuffed into her throat. It became harder to breathe as her face turned a light shade of purple due to theck of oxygen.


    Zavier started to move back and forth and the pressure that was suffocating her came in short bursts which allowed her to take slight breaths in between the powerful thrusts.


    She tried her best to make the masked man spurt out as soon as possible but his stamina surprised her. No matter how much she tried to make him cum, the thrust never seemed and throbbing that she could feel in her mouth continued on without stopping.


    Eventually she felt as if something was about to burst out of the pipe in her throat as she could feel it trembling and throbbing as if aching to throw something out.


    Zavier had finally managed to release his load and he made sure that he released it deep down her throat so she would not even be able to throw it out.


    Her mouth ached, her jaw seemed to have been dislocated as she had trouble closing her mouth, her throat felt like it had been vited as if the snake had explored some new pathway in her throat that even she had been unaware of until that point.


    There was a salty taste in her mouth which she assumed was the taste of the boatload of white stuff that the masked man had released in her mouth. She had wanted to throw it all out as soon as he took out his member from her mouth.


    "Swallow it all. Don''t you dare spit it out."


    Reba was crestfallen as she heard his order but didn''t show it outwardly. She put on a gratified smile on her face and acted as if he had given her a chest full of treasures instead of a load of sperm.


    Reba opened her mouth wide and showed him the inside of her mouth that was filled with his sperm. Then against her every wish, she gulped down the liquid in her mouth and opened it again to show him that she had followed his orders faithfully.


    The masked man nodded his head in satisfaction at her magic trick.


    She wondered how women could ever willingly offer to do something like this for hateful men like the masked man.


    Zavier didn''t give her enough time to ponder on this aspect of the carnal activities and pulled her up by grabbing her hair from the back of her head.


    She followed the force of his hands and managed to get back to a standing position. But this time she didn''t look straight at him but her eyes were stuck on his feet as if she was unable to raise her eyes in front of him.


    She had heard that men liked women who were submissive and it awakened a protective instinct in men if the women acted like a submissive goat in front of them. She had opted to use the same method but Zavier''s burning gaze was about to drill a hole in her. That aside, even the force on her hair hadn''t stopped but had only increased as if the masked man held some hatred towards her that he was unable to hold back.


    Of course, she wasn''t foolish enough to point that out to her.


    "You are a bitch. You should act more like it."


    Reba was dragged by the hair and was pushed against a tree with a wide trunk.

 Chapter 125 Satisfy All Of Us

    She was facing towards the tree while Zavier was holding on to her hair from the back and had his whole body weight against her back.


    She could feel the bark of the tree grazing against her skin but she didn''t dare to defend herself against the abrasions that she was bound to suffer from what wasing next.


    Thence was standing at attention once again and it was time for the knight to explore the inside of her unexplored regions.


    She held her breath as she waited for the pain toe. She put both her arms around the tree and waited for the inevitable.


    Zavier was truly treating her like a bitch as he practically mmed her against the tree from behind and guided hisnce inside her pussy. It felt surprisingly tight inside her which was a surprise for him considering the fact that she had been quite skilful in serving him.


    Pained moans escaped her mouth unconsciously but Zavier ignored those pleas. He didn''t slow down at all despite finding out that it was her first time. He pounded against her back with enough strength to break her stern and each thrust caused her chest to rub against the tree.


    She suffered various abrasions from the constant rubbing of her chest against the rough tree bark and she moaned and groaned loudly in pain.


    She couldn''t believe that this was how she was losing her virginity; like a bitch that didn''t even have the authority to look at the face of the one who was taking something so important from her. But of course she went along with everything that the masked man needed out of her.


    Her eyes grew lifeless and cold as the masked man pounded away into her pussy. She was afraid of what might happen next. She didn''t want him to shoot inside her. She was afraid of getting pregnant with his child but it seemed that everything was going against what she was hoping.


    Zavier let out a low grunting noise as he released hot liquid deep inside her and pressed himself against her back pushing her further against the tree trunk.


    Even Zavier was panting after working so hard for so long while Reba only seemed a little flushed and out of breath.


    He was angered at the sight even further and decided to truly make her work like the bitch that she was. He couldn''t let her off so easy.


    He immediately activated shared mode and called the two clones that had stayed hidden in the vicinity for all this time.


    Reba watched in horror as two more masked men made their way towards her when she had barely managed to satisfy the one in front of her. She was terrified at the thought of what the masked man nned to do with her now that she had fulfilled her end of the deal. He had previously told her that she didn''t have to give her card if she satisfied him. He had asked her to pay with her body and she hadpleted her end of the bargain.


    Reba''s chest tightened at the thought that all that she had done was in vain and her lifeless expression portrayed her inner thoughts for all to see. Of course, Zavier too noticed it. There was a sense of joy in breaking down the bitch that looked down at everyone other than her.


    Zavier didn''t tell her that he didn''t n to take her card anyway. He let her suffer and wallow in despair as she saw two of his clones heading towards her.


    "Did you think that just a bit of that was enough to cover your earlier misdemeanours? Even if I was willing to let you go, I would need to extract theplete value out of you. You need to satisfy my brothers as well otherwise they wouldn''t know what a perfect little slut you are. You need to show them how good you are at whoring yourself. Only if you earn their approval will you be able to leave this ce. How about it? Isn''t it the best offer for a slut who enjoys being pounded by multiple guys at the same time?"


    Reba felt as if a giant had ced its foot on top of her chest and was crushing her lungs causing her to have trouble breathing. She was horrified at the thought of being defiled by the three of them together.


    Her eyes that had lost their light finally exuded only the absolute darkness and hopelessness. Her eyes grew dim but she knew what she was now. As the masked man had previously stated, she had be a slut who had whored herself to save that little dignity and honor that she still felt for being a part of the Caesar High School. Since, she had already done it once, what did it matter if she did it once more, or twice or whatever number of times. The fact remained that she was nothing more than a whore. And since she had done it one, it didn''t matter if she did it with an entire army of them. She had already paid too much of a price for saving that honor that was more important than her own purity. She couldn''t stop now.<sub> </sub>


    Therefore, Reba decided to go through with the ordeal once more. If she wanted to save her card, she had to satisfy the two new masked men as well.


    At this time, she couldn''t help but remember how she had taken all the points that they collected and hadn''t let the two weaklings have any in their cards for fear that their cards would be taken away by someone. Ironically, the result was quite the opposite. She didn''t know whether the two were safe or not, but she did know that the most of their team points belonged to her and she would lose everything if she didn''t follow the orders of the masked man.


    Zavier was able to discern each and every micro movement of her face as he was already standing very close to her. He was able to deduce each thought that went through her mind and knew that her mental state was crumbling. He had to give her some hope so she wouldn''t be a mindless body.


    "Don''t worry, my brothers have excellent coordination and we will reveal our excellent team spirit while we fuck you together. Since you are so good at giving head, it would be against that spirit if I didn''t share that with my teammates as well. In return for your super deluxe services we promise to let you go with your card. But the condition remains, you need to satisfy all of us."


    Reba finally saw a way out for herself. The masked man had gone as far as to promise her that he was going to let her go. Even though she knew that she should not rely on the words of the masked man, she had no other choice at the moment other than to believe in the only method of salvation that was in front of her.


    The three masked men had surrounded her from all sides and were standing so close to her that it made her feel suffocated but she knew what they were expecting.


    She fell down to her knees once again with a thud like some lifeless object had crashed into the ground.


    "I will do as you say but you need to keep your promise as well."


    She finally gathered together her courage and tried to make her intentions clear to her captors. She wanted to tell them that this was thest sexual favour that she was doing for them. There was slight stubbornness in her gaze that wasn''t there before.


    "We want you to use your mouth but not to spout bullshit like this."


    As Zavier said that he held her by the hair once again and moved her mouth closer to his cock. He touched his dick to her lips as if knocking at the door to enter.


    "Move that mouth of yours now. You should know what to do with it now that it is staring you right in your face."


    Zavier let out a slightughter as he found the whole situation to be funny.


    As he had already expected, Reba didn''t let him down and chomped down on his dick once again without a moment''spse. She had already rekindled the hope to escape with her card and was acting like a bitch in heat as she gobbled up his dick with so much expertise that Zavier wondered whether she was a professional.


    As she was busy giving him head, he ordered his clones to move as well.


    Both of the clones took out their members and moved them closer to Reba as well. Reba took turns swallowing them all but Zavier felt that this was still not enough.


    He took a step back and ordered his clones to stuff their dicks down her throat at the same time. Reba tried to pleasure the both of them at the same time but her jaw was unable to hold the two at the same time. She gagged with pain but the clones tried to push it deeper in her mouth. She felt so full that her mouth was about to burst apart.


    "Looks like experience really does matter a lot. Previously you had trouble holding a single one in your mouth, but look at you now handling two at the same time so skilfully. It makes me feel jealous that I am being discriminated against."

 Chapter 126 4 P Play

    From the tone of his voice, Reba felt that something ominous was about to happen to her but she had to keep going in order to end the nightmare that she had found herself to be stuck in.


    Zavier who had been holding himself back returned to action. He grabbed her by her hair and made her stand on her feet again. The clones took their positions by his side as if they understood exactly what he was thinking which they did since they were currently sharing senses.


    Zavier was currently enjoying the sense of pleasure of both his clones and himself that made him reach the state of euphoria.


    A clone managed to lift Reba in his arms and Reba yed along while she wrapped her feet around his waist. She knew what was awaiting her as she felt a burning rod insert itself in her softest part. The force of the pounding that had been intensified by the gravity pulling her downwards messed up her insides as she felt huge pain in her crotch.


    This was after all her first time and it had been brutal already. On top of that, she was now being subjected to repeated poundings that hurt her more than she already was from the previous session.


    Zavier didn''t stand around for long and took his position behind her.


    As soon as she felt someone move behind her she began to dread what wasing next. Another rod rammed inside her anal crevice. She could feel the two of them rubbing against each other inside her. At the same time, she felt a pain that she had never felt before rack her behind.


    The constant thrusts were timed properly and came one after the other as if the two masked men were in perfect coordination. She felt that the viins must have done this to many other women since they were in such synch with each other like a practiced machine.


    Reba had tried in a day what other girls didn''t experience in their whole life. She had been taken simultaneously by two and sometimes even three of them. They took turns hollowing her and prodding her depths without giving her a single second of respite.


    By the end of it, she was barely conscious and all her body was suffering from fits of trembling and twitching.


    Her mouth, pussy and asshole all felt as if they had been vited by giants and her breasts were sore to the point that she was unable to feel that familiar weight on her chest. Her whole body had bite marks where the three masked men had bitten her like beasts. Her wrists were slightly purple from the stoppage of blood at the spot. Her hair was dishevelled and there were signs of abrasions and scratches all over her body by the time the three masked men were tired of her. The thing that she hated the most was that the three men had all cum inside her several times. It was to the point that she felt bloated in her crotch and ass. They were both filled to the brim and were currently overflowing down her legs and the insides of her thighs.


    They threw her to the side after having had their way with her in any way they wanted. Since she had already made a deal with them, she didn''t back out of it midway no matter how bestially she was treated by her three vitors.


    Zavier on the other hand had never enjoyed himself so much before. It was as if he was simultaneously stuffing her three holes at the same time with his dick. He could feel the sensation of her soft lips and her pussy around his dick at the same time while he groped her naturally huge breasts in his hands. The sharing mode made his experience more joyful by manifold. At the beginning he was trying to humiliate her and had spent most of the time trying to think of more ways to torture and terrify her but by the end he had indulged himself in the pleasure of her body and the slightly lewd smell that emanated from her body.


    Even though she was a bitch, the sexual services that she provided him were absolutely top notch. Zavier had to at least give her that after all that he had done to her. He almost wanted to keep her for a while longer but something told her that delving further into the chasm of pleasure might turn him into something he was not.


    Zavier convinced himself that he felt only hatred for the woman that was sprawled on the ground while trembling unnaturally. He didn''t want it to end because it was a new experience for him. Even though he had done it with Shiranui earlier, she was unlike this woman who was dispensable. Shiranui was someone that Zavier wanted to protect with all his might and he couldn''t have hurt her for his own pleasure.


    Therefore, he had released all his frustrations on the bitch that had gotten on his nerves ever since the start of the test.<sub> </sub>


    Zavier didn''t even give a second nce towards the woman thaty on the ground utterly defenceless and unclothed.


    "As promised, you are free to go now. Don''t bother holding a grudge because there isn''t a thing that you can do to us no matter what you do or whosep you manage to crawl into. Let this be a warning to you so you remember to not offend anyone you know nothing about."


    Reba was barely conscious as she heard those words. Relief spread through her whole body as she knew that her hard work had paid off and the masked men had decided to let her go with her card. She finally closed her eyes and passed out in pain.


    If she could somehow find out that the man that she hadid with was someone from her own team, she might havemitted suicide as a punishment for her foolishness. Because that would mean that the masked man never had any intention to take her card in the first ce since it was meaningless. She had willingly offered herself up to save something that the other party had no interest in.


    Zavier left her on the ground and left with his clones while feeling fully satisfied with Reba''s service.


    He was already on the lookout for his next target. Even though he had gotten distracted for a while in between, Zavier still knew what he was doing out in the forest away from his team. While his clone was busy leading the other girls and Andrew, he had shifted his consciousness to one of his clones so he could grab more cards and eliminate more participants at the same time. At the same time, his identity was hidden so no one would truly know who the masked group of terrors truly were.


    Zavier operated his Time Space eye and the other clones went into hiding while following him from the shadows. He wanted to keep his clones in case he needed a trump card. Although he was confident in beating anyone in the test, he still had to exercise caution for any abnormality in the test that he might not have been able to consider previously.


    There was another reason that he kept the two clones hidden beside him. Zavier knew that a single individual appeared to be a more easy preypared to a team of three. Therefore, whatever team had bad designs for him would run at the chance of getting their hands on the card in his possession since he was an easy target.


    For Zavier who was an experienced fighterpared to the rest of the participants, countering a single individual or a whole team was about the same. He could eradicate whole teams alone without the help of the clones that were hiding in the shadows. Still he didn''t go about the task alone and attacked all the targets head on while the clones took the nks. This made the efficiency of the task increase by several fold.


    It didn''t take very long for the point total in his card to increase a lot. At least it was a lot faster than all the other participants which made him progress much faster. There was almost no one that could stop the rise of his team thatprised of his clones.


    Although most of the teams he managed to wipe had average strength and had barely scrounged up anything, some were really fat elephants that made him smile at the sight of them.


    For example, Zavier had encountered a team thatprised of five individuals who all looked strongpared to the other participants and looked surprisingly hideous. It turned out that all of them belonged to the same family and had gone to the same school. They appeared to be quite savage but the amount of points that Zavier managed to get from them was like a riverpared to the small streams that he acquired from normal teams.


    It turned out that the five of them had been robbing others since the start of the test as they had managed to find each other out due to their gics and the simr skills that each of them had.


    Zavier remembered wondering whether their ugliness was also a skill that had been passed down their families throughout the generations.


    Zavier had also encountered a team of three girls who were dressed so scantily as if they were worried that someone would not notice them from afar if they didn''t do so.

 Chapter 127 Sortie

    They appeared to be nothing more than crazy nymphos to Zavier as they kept talking in a seductive manner and tried to charm their way to him. All three of them had clung to his body from all sides and had rubbed their breasts against him in an attempt to get his guard down.


    Zavier had heightened senses and he could tell that the girls were covered in a lewd smell that told him that they had already done it quite a few times.


    It was at that moment that Zavier felt truly disgusted and wanted to throw them out of his sight.


    Heter found that these girls were truly desperate to pass the test as they had been tricking lustful participants into sleeping with them. Afterwards they either drugged them or took their cards by surprise.


    Zavier didn''t wait a moment after he deduced the truth and sent them flying into a rock wall. He took their cards and didn''t bother with the pitiful looks that they were giving him. He didn''t care what the girls did to others but he was angry that they had tried the same thing on him.


    Zavier couldn''t have been more surprised to see that despite being so low on the strength spectrum, the trio of girls had almost the same points as the five uglies he had taken down before. This was enough to show how men truly thought with their dicks instead of their brains.


    Currently, Zavier was on the lookout for more targets. As thepetition began to move towards the end, it became harder and harder to find the participants as the forest was too vast to look for a few individuals. At this point it was already up to luck whether Zavier and his team ran into another one or not.


    Zavier continued to scour the forest despite the negligible chances of encountering another such team. He figured that other teams would be like him and would be on the prowl to look for more targets so running into them was only possible if the both parties continued to look for each other.


    It wasn''t long before he found another batch of enemies that he could exploit. It was a trio of two shy girls who were clinging to a well built man who was trying to act like a peacock unting its feathers in the middle of the forest to attract the females.


    He acted like some big shot but from the way the girls were acting, Zavier was sure that they didn''t actually want to cling to him but only wanted to use him.


    Zavier didn''t judge them for it was not his ce to. What the girls did to survive, it was by their choice.


    The man on the other hand acted as if Zavier had offended him by marching in on his pleasure trip.


    <o>,m The man was just like the trio he had encountered earlier. He had a special energy in his body which meant that he was capable of wielding some kind of bloodline power.</o>


    Zavier acted with caution as he didn''t know what kind of power it was. He mobilized his blood just in case and was ready to counter the bloodline ability of the man.


    Zavier didn''t have to wait long because the man looked quite impatient as he pushed aside the girls who were clinging to him and started gathering mana from left and right.


    Bone spikes began to jut out of his skin and he became spiky like a porcupine in a matter of seconds. The spikes looked sharp enough to prate Zavier''s skin on contact so he nned on keeping his distance.


    The spiked man lunged in his direction intent on engaging in hand to handbat with Zavier in order to take full advantage of his bloodline ability that offered him increased defense and offense.


    Zavier urged the blood in his body and constructed a great sword that had a huge reach. He raised it above his head and didn''t wait even a second before releasing the entire force of the sword downwards on to the rushing man.


    The man had never anticipated that Zavier would bring out a weapon of that size and weight in a matter of seconds out of nowhere. He had thought that Zavier was someone who specialized in hand to handbat since he carried no weapons but the appearance of the gigantic blood sword took him by surprise and instead made a quick work of him.


    As expected of someone with that level of strength, Zavier got a huge bonus in the form of points and his point total crossed the one thousand mark. Zavier didn''t know whether the number of points was enough to earn him the first ce or not but so far he had not met anyone with a point total that was even remotely close to his own. Therefore, Zavier was quite optimistic about the result and his own performance in the test.


    After having grabbed the card of the spiked man, Zavier went over to the two girls and ordered them to give him their cards as well.<sub> </sub>


    As it was with women like them, they fell down on their knees and began to plead with him which unsettled him quite a bit.


    "Please don''t take our cards. We can join with you. In fact we are willing to do anything to be protected by a strong man like you. Anything you can imagine, we are willing to do it, even the naughty bits if that''s what you are into."


    Their voices turned coquettish towards the end and Zavier could tell what kind of girls they were. They were essentially parasites whotched on to the men that they were able to charm by luck.


    Previously they had been clinging to the spiked man and had been manipting him. Now that his card had been taken, they wanted to leave him for the stronger one that was Zavier.


    "I am only interested in your cards. You can keep the rest of your services for others who need them."


    Zavier''s tone had been stern as he conveyed his unwavering demand to them. The girls grit their teeth and handed over their cards to Zavier while somehow trying to hold back their anger. This was the first time someone had rejected them so openly.


    Since they still wanted to pass the test, they didn''t make a fuss and handed over their cards thinking that they would be able to gather more if they managed to survive this masked man.


    As expected the girls didn''t have many points to begin with since they were only relying on the spiked man throughout the test. Whatever points they had were collected with the help of the spiked man. So Zavier''s points total was now slightly over a thousand points.


    In a viewing chamber where Calista was currently viewing the test from, her friend Mabel was staring dumbfoundedly at the screen that showed the individual point total of each participant.


    Calista had noticed the odd behavior that Mabel was disying as she stared at the monitor like it was the most unbelievable thing in the world.


    The screen showed some names including which was one that she was quite familiar with. It was none other than Zavier Adam. His point total was steeply increasing which did not look very odd to her. But for some reason, Mabel was amazed and shocked at the same time while staring at the increasing number of points.


    Whenever Calista tried to ask her what was wrong. She was silenced by Mabel with a finger to her lips.


    Calista was waiting for Mabel to say something as she looked at the point monitor in an attempt to look for her student and the height that she had managed to attain during thepetition. She didn''t want her student to lose out to Zavier after all.


    Mabel was unable to believe that such a high score was even possible. She couldn''t understand how a high school student was capable of wielding such monstrous power that he was practically mowing down all the targets in his path like a maddened bull.


    She had never been so interested in a participant to this extent. If she could, she would have dissected him there and then in order to figure out all his secrets. She still remembered that he had begun to umte points before he had even entered the test region. Despite the intense watch of the Caesar University he had somehow managed to do it. She was sure that this was not all that he was hiding. Based on the speed with which he was collecting points, she could be sure that he was defeating teams after teams of enemies.


    At their age level, such a strength gap between peers meant that a monster had invaded the space between helpless sheep that were only good enough to be ughtered at best.


    In her excitement she looked towards Calista in order to hear her opinion thinking that she must not have known about Zavier previously otherwise she would definitely have introduced him to her first before that other girl. But to her surprise, Calista didn''t look the slightest bit surprised or to that extent even the slightest bit expected.


    It was as if it was some boring routine that she had gotten used to and wasn''t enough to surprise her any longer.


    Mabel couldn''t hold back her frustration and was about to shout at Calista for being so apathetic despite the excellent performance that one of her students was currently giving out on the testing stage.

 Chapter 128 Mysterious Trio

    But Calista unperturbed by Calista''s red face and curled fists continued to watch the monitor to get a glimpse of the number of points that Shiranui had managed to umte. She wanted to brag about her student to Mabel as soon as she managed to find her name on the monitor.


    Calista had already seen the extent of his strength so she didn''t even count him as one of the candidates. He was someone who could unleash strength equal to or greater than her if he wanted to. He was an anomaly in the test.


    Therefore, it was not right for her to match her student against him. Shiranui was strong in her own right and did not need to bepared to a monster like him for recognition.


    But Mabel was unable to understand why Calista was acting so calm and distant as if she didn''t know the person who was making such huge achievements.


    In this way the two equally frustrated women were on toes the whole time; one who wanted to find out about the status of her student and the other who wanted to figure out the secrets that the kid named Zavier was hiding.


    Zavier in the meanwhile was ravaging any group he met in the forest with the help of his clones. While previously he had been capable of handling entire teams by himself,tely it had grown more difficult to do so. No because the weak had been ruled out early and only the strong remained in thepetition but because the number of participants in each team continued to increase.


    The disparity in numbers was to the extent that even Zavier felt it difficult to keep track of all the participants once he engaged in battle. It had happened to him when he had been nked by tworge teams from both sides. Heter found that the two teams had allied together to take down any other teams in thepetition. As a result, even though he managed to take down the two teams despite the number disparity; he couldn''t stop all of them from leaving or running in between the fight.


    He didn''t bother chasing after those who had already run away before the conclusion of the fight. After all, he didn''t want to be someone who let go of the prey in hand to chase after the one in the bushes. He had already eliminated many of the participants so his main objective was alreadyplete. It was already impossible for the remaining party members to survive on their own now that everyone was running about inrge groups.


    Zavier was suspicious of the fact that despite the greed and hunger for more points, participants were gathering into huge troupes. This was something that was against their innate nature. Zavier wanted to figure out the reason for that. Considering their current situation, he felt like he wascking knowledge that everyone else was privy to except him it seemed.


    To get a change of perspective, Zavier changed over to his original body that was busy leading the team thatprised of girls from his school and Andrew.


    The information flooded into him like a runaway train and whispered all the little pieces of information in his mind. Zavier soon found out everything that the group had been through. It seemed that despite the fact that he had tried to keep this group out of trouble while he was gone, they had run into quite a few participants.


    Each time they encountered someone, the opposing group tried to bring them into the fold but they had denied every time and had defeated them. After all, Zavier knew that the other members of the team needed to gain points as well.


    The reason that all the groups had given them was that there was a trio of individuals who were peerlessly strong and were running amok in the test region. They were so strong that not even tworge groups together had been unable to defeat them.


    At first the group hadn''t bothered to take them seriously but when the same thing repeated itself over and over again from different mouths, they felt the need to find out the truth.


    From one of the survivors of the attack of the trio, they managed to uncover the information that the only way to escape the trio was to have arge group which was sorge that the trio was unable to concentrate on a single individual.


    That''s why they were building up arge team to make sure that they could survive the first round till the end.<sub> </sub>


    The distinguishing trait that each group revealed about the supposed monstrous enemies was that each of them was supposedly wearing a mask and simr but odd attires.


    Zavier finally understood the crux of the whole matter. There was no one else to me for this convergence of participants except himself.


    He was the real reason that the size of the teams was constantly increasing. After all he had robbed arge number of participants and had not bothered to eliminate them from the match. This had caused all his victims to roam around in the testing region which had started the rumours that were working against him to such arge extent. It stated that the trio of the masked men were actually a group of highly lethal andbative individuals whosebined strength was something that none of the teams could counter. Moreover, the trio specialized in attacking all the elite students to get a hold of their cards.


    If it had been only to that extent the public wouldn''t have been so against them. The reason was that the trio also raped any beautiful women that they came across in thepetition. Any of the girls could eventually sumb to their animalistic libido. The trio was being portrayed as a bloodthirsty group consisting of brutes who were ves to their libido and bloodlust and who enjoyed partaking in ughter and rape of young girls.


    The rumour that was spreading around had exaggerated the details and had been blown out of proportions to make his team look like a viin and had turned him into some kind of amon viin to all the participants or the final boss that all of them had to take down before the end of thepetition. However this was only one of the reasons.


    The more important reason was that such a trio could not be allowed to move on to the next round where all the teams would suffer against them. They would surely breeze through the next round if the teams were unable to stop them at this stage using the power of their numbers.


    As the rumours grew in influence, the number of students per team started to increase as more and more students started to actively seek cooperation instead of seeking short term profit by stealing more cards.


    They had to make sure that they had a way to survive against the trio after umtion of points. After all, the points collected would only end up benefitting the monstrous trio if they didn''t find a solution to that gue.


    Even Zavier''s team now consisted of more than ten individuals. While he was away, they had added some more students in the group excluding the four girls and Andrew who had been there from the beginning. The new students were quite talented as well considering that Kacie was the one who was acting as the leader in the meanwhile. She had a sound judgement and cool mentality to appraise the value of an individual ording to Zavier''s thinking.


    Like the others, they too wanted to avoid the fearsome trio who were busy looting and hounding the forest as they pleased.


    While Zavier was contemting and digesting the consequences of his actions, an ufortable look appeared on his face. Nadia saw that Zavier looked quite worried and pped her hand on her chest with gusto but all Zavier saw was her t as board chest and thought that her hand must have gotten hurt hitting that tness.


    "Big Brother Zavier doesn''t have to be worried about that group. If by chance we encounter them, I will protect big brother. I might not look like it but I am very strong."


    As she said that, Nadia bent her arm with her fist towards the sky in an attempt to show her biceps to Zavier. Zavier found her antics quite cute but he also knew that her strength really wasn''t something to scoff at. She really had the strength to uproot teams all by herself. He had previously seen the scene of destruction that the constant lightning strikes around her had caused.


    Zavier only looked at her and smiled affectionately while patting her head but didn''t say anything. He was contemting how to solve this dilemma. If it continued the same way he might end up bing the hidden boss of this game that everyone would raid together. He didn''t know how to exin to the others that they didn''t need to be worried about the legendary trioing to find them.


    Shiranui had been itching to get close to him ever since she had spent the night with him. She had given him her most precious thing and she was not wrong to have some expectations from him too. Still, she didn''t impose herself on him from the get go and gave him the space that he needed to acknowledge the position that she had in his heart. Her aloof appearance and cold expression was nowhere to be seen and a beautiful smile adorned her face throughout the journey through the forest.

 Chapter 129 Proposition

    Kacie had been one of the very first to notice the change since she was someone who had seen how obsessed the girl had previously been with fighting and strength and the determined look she had had in the past. Kacie could tell that something had changed in Shiranui for her to be acting like that.


    The more she looked the more she felt that the change had something to do with Zavier as Shiranui would look at Zavier from time to time and the smile on her face would mellow out even further. Even though Zavier didn''t bother to look at Shiranui, Kacie still found him suspicious.


    Shiranui had been constantly walking by Zavier''s side and would act very intimate with Zavier whenever he asked her a question.


    "Are you confident that you can beat the legendary team? I can''t believe that they are that strong as the people here are trying to make them out to be. I think we should be able to handle them with our numbers since those three are the same age as us. How much difference in strength could there be between us?"


    "I don''t know if they are that strong or if the rumours have exaggerated them beyond proportion. But I know that I will be able to hold my own against them if it came to that."


    Zavier was feeling quite embarrassed inwardly since he couldn''t exactly reveal his secret to anyone even if it was his own woman. A secret was only safe it remained with a single individual.


    Zavier put his hand behind her back and reassured her by patting it gently. The warmth from his hand spread across her naked back and Shiranui felt the same feeling that she had felt when he had saved him from the three attackers. She felt that no matter what they encountered, Zavier wouldn''t let her get hurt.


    She smiled at him in return while holding back the impulse to kiss him in front of the others. Since Zavier had still not revealed their rtionship to the others, Shiranui had not done so as well. She wanted Zavier to acknowledge her as his woman out of his own volition. Just the small intimate moments that they shared amongst them were enough to make her feel blissful.


    Their actions were not so hidden since they were travelling in a group and many of the teammates had even begun to gossip behind their backs.


    Even Nadia had started to grow jealous of the increasing sense of intimacy between the two. She had always been the closest to Zavier in their house and even Alissa had not been as close to Zavier as Nadia had been. And seeing that someone was getting in between her and Zavier was uneptable to Nadia.


    She red at Shiranui behind her back and rushed towards the two who were walking in front of her. She had seen how Zavier had been patting her back and was whispering sweet nothings to her.


    She jumped in between the two and tore them apart from each other. As if to unt her position in Zavier''s heart, she locked her arm with Zavier''s and clung to it with all her might. At the same time, she provocatively looked at Shiranui towards the side as if to unt her victory.


    Shiranui could tell from one look what Nadia intended to do but didn''t act angry at all because she could tell that Zavier really did care about the little girl a lot. He had a genuine smile on his face as he patted her head dotingly with his free arm.


    Shiranui knew that acting all possessive might only push Zavier away from her so she didn''t do anything of the sort. Sheughed with Zavier at Nadia''s antics and smiled at her as well. She wanted to have a good rtionship with all of Zavier''s rtives after all no matter what others said or thought; she was Zavier''s first woman. He had told her that as he hadin with her that night in the trunk of that tree.


    The group that he currently was a part of had a better harmony than most of the groups that Zavier had encountered during his sojourn through the forest with his two maskedpanions. All the group members were well natured and talented so there was hardly any scuffle between them as they continued to joke around and moved forward together.


    Still, Zavier could tell that this groupprised of several smaller groups that were most probably divided based on the high school that they were part of or the team that they had belonged to since the start of thepetition.


    Zavier and the girls along with Andrew were also a small group within therge group.<sub> </sub>


    While Zavier was contemting what to do about the three clones that had been made into the worst viins imaginable, the group came to a halt as they had run into another group that wasing from the direction that they were heading in.


    This group was also arge group and at the core of the group were four individuals who were spearheading their operation. Through a weird twist of fate, Zavier had managed to find his acquaintances once again.


    They were none other than the rapist trio Gabby, Ibeniah and Macbeth along with someone Zavier was intimately familiar with; Reba who had somehow managed topose herself once more. But the confidence that had previously been there on her face was lost and in its ce was something akin to paranoia and fear.


    Shiranui and Dah both tensed as they had previously fought the trio and had lost. Had it not been for Zavier, both of them would have been defiled by them by now. Therefore, they had bared their teeth at them and were only waiting for a signal that would indicate the start of the battle. They had previously been outnumbered since they were alone but this time the trio had no such advantage. They could very well take their revenge if it came to that.


    Zavier and Kacie maintained simr attitude towards the new group. It was neither hostile nor polite. It was as if they didn''t have any expression at all. The other group was unable to discern their intentions as well. Zavier felt that Kacie really had the potential to be a leader since she could remain calm in any situation and could give out judgement based on


    Contrary to their previous actions, Gabby and his group didn''t initiate an attack at all. Instead he came forward and greeted them politely before asking to discuss something with the representative of their group.


    Even Zavier was quite surprised to see him carry himself so well. He appeared to exude the air of a noble at this time which had been absent in the past.


    Since the other party had shown a gesture of goodwill and a willingness to discuss instead of going to battle, they couldn''t just decline his request. For that would mean the dissolution of talks and the groups would end up hurting each other which would only benefit the legendary group in the end.


    "I have a proposition for your group that might be of interest to you. Since you seem to be gathering group members as well, I am assuming that you have heard about the legendary trio as well. Tell me something. Have any one out of you actually seen or fought the trio before?"


    Zavier''s group looked towards each other and their nk looks were enough to tell that they had not evenid their eyes on the trio.


    Gabby looked satisfied with the result. His voice became more mysterious and turned a notch lower in pitch as he told them of his own experience.


    "We have group members amongst us who have been the victims of the trio. I and my teammates fought against one of them and we barely managed to escape. At that moment we had already determined that the person was the biggest threat in thepetition. Butter on we found that there was not just one but a total of three masked men who were simr in strength and were a team to boot. Since the strongest of us are unable to match with a single student of that team, we need to have numbers on our side if we want to resist their aggressive approach. Other than that, the trio definitely has the most points out of all of us, probably more than all of us have managed to gatherbined. We are therefore, recruiting more helpers in order to raid the trio. What does your group intend to do?"


    Countless voices in their voices supported Gabby''s im while others remained silent and looked towards Zavier''s group as if they were waiting to see what they wanted to do.


    Gabby had begun to assemble a team that had the ability to take down the legendary trio because a lot of people in his team were the one who had been looted by Zavier previously. And the staunchest believer in this stance turned out to be none other than Reba who had even been raped by the trio.


    Gabby was not so good as to avenge every student in thepetition but was afraid that gathering more points would only lead to filling up the te for the trio to eat in their ce. They had managed to escape somehow thest time because they had only encountered one of the trio. Had they not been lucky, they would not have been holding on to their cards still.

 Chapter 130 Cooperation

    All this that Gabby had done, the whole movement of resistance that he had established was just to safeguard his own interests. Not only did he get an army to protect his card and that of his teammates but he also had a chance to devour the points of the legendary trio if the n seeded. This ambition had made him appear in peace in front of the other group that wasparable to his own in terms of strength.


    No one in Zavier''s group was able to answer him definitely and his earlier words were still ringing in the air. Eventually someone pointed towards Kacie and nominated her to be the temporary leader of their group so she could make the decision. While some supported her, some pointed towards Shiranui as well; at least those who had seen her true strength. But the movement regarding Shiranui couldn''t gain poprity as Shiranui truly wasn''t a people person as she was always cold to everyone other than Zavier. So Kacie was the most popr choice for she was the senior most amongst them and was part of the core group of the team and its strength.


    Zavier knew that these weak willed individuals would eventually turn on her if they suffered losses from the alliance. Because then they would be able to point towards her in the future and would be able to me her for making the wrong decision. Zavier knew that these kinds of people weren''t even worth trusting but he didn''t stop it. The rest of the people in the group supported that thought so Kacie was chosen as the temporary representative that had the authority to make decisions on their behalf.


    She stepped towards Gabby in order to respond to his earlier question. She had deliberated on his question and had felt that the response team against the trio was a good idea assuming that the trio was truly as powerful as the other team described him to be. Even if they were not, they simply had to make sure that they didn''t end up bing the puppets or cannon fodder that Gabby could utilize at whim. This was also the crux of the issue. Although she was willing to be a part of therge group, she didn''t want to lose their autonomy in the process.


    "I understand where you areing from but we will not just believe whatever you have said to be true just based on your face value. Not one of us has ever seen someone like that in thepetition. I am not saying that all of you are lying but I would want to see the viin for myself before handing myself and my group over to you. Your purpose is to go after the trio but there is no need for you to call the shots for everyone. If we were to join your team, you have to understand that we would not be willing to listen to your orders or of anyone else for that matter. You can call shots for your own people while we will decide on our way forwards by mutual understanding amongst ourselves."


    Her demand for autonomy within the group had enabled them to move away without a thought once their goals and methods didn''t align together at any point during the cooperation.


    Zavier felt happy listening to Kacie as he had already known that she would turn out to be good leader material.


    Like him she had probably managed to articte what the true ns of Gabby really were. In reality, he was just hungry for points that the trio had managed to umte during thepetition. Being the leader he had a greater chance to get a hold of their cards which was why Kacie had refrained from handing her group over to the wolves.


    Zavier wanted to stop this cooperation if possible but there was nothing that he could do to stop it from happening. Even if they didn''t agree to Gabby''s proposition there was a chance that other teams would eventually form the alliance and would wage war against his clones. Since he could not stop the eventuality, he preferred to be in the know about what was happening. After all, ''Keep your friends close and your enemies closer'', was a time tested saying.


    Zavier wasughing on the inside at the joke that was being yed on him. In order to hide his true identity and to hide the fact that the legendary trio justprised of his clones, he had to move with the group to attack himself. He had never expected such an oue when he was going about looting everyone in sight.


    And even funnier was that even if therge group managed to take down Zavier''s clones, they would never be able to get their cards since they didn''t have one from the beginning. He could almost picture the despair that Gabby and his team would fall into if that ever happened.


    Although Gabby didn''t like what the girl had proposed but he had to agree to her demand in order to take this group into the fold. He knew that this group had some really useful members and their demands weren''t very wrong from a general point of view. If he showed the slightest greed, his own group might fall apart in an instant.


    Since the groups had agreed to form a temporary alliance until they took down the trio, they began to move together in order to recruit more members for the raid.


    Zavier''s group wasid back andx in theter recruitment movements as they didn''t want to get entangled with Gabby''s plot.<sub> </sub>


    Gabby''s target was to make the team continue to recruit more members until the entire group was 200 people in number. He felt that it was the safest bet to have at least this number of people if they wanted to sessfully raid the trio.


    There was another hidden reason that Gabby had never bothered to tell anyone else. It was that he nned to gather arge number of people together so that after they got their hands on the trio''s cards, it would be easier for his original team to prey on the remaining ones as they would all be close to them.


    Gabby was in fact nning to take over the ce of the trio to wreak havoc since his group would probably be the strongest after the trio after all.


    There were various students in the team who had ideas that were simr to Gabby since the very thing that was holding such arge team together was their greed. Since not a single one of them was as devious and calcting as Gabby, their ns were easier to see through for the others.


    The students understood that they had to be ready to fight for the cards of the trio after the sessful raid. They also had to fight against other groups, which was the reason that the group silently fractured into many different groups with their own leaders. After all every one of the students had realized the need to group together to attain the maximum benefits from this hoax alliance.


    The teams ranged from fifty to one hundred and fifty people. Only a handful decided to refrain from doing so. They stayed as they had been before joining the alliance.


    One such leader was an acquaintance that Zavier had previously encountered during thepetition. It was none other than Kevin who had unted in front of Reba previously about his steel dick and had ended up with a broken one by the end of their confrontation. Kevin had a strong desire to fight and his will was still strong despite the fact that he was injured. Zavier had to appraise him a little higher based on just that. It was quite admirable that his spirit was still standing strong. Zavier felt that either he had a very strong ego that didn''t let him stop or he had no pride at all to begin with.


    Mabel took some time to observe the change in the points on the point screen and found that the changes in the individual points hade to a halt which was too strange. There was no way that the participants would have stopped umting points unless someone exciting had appeared who had broken the game board.


    She excitedly switched the monitor screen to a map that was littered with small red dots. This map was obviously that of the ck Forest region that was currently the stage for the first entry test for Caesar University.


    Mabel was excitedly watching the monitor as the crux of her test started to reveal itself. She could see small dots on the screen that represented all the human life signatures in the test region. She could see them all moving together in sync and a constant stream of dots joining up with them.


    After observing it for a while, she knew that a superpower had appeared on the battlefield. There was nothing that united two individuals with differing ideologies more than an enemy that was powerful enough to plunge them both into despair.


    Mabel had designed her test to single out the most prominent genius or a group thereof so that she could put them through even more stringent requirements. This test would be able to change its difficulty for those who had a higher level of strengthpared to their peers. Numbers had power and Mabel had known that a higher strength could be countered by grouping up people together.

 Chapter 131 A Common Enemy

    Based on that, the more powerful an individual turned out to be, the harder would be the test for them as more people would group together to fight it out with them for survival.


    But even Mabel had never foreseen the fiasco that was happening right in front of her eyes. She had never expected that someone so strong would appear that he would force all the remaining participants to either go into hiding or to join together.


    This was the biggest gathering of yers so far to defeat amon enemy. Mabel looked at the leading name on the points screen. It had remained unchanged for a while now. She didn''t know for sure if he was the one who had given the rest a run for their money but she believed it was him. It could only be him.


    Zavier had unknowingly stepped into thend mine that had been put in ce by the designer of the test to single out the leading figure in thepetition.


    Mabel was curious about the person who had earned the ire of such arge group. She also wanted to know who the person who had triggered such arge movement was but she had to wait until the end of the first test in order to know that information.


    Almost all the participants had finished gathering into groups of various sizes but the strongest groups were undoubtedly Gabby''s group thatprised of two hundred students and Kevin''s group thatprised of one hundred and fifty students in total. There were several groups that were made up of fifty odd individuals but these groups were mainly vultures who had no intention of taking a part in the raid itself. The only reason that they had even gathered ande together with the other groups was because they wanted to take advantage of the pandemonium that would surmise when the raid would take ce.


    These were the people who were indifferent to the misfortune of the others and were only interested in their own benefit. Zavier was quite wary of this type of individuals because they were able to stab anyone in the back without a single thought.


    Even though these groups existed, there were others who wanted to really fight against the trio. This groupprised of Gabby''s group and Kevin''s group. Since they both wanted to raid the trio, they decided to join hands but retained the leadership of their own groups instead of merging the two together.


    This was so that they would be able to fight it out amongst them if they managed to defeat the trio.


    Zavier was not one to stay passive and wait for the groups to find him. He waited until most of the details had been finalized between the two groups before switching over his consciousness to his clones that were in hiding up until that moment. Zavier had told them to keep their heads low until he told them to. He didn''t want to give away the whereabouts of his clones now that every participant in the forest was after him.


    As soon as he opened his eyes in the body of his clone, Zavier started to make his preparations for the uing raid. He knew that the fight with the other participants was inevitable. Therefore, he was nning to make sure that the other participants get to know the consequences of shaking down a tree as powerful as him.


    He looked at the other two clones beside him and found a weakness. The clone with the perception system was quite weak when it came to offensive power or defense for that matter. The only thing it was good at was pre-empt danger which was unnecessary at this point of time when he had urate information about the whereabouts of his enemy and even knew what they were nning to do. After all he was also among the attackers.


    He had previously wondered if he could switch the consciousness of the clones amongst themselves and as a result of a little tinkering he had found out that not only was it very feasible, it also made the strength of the clones shoot up by a huge margin.


    To increase his firepower, Zavier switched over the consciousness of the clone with the Mesmer system that was currently in his room to the one with the perception system. As a result he now had a powerhouse in the form of the clone with the Mesmer system that had made the greatest progress among all of his existing systems.<sub> </sub>


    The trio now consisted of two clones that formed the basis of their offensive strategy. They had the strongest offensivebination that Zavier could have pulled off. One was him and the other was the clone with Mesmer system that was now inhabiting the body of the clone with the perception system.


    Zavier was feeling confident after a wild arrow from his bow had hit the target quite urately. Therefore, he went ahead with his n to attack the group that was being assembled against him. He felt that the element of surprise was the biggest difference between the winner and the loser in any game or battle. Therefore, he was going to strike when it was impossible for the enemy to even anticipate his strike. This would not only cause more damage to the enemy but it would also allow Zavier to stop them from gathering even more alliance members.


    Zavier wasn''t mad enough tounch a head on offensive on the two teams trying to pin him down. The ns and strategies in his mind had yet to take the form ofplete and impossible fantasies and he still had his wits about him so he didn''t think he was a superhuman who could fight a war by himself.


    As soon as the other party had gathered into such a huge group, thepetition had be something more than a simple test. The fights and skirmishes that had been happening all over the forest had turned into a fully fledged war with Zavier''s clones as the ultimate evil guing the forest. Not only that, it also had the elements of internal strife that existed between alliances in such situations, and not to even mention espionage that Zavier himself was carrying out. He was basically supplying information about the alliance to the enemy.


    It had everything that Zavier knew about war in his previous life. This was no doubt a battlefield and Zavier wanted to tell his enemies that too. He wanted them to be afraid of when they would be attacked by the mysterious trio. He wanted to terrify them so they would stay on toes all the time.


    By doing this, Zavier would be able to wear down the enemy without exerting himself too much and he would only have to make brief appearances amongst the enemy to aplish that.


    He was nning to do the same thing that had happened to his group during the ss mission to the enemies but he struck off that thought as soon as it came to his mind. The reason was that his schoolmates were also a part of the alliance. He didn''t want to burden them because he could not tell them to rest at ease just because he had a gut feeling that the enemy wouldn''t hurt any of them specifically. After all he couldn''t reveal the truth of the mysterious trio to them. Another reason was that Dah was a part of the team as well. He didn''t want her to experience the same feeling again. She must have been traumatized by the previous experience and he didn''t want to open up her wounds all over again.


    Still, Zavier didn''t feel that his n to strike earlier was bad.


    Heunched an offensive towards the team that was stationed closest to the clones. The team itself was spread out and was not focused on defense at all. There were clusters formed amongst the whole spread and Zavier targeted those clusters first. This was because he was outnumbered immensely and had to take care of his targets before they could be reinforced by more teams from all around them.


    To increase his efficiency even further, Zavier didn''t try to hurt any of the participants seriously. He only incapacitated them and made sure that they wouldn''t be able to wake up before the event was over.


    The students who were busy nning to get their hands on the cards of the mysterious trio after the raid were taken by surprise at the sudden onught of the masked men. They were fumbling about in terror and were hardly able to stand properly. Their stumbling legs and fidgeting bodies were clearly telling the story of how useless they were in times of crisis.


    They had been too full of themselves thinking that the trio would be trying to hide from them now that they had managed to gather thisrge group. The target that they had been nning to raid had sneaked up on them first which they were unable to handle.


    Zavier took advantage of the confusion and paved the path with bodies strewn about unconscious of what a gruesome sight they all formed. The students who kept rushing towards him fell down one after the other from a single strike from his clones while none of their attacks had managed to reach Zavier or his clones. They were both hallucinating under the illusions and attacking their own teammates due to that or they were asleep on the ground amidst all themotion feeling as if the hard ground was the mostfortable bed that they had everin in.

 Chapter 132 Confusion And Panic

    The clone with the Mesmer system was being very helpful as his illusions could be cast on groups thanks to the huge difference in spiritual strength between Zavier and the mobs that he was fighting.


    Zavier truly felt that he had done a good job keeping this clone safe. It had managed to progress a lot thanks to the constant efforts that it had put in. Moreover, the clone with the Mesmer system was someone that the mobs would never be able to grind down as it had a huge reservoir of spiritual strength and mana and all the spells and illusions it was casting required a very low amount of fuel to cast.


    Therefore the clone was throwing spells and illusions everywhere without a care for the world and the enemies were terrified of what was happening. People were falling unconscious for no reason and amidst themotion, no one had the calm to even check whether those whoy on the ground were still alive or not.


    Zavier on the other hand did not reveal his trump cards at all. He didn''t use the cold ze that was the strongest magic skill that he was able to wield. He was only casting generic magic that he had learnt andmon skills that he had been taught at school. Sometimes he even used the ''Float'' magic to send the kids up in the air before dropping them down immediately. The panicked students didn''t even have the sense to cast float on themselves to avoid falling down. Their mind was in turmoil and they became unable to protect themselves from the fall.


    Zavier wasying waste to the alliance with simple and generic magic as that. When he was against a bigger group, Zavier would employ his Blood de skill to avoid all their attacks from hitting him. Even though the attacks of those students weren''t enough to take him down instantly, theirbined effect could even take him out. So he was being cautious when dealing with groups. He had no experience fighting a group asrge as this after all.


    Zavier and his two clones were like wolves with sharp and terrifying ws among sheep that were hardly able to defend themselves. The whole gathering of students were unable to stop their advances and were busy running about in panic and their faces painted with horror.


    It went Zavier''s way for a while and he didn''t face any difficulty at all but it wasn''t that long before someone started shouting to gather the others together.


    "We have to fight together or they would keep striking us down. Gather up around each other. Watch each other''s backs."


    Zavier didn''t have time to find out who it was that was spoiling his n.


    His attacks increased in efficiency and a blood mist surrounded him at all times. This orb of blood mist around him was not only being used for defense but was also being used to materialize different weapons as he required based on the dynamics of the battlefield.


    At one time, he even unconsciously used his blood to take the form of a baseball bat and struck down a student with that. He remembered feeling like he had hit a home run with that swing as the student had been unable to get up after that strike.


    Zavier wanted to make use of the confusion and panic to take care of as many students as possible but the annoying idiot who was gathering all the students in his direction was getting on Zavier''s nerves.


    As expected, it didn''t take long for the students toe out of their stupor. They gathered their scattered wits and started to think rationally. No one rushed in blindly towards him and started to get back.


    Even though not everyone gathered towards the person who had been calling out to them, they still had enough sense to determine that they couldn''tst alone against the trio so they started to form up behind each other for support.


    Zavier could tell that the next part of the battle was going to be troublesome. He really wanted to strangle that guy for ruining his ns. But it was not as if Zavier had expected the panic tost till the end. Zavier would have been a fool to do that.


    The fighting was no longer as chaotic as it had been before. Previously, the students had even struck each other in the confusion while trying to take down the trio but it was no longer the case.<sub> </sub>


    They had organized themselves in the forms of small teams and were fighting back against him and his clones but thanks to the ''Blood de'', they were still being pushed back.


    Zavier too stopped his careless and indiscriminate offensive against the alliance of the students. He started being calctive of the consequences of his actions so as to get to get the maximum benefit out of the energy consumed for thepletion of those actions.


    Zavier was constantly using the Time Space eye to keep an eye on the students who were slowly gathering around him to minimize his escape routes and to fire skills at him from all directions so that Zavier wouldn''t be able to avoid it.


    Unfortunately for them, the blood mist surrounding Zavier made sure that even if the attack came out of the ground below Zavier, it still wouldn''t have been able to make it past his defense made of extremely flexible blood mist.


    Moreover, Zavier''s perception system was quite advanced through thorough practice and was able to determine any possible danger to the user within a certain limit. Therefore, any life threatening situations would cause an rm to ring inside his head. It was like the siren of a fire vehicle in the middle of a congested road.


    So far, not a single student had been able to give him that sense of danger that he was used to feeling from his enemies since all his enemies that he had encountered so far had been powerful beyond his imagination.


    Since there was no danger, Zavier managed to cut down one individual after another. The medic team that should have been taking care of the patients whom he had struck down earlier were nowhere to be seen. It felt as if the university no longer cared about the students participating in the test.


    In reality, medical team was actually facing the crisis of a life time dealing with all the mess that Zavier was busy causing along with his clones. There was a huge shortage of personnel who were able to carry wounded of the battlefield so that they could be treated. There weren''t enough stretchers or enough personnel to handle the crisis and yet Zavier was busyining that they didn''t care if a student lived or died.


    Zavier was busy keeping an eye on the battlefield while taking care of all the small fries in his way when an rm rang inside his whole body. It was like a jolt that was able to bring the dead back to life. Zavier knew what this was. This was obviously his danger radar operating with unimaginable uracy that was pushing him to do something in order to avoid the danger that was heading towards him from his blind spot.


    Blind spots didn''t exist for Zavier as he had the Time Space eye but his attacker was not privy to that knowledge. But since Zavier was too busy trying to avoid the attacks and skills directed at him from the student alliance, he only noticed the danger when his senses started to scream at him.


    Only then did he notice a dagger that seemed to be shooting towards him with the purpose of taking him down with a single strike. The dagger had been aimed at the middle of his neck and had he not moved away at thest possible second, the dagger would have pierced through the back of his neck. Such an injury was definitely life threatening to say the very least. Given the condition of the medics at this time, Zavier was sure that he would have died despite what the university had imed before the start of the test.


    Zavier didn''t know that his attacker had to try at least this much if they wanted to take down one of the trio. After all, the three of them were way stronger than the rest of them. The attackers would have been happy if only they were able to leave a single scratch on the bodies of the trio. Most of the students had fallen without even touching the hem of their clothes due to the enormous difference in strength between the two parties. The equilibrium between the two parties was being maintained due to the excessive number of the alliance and the excessive amount of stamina and strength that the trio wielded.


    Although Zavier had managed to dodge the dagger earlier the danger rm at the back of his head did not shut down at all. He was feeling extremely ufortable as if the dagger was about to pierce through him once again.


    Zavier formed a blood cocoon that was a little stronger in terms of defense so that he could ignore the attacks of the other students for a while. Activating the Time Space eye allowed him to have a holistic view of the entire situation. Every little detail was visible to him and he could even zoom in on some details. This way nothing could escape his sight.


    It was not long before he found the anomaly that was threatening him. The dagger that he had dodged earlier was nowhere to be found.

 Chapter 133 Morale

    Logically, the dagger should have fallen somewhere in front of him since he had been attacked from behind with the throwing dagger.


    Zavier heard a familiar whistling sound and turned around just in time to see that dagger heading towards him once again. Just as he dodged the iing dagger, something even more shocking happened. The dagger also turned towards him mid air and whistled towards him again.


    Zavier had finally found a troublesome enemy who was capable of threatening him. The force behind the dagger was enough to pierce his blood mist. He had to prepare a strong defense like he was currently using. But the price for that was the loss of offensive capability. Otherwise there would have been too many holes in his defense that the hidden enemy could take advantage of.


    Zavier kept an eye on the dagger that was more like a precision guided missile that was going in for a surgical strike to take down the enemy. Unfortunately, Zavier was the ultimate target of the stalking missile.


    Zavier inferred that there had to be someone who was manipting the dagger and was supplying the magical energy to the dagger as it continued to haunt him. There was no other way that the attacker could have manipted the dagger.


    Following that Zavier used his perception skills to the extreme. The gears in his mind turned so fast that they began to heat up as he slowly but surely saw a world that he had previously been unfamiliar with.


    He started to see a colorful mist surrounding everything around him. All the skills that were being cast on him were basically made from that rainbow hue. All the students had a cluster of it in their bodies. Even the atmosphere was full of it.


    But that wasn''t what he needed to see. He was looking for something else.


    He followed the trajectory of the dagger and was finally able to sense what he wanted. There was a thin almost invisible thread connected to the back of the dagger. This was simr to the rope dart from his previous life. A rope was connected to the end of the dagger to increase the range of the dagger and to make it even more flexible in both defense and offense.


    The principle behind the missile like dagger was the same except that instead of a rope, the thread was made up of mana entirely. The attacker had managed topress mana so well that he was able to connect it to the dagger to control as he liked.


    This way, the attacker was able to manipte the weapons from a distance like a skilled puppeteer manipting the mannequins with strings.


    For sure, this was the most troublesome skill that Zavier hade across during this battle. Since he was busy fighting others, the constant attacks and sneak attempts annoyed him to the end.


    But the skill itself had a weakness that only some of the skilled mages were able to figure out. Even Zavier hadn''t thought of it before and had only figured out when he noticed the thread attached to the end of the dagger. The thread could be followed back to the individual who was manipting the weapon. Taking down that attacker would definitely allow Zavier to finally take a breather from the constant pursuit.


    His eyes hungrily followed the thread that had the attacker at the other end. Soon he was able to uncover the identity of his silent assant.


    Zavier was surprised to find that the attacker was someone he knew quite well. It was none other than Kacie, his cousin.


    He had spent so much time with their family but he had still known nothing about the abilities of his aunt Valerie and his cousins Kacie and Nadia. That was the reason that he was being taken by surprise during thispetition as well. He had previously been worried about the well being of Nadia, his naughty cousin but then he hade to know of the terrifying ability that she had been hiding behind that innocent facade. The terrible lightning that was obliterating her enemies had left a deep impression on him.


    Same was the case with Kacie at this moment. It was too unexpected and too powerful. Adam family''s genes really were top notch.


    Now that he had determined the identity of the weapon maniptor, Zavier was reluctant to take care of the attacker since it was his own cousin. He couldn''t hurt her no matter how much she attacked him.


    Faced with ack of options, Zavier kept backing away from her in an attempt to avoid the barrage of attacks that Kacieunched at him every now and then.


    As he started to back away, he kept an eye on Kacie the whole time; in reality he was trying to determine the range in which Kacie could sessfully control her weapons. He could save himself by staying away from the control region.<sub> </sub>


    It wasn''t very long before Kacie started to move in order to carry out her attacks. Zavier proceeded to maintain the same distance from Kacie which neutralized her attack techniques thoroughly. Since he couldn''t deal with her properly, he just stayed away from her.


    Meanwhile, the students had organized themselves and were working together to target Zavier and his clones. Zavier could not have that while fighting with such a huge disadvantage in terms of number.


    Zavier knew that he had to do something if he wanted to continue mowing down his enemies with ease otherwise it would not have been long before he would be taken down by thebined offensive of his peers.


    He rushed up to a small hill that was suspiciously erect in the middle of the clearing. He put his hands on his hips and looked down at the masses with an arrogant demeanor as if he was the king looking down at his subjects. Of course, instead of the king, Zavier was the viin in the story.


    Since no one was able to look at his expressions or face due to his mask, his arrogant posture was enough to tell the people of his attitude towards them. He was openly mocking their efforts that had been rendered futile by his overwhelming strength andbat potential.


    "Listen up...Ants. Don''t go thinking that you can take down a giant just because you are more in number. A single stomp is enough to crush you bugs back to oblivion. Seeing you try so hard to chase after your puny little fantasies makes me want tough out loud. Scum should know their ce well. Nobody likes a peasant who pretends to be rich by wearing clothing of the nobles because it looks unnatural and out of ce. You trying so hard looks very simr to that in my eyes. All your techniques, your magic skills and all your killer moves are child''s y in my eyes. Don''t embarrass yourselves by harboring thoughts about defeating us with your little strength. You are unqualified. Not to mention the few hundred of you, even if there were a few thousands of you, it still wouldn''t make a difference. You want to know why?"


    Zavier''s voice was echoing around the forest. Zavier was using magic to amplify the sound of his voice and to enhance its range.


    Silence took over the battlefield in response to his words.


    Nobody had expected that his tongue would be even more venomouspared to his actions, when he started to spew out discouragement for the entire alliance of students. This was a direct attack on their morale and their will to fight.


    Zavier didn''t care about these individuals any way. It wasn''t like the students could actually figure out their identity as long as they didn''t get defeated.


    Since there was no answer to his question earlier, Zavier proceeded to give them the answer himself.


    "Because, you are no different from ants. No matter how many of you weaklings gather together or how much effort each one of you puts in, you won''t be able to push back a giant."


    This sent most of the tender hearted students into depression and made them feel as if all their efforts were truly futile. This was a nned psychological strike that was targeted at their will to fight and their will to ovee hardships.


    Zavier had wanted them to feel helpless in front of the terrifying strength of his team. The result was as he had expected as well.


    The drawn weapons fell on to the ground with a ng and some of the students began to run away thinking that it was the best option if they wanted to survive.


    Zavier didn''t do anything and let these individuals run. He wanted to thin out their numbers any way. The degree of fear that he had nted in their hearts was enough to make sure that not one of them would return to fight against him again.


    Even those who were fighting against him despite the picture that he had painted for them were close to sumbing to the pressure of his words.


    In times like these good leadership is the only thing that can boost the morale of the group. Zavier was happy that none of the many leaders of the alliance had stood up to take the mantle.


    He happily chopped away at his enemies and beat the crap out of many of them easily. With their morale having suffered a blow, their attacks had not been as sharp as before so it was as easy as snatching candy from a little kid.

 Chapter 134 Dogfight

    Zavier felt slight humiliation when he had to take down such vigorless enemies but that didn''t mean that he wasn''t happy with the current situation. He wanted the current state of his enemies tost for as long as possible. This was also enough for his group to get a breathing room.


    As he had expected, it was not long before a leader appeared out of the group. It was Gabby who had climbed up a favourable spot within the battlefield and was visible or at least audible to all the members of the alliance from his position.


    In fact with his magic, he could have easily influenced everyone from wherever he was on the battlefield but visual stimtion was the best there was. Therefore, he not only used sonic waves to increase the amplitude of his voice, he also put on a brave front as he stood at the top looking down at his subjects with benevolence and grace that befitted a leader in times of crisis.


    "Nothing has changed. Didn''t we expect that it was going to be hard? Wasn''t that why we gathered such huge numbers? Did you all think that it was easy to take down the enemy that we had gathered more than four hundred people to fight against?"


    His voice echoed around the forest and resonated with the hearts of the alliance members who were all shaking their heads as if to answer Gabby''s questions but none of them was able to utter the slightest sound from their mouths due to how ashamed they had been feeling.


    "Then why have you forgotten that all of us are supposed to be a team to fight against these three inhumanly strong opponents. Since they have strength on their side, then we have the numbers. No matter how strong they are, they will eventually get tired. Even they have limitations while we still have quite a force that is enough to whittle their strength down little by little. So, stand up and fight together with yourrades who have sacrificed themselves so you would be able to take the enemy down. Don''t let their efforts be in vain."


    It was as if Gabby had ignited a fire inside the alliance members. Some even erupted like a volcano with overflowing emotions and rushed at Zavier''s team without a thought for their own safety. These were the ones who had be too inspired by Gabby''s words and had rushed to avenge the sacrifice of theirrades.


    While these people were mindlessly rushing, the other alliance members were feeling re-energized and felt as if all their strength was being returned to them. Their trembling legs and shaking hands were now steady and there was a fire in their hearts that wouldn''t be extinguished until they managed to defeat theirmon enemy.


    Zavier knew that the effect of his psychological tactics had worn off. The bonus round was over and the difficulty had been raised quite a bit.


    So Zavier too changed his approach. He was no longer worried about hurting others. He activated shared mode and called on his clones towards him. Both of his clones paved their way towards him with all their strength and many of the alliance members were sent flying in their attempt to do so.


    Shared mode allowed them to feel and experience everything that the other clone was experiencing. It was like a multifaceted view of the same battlefield.


    Zavier gathered up his clones and rushed into the huge group of enemies in front of him who had now gathered together like his group as a result of the inspiration provided by Gabby.


    The alliance members had formed a defensive circle so that each of the members could reinforce the overall defence of the circle. This would also allow them to have each other''s backs as they had the view of the whole situation. They could trust their teammates to have their backs.


    Zavier charged towards them and used all his blood to coagte into the shape of a heaven epassing hammer. The three of them struck down at the same time as their movements were synchronized together through the shared mode.


    The defenses that the alliance had managed to gather after a lot of effort were torn down in an instant. It was as if several maddened rhinoceroses had trampled their way through the enemy group and had rushed into their midst. The wolves had once again made their way into the flock of sheep and the result was bound to be a ughter.


    Many of the contestants were rendered unable to fight because of the heavy blows of the blood hammers. Some of the contestants had used earth walls right away and had tried to cushion the attacks headed towards the groups but the hammers had torn through the earthen barriers like they were made up of paper.


    All their barriers had been unable to stop Zavier''s dash as he rushed into them. Various attack spells and debuffs fell on him but his hammer had long since transformed into a blood cocoon around him. All of their attacks had been rendered useless through the use of his excellent defense that not a single participant had been able to prate until then.<sub> </sub>


    So far the rain of attacks did not have an effect on him and his clones since those participating in this group raid were all on the weaker side. The ones who were stronger were waiting for a chance. They were trying to save their strength so that they would be able to take the cards of Zavier and his team for themselves.


    For that to happen, they needed to preserve their strength in order to fight against the rest of the alliance members. After the trio, they thought themselves to be invincible so they had not thought of the remotest possibility of failures. All of them were expecting it to rain cards and points after the defeat of the legendary trio.


    As expected, even though Gabby and his team were participating in the operation now, they were hesitant in using their true strength against him. One reason was that they knew that even their full strength was useless against them. And the second reason was that they only wanted to put up appearances in front of the alliance members so that they would have the leadership card at the end of the battle as well. They were doing all this to make their right over the card stronger.


    Macbeth and Ibeniah used the same techniques as earlier while Gabby supported them with his sound magic. The three of them carried out an offensive on one of the clones of Zavier.


    Zavier had seen their skills beforehand and he had already figured out that they were not really putting in their best effort so he didn''t pay much attention to their y and continued to take down more and more of the enemy group.


    While Ibeniah continued to attack him in his half werewolf form, Macbeth used his swordsmanship skills to fight but Zavier knew that this wasn''t the extent of their abilities.


    Bat explosives soon surrounded him and this gave Macbeth and Ibeniah the chance to back off and take a breather.


    Even though the bats were too much in number, there explosive radius wasn''t asrge and the damage they cause was almost nonexistent to Zavier, he still had to watch out for them which annoyed him to no end.


    As soon as he got rid of the shadow bats, Zavier rushed towards more group members but the bulky Ibeniah once again attacked him from behind. Both Macbeth and Ibeniah continued to pester him with silly attacks like these. The only thing that they managed to pull off with this was that they had sessfully pissed off Zavier.


    The alliance members on the other hand thought that the three leaders had finally managed to control the masked men. For a few minutes since they had taken the lead in battle, the masked men had been unable to attack others. They were too preupied handling the leader''s team.


    In reality, Zavier wasn''t too bothered about their little y since the others had slightly backed off of him ever since Gabby and the others had started to put on their show. As the three tried to consume his strength as much as possible while saving on their own strength, Zavier too stopped responding to their little diversions and shy disys. He was busy recuperating as well.


    Zavier also got to witness the ultimate technique of their group as Macbeth once again conjured up a horn that was slightly smaller in sizepared to the one he had conjured in the past to escape from him. Ibeniah too acted in the same manner as if he was supplying him with the mana to cast the spell. Gabby then moved forwards and screamed in the horn in order to cast his illusion on the trio.


    Although it looked quite a powerful attack to the others, Zavier knew that it was only a hollow shell. It was basic sound amplification and nothing else. Even the horn hadn''t materialized properly like it had in the past. It still looked all blurry and transparent like it was only the ghost of the original.


    Zavier didn''t even bother protecting himself since it was amon shriek to him due to his high spiritual strength.


    Gabby''s own teammates on the other hand were affected by the sound blown out by the horn. They felt slightly dizzy which only worked in the favour of Zavier who pounced on target after target and looked as if he was unstoppable.

 Chapter 135 Embarrassed

    The three were too busy acting as if they were tired from their earlier attacks. The looks on their faces told the onlookers that they had tried their best and had exhausted themselves when they had revealed their teambination attack that was also their trump card.


    With the finale of the show, the three could finally retire from the fight with a proud expression in the name of recuperation so that they could contribute to the fight once again. In reality, they were in perfect condition and didn''t need any rest at all but the masses didn''t know that and believed thempletely.


    Zavier finally started to enjoy the thrill of the fight that he had been trying to suppress for so long. He didn''t want to make it look like he was some battle crazed maniac but then he thought that no one would know anyway who he really was. So, there was no harm in getting a little carried away.


    He had fun practicing the Blood de skill as he continuously shaped blood in the form of various different weapons; some of them were so unconventional that the students were dumbfounded at what the masked men were doing. For example, he would sometimes pull out a baseball bat, tennis racket and even a golf club just for sport. He felt like he was ying a game from his past world with unending mobs which made him excited and made him want to try out all the things that he had missed.


    All the opponents who tried to attack him were sessfully pushed back by him. Some were sent flying into the nearby trees breaking the wind out of them while some fell down at the spot and to the onlookers it looked as if barely any strength had been used to put them out of their unconsciousness.


    Seeing the scene where three demon kings were constantly sending the students flying out of the encirclement, some of the weaker students didn''t even dare to get close to them. They were sure that they would be breaking a few bones at the very least if they faced the same treatment from the masked men.


    Zavier was having a lot of fun fighting his heart out when warning signal ran wild in his wild and he used all the blood to form a cocoon again. He couldn''t afford getting hit when all his senses were screaming in rm.


    As soon as he prepared his defense, a thick lightning bolt descended to the ground and hit him squarely on the shield.


    The blood shield wavered slightly but managed to hold strong under the heavy impact of the lightning strike.


    Zavier had a bad premonition as he had seen simr lightning before. He turned around and found that he was standing face to face with the caster of the skill. It was none other than his other cousin, Nadia whose strength he had already witnessed.


    Zavier felt that it was unfair that both the opponents that he had found to be threatening turned out to be his cousins. He could not even hit back for fear of hurting the two of them.


    Next to Nadia was none other than his own clone who looked slightly embarrassed attacking him.


    "Don''t be too afraid of the bad guys. I will be sure to protect you."


    The masked man almost let out augh at the scene. He found it to be too ironic and funny. She was telling him that she would protect him but she was attacking him at the same time.


    Nadia patted her t as a runway chest as she proudly looked at his original body and smirked.


    Seeing that the clone had nodded in response to her protection, Nadia felt even more confident in herself.


    She fished into her pockets and hurriedly searched around for something. Zavier knew that she was up to something, but it wasn''t as if he could stop her from doing whatever it was that she was doing. He couldn''t just hurt his own cousin, especially Nadia even if she did unknowingly n to hurt him.


    In the end she finally found what she had been looking for as she had a satisfied expression while she was holding the coin in her right hand.


    Zavier didn''t understand what she intended to do but he was waiting to find out. At first he felt that she was going to y one of her silly games again but that wasn''t the case at all. She appeared to be too serious for that.


    She raised her fist and straightened out her arm in front of her. The coin was lying on top of her index finger with her thumb underneath it. It appeared as if she was going to toss the coin based on her actions.<sub> </sub>


    Just when Zavier thought that she was really out to y, lightning surged around the little girl and tendrils of lightning rushed towards her hand. It was only then that Zavier noticed what the girl was about to do.


    Zavier didn''t even have time topletely form his blood cocoon. In the end he was only able to erect a blood wall in front of him before the coin toss from hell that was powered by Nadia''s lightning sped in his direction.


    The terrifying sense of danger once again overcame all his senses. The dread that came with that sense increased in magnitude as the coin toss that wasn''t any less strong than a cannon ball struck his blood wall.


    As was evident from the strength behind it, the coin shot straight through the wall and struck Zavier with lightning in tow.


    The immense force behind it sent Zavier tumbling away like a ping pong ball. He kept on bouncing on the ground as if the force was unable to exit his body in a single crash. Only after rolling around for a while did Zavier stop in his track.


    He was truly hurt for the first time since the start of the battle. More than that he was surprised at the speed and the force of Nadia''s attack. She appeared so angelic and yet her attack had no mercy at all. She had attacked without hesitation and without holding back. As expected of the Adam family blood; they were all like this.


    Even his bones ached from the impact of the coin yet Zavier had to get up before he was crushed by the mob with their stomps.


    As soon as he got up, there was another danger warning in his head. In front of him was another acquaintance of his; one that he was very intimate with.


    He really felt as if he was being betrayed by his family as the ones to cause him the most trouble were none other than his own family.


    This time it was Shiranui who was wielding the ck me and was throwing around ck fireballs in his direction.


    As Zavier was trying to hide his true identity from even his school mates, he had to hold back on his cold ze. That skill was a perfect counter to Shiranui''s ck me but he was unable to use it at the moment in front of so many prying eyes.


    Therefore, he had to use the blood wall to make sure that he didn''te into contact with the ck me. He still remembered the pain that the ck me caused to him thest time he had been struck by it.


    The ck me proved to be more troublesome than he had expected. He had not expected that Shiranui had made a breakthrough in such a short time since he had previously fought her. She was truly talented. The ck me was stuck to the blood wall like gum and was constantly eroding it albeit a little slowly. Zavier had to scrape it off of his blood after getting hit by the fireballs which was proving to be quite a chore.


    Zavier knew that the situation couldn''t be dragged on for longer. Although they were his teammates, he couldn''t allow them to reveal his secret to the others by defeating him.


    Therefore, he decided to take them down as well. At the same time, he was unwilling to hurt them in the process.


    Therefore, he came to the conclusion that he had to use advanced illusions to put them out ofmission for a while so that they would be out of his way for a while.


    Zavier had high expectations for his clone that had mastered the Mesmer system. He had a hard time imagining the kind of strength that the clone with Mesmer system was able to wield now that it had developed for so long while staying in the closet. It was the only one out of his clones that Zavier had never stopped from practicing and had always been focused on training to improve the Mesmer rank.


    Zavier signalled the clone to act out his will. The clone on the other hand responded by spreading out his spiritual strength to locate all the intended targets. Once he was done finding a suitable location that provided a direct line of sight to all the targets, it made a swift motion and jumped up to the top of arge tree.


    The attackers who had previously been fighting him were all dumbfounded at the sudden escape and wanted to chase after him but Zavier got in the way and prevented any one else from following after him. He used his blood weapons to make sure that not a single one of them managed to make their way to the clone who was about to carry out his will.

 Chapter 136 Blood Moon

    This was going to solve a major hurdle in this war so Zavier wasn''t about to let anyone mess up his n.


    The clone with the Mesmer system started to gather his spiritual energy and magical energy at the same time. The same continued for a few seconds after which the clone brought the palm of his hands together in front of him before pulling them apart by moving his hands sideways.


    ? Unlike before, his palms now held something between them. It was a red orb that gave out devilish light that seemed so eerie and outwardly that it would have spooked even ghosts had they been looking at it.


    The orb in the hands of the clone didn''t stop growing as the hands were pulled apart. It was as if the orb was being spread to the limit.


    It slowly but gradually took the form of a blood red moon that was slowly but gradually changing the environment all around them.


    The orb left his hands and got suspended in the air like the real moon and gradually ovepped it as well. It was like it had killed off the previous moon and had taken its ce. While the previous moon spread light, this one only brought about darkness and bloodshed.


    To the alliance members the moon looked like the collection of everything that was evil in the world while Zavier didn''t feel anything at all as he was the caster.


    To everyone else though, the whole world was suddenly plunged into darkness and the blood red moon was the only source of light. Even that looked like a giant devilish eye that was looking at them with murderous intent. There was cacophony of caw-caws as the crows started to fly around them wildly crying bloody tears at the same time.


    Some began to madly rush about while some stayed rooted in ce terrified to the point of being unable to hold their bowels but it was not the end at all. The tree around them started to twist and the branches began to move about freely. Thorns began to sprout all over the branches and the thorny wines began to wriggle on the ground like snakes looking for prey.


    The participants forgot to breathe; some began to fight back against the tree branches and vines entangling them and unhesitatingly started to cast their powerful skills to get a chance to escape.


    Some were so terrified that they did not even have it in them to try to escape. Such students were devoured instantly. The vines entangled around their body and pulled them all into the ground. The forest itself was out for their lives. The students were in despair thinking of any way to save themselves but there was nothing that they could do because even those who had tried to run away had found themselves entangled by the devilish vines. The pain of being wrapped in thorny bushes made them scream out in agony and their screams echoed in the darkness but no one came to help them as their lives were snuffed out by the forest.


    All of this was of course the result of an illusion and the alive forest was only in the imaginations of all those who had gotten caught up in the mass illusion that the clone with the Mesmer system had cast earlier.


    Outside in the real world, it was the still the same as before. Those who were suffering due to the illusion and had been unable to get rid of the illusion all fell to the ground unconscious. They would remain unconscious for the time that Zavier needed to wipe out the rest of the forces. Therefore he didn''t concern himself with the fallen anymore.


    He was more worried about the people who had somehow managed to escape the illusion. The reason that these individuals had managed to escape his illusions was because the Blood Moon was a mass illusion and it was unable to focus the entirety of the spiritual energy on a single individual. Therefore, the effect was considerably weakerpared to an illusion cast on a single target.


    Therefore, those who had the slightest bit of knowledge about illusions were able to figure out the way to escape the illusion. Gabby who had some knowledge about illusions was able to break free based on his instinct and skill in illusions. But the others weren''t as lucky as him.


    The others had to put in the requisite effort to break free. Since they couldn''t solve the puzzle properly, they had to destroy the illusion to bits in order to get free and that took a considerable amount of mana or spiritual energy.


    Any individual who managed to survive past the illusion was a strongpetitor but due to the excessive consumption of mana they were all considerably tired.<sub> </sub>


    The awe inspiring team of nearly three hundred and fifty students had been reduced to less than fifty participants who were still standing. Others had either been eliminated already or had been taken away by the medics or they were lying on the ground in an incapacitated state. The morale of the team was at an all time low but the elimination of the weak meant that the top fifty among the group were still standing and were definitely top of the food chain.


    This group also included those that had yet to participate among the strife of the battle. They had been waiting for a chance so far so they had yet to participate in the battle. Therefore, these people were almost in a perfect condition.


    The main targets of his illusion were still running about and Kacie was also running around with her teammates who had even helped her get rid of the illusion that had been cast on her through the Blood Moon.


    Zavier couldn''t have her waking up everyone else. Therefore, he ordered the clone with the Mesmer system to keep his family in check since that was the only feasible solution at the moment. The illusions were the best methods to stop his school mates for a while as he got rid of all the alliance members.


    While the clone with the Mesmer system had been assigned to deal with his family, he fought against the remaining enemies along with the clone having the Magus system.


    The remaining participants were being defeated one after the other and the already low number was dwindling faster than Gabby had anticipated. He had never imagined that the person he had managed to escape from was so peerless. Gabby felt that he had underestimated the abilities of the masked men. They were even more mysterious than he had previously imagined them to be.


    In fact, Gabby and his two teammates still had some trump cards that they were unwilling to take out considering the situation on the outside. This wasn''t something that could be revealed to just anyone for trivial reasons. He wanted to save his strength forter.


    Therefore he and his two teammates began to call out for the other participants who had refrained from taking part in the war so far. Based on their earlier y, Gabby and his two teammates were busy feigning exhaustion and had the right to criticize others since they had already put in their best. In the eyes of the weaker participants, they were practically angels who had willingly sacrificed themselves for the good of the alliance.


    "There won''t be another chance like this even if you wait till the end of thepetition. The chance has been earned through the sacrifice of so many of ourrades. Please don''t let it go to waste and take action right now. If only I hadn''t been so spent, I would have rushed in myself but my legs won''t move."


    Gabby pretended to be stuck in ce as he sat on one knee and tried to push himself up only to fall down a secondter. This was definitely a good piece of acting. Zavier felt like giving him a reward.


    "If you don''t take action right away, you will only end up harming yourself. In the end, no one will be able to stop the trio and they would definitely help you in getting eliminated soon."


    Gabby had been the leader of an entire group and he had already experienced the internal scuffles between the sub groups. Some wanted to make use of the time to escape since most of them had lost anyway. Some of them wanted to fight till the end. These people had been influenced by his earlier speech and were operating on borrowed sentiments andcking strength so they were not of much use since they were low in number.


    There was another group that was acting as vultures preying upon the fallen. This group had sneakily stolen some of the cards of those who had fallen to the ground after being incapacitated by the trio of masked men. They had no regard for theradeship or even the slightest bit of integrity or teammate spirit since they were practically stabbing their earlier teammates in the back by falling back from the battlefield in order to collect spoils.


    Moreover, theses people didn''t belong to any team. Rather they wanted to take advantage of the both the parties. They were imagining a fantasy where the alliance and the trio would both fall and the vultures would then be able to loot all of them at once to win thepetition.


    Of course reality was not that sweet. Not everyone was aplete idiot who would fall for their petty schemes.

 Chapter 137 Overwhelming

    Gabby understood the mindset of the vultures since he would have done the same had he been in their position. After all, the vulturesprised of a group of students who were not very powerful but thought themselves to be so smart that they really believed they could sneak everything away from under the noses of everyone else taking part in the battle. Gabby felt that they were too naive but he didn''t point out the w in their n.


    They had no strength to protect the cards at all. Even if they did manage to get their hands on the cards, they would be hunted by the entire alliance. Only those who had the strength to fight against everyone else had the chance to actually escape with the spoils of the battle.


    As the bystanders continued to wait for a chance, the members who were busy fighting the trio started to fall one after another. Even the total of three hundred and fifty members of the alliance had been unable to take down a trio of masked men. Instead they had suffered a crushing defeat at their hands.


    Seeing the situation was headed towards the disaster that Gabby had predicted earlier, the bystanders started to move towards Zavier at a brisk pace in order to join the battle as soon as possible.


    Even when Gabby and the other bystanders joined together tounch the final assault on the trio who must have been exhausted by then, the trio were hardly affected.


    The reason behind that was that the alliance members had really overestimated their strengthpared to Zavier and his clones.


    The elite members of the alliance had never even imagined that the gap between their strength and that of the masked men wasrge enough to make them fall into despair.


    Zavier was still fighting as if he had been fighting the grassroots of the team earlier. The students were still being flung around all over the battlefield. Bodies continued to pile up on top of each other holding broken weapons.


    The physical weapons being wielded by the students all broke as soon as they countered the weapons made of blood being wielded by the trio. There were arge number of chipped and cracked weapons lying about as they had all been brought to the brink of shattering by a single blowunched by Zavier and his clones. Neither weapons nor the skills of the so called geniuses were enough to cause harm to Zavier.


    The crowd that Zavier had diminished with a lot of effort was now gathering up all over again and he found himself knee deep in battle without a second to rest. Still there was nothing that Zavier would rather be doing at this time. He was thoroughly enjoying himself as he fought against the prodigies from all over the empire and crushed them.


    Meanwhile, the clone with the Mesmer system that had previously had a huge group of his own to fight against was now almost standing alone. The rest of his attackers were all lying face down on the ground unconscious of everything happening around them. The only one who were still standing were Zavier''s clone with the necromancer system who had been apanying the girls in his ce, Shiranui and Kacie who were barely holding on despite the barrage of illusions being thrown at them by the clone.


    They wanted to get rid of the illusionist but he had managed to keep them immobilized for so long without batting a sweat. Even if he did find it difficult, the mask on his face hid away any such indications.


    Kacie and Shiranui were unaware of the reason that the masked man was not knocking them unconscious like the others. Of course they didn''t know that the clone had received strict instructions that it could not physically harm them no matter what. Therefore it had been trying to incapacitate them with the illusions that were constantly losing their effect.


    The clone that the girls perceived to be the original Zavier was bitterly fighting against the masked man as if they had real enmity against each other. But Zavier couldn''t help but feel funny and ufortable at the same time because he was currently operating in shared mode and each of their feelings and thoughts were being processed through his consciousness. It felt to him as if he was using his right fist to hit the left side of his own face.


    He was fighting against himself and felt extremely awkward doing so as well. Simr to him, Kacie and Shiranui were feeling the same awkwardness as they were unable to truly fight the illusionist. This was the first time that they hade across such a difficult opponent.


    Mesmer was a profession that was considered very rare even in this magical world. There weren''t many true illusionists in the world but those who called themselves Mesmers were truly difficult to beat in battle. They had a plethora of different skills that could confuse the senses, mind and even the soul of the opponent.<sub> </sub>


    Even Shiranui who had a wealth of experience when it came to real life battles was unable to think of a strategy to stray from the deadlock. While they were unable to move due to the illusions, the masked man was unable to beat them down due to Zavier who was constantly fighting back in order to keep them safe. Kacie had known that Zavier was somewhat good at illusions as well but she had never expected that he was so good that he was able to resist the illusions of the masked man to such a degree.


    Zavier continued to fight against himself in order to continue with the deadlock between the masked man and their group. On the other hand, he was doing it so no one would be able to doubt that he had some rtion to the three masked men.


    Shiranui and Kacie were soon able to break through the illusions with some difficulty and started to fight back against the masked man as well. But no matter how hard they tried to hit him it was as if they were using their fists to hit a water body.


    Their strength became useless once the opponent operated his spiritual strength to confuse their senses. Sometimes they missed the mark slightly but sometimes their attacks were flung far off into the distance.


    But the ceaseless attacks were quite helpful in holding the masked man at bay even if it wasn''t strong enough to hurt the masked man.


    The main highlight of the battle was none other than thebination of the Magus System clone and Zavier. They were practically unstoppable with the vast array of skills and spells at their disposal.


    No one was able toy a hand on them when they began to operate together. Their perfect synergy with each other ensured that they had almost no blind spots that the enemies were able to exploit. Zavier used his blood de to both attack and defend against all the skills that were being thrown at them while the clone with the Magus system continued to attack with the various skills at its disposal.


    Their movements were in so much sync that they were able to attack and defend for each other without even a signal. This was something that terrified the alliance members as they were unable to understand the method through which the two masked men weremunicating with each other.


    Zavier was at ease fighting against the alliance as his blood de skill was the perfect counter for almost every kind of skill there was. Magic could be converted into various different attributes but those attributes had the ability to cancel each other out or even increase the power of an attribute by reinforcing it further. For example, Dah''s ice magic had found its antithesis in the form of the sound attribute that Gabby was proficient in. Simrly, the wind magic could be used to give more spread and strength to the fire magic, and lightning magic was best used with water based magic spells. Some mages were proficient with only one kind of magic skills like Dah had only ice attribute skills while others were able to use multiple attributes at once.


    ? Still, none of the attributes were able to take down the blood de skill that Zavier was wielding. While on the contrary, blood attribute was able to restrict all kinds of magic skills alone without being affected. It also reinforced Zavier''s physical strength beyond the range that was considered normal. Therefore, Zavier was able to prate all kinds of defenses with just his one skill.


    Zavier was responsible for breaking down the defenses while the clone continued to cast offensive magic to take down the opposing students by exploiting the holes in their defenses.


    The alliance was crestfallen after seeing that they were on the verge of defeat despite their overwhelming advantage in terms of numbers. They were falling deeper and deeper into the abyss of despair and helplessness with not a single ray of hope that could give them courage to continue fighting against such a terrifying enemy.


    These participants started to retreat slowly in order to avoid suffering the same fate as their previousrades and stood beside some of the participants who had not taken part in the war at all.


    One of those who had yet to take part in the battle was the woman that Zavier was quite intimately familiar with. It was none other than Reba who was proficient in strengthening magic that turned her skin into diamond at will which boosted her strength and defense at the same time to an uncanny level.

 Chapter 138 Poly

    She was one of the people who had long since given up fighting the trio. The more she witnessed the power that the three of them wielded the more fascinated she became with them. Every woman had a standard that she used to judge all her suitors. Reba too had a standard but it had been so hard to fulfil for the men beside her that she had grown ustomed to being the strongest in the room.


    Her criterion was after all strength. A power that was able to conquer everything in its path. She wanted her man to have the strength to overpower her and everyone else around her. She wanted him to be the best. But unfortunately, she had nevere across such a person despite having gone to the most prestigious high school in the empire.


    This was also one of the reasons that she was so stuck up on going to the Caesar University. She wanted to find a sense ofpetition once again in her life but so far she had only found despair at every turn.


    Finally she had found someone who was worth devoting herself to. Over the course of the battle she hade to realize that the feelings that she held for the trio were not of hatred at all. It had changed into a fascination that she couldn''t control no matter how hard she tried.


    She could tell that the legendary trio were mysterious and powerful beyond her imagination as they had gotten rid of such a huge plot against themselves with such ease. They had made quick work of all thepetitors and were still fighting with vigor and a strong will.


    She didn''t want to be their enemy any longer. If possible, Reba wanted to join up with them even if they only allowed her to follow after them as a subordinate and not as a teammate. She felt that if she let go of this chance, she would be unable to get another chance like this in the future.


    Reba had a flushed expression on her face as she remembered what the trio had done to her earlier but she didn''t think of it as humiliation any longer. She wanted to be the woman of the chief of the masked men and thought of her earlier intimate contact with him as the advance payment.


    At the same time she was determined to look for the masked man after the end of thepetition. She wanted to properly join him and wanted to be his woman if he epted her somehow.


    Gabby knew that the momentum of the fight had long since shifted away from his intended direction. The masked men were controlling the pace of the entire battle and they were only dancing in the palms of the trio. To escape the inescapable cast by the trio, Gabby decided to pull out the trump card that he had never nned to reveal in the first round. But he had a feeling that it was now or never. If he didn''t take it out now, there was a possibility that there wouldn''t even be a second round for him.


    "We have to do ''that'' right now."


    Ibeniah and Macbeth nodded at him to show their understanding and immediately took their positions for their next move. Zavier didn''t interrupt them and let them pull out whatever move they had been so reluctant to reveal until now.


    From their confident and fluent movements, it was evident that strategy had been practiced a lot by the three of them.


    The three of them were standing in a triangr formation while facing towards each other. With an indication from Gabby, their lips started to tremble as they began to chant in unison with each other. Their hand signs and the tone of their voice as they chanted were perfectly in sync. Zavier could tell that they had worked very hard for this move as it was almost impossible for three distinct individuals who had no rtionship with each other to be that much synchronized.


    Zavier didn''t have to wait very long this time as the ground around them started to glow in a circr pattern as if a diagram made of light was being drawn on the ground with the rise and fall of their chanting voices. It was truly a magical scene to behold.


    Zavier had enough understanding of the world by then to be able to understand what was happening at this moment. It was definitely an array. He had only heard about arrays so far but hadn''t had the opportunity to learn anything about them, not even in his school. It was supposedly an advanced subject and was a sub ss to magical studies.


    The diagram that came into existence was neither triangr as one would expect from a trio of casters, nor was it circr as he had felt it to be when he had witnessed the initial form of the diagram.


    The array was actually based on a hexagram pattern which Zavier had no knowledge about.


    In reality, this was a C rank magic formation that was known as "Poly". This was a kind of spell that could be cast individually as well as in a group. The more the number of casters, more would be the attack potential of the magic skill.<sub> </sub>


    Gabby looked slightly strained after casting the formation magic in the area surrounding him. It was obvious that the spell had taken a lot out of him.


    "All of you need to get inside this spell. Hurry up, we don''t have much time and we can''t waste any of it at the moment. We can''t hold on for long."


    As the number of the participants of the alliance began to get in the formation, there came a huge change in the formation that all of them were able to feel. The mana from their bodies was slowly being extracted as the formation around them began to spin faster and faster. It was as if a tornado of mana was being generated with the formation as its epicentre. Zavier had never imagined that it was a kind of mana gathering formation that was able to help all the enemies join together to fight against theirmon enemy.


    As the students continued to get into the formation, and the glow surrounding the formation grew more and more. All the students were now providing the mana required to stabilize the formation which was the reason that Gabby and his team could finally rest at ease as their burden was being shared together with everyone else.


    This allowed the three of them to take the initiative to attack Zavier and his clones. This was the first time that the three of them had taken an initiative to attack Zavier with all their strength.


    Zavier could feel that they truly were very confident in the strength of this formation for them to be initiating the offensive on their own.


    As Zavier defended against their constant attacks which had definitely increased in strength, he manipted the blood in his body to take on the shape of a heavy and giant great sword. He intended to smash the formation apart.


    But when his sword descended in full force on to the formation, Zavier was shocked to find that the blood sword that had managed to damage everything that he had evere across had been stopped by the colourless bubble of mana surrounding the formation. It was the defense formed from the mana of all the participants at once.


    Zavier was taken aback. This had never happened to him before. It was the first time that someone had managed to sessfully block his Blood de skill without much effort.


    Seeing him fail provided the boost in confidence that the desperate alliance members so desperately required. It was as if hungry ghosts had seen a glimpse of food in front of them and that only made them try harder to get to it. The same principle applied to the alliance members at the moment. All throughout the war, they had never seen the masked men falter even once. They had been dominated thoroughly but this was the first time that one of the masked men failed in breaching their defenses.


    Gabby had a mocking smirk on his face as he looked at Zavier and his clone. It was the look of a predator instead of the prey.


    Zavier prepared himself since he had a feeling that the counterattack wasn''t very far away.


    Gabby moved his arms in front of him with his palms facing in the direction of Zavier and his clone. As soon as he did, a st of energy thatpressed and tore through the air curtain surrounding themunched in the direction of Zavier and his clones. Zavier could tell that it was a huge congregation of mana that had beenpressed to a minimum so as to increase its pration power.


    Zavier saw theser attack that Gabby hadunched at him with the help of the formation. Since the danger warning in his head didn''t go off, he knew that he could take it on without suffering a loss.


    Therefore, Zavier and his clone used all the blood at their disposal to form a multiyered shield in front of them instantly. This was the strongest shield that Zavier had formed yet.


    Although both of them were able to block theser by gritting their teeth, the strength imbued in it wasn''t weak at all. The both of them had been blown backwards by the momentum that thesers packed in them.

 Chapter 139 Crescent Flash

    Without a good foothold, it was only inevitable that they were sent flying backwards for a while before they came to a stop.


    The battlefield that had previously been filled with cries of agony and sighs filled with helplessness finally had hope. The alliance members could feel that their goal wasn''t very far now as they had even managed to gain an upper hand against the mysterious trio.


    Zavier now felt a little troubled as he had never expected toe across such a difficult formation before. He understood the real reason that Gabby had gathered so many individuals to help him fight Zavier. This formation was basically a must for those fighting with numbers against strength. He had nevere into contact with formations before today unlike Valerie who was considered to be a master in the field. Admiration for Valerie once again sprouted in his heart as he imagined the skill level that Valerie had in formations.


    Zavier couldn''t just release his berserk mode to increase his strength because he was sure that once he did, the alliance members might nevere to know how they died. He might not even be able to control his own strength.


    Therefore, he hesitated to attack the formation without sufficient preparation.


    *Ding*


    A notification window popped up in front of him as usual and Zavier could only hope that it was something that could take him out of his current predicament.


    [Blood de skill proficiency has reached 5%]


    [Minimum conditions for the use of ''Crescent sh'' have been met.]


    [User can now use an exclusive skill rted to Blood de.]


    [Crescent sh can now be used as an area of attack skill. The skill will release an innumerable number of des in the form of a Crescent ark that would constantly rain down on the targets and will destroy everything in the range of the skill.]


    [Current proficiency: 0.01%]


    <o>,m [Conditions of use: Minimum 5% proficiency in Blood de skill]</o>


    As soon as Zavier read the details of the skill that he had just received from the multisystem, he wanted to try it out in order to determine just how strong the skill actually was.


    He discreetly ordered his clone to distract the alliance members. The clone with the Magus system then moved ahead and stood in front of the formation while casting different kinds of area of attack magic skills mixed with illusions.


    The alliance members continued to defend themselves using the formation barrier. It was as if the situation from before had been entirely reversed. Previously the ones with the ultimate defense were the masked men and those attacking futilely had been the alliance members. Now that the tables had turned, the alliance members were truly taking joy in the battle. Gabby on the other hand was busy attacking the clone with all his might. He shotser afterser but the clone either dodged or blocked with his defensive barrier.


    The clone kept being blown back but there wasn''t a scratch on him. Meanwhile the alliance seemed to have forgotten about Zavier who had jumped up high on top of a tree by making use of the distraction provided by the clone.


    Zavier was busy umting blood energy and mana to unleash the crescent sh. It didn''t take long to mobilize the blood in his body following which Zavier dived down from the tree while holding on to a de that appeared formless but exuded danger with every breath.


    Gabby was too busyunchingsers at the clone to notice that Zavier was attacking him from above. When he did notice, it was already toote to stop the attack and the only thing that he could do was strengthen the defense of the formation.


    The moment Zavier released Crescent sh, he felt as if all his strength had been poured down into the de in his hand. The sh resulted in the formtion of hundreds and thousands of blood coloured des that merged together to look like a huge crescent shaped sh that was about to collide with formation.


    The arc of blood was close to 100 feet in length and was enough to cover the entire formation in its effective area.<sub> </sub>


    Thousands of blood des crashed into the defensive shell with a loud explosive noise that hurt the ears of anyone who heard the sound. The barrier couldn''tst a single second and was shattered at the first impact. The pration power of hundreds of intricate des was more than what it was able to withstand.


    All the participants were sent flying while shedding blood due to the many injuries that they suffered as a result of the sh. Not a single one of them escaped unscathed in the wake of an attack that covered such arge area.


    The attack didn''t stop after destruction of the barrier, it continued in full force as it destroyed the surroundings and formed a deep ravine in the ground that was about the length of the crescent sh.


    The magic formation could not be sustained anymore and had to be disintegrated.


    The bystanders were unable to close their mouths due to the shock after shock that they had suffered from during the battle. The finale of the battle truly left them all dumbfounded. Who could have imagined that the masked men had still been holding back their strength?


    They first looked at the deep crater that had been left on the ground and then they looked at the man that had been the cause. It was impossible to believe that all this had been the handiwork of a high school student. This was beyond the scope of what was referred to as just powerful. It was in a realm where they could only admire and despair. They could never hope to challenge such divine might with their mortal prowess.


    Zavier was barely able to stand after the huge consumption earlier. He had felt as if his soul had been sucked away with all his blood for the attack. This new skill of his was far too consuming. He was sure that even if he was in his peak state, the skill would have drained him dry even then.


    He wanted to fall down and rest for a while as the clones started to gather the cards of all the participants that he had managed to defeat. But all his ns fell apart due to a voice that echoed in the forest right after the end of the battle.


    It was the announcement that proimed the end of the first round. Zavier knew that he couldn''t do anything to the participants any longer. All the cards in their possession no longer mattered. He wanted to curse the examiners because he knew that the announcement had been deliberately done to stop him from taking their cards. Otherwise, they would have lost a lot of students with potential in the screening phase.


    Since there was nothing that Zavier could do by hanging around his defeated enemies, he left with his clones to the deeper parts of the forest in order to avoid any lingering eyes. He didn''t want to expose his identity to anyone in the test after all because that would make him the beacon of hatred for everyone else in thepetition.


    As Zavier had truly destroyed more than four hundred individuals alone despite their having made use of a formation, nobody dared to follow after him or hispanions and Zavier finally found a moment of respite to gather his breath once again.


    -------------------------------------------------


    The first round ended with a lot of surprises. Everyone wandered off, the losers, the winners and those who had been too craven to actually fight- they all walked back in a haze of their own thoughts after the announcement. This had truly been an unexpected twist for all candidates from the different schools. Everyone had their own thoughts and observations, but none was more intrigued than the beautiful host- Mabel.


    As someone who had been uniquely positioned to see everyone and everything clearly, Mabel had observed the first round thoroughly. Her keen eyes never left the screens. In the monitoring room, there was virtually no candidate whose data wasn''t avable. As an observer and as a host, she had the arduous job of evaluating several candidates. She had assumed (and with good reason) that this would be particrly difficult since this was basically the cr¨¨me of the cr¨¨me.


    Truly there had been a lot of promising candidates, but none of them came close to capturing and holding her attention the way the Adam boy had. Seated in the swivel chair, pen clicking incessantly in her hand, and her eyes fixated on the impressive score of the youngd, Mabel couldn''t help but be impressed. Zavier had certainly given her a lot to think about.


    "Just who is this boy?! How does someone at his age get go powerful?"


    Indeed, those were the questions of the hour. And as it stood, they needed to be found out. The more Mabel ruminated on the strange young man, the more questions she had. They were questions that she couldn''t get answers to by sitting around mopping. So, with the zeal of an investigative journalist who was had a story burning a hole through her head, Mabel jumped to her feet rather energetically, and picked up her coat.


    "I''m doing to get me some answers...just you wait Zavier, just wait!"


    Coat in hand, along with her documented observations in the other hand, Mabel bounced towards the door as made to exit the monitoring room. In her eye was the burning fire of determination.

 Chapter 140 Important Visitor

    It wasn''t just Zavier, actually there were a lot of interesting things that had happened during the tournament. But as it stood, Zavier was at the center of it all. While she was all up in her thoughts, she was interrupted by a small looking errand boy from behind.


    "Miss Mabel?"


    She turned around, almost in annoyance. She hated being interrupted with all her might. Especially when her mind had already embarked on a quest of its own. She eyed the intruder, trying to mask her irritation. And managed to rein in her anger by asking him mildly;


    <o>,m "Yes. Who''s asking?"</o>


    The errand boy looked relieved. He had been informed that she would be in the monitoring room, and yet, he couldn''t resist stoppping this pretty woman who looked like she was his current subject. Before his longing look could be interpreted as rude and abrasive, he quickly went on with it;


    "Sorry to bother you ma''am, but it seems like you have an important visitor."


    "Visitor?"


    "Yes ma''am. He has requested to see you urgently."


    Just in case Mabel dismissed the urgency of this summons, he deftly added;


    "Might I suggest you hurry along miss, your visitor seems to be a person of great honor and repute. He awaits you in the visitor''s lounge, in one of the private booths."


    He bowed and recused himself, leaving Mabel in a pool of uncertainties.


    "A visitor who happens to be a ''he''? And at the same time, and honorable person?"


    Mabel cracked her head as she went over and over the possible guests who could fit the profile. But she came up empty handed each time. She really hated surprises. And there was nothing worse than going into a meeting with a stranger, whom she knew nothing about. Still, she had to honor the invitation. She began to two and a half minute trek towards the said location.


    About a hundred and fifty secondster, Mabel knocked on the only upied booth in the rather secluded chamber and purposely went in before she could hear the reply. Just so she could take her visitor unawares just as he had done her. As she opened the door, the first thing she saw was that the person in question was seated with his back to the door. Mabel couldn''t l help but think to herself;


    "Okay, what type of person seats alone in a room while backing the door?"


    He had on a dark coat and a top hat. And most importantly, he didn''t turn to acknowledge the fact that someone had just intruded on his personal space. His confidence was truly unmatched. Still backing Mabelpletely, his cool suave voice called out to her invitingly, and at the same time, authoritatively;


    "d you could make it Miss Mabel. Please have a seat."


    Now Mabel was convinced, this was truly a noble. She put aside her personal pride and allowed her anxiety take over her. She had to know who this mysterious stranger was. Her feet carried her forward with the longing footsteps of a curious cat, and she walked over to sit opposite the stranger. Unable to rein in her curiosity, she found herself gawking, waiting to to see even a trace of the stranger. Eventually, she made her way to her seat and sat down only to see-


    "Marquis Val Adams!" Mabel couldn''t hide her shock. She couldn''t believe who was sitting before her.


    "Indeed. Ohe on, don''t look so shocked. At ease Mabel."


    But Mabel couldn''t just do that! Not with a personality as impressive as this. It was with great control that she could even breathe in his presence. This was really a shocker. He hadn''t been been too ten on the list of people she had been expecting!


    Actually, Mabel had a lot of reasons to be shocked. For starters, Marquis Val Adams was something of a local legend. In fact, he was often thought of as a myth. Most notable men of great repute had made their marks in either politics or the world of magic. But Marquis Val Adams was someone who had transcended the norm, and broken barriers. He was the man who had excelled in both worlds. And he had done so beautifully.


    Blurring lines between mage and politicians, the Marquis had sessfully destroyed the stereotype that a man only had to choose one career. This was the figure that had called upon Mabel! She couldn''t help but be ttered. And somehow, despite all his achievements and des, Marquis Val was still very much single! Despite being a public figure, he had actually managed to keep his dalliances out of the spotlight. Mabel respected him deeply for this.


    Desperately hoping that her voice wouldn''t betray her in this moment by making her sound like an eight year old, she summoned the courage to greet this astounding figure appropriately;


    "Good day Marquis Val. Pardon my earlier exmation, it was unruly of me."


    "No apologies needed whatsoever Miss Mabel."


    Mabel loved the way he called her''Miss.'' It was all so formal, and it showed that he acknowledged her in a professional manner, and not just as a woman. She bowed her head ever so slightly.


    "Thank you. But to what do I owe this visit? It''s rather unexpected. Is there some kind of problem?"<sub> </sub>


    Mabel almost bit off her own tongue. She really should have just stopped at the first question, but she had just shown how cynical she was by immediately veering to the pessimistic side of her character. She hoped Marquis Val wouldn''t hold it against her. She was just a little nervous that''s all.


    But her visitor wasn''t in the least bothered about something as trivial as that. He wouldn''t be here in person unless something was afoot. Mabel was actually right in that regard to believe that this was no ordinary house call.


    "Beating around the bush will do us no favors. So, I will go straight to the point."


    This was exactly how Mabel preferred her dialogues. Less chit chat and more straightforwardness. So, she obliged Marquis Val with a curt nod. He shot forward with his intentions;


    "I havee here for one definitive purpose only Miss Mabel..."


    She held her breath, waiting for the other shoe to drop.


    "...and that is about the boy Zavier."


    Mabel felt like a flower vase had broken somewhere at the back of her mind. Was he being serious? Was this all about that boy wonder? Mabel was a bit disappointed. Actually, she hadn''t exactly been one hundred percent sure that Marquis Val hade all the way out here himself just because of her. It was a baseless and hopelessly optimistic supposition. But deep down, she had retained hope that there was a romantic interest somewhere.


    She was visibly aware of his eyes burning into her now. She had to say something, and quickly.


    "Zavier...?" She stammered unsurely. "Zavier Adam?"


    He nodded.


    "As a observer of this tournament, I am certain that by now, you must have set your sights on Zavier by now."


    Mabel had to be careful now. It was clear that she was treading on troubled waters. But she just wasn''t sure how troubled the waters were. So, she did the smart thing by refraining from any morements, and instead remained silent.


    But Marquis Val was no fool. Her silence was all the confirmation he needed.


    "There''s no need to be all cagey with me. In fact, that''s exactly what we require from you..," his expression was stern, and his handsome brows tufted together in a furrowed look. "We want you to keep this under lock and key for now."


    He paused to make his message sink in. Again, Mabel made the smart move by not saying anything.


    "I really can''t stress this enough Miss Mabel. This particr case has a lot of state secrets involved. Kindly nod if you understand please."


    Mabel nodded slowly like a ventriloquist''s doll. That seemed satisfactory to Marquis Val.


    "Good. Now that we have an understanding, I entrust Zavier''s care into your future career here at the college. I''m sure you understand what this means for you?"


    Of course she understood! It was ring, especially to someone like her. This was clearly an Olive branch from the Adam family. They were practically extending their favor to her in exchange for her silence and of course, preferential treatment of Zavier''s records as well as his well-being. This was the kind of opportunity no ambitious person would turn down. So, without wasting much time, before the offer went off the table, or before she could be perceived as not being serious, she dly epted the offer,


    "You have no issues with me Marquis Val. I am happy to be an extension of the magnanimous arm of the Adam family. You have my word. He will be taken care off."


    Marquis Val exhaled in relief.


    "That''s good to hear..."


    Indeed! It was good for Mabel to hear. She couldn''t believe her luck! Of course, as a beautifuldy, she was constantly on the receiving end of multiple advances and obscure hints from some other families who had approached her friendly. However, none had been expressed formally, at least not in the way and manner Marquis Val had gone about his own. Mabel couldn''t help it. She congratted herself excitedly;


    "It looks like things are starting too look up for me! This was truly unprecedented!"


    She couldn''t be med. Beauty and career were the two things she had going for her. But the one thing she had no control over was her background. Mabel came from really humble beginnings.

 Chapter 141 Domineering Dahila

    As a member of the lower ss of society, Mabel knew just how debasing that whole could be. She had seen the dark side of need, and as an impoverished child, she had been choked by the strangling epassing chains of poverty.


    So, for as long as she could remember, it had always been her life long goal to escape the oppression. Joining a noble family was something that could only be characterized as a dream. She longed to package her entire offspring into the enviable ancestral lineage of a noble family. That way, they wouldn''t have to suffer from the same background that she had. So, refusing to rely only on her beauty, she had worked really hard to make sure that she became a force to be reckoned with in the magic world.


    Sure enough, it had taken quite longer than she had expected, and had definitely taken some sacrifices, but at the end of the day, her hard work paid off. Mabel had actually managed to pull it off by attaining some level of sucesss in her world. And she was slowly bing a household name. Mabel, decided to capitalize on this sess, by trying to flirt with Marquis Val a little, just to gauge his reaction.


    She tucked her hair behind her ear in slow suggestive motions, and asked him subtly;


    "Is there anything else you would require Marquis Val?"


    She slurred the ''q'' in Marquis Val, just enough for him to notice it, and also made it seem as innocent as possible in order to not make a huge wave in the water.


    But unfortunately, much to her chagrin, she discovered that he wasn''t in the least interested in her as a woman. He maintained that same cold steely gaze of his that stated clearly that either he wasn''t in the mood at all, or he simply didn''t see her that way. Mabel was a beautiful creature,she could tell when a man was interested in her. And right now, it was clear that Marquis Val wasn''t in the least interested in her. It was a huge disappointment.


    He stood up to leave;


    "d we could have this talk Miss Mabel. I''ll be on my way now."


    Mabel also stood up out of respect. "Take care Marquis Val."


    He echoed her own farewell as he opened the door; "Take care Miss Mabel."


    The door shut behind her. Mabel bit her lip. She didn''t intentionally flirt often. And even when she did, the results were always favorable. But that whole thing with Marquis Val had been cringeworthy.


    But Mabel decided that she wasn''t going to simply sit back and ept her fate. It would be categorically foolish of her to simply rx now aftering this far. One thing she had learnt in her journey in life was that nothing was ever really given. If she wanted something or someone, she had to go after it (or them) with all her heart. That was the only way she knew.


    At least, with the way things had aligned in ce for her, she wasn''tpletely hopeless in regards to this particr situation. Asides from the fact that she was beautiful, and asides from the fact that she was already a fast rising star, there was also the fact that she had been granted unique ess to Zavier. This was a window that she wasn''t willing to sabotage by her own inaction.


    Meanwhile, the mood that pervaded the contestants was way different from that which ruled over Mabel''s own heart. The end of the first round had brought with it a wave of exhaustion. Fatigue ruled over all the contestants who had trudged back to their dorms in long columns of exhausted steps. Everyone was visibly tired, and Zavier was no exception. Every bit of him wanted rest. His eye lids were heavy over their eye balls. And they were dropping constantly as if they had minds of their own.


    So, just like him, and all the other contestants, as soon as they hit their dormitories, they all slept off and drifted off into oblivion. It had been a pretty tiring day and no one was spared the contagious pandemic of exhaustion. Zavier slept peacefully that night. His night was so deep and heavy that his mind couldn''t even conjure up any dreams at all.


    The very next morning, Zavier woke up feeling rather refreshed. It seemed a good night''s sleep had done the trick. He didn''t get up immediately. His morning routine usually involved staying in bed for a few extra minutes and reflecting on anything that could have possibly missed out of his mind the previous day.


    As he pondered on those things, the Multisystem''s iconic voice came to him;<sub> </sub>


    "Zavier Adam, this is to remind you that your Mesmer level had attained the fourth stage. Consequently, you have now the ability to control up to six different clones. In addition to the four clones, you can now add two more clones and systems!"


    The message was clear enough. He hade a long way in this clone business. Six clones seemed impossible at the beginning, but now, it had been attained. Zavier surprised himself when he saw that he wasn''t exactly joyful at the news. This was supposed to be an upgrade, but the frugal part of Zavier just refused to see it that way. And upon further reflection, he understood why.


    Judging from the previous battles he had only recently just fought, Zavier understood that it was no longer about numbers anymore. What was the point in having so many clones if they were all weak? The results of Zavier''s personal analysis was direct; quality would always trump quantity. And because of that, he couldn''t really bring himself to rejoice at this news ''upgrade.'' At best, even if he added two clones, it would only give him the advantage of numbers. And that alone wasn''t enough to carry him through to the finish of the battle.


    Hisbat power was the most important thing. So, Zavier made the executive decision to postpone the matter till muchter. As of that moment, his primary concern was gettting better himself. He couldn''t afford to allow something else entirely derail him from his goal. Therefore, fueled by renewed resolve, Zavier jumped out of bed and started to prepare assiduously for the second stage of the tournament.


    The second stage- that was really all Zavier could think about. The organizers, in their wisdom had paced out the timelines between the rounds of the tournament. The second round was three days away. Basically, Zavier had about seventy two hours toe up with fresh new attack strategies that didn''t involve using blood de.


    Zavier juxtaposed his own current ability, with that of the trio from Melbourne High School, and Reba herself. He wasn''t too egotistical to think that he could actually beat them all if he could even somehow manage to get to a higher level before then. The Multisystem seemed to have picked up on his worrisome thoughts and proceeded to give him a helpful advice;


    "The Multisystem has detected a cardiovascrpression that is most likely induced by tension in your brain''s activity. Be advised, you can turn on training mode. As the boat, you can temporarily authorize one or more specific system permissions to all other clones."


    Xzavier received the message with excitement. Behind all the technical vernacr, the Multisystem was simply trying to say one thing; by linking them all, they could all train together simultaneously, thereby increasing the efficiency of their learning curve dramatically! It was brilliant really. But the Multisystem still wasn''t done with the whole exnation thing;


    "...a gentle reminder also that you can still further develop the potential of the Mesmer system. The ability to cast illusions goes hand in hand with the blood de."


    That was all the push he needed. If his clones could now all work in sync with each other, then the ere as really no need to put them on the sidelines for a battle that they were too weak to participate in. So, Xzavier decided to put into y this new development, and make all his clones to practice illusion. By his calctions, it would be a ground breaking speed for him to acquire a new skill, and within three days!


    Zavier got to work immediately. Instantly, he created two clones and went on to turn on training mode. In doing so, he temporarily activated the Mesmer system for all the clones, and set them up to train vociferously to hone the illusion skill. The took quite a while. But eventually it waspleted. And in due time, because at that very moment, a gentle but pronounced knock came at his door.


    Zavier paused for a bit. It came again, and this time, his visitor announced her presence;


    "Zavier don''t be a snob! Open up! I know you''re in there!"


    He couldn''t help but smile to himself. That was the energetic and domineering Dah. Her voice, much like her attitude, matched her personalitypletely. He got up and reached to open the door promptly.


    "Dah I''m a little busy righ---"


    Without any regard for his persona space or his state of mind, she ignored him and charged into his room in her usual assertive manner. Zavier was more amused than annoyed. He often wondered on just how inexhaustible the spring of confidence within her was.


    "You should be thankful to heavens that someone like me has deigned to visit you in your cubicle..." she waved her had around the ce, "....or whatever the hell this is..."

 Chapter 142 Organization

    "What are you talking about Dah? We literally have the same amodations."


    She eyed him dramatically. "Speak for yourself weirdo."


    Zavier shook his head. Even after all this time, Dah still looked down on everyone else. It seemed her sass and ''princess vibe'' was never going to let go of her.


    Without even a little regard to her host, Dah sat down on the bed.


    "Aren''t you going to ask me why I am here? Where are your manners?!"


    Zavier eyed her warily. Was she actually serious? How could she speak about manners when she had literally barged into his room uninvited? If he was a vtile person, he would have gone off on her like a nuclear bomb. But Zavier understood that this was just who Dah was. And because he understood her, he indulged her.


    "Fine. What''s the problem?" he resisted the urge to add; and why are you invading my personal space?


    Dah didn''t seem to care about his own reservations. "That did not even sound genuine in the slightest possible way..."


    "For heaven''s sake Dah! Would you just get on with it?!"


    There was a short pause. It almost seemed like Dah was working up the nerve to state her business her. This was very unlike Dah who never seemed to be on the careful side of things.


    "Well, I came to check on you..."


    Zavier looked at her with a nk expression, not daring to believe that this was her primary motive.


    "...and also to see how things are going in regards to our previous conversation regarding my joining your organization."


    Zavier finally understood. No wonder she had been so edgy. She was asking him how his consideration was going regarding her invitation to join a group that wasn''t in existence. He also realized that this must be hard for her since she had never had to work to get someone over to her side without bullying them or belittling them.


    Having realized what Dah was on to, he took a step back and sat down on the only chair avable in the room. It was positioned right beside the open window, thereby inadvertently cing Zavier in a kind of shadow-like region while the sunlight washed over Dah''s form on the bed. He crossed his legs and sighed deeply.


    "Why?"


    Dah frowned. "Excuse me?"


    "Why should I? You haven''t given me any tangible reason as to why you should join this..." he lifted up his hands in the air to mimic quotation marks; "... ''Organization''"


    It was Dah''s turn to exhale deeply. She knew she had some convincing to do. Zavier was clearly trying to bait her into working for it. Normally she would throw in some more sass and bug him till he gave in. But this time, she was looking at a much bigger picture that would ultimately benefit her. She needed Zavier. There was no way around it. So, she began to carefully sort out her thoughts, andid them out in well worded phrases.


    "I think it''s pretty clear enough as it is. But it seems like your brain can''t keep up with myplex ns..."


    Dah really couldn''t help herself. Despite having lined it up in her head, at the point of execution, her attitude had somehow managed to worm its way into her speech.


    "... I need to be more powerful. An elite group like yours would provide the resources and right tform for me to level up. Surely you can understand this? Or do I need to elucidate further?"


    She did it again. That sass, that attitude!


    Of course, Zavier didn''t take it to heart, at this point he was way above that. From the current look of things, as it stood, she needed him more than he needed her. No matter how she tried to coat the facts, the truth about their current dynamic was clear. So, Zavier politely answered;<sub> </sub>


    "I hear and understand youpletely. But unfortunately, that''s not going to happen."


    Dah stared at him with a mild hint of disbelief draped across her face, like she couldn''t believe he had just turned her down. Zavier unfolded his legs and pressed on;


    "Listen to me, there are extreme draconian terms and conditions that have been put in ce for prospective neophytes looking to join the organization. And that is just the firstyer. There is also the fact that orders must be obeyed to the letter. If you fall short of any of these, there isn''t some kind of penalty or fee that you''d have to pay..."


    He looked at her with his best piercing gaze; "The consequence of defaulting is- death."


    Zavier watched her to if he could see any signs that shower she might be actually backing away. "And one other thing, this is a lifelongmitment. It''s a one way door Dah. Once you''re in, you''re in for life."


    Zavier observed her like a hawk. What he had just told her was something no one could very easily push aside, especially if they were seriously considering joining. The stakes were high, and he knew that Dah was smart enough to actually see that. Much to Zavier''s surprise, he got a very different reaction from her.


    Still seated across from him on his bed, Dah leaned forward and kept her unflinching gaze steadied on Zavier.


    "I don''t know who you think you''re talking to, but I''ll be damned if I let something as trivial as that stop me. I am not stupid, I know that the stakes are high. It actually makes sense considering the benefits that are to be reaped. Sign me up Zavier, I''m still very much interested."


    Zavier was still a bit surprised. He hadn''t seen thising. Of course he knew that Dah wouldn''t be easily deterred, so he had envisaged that she would take some time to further ponder on the offer. Especially since it came with a lot of demands. But she had remained unchanged about her decision even after hearing the whole deal. There hadn''t even been the slightest hesitation. If anything, she was even more determined than before.


    This only made things a little moreplex for Zavier. Before now, he had already made up his mind to refuse Dah. He had already resolved to do this long before now. And all his previous tactics had been aimed at trying to dissuade her from pursuing this any further. But somehow, it had ended up achieving the opposite of the intended effect. There was no doubting it, Dah was even more invested now. It showed in her eyes brimming with resolve. In her bodynguage that reflected her stubbornness.


    Dah''s determination was evident, but that wasn''t what Zavier was thinking about in that moment. A thought shed through his mind that made him reconsider. Zavier thought of him and Alissa. He didn''t allow the thought to take root before he pounced on it. There and then, he decided to create this non-existent organization real. Dah kept staring at him the whole time, but even she didn''t know that it was in that exact moment that the secret and mysterious organization had been birthed.


    Zavier was under no delusion about his current strength. The fact was that he was extremely weak at the moment. But he had just enough juice to make clones if he wanted to. This was great for him because he needed the assistance of the other clones to gain as much power as he could. So did Dah. With all these issues bothering him, Zavier kept seeing more and more reasons that would back the need to create a mysterious organization.


    Of course there was still a lot to figure out. Zavier knew he had to work out the logistics involved with creating and sustaining the image he wanted to project through this organization. Knowing and being friends with someone as smart as Dah was a two edged sword. She was witty, observant and a quick thinker. Having her as part of the organization would most definitely keep him on his toes. In a way, it was just the push he needed.


    Zavier had a lot to work through and he was severely fatigued in mind and in body. His first priority was to get rid of Dah before he could hope to work on anything else. So, he concocted a well worded fib and spat it to her confidently;


    "I have heard you, but it really isn''t up to me. The best I can do is help you know what you''re about to step into. But the decision isn''t exactly in my hands."


    Dah nodded sympathetically. "Of course! I know you''re probably at the bottom rung on thedder of influence, so I wasn''t exactly expecting much from you in that aspect."


    Zavier had to stop his face from turning red. If only she knew. But s, she didn''t. So he fed her some more assurances crap;


    "Gee thanks for the vote of confidence Dah. But as I said, it isn''t up to me. However, I promise to report your issue to the top brass of the organization. They are the movers and shakers, and they decide who and what goes. You feel me?"


    "Yeah."


    "Good. For now though, since you have expressed interest to join, I guess you can be regarded as a peripheral member like me. Of course, it goes without saying that you need to pass a rigorous vetting exercise in other to stand a chance of bing a true member."


    "Is there anything I can do to facilitate the process?"


    "No." He answered her tly. Dah was a proactive one. Much like her schoolwork, she treated everything serious in the same vein.

 Chapter 143 The Avengers

    Normally he would appreciate that. But he needed her to get the hell out and leave him alone for now.


    Dah seemed to have gotten the hint, or at least Zavier thought so. The reality was that she had gotten what she came for, and because she was a purpose driven person, she saw no need to dilly dally around.


    "I guess I''ll see you around then."


    She stood up from the bed and made her way towards the door. But just as she was about to leave, she turned around and whipped out a question that took Zavier unawares.


    "By the way, what''s the name of this organization exactly? You have been so careful about saying the name that you didn''t even let it slip for once."


    <o>,m Zavier paused for a bit as she lingered at the door. She saw Zavier''s countenance and couldn''t help but ask; "Or is that something that I am not allowed to know yet?"</o>


    "No. But I''ll tell you either way; it''s called The Avengers¡­"


    The sparkle in Dah''s eyes was all the confirmation Zavier needed to know. He had chosen a good name. Her eyes danced with glee as she murmured it in a low tone;


    "The Avengers huh? Wow, it''s dark, arcane and a little cultish. My type of jam! I love it! It''s actually very much in tune with the tone of what my possible future might hold!"


    She waved to him as she said goodbye. As Dah shut the door behind him, he couldn''t help but notice that it was the first time she had actually said a proper goodbye to him since he had known her.


    Barely five minutes after Dah had gone, Zavier heard a knock on his door. This time, he didn''t ask who it was, this time he knew. And most importantly, this time, the guest was actually wee. Hiding his smile behind a mask of stoic indifference, he called out to his guest;


    "Come in."


    Shiranui, the female built like a goddess entered Zavier''s room, filling the atmosphere with her thick perfume and sensual energy. She closed the door behind her and stood awkwardly at the door for a while. Zavier on the other hand stared at her for a full minute. They weren''t in any rush for words. They were way past that now.


    Zavier decided to break the ice by making the first move. He stood up from the bed where he had been casually lying down, and walked over to Shiranui till they were merely inches away from each other. Then, very gently, he pulled her in by her waist and kissed her deeply. It was a deep and long kiss. Shiranui submitted to Zavier''s advance without any resistance and pressed her body against his. After they had taken their fill of each other''s lips and tongues, they finally broke away and sat down on the bed.


    Zavier could tell from her sad eyes that something was on her mind.


    "Are you okay? You look like you have something on your mind?"


    "I''m good Zavier¡­"


    "NO. Don''t do that, you''ve got that faraway look in your eyes, I can tell that something''s bothering you."


    Shiranui averted her gaze from Zavier''s prating look, and fell silent for a time. He didn''t rush her. Instead, heid back on the bed, and pulled her close to him until her head was on his chest. He continued to stroke her hair, gently easing her into a state where she could open up to him without feeling vulnerable or anything of the sort. Eventually, his gambit paid off.


    "My past is a pretty dark one Zavier. It''s pretty glum, and every time I take a walk down memoryne, I feel like I actually relive the sadness and pain all over again¡­"


    With that, Shiranui bore herself open with Zavier and started to narrate the sad events of her past. Zavier listened intently as she pored over every single detail. Especially the part about her sister. He listened and listened well, taking into ount the significant parts, as well as the minor details. The fact was Dah had already spoke extensively on the subject before. It had truly been a sad and gory tale. But somehow, it was even much sadder hearing it from Shiranui in question. He couldn''t help but feel sorry for her.


    "¡­and that my dear Zavier, is the story of my life. Those were the experiences that shaped me and molded me into bing the woman I am. Sorry I was such a bitch the first time we met, but I was still trying to work through some stuff."


    "I''ve told you already Shiranui, you don''t need to apologize. We are who were are at the end of the day. The past is set in stone, no matter what we do, we will not be able to change what had already transpired¡­"<sub> </sub>


    He felt her hot breath on his chest even as he ruffled her hair. "What matters is how we rise above it all."


    Zavier''s hand slipped out from underneath her and adjusted until he could look her in the face. "I am sorry for all you had to go through in the past Shiranui. Sincerely, I am. "


    She reached out with her right palm and cupped Zavier''s right cheek. "You''re so sweet Zavier. So, so, sweet."


    Her cheeks burned bright red in embarrassment as she went on to address the elephant in the room.


    "So, uhmm Zavier, I''ve been doing some thinking¡­and¡­I¡­uhmm, I like what we have going on here, but¡­I think it would probably be for the best if we kind of keep our romance on a low for now."


    Shiranui was really ufortable at that minute. Her usual confident self was now stammering; "I guess I''m saying I''m not exactly ready to announce our thing yet¡­"


    Dramatically, Zavier exhaled deeply, and murmured an ambiguous two word reply; "I see¡­"


    "Oh no, don''t get it twisted Zavier, I do care about you. And I think on some level, you''vee to realize this. But as it stands, my quest for revenge needs all my focus. Kyouko simply must die."


    Zavier didn''t say anything. He knew enough that it was best to say as little as possible in situations like this. Since this was Shiranui''s idea, he decided to let her set the terms for this arrangement. And that she did;


    "I understand if you''d like to see other girls on the side. It would be unfair and unreasonable for me to suggest otherwise seeing that I can''t afford to give you hundred percent¡­"


    She teased him further; "You''re such a great guy Zavier, and someone like you deserves to be with as many other girls as you want."


    Shiranui saw Zavier''s face and saw that he was lost in deep thought. She assumed that he was merely trying to go over the fine print of their arrangement. Ande up with a counter offer. But that wasn''t even remotely close to what was going on in Zavier''s mind. He was on a whole otherne entirely. While Shiranui had long moved on from the subject of her sister Kyouko, Zavier was very much still invested in that subject. He felt like he should tell Shiranui that her sister had grown into a powerful and dangerous enemy.


    Zavier wished he could tell her that the Kyouko she knew before had morphed into something else entirely. But yet again, self-restraint prevailed and Zavier managed to hold back his tongue from speaking what shouldn''t have been on his mind in the first ce. From his perspective, it was evident that Shiranui needed a win. There was really no need to agitate her any further. The poor girl had been through enough already, and he just wanted to take care of her, and keep her in the dark until he had figured something out.


    "Well¡­aren''t you going to say something? What do you think?"


    Zavier noted for the first time that he hadn''t said anything in reply to her proposition concerning their affair. His body had been on autopilot while his thoughts had roamed back and forth across the limitless construct that was his own mind. Shiranui looked at him expectantly. He appreciated the fact that she wasn''t trying to rush him. She understood that he liked to take his time whenever it came to making important decisions.


    This made him even want to kiss her some more. So, in reply to her proposition, Zavier leaned in close to her to take her lips in his own¡­but much to his annoyance, a stranger flung the door open!


    "What the hell?!" Zavier tuned furiously to ost the invader, fully prepared to dish out a memorable act of discipline on the perpetuator.


    "WHO IS TH--?"


    Zavier was about to roar when he stopped dead in his tracks. His uninvited guest was someone he could never ever hope to raise his voice against, no matter what. This was someone who was always wee to check in on him no matter the time or ce. s, the culprit of the hour was none other than Nadia!


    Even as she held the door open, she gawked at Zavier and Shiranui with a mischievous look on her face. Kacie arrived immediately behind her, and when she saw the awkwardness, she instantly deduced what was happening. Flushed in the face, and embarrassed to helplessness, Kacie tendered her apologies on behalf of Nadia''s rude behavior;


    "Heavens! I am so sorry Zavier! Please pardon Nadia''s intrusiveness! Gosh!" then she turned towards Nadia to rebuke her sharply;


    "You little piglet! Don''t you know how to knock? Apologize straightaway!"

 Chapter 144 Intermarriage?

    But of course, the straightforward and incorrigible Nadia didn''t even notice what was about to go down before she had so rudely interrupted. Indeed, it seemed like everyone else but Nadia was aware of the gravity of the crime she hadmitted. Nadia was feeling a lot of things in that moment, but shame and regret were definitely not among the list. In fact, she was actually jealous when she saw Zavier locked in a tight embrace with Shiranui. So, without even thinking, in the blink of an eye, Nadia impulsively rushed to the bed and pounced on Zavier.


    It was a move that was designed to show Shiranui that she had sovereignty over Zavier and that she was nothing to her. Shiranui on the other handpletelycked even the tiniest form of empathy. Her social intelligence was at an all-time low, so she couldn''t discern the real truth behind what was happening here. Her instincts immediately kicked in like a shield, and she immediately reverted back to her cold self. It was almost as if she was incapable of any kind of human interaction at all.


    The fact that Nadia was still just a family member seemed to have been lost on her. To Shiranui, she might have as well been another hostile. So, she shot her a cold look, and without saying a word, she got up and left the room rather quietly. Zavier wanted to move to escort her, but found himself in another fix altogether. He felt it wasn''t intentional, put deep down, he knew it wasn''t a mistake. Sitting on top of him on the bed, Nadia''s ass was pressed firmly against his crotch!


    Zavier was taken unawares! Due to the nature of how had left things with Shiranui, his rod was very hard from all the blood rushing to it. And without warning, Nadia had pounced on him, and pinned him down with her ass pressed up against his crotch! With every passing Nano second, Zavier increasingly felt that this was no mistake. It seemed Nadia was up to something.


    Just as Zavier suspected, the next words that flew out of her mouth shocked him to the bone. Suddenly, Nadia ambushed Zavier with a very specific question;


    "Come on Zavier! When are we going to get married!?"


    Zavier nearly choked on his own tongue. He wondered if it was all the blood rushing from his head that was making him hear and feel things that weren''t there. He was truly confused! Marry? How could she joke about something like this while sitting firmly with his cock pressed up so hard on her ass that it was dangerously close to her pussy?


    "Marry?" Zavier stammered in confusion.


    Nadia bounced against him in anger. "Oh no! You really forgot didn''t you? Didn''t you promise to marry me as your bride when I grow up?"


    "Zavier!"


    She smacked him yfully on his chin.


    "You poor forgetful soul, you didn''t really forget did you?"


    Zavier had assumed that this was all some kind of joke, that Nadia was simply being her yful self. He thought that any moment now, she would burst intoughter upon seeing the expression on his face andugh it all off as a joke. But as Zavier searched her eyes, he saw the opposite of casual jest, he saw hope. And that was all the push he needed. Immediately, he began to search out his own past memories.


    His mind was like a giant cathedral filled with rows and rows of books representing multiple memories. Here, it wasn''t just his own conscious memories from his past life, but the true memories of the person whose body he was inhabiting. Within the fraction of a nanosecond, Zavier whipped through the pages of these memories that weren''t originally his, and found what he was looking for. It turned out that Nadia wasn''t mad in the head like he had thought. After a quick shback, he called to being the promise he had made to her in the past.


    It had been so long ago. They were but children back then when he had promised Nadia that they would get married when they were grown. Zavier shuddered at the way it all seemed normal. Typically, this kind of marriages were regarded as barbaric. But here, it appeared to be the pr opposite. Not only were intra-n marriages allowed, they were also verymon. It was a widely practiced phenomenon that kept bloodlines pure, and free from external influences.


    This whole thing had been birthed from the sheer hatred of peasant blood and outsiders. Because there were a lot of xenophobic noble families who cherished their own nobility and social standing more than their lives itself, this concept was quickly introduced. The first generation of medieval lords and aristocrat princes quickly discovered that they had a serious problem. There were a lot of family secrets, wealth, and an abundance of traditions that simply couldn''t be trusted with outsiders.


    So, they hatched the heinous n of marrying each other''s nieces. The children that followed married their cousins, thus eliminating the possibility of a stranger infringing on their family ties. This practice continued over many generations, making itmonce among the pure bloods. The purity of the bloodline was vital. Especially in powerful and prominent families like the Adam family. Cousins taking a liking to each other wasmon. In fact, it was encouraged.


    So, right from a young age, it wasn''t odd to see cousins pining for each other. In some extreme cases, these cousins who found themselves trapped together in a big house (and with very little adult supervision) often ended up fondling each other in the dark, after lights out, under their sheets. These cases often made these cousins to grow up dependent on each other for the very air they breathed. From a young age, patterns are set, and by the time they were grown, an unbreakable bond would be formed. Thus, linking them for life.


    While it reeked of incest to a stranger like Zavier, it was actually verymon. This came as a bit of a shocker to Zavier for so many reasons. But mainly because in his mind, he hade to see Nadia as nothing but a sister. He appreciated her yfulness and the care she so often showered on him, but to a mature mind like Zavier, she was just a kid. The whole shift in dynamic had been so quick that he was still yet to follow up.<sub> </sub>


    Zavier''s brain was reeling. This was no joke, not to Nadia at least. He knew he had to think of something really fast, or else before he knew it, he would blink and suddenly find himself walking down the aisle with a new bride! The mere thought of it sent cold shivers down his spine. So, Zavier forced himself to hide his repulsion, and instead conjured another fake warm smile. He ced his hands on her waist and tried his best to sound optimistically hopeful;


    "Is my sense of humor really that dull?! I was just joking Nadia,e on!"


    He tickled her ribs and she burst outughing in her high-pitched, loud cheerful voice. She continued to giggle as Zavier tickle her. She really loved to y- Zavier knew that now. It was a deliberate y to keep her in a good mood as he let her down easy with his next sentence;


    "I can never forget my promise to marry you Nadia, I could never hope to marry someone else. You know that right?"


    She nodded excitedly.


    "But before that can happen, we both need to be at our best. And that includes a full education. We need to focus on our studies first okay?"


    Zavier couldn''t believe himself. He sounded like a parent.


    "You''re right!"she eximed passionately. "This is exactly why I want to be your bride Zavier, you''re such a calm and forward thinker..."


    Zavier was actively trying his best not to allow his face reflect his repulsion at the whole thing. It was truly cringe worthy. Of course he didn''t approve of intra-n breeding. He was a modern soul, and he understood the downsides to it. The gic pool wouldn''t exactly give room for growth. He wondered why the negative effects of consanguineous marriages in the physiological and gical range hadn''t been detected yet.


    Naturally, Zavier kept these thoughts to himself. To voice them now would only increase his chances of being found out. So, wisely, he kept his reservations and disgust to himself. Nadia on the other hand continued to drone on;


    "...on our wedding day, I''m going to be the prettiest girl in the whole world! You''ll see! I have the perfect gown in my head, and all I need is a tailor to just..."


    Kacie coughed and stepped forward purposefully, "That''s enough for now Nadia..."


    The older one had always been the more level headed of the two. Even now, she could see that Nadia was pestering Zavier like an annoying bee that just couldn''t be thrown off. She had to step in to save Zavier, else, Nadia would most likely smolder him with her incessant ramblings.


    Nheless, it was clear that Nadia wasn''t too happy with Kacie''s intrusion. She red back at her defiantly, as if daring her to do her worst. Kacie didn''t appreciate Nadia''s rebellion. However, she understood. And because she did, she approached her logically;


    "Nadia, surely you don''t want Zavier to copse from all the stress right?"


    No answer.


    "Well I''m sure you don''t want that. So, let''s give Zavier some time to deal okay?"


    "But I-"

 Chapter 145 Galen

    "But nothing. Zavier expended a lot of mental energy in trying to deal with the mysterious illusionist master. So, the best you can do for him right now would be to leave him be."


    Nadia couldn''t argue with Kacie''a logic. She was always right. But that didn''t mean Nadia was always happy with her approach. But this was one of those times where Kacie had left no room no Nadia to maneuver. So, Nadia sighed in exasperation as she grudgingly got out of bed. Mumbling something about not having enough time with Zavier in a long while. Kacie paid her no mind. She snapped her fingers at her, egging her on;


    "Yeah, yeah, get on with it. Keep it moving piglet."


    Having sessfully gotten Nadia out of the way, Kacie once again yed the role she had so often yed in Zavier''s recovery right from time past. She popped out a vial from her pouch and raised it up to the sunlight to confirm it was the one she intended to gift Zavier. It was a small ss vial, about five centimeters long, and in it was a dark blue liquid. After examining it, she tossed it to Zavier.


    The blue vial soared through the space between the both of them and Zavier expertly snatched it mid air. He looked at it queerly, and even though he knew it was some kind of potion already, he still couldn''t resist asking for rity;


    "What''s this Kacie?"


    "It''s just a little something that is supposed help restore your mental strength. Make sure you take a couple of sips before you go to bed tonight. You should feel much better by the next morning."


    This was just perfect. It was exactly what Zavier needed at the moment; a powerful potion that had all the healing properties which was necessary for the recuperation of his mental energy! And he also suspected that it wasced with some kind of sedative that would help him sleep better. It was really perfect seeing that mental exhaustion didn''t go well with. Lack of rest.


    Kacie was a genius! Who else would have been able to engineer such potion that was tailored to meet his exact needs at this point? Only Kacie. She was the only one who had the mind to dream up this kind of help, and also had the will to carry it out and see to it that Zavier got it. Truly, this was the kind of girl Zavier thought would make a great wife for him. There was simply no contesting it.


    She was perfect in every way, and she had everything that would make a great wife. Kacie was careful, she was observant. She wasn''t as boisterous as the obnoxious Nadia, and she didn''t have Shiranui''s zest for revenge. In fact Zavier was d for that particr trait. The fact that she wasn''t as vindictive as Shiranui only added to the feathers on her cap. Zavier''s mantra was; there was no man more doomed that a man who eventually falls for a vindictive woman.


    Zavier had to catch himself before he found himself falling for the virtuous Kacie. Sure, she would make for a perfect spouse. But unfortunately, they were blood. And even though it was virtually legal here, as a modern man, he just couldn''t stomach the thought of marrying his rtive. It was a morbidly disturbing thought. The best he could do was hope that the man who would marry her would appreciate her worth. But of course, the chances of that happening were pretty slim.


    Meanwhile, back in the plush, spacy and well-furnished office of the president Caesar University, a new situation was brewing, and it wasn''t looking too good at all. Galen was the man of the hour. The self-made, aplished seventy year old man was the president of Caesar University. Galen had attained the age where all he needed to do was sit back and enjoy the hell out of the fruits of hisbor. He had truly reached the golden age. For those in public service, and academia, seventy years was the age of retirement.


    For a prominent man like Galen who had spent the better part of his time in service to the university, he should have been looking forward to rxing and enjoying retirement. Especially after decades of nothing but hard work, and long hours spent in the handling of administrative duties. It had been a long and tedious journey that had brought him here. And after all this while, he was supposed to lean back and enjoy retirement. But unfortunately for the president, it was looking like that was out of the picture- for him.


    Galen found himself in a bit of a dilemma. It was the kind that wasn''t based on morals, neither was it an ethical problem. He had faced many of those in the past and sessfully came out unscathed. But right now, it was looking like this particr problem was going to take something precious that he was running short of- time. The sound of the ticking grandfather clock in the background often helped him to still his thoughts and reason more carefully. But each tick was a constant reminder that he didn''t have much time left.


    Hence the problem.<sub> </sub>


    The main issue at hand wasn''t time itself, no. Time was merely part of the whole thing. The real problem, (much like some of the worst problems in history) came down to a single word- DAWN. As innocent and as nd as the word was, it was a name that made the seventy year old president worry. Dawn was a mysterious organization whose recent activities hade to the limelight, and as such, they just couldn''t be ignored. Their timing couldn''t be worse.


    It wasn''t like Galen couldn''t just up and leave. After all, he had paid his dues and no one would fault him for leaving this problem to the younger generation. But as it stood, the old man was one of the few SSS level mages left, not just in the school, but in the whole world atrge. So, his very presence and experience was needed in the fight against Dawn''s incursion.


    Glen shook his head as he deliberated on the matter.


    ''Damn, the members of Dawn really are a senseless bunch! If they had any atom of sense at all, they would have waited for me to retire first before plunging into the deep! Now look, I have to deal with them right on the edge of my retirement! DULLARDS!! Ipetent, fickle headed durds!"


    Of course Glen was simply venting. He knew that it would be preposterous of him to hope that Dawn would hold back their affairs and heinous activities simply because an old man who ran some university, was about to retire. But he really couldn''t be med. Galen actually nned to retire and enjoy the rest of his old age in peace and quiet. Maybe do a little gardening, and keep some livestock, and write a couple more books. Galen sighed. From the top floor, he stared into space.


    Who was he kidding? Deep down, he knew what he had to do. He hated the way things were looking at the moment, but it genuinely seemed like his dreams of early retirement were going to have to wait. As he stood gazing down at the university''s grounds, watching apprentices and staff trot about on the feet, prancing up and down like characters in a y, Galen watched them all as his instincts screamed what he was trying to avoid; if he didn''t deal with Dawn now, he probably wouldn''t enjoy the rest of his life.


    "Damn it!" he cursed inwardly again, as he pulled himself away from his window to sit back at the desk and chair that had served as the base of his workspace for the past decade or so. It seemed like the reward for hard work is more work. Galen wasn''t the type toin. He was the man that people were supposed toin to, since he was the president of such a prestigious university. He pulled up the intelligence report concerning the group''s activities.


    In a matter of time, within a short while, Galen soon forgot about his initial reservations and submerged himself in the bulk of his work. This was how Galen had stayed trapped in academia (and its politics) all these years. He truly loved this work. It brought out the best and the worst in him. And as he analyzed the long logs of intelligence reports, the president submerged himself deeper and deeper into the same problem he had been wanting to toss aside just a few moment ago.


    As president, Galen had been doing this for several years. He had probably gone through thousands of reports in the past, and consequently, his eyes and mind had been trained to spot any irregrities or discrepancies. But suddenly, out of nowhere, Galen stopped. His eyebrows raised themselves up, almost as if they had a mind of their own, and a frown followed. He looked up as if something was there, and spoke as if he was addressing an invisible entity;


    "You know, I''m getting pretty tired of this whole routine¡­it''s getting pretty predictable¡­"


    The resounding silence that echoed back at him was embarrassingly scornful. Still, the old man sighed,


    "No, I am serious this time. Use the door next time, instead of the window. It''s unseemly of you."


    To a regr mind, the whole scene might appear a bit weird, a bit derivative even. Here was an old man, sitting alone in his office, and yet conversing with something that wasn''t there. Dementia wouldn''t be far off from being the logical conclusion of any sane mind.

 Chapter 146 The Middle Aged Man

    As if on cue, a powerfully built middle aged man in his early fifties climbed through the window facing west. It was a strange sight. The elderly man who was wearing a fancy and yful costume, boomed as he made his way into the office through the window.


    "Oh don''t be so brash old man! You know how stuck up and duty bound all these guards here at Caesar university are. If anyone doesn''t have a visitor''s, apprentices'' or staffs'' pass, they will be onto you like a rat on cheese!"


    Galen didn''t even try to express his disappointment at his apprentice anymore. At this point, he knew that there was no point. He had grown tired of constantly reprimanding him for losing his important documents. Galen simply had no more rebuke left in him. He had already gotten used to his apprentice''s style. But Galen couldn''t resist the urge to tonguesh him again. His apprentice''s uncouth nature was starting to piss him off.


    As a regr here, the apprentice obviously knew Galen well enough to know that it was the next thing the he was going to do.


    So, before the old man could embark on another one of his reprimanding sprees, the visiting apprentice in particr brought out a manuscript of the sciously lewd novel called ''Fifteen Shades of Grey'' and handed it over to Galen. The old man''s facial expression went from ''about to vent'' to ''wow I''m impressed!'' in an instant. Galen gingerly received the manuscript from his apprentice''s hands shamelessly. There was no telling the old man''s joy! It was written all over his face.


    "My boy! See, sometimes you''re notpletely useless after all. Well done!"


    The apprentice scoffed in a short chuckle. "Was that supposed to be apliment old man? That was some really weak stuff, I deserve more than that."


    "You''re lucky you got that one out of me. So I suggest you take it."


    As the old man answered him, he didn''t even bother to lift up his gaze to look his apprentice in the eye. He was too mesmerized with the book before him, and for good reason too. In this particr world, erotic novels were on par with banned substances. On the spectrum of illegal stuff, erotic novels were right up there with hard drugs and other controlled substances. They were hard toe by.


    And in obedience to thew of demand and supply, since the supply for erotic novels took a dive, the demand increased a hundred fold. Consequently, they became very scarce in the underground world. Only the extremely dogged, and well-connected folks could actually ess first-hand manuscripts.


    The government''s stand on erotic novels was known to all. It was openly banned. Therefore, it was forbidden for any citizen to be found in possession of or writing of these erotic novels. There were strictws and even stricter punishments to be meted out to anyone found defaulting on this directive. It was known.


    As always, whenever bans like this were put in effect, there was always one select group that were the most affected. And in this particr case, those who had been hit the hardest by this draconianw were none other than those in academia. This was the reason why Galen felt like his apprentice had just dropped a bag on gold on hisp! To the president, this manuscript was worth more than gold. Through a little bit of work and effort, gold could actually be reced ten, twenty times over.


    But the manuscript of a timeless ssic like this was priceless to an academic like Galen. It was such a monumental gift that the old man temporarily forgot about his apprentice''s rude behavior. Galen shamelessly fondled the book like it was some kind of treasure or limited edition collectible. Actually, it was. But that didn''t make it any less creepy. As Galen fondled the book, he shook up the dynamic of the room by asking a single question;


    "So, any news about our good friends from Dawn?"


    The ensuing awkwardness that followed spoke even louder than any amount of words. On the part of the middle aged man, there was ring evidence of gross ineptitude. Galen''s question hung in the air between them like the early morning mist one would see suspended over a stream or body of water. It was now clear that the manuscript was simply a ploy to assuage the old man''s feelings since he had failed in his mission to provide any tangible information. The apprentice skittered around on his feet, making him look even sketchier than normal.


    "Well?" the old man egged him on. There was the rising pitch of impatience in his tone; "Have you lost your witty tongue or what? Spit it out already, I don''t have all day!"


    The other man coughed ufortably. This was the moment he had been dreading. It was the moment all inept people dreaded. But with each passing moment he chose to remain mute, he only postponed the inevitable. So, taking a deep breath, he put aside his helplessness and tried to avoid the re in the old man''s eyes as he reported his own findings;<sub> </sub>


    "Actually¡­" he bowed his head slightly, "this was a pretty tough investigation to carry out. I had to spend several nights in very precarious ces. And on many asions, I spent a lot of money in trying to bribe several people into giving away prime piece of information. And at one point¡­"


    Galen had lost his patience now. All this unnecessary ramblings were useless to him, and he just couldn''t understand why he had to hear it.


    "My friend will you get right to it! Cut to the chase already and tell me what I need to know!"


    Galen was starting to get annoyed, and that was exactly what the other man had been trying to avoid all this while.


    "That''s the thing Galen, that''s what I''m trying to say¡­in spite of all my hard effort, and sacrifices, I wasn''t able to find any tangible leads. At least not any that was worthwhile anyway."


    Galen stared at him, as if trying to decide if he should impale him on the wall or simply take away his breath in that instant. Instead, he asked him a single word with an impable calmness;


    "What?"


    The other man knew the storm that was about to break on his head, so he quickly went into as much detail as possible;


    "You see, I was actually able to get in touch with some possible links with the organization, but on the grand scale, they were nothing. At best they could be considered as minor characters, but ultimately they were inconsequential to my mission. The core members of the organization were a bit more elusive."


    Galen grasped the handle of his chair like he was about to squeeze it till it gave away under the force of his palm. With horrifyingly piercing eyes, he glowered at the other man darkly;


    "So, after all this time, you''re trying to tell me that¡­" the old man corrected himself, "¡­nay, you''re actively telling me that you have nothing at all? Like at all?"


    The other man gulped. He wasn''t stupid enough to fall for that one, of course it was a rhetorical question. But he couldn''t afford to look the old man in the eyes in that moment, it would only give off a vibe of impudence. And heaven knew that he already couldn''t afford to add impudence to his te that was already heavy with ineptitude. So, he did the next best thing- he lowered his gaze and averted his eyespletely. Then he prepared himself for whatever was going toe next.


    The apprentice was right to be on edge. Galen was visibly furious. He was a man of excellence, and he expected the same level ofmitment and dedication from his subordinates. What annoyed him more about all of this was because he had been banking on that piece of information to move him forward in his wrestle against the mysterious organization called Dawn. And now, this buffoon had robbed him of this! The old man was furious, and he was prepared to let his foolish apprentice have it.


    The words rushed up from his throat to his tongue as a storm of pent up anger twirled around in his gut, waiting to be unleashed on the other man. But at the dying second, just when he was about to descend on his apprentice on the wings of his righteous anger, something else caught his eye, and it mitigated just the tip of his anger for a bit. It was none other than the thoughtful gift he had received only a few minutes ago; the manuscript of a novel that was so scarce, it was thought to have been unreachable.


    The sight of the neat, stack of organized papers that made up the Fifty Shades of Grey novel brought him a step back. In his anger, Galen had been about to do the unthinkable; he had been about to ruffle the pages of one of the only few copies of a literary masterpiece! It was an unforgivable sin, and he wouldn''t have been able to live with himself if he had gone through with it. So, the old man slowly found his way back to the stables of stability, and reined in his anger. It just wasn''t worth it.


    Looking at the manuscript hadn''t just abated his anger for a while, it had also reminded him that his apprentice was actually the genius behind this thoughtful gift. This was something that couldn''t just be overlooked, even though he had disappointed him greatly.

 Chapter 147 Rachel Caesar

    So, Galen sighed deeply, and took the high road.


    "I can''t say that I am not disappointed in you, but I guess there''s no point in staying mad."


    The apprentice had been expecting a full on mental breakdown from the president. But his shock knew no bounds when he heard those wordse out of his mouth. He dared to lift up his gaze to look the old man in the face, just to see if he was being toyed with. He wasn''t.


    "I-I- don''t know what to say Galen. Thank yo-"


    The old man stared at him nkly.


    "Hold your thanks mister. I still haven''t decided on what to do with you yet, and you''re definitely not scoring any points with me."


    The apprentice took the hint and kept his mouth shot.


    "But in the main time, I am allowing you to hang around campus for a few more days. I have a lot on my te right now, especially with the tournament at hand. That being said, you can make yourself useful to me in that regard."


    The apprentice bowed ever so slightly. "Whatever you need Galen, I''m avable."


    "Like hell you are!" the old man growled. "After botching thest mission, you''d better not kid around this time."


    The other man bit his lip. He knew he deserved that.


    "Well, the job I have for you isn''t all too tasking. The second round of freshman qualifiers is at hand, I want you to stay and watch."


    "Watch?"


    "Yes." Galen further expatiated on the nature of the assignment; "The lineup this year has a lot of promising young talents among the freshmen. Hopefully, one of them will make for the right apprentice for you. I trust you can scope out any potential candidates."


    The middle-aged man shrugged his shoulders. He was d he was back in the good graces of the president. A while ago, it had genuinely seemed like a storm had been about to break loose, and now he had just been handed a pretty decent assignment. He was actually looking forward to kicking back a little since it wasn''t so tasking.


    Galen seemed to have read his mind, so he charged him sternly;


    "Don''t even try to blunder your way through this one. You''re already on thin ice as it is."


    The apprentice wanted to reply the old man assuredly, but his ears turned to the door as he heard a group of people approaching. That was his cue. He didn''t even bother with goodbyes, it was clear that the old man was done with him. So, instead of using the door like a regr human being, he edged his way towards the window. Galen lifted up his eyes from his desk when he detected the other man''s movements out of the corner of his eye.


    Before he could open his mouth to caution him against doing what he was about to do, the middle aged man climbed out the window in one deft movement and disappeared into thin air within the blink of an eye, leaving Galen with his words hanging in his own mouth.


    The approaching footsteps got louder by the second, and Galen quickly realized that the manuscript was still very much in the open. That could really get him in trouble. And it didn''t matter if he was the president of the university or not, rules were still rules. So, he instantly tucked the manuscript into a hiddenpartment at the bottom rack of his drawer, and closed it silently without making a sound. Galen made it just in time.


    If he had waited a second longer, thinking that his visitor would be curt enough to knock before entering, he would have been taken unawares. Just as the drawer was closing, the door opened simultaneously. Galen was surprised, there weren''t that many people alive who had the balls to enter his office unannounced. The old man didn''t know who it was. But he was dying to vent his anger upon the unlucky fellows who were unfortunate enough to barge in unannounced.<sub> </sub>


    But Galen didn''t get the opportunity he was looking forward to. As he had suspected initially, the intruder was no ordinary person. The way Galen hurried up on his feet to greet his guest reflected the kind of pedigree this guest in particr belonged to. Galen''s visitor was the very definition of elegance. This person had a powerful regal aura that was simply undeniable. Even Galen himself wasn''t outside the sphere of control of this entity.


    In a deferential tone, he paid homage to her;


    "The Princess Royal of the Hilling Empire-Rachel Caesar, I humbly wee you to my humble office Your Grace."


    The princess wasn''t just the princess in title. In looks, and poise, and his the way the carried herself, she reflected the magnanimity of the empire. Rachel was a stunning beauty. And it wasn''t just the delicate kind, she had the ambience and fa?ade that was affiliated with the one percent of the one percent. The princess wasn''t alone, behind her was the knight that had been charged with the responsibility of her protection- Scott.


    Scott was also an impressive looking young man. As one whose entire life''s purpose was centered on protecting the princess, he was also the best of the best when it came tobat. On his right hand side was a broad sword hanging from his belt in his sheath. And on his right side was a rtively smaller dagger, which was also kept in its sheath. The princess and her knight stood in the middle of the office,pletely dominating the space.


    Galen on the other hand wasn''t used to being in the presence of a higher authority. Especially since he was the highest authority in the entire campus area. Both in his office as the president, and in his rank as an SSS rank mage. He truly was a kind of ruler in his own right. But of course, his authority and rank were practically nothing when juxtaposed with that of the princess''. So, in order to reaffirm his allegiance to the crown, he moved to bow down in homage to the princess.


    Rachel however wouldn''t have it. In slow, graceful movements, she held out her hand to Galen to stop him from bending over.


    "There''s no need for such superficial courtesy mister president. We are not in a pce and we aren''t surrounded by watchful eyes. At ease."


    Rachel''s voice sounded like honey being poured into a sk. It was like silk running over the smooth skin of young beautiful maiden. It had all the gentleness and authority that was expected of a princess.


    Galen was unsure of how to react to that. In his lifetime, the royals he had met were all the same; entitled, authoritative, brashly cold, and aloof. And here he was, about to bow to a princess, and she had stopped him gently without making him feel little or inconsequential. It was very umon. But Galen obeyed and straightened himself.


    "As you wish my princess. Once again, you are wee to this year''s edition of Caesar University''s freshmen qualifiers."


    She nodded curtly, and Scott echoed in his booming voice;


    "The princess is d to be present! She wishes all the contestants good luck in the rounds toe!"


    The princess'' arrival at the University''s grounds at this season was no coincidence, neither was it an anomaly. It was a long standing tradition at the university that had been honored by the royal family for years. No one knew when it all started or what had prompted it,but every year, for as long as they could remeber, a member of the royal family woulde down to watch the freshman qualifiers. All so they could show their interest in the future elite of the empire.


    This was a very tactical arrangement for both sides. While the royal family hid behind their magnanimity, and yed the role of a patronizing monarchy, of course their motives went far beyond that. Being present at these tournaments gave them a direct insight into what the next generation prodigies would look like. Once in a blue moon, there was the asional star that would attract the attention of the royal family.


    Secretly, they would begin to poach the prodigy, seducing them with borate offers, until the manarchy had sunk its ws into them. It was an arrangement that went unchecked for generations. The royal family recruited the best of the best for protection, intelligence gathering, and even finance handling. Naturally, the monarchy would extend its generous arm to the university by supporting the staff and administration in any way they could.


    Normally, the donations went into the development of certain programs or the funding of ground breaking research. So, at the end of the day, it seemed like both parties benefited from the arrangement.


    But this year was particrly different because of one small factor- the presence of the princess. Normally, the royal family would send in a distant cousin or some ambitious nephew that was eager to ingratiate himself to the main branch of the family. This had been the norm for some time now, and that was why the princess''presence here was a bit unprecedented. Gale wasn''t expecting her at all. But he was curious as to the reason she had been chosen toe this year.


    Because he was the president of a major institution that relied heavily on the graciousness of the ruling ss for funding and other things, Galen made it his business to be politically correct at all times. And that included knowing the royal family in and out.

 Chapter 148 Colloquize

    His own research covered most of the males of the royal family. He knew enough about every single one of them that was sufficient for him to dialog with anyone of them at any given time. It wasn''t always easy to find out ahead of time which of the royals was toe, but he did his best to stay up to date on all of them.


    Which was why Rachel being here was a surprise to Galen. He hadn''t been expecting the elegant Princess to grace this year''s freshman tournament. From the little Galen knew about the princess of elegance, she preferred beautiful things that pronounced her elegance and highlighted her love for beautiful things. Activities like ying the piano and writing poetry were at the top of that list. It wasmon knowledge that she excelled at them all.


    Nevertheless, that wasn''t the only striking thing about Rachel. Her love for elegance was popr among many circles, but Galen had also heard something about her, something that was both disturbing and yet worthy of apuse at the same time.


    When the princess was much younger, she had been kidnapped. Now while no one was sure of the identity of this kidnapper, certain stories had flown about regarding that very incident. Galen had heard that even at that moment, despite being in the jaws of captivity, the little princess had behaved and conducted herself in a courteous manner to the abductor(s). That had been a remarkable feat from a young girl. Especially from a princess.


    It was said that the culprit had been so swayed by her manners and etiquette that he requitted her politeness and treated her well. Galen remembered this story well and decided that it was best after all that the princess was here, and not just one of those other eager, desperate to please rtives of hers. He appreciated her spirit, and weed her ordingly.


    Careful with every word he spoke, and coupled with Rachel''s talent for speaking softly and in a civilized way, the old man gently eased her into a friendly conversation. He knew that this conversation would probably be recounted before a royal court, where everything he said would be torn apart and dissected in such a way that almost everything would be misconstrued as something else.


    So, he steered the conversation very gently in the direction he assumed would be the safest;


    "I am sure the princess will be pleased with this year''s line up. Indeed, it could truly be well said that there has been some impressive performance in the first round. They are all looking hopeful this year."


    Galen had diverted the conversation towards the one subject he knew he couldn''t be taken down for- the tournament. And in doing so, he carefully refrained from calling out any names in particr. The key was to remain as vague as possible. Royals could be really fickle sometimes.


    Galen''s gambit worked wonders. The princess replied him with her own opinion and with her own favorites.


    "I don''t know about the others though, but I sure am interested in the Yamata family girl."


    "Great choice princess. But may I ask why?"


    If it had been any other egotistical royal, Galen wouldn''t have even bothered to ask why. But Rachel was a lot easier to converse with. And it didn''t take any of that unnecessary maneuvering to speak to her.


    "I hear that the Yamata family that had once thrived blissfully had now been reduced to a poption of just two..."


    "Indeed, that''s what they say." Galen concurred with her.


    "I believe strongly in family president Galen. And because I do, I can''t help but root strongly for the Yamata girl. She carries on her back the legacy of her entire family, and that is no small burden. Don''t you agree?"


    "Of course princess. You''ve spoken wisely."


    Galen had never heard the princess speak so many sentences at once before. But he sure was d that he had paid attention. While she spoke, he had been able to discern the fact that she had been projecting her own personal feelings into her assessment of the Yamata girl. Since Rachel herself was a princess, she was probably always under immense pressure to make her family proud and do the right thing at every given pint in time.


    Rachel saw a bit of her own self in her, and because of this sense of kinship, she couldn''t help but root for her. Speaking of the Yamata n made Galen a bit emotional too. Like so many others, he had also heard about what had transpired in the past. It was a gory and bitter tale, but he quickly steered his mind away from the emotions associated with it and focused on being a more diplomatic host.


    "I am proud to inform you that Caesar''s University has maintaned a high level of interest in her from the very beginning of the exam. We are all aware of her presence and are looking forward to seeing her demonstrate her skills..."


    Galen saw that Rachel''s interest in the Yamata girl was based on her own emotions. It wasn''t exactly the kind of judgement and tactical analysis that one would expect from one of these visitng royals. So, Galen decided to try to influence her own somewhat biased judgement by steering her in the direction of a more impressive candidate. Someone whom the royal family would definitely be interested in.<sub> </sub>


    "Princess, I understand your interest in the Yamata girl, however, something interesting urred during the first stage of the freshman''s tryouts..."


    Rachel''s eyes bored into the old man as he prepared to fill her in. Her gaze was direct and unflinching. Galen forgot just how intense the royals could be with their looks. He was reminded yet again that he couldn''t afford to slip up just because the princess was moreely than the rest of her kin. She was after all still very much a royal.


    Galen coughed slightly before proceeding with his story;


    "A certain group emerged out of the blue andpletely dominated the scene. Even as I speak to you right now, tongues are still wagging about this mysterious trio. Out of nowhere, this team of theee managed to take the first round by storm and humiliated the other teams without even breaking a sweat!"


    Galen tried his possible best to sound as enthusiastic as he could about his narration. If he could hook the princess in, he knew that the royal family might take an interest. So, with the shameless tactics of a salesperson, Galen went on to vividly narrate the events that had transpired in the first round. He spoke in great detail, highlighting the ups and downs of the fight. He also emphasized on just how mysterious the trio were.


    "In all honesty princess, I have watched several freshmen elimination tournaments, but I have never seen anything like this! Truly! That was a demonstration that stunning by all proportion!"


    The princess didn''t respond immediately. She actually took out time to listen to everything he had said, it was necessary so she would be able to respond to him appropriately, and at the same time report back to her own family. It took a moment, but eventually she spoke up.


    "It sounds like it was quite the show mister president..."


    Galen answered eagerly; "Oh I assure you princess, it was! Hasn''t been anything quite like it in a while!"


    "I see..."


    Galen''s heart sank. That definitely wasn''t the reaction he had been hoping to get. "I beg your pardon princess, but it seems you do not approve,"


    "Let me see if I understand this correctly mister president..."


    Galen froze up, he knew that nothing good woulde after an opening like that. Somehow, even though it hadn''t been his intention, he hadpletely fumbled the sales pitch. He couldn''t wait to find out why. He got his answer alright.


    "So, you''re saying a gang of hoodlums, whose identities are still unknown, managed to gain ess to this prestigious tournament and knocked out some of our best teams?"


    Galen knew better than to reply. Clearly she was on a roll and couldn''t be stopped now.


    "And not only were they allowed to leave peacefully, their identities are still very much unknown? What if they were a band of assassins, or worse maybe even terrorists. Forgive me, I am not an expert in security matters, but it really sounds like someone somewhere should be questioned about his job."


    Galen had seriously misinterpreted the princess''long silence for awe. She had managed to give this whole narrative apletely different spin, making it look like gross ipetency and dereliction of duty. It wasn''t the old man''s fault. If he were dealing with another typical ambitious member of the royal, family, they definitely would have jumped at the opportunity to watch this mysterious trio in action.


    But apparently, the princess didn''t care about that. She had been so hung up on the fact that they were a mysterious team that were still incognito. Maybe that had partly been Galen''s fault, seeing that he hadid so much emphasis on their mysterious nature. It had backfiredpletely on him. The fact was that Galen hadn''t beenpletely honest about that part.


    Actually, by some freak ident, the old man hade to know that the mysterious group werepanions of Zavier''s. Before now, Galen hadn''t even given the Adam boy a second nce. There were a lot of other candidates whose pedigree and past achievements far outssed that of the Adam boy. But nevertheless, that had all changed when Val had revealed to him that three masked entities were actually friends of Zavier''s.

 Chapter 149 Acting

    Of course Galen couldn''t very well spill this information. He hadn''t gotten to be president by simply going around spilling information that was supposed to stay hidden. No, Galen had chosen (very wisely) to keep this information under wraps. There was so much he didn''t understand about that. Anyone on the outside who chanced upon this information would assume a lot of things. One of those being; Val had hired some outside mercenaries to help his inept nephew.


    But then again, there wasn''t any way to find out for sure. Hence, his decision to keep it under wraps. It wasn''t really a good idea of meddle with the Marquis'' family affairs. It also wasn''t a good idea to keep information hidden from the princess. After all, he didn''t really lie. He just kept part of the truth to himself till he could find out the whole picture. Lying to a royal was a dangerous gambit. But Galen had been in this game too long to not know how to y it.


    Unknown to Galen, he was overthinking the whole thing. He was far from what was on the princess'' mind. Without even realizing it, she bore open her own line of thought to him, making clear what her exact priorities were;


    "I''m sure you have it all under control mister president, this isn''t your first rodeo. I have no doubt that the mysterious students are as powerful as you say they are. But as I said earlier on, I am not interested in any other candidate. The Yamata family line is unique, and as such, I am looking forward to their prodigy."


    Galen digested her every word. It all made sense now! Rachel had made clear from the beginning what her feelings were towards the Yamata girl. And he, in a bid to present a much worthy candidate, hadpletely ignored her own choiced candidate. This had led to the princess'' attack on the mysterious trio, even going as far as threatening the job of the person in charge of security.


    The whole thing had been a veil. Rachel had simply beenshing back at him for trying to say that her choice wasn''t valid. Even though she was a princess, she was also still very much a youngdy, and she was used to her opinions being treated like they weren''t valid. Rachel hadn''t been gunning for him after all, she had only been trying to put out the fact that she didn''t care about any other candidate other than the one she had set her thoughts on- the Yamata girl.


    Galen was d that this was it. The princess had handled herself beautifully, even though it was against a non existent threat. So, in order not to exacerbate the matter any further, he did the needful- the old man acquiesced to her opinion;


    "Once again, you''re right princess. The Yamata lineage is indeed an extraordinary one."


    Back in Zavier''s dorm room, the conversation had taken apletely different turn, and it was in a direction that Zavier was trying to avoid.


    "I am telling you Kacie, people are talking about those three high school students! They are the most powerful students in the world!"


    "Don''t be silly Nadia, the world is a pretty huge ce. No one can possibly know that for sure..."


    Nadia stubbornly persisted in a manner that was consistent with her personality as the stubborn one; "How can you say that?! Didn''t you watch the same battles I did? Those three aren''t anywhere near the level of any other team! The others might as well just pack up and leave now!"


    Kacie nodded her head thoughtfully; "You have a point there. But the statistical probability of having three of such powerful students in one area, much less in the same school, is almost impossible. Something''s not right here."


    Nadda rolled her eyes. "Wow Kacie, you managed to suck the fun out of a casual argument."


    "What?"


    The younger one lifted up her hands defensively, "I''m not attacking you or anything. But when youe at me with words like ''statistical probability'' you just sound all nerdy."


    "You''re just a kid. You can''t understand deep conversations like this."


    Nadia retorted; "Hey! Take that back!"


    "Whatever. It doesn''t change the fact that those mysterious students are a real enigma, and no one seems to know anything about them."


    "Well that''s not really true. One thing we do know about them is that they kick some serious ass!"


    Kacie rebuked her; "Nadia! Watch yournguage!! Remember you''re ady for heaven''s sake!"


    "Okay! Okay! My bad about that Kacie. There''s just so many rumors flying around about them you know. I even heard someone saying something about them being aliens, or some secret government experiment."<sub> </sub>


    "That''s preposterously absurd."


    "I know right! All the freshmen are jittery about this trio, everyone has their own theory. Trust me, it''s crazy out there. No one knows remotely anything about their real identities!"


    At this juncture, Nadia noticed that it had just been her and Kacie contributing to the conversation all along. Zavier had been notably quiet all through. It was as if he had retreated to a world of his own. Nadia decided to pick his brain.


    "Zavier you''ve been awfully silent about this rather controversial issue. What do you think about these mysterious high school students?"


    Kacie had also been acutely aware of Zavier''s silence. Of course she had assumed that he was probably too tired to contribute. So, she reprimanded Nadia again for disturbing him;


    "I have told you to let Zavier be. He doesn''t need any stresss or nagging right now."


    "But I didn''t do anything to stress him! I only asked for his opinion on this clearly controversial matter. Surely that''s not too much to ask for?"


    Kacie kept her peace. She was also secretly yearning for Zavier''s take on this juicy matter, but she was also conscious of the fact that he didn''t need any kind of stress now.


    All eyes turned to Zavier. This was the moment he had been dreading for a while. He couldn''t very welle out in the open and tantly tell them the truth. It was very likely the truth would cause them brain damage or permanently alter their perception of him. He had been hoping to avoid this conversation with them, but as it was, they clearly wanted his take on the matter. It was perfectly normal for them to do so, and he in turn had to act as normal as possible.


    So, Zavier made a great disy of pretending to mull over the whole situation. He furrowed his eyebrows and willed his face into a stern expression. Giving off the impression that he was in deep thought. Actually, he had anticipated that this question would arise eventually. He just hadn''t expected it to be from Nadia and Kacie. So, he had concocted something ahead of time that would offset the demand for his own answer to the question.


    It had to be brilliant, it had to be thoughtful, and it had to be catchy enough to make it look legitimate. So, after some time of pretending to think it over, Zavier finally gave the girls what they wanted;


    "First off, there''s this general assumption that those three are students..."


    His opening was catchy. He could see it in Nadia''s longing eyes, and Kacie''s bated breath. It was just enough for him to know that they were hooked. After a brief pause, he continued;


    "I think that''s a very wed conception. And because this base is wed, I believe every other theory that has been built on this premise is not just wrong, but tant rubbish."


    As he spoke, it felt like Kacie''s and Nadia''s eyes were being opened for the first time. Zavier thoroughly enjoyed the looks on their faces as he led them farther and farther away from the truth. Pretending to analyze this further, he continued down this path of lies;


    "Think about it guys. No, really- think about it! A band of extraordinarily powerful students just happen to show up, and no one knows their names or faces, or even where they came from? Sounds extremely sketchy if you ask me."


    "So what then?" Kacie asked eagerly, "You think they''re some kind of mercenaries or something?"


    Zavier shook his head thoughtfully. "No. Not mercenaries- lecturers."


    He watched through their eyes as the bomb he had just detonated exploded in their brains. Even now, he knew that there was probably a ton of questions flying around in their minds as they struggled to wrap their heads around this theory. Before they could bombard him with more questions, he began to ease them down the alley of his suspicions.


    "If you look at it from a much higher perspective, you will be able to see that this entire purpose is targeted at testing freshmen. In my opinion, I think someone very clever among the school''s upper management came up with the idea to introduce a set of lecturers disguised as students. This set of extremely ''powerful'' students would then wreak havoc amongst the regr freshmen, making it difficult to assemble together. Hence, the true purpose of this exercise; to test the general level of cooperation amongst the freshmen."


    Zavier''s words fell like dew on an already parched ground. Kacie and Nadia gobbled it all up instantly. It all made sense to them! Especially with the way and tone with which Zavier had narrated his own opinion. Who could have understood it better other than someone who had been in actual battle with them? It had to be Zavier! No wonder he had been so quiet since. Without even realizing it, the both of them had been sucked into the vum of a well scripted lie.

 Chapter 150 Academy Award

    It all sounded so fitting, so appealing. It had to be the truth. What else could''ve been the real reason behind three obviously powerful high school students all together in the same team and on the same school? Kacie''s quick mind feasted on this new insight voraciously, such that she didn''t even know when she voiced out her agreement.


    "Your analysis is spot on Zavier!" Her eyes danced in excitement. Her own brain had been struggling to decipher this mystery. So, when Zavier proffered such an attractive solution to the mystery, she jumped on it immediately.


    "Honestly the fact that such a powerful trio all school together is a dead giveaway. Think on it; if this was actually true, if such an A-team actually existed, then they would have been offered early admissions into Caesar University on grounds of extreme talent!"


    The slick Zavier nodded, encouraging Kacie''s whim.


    Spurred by Zavier''s approval, she built on his theory and continued to analyze the situation ording to the new data;


    "By all ount, Zavier might actually be right on this count. No group of high schoolers can be this powerful. It can only be lecturers or even professors pretending to be contestants, just so they can blend into thepetition..."


    Kacie''s face lit up when she remembered another factor; "The masks!" She eximed.


    "That exins the masks! They''re obviously older and more matured, hence the masks!"


    Kacie was twitching with excitement, gleeful and high on the fact that she had just sessfully cracked the case. Nadia on the other hand wasn''t as smart as the other two, but she followed their conversation closely and got enough to know what they were talking about. They had figured it all out! And thanks to Zavier!


    The diabolical genius behind all of this couldn''t help but praise himself inwardly. Although on the exterior he maintained some semnce of normalcy, deep inside he was scratching the floor of his mind. Forcing back the tide of his own swelling emotions, he continued to keep up the charade of one that was seriously analyzing an impossible situation. An Academy Award was in order for him. He had yed the part beautifully.


    Muchter that night, while a majority of the others had gone to bed, Calista rolled in bed unable to sleep. It wasn''t like it was because of some issue that was bothering her. Sure, she had a lot on her mind, but at that particr moment, she was waiting for 12am to strike. There was urgent business to be attended to. She felt every single moment pass in the darkness as she waited for midnight toe like some enstranged lover that was to be back soon.


    Finally, after an agonizing couple of hours, the stroke of the midnight bells echoed through the grounds of the university, signaling all that midnight was at hand. That was Calista''s cue. She jumped out of bed and hurried along on her feet towards the rendezvous point she had previously arranged with her students. Calista''s quarters was with the staff and other chaperones from the variouspeting high schools. But her destination was a bit farther than usual.


    The conference room was usually open all day and all night for study group sessions and other misceneous activities. So, she had no doubt that it would be open. She hurried along on her short legs through the halls and corridors, breezing through like a ghost or a creature of the night, until she eventually arrived at the entrance to the conference room. Just as she had expected, every single one of her students were there as arranged. All five of them. There was no need for greetings, the atmosphere was like that of a war council.


    After counting to make sure everyone was present, she led open the doors and led them all in. The coldte breeze wafted through the windows of the University''s castle-like structure. A lot of them were on their pyjamas and shawls, but that did nothing to keep out the cold. But they weren''t here to befortable. Calista had arranged for this meeting at this time and at this location because of the seriousness of the matter at hand.


    The conference room was just perfect for this debriefing. As her five students took their seats, she climbed up the podium and began her address;


    "Thank you all for making out time to be here. Not that I gave you much of a choice anyway, but still, thanks for being here."


    They giggled at her light joke, and the atmosphere warmed up a little.


    "As I''m sure you are all aware, the second round is soon to begin. But before we begin, I''d like to ask, if anyone has anyints about the first round, raise your hands now."


    Within the blink of an eye, every single hand shot up in the air.. Calista''s indifferent countenance turned into a deep frown.


    "That was a trick question, and you all bungled it! Brace up, the whole lot of you! This isn''t a walk over! No one cares about yourints! You all need to buck up and realize that you''re not in high school anymore!"


    It wasn''t the perfect pep talk, but it was more than enough to rile them up from their apparent state of slumber.


    "Now that we have that out of the way, we can now discuss the matter at hand which is the second round..."


    They all kept quiet, looking at her expectantly, waiting for her to hit the nail on the head.<sub> </sub>


    "It goes without saying that the rules are somewhat different from that of the first round. Normally, fifty percent of the entire contestants are supposed to be eliminated in the first round..."


    There was a gasp somewhere in the background.


    "Are you surprised? Yes, that''s normally how it goes in the first ground. However, due to some freak ident, it seems like the number of participants left has dropped to a figure south of five hundred."


    Calista listened for any kind of reaction but didn''t get any. That''s good, she thought. They were the A-team after all.


    "Unlike the first round, the second round is going to be a teampetition in which the lead teacher selects one person to represent the team in a one on one ry. This is a contest that only ends when thest person on one side is either defeated or concedes to defeat."


    She didn''t want to bombard them with too much information at once, so, she slowed down her pace in other for them to assimte all they had just heard. As soon as she sensed they were back on track, she continued;


    "The second round is also an elimination round. And the elimination process will continue until the final team emerges as the champion."


    Calista pressed her palm firmly against the table in front of her and lowered her voice in a somber tone;


    "As I said earlier on, the contestants left are now fewer than five hundred. I will not lie to you, this year is a bit of an anomaly, and I personally haven''t witnessed this many contestants eliminated at the first stage before¡­"


    She let that part sink in well.


    "So, our strategy for the second round must carry all the shocking audaciousness of a savage assault. So, all hands need to be on deck in order to achieve the desired oue here..."


    She red at every one of them, pausing to make sure that she initiated eye contact with each of them as individuals.


    "...and just in case that wasn''t clear enough, the desired oue I am talking about is nothing but absolute victory. It is attainable, and I demand it from all of you. There can be no weak links."


    As she dropped thatst part, Calistaid heavy emphasis on the need to work as a team, everyone had to be on their best behavior.


    Kacie quickly perceived the urgency and seriousness of the situation, and quickly moved to analyze the situation as it was. Her calm, suave personality went hand in hand with her ability to reason properly. After all, the reason they were all here in the first ce was to brainstorm on ideas that would take them forward and ensure their victory in the next round. There was simply no time for dilly dallying. So, she spoke up in her calm assertive voice, drawing attention to herself;


    "In lieu of what Miss Calista has just said, I believe our best bet would be to start strong and finish even stronger..."


    Everyone was now looking at her, just as she had intended. She continued to ride the wave, hoping that it would permanently shift the attention from Calista''s and Zavier''s showdown to the real issue at hand.


    "What ever subsequent n we agree on, one thing will always remain constant; we need to put our best foot forward, and save our ace card forst. All other tactics wee up with should be built on this first step."


    A couple of people agreed with her. In order to convince the lot that were still nurturing doubts in their minds, Kacie went on to analyze the situation further;


    "The whole structure of thispetition is based on the contestants itself. There are no other obstacles or strengths that outside of the human factors here. That is the beginning and end of the nature of this round."


    This was the basis of her reasoning, and everyone followed her as she walked them through her thought process.


    "Therefore, if we can structure our line up in such a way that the strongest willest, we can dominate the rest of the contest physically and psychologically. The summary of this tactic is that we need to bring the hammer down on the enemy at thest minute. This is all so that our team can be in (and maintain) a position of strength all through the match."

 Chapter 151 The Last One

    Kacie''s brief but brilliant analysis was spot on. No one could fault her reasoning. If there had been anyone who was still harboring any kind of doubts or criticisms to her brilliant breakdown, her phenomenal insight into the nature of the match had quenched them all. Calista was no doubt impressed. But figuring out the first stage was only about thirty percent of the whole process. The next stage would be organization, and finally- logistics.


    "Kacie is right..." Calista was the one speaking now. "We need someone who can go in with a diabolical level of aggression and strength at thest stage, and end it all. We need a wild card."


    Calista ran her eyes across her five students, pretending like she was trying to figure out who was best for this role. The truth was that she already knew who she was going to pick. It was very clear. But she couldn''t afford to be seen ying favorites. She had to give off the impression that she was considering everyone else equally.


    Finally, she allowed her gaze to linger on the one person she was confident would pull this off.


    "Shiranui! You will be our ace in the hole, our dragon on the leash. You will gost and finish the job."


    Everyone nodded their ent. They had alle in here a few minutes ago with no n whatsoever, but within a very short period, thanks to Kacie''s innate ability to see things objectively, and thanks to Calista''s leadership skills, they were now on the precipice of victory. The first stage of the n had been locked in now. The rest would be a walk over.


    While Calista and the others were busy congratting themselves on what they had managed toe up with, another hand shot up in the air with the energy of one who wasn''t in totally in line with this n. Calista was about to build on Kacie''s logic when she saw Zavier''s hand shoot up in the air. Clearly, not everyone was in support. Maybe Zavier had a counter offer, or maybe he saw something that no one else was clearly seeing. Whatever it was, Calista was very eager to hear what he had to say, so she indulged him.


    "Yes Zavier? It seems you have something on your mind, why don''t you share it with us?"


    Not even bothering to get up on his feet toy bare his problem, Zavier reclined in his seat like with the indifference of a bum, and casually made his grievance known to the teacher;


    "Well, it''s nothing really. It''s just that recently, my mental strength has been at an all time low. So I would like to formally put across my request to get as much rest as possible..."


    Calista raised her eyebrows and gawked at Zavier. Was he being serious? But he wasn''t done.


    "That being said, I think it would be better for me to gost."


    Calista had been expecting some genius input, or at least some forward thinking analytical breakdown to build on what Kacie had going down. Anything but this. She looked queerly at Zavier, the Adam boy was being prettyid back about this whole thing. She could definitely sense that there was an ulterior motive.


    Zavier''s sudden sketchiness wasrgely as a result of the fact that he was a man with secrets. And people with secrets eithere across as in, or they stand out like a sore thumb. Zavier was of thetter category. As it stood, Zavier had a whole lot of things to hide. Starting with the fact that he was connected with the mysterious trio that had been prancing around like a group of invincible ninjas (the masks gave them a whole different vibe that was simr to that of the ancient order of warriors).


    Zavier''s reality was more delicate that he would have liked to admit. There were a lot of things he couldn''t afford. But his biggest problem was hiding his abilities and keeping them under wraps. If he were to find himself in a situation that he couldn''t control by fighting like a regr student, then it was very likely that secrets would definitelye to the limelight. No one needed to tell him just how disastrous it would be for him and for his family. Scenes of him being poked and prodded like ab rat filled his mind.


    There was no way he could afford to let that happen. He also couldn''t afford to be connected in anyway with the mysterious trio. That was also another problem.<sub> </sub>


    Zavier might have fooled everyone else, but the one person who could see through the smoke and mirrors was Nadia. His awkward behavior was more apparent to her than it was to anyone else in the room. His entire speech about needing more time to rest, as well as his desire toest wasn''t consistent with the Zavier she knew at all. Something didn''t feel right about the whole charade.


    But like an annoying itch that she just couldn''t reach, Nadia couldn''ty her finger on the issue. But she was resolved to find out either way. So, not wanting to embarrass Zavier by mooning over him publicly, she decided to use humor instead.


    "Zavier don''t tell me you''re terrified of getting your ass kicked by the other elite high school students?! Aren''t you a little too big to be so scared?!"


    She poked Zavier''s belly with her finger tips as she delightfully cracked the joke. "Don''t tell me that''s why you''re doing this on purpose?"


    Zavier caught on to what Nadia was trying to do. He knew that she was merely expressing her concern through humor, as she didn''t want to embarrass him by being all mushy with him in public. It was a meaningful and yet harmless, well-intentioned joke, and he knew it. But in order to sell the lie properly, Zavier just had to put on a show. He took a deep breath as he prepared for the theatrics that was toe. He wasn''t going to enjoy it, but it was necessary.


    It was just unfortunate that Nadia had to be the one on the receiving end of this whole debacle. So, much to everyone''s surprise, Zavier altered the rtively calm dynamic of the room by going all nuclear on Nadia;


    "WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?! That role should be reserved for ME!!"


    The entire conference room was quiet for a whole minute. If a single pin had dropped to the ground, it was very likely that it would have been heard. Everyone was surprised. The room had been very cid all through the course of their meeting, so Zavier''s retort had changed the moodpletely. Nobody knew what to say, no one knew how to react to Zavier''s retort. All eyes just remained on him like he had justmitted an abominable offense.


    Everyone was shocked, but no one was more stunned by Nadia. She froze up like a deer in headlights, still trying to process what had just happened. Could it be that she had imagined it all? Had it all been in her head? Did Zavier really just raise his voice at her?! The poor girl couldn''t wrap her head around this at all. No one could, the echo of his retort hung in the air over them like an awkward spell. No one said a thing. It had all been too sudden.


    <o>,m Calista mooned over the new development with the curiosity of a cat and with the inquisitiveness of a scientist. Zavier''s sudden outburst made everyone, even Calista reassess the whole n.</o>


    She wasn''t used to second guessing herself. She could be a bit spontaneous sometimes, but ultimately, her entire personality was hinged on the fact that she could be very methodical in her approach to solving problems. This time, Zavier''s confidence forced her to go over her ns from the very beginning. She had been shaken, but she had to be sure. She couldn''t afford to lose face in front of her students.


    For Calista, this whole thing had started when she received a peculiar bit of news from a trusted source. Calista could doubt anyone who came to her with unverified information, especially since in a tournament of this capacity, with lots of folks from different ces moving around, false information was bound to flourish here. Therefore, true information was more valuable than anything here.


    But Calista had her ways. Or rather, had her way (singr), and it was in the person of the distinguished Mabel. If anyone were to have any credible information pertaining to the tournament, then is would definitely be someone as dignified as Mabel.


    Calista had learned a disturbing piece of information from Mabel; she heard that virtually all the data which had been coted from the first round of the tournament had been blocked! Every single thing! All the parties involved had been banned from discussing anything pertaining to the first round. Mabel had assured her that she was very much aware of Zavier''s excellent stats during the first round, she had been keeping close tabs on Zavier all through and it was safe to say that he was in top form.


    Calista had been a little shocked, and also a little bit delighted by that bit of news. But unfortunately, Mabel had buried the lead on that one by starting with the good news. She confessed that even though she was personally in the know, the other professors weren''t at all aware of Zavier''s excellent stats. The only thing the professors saw were Zavier''s regr past results that had been handed to them in transcripts. That was what they were focused on. After all, they were academics, and facts & figures would always make more sense to them.

 Chapter 152 Protecte Her

    Calista had known the implication of that even before Mabel filled her in. It was no secret that Zavier''s past records were nothing short of abysmal. During his days as a bum, way before he had decided to switch up, he had been having a real hard time with academic work. And as such, it had put a huge dent on his record. Good for him, he had been able to turn his life around and redeem himself with some baller moves. But unfortunately, it was toote for that. The ship had already sailed.


    The consequence of all this pointed toward one fact; based on his track record, it would be extremely difficult (if not impossible) for him to be taken seriously as a prospective candidate of Caesar University. Without a more ster performance, Zavier''s chances of getting in were pretty slim.


    As Calista mulled over all of these facts, she began to connect the dots. It seemed to her that he had somehow managed to figure this out all on his own. His oundish behavior in asking to be ced in the vanguard was looking more and more like a ploy to get him in an enviable position where he could bedazzle the hosts and professors. It all started to make sense by the second. Zavier had been onto this from the start.


    It was probably what he had been trying to insinuate when he was dered that the role should be reserved for him. Zavier had to resort to raising his voice, all so that he could be heard and taken seriously. No one probably understood why, and they were all possibly thinking that maybe he had gone loco. So, as understanding flushed through her mind, Calista quickly resolved to make things right.


    "Zavier is right. He needs to gost."


    Now it was Calista''s turn to be on the receiving end of the multiple gasps and sighs that began to spring forth from everyone in the group. This meeting had been fraught with surprises on every corner. From Kacie''s spot on analysis, to Zavier''s outburst, and finally, to Calista openly acknowledging the younger one. It had been from one surprise to another, so, Calista made sure to reaffirm her stand on the whole thing once more.


    "Listen up everybody, I have made my final decision. Shiranui will be the penultimate yer, and Zavier willest¡­"


    There was a little mumbling in the back, but Calista didn''t rush to still the noise. Their grievance was understandable; they had alle as one to put in ce a strategy together, and now, Calista was pulling rank. Of course they were bound to get skittish. But Calista had the final say. She could see what none of them could, so they simply had to take her word for it, whether they liked it or not.


    "Settle down! Settle down! We''re not quite done yet¡­"


    The room reverted back to its original ce of quietness, and she continued.


    "Don''t get hooked on minor details, there is still the issue of cing the middle men in the right order."


    She was right. And they knew it.


    "The arrangement will be done ording to the actual situation of the game. But it''s getting way toote for that to be handled right now. So I will map out the formation myself tonight and inform everyone else of their ces in the contest."


    It alreadyte, and everyone needed a fresh start tomorrow. If there was ever a time to round up, it was now.


    "That will be all for now. Does anybody have any questions?"


    Calista was sure that there were a ton of questions. But she knew that they were all sensible enough to know that it was time to go.


    "Good. You may all return to your dorm rooms. Have a great night."


    With that, she dismissed them. Calista had no regrets regarding how it had all gone down. In fact, all things considered, she actually considered this to be a very sessful meeting. They had ironed out the beginning and the end of their line up, and also figured out the nature of the second round. And everyone stood up from the seats to head back to their dorm rooms, Calista realized that there was but one small matter to be handled.


    "Zavier Adam!" she called out to him as he tried to shuffle his way out of the conference room. He turned back slowly, almost in a suspecting manner.


    "Yes Miss Calista?"


    "Get over here. I''d like to have a quick chat with you."


    Zavier danced on his feet hesitatingly for a few seconds, as if he was trying to decide which excuse would work out best in this scenario. He wasn''t sure what Calista wanted but he was sure he wasn''t going to like it. He covered the distance between them in a couple of strides, and stood before her a few secondster.


    "Yes ma''am."


    Calista pointed at the seat in front of her and bid him to sit. He did. She didn''t speak immediately, instead she stared at him nkly for a couple of seconds. Zavier wasn''tfortable at all with the way she stared at him. It was weird, extremely weird. While it seemed like she was staring directly at him, Zavier couldn''t help but feel like she was also staring past him.


    It wasn''t until thest set of footsteps faded into oblivion in the distance, that Calista finally managed to return her gaze and look in her eyes to that of a normal person.


    "Now that we are alone then, I guess we can finally talk honestly."


    Zavier now realized what the whole charade had been about; she had merely been using style to make sure that every single step had receded into the distance and in their rightful locations. She wanted to make sure that they were truly alone. Zavier was a bit on edge, if she was taking such precautionary measures, then it only meant that she had something extremely sensitive to say.<sub> </sub>


    Calista stated bluntly. "I know your secret."


    Zavier''s face contorted in confusion. What was she talking about exactly? He couldn''t hide his reaction in time, and Calista saw it quicker than he could have wanted.


    "That''s right Zavier, I know it all. Don''t even try to hide it."


    "I beg your pardon Miss Calista, but what exactly are you talking about?"


    With a very naughty smile on her face, she asked Zavier gently;


    "Shirnaui is your girl isn''t she?"


    No way, he thought. How did she know? Shiranui had expressly told him that she wanted their thing under wraps. If she found out that Calista of all people knew, she would immediately assume that Zavier had spilled. After all, they were the only two who knew about them. Zavier contemted denying it, but he didn''t know just how much Calista knew already, and that was an issue.


    While Zavier gauged the situation objectively, Calista searched his eyes for any kind of untruth, hoping to catch Zavier in any kind of contradiction at all.


    "Rx Zavier. Look at you squirming like a vermin. I am not onto you or anything like that."


    "You''re not?"


    She shook her head.


    "No. I''m just saying you should have protected her Zavier, you really should have done all your best to not let her get hurt."


    Zavier was surprised on two counts. For one all, she had somehow managed to figure out that he was with Shirnaui, and secondly, she had taken him off guard by her apparent interest in their love lives. Zavier had really been blindsided.


    Calista thought Zavier was still trying to find a way to figure out how exactly she knew.


    "There''s no point in trying to deny it Zavier. It''s not you, it''s her. Shirnaui has all the signs of a woman who is in love. So, while your pathetic attempts at hiding your rtionship had sessfully kept me and everyone else off your tail, I can always count on one person to give me what I want exactly- Shiranui."


    Zavier still maintained his perfect poker look. He didn''t care, he would deny it vehemently until the end if need be. After all, it had been purely Shirnaui''s idea to keep things low key for now.


    "Oh get over yourself Zavier, don''t even try to deny it. Look, I am not telling you how to run your rtionship, but..."


    Here it goes, Zavier thought.


    "...there are some things that you need to know. First off, have you heard anytent rumors about the Yamata family?"


    Zavier nodded. It was clear he was still trying his best to be as vague as possible. Being a naturally careful person, he was doing his best not tomit to anything, especially when it came to female rtionship issues. Shiranui had expressly told him she wanted to remain quiet about this, and here was Calista, meddling in their private affairs like some investigative junkie. She meant well of course, but Zavier had to tread carefully. Otherwise, the blowback could be huge. He hadn''t forgotten just how vindictive Shiranui could be.


    Calista continued with her unsolicited intrusion;


    "Well, I am d that you''ve heard." She cleared her throat and adjusted herself. Clearly, this was a bit ufortable for her to. But she proceeded anyway;


    "Listen to me, I am not trying to tell you how to run your rtionship or anything, far be it from me. But I want to clear this up with you."


    Zavier kept his eyes on her.


    "Zavier, make sure you are not dating her simply because you pity her. Shiranui has been through a lot already, and I suppose she might be a beacon of sympathy for simple minded guys who would want to swoop in and shower her with their masculinity and love."

 Chapter 153 Enemies Hidden In The Dark

    This wasn''t the normal rapport one would expect between teacher and student. Zavier was a little bit amused that Calista was this invested in his rtionship. Still, he kept mute and allowed her to continue.


    "I really hope that''s not the case between you guys, as it would be very patronizing of you as a man. Try to be more respectful of her choices and be more sensitive to her other side, it shouldn''t all be about the physical."


    Herst sentence amused Zavier even more. Was she aware of the fact that they had been intimate? If so, this had gotten really weird very quickly.


    p "I really hope you are listening to me. Shiranui''s heart should be the most important thing to you. It is imperative that you protect it with all your might."</anda>


    Of a truth, Calista had spoken well. The part about Shiranui''s past and how it was affecting her was spot on. But her stress had been on Zavier''s part in all this. She meant them well, but Zavier couldn''t help but feel a bit vulnerable. Actually, this was his first real rtionship. It was funny how he had dropped a lot of bodies in the past, but he was still pretty much a child in the area of actual rtionships.


    It was a bit strange. And he wasn''t too deluded to think that he had this all figured out already.


    "Thanks for the healthy input Miss Calista. I admit, I was a little skeptical when you started speaking at first, but I am d we had this chat. I promise to do everything I can to y my part."


    Calista nodded. Sensing this was all over, and not wanting to extend this any longer than was necessary, Zavier got up;


    "Forgive me Miss Calista, but I must take my leave now."


    "It''s alright. You can go."


    He bade her goodnight, and made towards the exit of the conference room, all the while d that this was all over.


    Calista watched as the silhouette of Zavier''s shadow retreated in the distance. And couldn''t help the surge of jealousy that rose within her. She didn''t even know when the words escaped from her mouth.


    "Ah, to be young again! Must really be nice."


    It wasn''t entirely her fault. This whole thing had her reminiscing about her own past. She couldn''t believe how much time had passed. It seemed like only a short while ago that she herself had been young, and now, she was the older one giving advice to a young couple. Before it could affect her reasoning and cloud her judgment, she shrugged off the feeling. Silly reflections like this were pointless at this point, there was work to be done.


    All on his own, Zavier wandered through the dark and lonely halls of the University as he made his way back to his dorm room. Thanks to Calista, he had been robbed of the opportunity to walk back to his destination in thepany of the others. The rest were probably already at their rooms now, and he was stuck with the arduous task of walking all by himself on such a lonely dark night.


    As Zavier trudged through the campus grounds, he figured out that being by himself wasn''t so bad. It was all for the best. He actually had a lot of things on his mind that he needed to work through. There was no way he would have been able to achieve the rity and serenity of mind he had right now If he had been lying down in his bed. He needed to think. So much was happening, and it was all too fast.<sub> </sub>


    For one, Zavier hated no having things on lock. And it seemed like his business with Shirnaui wasn''t as airtight as he had thought. On some level, it was possible he liked Shirnaui. As he had also been kind of relieved that she wanted to keep things between them. At least, that would take the pressure off. Especially with the fact that she still consumed with her quest for vengance.


    Speaking of vengeance, Zavier knew that Shirnaui would be in for a surprise when she finally met her sister. He wondered if he had been a bad person to not have warned her when he had the chance. He made a mental note to revisit that particr issue when he had the time. As Zavier came upon the hallway that was supposed to lead to the eastern wing of the dorm, he saw that therge arch way had been closed off. Probably because of the curfew.


    Damn it! Shit! Zavier cursed underneath his breath. With this arch way sealed, it simply meant that he had to take the much longer route. That inovolved going out of his way to circumnavigate a small forest nearby. That was his only option. The back door into the dorms were always open just in case of emergencies orteers.


    Grudgingly, Zavier began his long trek. He burst out of the main building and took to the cemented path that led towards the first grove of trees which was the outermost part of the forest. As gross darkness overshadowed his path, and with an ominous silence looming over him, Zavier realized truly that it was reallyte. He looked behind him and saw just how menacing the grey structure of the University''s building was.


    The architecture was kind of a mix between gothic and Victorian. Here and there were pirs and statues that were reminiscent of the old Roman era. The ugly, grotesque statues of gargoyles stationed on the roofs made them look like sentinels on guard. Zavier shook off the eerie feeling as he turned to face his path ahead. It wasn''t like he was afraid or anything. But for the first time, he saw just how spooky this ce was at night.


    He wondered if this had been the intention of the founders to discourage jaywalking orte night activities. If it was true, then it had worked beautifully. So, Zavier ran out of cemented ground and plunged into the small forest that stood between him and his destination. The spooky sounds of nocturnal creatures gued by insomnia echoed through the forest. A couple of owls hooted at intervals.


    Serpents slithered in the trees, basking in the darkness as they hunted for their prey. Unfortunate mice and other rodents skitterered around as well, trying to scavenge for nature''s leftovers. Totally oblivious of the fact that they were about to be something else''s dinner. It was the way of the wild, and Zavier was in the midst of it all.


    But of course, he was unbothered by it all. His confidence was high. He felt he had attained a level whereby he couldn''t be fazed by the things that go creeping at nigh. On a normal night, he would have weed any kind of trouble that would spring up on him. But on this particr night, he wasn''t in the mood for any disruption whatsoever.


    He longed for thefort of his bed and the snugness of his dorm room. He wasn''t feeling adventurous at all, and he doubted that there was anything in this forest that would potentially interest him. Or at least that was what he thought. It genuinely seemed like interesting things always happened whenever Zavier was around. Although he hadn''t realized it yet, but the fact was that tonight was going to be one of those nights for him.


    Zavier''s best quality that gave him too advantage in his current location and time was the one thing that had always proven to be helpful for him at all times. It was his time-space eye. Even surrounded by darkness, even if he was at the bottom of the Antic Ocean at midnight, Zavier would have no problem with visibility. And he never would, as long as he had his time-space eye.


    So, while everything appeared pitch ck to most creatures, Zavier could see all, courtesy of his time-space eye. This ability gifted Zavier the habit of constantly looking around and prying into things. Even if he didn''t mean to, he always found himself seeing things that he had no business seeing. And as he delved deeper into the small clearing, Zavier came upon a very interesting sight.


    Further up ahead, some twenty feet away, Zavier made out the faint outline of two figures huddled together in the distance. The image wasn''t too clear, it was like looking at an X-ray image. But it was more than enough to alert Zavier and plunge him into a state of suspicious paranoia. Zavier immediately crouched low, and instinctively went into crisis mode. He didn''t like the thought of it, but he had to consider it, could this be an ambush?


    Zavier''s mind was practically racing now. To add to his already troubled mind, Zavierwas caught off guard by the sudden sound of a broken twig, indicating brash movements, and hushed motions. The hairs on his neck stood up on their ends. As his whole body froze, Zavier began to scan his environment for signs of any other threats lurking in the distance.


    His time-space eye zed over the entire environment, searching desperately for any more enemies hidden in the dark, waiting to spring up on him and expose his hidden abilities. Much to his surprise, there was none else save for the two who were just east of his location. Satisfied that there was no one else, Zavier focused on the two figures up ahead and tried to figure out how to handle them.

 Chapter 154 Living Online

    So many thoughts raced through his mind in that moment, but it never even urred to him that maybe, just maybe there weren''t here for him. Still crouched low, poised and ready for action, Zavier took a very silent step forward. He waited to see if there was any kind of reaction from the figures up ahead, there wasn''t. So, he brought along his other foot from behind him and ced it in front of the other.


    Step by step, very slowly and real quiet, he edged his way towards the odd sight. As he came closer, he noted something very weird about them; they were moving quite alright, but they didn''t seem to be moving towards him. This was enough for Zavier to know that whoever these two were, their business here didn''t concern him. But Zavier''s curiosity got the better of him, and he inches closer. That was when it hit him.


    The signs had been there all along, but he had just refused to ignore them because of his own stubbornness and paranoia. But now, he saw it clearly. One figure that looked more like a woman was bent over with her hand on the bark of a tree and her posterior end stuck out behind her. The other figure (who appeared to be far bigger in size) was bent over her from behind, one of his hands was grasping her hair firmly, and the other was covering her mouth.


    Zavier realized what was going on faster than his brain could follow; they were fucking! It took all of Zavier''s will to not sway on his feet in that moment. He had stumbled on a very interesting sight. From behind, the male relentlessly dug in and out of the woman with the aggressiveness of a bulldog. Zavier couldn''t believe his luck. Of all the ces he could have been at that moment, here he was, watching a man mercilessly decimate thisdy''s ass from behind.


    It was all a wonderful surprise. Zavier was wondering if he should do the right thing and respect their privacy by leaving them alone. After all, it wasn''t really his business. But he heard the man groan into the woman''s ear, and spoke in deep grunts;


    "Don''t worry baby, no one will find us here.."


    Still panting heavily from the constant thrusting and the dick in her belly, thedy tried to say something, but it ended up sounding like something between a cry, and the whining of a toddler. She wanted to say something, but the pleasure had temporarily rendered her speech skills useless. The man seemed to know what she was going on about, and assuaged her in between deep breaths;


    "I have set up a strong magical barrier, no one can see us or hear us..."


    If Zavier wasn''t having such a good time, he probably would haveughed at the man''s im. His barrier was next to useless! Zavier couldn''t tell if maybe it had been weakened since the man''s organ was buried deep in thedy''s moist parts. Or maybe it was because he was distracted at the moment, and therefore hadn''t focused on sustaining the barrier. But which ever the case was, the fact remained that Zavier had seen far superior barriers than this.


    Zavier sure was stunned. He hadn''t been expecting to see such a hot scious, live, sex scene like this at Caesar University of all ces!! It was staggering! And it had Zavier transfixed to the spot like he was bound by some kind of spell. He could literally feel all the blood rushing from his head. He was so dazed that he almost bled from his nostrils. Zavier took a lot of things for granted, but in that moment, he was grateful that he had this time-space eye.


    This wasn''t the first time he had used the time-space eye for perverted purposes. At some point in the past, back when he had just discovered the sweet gift of the time-space eye, Zavier immediately tried to experiment with the one thing he had been thinking about- his aunt Valerie. Before that time, Zavier had spent many a night thinking about the several ways he would fuck her if he finally got her to herself.


    So, when he eventually got the time-space eye, one of the first things that crossed his mind was what Vrie would look like stark naked. She was fashionable, but Zavier''s problem with her was that she was always d in modest apparel. There had never been one time when he had seen even an inch of exposed skin. He had long dreamed of what her supple body would look like, so he hadn''t hesitated when he got the chance to sneak a peek.


    Needless to say it didn''t end well.<sub> </sub>


    The moment Zavier initiated the time-space eye and steered it in the direction of Valerie''s body with the intention of mentally stripping her naked, what hit Zavier could only be best described as a blinding sh of light that had the effect of a double edged de. It was an optical assault that had the ferocity and sharpness of a wicked sword. Zavier came very close to being blinded that day.


    Vrie had installed a defensive mechanism that countered any prying eyes of that nature. It had been the perfect counter attack against any invading eyes. And Zavier had barely escaped unscathed that day. It had served as the perfect deterrent against any further exploration from Zavier. And since then, he hadn''t dared to use his time-space eye to look at any other girl''s nakedness.


    But that was a long time ago. And now, for the first time ever, it seemed like he had been gifted with another opportunity to use his time-space eye for his own pleasure. He sure as hell wasn''t going to pass up on such a golden opportunity. So, giddy with perverse excitement, Zavier quickly searched for the best ce he could position himself to enjoy the sight that fate had blessed him with. After looking around to make sure that no one else was around, with a mixture of nervousness and excitement. he settled into a secluded corner and enjoyed the scious scene. Zavier noticed that the couple had a thinyer of magical barrier covering them. No odinary person could actually see them. But Zavier was far from an ordinary person.


    His time-space eye gave him all the details that not even his regr eye could see on a normal day. He noted just how disheveled the couple''s clothes were. Thedy hadn''t taken off her clothespletely. Despite the barrier of magic surrounding them, deep down, she was still very much aware that she was fucking in a public ce. So, she had merely lifted up her skirt, and allowed the man prate her and rupture her pussy from behind.


    Zavier also saw that she hadn''t taken off her undies either. Like an unapologetic, unrepentant savage, too impatient to remove itpletely, the man had merely shifted her panties to the side. The continuous friction between his cock and her panties had caused the weak material to cken. But Zavier very much doubted that thedy in question cared at all.


    Watching them, Zavier admitted that there was just something inexplicably alluring about chancing on a unexpected erotic scene of this nature. The raw animal-like sexual energy was apparent, the sh of skin against skin, the unfiltered scenes and the hot gasping for breath all contributed to the perverse allure. Watching the semi naked woman receive the mans huge cock from shadows, and knowing that he couldn''t be seen, gave Zavier a very sick thrill.


    Zavier looked on as the man decided that he had had enough of that position. He extracted his foot long rod from within her and forced her down on the ground, in the open clearing. Zavier saw the man''s dick and wondered just how possible it was that thedy had been able to take all of that in. Laying her on bareback, the man moved to part her legs, and inched his cock towards her creamy pussy.


    As he inserted the pulsating rod into her, she screamed like a cornered puppy, the man in turn blocked her scream with his fat hand and continued to fuck her bloody. He pounded her like a dog, delving in and out of her aggressively. Thedy''s top was torn, presumably by the man''s impatient hands. But her ample cleavage spilled out and bounced up and down ording to the rythm of their lovemaking.


    In an alien world like this where the concept of the nte was naught but an inconceivable dream, it was practically impossible to stumble on this kind of live action! In a way, this was far better than any kind of pornographic material. They were all scripted and heavily generic material. But this right here was the real deal. And Zavier was sure grateful for it. He couldn''t be med for falling head long for this.


    Indeed, even back on earth, way before the advent of the inte, the primal desire for coption was ever present. It wasn''t just the need to reproduce or repopte that gave room for this drive. It was the ever present thirst for the opposite sex that lurked behind every singe interaction. This was a need that was never truly satisfied. It was always there, and like fire to gasoline, all it ever takes was just a little spark to ignite the explosion.


    And for Zavier who was victim of circumstance, he had just been on his own minding his own business, and then boom!

 Chapter 155 The Other Guy

    The spark that ignited his owntent desires came from just a single sight. And it had led him down this path. At that given point, Zavier was very much like a pervert who was infringing on another couple''s private moment. Even then, he was totally unaware of his own throbbing erection.


    Zavier took in the live action with devouring eyes, not even peeling his eyes away even for a second. He was as heavily invested in this couple''s fucking spree as the couples themselves. They unsuspecting couple didn''t know that they were unwillingly partaking in a threesome, only the non-contact kind. Zavier hadn''t nned for this at all. He had simply been on his way, and fate led him to this. It didn''t mean he wasn''t going to enjoy it thoroughly. And that he did.


    Zavier was a person who enjoyed making ns. And as such, everything he did was methodical. Unfortunately, even though he had taken precautionary measures by scanning around to make sure he was the only one present (asides from the main actors of the live show he was watching of course), it didn''t change the fact that this whole thing was an impromptu thing. And because it was, Zavier was subject to the fluctuations of the undirected element of chance.


    One of those fluctuations manifested in the form of another intruder steadily making his (or her) way towards them. On a good day, Zavier should have been able to pick up on the presence of another human encroaching, but much like the actors in this live pornography concert, he was way too invested in this premium piece of entertainment. Zavier''s heart, soul and mind were all virtuallytched onto the couple fucking like wild dogs before him. At that moment, nothing else mattered other than this.


    Zavier''s original n wasn''t tooplex. He had hoped to watch them finish and then he would be on his way out of here, much faster than his shadow or anyone else''s for that matter. But before that, he desperately wanted to catch a full glimpse of thedy''s face. He wanted tomit her face to memory. If he could do that, he would scour the campus ground looking for this premium piece of ass. He had to fuck her in the same vein before he left.


    With this plethora of thoughts and ns running through his head, Zavier was totally unable to sense someone else approaching. It was only when the stranger came into the full view of his physical eye that Zavier reacted. Like a cheating husband who had just been found out, or like a thieving child who was about to be caught, Zavier''s whole being jolted back into a state of explosive guilt. A wave of fear washed over him, cing him under the threshold of a gripping kind of terror that felt more real than ever.


    Totally taken off guard, Zavier found himself a nervous wreck. Damn; he cursed inwardly, why did he suddenly feel like a rat that had been caught in a snare? He wasn''tpletely sure what was happening because his head was spinning from all the blood that had been rushing to it all this time. However, Zavier knew one thing for sure; it wouldn''t look good for him at all if he was caught here. How would be even begin to exin?


    He might just as well kiss his chances of getting into this university good bye. What ever the case was, Zavier knew he couldn''t afford to be caught hiding in the bushes with an erection- in the middle of the night! And in the deep forest! He would be branded a perv for life. This storm of consequences besieged Zavier on all sides like an ambush. He needed to react, and fast!


    Instinctively, and with the stealth of a jungle cat, Zavier delved deeper into the safety of his own corner. Tucked away, and confident that he was safe from any kind of peering eyes, he finally dared to raise his head up a little, just so he could peek a little. Zavier''s heart was beating so wildly that he was confident that it was resonating around his environment, and would probably draw any stranger close to him.


    Zavier''s eyes found the stranger, and followed his movements closely with his heart in his mouth. To get a better view, he turned on his time-space eye as he tried to get a closer look. He was taken aback when he saw that it was none than a lonesome high school student. The childish spring in his walking step, along with the way he hung his backpack all gave away the fact that this was not a college student at all. Zavier was surprised, what was a high school student doing here at this hour?


    But Zavier''s surprise quickly morphed into apprehension when another possibility crossed his mind; had he been spotted? Had the stranger made him already? He didn''t give a damn about who this student was, he didn''t even remotely care why he was here in the first ce. The one thing he was bothered about was not being seen.


    As he observed the movements of the high school student, it became clearer and clearer with each passing second that he actually had nothing to worry about here. From the casual way and manner with which the student was trudging along the forest''s path, Zavier could tell that he waspletely oblivious of the fact that he wasn''t alone at all. He kept his eyes on him as he walked right past Zavier who was still hidden in the bushes.<sub> </sub>


    As the unsuspecting fellow breezed by, Zavier kept himself bundled in a tight spot. He couldn''t even breathe because he was so scared of being discovered. He was aware that he was in no sudden danger, but his fear kept him in check. Long after the student had left, Zavier remained crouched low with his heart beating to the steady rythm of a galloping wild horse.


    Zavier didn''t get up immediately. That had really been a close call. It took quite a while for him to get himself. After a series of deep, long deliberate breaths, Zavier starteding around to his usual self. The danger that had seemed like it was going to swallow him was over now. There was no need to falter anymore. Things could now go back to normal, and in this case, normal was peeping.


    But the whole fiasco with the stranger had Zavier shook. He couldn''t afford to be taken unawares like that again. So, he immediately began to prepare to take precautionary measures to prevent that from happening again. Zavier was very much eager to get back to his show. At least, if he scanned his environment properly this time, he could continue to take his fill of the entertainment uninterrupted. And so, he flipped on his time-space eye and went into surveince mode.


    Zavier didn''t think he could actually be shocked twice in one night. And yet, here he was, once again surprised by another unexpected sight. About fifteen feet away from him, huddled in the bushes and crouched on all fours like a monkey, was another figure. Zavier almost doubled over in shock. There was another one?! How?! What the hell?!


    There was no telling just how shaken Zavier was. The presence of another intruder in the environment wasn''t good news at all, what made it so worse was that Zavier hadn''t even known at all. By the looks of it, the stranger had been stationed there for a long time. Great beads of sweat began to form on Zavier''s face when he began to think about how much the stranger had seen. And more importantly, why hadn''t he called him out?


    All these questions looked like their answers wouldn''t favor Zavier at all. He didn''t need a prophet to deduce the fact that the stranger clearly had an agenda. And it was looking like it wasn''t a very friendly agenda at all.


    The stranger himself had a very weird looking appearance. With his time-space eye, his figure and general outline had been enhanced under Zavier''s vision. He could tell from the man''s build that he was middle aged. His torso was built like a tank, but he was also a bit round in the belly. He was dressed impably, on him was what resembled some kind of suit with some fancy looking badge which Zavier didn''t recognize.


    By his general outlook, the man might have passed as a respectable gentleman at any location during the day, but due to the nature of the circumstance around his unveiling to Zavier, he looked nothing short of a creep. But Zavier was yet to determine if he was the was the dangerous kind or the mischevous type. But Zavier was willing to bet that he was a little bit of both. He wasn''t wrong.


    stered on the face of the stranger was a very disturbing smutty smile. This was the exact opposite of the facial expression one would expect from a creep who had just been found out. The stranger was clearly unapologetic about his otherwise perverse attitude. In fact, he seemed to be enjoying himself more than usual. The sick twisted way with which he was grinning betrayed his excitement. Zavier was right, this man was definitely a creep.


    Zavier had been staring at the stranger becaise of the advantage his time-space eye gave him, however, a few momentster, it seemed Zavier''s long gaze finally got the older man''s attention. The stranger shifted his gaze towards Zavier very suddenly. Zavier was startled. He had seen him? How?

 156 Chapter 156

    Zavier''s mind ran amuck as he tried to think of any excuses as to what he was doing here. If the older man called him out, Zavier knew he would lose.


    Of course Zavier could argue that the older man had been peeping as well, but then it would be his word against the older man''s. Zavier could already see how this was going to pan out. Here was a horny teenager hidden in the bushes in the middle of the night, and on the other hand was a respectable looking man in a well dressed suit. It wouldn''t go well at all.


    It seemed like the thing he feared most was finally about to happen. He was about to be exposed as a creep, and he was none the worse for it. Zavier watched with horrid expression as the man lifted up his finger to his lips and gestured the sign for silence. What? What was happening? Zavier thought to himself.


    The man repeated the gesture again, as if he had sensed Zavier''s confusion. Reaffirming his message to Zavier to remain still. It turned out Zavier hadn''t hallucinated that out of fear. But he couldn''t bring himself to calm down yet. In fact, this was even more bothersome. If the middle aged man wasn''t trying to expose him, then it could only mean...


    Yep, Zavier''s suspicions were confirmed with the strange man''s next gestures. Zavier wasn''t sure if he was hallucinating this, but the impably dressed man seemed to be telling Zavier to rx. Then he pointed at sight behind Zavier and gave him a thumbs up. Zavier was even more confused. This can''t be happening. Was he really saying what Zavier thought he was saying or was Zavier somehow misinterpreting this whole situation?


    Actually, the message was clear enough. But Zavier was in a very difficult position. Here he was, in the middle of the night, heart racing wildly with nervousness as he spied on a nakeddy getting plowed mercilessly by whom he could only assume to be her man. And then there was another man, (middle aged and matured) hidden in the shadows up ahead who had caught Zavier spying, and was practically signaling Zavier to rx and continue watching!


    It was a very unconventional scene. It was weird on every given spectrum. This man was clearly old enough to father a teenager! And instead of turning Zavier in, he was literally telling him to kept silent while they watched together! Zavier couldn''t in good faith continue to enjoy this with the same zest as before. In fact, he understood how they couple would feel if they caught him peeking at them.


    Speaking of the couple, they were still very much going at it with the drive and energy of a horse and a mare. They were so lost in the pangs of erotic pleasure that they didn''t even realize the drama that was going on all around them at their expense. The continued to make love like mad dogs.


    The woman was spread out underneath the body of the man, and with her legs parted, she was shaking and moaning to the deep thrusts of her lover. She was practically on cloud nine, and the man knew ontop of her wasn''t far off either. The slurp-slurp soundsing from her creamy genitalia as the man heaved his junk in and out of her, filled Zavier''s ears. He could tell just how wet she was.


    And for a moment, hepletely distracted from the fact that he had a partner in crime who was also enjoying the scene with him. Thedy threw her head back, and began to breathe faster with her eyes closed and her face twisted as a result of the rush of hormones coursing through her entire being. Zavier instantly knew that she was about to cum. It was indeed a beautiful sight. He followed her entire facial expressions along with her body movements as she locked her legs around the man''s waist.


    She begged him to stop, saying she wanted to pee. The man ignored her. It seemed he was also close and didn''t want to be bothered by such an inordinate request. With each stroke, he brought out his foot long cock to the tip, and rammed it into her deeper and deeper. Thedy was practically screaming now. It was just deep pration that was driving her crazy, because he was bent at an angle, he was stimting her enmed clitoris with each stroke.


    Thedy felt like she was about to take off from the ground. Her whole body tensed, and her breath seemed to seize for a few seconds. Zavier watched with bated breath as the man fucked hisdy into a soul crushing orgasm (that quite honestly seemed like septic shock). The golden showers came pouring out of her pussy. As the man''s cock came out and went in again, she squirted on and off.


    Her body shook violently, her eyes were shut so tightly that Zavier thought her eye balls might fall deep into its sockets. Her moans came out in screams as her pussy juice marinated in pleasurable drips. It was quite a sight. Zavier had been too focused on the woman to see that her orgasm had evidently engorged the man''s cock inside of her.<sub> </sub>


    Right on cue, the man pulled out at the edge of his own pleasurable moment, and rushed to her faced where he began to rain down his semen on her face. His cock, still very wet from thebination of her cream and squirted juice, the man wanked off his orgasm onto her. She held onto his ass with her hands as he groaned, spraying her face with the hot milky liquid.


    It was all over, and Zavier found himself regretting that they had concluded such a phenomenal lovemaking. It had truly been a ster performance, from both parties. And that was when everything began to go wrong. Zavier really should have bolted out of there from the very moment they had showed signs of finishing.


    But because he was so invested in their lovemaking, he had stubbornly chosen to remain till the end to see the encore. Oh he had seen it alright. But it was time to face the music.


    It turned out that the woman was a very perceptive mage. In the heat of the moment, the throes of wanton pleasure had temporarily blinded and paralyzed all her senses. However, now that her soul had returned to her body, it meant she was about to get back to her usual self. Zavier really should have been out of there earlier on. But never would he have known that the steamingly hot vivacious subus was a very perceptive.


    As soon as thest bit of her man''s Semen dropped onto her face, thedy began to feel an awful sensation. It felt like she had been submerged in water this whole time, but as she surfaced at the top, she immediately realized that the water had been boiling the whole time. She was suddenly ovee by an illogical sensation- the inescapable feeling of being watched!


    This wasn''t good at all. She had been at her most vulnerable the past few minutes, and to think that she had been the subject of someone else''s sick fantasy during that period made her cringe. What bothered her especially was the fact that it wasn''t just a single person, she could feel it, there were multiple pairs of eyes fixated on her wetps, exposed perky cleavage, and most embarrassing of all; her face that was practically dripping with male essence.


    This was all too much for her to bear. Only a few moments ago, she had been on cloud nine. And now, that wonderful experience was being threatened by the feeling of having being watched the whole time! No. She couldn''t just bear to sit down with such a feeling over shadowing her like a cloud of darkness. Still nervous, and still suspiciousof the shadows, she immediately bolted upright and her eyes roved over the surrounding area in one swift arc.


    Thedy''s sudden reaction brought on a fresh wave of terror upon Zavier. The whole night had been a roller coaster of emotions. From erotic stimtion, to all out fright, back to energy sexual tension, and once again, back to full blown terror. It had truly been one hell of a night. But it was also far from over. Sure, Zavier had had a swell time. But seeing thedy revert from orgasmic goddess to perceptive mage was the perfect reminder of reality.


    It was apparent that the woman knew she was being spied on. Zavier''s fear came back in drowning waves. The fear of being discovered gripped him once again. Instinctively, he began to slowly back away while tying his best not to make any sound. He didn''t even breathe. He did every possible thing to make sure that he didnt attract any kind of attention to himself.


    Unfortunately, as was every guilty person''s worst nightmare, Zavier found out that his legs had practically turned to iron bars. They seemed to weight ten times their usual weight. This sudden shift in dynamic made Zavier even more skittish. He couldn''t understand what was happening! In the past, he had heard of a condition known as psychosomatic induced truma.


    This was a psychological condition where parts of a person''s body could suddenly shut down as a result of an extremely traumatizing condition. He had heard about it before, but he hadn''t believed how dangerous it was- up until this moment of course.

 157 Chapter 157

    It seemed like his terror had taken on a physical form and was virtually making it impossible for him to move his legs. It wasn''t like he didn''t want to move. He was consciously making serious attempts to move backwards.


    However, with each passing moment, it appeared that he hadpletely lost control of his legs. Zavier was appalled! What could he do?! Thedy''s eyes were still persistently scanning her surrounding. And any second now, it was very likely that her eyes wouldnd on the unfortunate Zavier. If he wasn''t trying so hard to move right now, Zavier would have probably passed out from mental exhaustion and shame. That would have been significantly better than trying to endure this shame and fear!


    Tense as hell, Zavier focrced himself to focus. It was a difficult thing to do since his heart was beating so loudly in his ears that he couldn''t hear anything else at all. Still, Zavier fought to remain calm. He had no other option, he had to get out, and he had to get out now! There was simply no way around it. So, after reminding himself what was at stake, Zavier exploded with a fresh surge of mental energy, and it immediately tranted to the physical.


    And so, with nothing but sheer will, Zavier triumphed over his brief neurosis. His legs immediately responded, and Zavier found himself able to move yet again as normal. But there was no time for rejoicing. There would be time enough for that in the future if he eventually survived this. Because he was brimming with so much energy now, Zavier temporarily forgot that he was supposed to be as stealthy as possible.


    Out of nervousness, Zavier''s first step backwardsnded him into another big trouble. In a bid to escape hurriedly, he had unwilling gotten his pants stuck on some thickets in the bush. Zavier almost cursed out to the high heavens! What was this?! From frying pan to fire?! It seemed like Zavier had been hexed or something.


    With the threat of being discovered still looming over his head, and with the steady reminder that time was not on his side, Zavier threw caution to the wind and tried to violently yank off his trousers from the thicket where his trousers had been trapped. That was when the goblin of bad luck intervened once again; Zavier tripped on his own feet and came down crashing hard on the earth.


    Even before Zavier touched down on the ground, in those few insignificant milliseconds, he knew that he was well and truly screwed. So when thedy''s high pitched scream came, he wasn''t surprised. He wasn''t surprised at all.


    Zavier crashed onto the ground with an embarrassingly loud thud. It seemed like his clumsiness had awakened the entire forest. It might have just been in his head, but in that moment, he felt like the entire forest wasughing at him. Even the ominous hooting of the owls seemed to mock him. He looked up and saw the overbearing trees that seemed to bear down on him with menacing gloom.


    It was worse than a nightmare. It was the kind of situation a person would find himself and wish it was a dream. This was no fucking dream, this was real. The shame was real, the gripping terror was real, and the embrassing sight below Zavier''s waist was very real. In his hurry to escape, it turned out that his sudden fall wasn''t the most shameful thing. In a bid to outrun retribution, Zavier''s pants that had been caught in the thicket got shredded.


    But his shredded pants wasn''t the worst thing yet.


    As if there was some mischievous entity somewhere controlling his fate, Zavier looked down at his pants, and discovered the most horrifying sight; his hard dick was out in the open! Zavier''s mind tumbled in and out like a band of atoms stampeding in an enclosed space! It was a disaster.


    Like the ultimate evidence of his own perverse actions, his horny dick stood brazenly out in the open, as if unashamed of its nakedness in the face of thete night breeze.


    The stupid organ didn''t seem to care about the fact that its owner was in the most embarrassing situation any teenage boy would ever find himself. Sure, everybody got horny every once in a while. It was human nature and couldn''t be helped. But to be here at this hour of the night, in the middle of a forest, pants down with a rock hard erection out in the open- this was a disaster!!


    How could he ever exin himself?<sub> </sub>


    Zavier died a thousand times in that moment as he imagined what his life would be like If word of this ever got out. He could feel his own brain cringe as he thought of how the stories would be spinned just for entertainment purposes. He had been caught pants down wanking in the middle of a forest to a couple''s make out session. Or maybe, they would take it a step further and use him of bestiality, saying that he had been caught blowing one off with a bunny.


    There would be noing back from that- ever! He might as well just pack his bags and skip town immediately. Probably need to change his name and go bald or something. Anything to keep the burning stigma away from him and get a fresh start. Zavier vowed in that moment that if he were to somehow escape this situation unscathed, he would be a good person for the rest of his life.


    But of course, that would mean he would have to get out of this situation- if he could. He raised his head from his own naked cock and found the couple staring at him, the man''s eyes were dark with anger and shed dangerously like lightning. If he could summon thunder at will, there was no doubt that Zavier would have been a pile of ashes already.


    Being on the receiving end of the couple''s judgemental looks was too much for Zavier to bear. His own nakedness drove the final nail into the coffin. It was fucking embarrassing that his exposed dick was still hard despite the shocking awkwardness of the situation at hand. Embarrassed to helplessness, Zavier opened his mouth to say something.


    He hadn''t the slightes idea what he wanted to say. His brain was basically fried from shock. And because his psychomotor skills were jumbled, what came out of his mouth sounded like the ravings of a deranged lunatic. Zavier stammered out incoherent sentences and iprehensible words. His eyes were wide with terror, and the guilt on his face made it seem like he was a rat caught in a snare, and was at the mercy of its captor.


    Zavier''s own fear had totally clouded his judgement, painting an entirely different picture altogether that was way different from reality. Actually, he had fallen prey to the illusion his mind was concocting due to the paralyzing guilt that had ridden his heart and infested his mind. The couple had appeared like fire breathing dragons before Zavier in his moment of shame. But in reality, they were as embarrassed as Zavier, maybe even more so.


    They had caught Zavier pants down with his dick out in but a fleeting moment. But they had spent the past twenty to thirty minutes shagging shamelessly out in the open, spreading their legs, and grunting like pigs. All this while, totally unaware that they were being watched. It was a shocking revtion. To think that in their moment of vulnerability, they had been watched...well, they weren''t too pleased about it. But they were also ashamed.


    But of course, Zavier didn''t know that. Laying on the floor, shamefaced, with his strong hard dick standing unabashedly in the face of the couple, he continued to stammer in derilium. Unknown to him, it made no difference to the couple. After a few embarrassing seconds, the man grabbed thedy by the arm and hastily made away in the darkness.


    It was actually a funny sight. Thedy''s face was basically still wet with the man''s heavy secretion. And as she hopped after the man dragging her, it was clear that her skirt was still drenched with her own squirt. But, naturally, none of it mattered in that moment. While a third party might have been judged it as a hrious sight, to the two of them, it wasn''t even remotely funny at all. The hurriedly made their way away from the location in panic.


    In their great haste, the unfortunate couple didn''t even pause to consider the fact that maybe the boy they had seen hadn''t been the only creep around. They were too wrapped up in the dense fog of their own shame to consider anything of the sort. Well, it didn''t mean anything at that point. They breezed past the middle aged man right next to them and passed him. This was a bit weird since thedy was obviously a perceptive mage.


    In his state of shock, when Zavier saw that the man and the woman had turned away from him, he was ovee with a sense of relief. The feeling was akin to that of a runner who had finally quenched his thirst with a ss of cold water. Still a bit fuzzy from his own dose of shame, Zavier''s mind did not know how to interpret the couple''s abrupt take off. Zavier had been expecting a serious shakedown.


    Or that the very least, a very intense rebuke. It was the least he deserved after he had literally been caught with his pants down.

 158 Chapter 158

    But he had been totally surprised when they dove in the opposite direction. His mind had been trying to wrap itself around the reason for that, when he noticed that they also looked at him.


    He assumed that their decision had probably been prompted by the fact that the middle aged man was obviously the bigger fish here. And so, after what seemed like an eternity of being imprisoned in the gloomy dungeon of shame, a ray of light briefly settled in Zavier''s mind, allowing him a break from the evil that had threatened to suffocate him like a boa constrictor.


    Zavier allowed himself to feel something akin to dness when he thought of just how fun it would be to watch the old pervert get what wasing to him. Yes, Zavier made up his mind toy the me on the stranger in the fine suit. He would say he had been coerced by the man into watching the couple''s intimate moments. Zavier had already begun building up his defense.


    But, much to his dismay, he saw the couple run right past the middle aged man. Zavier blinked repeatedly. Wait, what just happened? Did they actually just run past him without even saying a word? What the hell?! Zavier couldn''t believe his eyes. At this point, he began to wonder if he had been hallucinating the middle aged man all this while. Was this like the other time? (On his trip with Valerie and the others when he had hallucinated an old man.)


    Why would his mind manifest something like that? Was he having a nervous breakdown, or even possibly- a psychosis? Zavier knew that it wasn''tpletely improbable. His mental health hadn''t exactly been at its peaktely. Sure, it made sense to think that, but Zavier wasn''t having it. Deep down, and even on a conscious level, he knew that he was right about that.


    To confirm if this was truly one of those optical illusions, Zavier jerked his eyes away from the fleeing couple and brought them back to the figure of the middle aged man huddled in the space behind the bushes. Zavier was taken aback by the amusing expression on the man''s face. As if taunting Zavier, the older man retained a very hrious looking smutty grin on his face.


    Zavier recognized that look immediately. It was a look he knew all too well because he was used to giving that same look. The man was clearly amused. At the expense of Zavier''s embrassment, he had been thoroughly entertained. And it was obvious he was doing his best not tough out loud. It was look that showed what kind of man the middle aged man was; witty, mischievous and a deep appreciation for dark humor.


    It all suddenly started toe together in Zavier''s mind like a puzzle piece; everything that had just happened here, every single thing, whether directly or indirectly, it was all the old dude''s fault!! Zavier was furious. The middle aged man in suit could have easily passed for a gentleman. But within a very short moment, Zavier had discovered that he was the farthest thing from a respectable individual.


    This horny old man was probably the lowest of the lows. How could a man his age befortably sneaking around the forest looking for a show? How exactly had he known about the live action here? At least Zavier had an excuse. He had merely been on his way back and had stumbled on the couple. But by all indications, the horny old man was scum. And because he hadn''t been able to contain how horny he was, he handnded Zavier into trouble!


    Finally, Zavier had someone other than himself whom he could shift the me to. It was a very thrilling feeling; to finally be able to offload all of that negativity onto someone else. Zavier made up his mind to catch the old man and teach him a lesson. Now that he had a few tricks up his sleeve, he was going to use the bad man as a testing dummy.


    Zavier jumped to his feet immediately. The cold night breeze blew straight into his exposed genitals and Zavier instantly felt it. It was a rude reminder of the fact that he had been humiliated, and it had all been the man''s fault. Zavier girded his loins and charged towards the man. At first, he took his time, and contentedly made his way towards the man in long purposeful strides.


    The man in turn also sensed that Zavier was after him. And immediately, he sprang to his own feet and began to bolt into the darkness. Zavier was taken aback by the old man''s speed. He was surprisingly agile for a man with his build and age. It was like watching a buffalo akip and run with the speed and agility of a deer.


    His heavy legs thumped hard on the forest grounds, putting as much distance between him and his pursuer behind him. Mentally, Zavier was on top form. He was finally motivated, and his body was also responding. He should have been able to not just catch up with the older man, but also outrun him. However, the old man kept dashing at an unbelievable pace, leaving Zavier in the dust behind him.<sub> </sub>


    Zavier also struggled because of his torn pants. And there was also the possibility of his exposed genitals getting entangled in the bush. After all, this was a forest. Zavier simply get the thought of his balls getting stabbed like a pi?ata. It was just not worth it. So, all these factors contributed to Zavier losing the stranger. Needless to say that he wasn''t too pleased about it.


    In this tournament, ster students weren''t the only rock stars here. Because these teams represented the best of the best from the region, the lead teachers that apanied them were also something a local legends. As was the case with Calista, (and the renowned Vrie), there were also a handful of others who were equally impressive and also equally dangerous. They weren''t just rumors, these lead teachers were the real deal.


    In this case, one of those lead teachers was the woman from Melbourne High School- Wallice. Her two syble name wasn''t suggestive of her pedigree as a teacher and as a mage. To a lot of the newbies, she was merely the lead teacher of Gabby, Ibneiah and Macbeth''s team. But as time progressed into the tournament, gist began to fly back and forth across the dormitories as teams exchanged information.


    Wallice was no ordinary woman. That was just how her description started in several conversations. She was no ordinary mage either, not by any standards. Ancestry, lineage and bloodlines were some of the determining factors that was key to making it big in the mage world. Those that were privileged to have powerful bloods were right on top with demigods. That was the case. But Wallice was one of the most exceptional hybrids.


    The lead teacher was a terrifying mix of vampire, werewolf, dragon and human blood! It was indeed the rarest of breeds. Most hybrids were only a mix of either human and vampire, or human and elf, or asionally, human, vampire and werewolf.


    But Wallice had been gifted the choicest of bloods by fate. It was truly an outstanding bloodline, and a sure proof that mixed bloods were gically superior to products of inbreeding.


    When most people hear about her mixed ancestry, especially the side of her that was part dragon blood, their minds tumbled in and out just trying toprehend her whole situation. How could she walk with both her legs, with all the different ancestries speaking in her blood? But that was simply Wallice.


    As if one of those special hybrids wasn''t enough. She had somehow managed to surround herself with students who were of the same pedigree as her. This was the true definition of an A-team. There were no weak links. Every single member had enough dog in them to go on a rampage in a small vige and wreak some serious destruction. Every single one of her students came from the same vast family. Their bloodlines were so powerful, only the thought of them struck fear in their enemies.


    Wallice was also a brilliant analyst. In all of the attributes that made her a dangerous mage, this was perhaps the most unnerving of all. She never entered any kind of altercation, nor engage an enemy without having at least a fore knowledge of who they were and what they were capable of. This was basic reconnaissance, and it was expected of every mage and lead teacher to do the same.


    Wallice had done her homework on every single potential threat to the sess of her own team. And she hade up with a single name- Shiranui. Wallice was well aware of the fact that Shiranui was of the Yamata n. She wasn''t too pompous to acknowledge the strength and skill that Shiranui would bring to the table. Wallice''s mind had been on her throughout the season preceding the tournament and well as during the first round.


    Clearly, Shiranui was the only one whom she thought would give her team a problem. But something else changed her mind. After the first tournament, even though she tried her best not to show her eagerness, but Wallice was very anxious to hear back from her team. She couldn''t wait to hear how they had decimated their enemies, and also, she couldn''t wait to hear tales of the exploits of the Yamata girl. Therefore, she had organized a sit in with her students as soon as they got back.

 159 Chapter 159

    The news that got to hear wasn''t what she had been expecting. Not by far.


    "¡­yes Miss Wallice, it was three of them. All masked up! They remained incognito all through the first round."


    Wallice listened with rapt attention even though couldn''t wait to hear about the Yamata girl. Her team members knew better than to bore her with inconsequential information like silly gossip. But if they were talking about this mysterious team, then they must had been pretty something.


    "Ibneiah, tell me what was so special about this particr team that I haven''t heard about."


    Wallice knew her team in and out. They were a perfect bnce. There was the optimist, the realist, and the depressing pessimist. She could always count on Ibneiah to tell it as it was, without any prejudice or bias.


    "Macbeth''s right miss. Asides from the fact that they were all in perfect harmony with each other, there was also the fact that their faces were hidden the whole time. No one seems to know them. And of course, their skills were off the chart, a little bit advanced for their stage as high school students."


    Wallice nodded. Ibneiah was always so methodical, even in narration. Ibneiah had systematically broken down the team, by starting with the least of their most disturbing qualities, and gradually made his way to their most disturbing quality- their skills. Wallice appreciated it. But it was thest part that had her hooked.


    "You say their skills were advanced? How advanced?"


    Ibneiah hesitated for a bit. Wallice noted it and was immediately curious. He finally replied her with two word;


    "Blood de."


    The two words hung in the air like a funeral dirge, only without the melody, but apanied by the horridness. Wallice wasn''t one to be easily shocked, neither was Ibneiah. But the both of them were visibly puzzled.


    "Are you sure? Are you positive it was the Blood de?"


    Ibneiah merely nodded.


    Wallice was thrown into a mental roller coaster. It couldn''t be! Blood de? At the first stage of Caesar University''s freshman try outs? Impossible! Wallice done her research well on every prospective star among the freshmen this year, none of them had the juice or experience or guidance that was necessary to pull this off! None of them!


    But it wasn''t as much as the failed research that disturbed Wallice. She was willingly to admit the fact that she hadn''t done her homework properly. However, she just couldn''t get over the fact that Blood de, (an inhuman technique so grotesque that it hadn''t been seen in public for a long time) was the subject matter in the first round of a freshman''s tryout at Caesar University.


    This obviously called for an in depth investigation. If Blood de had truly been used by a member of an inconspicuous team of masked students, then, she had to find out what was going on. It was like bringing a dragon to a chicken fight. She would know. She was after all a dragon blood.


    So, Wallice dispersed the meeting and went to find the one person she was sure would give her answers; Mabel.


    Mabel on the other hand wasn''t avable. It turned out she was the most sought after person on campus. And this had put her in a difficult position because she had received strict orders from above not to divulge any information at all. But Wallice wasn''t in the know about the politics going on. She desperately needed answers and that was all she needed at the moment. So, a few momentster, when she found herself being obstructed at the entrance to Mabel''s office, she didn''t know how to react.


    "What are you talking about? This isn''t a social call, I need to see Mabel stat!"<sub> </sub>


    The guard at the door shook his head firmly. "Sorry miss, but I cannot-"


    "Miss?!" Wallice glowered at him."Did you just call me miss?! Do you not know who I am?"


    Wallice was a hot head. By virtue of her own status, bloodline and fearsome reputation, she was very prone to being the aggressive one in any given situation. It wasn''t a character w or anything of the sort. It was just who she was. It was part of her, and it brought out the very best in her, and paradoxically, it also brought out the worst.


    Another reason Wallice was a bit shocked was because things like this didn''t happen all too often with her. She was used to getting her way in most ces. Not because she was proud or aggressive (she was actually both of these things), but it was majorly because she was always on the right side of things. Right now was one of those moments. Wallice had every right to see Mabel.


    There was a student amongst the high school students who not only had the capacity to execute a well defined Blood de attack, but had demonstrated his willingness to use it by unting it so publicly. If this wasn''t a problem that required Mabel''s urgent attention, then she wasn''t sure what would. All that stood in her way was this annoying guard.


    The guard was a professional. He knew enough not to loose his cool. He had met far more dramatic and obnoxious guests before, so it wasn''t his first rodeo. The best thing was to stay calm. It was likely that his calmness would further infuriate her, but as it stood, that was his best bet.


    "Forgive me if I gave off the wrong impression Miss Wallice, I know exactly who you are. But I am under strict orders not to admit any guests to see Miss Mabel."


    Wallice took a step back mentally. The guard knew who she was, it wasn''t just that he knew her her name, it was the familiar tone with which he had casually said it. Like he knew her and what she was capable of. There was no doubt about that. But it didn''t make it any less odd.


    If he knew who she was, and was still refusing her entrance, then it could only mean that this was not a frivolous move. He wasn''t just making the conscious decision to deny her an audience with Mabel, he was definitely acting on a higher authority and that was just about it. She noted his stance, determination and the distinct bored look at the edges of his eyes, all of this suggested that he had probably done this at least several times today already.


    Wallice began to see a much clearer picture of what was going on. Of course it made sense, by the looks of it, some other lead teachers had already been here toin. And if the University was turning them away then, it meant that they were already aware of the situation. Perhaps, they even had a hand in it.


    Since it was clear that she wasn''t going to make any headway here, she eyed the guard with as much vitriol as she could muster, and walked out of the administrative block. The fresh air greeted her outside the toxic space she had just exited from, and she was reminded just how tense she had been a couple of minutes ago. The air outside was calm and sweet, but Wallice didn''t give a damn about that.


    There were a lot of things she needed to iron out. And a walk was just what she needed. Mentally, she arranged things in an orderly fashion, and then began to go over them one by one. Anyone who saw Wallice in that moment would have seen her walking determinedly towards a pre-determined location. But she was really on auto pilot. Physically, she was on the go. Her body moving was moving, but her mind was far away from bome.


    The first thing she had to do was simple; she had to get as much information on the culprits as possible. And so far, she had close to nothing. Wallice suddenly remembered Ibneiah''s description of the team who hadunched a Blood de attack and recalled one very interesting fact- they had all been masked! Every single one of them.


    With immediate crity, the dots began to connect in Wallice''s awfully suspetful mind, and a very scary picture began to form. She didn''t like it one bit, and she definitely hadn''t even considered it as a possibility before now. But from everything she was seeing, it seemed like Caesar University had snuck in three teachers as undercover agents to test the students. She almost kicked herself in the gut for not realizing this sooner.


    Of course it made sense. How could a mere high school student have the skill to casually pull off a technique that was so sordid, it hadn''t been witnessed in a pretty long time. It made so sense at all. And now could the University not know about it? Of course they knew, it was most likely a n that had been hatched in one of those ostentatious board room meetings. If this whole n had been to test the high school students, then she didn''t me them at all.


    Wallice herself had seen the lineup for this year''s tournament. She had scouted out any possible threats to her team''s victory, and had been relieved (and frankly a little disappointed) by what she saw. Only the girl from the Yamata family had been worth preparing for. The others might have been bright in their own schools, but on a regional stage, they were still very ordinary.


    Wallice thought that the University had probably seen this too.

 160 Chapter 160

    And in a bid to discourage mediocrity, they had decided to kick it up a notch by introducing three masked ''students'' of their own. If Wallice was being honest with herself, she would have definitely encouraged this n if she had been in the know.


    But there was still a great many holes in the plot. Chief among them being; why exactly were they hiding the relevant data? This had never happened before. Had things gotten out of control? Had the masked students disguised at teachers gone too far in the bid to test ordinary high school students? There were just too many questions that needed swift answers.


    But first, she had to first determine who the three mysterious students really were. She already suspected that they were probably teachers of the university, but that was way to wide to look for one fish. She had to start from a much slimmer set. And where better to look than the students who had managed to pass the first test.


    And so, more determined than ever, Wallice rushed over to the department of records. That was exactly where she needed to be at that moment. Wallice wished she could teleport herself there immediately. It was actually just a three minute trek away from the administrative block, but to her, it might have as well been three hours.


    Exactly one hundred and eighty secondster, she found herself right where she needed to be.


    She wasn''t entirely surprised when she saw that some of the lead teachers and their students were moring around the lists. Before now, Wallice herself hadn''t even bothered to check the candidates who had survived the first round. She hadn''t seen the need, to her it was a pointless endeavor that was left to those who hadn''t done their assignments beforehand. Know thy enemy and know thyself. This was her mantra.


    However, due to the new development, she had been forced to lump herself in with these people. And she was not too excited about it. Wallice looked at the small crowd clustered around the lists pinned on the wall, and wondered how she was going to get through them. Eventually, she took a deep breath and plunged headfirst into the crowd. She waddled through the sea of students and loud mouthed teachers, and finally made her way to the lists.


    Wallice had a pretty good idea of the top contending contestants this year. And she assumed that at least fifty percent of them might have made it through. So, when she zed through the lists looking for any anomalies that would point her in the direction of the masked team, she found one name in particr that wasn''t exactly supposed to be there- Zavier Adam. The surname and first name were printed in fine ck letters. They stood up there, right next to the elite of the elites. Wallice didn''t recognize the person. Who the hell was this?


    She repeated the name again in her mind, thinking it would ring any bells- it didn''t. This Zavier Adam personality seemed to have barely snuck by. His scores were abysmal, and that was going by the most conservative description. In fact they were bad, really bad. Wallice''s original n had been to look and see if she would find any student or team that had performed extraordinarily, but instead, she had found the exact opposite.


    This was weird, most High Schools sent in the best of the very best to be rmended for Caesar University''s preliminaries. It was the norm. Not because the schools were ssists, but because they simply didn''t want any bad student to give their Alma Mata a bad rap. Only the best of the best attended these things. It was hard to see a mediocre student. And it was even harder to see a bad student. But it appeared that this Zavier had defied the odds.


    Wallice gaped at Zavier''s grades as if she couldn''t believe her eyes. How could a student who was so far below average be here? His terrible scores spoke volumes, they screamed that he was in fact aplete loser, they screamed nonchnce, and an indifference that bordered onziness and ineptitude. Wallice turned around to see if she was the only one who had noticed this, she discovered that this was actually the topic of discussion in most circles around her.


    Wallice discovered that a lot of the lead teachers were also here for the same reason she was. They had intended to scope out this mysterious team from the list of students who had made it through. But they had ended up with a full ss of Zavier''s shockingly poor results. Wallice hadn''t been paying much attention to her environment before now. But if she had, she would have discovered that the air was charged with resentment and bitterness, and one name was in the center of it all- Zavier Adam.


    "¡­never seen such terrible grades before at this University''s tryouts! It''s truly appalling! "


    "He barely survived the first round. But his luck is sure to run out in the next round. He is going to be destroyed."


    "I bet he will!"


    "But hold on a minute, who is this loser any way? How did he even make it into this tryouts in the first ce?"


    Finally, Wallice thought. Here was a person with some sense to ask the question she had been dying to know since.


    "Who cares? Must be some loser from some dump somehwhere..."


    "Actually, I heard he''s from the reputable Adam family."


    That struck a chord.


    "No way, you mean like the actual Adam-Adam family? Like the famous Vrie Adam?!"<sub> </sub>


    "Of course, what other famous Adam family do you know?"


    ? "Wow! But why is he so dense?! Aren''t they supposed to be a family of geniuses or something?!"


    "I guess every family has its ck sheep. It''s quite surprising how far this apple fell from the tree though. A real bloody shame if you ask me."


    "Indeed! You know, that actually exins a lot you know!" The student lowered his voice as he dropped his theory; "I think the Adam family got their boy this rmendation through some kind of back door agreement."


    "What?!" They small group all chorused together their shock. The narrator, not wanting to get in trouble cautioned them;


    "Hey! Keep your voice down!"


    The others were much too annoyed to care. They angrily retorted; "Why should we be silent?! Huh?! Why?!"


    The resentment was palpable now. It was very much in the air as it was in their minds. They boiled with anger just at the thought of the nepotism had that been carried out right underneath their noses. Of course they were pissed. A lot of them had spent weeks, months on end, and the better part of their childhood (and young adulthood) training to be the best.


    Their hard work had paid off, and they were now on the verge of being selected by Caesar University''smittee. This was the crowning jewel of their efforts. The prize for their sacrifices, and it was well worth it.


    So, hearing now that some low level student had gotten in based on his family''s connections alone, that was too much for them. It was like a p on all their faces. It was like their efforts didn''t even matter. It wasn''t their fault persay.


    Their hard work had conditioned them into being very rigid and unflinching when it came to dues. And unfortunately, their whole was being turned upside down as a result of this thing with the Adam boy.


    "Damn! I thought Caesar University was the one ce where all that didn''t matter..."


    "Hey,e on don''t talk like that. This could be the action of just one corrupt official in government."


    "Hey Lady! Hey!" They snapped their fingers. "Miss?! Are you alright?! Miss!"


    It took a moment for Wallice to see that she was the one they were referring to. She had been so lost in the gist that she had abandoned all the stealth involved in eavesdropping, and had been staring at the group of students like they were a live band or something.


    Only after did they snap their fingers twice at her did she jerk back to consciousness. It was very awkward. Almost like she had fallen asleep with her eyes wide open and while standing. Wallice didn''t feel embarrassed or anything. In fact she felt the exact opposite; she was ted. She had gleaned so much information by simply standing around, and doing nothing but eavesdropping. This had never happened before. She was almost grateful to the student for the information.


    Thanks to them, she now knew all she needed to know about the Zavier boy. No wonder his name hadn''t struck a chord. There was no way she would have known who he was. Her brain had been conditioned to look for the strongest and the most threatening. There was no way she would have picked up on such a low ranking student.


    Wallice almost felt bad for the poord. The second round hadn''t even begun yet and he had already garnered for himself a very terrible reputation. If he hadn''t been having enough difficulties on his own (concerning his results), then he sure would be having a full te right now. These were supposed to be his future colleagues as a potential freshman, but they already resented him deeply.


    Wallice melted out of there quickly. She was done for now.


    Thirty six hourster from that very moment, the second round of the tournament began. It was the long anticipated moment.

 161 Chapter 161

    After the nasty surprise that had sprung up on them (the mysterious masked three man team), the students and their lead teachers had spent thest three days preparing for this next round. The game was afoot, and none was looking at losing. They all wanted to win- and they were determined to.


    The atmosphere was electric. Because of the number of teams participating this time,the tournament had to be held for eight days. Everyone was prepared, everyone but Zavier. Well, it wasn''t like he waspletely helpless or anything. This issue at hand was his clones. They were yet to make significant progress. So far, they were yet to meet up with his expectations.


    But fortunately for him, he was still in thest order of y. So, theoretically speaking, if all things were to go on as nned, then it was highly unlikely that he might end up ying on the first day. And honestly, that was fine with him. He wasn''t too much in a hurry these days. He needed his clones to catch up real quick.


    The games were held in a very huge open-air training facility. It was truly an impressive structure. In appearance, it had the semnce of a ser stadium. Zavier took a good look at the looming edifice and saw that it could definitely hold at least fifty thousand people. From the spectator stand, Zavier watched as thepeting teams entered the field below. He was surprised when he saw that some of the teams who had been eliminated in the first round were still somehow in y.


    It seemed that he wasn''t the only one who was wondering about that. One of the lead teachers seated behind him, exined to her inquiring students that a first round elimination wasn''t necessarily an automatic rejection by the University. In fact, those who had passed the first round of thepetition weren''t guaranteed automatic eptance either. The whole event was presided by a select team who went over every single aspect of each individual''s performance.


    At the end of the day, the final results would be reviewed by the specialists in all areas, and then, based on their reviews, scores would be allotted ordingly. This way, the chances of corruption and maniption were reduced drastically. Some student made an offhandment about how some had still managed to get in using the back door of their family''s privilege. Of course the student was speaking about Zavier, but he didn''t realize it at the time.


    Someone else made an intelligent observation and asked a very interesting question;


    "Excuse me miss, but why weren''t we informed about the issue of elimination not being the end?"


    Others chorused their approval.


    The head teacher smiled as if she had been anticipating this question;


    "Well, the reason the prospective freshmen weren''t informed about this is simple really; if you had been told, you all would have probably misinterpreted the message, and therebypse into a rxed state with the knowledge that elimination isn''t the end."


    There went up multipleints all around that area.


    "You see what I mean. Knowing ahead of time would have taken the edge out of the wholepetition, and thereby defeat the very purpose of the tryouts. So, this is why this information was kept and reserved until thest moment. At least this way, every team would want to do their best with the threat of elimination hanging over them like a noose."


    Zavier couldn''t argue with the logic. It was faultless. The university had several experience with dealing with freshmen, so they knew all the tricks involved. Zavier watched as the procession of the most important folks at the university made their way into the field to their ces. There were faculty members, distinguished colleagues of the university''s board, and of course, honorary students of the University itself.


    Upon entering the venue, Zavier had been taken aback by the sheer number of spectators around him. It was truly a remarkable sight. The venue was filled with rows and rows of spectators of different backgrounds and schools. They cheered and cheered as the dignitaries made their way across the field, waving at them and cheering them on. There were so many people that numbering them was impossible. So many held up their banners, and school coat of arms, and they cheered and cheered.


    It was truly an electrifying atmosphere. Even Zavier was caught up in the moment. It was hard not to. The excitement got a hold of him and he couldn''t restrain himself from the infectious spirit ofradery that was in the air. He turned to the group of high school students from other high schools who were sitting next to him, and waved a friendly greeting to them. Zavier couldn''t help but note the reaction of one of them.


    It was almost as if the student had frozen. Zavier couldn''t understand why for the life of him. It was the most awkward thing.<sub> </sub>


    Was it because he was from a different school? Why the vitriol? As if in answer to Zavier''s worry, the student asked him a very peculiar question;


    "Are you Zavier?"


    The shock that registered on Zavier''s face was so pronounced that even the student who had asked him the question wondered if he had made a mistake. He moved to assuage Zavier''s feelings;


    "Forgive my assumption buddy, it''s just I thought you were someone else, never mind."


    Zavier wasn''t sure what exactly was going on. Not many people knew him here, at least not to the extent that some random stranger would randomly ask him to his face if he was truly Zavier. Had he gotten famous overnight? It was very tempting to think that. Maybe his name was starting to be something of a household name, a local legend of some sort.


    He still wasn''t sure what had spurred this new fame, but he was willing to gamble on it being on a positive light. So, with a proud smile on his face, Zavier took the first step towards his newly found stardom, and decided to reply the student staring at him with curious eyes. Totally relishing every word, and without even trying to be humble, he dered his identity in a magnanimous tone;


    ? "Indeed I am he. Fret not, I am but an ordinary student like you, so do not worr-"


    "Shut your trap you privileged bum!"


    The student growled aggressively like a dog, cutting off Zavier in the middle of his sentence. "Avoid me at all costs, you hear me?! Make sure you avoid me! Because if I run into you in this game, I will beat the living daylight out of you!! Brat!! Now face your front and mind your business!"


    The boy''s words cut through Zavier like hot knife through butter. It had all the contempt and spite of a hateful speech. The aggression and hate was undeniable. He hadn''t even tried to make use of humor or sarcasm to deliver his message and soften the impact. He had dropped it hard and crude, leaving Zavier spinning from the harshness of the bacsh. It was an embarrassing sight. Truly, and the unfortunate recipient of that acidic discharge had been left rolling in the dust.


    Indeed, it had been a horrendous sight to witness, and it was even more mortifying having to watch Zavier try to recover. The youngd waspletely dazed, in sight and in spirit. While a few witnesses felt bad for Zavier for having to endure such a cruelly embarrassing verbal assault, in actuality, Zavier was ny five percent shocked and only five percent ounted for the totality of the embarrassment he was feeling. What had just happened?! What the hell had just happened?!


    Within the blink of an eye, faster that Zavier could follow, the initial novelty of the encounter had quickly dissipated like a cloud of smoke, leaving him with the smoldering remains of his own ignorance and shame. Try as he may, he just couldn''t figure out where he had gone wrong, and he was all the worse for it. One moment, he had been expecting to be asked for an autograph or something, and the next, he had been served with a hot steamy dish of vitriol.


    "What the hell are you still staring at you bastard?! I said face your front and mind your business! You better ask around about me, I don''t y around! I will mess you up real good!"


    Zavier hadn''t even realized that he was still staring at the boy in shock. This time, his second sentence that consisted of a string of menacing threats brought Zavier back to life. Very slowly, like a ventriloquist doll, Zavier slowly turned away from the boy and stared into space up ahead.


    Zavier remembered the incident in the forest and a fresh cold breeze blew all over him. He wondered if perhaps the incident had leaked out. But that was impossible. His face had been barely visible that night. It would have been very difficult, if not impossible to link his name. Besides, what would the couple gain by spreading the tale of that incident? They had as much to lose as Zavier by talking about that night. No, something was truly off. He could feel it, but he just couldn''ty his hand on it.


    It was very infuriating. Had he somehow offended this chump without knowing it? He ran over his encounters from the previous days here, hoping to see if he could recall the face. But nothing came up, not even the slightest clue. Zavier had a feeling that this wasn''t a random thing. It felt oddly specific, like he was being targeted. But why?

 162 Chapter 162

    Still wrapped up in a dense fog of confusion and unanswered questions, Zavier decided to take a look around to find some clues. Much to his horror, he found out that the same spiteful look had replicated itself on the faces of some of the high school students around him. Their eyes burned into him, making him feel like a deer in the sight of several hunters.


    It seemed that the boy''s hateful contempt had spread around like a virus, infecting just about everyone around him. Zavier''s heart sank. He suddenly felt ustrophobic, like he was in den of foxes or something. It was unnerving. More than ever, Zavier knew he needed to find out what the hell was happening. It was like his name carried a stench of reproach that he just couldn''t shake off. What had he done?


    Kacie who was a very sensitive creature was quick to discern the atmosphere that was now charged with a negative energy. She had heard the entire exchange between Zavier and the boy. Even before the boy had started to speak, she had sensed something was wrong. It had all happened so fast. Being the forward thinker that she was, she didn''t intervene for a couple of reasons.


    First off she needed to know where all this wasing from.


    It hadn''t been the regr battle of egos beotween males, and it certainly hadn''t been about the rivalry of potential adversaries as participants of thispetition. Kacie was keen enough to discern that it had genuinely seemed like there had been some deep seated hatred there. It was illogical hatred, but it was undeniable.


    Watching poor Zavier go through all that was excruciating, but she decided she had seen enough. So, she edged her way closer to her kin and sat by his side. Zavier was still too dazed to even notice that someone had sat down by his side.


    "Hey, are you okay?"


    Zavier lifted up his head absent mindedly to look at Kacie by his side. She was staring at him with those warmforting eyes that seemed to see through him.


    "Yeah, I guess I''m alright. It''s nothing really."


    "No need to act all tough Zavier, I heard everything."


    Zavier stared at her nkly, trying to mask his feelimgs. Kacie quickly gave him her own thoughts on the matter.


    "Did you hear what he called you the first time? He called you a privileged scum."


    Zavier continued to look at Kacie, egging her to continue.


    "I think he and the others are pissed because they suspect you might have gotten your rmendations through the Adam family''s connections." Kacie pursed her lips tightly and then stated the obvious part; "You understand what that means right? Like you understand why they''re so pissed right? Zavier, they don''t think you deserve to be here at all."


    Kacie stared at Zavier with a gentle andforting look. She thought that it would made him feel bad. Any regr person would be pissed by the fact that others were undermining his efforts by ascribing his aplishments to family connections. She expected Zavier to be furious or at least, as sad even. But she got the exact opposite of what she had been expecting.


    On the contrary, Zavier seemed a tad bit relieved. He merely shrugged his shoulders at the revtion, making it out not to be a big deal. Like it wasn''t a reason to be worried in the first ce. A look of indifference reced the worry lines that had etched themselves on the front of his forehead. It was Kacie''s turn to be surprised. Zavier''s reaction surprised her, and her logical mind couldn''t wrap itself around the reason why.


    A moment ago, Zavier had been clearly worried. Receiving a tonguesh from a total stranger in public (especially when he had been nothing but friendly) was more than enough to make anyone feel bad. Kacie thought Zavier deserved more than justforting words, so she had proceeded to tell him the truth. Much to her uttermost surprise, Zavier had taken the reason for the verbal attack pretty well. This made her extremely curious.


    Why? Was he merely putting up a front so as to not seem hurt? Was he trying not to appear vulnerable in front of the others? Kacie could almost certainly tell that it wasn''t the case here.


    Zavier caught Kacie staring at him in awe. "What?"


    "Nothing. Just thought you might be a little bit more concerned."<sub> </sub>


    "Why? I honestly don''t care enough to be bothered right now. Just let it go Kay, it''s not worth it. They''re not worth it."


    Actually, the case wasn''t as difficult to crack as Kacie thought. The truth was Zavier was relieved. He couldn''t believe that they were hating on him for such a frivolous reason. It was very petty, and a product of just how small minded high school students were. But he was very d that this was the reason. For a moment, he had been worried that one or more of his secrets had leaked.


    His mind had been turning itself inside out just trying to find out what exactly was going on. Consequently, when Kacie came with an exnation that was far less innocent that any of the other things he was guilty of, Zavier weed it wholeheartedly. Almost dly. So, when he shrugged it off like it was nothing, it had created a very peculiar hole in Kacie''s analysis.


    Below them, far from the spectator stand, on the lower ne that was the field, a major dignified personnel in the person of the president of the University- Glen stepped up on the podium. There was a resounding apuse across all sides of the venue. The college students, the high school students, the members of the staff all pped and pped for the impressive entity. Galen wallowed in the honor for a moment. Then finally, he lifted up his right hand to bring an end to it all.


    In a tone and stance that could be considered regal, he addressed the crowd;


    "That was some apuse right there. For a moment, you all had me thinking it was the end of the world or something¡­"


    The audienceughed wholeheartedly at the old man''s joke. The chatter died down and the old man continued;


    "I sure am d to be here. What a time to be alive indeed. Well, don''t worry about it, I am not about to bore you with some borate speech espousing the great university. I am sure you all know just how great Caesar University is¡­"


    That sparked some light cheering from some of the young energetic college students. Honestly, they seemed to be hyped all the time.


    "Thank you, thank you. But I''ll skip the bring speech part and get right to business. I am pretty sure we all can''t wait for the real action to begin! And so,dies and gentlemen, without further ado, I hereby announce the official start of the second round of this year''s tournament."


    Another tide of anxious expectation rippled through the audience, sparking some more cheering and whistling.


    Galen rode the wave. He adjusted his sses and called out the names and schools of the teams who were supposed to battle each other. Soon, two different students from different high schools jogged out from opposite entrances into the field. Serious faced, and a bit tense, they met each other in the middle like a boxing ring and began to stare each other down as they prepared to joust.


    After a sufficient amount of time had passed, the order came from above the podium with a resoundingmand; "BEGIN!!!"


    And so it began; the second round of the tournament that involved one on one battles between opposing teams. While everyone eagerly feasted their eyes on the joust between the two students, Zavier found himself stifling a yawn. He didn''t give a damn about these low level battles. In his opinion, they were extremely boring, and wouldn''t offer him the level of thrill and entertainment he was craving. He took only one single look at the two students involved and saw that they were very much ordinary. There was nothing special that would be expected from them.


    And so, the goddess of boredom swaddled Zavier in her nd wings, causing him to begin to look around in the audience, desperately hunting for any kind of entertainment at all. Anything at all that would keep him from going crazy with BOREDOM. asionally, his eyes would wander to the field below, and he would see just how choreographed the fight was. It was almost as if both students knew each other''s routine.


    They danced around each other like they were afraid to engage, and centered their fight on long range attacks rather than up close and personal. Zavier wasn''t annoyed, he was just disappointed. He really expected a show, but only saw an embodiment of mediocrity in both students. It seemed like they weren''t even trying, and this was pathetic because they were actually at their best.


    The first battle ended after an agonizing three quarter of an hour. The next came up andsted slightly shorter. Each fight more distinctly uninteresting than the previous one. And then finally, the fourth battle of the day brought a bit of life not just into Zavier''s life, but the stadium atrge. It was finally their team''s turn, and just as they had already agreed, Calista allowed Dah to run point on this one.


    Dah didn''t even do the traditional ritual of good luck with her fellow team mates, she simply bundled off to the entrance where she stood until she and her opponent''s name was called up.

 163 Chapter 163

    Like the ancient diators in ancient Rome, Dah entered the battlefield with a menacing look on her face, and with a confident stance. Her team mates cheered her on, along with other visiting members from their school. But Dah didn''t acknowledge anyone of them. In Fact, in her own mind, she was the only one there. She was used to being the star in any situation so it wasn''t hard for her to maintain this state of mind that basically put her in the spotlight.


    It was noon day, and the sun was at its zenith and high up in the sky. The battleground had been transformed from an ordinary field into a true battlefield by the reason of the live battles that had been held here by the previous contenders. Parts of the ground had been scorched, burned, pulled out or maligned. The stench of sweat and blood soaked up the ground. Dah was a bit disgusted and wished she had been called up much sooner to battle.


    But she turned up her nose, and decided to focus. Her enemy was a big burlyd with cropped blond hair. He must have been at least five foot eleven, if not six foot tall. He looked like a man by all standards, but he was just an overgrown fowl that had been overfed like a dairy animal for ughter. Of course Dah saw all this, and already knew how the fight was going to end up.


    She made up her mind there and then not to go easy on him. She nned to be over with this really quickly. She was going to hit him hard and fast, without giving him any opportunity to fight back or recover. The battle started with Dah rushing towards the burlyd, the boy thought she wanted to start with a hand to handbat and smiled gleefully. He thought she was making a big mistake and therefore prepared to destroy her. But it was he who was making the big mistake of underestimating her.


    Dah''s magical attribute was ice, and it always neutralized all other magical attributes. But this time, she had invented a new and creative way to use her ice magic for close range assaults. As she drew near to the boy, with her eyes focused like that of a vipers, her balled fists that looked very ordinary suddenly froze up and turned into burning cold hard ice that could be likened to liquid nitrogen.


    When the boy finally caught on that her fists were now rocks of ice, it was way toote for him to evenunch any kind of counter with magic. After all, he had assumed this attack was going to be a hand to hand type that was totally devoid of magic. Boy was he wrong. Dah''s iced up fist mmed head first into his jaw automatically dislodging about half a dozen teeth in that side of his mouth.


    The boy couldn''t believe how destructive the force of the punch was. He felt like he had been gored by a bull, only in the form of an iced wrist. The pain was excruciating, but Dah wasn''t even close to being done. With her other wrist poised and ready for action, just as the unfortunate fellow was falling down, she brought in the other one in an uppercut and smashed up his lower jaw.


    The impact was so much that it defied gravity and temporarily uprooted him from the ground.


    This was a monumental attack of a staggering propensity, because the young boy was already falling, and yet, somehow, the uppercut had managed to eject him from his own trajectory and shift him into a vertical projectile. In all this, Dah still wasn''t done yet.


    The poor guy was still only half conscious in that moment, and that seemed to not be enough for Dah. So, as he came crashing down to the earth, midair, she unleashed a st of ice that knocked him out cold. Even before his body touched down on the ground, he had already fainted. It was all over in less than sixty seconds. Every single attack hadnded home, and squarely hit the intended target on the boy''s body.


    Her speed had been nothing short of diabolic too. Definitely, the judges would be sure to take note of that when they would eventually begin their assessment. A roar of victorious cheer erupted from the stadium. Even those from other high schools cheered Dah on. Truly it had been a fantabulous disy. It was basically the most entertaining thing the crowd had seen all day. And it had all been over in under a minute.


    Everyone pped and pped as they cheered her on. Except Calista. She had watched the whole battle and knew that Dah''s victory had been sealed the moment her opponent saw her as an ordinary girl. But that was all over now. Calista knew that her next opponent wouldn''t be foolish enough to make that mistake. It was all hinged on how Dah could shift her strategy to match the new challenge.


    Calista wasn''t bothered. She knew her student well enough to know she wouldn''t lose.


    Dah fought two more opponents that day. And Calista was right. The next two had seen only a small fraction of what she was capable of, and they didn''t take it easy with her at all. But Dah was more than equal to the task. With the ferocity of a tigress, she fought bravely until she had vanquished all her opponents. Her ice magic proved to be very helpful against her enemies whose attributes had been earth and water respectively.


    Sure, they had all demonstrated some level of creativity and skill in their individual battles against Dah, but Dah held her own together. She fought very seriously, not trying to put on a show or appear delicate. Ordinary high school students couldn''t really stand a chance against her ice magic though. Nevertheless, she actually depleted a ton of mana during her fights. And by the time her third battle was over, she looked mentally and physically drained.


    But she had given it her all. Also, no one really knew it, but another reason she had fought so hard was because she wanted to show Zavier just how powerful she was. She wanted him to see that he was powerful enough to join the organization. Hopefully, he had seen it all. Hopefully, he had been impressed. The echo of the apuse all around her didn''t matter the least to Dah in that moment. The only thing she could think about was getting into the organization.<sub> </sub>


    This second round was an elimination stage. So, each team could onlypete once a day. So, Calista made the executive decision that was aimed at preserving the strength of the team. After Dah''sst match, Calista summoned the rest of the team together outside the venue.


    "Alright students, huddle up. First off, I would like to say big congrattions to Dah for making us and herself proud today. Good job there Dah, not like we had any doubts, but good job all the same."


    The others chorused their congrattions too. Calista continued;


    "But that''s not the reason I summoned you all here right now. As it stands, you all have no more business here. Our team''sst match has been won by Dah, so I want you all to go back your dormitories and rest up."


    Someone groaned inin; "But I would like to watch the rest of the matches, isn''t it a good idea to scout out the fighting techniques of the others, just in case we end up fighting them?"


    Calista knew where this was going, and expertly nipped it at the bud.


    "There''s nothing wrong with wanting to scope out your enemies. But we both know that what you really want to do is entertain yourselves some more. Yeah, nice try."


    There was a slight giggle.


    "I know you all, and I can proudly say as your lead teacher that I know you can take on any one of them out there. Don''t worry, I will stay behind to gather the information about your potential opponents. But in the meantime, I need you all to go back and rest. Understood?"


    "Yes ma''am!"


    And with that, Calista dismissed them and sent them off to rest.


    Calista had good intentions. Her desire was that everyone got enough rest for the rest of the day, it was a noble thing to wish for her students. But unfortunately, as was the case with all rebellious high school teenagers, they all decided to go anything but rest. This was actually funny because, if Calista hadmanded them to do something academic (in nature) to pass time away, they would have opted for rest instead. However, as teenagers, they were always prone to do the exact opposite.


    A couple of hourster, much like the others, Zavier also had other ns of his own. And none of them included resting. Actually, he wouldn''t have minded having the rest of the day to himself, but the fact was he couldn''t have that even if he wanted. It seemed like Nadia had made it her priority to upy his free time any opportunity she could. Now that Calista had openly dered that the rest of the day was pretty much free for everyone, it was just a matter of time before Nadia was onto him like a flea.


    Honestly, Nadia simply couldn''t take a hint. Not even Kacie could stop her. Poor Zavier loved Nadia and all, but she could be too much sometimes. He needed a break. Zavier knew he had to move really quickly or risk running into her at any given moment.

 164 Chapter 164

    So, he very stealthily, he secretly made off to the one ce she would never guess he would be- the university''s cafeteria. It was just perfect.


    Zavier couldn''t help but smile to himself as he eased down the hallway that led out of the male dorms, and intothe outer courtyard. He was grateful that the dorms weren''t co-Ed. Not that he wouldn''t have liked the adventure of having both genders co-habit the same dorm. But at the end of the day, he knew that it would onlyplicate things further. That just wasn''t worth it.


    The truth was, Zavier had actually killed two birds with one stone. As at thest time he and Kacie were together, Nadia had shown just how much she didn''t care about Shiranui and Zavier''s privacy. In fact, if Zavier didn''t know better, he might have said that she had definitely been trying to sabotage their moment. But that wasn''t going to happen right now.


    Earlier on, upon their dismissal, Zavier and Shiranui had agreed to meet upter that evening at a spot where they would be alone. It was all Zavier could think about as he leisurely bounced along the streets on campus. No interruptions, no peering eyes, and most importantly, no Nadia. It was the ideal date, and he was all in.


    About an hour and a halfter, Shiranui and Zavier sat in a private booth at the cafeteria, basking in the warmth of each other''s presence and enjoying the bubbling evening campus life. It was like their dream. On their table was loaded two full cups of smoothies, and a decent helping of French fires. But dinner wasn''t what they were all too focused on. At the moment, they were simply d to be together without any third party or teacher looming over them.


    "It''s nice to be out here isn''t it?"


    Zavier tried to y it smooth by sounding as natural as he could without sounding like a total douchebag; "Yeah sure, it''s a nice scene. But what makes it truly spectacr is having you right in the middle of it."


    Shiranui giggled yfully. "Come on Zavier! That was corny as hell!"


    "Well, if it''s corny to tell the truth, then I guess I''m guilty. But honestly though, you''re the once true spectacle on this canvas of art. I mean it."


    Shiranui''s eyes danced flirtatiously. Zavier''s ttery was making her glow like a shining pearl under the full moon''s silvery arrows. She tried to hide it, but it was more than evident. Zavier adjusted his gear, and throttled down on the pedal.


    "You know it''s okay to blush right? Your rosy cheeks light up like red ambers when you do?"


    Shiranui blushed even harder. Then in her best serious and serious face, she answered him; "Okay mister you need to stop now. Mission aplished alright? You got me smiling like a heifer, happy now?"


    Zavier leaned backwards and shrugged. He knew she was just putting on a front. She liked every bit of how it felt when his honeyed words dripped all over her. She wasn''t deceiving anybody. But he decided to indulge her, so he could make it seem like she was actually the one in control of the dynamics here.


    "As you wish Shiranui, as you wish. But could you tell me one thing though..."


    He leaned in flirtatiously, cing his elbows on the table and holding her gaze steadily with his eyes, not flinching for a moment.


    "This is something that I have been meaning to ask you..."


    Shiranui''s eyelids fluttered like a butterfly as she listened closely to whatever Zavier was about to say. She sensed he was about to say or ask something deep or personal even. She was all up for it.


    "Are you going to make me wait forever? Sure Zavier, you can ask whatev--"


    "Howe you never wear panties?"


    "Howe you never wear panties?"


    His question whizzed past like a fletched arrow through the air. It was direct and spot on. As it was clearly his intention to catch her off guard, Zavier didn''t give her a heads up or anything. He didn''t want her to have any time tond or prepare an answer. He simply wanted her to squirm in her seat and adjust herself. Because, even in that moment, as she sat opposite him in that seat, he guessed that she definitely wasn''t wearing any underwear.


    He was willing to bet on it. His confidence showed in his steady gaze and flirty expression.


    Meanwhile, on Shiranui''s end of the table, all physical evidence pointed to the fact that his question had achieved the intended aim. She had already been blushing before, but Zavier''s question made her blush even harder. She remembered their previous encounter during theirst battle when Zavier had fondled her, and she blushed even harder.<sub> </sub>


    Shiranui knew what Zavier was trying to do under the guise of being curious. But she made up her mind not to give him any room for his dubious and nefarious scheme.


    "Well, if you''re asking me why I dress so revealing sometimes, the answer is very simple..."


    Now it was Zavier''s turn to swallow hard. He wasn''t sure what her reply was going to be, but he hoped she would match his wit and make it worth his while.


    "As you know, Ie from the famous Yamata family, and my ancestors gave me, or rather, all their descendants a very peculiar gift; ck me. But what you probably don''t know is that this special abilityes along with a price..."


    As she narrated, she tried to make it sound as mysterious and as arcane as possible. By the look on Zavier''s face, it seemed like she was seeding in that regard. He was hungrilypping up everything she was saying. She grinned inwardly, two could definitely y this game.


    "But before I exin further, you need to understand that ck me is a unique technique that is peculiar only to my family. It is a me that can evolve and its potential is basically limitless. No one can imitate it or try to harness or replicate it''s power. It''s one of a kind.


    And because it is, those who can harness it have a body temperature that is a little higher than normal. Hence, my neeed to wear clothes that give as much room for my pores to breathe. A ordinary gown may seem ordinary to others, but to me it''s like a nket. You might see a girl in very revealing clothes, but that girl is simply just trying to achieve homeostasis."


    Damn it, Zavier thought. He didn''t know what thatst word. Shiranui had chosen the intellectual answer had purposely ended with thatst word just to make him ask her the meaning. He swallowed his pride, and indulged her;


    "Wow, I have so many questions. But what''s homeostasis?"


    Shiranui made no attempt to conceal her smile.


    "Basically, it means maintaining a state of equilibrium when ites to body temperature."


    Zavier nodded in deep thought, and asked her a follow up question so she could tell he had been listening;


    "But what about in extreme weather condition like in a snow storm or something like that? How does your body adjust?"


    "It doesn''t. I mean, even in winter I don''t feel cold, it''s pretty much the same as normal. And when I am in battle, ck me can raise up the temperature in my immediate environment. And my worst enemy in those moments isn''t my opponent, but my own clothing. Heavy garments can impair my speed and overall battle performance."


    Zavier paid careful attention to her exnation. He had started out this conversation on a flirty note, but ended up educating himself on his girl''s family like. Shiranui had brilliantly tricked him into actually learning. And honestly, he didn''t mind. He didn''t mind at all.


    "So you need a specific kind of outfit then? Like a costume or some sort?"


    "Calling it a costume makes it sound clownish. This dress is a unique Yamata family battle regalia. I wear it all the time to honor them. I wear it all the time to remind myself of who I am.


    Zavier knew that Shiranui wasn''t lying or over exaggerating about that part being the family heirloom. He remembered his encounter with her sister and recently and recalled some things back then that hadn''t made sense at all. For one, she had been sweating profusely in battle. even more than the usual person. At the time, he hand t thought about it too much. In fact he hadn''t thought about it at all. Even Kyouko had the same set of revealing clothes.


    Zavier had imagined that they were all kind of the same in their n for no reason.


    Meanwhile, as Zavier ranps through his own memories, he started picking up on a whole new array of negative energy building up around him. He had been too immersed in Shiranui and her narration, that he hadpletely neglected his immediate surroundings. For a moment, he had been a normal dude out on a date with his girlfriend on campus grounds. But that all changed when he saw that to his side, a couple of boys were giving him the middle finger shamelessly.


    They weren''t even trying to hide it or even be subtle about it. Even though Zavier was only just noticing them for the first time, they had long been trying to get his attention. And they had been infuriated that Zavier was so tantly ignoring them. This only pushed the narrative further that he was some privileged spoilt child who cared for nothing or no one else. Needless to say that they aren''t all too happy about it.

 165 Chapter 165

    So, when they saw that the middle fingers and angry stares weren''t working at all. They started to get more creative with their contempt and moved to loud aggressive sentences and offensive words.


    "Look, it''s the privileged bastard. The prince of ineptitude!"


    There was some other string of inchorent words that were barely audible to Zavier, but he knew that they wouldn''t be good for him at all. The whole scene was just like that of thest time during the day at the venue for thepetition. Zavier really wished he had left all that behind him there. Not because he couldn''t handle it, but because of the girl with him. Their hostility was apparent.


    Zavier had actually been dismissive about the whole incidence earlier on for a couple of reasons. Compared to the secrets he had been trying to hide, at the time, he didn''t mind being tagged ''privileged'' even as a derogatory term. He had also seen the hostility as a byproduct of the ssist system that cut across cultures, generations and timelines. But the one thing he couldn''t understand wrap his head around was his own case was so different.


    He definitely wasn''t the only privileged high school student here? Why was he being targeted? No matter how Zavier looked at it, he just couldn''t see the difference. The entire cafeteria now seemed to be aware of his presence. When he and Shiranui had first stepped in here about half an hour ago, it hadn''t been like this. And yet, within a very short period, the gossip had spread through the open space like venom working its way through a living organism.


    If Zavier hadn''t been so focused on Shiranui, he might have actually seen the signs. The hushed whispers that usually ended in piercing looks from the different groups of students huddled together at their respective tables. The overbearing atmosphere that was now tainted with the foul odor of reproachful dishonor hung over Zavier like a cloud of nerve gas. It had gotten to the point where he could no longer ignore it even if he wanted to.


    His dinner date, as well as his appetite had been ruined for good. How had his reputation gotten so foul within a very short period? Zavier knew this had gotten out of hand. His initial n to ignore it till it died away was nothing but a flop. He had to fix this and face the problem and its source squarely. But now wasn''t the time, not when Shiranui was by his side, and in need of one hundred percent of his focus. The best time to quash these unttering innuendos would be in thepetition itself.


    In his battle toe, it would be legal for him to go as far as he wanted. Zavier''s mouth watered at the prospect of teaching someone''s child a lesson on the battlefield. He truly pitied the unlucky fellow who would end up having to face him in a one on one round. He wasn''t a monster, but it looked like it was a monster that these people deserved to see. If he did anything here, outside of thepetition, (even if he were to win or lose,) it would definitely backfire on him.


    Zavier wasn''t the only one who had felt the morbid tension in the cafeteria. Seated opposite him was the vtile Shiranui. She was visibly boiling, and was only keeping it in check because of Zavier. The frown on her face and her quivering lips were clear pointers to the fact that she wasn''t pleased at all. She didn''t understand why they were treating Zavier this way. In her mind, they were not even anywhere close to him in skill and in ss. So, what ground did they have to act all high and mighty as though they were better?


    Zavier was quick to discern the change in her mood. Immediately, he swooped in with kindforting words, trying his best to set her heart at peace;


    "Don''t pay them any heed Shiranui. They''re not worth it okay?"


    "What''s with them anyway? Do they have some kind of trouble with our school or what?"


    Zavier shrugged, "No, not our high school. Just me."


    "You should teach them a lesson Zavier. You know they''re just going to keep being idiots if you don''t put them in their ce right?"


    "I know. But now isn''t the right time. If I make a move on any one of these weaklings, I may end up permanently scarring them, and in so doing, I may jeopardize my chances of getting in to Caesar University. Either way, I don''t think it ends well for me."<sub> </sub>


    Despite the clear analysis of the situation, Shiranui still wasn''t satisfied. She scowled, "I still don''t think they should get away with their annoying attitude."


    Leaning forward, Zavier admonished her; "Really Shiranui, it''s okay. Now finish up your dinner and let''s get the hell out of here. This ce is really starting to annoy me."


    On cue, she slurped down the remains of her banana smoothie and Gave Zavier the signal that she was done. Together, they rose up from the table together. As they made to leave, Zavier caught the full outline of her heavy bust as she rose up from the table. The sight itself was more than enough to spark a rush of sensual urge through his being. In an instant, Zavier became hard on the spot.


    Zavier only wanted one thing in that moment; to take her to a secluded corner and just fuck her brains out as she bent over on the wall or something. The image from the forest the other night was still very fresh in his mind, and he couldn''t wait to recreate that same way her had seen the other guy take his girl from behind like a mare. Of course there was no way he would get caught since he had his trusty time-space eye with him.


    While Shiranui took his dick in constant fear of being discovered, he would relish the godlike position of seeing and knowing everything, while at the same time delving in and out of her soft flesh. He couldn''t wait for this imagination of his to materialize. So, not caring at all if others saw, he held Shiranui''s hand as they walked hand in hand to the exit. She tensed at first, she wasn''t used to being on the receiving end of physical affection. Especially out in the open.


    But Zavier''s firm reassuring grip calmed her nerves. And slowly, she eased into the feeling of being held in public by her man. Together, suspended in a cloud of young love, they both glided down the path towards the door. They werepletely oblivious of their surroundings, and they kept to themselves, shutting out the outside world and everyone in it. But their bubble didn''tst for long.


    The venom of spite that was hovering over and around them finally found its way into their safe space through the mouth of one very unfortunate fellow in the crowd;


    "You enjoy being her little boy toy, don''t you?"


    Zavier felt the pang of that single sentence in a way he had never felt before. It tore right through his armor of confidence and struck his pride in a vicious attack. Like the shattering of a broken ss when a stone was hurled at it, Zavier felt his own internal walls crumble. It took all of his will not to stop dead in his tracks. But he surged forward and swallowed the hurt. He was determined not to let anything interfere with his peace at that moment. He was almost out, just a little bit more and¡­


    Zavier found himself suddenly being pulled back by an unknown force. He turned around apprehensively, only to find out that Shiranui had stopped dead in her tracks. She had that crazy homicidal look in her eyes that said she was fed up. She let go of Zavier''s hand with a cold expression. And with the theatrics of a protagonist in a hot action drama, Shiranui slowly turned around until she was backing Zavierpletely.


    Her steely cold eyes swept across the entire cafeteria, searching desperately for the owner of the voice that had dared to malign the love of her life in her presence. The whole cafeteria fell silent. There wasn''t a single sound, not even the usual ttering of cutlery, or the shuffling of feet, or at least the asional chatter that one would expect in a refectory. All went silent, as if everyone knew some showdown was about to ur.


    Zavier wasn''tpletely sure if the sudden calm was because they all knew who Shiranui was and what she was capable of. Maybe it was simply because the altercation they had been waiting for was about to happen. Either way, things had gotten very chill and this level of chill wasn''t good at all.


    Suddenly, someone dared to rise up to disrupt the stillness of the room. A very masculine dude rose from the herd of douchebags that were huddled at one edge, drawing all eyes to him as he dared to defy the silence. He looked every inch an asshole. He wasn''t particrly tall. However he was of average height. But that didn''t in anyway affect his cool- controlled aura he was giving off.


    He stood for a minute and basked under the numerous pairs of eyes feasting on his catchy form. It was as if he wanted to let Zavier and Shiranui know that this was his turf. These were his people, and of course; he had power here.

 166 Chapter 166

    Like a crocodile swaggering out of the river bank, he arrogantly walked over to Zavier and stopped a couple of meters shy of Zavier. It was just another typical good guy/ bad guy showdown. And of course, with a beautiful woman in the middle of them.


    Only this time, it wasn''t about a woman. This time is was about something even less meaningful. The boy finally addressed Zavier in a coarse, mocking, provocative tone. Loud enough for everyone else to hear, and subdued enough to sound cool at the same time.


    "You there!"he pointed at Zavier with his thick stubby forefinger, as if Zavier didn''t know he was the one being addressed here. The boy just wanted to put on a show, he had the eyes of the cafeteria and he knew it.


    "Howe a loser like you gets to take up extra resources and space in attending this great University''s preliminary exams?! Do you not have any regard for this great institution?!"


    Zavier chose to remain quiet. All eyes were on him now, watching to see how he would react. What they truly wanted was a spectacle. They all wanted something dramatic from Zavier, so at least they could have something tangible to hold on when they remembered his ineptitude in this moment. So far, all they had was just stories. Being a crowd filled with youth, they were all hungry for some action. The boy knew this, and he yed on it deftly.


    He stepped forward in a daring manner, and with his tone rising ording to the intensity of his emotions,shed out again at Zavier;


    "You know, you''ve got some real guts kid, I''ll give you that for sure! Deep down, you know that you''re an absolute loser who has no real chance of making it in the big leagues, and yet, you still weaseled your way in here with your family''s resources. What did you this was gonna happen?! Huh?!"


    There were some supportive cheersing from all over the cafeteria now. He had sessfully riled up the crowd, and it was only just beginning. Still riding on the wave he had garnered for himself, he continued his assault;


    "You bastard! Did you really think we wouldn''t notice eh?! You think you can just stroll in here on the back of your priviledge and just somehow make it without any work?! HUH?!"


    The crowd was egging him on even more now. Even those who had been on the fence before now had fully hopped on the bandwagon in the reviling of the poor Zavier. The douchebag had touched a very touchy subject, and it enraged them that they had to work hard to get here, and the privileged Zavier had gotten in based on his family''s connections. He was a symbol of the system that undermined their efforts, and just the mere sight of him disgusted them.


    Knowing fully well that he crowd was behind him, the student entered the next gear and began to appeal to the emotions of the crowd by making himself vulnerable with his own origin story;


    "Just like most students here..." he pointed to some vague location in the crowd without looking back; "Ie from a humble background. I had to work my ass off to get here! I burned the midnight candle studying and practicing!"


    As he spoke, he began to pace up and down, creating the illusion that he was in fact doing the most. "Just like everyone else here, WE deserve to be HERE!! But you, because of your selfishness, you have just robbed some poor kid of the opportunity to be here. You!"


    The bitterness in his voice was evident. It seemed this was no longer for a the show again. He had chosen to get personal, and it was reflecting in his tone and expression.


    "This is a great injustice! Someone out there he lost his or her spot because of you! Someone out there has given up on their dream because of your selfish purpose. I absolutely do not condone this! I don''t!"


    Behind the student, his other mates cheered him on. They could rte to his pain. It was infuriating. They deeply hated the system that favored the privileged and looked down on the regr work of hard working citizens. So, their hatred increased when they looked at Zavier. The boy was merely amplifying their thoughts. And it wasn''t in anyway favorable to Zavier at all.<sub> </sub>


    The boy allowed the background noise to die down for a moment before he spoke a new line of terrible words;


    "I hate you for this. You disgust me. Not even because you''re azy, entitled brat, but because you did this evil thing and thought you could get away with it!" He spat irritatingly.


    This were the words of amon man. And themon man would almost always prevail in a bout against the masses. It was just a game of numbers, and the boy was right at home with his kind. Even if there were any privileged students in the background, it was unlikely that they would speak up to identify with their kind. Zavier was bad news. And anyone who willingly tried to associate themsleves with him would get burned. That was just the way it was.


    The boy would have made a fine politician if he was a bit older. For his words had incited something of a rebellion. The echo of hismentations echoed through the crowd, instigating several contestants of this year to begin quarreling Zavier angrily. How could he do such an evil thing? Couldn''t he just have epted his destiny as a nonentity and sat this one out? Wasn''t his privilege enough that he had to take away someone else''s seat at the table?


    They all joined hands to rebuke Zavier for his wickedness. As if they themselves were saints by virtue of their humble backgrounds. This particr subjetwas a very sore one, even for the university itself. Social injustice was a serious issue at Caesar University, and it had been for several decades. The founding fathers of the university had reserved spots there for the only the Elite of the elite in the society.


    This tradition had been passed down from generation to generation, such that at some point, even women were forbidden to dare to even dream of attending this citadel of knowledge. But over time, they gradually modernized and disbanded some of this draconian traditions and cultures. Over time, they began to admit and wee students from several walks of life. It took a while, but the stigma finally died off.


    But of course the remains were still there. It was almost as if the shadow of the University''s dark past was still looming over it, trailing its every achievement, and shadowing its steps to move forward from its archaic past. Hence, Caesar University and its board did everything possible to avoid being used of social injustice. That was why every year, they paidw firms big bucks to amend their legiture to suit the times.


    So, Zavier''s strong case was like a tant p on the faces of all the regr-joes working to enter the University by merit. Nheless, no one, not one single one of them wasn''t cut to the heart. Zavier had been silent all through his whole. Up till this point, he hadn''t seen any reason to do indulge them. But he had quickly discerned that this was now a social matter.


    If he decided to ignore them and storm out, he would be ying to their narrative of what a stereotyped privileged kid would do. If he also decided to do or say nothing, it was possible that they might misconstrue it as something of impudence. Like he was daring them to do their worst, even though he was clearly trying to avoid trouble at any cost.


    There was also the fact that they could very well ruin his life by staging a protest at the University demanding for his head. Even though he was innocent of all the charges, the fact was that it was all about the optics of things. For Caesar University, Zavier''s case represented what they weren''t willing to gamble on. If at all this matter got to them, Zavier would be cut off like a cancerous tumor.


    So, all things considered, Zavier knew that it was best he confront this situation head on. It was a tough crowd, and they were even tougher in spirit. But he was literally faced with no other option right now. He stepped forward, and raised up his hands signalling for peace and quiet. Everyone else saw him, and their curiosity piqued. They were anxious to know what he sounded like. From the stories that went around, it was rumored that he couldn''t even speak properly.


    Here was a chance for them to see first hand just how useless he was. So, all fell silent as they awaited the privileged boy''s first public addresss. Hopefully, he would give them a show. Zavier spoke in a calm and clear tone.


    "Ladies and gentlemen, I do not know what you have heard, but I assure you I am not here based on privileged. Not at all, much like you all, I am here because I deserve to be here. Nothing more, nothing less."


    A long and awkward silence followed. It was very unsteady, almost as if they had all deliberately nned before hand to make Zavier look and feel stupid. Zavier actually hoped that maybe, just maybe, for a second, they were all reconsidering their stance towards his case. But his hopes came crumbling down with one singleughter.

 167 Chapter 167

    It came from the far end of the cafeteria. It was one boy, but he carried with him the spite of all the students there. Before long, like a forest fire crackling its way through a bush, theughter spread all through the ranks. Before Zavier knew it, the whole cafeteria had erupted into a violent fit of hystericughter. What he said wasn''t funny. So why were theyughing? But Zavier wasn''t too naive to know that it was because they didn''t believe him.


    It was as simple as that. He probably sounded ridiculous in their mind. Of course he was going to im he had gotten in on merit. What else was he going to say? They were a little disappointed that he could actually speak properly. For they were all expecting something extremely entertaining. But at the end of the day, he had given them something tough about. And for that, they were grateful. The wave ofughter was like a scourge on Zavier''s ears. But it soon died a natural death, and the douchebag picked it up from there.


    "Come on boy, surely you can do better than that! If you''re going to lie, at least make it worth our while. We are not all idiots like you."


    He paused, baiting Zavier into a reply so he could finish him with his next rhetoric cudgel he had lined up. But Zavier didn''t take the bait. Instead, he chose to keep mum. But the student continued either way.


    "I saw your results Zavier. We all did, at least most of us anyway. How exactly did you get a rmendation with those terrible grades? I know for sure that you''re not the best your school has to offer..."


    His words lingered on, daring Zavier to defend himself. Zavier was quiet for a bit. He hadn''t considered that part. They were willing to go as far as checking his results? Damn, these are some really bitter people. Zavier now realized again that he was dealing with a clever bunch. And they were all out for his head. He had to thread carefully. In this case, his best best was the truth. So, he answered patiently;


    "Indeed, I suffered academically in the past. That is without debate. But recently, I had an epiphantic moment. And consequently, I was able to unlock great power. But unfortunately, this power did not give me the ability to turn back the hands of time to undo the damage of the past."


    The boy ambushed Zavier even more recklessly. It truly seemed like he had made it his life''s purpose to rubbish him in the presence of everyone. He pped his hands mockingly.


    "That was a mighty fine speech mister Adam, might fine indeed. Kudos to whoever wrote that for you. But riddle me this, if you indeed recently came into a great power as you say you did, tell me..."


    He hesitated a bit, and then changed gears; "No, tell everyone here why you refused to fight today? Is it because you were afraid? Or was it because you didn''t want anyone to find out you''re a fraud. A weakling, a feeble creature who''s strength lies only in his family''s fortune."


    This guy really was an attack dog. It seemed like Zavier had hurt him deeply in his past life or something. The way and manner with which he kept digging into Zavier was just uncanny. Zavier was now beginning to lose his patience. He was trying to be the bigger person here, and yet, at every given point, it seemed like he getting clowned. He was losing hisposure, and his voice reflected it;


    "I didn''t fight today because it was a tactical decision that was given out by my teacher! It wasn''t my call!" He snapped.


    Even as he said it, he realized just how weak and desperate he sounded. He had lost all credibility in the eyes of these folk. So even when he told the truth, it felt like he was telling a lie. This time around, it wasn''t just Zavier''s user that engaged him, the whole cafeteria doubled down on him with a staggering momentum.


    It dawned on Zavier that all of this was pointless. Clearly, nothing would change their minds. Superfluous exnations on their ears was like pouring water against a wall. It was pointless, he could see that now. The only way they would be shifted from their ruggedness was if they were to witness firsthand just how powerful he was. But that was would be best demonstrated in the construct of a battlefield.


    Having established that there really was no point of exining, he held Shiranui''s hand and pulled her away intending to leave this mess all behind them. But the high school student moved quickly. He sensed that he had Zavier by the balls now, and he wasn''t willing to let him go until he had thoroughly humiliated Zavier. He rushed quickly to block the exit. Staring Zavier down, he challenged him in a provocative tone;<sub> </sub>


    "You''re not going anywhere mister. Not until you show us this mysterious strong power of yours."


    Shiranui stepped in, she was the only obstacle between the douchebag and Zavier, and she could no longer hold back her anger. Shiranui knew Zavier was more powerful than anyone of them in this role cafeteria. She had sized up this cosmic sized douchebag and knew that he was nothing close to Zavier in skill and in decency. If Zavier was going to keep giving him a free pass, she wouldn''t. In a very brash tone, she osted him;


    "What do you think you''re doing you asshole? Do you really think you''re qualified to challenge Zavier Adam?"


    The high school student chuckled lightly. He ignored her and targeted Zavier with his next jab;


    "I see, so this is your great power huh? Hiding behind your woman and pretending you''re a big deal?! You''re such a fucking joke!"


    The people all around him roared inughter. If Zavier hadn''t been the center of the joke, perhaps he would haveughed too. The joke was a timely one, and it hadnded squarely on Zavier''s only defense (his great power). Apparently, they all found it amusing. And it seemed like they were enjoying the way their leader was handling the decimation of Zavier''s ego.


    Every material has its stic limit, and every body has their own breaking point. Zavier had reached his. If anyone of the dunces had paid attention enough, they would have noticed that the empathy and restraint that had been lodged in Zavier''s eyes, hadpletely disappeared in an instant. In their ce was a dead cold gaze instead. It was all over. Zavier had done his best to hold back.


    But it truly seemed that this obnoxious high school student and his goons had been marked out by fate for destruction. Zavier knew he was really going to enjoy having to deal with them. He was going to show them how weak they were whenpared to him. He was going to teach them a lesson so great, that they would always quiver whenever they heard his name or tried to bully someone else. Yes, Zavier would be the divine hand that would set them in line.


    He hated having to do this. Episodes of face punching and of grown folks acting out weren''t his thing at all. He had read so many boring face-punching, masculine- brawling based novels in his previous life on Earth. He had always found them to be a little bit of a clich¨¦. And yet, here he was, in a real life situation that was about to bring out the beast in him. He understood why men felt the need to indulge their base instincts in this manner.


    Shaking with uncontroble rage, Zavier stepped forward towards the high school student, ready to obliterate his jawpletely, and make it impossible for him to ever smile so condescendingly again. He clenched his fists, and began to harness as much mana as possible. Like a steam lotive engine, he began to build up energy. But Zavier didn''t get to descend on the douchebag high schooler.


    At thest moment, a familiar figure stepped in from out of no where. And like ice on a raging me, she diffused the tension with just her presence. It was none other than the respectable Mabel. Everyone saw her and responded to her undeniable authority. Suddenly, they were all on their best behavior.


    "Somebody better exin to me what in heaven''s name is going on here!"


    Much like everything else she normally did, Mabel''s sudden appearance wasn''t an ident. Prior to this very moment, Mabel had a hunch that something was amiss. She had excellent intuition, and her instincts were always spot on. So, prompted by a nagging feeling, she decided to take a walk through the park, and boom, it led her straight to the where the action was; the cafeteria. On getting there, she decided to get a snack for herself.


    It seemed like it was her subconscious that had been trying to get her to eat something after a very long day. Mabel was a natural hard worker. She didn''t be the person she was by simply being a slouch. She could go hours, sometimes a whole day without even as much as a snack. Today in particr was one of those days. As one of the chief organizers of such a prominent event, she had to be up and doing for at least eighteen to twenty hours each day. And consequently, she was denied the bliss of free time.

 168 Chapter 168

    As Mabel entered the cafeteria, she marveled at just how the human mind worked. It was truly amusing that she had consciously left her office to jaywalk, and ended up right where she needed to be even without it being her original n. The smell of the dairy-rich confectionaries hit her nose and reminded her of just how hungry she was. Charged with a new feeling of want, she found herself being pulled into the cafeteria. As she drew close to the entrance, she heard noted the unusual acousticsing from the inside.


    Mabel was a bit on edge. She knew just how busy the cafeteria usually was in the evenings. It was a hub of social activity, and students came here to hang out together or look for a little bit of action. Either way, the cafeteria was always a bit of a rumble. But tonight, by the sound of it, it was almost as if there was some kind of uproar going on. And it wasn''t the fun kind. So, she hastened her footsteps and saw a very unseemly sight.


    Right on the precipice of the entrance, blocking anyone from leaving or entering was a group of students who appeared to have encircled someone in their middle. Mabel wasn''t aplete prude. She was very familiar with some social scenes, and she instantly knew what was happening here. It was the typical wolf pack scenario where a bunch of youngsters took advantage of their numbers to try to gainsay a much weaker, or a much lonelier person.


    In other words, this was just another group of assholes bullying someone probably weaker than they were. Mabel was a bit amused. It was insane just how some things never changed. She had seen many a scene like this during her time in school. And now, even with a different generation, it seemed things hadn''t changed. She was about to ignore it and let the scenario y out when she had heard a very peculiar voice.


    Mabel''s face hardened and her countenance changed from that of indifference to that of a much familiar curiosity. She knew that voice. It was a voice that had actually given her countless hours of wonder. Yes, it was the prodigy Zavier. Before she could wait a few more seconds to confirm, another loud obnoxious voice came from the middle of the circle, drowning out Zavier''s ownpletely.


    It sounded like there was some kind of altercation going on, or about to go on. There was the undeniable mocking tone in the other boy''s voice, like he was taunting Zavier or something. Mabel''s brain connected the dots faster than the speed of light. Of course it would make sense that such an exceptional boy like Zavier would attract the hate that came from being an outstanding student. The spiteing from the crowd was palpable. She could almost taste it in the air.


    Mabel knew immediately that this was the reason she had been led here. Zavier was one of her favorites among the high school candidates trying out. She had been itching for a situation or circumstance to bring them together, just so she could behold the boy genius up front and in person. So naturally, her instinct was to make ample use of this opportunity to interfere and insert herself into his life.


    She contemted her next move very seriously. Of course the logical thing was to step in and interfere. But Mabel considered the consequence of her action on a much broader scale. As someone who had also passed through the system as a student, she knew that anyone who was being bullied had a much bigger chance of being skinned alive if they were seen to have a teacher or staff by their side.


    She simply couldn''t ignore the dynamics of the social order and barge right in without taking note of the consequences. But the more Mabel looked at the crowd, the more convinced she was that she had to intervene. It wasn''t like she doubted that Zavier couldn''t handle himself. After all, this was the Zavier the boy genius. But unfortunately, that would mean having to face the unfavorable and unttering consequences of having to deal with his actions. The university''s policy on violence wasn''t malleable at all.


    Mabel simply couldn''t sit back and watch Zavier throw his future away because of the actions of some jealous knuckleheads. So, without wasting a breath, she promptly delved into the situation and took control of it immediately. And indeed, it had actually been a very timely one, for Zavier had been right on the edge of blowing up. As soon as Mabel''s voice cut through the cafeteria, the silence that ensued resounded with a deafening calm.


    All eyes fell on her, and she was immediately recognized as one of the chief officiators of this event. To further consolidate her hold over them, she roared threateningly;


    "Are you all high school students devoid of any kind of sense whatsoever? Do you not know that you can singlehandedly ruin your own chance of getting in by indulging in such a fruitless bout of violence?"


    There were so many gasps from all over the cafeteria.


    "Yes! Now listen to me¡­" she turned specifically to face the student in particr who was championing this cause, "The bws of Caesar University states that any student who engages in any kind of illegal fight outside thepetition grounds, will not only lose all their qualifications, but will be permanently barred from future employment and admissions for life."<sub> </sub>


    This sank into his ears like poison on fresh farm produce. He hated Zavier, but his hate wasn''t worth losing his ce here at Caesar University. After all, there was a legal ce where he could unleash all of that anger on Zavier''s head- the battlefield. He hoped against hope that fate would grant him the privileged of having Zavier as his opponent. There was no way he was going to hold back. No one would save him from his hands.


    Coincidentally, those were the exact thoughts running through Zavier''s mind at that moment.


    The high school student backed away reluctantly, silently wishing that thisdy hadn''t showed up at all. She had ruined the perfect execution for him, and he wasn''t all too happy about it. But nheless, he had toply. There was no other choice. As he backed away, he clicked his tongue on the roof of his mouth provocatively, and gave Zavier the sarcastic middle finger. As if that wasn''t enough, he gave Zavier a parting gift as a souvenir from their encounter;


    "Ah, I didn''t expect the privilege of the Adam family to reach the extent of influencing a female invigtor! I''ll be seeing you around ZAVIER!"


    With that, he disappeared into the background and melted away. The crowd of witnesses around discerned that the matter was all over. The ending had truly been anticlimactic, and they were still very unsatisfied. But they had no other option but to simply disband. The show was over, and that was just about it.


    Zavier should have been d, he really should. But he wasn''t exactly sure how he was supposed to feel now. Only a few moments ago, he had decided to do away with the consequences and crack open the skull of the stubborn high school boy. For a moment, it felt really good to give in to his basic instincts. He had been bottling up his rage behind a big ck gate in his heart. So, the moment he chose abandon all reason, and let loose the kraken, he had been temporarily overwhelmed with a surge of savagery.


    Although he was opposed to admitting it, it had felt really good to bask in the fiery heat of unbridled rage. Oh how he had wanted to split his opponent''s jaw in half and watch it dangle open as the boy struggled toe to terms with the fact that he had been severely overpowered. Zavier relished the mental image of making the boy try to apologize with his dislocated jaw.


    The image had been so terrifyingly vivid in Zavier''s mind that he was scared he wouldn''t enjoy it when the time to actualize it came.


    It had all been so dark, and really gruesome.


    p So, when the invigtordy stepped in to quiet the storm, Zavier found himself having to hold back. It had been particrly difficult for him, because he had already sworn that no one would be able to stop him. So, having to rein in his anger at the behest of thisdy was something of a medieval quest for him. And yet, he had to. His vision had been blurry red all through the time thedy had been addressing the crowd and the other boy.</anda>


    Zavier assumed thedy thought she was saving him from the boy. It was actually funny, because she was actually saving the boy from him. All this was his own perspective of the ways things were. But muchter on, he would reflect back on that very moment and see the truth for what it was; Mabel had actually saved him from his own self. She had spared him frommitting the blunder that would have sent him packing.


    By the time Zavier had calmed down from his blood rage, he was able to assess the situation objectively. And that was when his own mixed feelings came into y. While he regretted having lost the opportunity to teach the scumbag a lesson, he saw that things had taken a turn for the worse! He was right back where he was an hour ago, in fact things might have actually gotten significantly worse for him.

 169 Chapter 169

    Zavier''s primary concern was this University officiate. He wasn''t too dense or emotionally unintelligent to see that her intentions had been nothing but good. But that didn''t in anyway change the oue. The fact still remained that due to her interruption, and friendly/familiar attitude to him, she had created the illusion that she was doing him a favor because of his family''s connections!


    To furtherplicate matters even more, the high school student had dered this in front of the already hateful mob, thus sealing his reputation in stone! Fuck! Zavier cursed in his thoughts. The boy had won, after everything, he had won! The way the guy had exited the situation had left Zavier in a very unttering light in the presence of all the others. His statement said to the crowd; "You see? I was right! He is a privileged brat after all!"


    If there had been any doubts before now, Mabel''s willingness to save him had crushed thempletely. Zavier was now in a much deeper ditch. He had lost his opportunity to exin himself, andnded in a much bigger problem.


    Nevertheless, Zavier wasn''t too stupid to turn his own frustration on to an innocent person who only wanted to help him. Of course he was annoyed, frustrated, and maybe a little irritable even. But he kept all of that to himself and decided not to exacerbate the situation further by making any enemies. Zavier remembered who thisdy was. She had made a pretty big impact on the high school students when she had introduced herself at the beginning of the contest. Her name was something that started with an ''M.''


    Mabel! Yes, her name was Mabel. She was a high ranking officiate of the highest order. This probably didn''t make him look good at all. How could a boy with terrible scores be chummy with a high ranking university official? How does that even happen if it wasn''t for his family'' wealth and connection? It was all just a coincidence, but no one would ever believe that. It was just way too convenient.


    Zavier decided not to dwell on the negative. There was no point in making the Mabeldy feel bad foring to his rescue. It was the right thing to do given her status and position. Also, to put it frankly, Zavier had been in a bit of a fix, and he really looked like he could need some help. It was her duty to make sure all things went smoothly with this tryouts. The best thing for him to do was to express his gratitude to the woman and hope that she would not make a fuss about it.


    Putting on his best ''good boy'' face, he turned to thedy and bowed slightly;


    "Much obliged ma''am. Thank you for stepping in when you did."


    Mabel waved him off. "It''s nothing, don''t worry about it. It was the least thing I could do anyway. Are you alright? Do you need medical assistance or counselling?"


    This was exactly what Zavier was trying to avoid. He simply wanted to thank thedy and quickly disappear. But here she was, making a fuss over him, and worsening an already vtile situation. This wasn''t helping his case at all. He simply wished she knew that. But it was clear she didn''t. And even if she did, she obviously didn''t care. Trying to hide his impatience, Zavier replied her politely;


    "No ma''am. I''m all good here, thank you."


    Mabel was impressed. Just as she had expected, he was a self-sufficient youngd and he didn''t seem to be fazed at all by the boy''s uncivilized actions and speech.


    "Good. As you probably know already, I am always avable. Just in case you need anything at all, juste to me alright?"


    At this point, in Zavier''s, mind, he was virtually screaming at thedy to go already. He couldn''t count just how many pairs of eyes were still locked on to him and Mabel. There was that suspecting and using look in their eyes. Like they couldn''t believe Zavier had the guts to unt his family''s privilege and protection in their faces. Of course they kept their spite hidden so Mabel couldn''t see them. The hate was still very much there.


    Zavier shifted ufortably on his feet and answered her;


    "Alright ma''am. I will definitely consider that, thank you for taking me up on the offer. Good night."<sub> </sub>


    "Goodnight Zavier."


    With that, she left. Zavier didn''t notice that it was the first and only time she had used his name in the entire conversation. He was still too busy trying to recollect himself and leave without any more drama.


    As Mabel retreated into the distance, Zavier finally exhaled deeply. There was simply no denying it, he was relieved. It was now time to get the hell out of there. He turned around to get hold of Shiranui so he could take her back to her dorm, before lights out so she wouldn''t miss her curfew. Mabel''s shadow was barely fifteen feet away when another trouble resurfaced.


    "WHAT IS THIS?! WHO''S TRYING TO BULLY MY ZAVIER!!!"


    The voice was angry, the voice was loud, and the voice was totally obnoxious and free of any kind of shame or regard for anyone''s opinion. Zavier''s heart sank immediately he heard the voice behind him. He didn''t need to turn to identify the owner. It was a voice he was all too familiar with. It came with a very homely ring to it, and a very self-assured confidence. It was no one but the obtrusive Nadia.


    Zavier finally turned to acknowledge Nadia with a sunken look in his eyes. Never in his life had he been the center of so much attention. Within the span of an hour, he had had to deal with the exuberant high school student and the attention that came with him. He had actually dealt with being seen publicly with a university officiate mooning over him (publicly!) and in the full sight of all his hateful enemies.


    And now, Nadia had so gracefully added herself to the list of things that people were going to talk about. Maybe someone had put a spell on him earlier on. Maybe the spell was that he would attract drama all the hours of the day. It was very unlikely, but it seemed like it. Zavier couldn''t help but feel like he was being trailed by a bunch of invisible harpies, (haggard mythical creatures of the underworld) who were singing and dancing in troupes over his head, attracting different characters.


    Nadia had stormed into the cafeteria guns zing. She had the appearance of one who was itching for a fight. But not for herself, but to defend the one she cared for. Because gossip flew around faster in the girls'' dormitory than anywhere else, news had reached her that Zavier was going through something at the cafeteria at the hands of some unfortunate lot. Thinking the worst, she immediately rushed at top speed to Zavier''s rescue.


    On arriving at the cafeteria, without even checking to see if all was good, she had shouted at top of her voice, announcing her presence in the crudest way possible. No one seemed to care who she was and what she had to say, the only thing they had heard, or chosen to hear was Zavier''s name in her mouth. Zavier was the air they breathed now. A fresh pair of eyes locked on to Nadia, the neer on the scene, and a fresh wave of gossip started all over again, bringing Zavier''s issue to the forefront of things.


    Nadia scanned the room with angry eyes, hoping to catch the unfortunate fellow who was trying to mess with Zavier. When she eventually set her sights on him, her eyes lit up and she beamed a smile;


    "ZAVIER!! There you are? Are you okay? Did anyone hurt you?"


    At this point, Zavier gave up. This was one too many coincidences. If this was a spell indeed, then whoever had done this to him had seeded in making his life miserable. He sighed deeply surrendered himself to his fate of an evening long embarrassment. Zavier bowed his head, and covered his face with his palms. He didn''t know what to say, there was nothing to say.


    About an hour and a halfter, finally alone to himself in his dorm room, Zavier sat on his bed with his hands holding up his head, and with his elbows on his knees. He had been seated that way for about five minutes straight. He hadn''t moved, he hadn''t adjusted, he was just there like a statue that had been pinned down by fate.


    Within the space of just twenty four hours, so much had changed in his life. It had all started like a joke when earlier on, back at the stadium, just before thepetition, some random stranger had called him out as a privileged bum. Back then, it hadn''t seemed like a big deal at all. After all, he had much darker secrets to hide. But the series of events that had followed right after had been something of a nightmare. The matter had escted so quickly within a short period of time!


    His reputation was in shambles! All he had wanted was a quiet evening with Shiranui, and then maybe some light making out that wouldter lead to some animal- like lovemaking. It wasn''t too much to demand given the state of things. But unfortunately, things had taken a very violent turn for worse. Like a dream, Zavier watched as the public tore into his life, and threatened to make things difficult for him.

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    Just thinking about it again made Zavier want to boil over in rage. He remembered the smug boy who had championed this anti Zavier campaign in the cafeteria that evening. Zavier recalled everything with such rity that he wished he would run into the boy that night so they could finish what they had started. He would be d to melt the boy''s brains in his skull while he made him apologize for his misdemeanor. Zavier was about to go into the pit of dark thoughts.


    But he remembered what Shiranui had told him as he escorted her and Nadia back to their respective dorms; she told Zavier that they weren''t worth his time, that they were all just bitter. She also said that he didn''t owe anyone any exnation, he was his own man, and that was more than enough. More than ever, Zavier ruminated on these words as he tried to calm down. And soon enough, slowly but surely, he began to ease into a more positively objective state of mind.


    Shiranui''s words took deep root in his mind and began to bring forth fruits. And before he knew it, the light of the truth began to flood through his entire being. His mood hand now progressed from that of agitation to that of self-deprecation. This shift in dynamic came with a fresh mood. Before now, Zavier could see clearly that he had been like a monkey performing in the front of an audience.


    He recalled how he had been trying to exin himself to a bunch of people who clearly didn''t value him or take him seriously. Zavier chided himself. Why had he been trying so hard to win their approval anyway? Wasn''t that a typical monkey behavior? He might have as well put on a top hat, grabbed a stick and danced around, hoping that they would give him a banana. Zavier shook the morbid analogy out of his mind, and stood up.


    Hands behind his back, he began to pace up and down as he delved deeper and deeper into his situation at hand. One thing was very evident from all of this; people doubted his true abilities. And his own foolish reaction had been to try and do something to prove that he wasn''t what they said he was. Zavier rebuked himself for his foolishness. Now that he was in a much clearer state of mind, he could see that his judgment had been really wed.


    He saw just how stupid it was of him to allow himself to be dragged down to their level and give in to their pressure. Zavier was quick to recognize his weakness in that regard. That was why Shiranui had been watching him closely the whole time. She knew who Zavier was and what he could do. She knew that all the mockers were way below not just her, but Zavier as well. And yet, he had felt the need to gain their approval. What foolishness!


    Based on his reaction to this adversity, if one day, perhaps people doubted his ability to go ahead and consume a whole kilogram of human excreta, would he then go along with the dare and actually do it? All because he was dared to? That was an unforgivable weakness that he couldn''t afford to hold on to any longer. This particr unfavorable character trait, if not clipped now, would definitely prove detrimental to his future.


    "Come on Zavier!" He encouraged himself as he thought aloud; "You know your own abilities! You alone know how far you''vee!"


    Since this was an academic world in a capitalist society where individuals were judged by their past records, most definitely, his poor resume would be an issue. And without reasonable doubt, it would be a long standing issue that would probably trail him for a very long time. He would be sure to meet and endless stream of douchebags who would seek to undermine his worth simply because of his past.


    Would he handle all of them by punching his way through the whole lot? It was very impractical! And notwithstanding, extremely crazy! Just going through the whole thing in his head made him feel he would definitely be bored if he chose that path. There was also the possibility that he would garner for himself a terrible reputation of not just being a loser, but being a hot-headed one as at that. He would be branded for life. And that was something no one ever came out of just like that.


    Rebuilding a reputation from the ashes of the former would be an exhausting procedure. There was simply no telling how long that would take. In fact, it was best not to even consider a future like that.


    Zavier stopped pacing up and down and sat down on his bed. His heart was racing from all that walking about and thinking about what his future might be if he continued down that path. Heid down on his bad and crossed his palms on his chest. He separated himself from all the negative thoughts and self-rebuke. He went back to the genesis, where it had all began.


    The fact was that he had been reborn here again to enjoy his life. He had been given a second shot at life- a chance that not too many people were fortunate enough to get. This time, he couldn''t afford to get into any kind of trouble again. He of all people knew that life was way too short to be worried about what anyone else had to say.


    So, from that moment henceforth, Zavier decided he was done exining himself to anyone else again. He would focus instead on the things that mattered- the people he cared about and his ambitions. Zavier leaned back in his bed and smiled. In a way, he was grateful for this particr setback. It was the kick he needed to get back to the drawing board to review the things that mattered the most. Indeed, this situation with his reputation had put things in perspective for him.<sub> </sub>


    After attaining the rity of mind, Zavier''s fatigue finally sent him into a doze. As was Calista''s original n for all her students, Zavier had a sound rest that night.


    The next morning greeted Zavier with a fresh sense of purpose and renewed zeal. He went about his morning routine with an extra spring in his step. Zavier was all but skipping on his toes like a young buck. As he bounded down the staircase of his dorm, on his way to the venue of the day''spetition, he encountered the first hurdle of the day.


    Right at the bottom of the stairwell, reclining on the wall at the base was a male student clutching his school bag. As soon as his eyes fell on Zavier, he adjusted himself and called out to him;


    "Great, herees the loser extraordinaire! I guess you didn''t lose much sleep knowing you cheated the system. Pathetic!"


    The boy might have been waiting since forever just to find Zavier and spit these words in this face. Zavier didn''t me him, after his weak disy yesterday evening, he knew this was only the tip of what was toe. So, instead of exining himself or trying to be aggressive, he choose a more assertive route and decided to embrace his reputation as his own. Doing so would take away the power of those who thought he would cower.


    "I see you were one of those clowns fromst night¡­" Zavier wasn''t sure he was there, but there was a very high possibility that he had been at the cafeteria. And Zavier was banking on that possibility.


    "So, let me make myself clear; the lead invigtor, Mabel, has a very special rtionship with the Adam family- MY FAMILY." Heid as much emphasis on thest part, and then continued in a threatening but calm tone;


    "Therefore, if you as much as think of touching a single hair on my head, I will personally make sure you aren''t only disqualified, but that you never get into Caesar University for life!"


    Zavier watched with delight as the boy''s face turned white in shock, he opened his mouth to speak but no words came. Not only had Zavier taken away his weapon of fear, he had also manage to turn it back against him, and make him a prey! It was delightful having to watch the boy squirm. All Zavier had to do now was drive the final nail into the coffin.


    "Now get out of my way before you annoy me any further!"


    The boy shuffled on his feet a little, and backed away in silent awe. That wasn''t the Zavier he had been wanting to take a piece of. He wasn''tpletely sure what had happened yet, but one thing he knew was that he definitely wasn''t going to mess with this obviously well-connected boy! What had he been thinking anyway?! This was the Adam family for heaven''s sake! Whatever would happen in the future, he sure as hell wasn''t going anywhere near Zavier.


    Zavier was exhrated. He saw now that life wasn''t necessarily supposed to be difficult. The key was applying a different tactic to the problem in question. And it had worked beautifully! Zavier was brimming with the euphoric feeling of standing his ground and owning up to his ce, it was a gratifying feeling. And he was determined not to allow anything steal his joy or dampen his spirit. He hade into the person he was supposed to be. His inner man had been rejuvenated, and he wasn''t going to allow anything tamper with that.

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    So, in a cloud of newly found grace, Zavier happily skedaddled towards the field where today''s variant of the secondpetition was being held. As he went along, and even when he arrived at the venue, Zavier refused to cave in this time by trying to appear defeated or gloomy. No, he kept his head high, though not in a condescending way, but in way that dered that he didn''t give a damn about anyone''s opinion. As he made his way towards his own selected seat, he moved with great grace and confidence.


    Without a worry in the world, Zavier sat down in his seat, and ignored the hell out of any and all displeasing looks.


    The tournament began and the officiator called out the first contenders who were tounch the day''s events. As if fate itself was itching for Zavier''s team to be on the fore front of things again, it turned out that Zavier''s team and some other obscure high school team were the first to break the ice and get thepetition going. The crowd erupted as the first batch of contenders came forth. It was none other than Zavier''s Nadia who had been chosen to represent the team this time. She was to handle the four yers from the other team.


    Her first opponent also emerged from the other end with a smirk on his face. As he bounced towards Nadia, he couldn''t help but smile a very contemptuous and condescending smile when he saw that Nadia was just a girl. Zavier sighed aloud in exasperation. Although he had no correct statistical data to back his im, but it truly seemed like about eighty percent of all the guys in thispetition were douchebags. It was a pandemic of douche-ry.


    Honestly, it was like it was sleaze ball season, it was raining assholes out here! But then again, it made sense if one considered the fact that these were the very best of the best. They were all among the top hierarchy in their various schools. So, it honestly made sense that a good number of them would be dicks.


    Zavier quickly dispatched the side monologue in his head, and directed all his attention to the match at hand. Zavier nced at both their forms, and he knew that Nadia would definitely take this one home. The match began.


    Nadia''s magical attribute was lighting, and she was practically a god at it. But the boy didn''t know that, instead of him to begin with a long range attack to gauge and ascertain the true level of Nadia''s skills, he blindly charged in with a wall of water he had conjured from the atmosphere. It was actually pretty humid, and the carpet grass was still shimmering with the droplets of early morning dew. The boy was on very friendly ground and he knew it.


    So, he went all in, looking to decimate the enemy before she could make any move.


    But Nadia stood still like a statue. Zavier had never seen her so calm before. She had the soulless, lost gaze of a ghost. The crowd gasped, if Nadia didn''t make any move at all, she would definitely be swept away by the tidal waveing her way. The boy was so close now that it would be impossible for Nadia to dodge any direct attack from him.


    ? Nobody knew it, but that was exactly what Nadia had been counting on. From the stands, Zavier smiled to himself, he knew what wasing. He could see it now. He clenched his fists excitedly as he waited for the storm toe. Ande it did.


    Close enough for neither of them to dodge any of the other''s attack, Nadia finally made her move. In those very brief moment before sheunched her attack, he lifted up her gaze and looked the boy squarely in the eye. That was when he knew he was a goner. It wasn''t the expression on her face, neither was it the mean look in her eyes, but it was the lightning itself that cackled in both her eye sockets at the same time. They shed like twinkling stars millions of miles away in the sky. That wasn''t necessary, but Nadia wanted him to know that he was dead meat.


    The reason for the boy''s dread was simple; lighting was every water based mage''s nightmare. Each magical attribute had one that it was weak against. For fire, it was water, for water it was lighting, and for lighting, it was earth. So, with nowhere else to run, and with it being toote to devise a counter strategy, the boy had no other option but to surrender to his fate. A fate he had brought upon himself.<sub> </sub>


    It was Nadia''s turn to show out. Multiple streaks of lightning shot out from both her arms, shing dangerously. She didn''t target it at thed, her hands had been by her side all this while to present the illusion that she wasn''t going to attack. Like a rocket taking off, the surge of lighting to the ground caused Nadia to shoot up from the ground into the air. She looked like an angel in that moment. The white hot lighting still emanating from her hand, and her eyes shing made he look somewhat divine.


    The crowd lifted up their eyes in awe. Never had they seen such a creative lighting user on the high school level. She seemed to have perfected the art of using the burst of lighting from her fingers as fuel for levitation. The boost to mass ratio was on par with that of rocket fuel, quite possibly even more so. It was a glorious sight.


    The crowd had been so fixated on the theatrics that they didn''t realize that the battle was literally over the moment she rose up in the air. As Nadia took off from the ground, the shot enough electricity into the earth. And because the fool had charged in barefooted with a wall of water, he had been fried till he was crisp ck. But of course, nobody knew until muchter when Nadia had safelynded on dry ground a few meters away. It was a stunning victory that she had won without even breaking a sweat.


    Nadia won the next two battles well. Her lighting skills were superb. But after her third victory, it became evident that she was worn out. She was skilled, but her stamina was a serious problem. Fortunately, Calista had been prudent enough to anticipate this. So, she had put Kacie on standby. As soon as Nadia defeated her third opponent, Kacie stepped up to represent the team. It was actually the right cal to make, because thest opponent has sworn vengeance for his fallenrades.


    Much like Nadia, Kacie was very much a prodigy. It kind of ran in their bloodline considering how reputable their aunt Vrie was. As opposed to Nadia''s mboyant lightning skills, Kacie was more of a down to earth person. She loved daggers, and (just as she always imed) daggers loved her. Kacie''s dexterity with the de was undeniable.


    So when the fight started, her opponent eyed her des carefully, as if she knew before hand that Kacie was practically a demon with the knife. But it quickly dawned on the boy that daggers were for short range attacks. He deceived that if he stayed away, and customize his tactics to center on long range attacks, then he might just stand a chance against his de wielding fiend. It was a very logical n. And given his own perspective, it was the right call to make.


    But he didn''t know Kacie. And because he didn''t know what exactly she was capable of, he failed to ount for the fact that maybe, just maybe, her dexterity with the dagger surpassed Both long and mid range attacks. But it didn''t matter, he was going to pay for this oversight sooner orte. Just when the boy was about to nt his feet firmly to the ground, confident that he was in control, Kacie took him unawares.


    There was at least a good twenty to twenty five meters between them. So, he was confident that he would be able to see any attacking. So, when Kacie''s two daggers came flying at him, the fool panicked and lost his bnce. It turned out that his stance wasn''t as stoic as he had thought. He ended up tripping on his own clumsy feet and caught two of Kacie''s daggers right in the chest.


    The blunt force of the daggers, plus his own stumble sent him tumbling down in the dust. Kacie''s aim was always on target. She was considerate enough not to hit any vital points. But at the end of the day, it was a battle after all. So, the boy was sure to be hurt. But at least, he was going to live. Only with a couple of souvenirs from this battle. And so, in a very dramatic manner, and within a very short period, Kacie emerged victorious.


    Much like the sea of spectators all around, Zavier had watched the battles closely. Both Nadia and Kacie had performed outstandingly. None of their enemies had stood a chance of emerging victorious. They had won fair and square. This was a cause for celebration, but somehow, the jealous bums all around managed to make it seem like a defeat. Some of the yers on the ground red at Zavier.


    There was a whole bunch of them, but the looks on their faces all said the same thing- Zavier was hiding behind his strong teammates.

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    And they loathed him for it. Perhaps, if he hadn''t been to craven to fight, they might have scored some points off of him and his ineptitude. Of course this was their reasoning. They didn''t realize that they were lucky not to have actually fought Zavier. That would have been their undoing.


    But Zavier didn''t even give a damn about whatever they had to say. Their opinion of him was more or less horse shit to him. He simply did not care, and he infuriated them even further with his assertion;


    "That''s right! My team mates are the strongest! I sure as hell am the luckiest person here!"


    He sensed they were boiling, but there was nothing they could do really. So he eased them even further; "Maybe next year when you try again, you can try to get strong team mates like mine who will carry you to victory! Ha!"


    Of course Zavier''s words weren''t met with kind expressions. The jealous looks and hateful stares were faithful reminders that his words were hitting home. That was more than enough for Zavier. Clearly, he had gotten morefortable with his new situation. So much so that he could even afford to make jokes now and turn around the vitriol back on the enemy.


    Zavier rxed into the new dynamic and basked in the warmth of his newly found freedom. He felt so free! Totally unshackled by the constraints of having to deal with the thoughts of what people concerning him, he was free to pursue other things- like his happiness. This was a teachable lesson for Zavier; he saw that the best way to get even with anybody is to make them feel angry and helpless with his own happiness.


    From this whole thingy, Zavier now understood that if people aren''t mad at him, he really must be doing something wrong. And so, Zavier rxed into a pervading mood of ease, and went on to watch the matches of the second round with ease, amidst the controversy and anger building up around him. It was like sitting in the middle of a scorching desert, but with a tent over his head and a sk containing ice by his side.


    As things progressed, the teams they began to encounter got stronger and stronger. This was because each round rooted out the weak ones, leaving only the strongest one behind. It was impractical for them to rely on just one member of their team to take out an entire A-team by themselves. After all, even though they were super mages, they were very much still flesh and blood. And as such, they were limited in sustainable mana and stamina.


    They had to switch up their tactics to fit the changing variations in the nature of the battle. Each enemy team they encountered was distinctly dissimr from the previous one. So they had to adapt. At one point, there was even a team made up of A-listers who relied on a weirdly insane tactic. This maneuverig in particr involved aplex series of dy tactics that was trageted at rapidly depleting the mana of the three girls in front of them.


    It was a very unconventional, but nheless effective. No one could deny it. The enemies had done their homework and knew that stamina was a problem for them even though they were obviously very skilled. So, they had focused on widening the battlefield and the range of attacks, causing the three girls to run around more and work twice as hard to hit targets that were constantly on the move.


    And so, Shiranui had to step in. As expected, Shiranui decked her opponent with a firm hand. Her signature ck me really came in handy. Because it had absolute advantage as a magical attribute, there was noting that could negate it or stop it. Paradoxically, much in the same way water quenches a raging me, Shiranui''s ck me quenched the rage of the stubborn enemies.


    This was very much to the delight of those who came to watch her fight because of her family''s lineage. Watching Shiranui gloriously take down her enemies was a sight that no one could easily forget. She was truly in her element. When she fought, it was like she zoned out the world, and just focused her entire being on what was at hand.


    Even as thepetition got tougher and tougher, Calista''s team had every advantage. So, they each adapted and overcame all their opponents with dazzling disys of strength and skills from all of them. There was no doubt that the judges were taking note of their individual performances and their cohesiveness as a team. They were truly a sight to watch. So it wasn''t a surprise that they made it all the way to the semifinals.


    It was worthy of note that despite all the tedious battles the team had undertaken, Zavier hadn''t showed up to a single one. Shiranui had remained the most powerful adversary yet. Naturally, the crowd that was filled with hateful mockers took notice of very ring gap. Zavier could have at least participated in one or two fights. But with every passing moment, it appeared that he was being protected.


    But it wasn''t just the students who were murmuring. There arose some questions even from the invigtors and staff of Caesar University. It was indeed odd that Calista''s team were marginalizing one of their team mate. Especially when they had an abundance of battles to chose from. Whispers began to fly about, and rumors began to spread that Calista was doing this to protect the Adam boy, just so he could be admitted.


    So, a delegate was sent to Calista to inquire about the matter. When she received the news from the delegate, she was calm for a bit before giving the young man her reply;<sub> </sub>


    "First off, let it be known that I have never, and will never disrespect this great citadel by engaging in such practice. I assure you and the board that this is a tactical arrangement for maximum security. I would be failing I my duty if I were to do that."


    "So this isn''t some ruse to sponsor the Zavier boy is it?"


    "No. Not at all."


    There was a brief pause.


    "Miss Calista, you''re aware of the university''s stand on social justice and equality. I am sure you can understand why we are very concerned about this. From the public''s perspective, your actions are suggestive of the fact that your favoritism on the boy is as a result of his powerful family. It is not hard for anyone to connect the dots."


    Calista said nothing. At this point, saying less was far better than saying anything at all. People were going to talk either way. It was best to stick with her n. Sooner orter, she would unleash Zavier on the world and let them see for themselves. That is of course, if he chose to unveil himself.


    While the delegate was rtively cid about this whole thing, Calista was under no impression that this wasn''t a big deal.


    "I assure you, nothing of the sort is being carried out here. The university can be assured of that."


    He lingered for a moment.


    "I''m not sure you understand. The major problem here is the optics of things. The university can not be seen to be condoning ying favorites. I trust you''ll set this right Miss Calista. Good day."


    With that, he returned back to his allotted seat amongst the judges. His long academic robe pped in the breeze behind him as he left. Leaving Calista with the warning that he had passed ever so slightly. Of course she understood what he had meant in thatst part. Either the fixed the situation or they would handle it themselves. The politics involved was just way too grand.


    Meanwhile, back at Zavier''s end, the hate continued toe his way in quick sessive droves. The rancid looks from disgruntled students wereing from all angles now. It was hard to be on the receiving end of this kind of acidic situation. But Zavier remained unmoved. In fact, his level of unbothered was on another level entirely. He was at the center of the vortex, he was in the eye of the storm itself, but he didn''t allow that to deter him in anyway.


    Of course, even though he appeared to be oblivious of his surroundings, Zavier wasn''t totally aloof. His was a kind of selective detachment that gave him the right kind of separation that was needed to maintain a bnce between the hate, and all the other stuff that was happening in the outside world. A good part of some of that "stuff" that truly mattered included (and wasn''t limited to) the finalists of thepetition.


    So far, it had been a very interesting tournament. But the final four contenders were a source of great concern to Zavier. Of course, any team that had been able to brave through the odds to get to this level must be something else entirely. But that wasn''t what exactly gave Zavier reason to be concerned. The individuals that made up the final four were from their very own Merion High School, Melbourne High School (with three hybrids), Reba''s Caesar High School, and a strangely unfamiliar name- Sabrina of Cassell High School.


    The first three were actually renowned schools. So, considering just how popr they were, it didn''te across as a great surprise to anyone that they had made it this far. In fact, some might say that it was already predestined that they would be at the top of the hierarchy here. But thest school wasn''t in the big leagues.

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    It was almost as if no one had heard about them before now. Even more unpopr than Cassell high school was the student representing them- Sabrina.


    An unknown entity getting to this point was an anomaly. It scarcely ever happened. How could anyone have missed her all through this while? Sure, she had fought well a couple of times, but there had been nothing really remarkable about her. Who the hell was this Sabrina anyway? Where had shee from? And what made her so remarkable that she had been able to make it to the finals?


    These were the questions roaming through everyone''s mind. They all had an idea or so of the teams and schools that would make it, but no one had ounted for an unknown contender. This spurred questions from every angle. While no one seemed to know who this girl was, there was one person seated amongst the spectators who wasn''tpletely oblivious of this girl''s identity. Once again, Zavier Adam found himself in the shadow of the one percent that was in the know.


    It was the weirdest thing really, Zavier actually remembered this Sabrina girl. His encounter with her was one of the fondest memories of thispetition. She was the little girl that gave him an apple at the onset of the first game. Truly, Zavier hadn''t met a kinder soul amongst the students and others all through his duration here. But why was she alone? Didn''t she have a team before?


    Judging from a few whispers and the slight gossip going around, Zavier was able to get her that Sabrina was the only one who had been rmended by Cassell High School this year. This was a very interesting bit of information. Zavier looked closely at the cute, petite, well mannered girl and wondered what kind of seismic activity was going on underneath all that front.


    If she was all Cassell High school had to offer this year, then she must either be an outstanding ster student, or just a product of some obscure school somewhere. Either way, she had attained this position all on her own. This was pretty amazing considering his first impression of her. Zavier was sure that he was going to be entertained.


    ---------------------------------------------------------


    Vrie was a household name, a young legend of sort. But Wallice was on the edge of bing the new Vrie. She herself was a force to be reckoned with, and her past achievements were still speaking for her. Wallice''s family saw her as an up anding prodigy. They had ridiculously high expectations for her and it served as a boost for her resolve. But unfortunately, this pressure also made her somewhat nervous.


    Her anxiety had tripled during her stay here with her students. This was her first assignment as a lead teacher. Wallice had already set a tone for excellence with her past records. However, this time was very different. The sess of this mission was resting solely on the shoulders of her students. Although Wallice had been trying her best no to make this about her, but she was counting on the fact that her students might make her a failure by being failures themselves.


    This was the first time she had had to rely on others for her own sess. It wasn''t a great feeling at all. Nevertheless, she had done her part in prepping them for thepetition ahead. Her fear of messing things up was illogical since, at the end of the day, it was the students who were going topete after all.


    Actually, Wallice hadn''t been all too scared like this before. As someone who had done her own research on her students'' potential enemies, she knew what to expect already. But learning about the strange trio that had the power to use Blood de- it had been a serious cog in her ns. And Wallice absolutely hated unforeseen eventualities. The thought of her students going up against a Blood de user had put her on edge basically all through the first part of the second round.


    Especially when she knew that there were three yet to be identified skillful mages disiguised amongst the students. So, with each contender her students'' faced, Wallice had watched with her heart beating wildly as they fought. It was exhausting never knowing which of the contestants was one of the mysterious trio with the ability to use Blood de. So, it was with great pride that she watched her student scale through each battle ande out victorious.


    It was a thing of joy watching her students emerge among the final four teams. Not just as a personal achievement for her, but also because it was customary for the top four teams to be received by the president of the university himself; Galen. This was Wallice''s honor as much as it was her students'' and she was all too grateful for it. About sixty five percent of their problems were behind them now. All that was needed was just a follow through.


    By this time, the end of second round of thepetition was in sight now. It had been going on continuously for six days due to their number of contestants this year. There had been a lot of interesting battles, but eventually, it was time. Eventually, all contestants and lead teachers retired back to their respective dormitories. There was a lot of chatter about the students who would be honored the next day.


    Of course there was some jealousy and all that mixed feelings that was to be expected. But none could contest the fact that they were all worthy. Well, maybe asides from Zavier Adam of course. They still thought of him as just another privileged scum hiding behind his skillful teammates and family connections.


    At the crack of dawn the next day, the candidates to be honored rose to prepare themselves for the honor that was to be bestowed on them. Meeting the president of Caesar University was no small feat. Indeed, Galen was the closest thing to a deity around here. And so, his time was very valuable to him. Consequently, he alotted his time sparingly. There were thousands of students and even staff who never got to meet the old man one on one.


    Wallice had left strict instructions to her students the previous day to be tardy. They didn''t disappoint. Being the prudent one, Wallice had taken great care to make sure that her and her students were prepped for the encounter. Wallice left no stone unturned. From their speech to their mannerisms, and right down to their formal wears, she made sure that they were ready.<sub> </sub>


    With the way and manner she had grilled them, one would have thought that they were going to meet the king or something.


    "Be sure to hold back your tongue. Don''t speak unless you''re addressed directly. And when you do, don''t embarrass me or your school by going overboard. Also, don''t be too timid either."


    They had all chorused a "Yes ma''am" like a bunch of mechanical automatons. Wallice wasn''t ying at all. The students could sense it, she was even more intense than usual.


    "I''m sure you all know this by now, but in case you''ve forgotten, allow me to remind you just who we''re going to meet. This man right here isn''t just the president of Caesar University, he is a legend in the wizarding world. He is the only remaining one of his kind. So, you will treat him ordingly! Understood?!"


    Again they chirped the same song collectively; "Yes ma''am."


    Like a hen gathering its chicks to the roost, Wallice led them all into the principal''s office early the next morning. But it was way too early! Not even one of the other teams were present yet. Wallice took tardiness to a whole other level. She was a full hour earlier than the scheduled time. As she walked up to the secretary''s desk with her students behind her, she looked every inch like an ambitious headmistress at a secondary school.


    Even the secretary couldn''t help but express her shock when she saw the smartly dressed bunch making their way towards her. Being the president''s secretary who knew his schedule thoroughly, she instantly knew who they were and why they hade. But why were they so damn early? It was barely 6:45am!


    "Good morning, and wee to the office of the president of Ceasar University. How may I help you?"


    Wallice returned her warm greetings. "Good morning.Miss. I would like to--" Wallice stopped when she realized something. Without warning, she turned to her students and reprimanded them sharply; "Will you greet the nicedy this moment!"


    The secretary was about to protest that it wasn''t necessary, but Ibneiah paved the way for the others and they greeted her.


    "As I was saying madam secretary, we would like to see the president."


    "So you have an appointment Miss?" The secretary knew fully well that they had an appointment, but she simply couldn''t resist the urge to make Wallice confess the scheduled time of their meeting, so she could see just how awkward it was to be here so early.


    Wallice took the bait. But with none of the shame or regret. "Yes, we have an 8am appointment."


    "Okay. The president''s schedule is currently open for now, pleasee with me."


    "Thank you for squeezing us in miss, we feel honored."


    The dutiful secretary stood up to usher the team and lead teacher into the president''s office. Wallice once again gave the secretary a thankful nod and nervously made her way with her students into the office. On getting in, Wallice discovered that there were four people inside.

 174 Chapter 174

    This was a bit unprecedented because she had been banking on him being alone (based on the fact that they had arrived really early.) But lo and behold, there were four people waiting casually in their seats. The fourth one was standing.


    Wallice absolutely hated walking healing into unknown situations like this. Here she was thinking that she would be with the president alone. And yet she was In the most powerful man''s office on the University''s grounds, with a bunch of strangers she didn''t recognize at all.


    Though Galen was a dignified entity, he was also a very courteous host. As soon s he saw Wallice enter his office, he stood up immediately to wee her in with a very warm reception despite the fact that he was with guests.


    "Ah, Miss Wallice. You''re wee. Pleasee in."


    Wallice was truly in awe of the old man''s humility. Who was she for the old man to rise up to greet her when she entered his office? The feeling was akin to watching a king acknowledge her. So, she didn''t waste time in greeting him with the whole of her heart;


    "Principal Galen.." she bowed down slightly. "It is an honor to be in your presence at this hour. Thank you for having us." As she bowed, the other students followed her example as well.


    Much to Wallice''s surprise, the other two stood up as well when Galen rose. The old man proceeded;


    "d to have you here Miss Wallice."


    Galen smiled warmly and beckoned her; "Please doe in. Come closer and let me introduce you."


    Introduce her? She thought it was just going to be her and the president! The secretary could have simply told her that Galen was with guests (who looked every inch like important people) and she would have dly waited. After all, the whole point of being tardy was to make sure that she would wait on Galen, instead of Galen waiting for her.


    Very quickly, she gathered her thoughts (and anxiety), and shoved them somewhere deep and unreachable where they wouldn''t be easily reached. Right now, she needed to be on her A-game. So, she smiled and glided across the room with her students marching brusquely behind her like a band of minions. She approached Galen''s desk just a few feet shy, and stopped.


    "Miss Wallice, I''d like you to meet Princess Royal- Rachel Caesar of the house of Caesar."


    Wallice very nearly shit herself. The royal princess?! What?! Why hadn''t she been informed earlier? No, wait, it was actually her fault. She should have known that something of this sort was going to happen. Wallice kept reprimanding herself for not being prudent enough.


    Rachel was the only one who hadn''t risen or as much as turned to acknowledge Wallice and her students when they had entered. The big oak chair on which she sat on kept her back hidden from the sights of those behind her. In fact, if not for her jewel bedecked hands that had been resting on the arm of the chair, Wallice wouldn''t have even known that someone was there.


    Her instincts immediately overcame her, and immediately, she dropped to her knees with her face flushed. Totally caught off guard, her students also had no option but to follow suit. They also dropped down to their knees and kept their heads bowed to the ground. This was the customary way of greeting royalty, especially those that were of the direct royal family. Praying that her voice wouldn''t be as shaky as her heart right now, Wallice greeted the princess;


    "Forgive me princess! I wasn''t aware you were present!"


    She wanted to add "a good morning" or "good day" or some other felicitation that wouldn''t make her seem obsequious. But she held her tongue and remembered her own advice to her students from earlier on; do not speak too much.


    The princess finally rose up from her chair, and in slow graceful moves, she turned towards Wallice and her students. Her morous gown flowed gracefully behind her, shimmering in the rays of the early morning sun that filtered through the window. In a voice that sounded like the melodious ring of a harp, she addressed Wallice;


    "Please rise Miss Wallice . I hear great things about you and your promising students. On behalf of the royal family, I say congrattions oning this far and emerging as finalists."


    Wallice still felt like she was in some kind of dream or something. It was all so unbelievable. She was truly ttered beyond measure! The royal princess knew her name, and was aware of her aplishments! Wallice''s career was off to a great start!


    Wallice rose to her feet very slowly, Ibneiah and the rest followed suit.<sub> </sub>


    "Thank you very much princess. It means a lot to I and the students. Right boys?"


    "Yes ma''am!"


    As young students who had never been in the presence of royalty before, they were all thirsting to catch a glimpse of the face of the heavenly being that was the princess. But as much as they wanted to, they were pretty sure it was a crime to stare longingly at her. If they were caught, the important looking men in the room might smite them with a lightning bolt or something. All things considered, it was best they kept their heads bowed.


    Now that the first stage of the introduction had beenpleted, Galen proceeded with the charade. He turned his hand towards the smartly dressed middle-aged man dressed in a formal suit and tie. The man had this aura of a high ranking official or a soldier of the crown who wasn''t to be approached or taken lightly.


    "And this is my prot¨¦g¨¦, Harry."


    Galen''s voice thundered in Wallice''s ears like a lightning storm. Wallice might have been standing still, but internally, she alone knew the storm that was raging through her. Her mind was basically ame with joyous shock. There was just no telling her state of mind in that moment. Wallice couldn''t believe her ears. She broke her own rule of speaking out of turn and addressed Galen directly, but respectfully;


    "President Galen, did you really say this man was Harry? As in- THE HARRY?!"


    Galen sighed. Oh no, here we go, he thought.


    "Yes Miss Wallice, I assure you this is my impiety disciple Harry."


    Even though Galen had basically confirmed that it was truly him, Wallice was still having difficulty believing that this was the man himself. She had good reason to be star struck. Galen might have been a celebrity in his own right, and Rachel was all royal and stuff, but Harry- this was a man who was basically a god! In Wallice''s world, Harry was a name she had heard often, right from her childhood.


    Harry was one of the few SSS-level mages left in the world. And he had wrought a great deal of wonders in his time. Not only that, Harry was also a master of illusion. In fact, his nickname was ''The Illusionist.'' And he specialized in the most extreme form of light magic. His dexterity and skill in t his area was unparalleled. He was truly in hisne and no one came close to him.


    Still dazed, and still very much in awe, Wallice forced her legs to move forward towards the legend himself. His serious face and his general facade that made him look unapproachable didn''t deter her. In fact, it drew her to him like a moth to a me. This was particrly interesting because Harry''s affinity for light magic was extremely repulsive to dark magic. And as it was, Wallice had an abundance of darkness in her.


    It wasn''t by her making. Because of the blend of bloodlines speaking in her as a hybrid, she had been gifted the unenviable gift of harboring a thick swarm of darkness in her blood. This darkness was diametrically opposed to the light magic emanating from Harry. In fact, all her instincts kicked within her, screaming at her to keep away from this man. Subconsciously, she couldn''t help but feel that Harry was an extremely dangerous entity.


    The darkness in her made it seem like it would be wise of her to stay away from him. Light and darkness were always pr opposites and would continue to be natural enemies for all eternity. That was just the natural order of things. Wallice knew all this and refused to be deterred.


    Instead, she suppressed her instincts roaring within her and gingerly worked her way towards Harry. Their individual natures didn''t matter to her. She was his biggest fan, and now that she was in his presence, she was determined to get as close to him as possible. Rigjt from the time she was just a little girl, for as long as she could remember, this had been her dream. Never in a million years had she thought that it woulde so soon.


    The powerfully built middle-aged man with the robust middle, stepped forward gracefully with a serious expression on his face, and nodded curtly at Wallice, acknowledging her presence.


    "Pleased to meet you Miss Wallice. I''ve heard good things."


    Wallice literally had to force herself to open her mouth and speak. "T-thank you Mr. Harry."


    "I am very optimistic about your potential. Your ancestry is a very interesting one indeed. Not everyone has privilege of having a mixed bloodline of vampire, werewolf, dragon and human bloodlines. It''s possible you might even surpass the genuis Vrie."


    Wallice blushed hard at the praise. It wasn''t everyday a person met their idols, and it definitely wasn''t everyday they also received heartwarming genuine praise from them.

 175 Chapter 175

    It wasn''t everyday a person met their idols, and it definitely wasn''t everyday they also received heartwarming genuine praise from them. Wallice couldn''t keep her feelings locked inside anymore. Her countenance was lightening up by the second, the poordy was visibly overwhelmed.


    "Thank you mister Harry! You''re far too kind!"


    ---------------------------------------------------------


    Meanwhile, Zavier''s clones had been hard at work for nine days plus. Zavier''s zeal and desire to learn illusion had been shared between all six of them so, basically he was learning it at a rate that was basically six times what it was supposed to be. By this logic, since all six of them had been practicing nonstop for nine days, it was actually fifty four days worth of practice. This shared consciousness was a terrific bonus.


    This hard work, merged together with his system given superior talent brought his Mesmer system to level five. And in this Isekai, the equivalent of this rank in the art of illusion was a very neat B-level. On top of all this, Zavier could now very easily control up to eight clones. The time he had sacrificed practicing had paid of handsomely. And wasn''t even the zenith of his reward.


    Amongst the auxiliary techniques offered by The Mesmer system, the most powerful of them all was called "Inevitable Hypnosis." This terrifying technique was one of the ultimate forms of illusion. It gave the userpletemand over the target. This chilling ability couldpel the target to do whatever the caster ordered it to do. All this was conditional of course, and the condition was that the target''s mental health had to be far weaker than that of the caster''s. If this condition was a problem for the caster, it could result in total failure, and possible exposure.


    The caster therefore had to be of sound mental strength. Even more than the target. The results of the training pleases Zavier very much. He had been out of action for so long, and he was very eager to try it out. But he had to stifle his eagerness and put his testing sequence on hold for now. Zavier had a bigger fish to fry, and it was more demanding than anything else he had going on.


    The meeting with the president of the University was the main course of the day. Calista had been on everyone''s neck about this. She was normally chill, but her edginess about this whole thing showed just how much this meant to her. So, before hand, she had issued a stern warning to everyone of them to be early the next day. So, Zavier was up even earlier than usual that morning.


    He dabbled with the idea of testing out his new features, but Calista''s scowl appeared in his head and it made him recoil with a sense of doom. That could wait for now. If he waste, Calista would have his balls. What was so special about meeting some old dude anyway? Zavier couldn''t help but think just how weird people of this Isekai were. But he had to wonder in his own free time. As far as he was concerned, right now was Calista time.


    And so, Zavier pulled himself together. Fifteen minutester, he was at the base of the administrative block with the rest of his team mates. As Zavier shuffled on his feet in a manner that suggested that he wasn''t too much in a hurry, he lifted up his eyes towards his destination and to his surprise, he saw that they were all gathered together, and had apparent been waiting for him for some time.


    Damn it. He cursed. ''I thought I was early! Why do they have to be so serious all the time?!'' Zavier was indeed early, in fact there was still about forty minutes left on the clock. But it wasn''t really his fault. Calista was the one who had them all by the plug. Sighting Zavier from afar, she called out to him impatiently;


    "Zavier! Will you hurry it along? We need to be on the move STAT!"


    He wanted to tell her that there was really no need to yell, he was basically there already. And running to meet them wouldn''t change to oue at all. But he wisely held on his tongue. Calista was clearly on the edge right now. Any little push might send her spiraling. All for what? A date with an old man? Please.


    He did end up hurrying along. Calista''s (seemingly innocent) impatient re buliied him into jogging towards the group. Nadia spotted him, and quickly made room for Zavier by her side. He slipped in and blended with the group without any fuss.


    "Alright ss, we''re about to meet up with the president of the University. I need everyone to be on their best behavior! Understood?"


    She didn''t wait for a reply.


    "Let''s go."<sub> </sub>


    She turned around and led them up the stairs. After a couple of flights, finally, they emerged on the other presidential floor and were greeted by the same secretary. Being almost half an hour early, Calista half expected to see the other teams waiting in the lobby, or at least, she expected the secretary to be impressed with her for making it so early. But the nd look on her face suggested otherwise.


    While the secretary processed them in, Calista scanned the waiting area. She was d to see that there were no other teams there. She had been hoping to find out that they had beaten other teams to the ball by being extra tardy. But, when the secretary finally ushered them into the president''s office, she saw that all of them were there already! All of them had beaten Calista''s team to the ball, even though they were basically ten minutes ahead of schedule.


    This only showed just how stiff thepetition was between all of them. But of course, all of them put on indifferent expressions and kept on a serious countenance. This was after all a civil meet and greet with Galen of all people. It was worth being in the same room with each other.


    Galen coughed, "I wee you all here. It really does seem like tardiness is a verymon factor amongst winners. You all arrived way too early!"


    It was meant to be a joke to lighten up the unusually dense mood, but no one dared tough lest they be seen as uncultured and familiar. Thus, the old man''s joke passed over all the tense students and even tenser lead teachers.


    ''Wow,'' Galen thought; ''Tough crowd eh?'' He wasn''t amused. He had repeated this same rodeo more times than he could count. It was part of his duties as the head of the University. He proceeded with the usual after weing them, giving them a short but generic version of the exhortation he usually said at these things.


    While the old man spoke, Zavier''s eyes got busy as they drifted around the room. The others were clearly paying close attention to the exhortation, hanging on to every single word he said, but Zavier wasn''t as invested as the rest of them. He still didn''t get the whole allure of this meeting. He looked at the ostentatious looks stered on the faces of the students and teachers alike and shook his head as he wondered to himself.


    ''Gee, I wonder what the old man''s dick is made off that makes everyone love riding it so much.''


    Since he was bored, Zavier busied himself with scanning the new faces in the room. They were all important looking chumps. He saw the princess and tried to feast his eyes on her, but the two other soldier-like men shot him a threatening gaze and he quickly lowered his eyes before they could pulverize him on the spot. The only other entity that was left to see was the serious faced middle-aged man.


    Zavier nearly jumped out of his skin. He shocked himself with his own sudden realization.


    Wait a minute! The man certainly looked familiar- too familiar, almost as if Zavier had seen him¡­


    Zavier fought to keep his eyes from widening in shock when he remembered. It was the horny old man from the other night! It was the bastard who had been spying on him as he spied on the couple having sex in the woods!


    ''Damn! Look at how respectable and smug he looks in that suit! I bet no one knows he creeps around at night looking for youngsters fucking in the bushes!''


    It was so damn awkward having to see the man in such a scenario that required everyone to be serious. But the situation was about to get even more awkward. Zavier had been boring his eyes deep into his old ''friend,'' that Harry noticed the youngling staring at him with inquisitive eyes. Instantly, he recognized Zavier as well! Harry was a matured mind and a battle tested mage. In a split of a second, he assessed the situation and knew that Zavier was a threat.


    His reaction was brilliantly quick. Before Zavier could raise an rm, Harry moved real quickly. Without even as much as moving a muscle, he cast a powerful illusion spell on his young friend before he could scream or do something obnoxious. The response was immediate. Poor Zavier was suddenly overwhelmed. In that moment, the feeling Zavier had was like he was being forced to be submerged under a very deep body of water. He tried to resist of course, it was an instinctive reaction. But it was futile.


    Again, Zavier felt like he was in the middle of arge ocean on a measly t boat, and before him, a violent wave of about a hundred meters high was towering over him- about to bear down on him.

 176 Chapter 176

    Before he knew it, in the space of three seconds, Zavier''s consciousness was knocked out of his body. A gloomy darkness enveloped him on all sides. He felt like he was trapped in the bowels of the earth with no single photon whatsoever. It was perfect andplete darkness.


    It was strange because even in that ckness, Zavier had perfect situational awareness. So, he could sense that he wasn''t alone. He couldn''t exin it, but all he knew was that he could see the middle aged creep with all his other senses. No one was present. It was just him, and the man.


    Harry was very impressed. Even though he had hurriedly cast the illusion spell, still it was a bit shocking that an ordinary high school student could be able to actually resist him for three whole seconds. It was a very powerful illusion that could easily get an A-rank mage subdued in a second- perhaps maybe faster. In this construct that was his illusion space, mobility wasn''t limited by any kind ofw.


    So, Harry brought himself over to Zavier to bring him down from his heightened state of apprehensiveness;


    "Rx boy. We are in a mental construct of mine that is exclusive to only the both of us."


    Zavier didn''t need to be told that. Even though he wasn''t sure how he knew exactly, but deep down, he was fully aware of the fact that he had been caught in a very powerful illusion spell. He had tried countless times to break through, but found that it was a rock solid construct. He just couldn''t seem to be able to escape it.


    It slowly dawned on him that this illusion was far beyond his current level. Internally, Zavier got angry with himself, and then with Calista. Only this morning, he had been willing to put aside everything else to try out his new found abilities. Had he been left alone to do that, then he would have definitely been able to gain some level of experience to match this guy.


    Also, contrary to what the middle aged man had thought, Zavier wasn''t apprehensive at all. he knew that the man wasn''t going to harm him, at least not yet. Clearly, the man was trying to force him into this abstract construct just to keep Zavier from blurting out the shameful events from the other day. This was actually good for Zavier because it meant that the man obviously had some iota of shame. And therefore, was willing to go this far to protect his own reputation.


    This actually put Zavier in a position of strength.


    "Rx? Did you just tell me to rx?" Zavier scoffed. "What a joke!"


    Harry paused. He actually paused for real.


    "Well, I can see that you''re clearly not afraid of me."


    "You overestimate yourself way too much. What I am worried about is the fact that I don''t know what is happening in the outside world. Specifically, to both our bodies. If the two of us appear to be like wooden statues, soullessly staring at each other, then people around would get suspicious for sure. Thus defeating the purpose of trying to keep me silent."


    Harry was a bit impressed.


    "Fair point. You did a fine job acting brave, but the nature of your initial question tells me you''re still a novice."


    "A novice? I am in high school you creep! Of course I''m still a novice! If you''d spend less time watching kids fuck, then maybe you''d remember that every so often."


    Harry swallowed his tongue. Maybe he deserved that one.


    "Like I said earlier, you don''t need to worry. The flow of time in here whenpared to that of the outside world in rtively different. You could spend an eternity in here, and when the illusiones to an end, you will find out that you''ve actually spent less than a second in the outside word."


    This part, Zavier did not know. And it took him a while for him to settle into that bit of information.


    "Hmm, I guess it''s like genjutsu then."


    "What?"


    "Never mind. Who are you? And why were you creeping about that night?"


    "I could ask the same about you. But anyway, I am Harry. Also known as the illusionist."


    Now it was Zavier''s turn to be surprised. Even though he hadn''t consciously delved into the memories of his body''s past life, the man''s name and nickname evoked a ripple of memories. In a second, Zavier came to terms with the fact that this mage was a pretty big deal. In fact, he was so revered that it would be considered almost impossible for anyone to see him in the light Zavier had seen him the other night.


    But this only begged more questions. How could such a respected and reputable figure do something so smutty? This was a powerful mage by any standard! What exactly was wrong with him? Zavier immediately shot him a questioning look, as if trying to see any physical hint that pointed to an underlying mental or psychological issue. The mental image and reputation Zavier had of Harry wasn''t aligning with what Zavier knew about him at all. The contrast was just too much!


    But then again, if every human being was downright predictable on the spot, then life would be incredibly boring. Zavier reexamined himself for instance. Some might argue that he was a walking enigma. A loser who had been at the bottom of the barrel for basically most of his life, and had suddenly grown into something of a big shot overnight. He himself was mystery. So, on this ground, he felt some kind of kin spirit with Harry. So, Zavier also introduced himself;<sub> </sub>


    "I''m Zavier Adam. No AKAs, just Zavier."


    Now it was Harry''s turn to observe Zavier closely. This was a strange boy indeed. He knew the Adam family well enough to know that they were an extremely virtuous bunch. They were basically the moral police of the town. Some might even call them prudes. This was exactly why Zavier''s case was such a mystery to him. How could a boy from the Adam family be spying on people having sex at such a young age?


    Both men stood on opposite ends as they regarded each other with observing, and yet disbelieving eyes. It was almost as if they couldn''t believe the other person''s truth. It was a really awkward scene. For both of them that it. Finally, Zavier decided to break the ice by asking one of the foremost question that had been on his mind all this while.


    "Hey, I got a question for ya¡­"


    "Go on, ask away." It wasn''t like Zavier was asking for his permission, but sure, Zavier yed along anyway.


    "Howe the couple didn''t notice your presence? You know, back then in the woods when you were sp---"


    "I know what you mean!" He rasped. Clearly the kid wasn''t going to let that go. But he exined though.


    "You might not know anything about it¡­" he started in a rather brag-ful tone, "But that was a very special illusion spell. It is a superb kind that can affect not just the vision of the people involved, but their general perception of their general environment as well."


    Zavier was impressed.


    "Sounds good, I bet ites in handy for perverted old mages like you who go around creeping in the forest at night looking for¡­"


    "Hey! Don''t forget you were there as well, don''t take the high road on this one!"


    Zavier waved him off. "Will you rx, you really can''t take a joke can you? Look, all I am just saying is that is a pretty powerful illusion, I would like to learn it as quickly as I can."


    Harry chuckled. It was a softugh that had a little bit of condescension to it, and just enough disbelief as well.


    "Ah, kids of this these days. You think it''s something you can just learn on a whim huh? Don''t be ridiculous boy!"


    But Zavier''s eager eyes showed Harry that he wasn''t joking at all. He was damn serious about learning that illusion, no matter what he had to endure from this condescending, pervvy old douchebag.


    Harry on the other hand took one look at Zavier and recognized the look of a student that was determined. He raised his eyebrows in surprise.


    "Oh, you''re serious?"


    Zavier nodded.


    Harry voice took a serious tone as he charged Zavier; "Listen up pal, this isn''t just some cheap trick. It is an exceptionally difficult illusion that requires the caster''s full attention and sacrifice. And trust me, I don''t throw the word ''difficult'' around. You need to be really talented."


    Zavier answered cleverly; "Well, you said difficult, not impossible. Either way I''m up for it really."


    Harry cut right to be point. "Quite frankly, I was just trying to be considerate. Realistically speaking, I think this illusion would be impossible for you at your level. It''s just way too difficult."


    Zavier rolled his eyes. "All I keep hearing are excuses! Aren''t you a little too old to be throwing those around?" Before he could reply, Zavier dropped his ace card; "Okay, here''s what''s gonna happen if you refuse to teach me¡­"


    He kept his jesting eyes on Harry as he spoke;


    "Maybe I might just run off to the president and have a little conversation about how his prot¨¦g¨¦ goes around watching teenagers fuck in the woods! I''m sure he''d love to hear that!"


    Of course it was a joke. But Harry didn''t realize it. For a man of his caliber, this was basically the worst thing that could happen to him. In fact, he would almost certainly pick death over the tarnishing of his image, anytime, any day!

 177 Chapter 177

    The fear was surreal. Being backed into a corner wasn''t something Harry was familiar with. Most people never had the guts to mess with him like this. Especially after he had risen to fame by virtue of his aplishments. He tried to worm his way out of this one, but he knew that Zavier had nothing to lose by outing him. No matter how he looked at it, he was screwed. Maybe indulging the boy wouldn''t be a bad idea. The price to pay was too great. After all, what Zavier was asking wasn''t unreasonable.


    "Look like I have no other option here. Well, I guess we have a deal then."


    "You guess? Harry I''m gonna need to be a little bit more definitive. Do we have a deal or not?"


    Harry? He couldn''t believe the fact that the teenager had really called him by his first name.


    "Fine!" he snapped. "Deal!"


    Zavier extended his hand for a handshake to seal the deal. Harry took his hand and shook him seriously. As soon as they let go of each other''s hands, the illusion was lifted by Harry. And they both retuned back to reality. It was as if nothing had even happened in the first ce. As Zavier found himself zapped back into reality after spending close to half an hour in the illusion, he was a bit taken aback by the time paradox.


    It turned out that Harry had been telling the truth about just how different the flow of time in reality differed from that of the illusion. It was likeparing two different scales entirely. Half an hour might have psed in the construct, but when Zavier got himself back, he saw that barely a second had passed since then. It was a very interesting dynamic, and Zavier couldn''t wait to abuse this skill thoroughly.


    His mind was already brimming with the different applications of this particr technique. Of course he could easily invade anybody''s mind at any given point in time to do what he wanted. In battle, this woulde in very handy, especially when it came tomunicating between team mates. Zavier flicked his eyes eagerly around the room, hoping to see if that had been any disruptions his reality while he was gone- there was none!


    It was truly amazing to think that he had been gone for barely a second, and yet, time had passed so slowly on the quantum level which he had been subjected to for a full hour. No one noticed a thing. It really seemed like he had just blinked. Everything was exactly the same. Just as it had been before he had fallen into the illusion. But he was back now. And therefore, he needed to not only be physically present, but mentally present as well. So, he began to pay attention again.


    Just as Calista had told him, this meet and greet was exclusive only to those who had made it to the finals. Eliminated candidates weren''t eligible for this meeting. As he roved his eyes all over the ce, Reba, the final piece of the puzzle arrived on site with a white bearded old man. With no other student orpanion with her, it was evident that she was the only one representing her high school here. The old man standing beside her was clearly her teacher.


    The old man with the beard was a very interesting sight. This made Zavier''s focus to shift from the students to their lead teachers. Asides from Calista, the old man, and Wallice, there was no other teacher present. This was kind of strange considering that there were four teams present, and as such, there needed to be a fourth teacher. Zavier''s eyes did a little bit more roaming and was a bit stunned to find out that Sabrina (the cute girl from the obscure high school) wasn''t with any teacher at all.


    Zavier couldn''t help but stare curiously once more at the young girl. Truly, she was the ck sheep of the group. Everything about her had just been downright odd. From her petite stature that almost made her look like a twelve year old, to the fact that she was the only one representing her school, made her the bunny in the group. Everything about her so far had been nothing short of red gs. There was also the ring fact that she had somehow made it all on her own. If this wasn''t a red g, then nothing was.


    She was truly a mystery. And every time Zavier was reminded of her or had to take a look at her, he saw something that made her look very conspicuous. Not that he was a bully or wanted her to be bullied, but Zavier wondered why she hadn''t been subject to the harsh criticisms that wasmonly associated with the teen angst of malicious gossip. He had half expected her to be picked on by the douchebags of thispetition. But that hadn''t been the case at all.


    In fact, it looked like everyone had severely underestimated her by ignoring herpletely. She seemed the least likely person that would make it to this stage. The odds hadn''t been in her favor at all, and no one had expected her to achieve such fantabulous results. Galen''s voice droning on in the background dragged Zavier out from his roaming thoughts. The president was patiently going through the works of introducing everyone again.


    "Miss Calista, here is the princess of house Caesar; her royal highness- Princess Rachel!"<sub> </sub>


    As soon as Calista heard royalty was present, she made a great disy of saluting her. All her students followed suit in like manner and saluted the princess in the customary way. Well, all except Zavier. It wasn''t like he had been purposely trying to ignore her, but this whole thing was extremely new to him. His original body had all of these memories of course, but he actually had to make a conscious effort to get to them. They didn''t just flow naturally with his own.


    Calista''s face darkened with anger when she saw Zavier still standing as still and as unmoving as a great oak tree. She didn''t rebuke him openly in consideration of the fact that he it might affect his chances of being admitted into this great citadel. So, she gently nudged him in the ribs with her elbows, and urged him to salute the princess.


    But Rachel caught the show with her sharp eyes that had been trained to see through situations like this. She stepped in and absolved Zavier of his obligation to salute her properly now.


    "It''s alright miss Calista. Leave the student, this is an academic scene and not a pce. So, we can all ease up with the grand gestures and borate salutes."


    Calista was a bit surprised. A royal that wasn''t too hung up on ostentatious salutes was a sight that was as rare as a blood moon. By all count, they all lived for asions like this. And they never missed an opportunity to lord their superiority over others. It seemed the other teachers were also a bit surprised. But of course, Zavier didn''t see what the big deal was.


    Now that the four teams had arrived, and afterpleting all the necessary introductions, Galen weed them all once again. In his magnanimous tone which he often tempered with a humble air, he continued his formal address;


    "Having observed all due protocols, I would like to formally wee you all again. To the brilliant students who havee this far under the exceptional tutge of their respective teachers, I would like to say a hearty congrattions to you all. Excellence should bemended, and I am all for it, so CONGRATULATIONS to you lot once more!"


    They all bowed slightly once again in deference to the old man. Once again, Zavier almost missed out on the collective disy of respect to an authority figure. The first time could be considered a coincidence at best, but the second time would be seen as a pattern. He already had terrible results as it stood. He couldn''t afford to add insolence to his already full te. The painful part was he wasn''t doing this on purpose. But that was no excuse. He had to step it up, or end up being stepped on by admissions.


    Galen continued his speech;


    "Finalists, I would like you to keep one thing in mind, take this as a piece of advice from an old soul¡­"


    Harry chirped in at this point; "Sir, I assure you you''re not old, you are actually very old."


    It was a joke, but the way Harry had said it with his typical serious face made it all the more funny. A couple of people smiled in the background. But not the students though. They kept their faces locked like stone statues, not daring tough or smile at a joke that had been targeted at the most powerful person in the university. It was the smart thing to do considering the terrain they were all on.


    But they know Galen wasn''t a prude. He wasn''t all tight and stuck up as most authority figures were. This was his regr rapport with Harry, so he boomed a soft retort;


    "Ladies and gentlemen, please excuse my soon to be deceased prot¨¦g¨¦. Now as I was saying, one thing I would like you to note is that friendship should alwayse first before the spirit ofpetition. In your scramble to get to the top, you needn''t necessarily hurt others in the next round of thispetition. After all, this is just apetition, it''s not a real battle. You have all proven to be the best of the best, and so, elite ones like you should be protected instead of being harmed unnecessarily."

 178 Chapter 178

    The ambitious students and teachers nodded their approval. Of course they didn''t give a damn about friendships or not hurting the others. They all wanted to win. It was evident in their eyes. Galen seemed to have been able to see through their fakery, and decided to do something to enforce his teachings into their brains. Whether they liked it or not, they had to do it. This was one of those moments when he was actually happy to pull rank.


    So, without an ounce of shame whatsoever, he issued a paralyzing injunction;


    "So, in this spirit of friendship, I would like all the students and teachers to go around and shake hands with you fellow finalists."


    This wasn''t the typical thing one would expect from a meeting with the president. There was a slight pause, and a certain palpable tension hung in the air, right up till then, no one had made a move yet. As if they were still unsure if they had heard him right. How were they even supposed to go about it?


    "GO ON THEN!" Galen boomed enthusiastically; "Introduce yourselves and take note of each other''s faces. You may berades one day!"


    So, like a bunch of kindergarteners being forced to y together, the lead teachers paved the way, and their students followed suit. A very superfluous exchange followed between the candidates and the teachers. The whole sight was just cringe worthy. The forced smiles, and the antagonism lurking behind the handshakes was very evident, especially from Wallice''s and her students. Their rock hard expressions (that made faces that seemed to dere war) had been turned into supercilious smiles and condescending tones. Clearly, they weren''t a social bunch.


    It wasn''t just them, although theirs was a level of anti-social that by far exceeded the others, nobody was eager about getting along at all. But they all had to y house because it was what the big man wanted. Only Sabrina genuinely seemed into the whole thing. They all did their best to get this over as quickly as possible. It was indeed a cringe worthy sight.


    After the whole charade, had beenpleted, Galen proceeded with the next item on the menu;


    "Now, in order to maintain fairness and root out any feeling of injustice, we will be drawing lots to determine the next semi-finalists. The names of the four individual high schools will be written on four different slips of paper. They will then be dropped in a closed box and slips will be drawn randomly. Is that all clear?"


    The lead teachers chorused their approval. And Galen went on to do as he had said. He did his best to be as transparent as possible with the whole process. As he carried out this exercise, Zavier and the rest of the others understood why Galen had invited those other important personalities to this event. It wasn''t like their presence was needed here for anything at all really. And it definitely wasn''t that he needed them to help with the congratting of the students.


    The real reason had only recently revealed itself. Clearly, the old man needed these important people here to serve as witnesses as he conducted this selection exercise. As someone who had been in administrative part of academia for such a long time, he knew just how political things always were. Especially in vtile situations like this.


    The teachers and students might feel a sense of dissatisfaction or feel cheated, and decide to contest the results of this proceedings. But now that the popr Harry was here, and the royal princess as well, they would serve as the ideal witnesses. Everything was being done right in front of them and the candidates as well. This was the ideal scenario. It was the perfect counter to shut down any of the loser high schools that might im they had been cheated in the future.


    How could they ever say that when the princess and the illusionist had witnessed the transparency of the whole process? Their ims wouldn''t hold water. And because it wouldn''t, it most definitely wouldn''t be a problem to Galen in the future. No one could me Galen for taking such a brilliant initiative. He simply wanted to cruise through the remainder of his time here with as little hups as possible. Hence this gambit.


    And so, the selection process began. Everyone''s heart was in their mouths as they observed the whole process clearly. The tension was so thick, it could almost be seen in the atmosphere.


    But Wallice was the most nervous of all. Her entire character was built on the foundation that she had to prepare ahead of time in order to get her desired results. But this right here was the opposite of what she stood for. She was leaving the fate of hers and students'' to chance! She had never truly believeddy luck all her years, and yet, here she was- hoping she would be lucky!<sub> </sub>


    Part of Wallice''s worries was that she didn''t want to meet Merion High School so early in the finals. In fact, her biggest problem in particr was the Yamata girl. Right from time, even before they hade here, Wallice had always known that Shiranui was the strongest individual not just among Calista''s team, but in virtually the entirepetition. Basically anyone with a little bit ofmon sense knew this. Shiranui was strong. Her reputation spoke volumes for her. As well as her terrifying ancestry.


    While Wallice marinated in her own Shiranui-based-worries, Calista on the other hand was also praying with the whole of her heart that they wouldn''t have to go against the freaks from Melbourne High School! In Wallice''s case, she was scared of the other side basically because they had one person- Shiranui. But in Calista''s case, the entire Melbourne High School gave her the jitters. No matter where they were, Hybrids were always a problem. They were all strong! Every single one of them!


    Nheless, the lots had to be drawn. And no matter what the results were, they all had to be satisfied with it. The crafty old Galen had made sure of that by bringing in the most credible witnesses anyone could hope for. Thus, closing every window of appeal.


    The hour of reckoning finally came- the moment everyone had been waiting for. Fully aware of the tension in the room, Galen stylishly took his time with the drawing out of the first slip. He lifted the paper closer to his eye and made a great disy of squinting his eyes, as if he couldn''t see it, even though virtually everyone knew what was happening. Harry in particr who was very familiar with the old man''s antics shook his head. Galen would always be Galen.


    Eventually, after what seemed like a very long decade, the old man finally announced aloud;


    "CAESAR HIGH SCHOOL!"


    Reba''s face assumed a very serious expression. Her own ordeal was over, but for the others, their torture was still very much on. The goddess of anxiety thrashed their hearts mercilessly with the whip of nervousness. Filling every one''s lungs with just enough air to sustain them through this ordeal. Zavier couldn''t understand why this was such a big deal. But just because he didn''t understand it didn''t mean he couldn''t feel it.


    Galen held up the slip high over his head to show everyone the name that was written therein. Then he proceeded to pull out the next slip. The others watched his slow steady moves carefully. Their lingering eyes trailed him like a pilot locking in his missile on a target. Galen pulled now the second slip (somehow even slower than the first time), and flicked it as he brought it to his eyes. He announced the name in an ostentatiously loud manner. Honestly, he seemed to be enjoying this a little too much.


    "MERION HIGH SCHOOL!"


    Reba''s face quickly went from serious-anticipation-face, to being downright pale. It was written all over her face that this was clearly what she didn''t want. If bad luck had ever screwed a person over, it was definitely Reba. Nobody envied her at all, not one bit. She was a lone wolf going up against an ambush of Tigers!


    The reason for the sudden dip in her overall vibe was very reasonable actually. ording to her current data, Merion High School had four very dangerous girls on their team. They were an outstanding bunch that came from really powerful bloodlines. Every single one of them had proven themselves twice over to be more than capable of handling their own. And of course, there was the elephant in the room- Shiranui! This was every lone finalists'' nightmare. It was a bad time to be alone. A bad time indeed.


    Also, there was also a demon in their midst that she wasn''t even ounting for yet. There was no possible way she could have known that the one person she should be worried about was the person she was also looking down on. It didn''t matter really. If she was pissing herself because of Shiranui and her girls, then there was no doubt that Zavier would be something of a demi-god to her.


    The poor Reba went into analysis mode in a bid to try to mitigate her current circumstance. Right away, she identified Shiranui as her biggest threat. Her mana was incredible. Her physical strength was a whole other matter entirely in the circr ry race. The poor brain was bursting in and out, desperately trying to make the best of the situation.

 179 Chapter 179

    In the midst of her mental turmoil, fate sent her afort before she could copse from the overbearing burden of having to deal with four capricious enemies. Herfort came in the form of the reassuring arm of the old man with the white beard standing beside her. In a scene that was likely to wring tears from a stone, she looked up to her sensei with an expression that seemed to say; it''s all over.


    Reba''s teacher didn''t do anything predictable like calming her with basic phrases like; it''s going to be okay, or you''ll be fine. All that was futile, if not pointless. No, the white bearded old man did the most sensible thing instead, he reassured her with a rxed look instead. It wasn''t a look of pity, it wasn''t a patronizing one either. It was a look of utter calm, and not the cold type either. It was a look that told her to rx. And rx she did. There was no point in looking weak before her enemies.


    There was really no need to continue with the whole charade of drawing lots. By default, Melbourne High School would now go against the weird looking girl from Cassell High School- Sabrina. Wallice did her best not to show just how relived she was. But she felt like a huge load had been lifted off her shoulders. Her worst fear had been mitigated by fate. She knew she wasn''t supposed to rejoice at poor Reba''s ill-luck, but her illuck was Wallice''s own bread and butter.


    Being the methodical and prudent one, Wallice saw that her team''s chances of making it to the finals had just quadrupled. Sure, in all fairness, it would have made more sense for Sabrina to go against Reba. But Wallice had learnt very early in life that fairness was an abstract construct that barely had any effect in real life. There was definitely some kind of order in the chaos of life, but also things just happened- and this was one of them.


    As Wallice reveled in her newly found luck, Calista wasn''t exempted from the triumphant feeling of having scaled a major hurdle. Just like Wallice, she also saw that their chances of making it to finals had increased significantly. Also, she saw what Wallice wasn''t seeing; Calista saw clearly that the battle between the two of them had been destined to be the biggest showdown of the season. It was almost like some deity some where was scripting the whole scene for them.


    Either way, both sides were satisfied with the results. Well, except maybe Reba of course. But who could me her? She had drawn the short end of the straw, and nothing could possibly change her fate now. That was the cruel reality.


    Sabrina on the other hand still somehow manage to shock everyone again. It was almost as if she lived to shock the people around her. This time was no different. Despite the fact that the lone wolf from Cassell High School had every reason to be on her toes because of her recent fate, her facial expression remained all but the same throughout the entire selection process. She still retained that very cheeky smile that everyone hade to know her for. It was extremely unnerving. But everyone was used to her by now.


    Havingpleted the selection process, Rachel took over the next stage of the proceedings, and yed her role as the gracious host from the royal family. She coughed slightly in a manner that indicated that she was about to speak. The big burly, important looking knight behind her boomed in a voice that resembled that of a herald angel;


    "SILENCE! The Princess Rachel of house Caesar is about to speak!"


    There was no post in yelling ''silence'' at all. The room was already quiet as it was. So, it appeared a little bit forced. But tradition was tradition, and they all suffered through it.


    The princess must have sensed the atmosphere. So, she gave the guard a knowing look, telling him to ease up. He seemed to have gotten the memo and backed off immediately.


    "Finalists, on behalf of the Hilling Empire, I wee and congratte you all foring thus far. I have no doubt that you all must have sacrificed so much to be here right now..."


    As she said so, she nced briefly at Shiranui before continuing; "¡­But the journey is far from over. Unfortunately, one school must emerge as number one. But that doesn''t in anyway invalidate your individual and collective worth as a team. You have done well, and the royal family continues to look forward to your future contributions to the country ordingly. You must remember who you are, where you came from, and most importantly, what you''re going to be! Salute!"


    The others instinctively answered her inspiring speech with the same enthusiasm; "SALUTE!!"


    And so, the little meet and greet was brought to a befitting end after the official address from the princess. The time for talk was over. It was time for everyone to pick up the ck and do what needed to be done in preparation for the next phase. It was going to be a brutal one, seeing that fate had set the weak against the strong in all of the matches. With no time to dilly dally, they all dispersed and went on to make haste for what was toe. Especially Reba and Sabrina.


    ---------------------------------------------------------<sub> </sub>


    In an inconspicuous part of the forest away from all the prying eyes and unwanted popce, an old man with a bushy white beard was talking something over with a beautiful girl. This girl was Reba, the genius from the Caesar High School and their greatest hope who was surely capable of entering the Caesar University.


    The white bearded man had a serious expression on his face as if this was the most important matter. It felt as if didn''t want to show the slightest bit of unserious attitude. The topic of the conversation had to be a huge secret as he had called her out in the middle of the forest alone and was talking in such a hushed but serious tone. It felt as if there was no room for the slightest bit of carelessness.


    Reba was tightly clenching her fists as if she was trying to mobilize all her determination and will power to plot her next course of action. She seemed to be making up her mind about something. Maybe it was something that the old man had suggested as Reba felt slightly hesitant about it at first.


    The same hesitation transformed into her will power and determination after shemunicated with the bearded old man.


    Other than the two, only the heavenly lord knew what the two had discussed but by the end of the conversation, Reba''s hesitation had vanished. She took the ck colored bottle that the old man offered her with both hands. It was definitely a bottle of potion from the make of it but the color didn''t correspond to any of the potions that normal people were in the know about.


    On a closer look, it wasn''t the bottle that was ck in color but the content of the bottle was in fact ck in color like tar. It was a viscous liquid that appeared unsightly and entirely unlike normal potions.


    Reba had made her choice and held the bottle in her hand with the strength that indicated that she was afraid someone would snatch it away from her. Without waiting any further she carefully wrapped it in a cloth and put it away inside her clothes. It was almost as if she was afraid that someone else would find out about it.


    ---------------------------------------------------------


    This was different from the world that she was familiar with. The bright and bustling ces were nowhere to be seen. The only things in sight were decaying buildings that had been sprayed in blood as if some horrible monster had orchestrated a massacre. Only aplete genocide could have created the terrible atmosphere. The blood in the air and the stench of the dead bodies that curled her insides was something that she abhorred with all her being.


    She wanted to escape this nightmarish ce but her feet were stuck in quicksand. They refused to carry her away and she had to witness the disaster to the end.


    The screams and shouts, the sound of metal nging against metal, the sense of oppression and the fear and helplessness waiting for her at every turn were the clearest signs of the disaster that was ensuing all around her.


    She closed off her eyes to refuse the sight that was horrible enough to want to pluck out her eyes altogether so she didn''t have to witness it but there was no way that she could have gotten that picture out of her head.


    The blood that stained the ground wanted to devour her along with the countless others who had fallen lifeless as if they were ming her for being the only one alive amongst the dead.


    It wasn''t just the ground that had been painted red; even the sky was of the same wretched color. Blood, pain, suffering and soul wrenching screams were the main theme of the setting that she had found herself in.


    The soulful screams were filled with voices asking for help but she dreaded opening her eyes just to see those voices extinguish into oblivion. Of course she wanted to help them but the owners of the voices had been nowhere in sight.

 180 Chapter 180

    The screams and the nging of weapons was so close to her as if she had been standing amidst a huge battle but not a soul could be seen when she finally found the courage within her to help the ones in need.


    It was as if the dead were calling out to her from beyond the veil of death and were asking her to avenge. Her tears kept falling as she watched the pain and the horror that the blood red sky might have witnessed, felt the warmth of fresh blood that had mottled the walls that couldn''t protect anyone from wind and rain any longer, heard the cacophony of voices that were now silent to the rest of the world, and felt the grief and sadness as if it was her own.


    As she remained in stasis thinking about what was going to happen next, a blinding light tore apart the darkness that was an eternalponent of this dreary ce. The light blurred everything around her as the re forced her to close the eyes once again that she had opened with all the courage she had in her.


    In the blinding light, she saw people that she was familiar with but seemed to have forgotten for some period of time. She saw her parents who had raised her and had loved her looking at her as if they were in so much pain. She saw her friends looking lifeless, her whole family terrified as if something terrible was happening around them but the blinding light didn''t let her catch sight of what it was that caused them such distress.


    She scoured around blinded by light determined to find any sort of clue as to the reason behind the devastation. There seemed to be something obscured by the light but no matter how hard she tried she was unable to look past the ring curtain.


    For some reason the face looked really familiar but she could not quite ce a finger on it. As she kept on staring at the blurry figure the image started to clear up and she finally caught the slightest glimpse of who she was. Anger coursed through her veins and the rightful wrath and the thirst for vengeance that had seeped inside her every cell, her very existence finally broke past all barriers and awakened her bloodlust and fury.


    She screamed at the top of her lungs as if she wanted to gut that figure into pieces with her screams but the figure vanished into pieces as the scene around her started to crumble into pieces.


    The whole world was falling apart just like the current state of her mind. The endless rage and the urge to kill were running rampant. Her ring nostrils and her chest that was heaving up and down forcefully were the precursors to the bloody storm that was about to descend unto the world.


    At some point she didn''t want it all to go away because she still had a task toplete, a promise to keep and someone to kill. But the more she wanted to save the world from crumbling, the more it started to fall apart.


    An unwilling and hoarse scream escaped her mouth that was already tired from all the screaming but the world that had been dyed in blood vanished into nothing and in its ce was an abyss; a chasm so deep and endless that she couldn''t even begin to perceive where it began and where it ended.


    Consumed by her anger, she stepped into the darkness that seemed to be tangible from how potent it was. The next thing she knew, she was falling. The depth truly was unending and she experienced it first-hand.


    She didn''t know for how long she continued to fall before she finally felt something familiar and homely.


    She opened her eyes with a jerk as if her eyes were about to pop out of their sockets. Had someone been there with her, they would surely have freaked out at her crazy behaviour. She had been screaming in her sleep and had woken up in shock as if she had suffered from a horrific nightmare that had left her deeply scarred.


    Shiranui was unable to believe that all that she had seen and all that she had experienced was only just a dream. It had felt so real as if she was reliving that horrific day all over again. She touched her face to make sure that this was real and not just the continuation of her dream. Her cheeks felt cold; as cold as the dead.<sub> </sub>


    She was freezing but she didn''t care at all. She just knew that this was reality. There was no one left to wipe away the tears that had been sneaking out of her eyes while she was asleep. She rubbed her eyes with enough force to scratch away her skin. The white and pale skin had turned blood red from the force she had applied to get rid of the tears that she found to be unsightly.


    Shiranui felt that she didn''t have the right to be pitiful. She didn''t have the right to cry until she was sessful in keeping her promise.


    From the sound of the birds and the bright light that was invading the room through the window; she deduced that it was already morning of the next day. Even though the bright morning outside was nothing like the bloody world that she had seen in her dream, her mind was still focused on the dream.


    She was refusing toe to terms with her nightmare and was still immersed in that dream as if that was her reality. She clung to it as desperately as possible because it was the purpose of her life. Everything else didn''t matter at all.


    As she found herself in the real world again, her eyes became lifeless as if she had lost her real self inside the bloody world and only a second rate copy of her managed to escape the world that was incapable of any sort of emotion or expression.


    It had been so long since Shiranui had had such a nightmare. Previously there had been frequent urrences which had been the reason why she had been so obsessed with bing strong in order to never lose again to anyone. She had tried to forget everything so many times but the memories came traipsing back as if to taunt her and each time they did, it made her feel even more painful. It had happened so many times that she had already lost count of the number of times that she had tried to be normal again and had failed.


    Since the tragic night was still as vivid to her as if it had happened just yesterday, she was unable to let go of itpletely. When she tried to forget the incident somehow by indulging herself into other activities, she would always be haunted by nightmares that reminded her of her sorrowful past, the people she had lost and those she had been unable to avenge.


    It was as if it was a reminder to her from her own subconscious telling her never to forget, never to forgive the ones responsible for that tragedy. It gave her a sense of purpose and a reason to live for in a life that was worse than hell for her. No matter how hard she tried to be happy and to forget everything to start a new life, it always dragged her back down to hell so she would suffer for the crime of surviving by herself.


    She sat down and grabbed her knees while trying to hold back her tears all the while. She had somehow ended up remembering once again. She recalled her vow that she had made that day. It was a promise that had kept her from falling apart and bing a weak person. It was a promise to never fail again in this life until she hadpleted the task that she was still living for. She had wanted to put all the unnecessary baggage aside but was unable to do it. Every time she did so, she would be haunted by the voices of all the ones she had lost. She knew that her world would only be silent after she was done exacting her revenge. Only then would she be able to let go of the pitiful life that she had been holding on to.


    Shiranui sat like that for a long while before she was able to calm down slightly. The nightmare had affected her too deeply.


    After a bucket full of silent tears and snuffed wails, Shiranui stood up with a practiced motion. It was as lifeless as that of a mechanical robot instead of a normal human being. Any individual would have felt ufortable after sitting in one ce like that for such a long time but Shiranui seemed to have forgotten whatfort was or it might have been that she didn''t think that this much difort was something that she had the right toin about.


    She dried off her tears with the sleeves of her night clothes and robotically took off her clothes to wash herself. She was feeling as if she had walked out of a river of blood and needed to cleanse herself of all the filth. She scrubbed herself clean like a crazy person so she could race out for thepetition.


    The second test was already underway and their school had somehow managed to reach the final four. As they had been matched with the Caesar High school, Shiranui had to be in top condition if she wanted to seed.

 181 Chapter 181

    Zavier was the first to see her as she made her way into the ce that had been designated as the venue for the battle between Merion High and Caesar High.


    He looked at her from afar and waved towards her so she would be able to notice him easily but Shiranui seemed to have not seen him at all. This disappointed him a little and Zavier even wondered where her mind was wandering as she made her way towards them slowly.


    All it took was just this one look for Zavier to deduce that something had gone terribly wrong. This wasn''t the shy girl that he was familiar with. This was the same girl who had put her life on the line to win a trivial ss fight. This was the emotionless battle maniac he had fought the first time when they had met.


    Her beautiful smile that used to softly caress his heart all the time had vanished and in its ce was an expressionless face that was cold like the winter chill. Looking into her eyes, he was unable to feel the love that she had had for him and instead her gaze was like daggers about to pierce his body.


    Zavier felt uneasy and wanted to ask her about what had happened to make her like this so he called out to her when he felt that she would be able to hear him out.


    But to his surprise she looked towards him for a second but then turned away from him without a single thought or change in her expression. It was as if she hardly knew him.


    Shiranui went towards the ce where the rest of the girls were gathered and took her ce beside them. There was a cold determination in the way she just stood there without even greeting the rest of them. She felt like a battle machine to Zavier at that moment. All his attempts to talk to her fell at deaf ears as Shiranui refused to even look at him.


    Zavier didn''t know what had happened but he knew that this wasn''t the time for him to ask her about that; after all, they still had to keep their rtionship a secret from everyone else.


    Opposite to their team, Reba was already raring to go in the field. She was already done warming up as she stood in a battle ready stance waiting for her first opponent from Merion High School.


    This was a match among the top four and that was enough to warrant the appearance of several big shots who wanted to keep their eyes on budding talent. Some of them were even looking for future disciple candidates for themselves or were scouting for someone else. Apart from Galen the principle, Harry the illusionist and the Royal Princess Rachel, some of the senior most professors and their assistants were also there to witness the spectacr showdown that was about to ensue.


    This was the best time to get an inkling about the next batch of students so they could be ready when it was time to grab students with potential. Therefore, quite a majority of the senior professors hade for witnessing the event.


    "Has the first participant from Merion High School been chosen yet?"


    The referee looked at Calista as he asked in a stern tone as if he was dissatisfied with the dy.


    Calista had been waiting for Shiranui to make an appearance before sending out the first participant of the match from their side.


    She nodded towards the referee and then pointed to Kacie.


    "Kacie, you should go first and test out her weaknesses at the very least even if you are unable to beat her. Fight with everything you have got but don''t rush in blindly. She is not your average opponent. Her skills are genuinely good."


    Kacie appreciated her kind advice with a nod of her head. Zavier was dumbfounded that she was still being miserly with her words.<sub> </sub>


    Even though Calista considered Shiranui to be the best in terms of offensive skills among her group, she didn''t send her at the start because she knew that Shiranui would only push herself too hard. She wouldn''t easily give up even if she was told to. Therefore, Kacie was her best option. Kacie was not only cool minded and sensible, but was also very good at poking the enemy. Her skills were very suitable for drawing out the various abilities of the enemy. Moreover, Kacie was also the most skilful mage after Shiranui in the group. Calista felt that she would be able to hold her own against the enemy.


    Moreover, Calista was trying to take advantage of the number of participants that they had. She was opting for a battle of attrition since the opponent was especially skilled in defense and it was almost impossible to break through that defense without a lot of effort. A single fight was far from enough to break Reba''s shell.


    Reba walked towards the centre of the field with a confident stride as if she was sure about leaving Merion High''s team in tatters. The huge mour caused by the audience upon her entrance was a testament to her poprity among the crowd. No other school was eligible of such a fan following as this was her home ground; after all, Caesar High school was right behind her and all of them were shouting and encouraging her to win the fight beautifully. This was the benefit of ying at the home ground.


    Listening to their voices, Reba''s determination to win surpassed anything that she had before. For them she was willing to fight till the end no matter how desperate the situation might have seemed. For the pride of the Caesar High school she had even paid such a heavy price during the firstpetition. There was no way that she would let anything waste her efforts anymore.


    On the other hand, the Merion high team were the only ones from their high school within the area. They had arrived from so far away to take part in the entrance test that no fan of theirs had been able to make it for witnessing their struggles. Zavier felt that they could be thankful if only they didn''t receive boos and jeers from Reba''s supporters upon their entrance. The crowd could be really cruel at times towards the away teams.


    The morale of the Caesar High school wasn''t as high as it had been at the beginning of thepetition. The reason was the dwindling trust that others had in their elite students at the beginning of the first round. The reason was that all of those elite students had ended up getting eliminated from the test during the first round. Only Reba had made it to the second round. Had it not been the case, the fan following of the Caesar High school would have been even higher.


    At this moment Kacie entered the field and walked with stern steps towards the centre and stood exactly opposite to Reba who had a confident expression on her face which had been solicited by the fans that were currently supporting her from the back.


    "Are you two ready?"


    Referee turned towards each of them and asked them politely if they wanted to start the match.


    The two of them nodded scruffily and the referee let out a slight spark from his hands that rose up in the air before extinguishing with a loud noise. This signalled the start of the match and the referee backed out of the field to stand at a ce that was not too far from the participants. This way it would be easy for him to intervene if one of them was truly in danger and not to mention that he would be able to determine if any of them was using any unfair means to get an advantage in the match.


    At the indication of the start of the match, Kacie didn''t hesitate and put her hands into her clothes. As she brought them out, there were three exquisite daggers in her hand that were about the size of her palm. Despite their small size, their design looked exceptionally dangerous and Zavier had the feeling that their pration power was definitely not a joke.


    She flicked her wrist and the two daggers left her hand while the remaining was still in her hand in a reverse grip. The two daggers that she was controlling through her mana threads were responsible for the offensive measures while the one in her hand, she intended to use for defense against any kind of attacks that she might encounter from her opponent.


    The two daggers that had beenunched in random directions acted ording to the will of Kacie as they turned mid air and headed straight for Reba.


    Reba perceived the trajectory of the daggers and waited for them to get close to her. She had urately analyzed the ces on her body that were being targeted by the opponent. Even so, she didn''t prepare any defensive measures before hand. The reason was that the opponent was able to freely manipte the daggers in the air so she either had to consume a lot of mana to perform a full body diamond transmutation topletely render her attacks ineffective from the start. But this was impossible for her at the moment because she had to fight more opponents after this one as well.


    She was unfortunately facing four simrly strong girls in session so she had to be smart about it.

 182 Chapter 182

    She waited until the end and grasped the timing of the attack in order to transmute only the parts of her body that were about to be hit by the daggers into diamond.


    The result was as she had expected, the daggers bounced off of her diamond defense and the opponent didn''t get enough time to change the direction of the attack at thest second.


    This gave her a feeling of satisfaction as she felt that she had found the way to defeat the first opponent without expending a lot of her own energy.


    In reality, Reba was thinking too much. Kacie wasn''t an opponent that she could deal with so easily. The most important aspect of Kacie''s skills was her flexibility. She had various different methods of attack and on top of that her intelligence was amongst the top of her peers. Thebination of intelligence and flexibility could prove to be very dangerous for any individual.


    Reba soon learned the meaning of that as the attacks soon became invisible to her. It was like a stealthy ninja was preying on her from outside her vision. Her perception skills were already too bad so she was unable to sense the attacks until they were very close to her. Her earlier expectations had been shatteredpletely. This was not an easy opponent at all.


    The more Kacie changed the pattern of her attacks, the more it expedited her rate of consumption. Nothing was going ording to her n so Reba decided to be a little wasteful in order to eliminate her opponent as soon as possible.


    Reba waited for the next ambush of the daggers and sessfully defended herself against the unforeseen attack but this time she didn''t just defend, she rushed towards Kacie andunched herser attack at her from afar. The manaser had been intensified using her diamond skin so its intensity was very high and dangerously sharp.


    <o>,m Kacie''s perception was high because of her high control over mana. She could sense that theser was dangerous so she immediately covered her de in mana in order to defend herself.</o>


    Theser had been too fast for her to dodge out of the way so this was the best defense she could have mustered in that small window of time but managed to somehow divert it from its original path that was headed straight through her body.


    Both Reba and Kacie had been amongst the best of their peers. They were both elite students from their respective institutions and the difference between their strength wasn''t much. And after fighting each other for a while, they had confirmed each others'' strength. They hade to the same conclusion that it was almost impossible for them to take down their opponent at least in a short amount of time if they continued to y at the same pace.


    Reba knew that she was the one who was at an utter disadvantage because she was the only participant from her school. If the opponent managed to drain her mana it would be an utter loss for her. Therefore, Reba needed to improvise her current strategy since it was clearly insufficient if she wanted to defeat the rest of the opponent team as well.


    She had to go all out with the attack. The best defense was usually the best offense. Reba was clearly aware of the principle. She had been ying it safe so far and was trying to prevent stamina loss during the initial fight but her mana was being consumed at a faster pace. She decided to throw caution to the wind and took risks that she never would have before. Sheunched an offensive that clearly took Kacie by surprise who had been expecting Reba to y back and forth with her for a little while longer.


    Although Kacie managed to defend against the surprise offense, she was so taken aback that she didn''t try to counter attack and went on the defensive to gather her scattered wits despite the fact that Reba had left herself quite open to a counter when she recklessly attacked her with her fists transfigured into diamond brilliance.


    It wasn''t that Kacie didn''t want to attack Reba as soon as she showed her a w because she had been waiting for such an opportunity ever since the start of the match. But unfortunately, Reba never took the bait whenever she tried to lure her into her little traps. This was the first time that Reba had been careless but Kacie had been too flustered to make that opportunity count.


    Reba felt frustrated at how easily her attack had been rendered useless by the opponent. She slightly envied those who had perception abilities and had higher level senses than she did after all those skills provided an uncanny advantage when it came to high level battles and survival. Reba had found a very difficult opponent because of their ipatible battle style. While Reba preferred closebat due to her physical superiority, Kacie had a stealth based battle style. She used her ranged skills to target enemies from their blind spots and was a very skilled ambusher.<sub> </sub>


    Therefore, both of them were having trouble taking the other down when their showdown never truly took ce in all seriousness. They were simr to each other in terms of overallbat potential since their strength couldn''t truly bepared with each other as they were totally different kinds of mages.


    Another reason that the result of their battle had been so inconclusive till that moment was because Kacie had never been interested in beating her opponent in the first ce.


    Kacie''s only goal had been to consume Reba''s mana and to tire her out through her strategic and calctive approach towards battle which not only thwarted Reba''s goal of beating her as quickly as possible, but also fulfilled the task that Calista had given her. The match was being pushed into a battle of attrition with no side any closer to winning the match.


    In the audience, Gabby was trying to analyze every move that the two of them made. He hade here to watch the match since it was possible that one of the two on the field now would be an enemy that Gabby and his team would have to face. He wanted to see through all their trump cards before battle to eliminate any surprises. Gabby analyzed the pace of the battle and slowly let out a sigh. He hade to a conclusion as well.


    Reba was fighting a losing battle. She was bound to lose since the other side had the numerical advantage and she was only able to fight against the first participant to a stand-still at best.


    Wallice had been sitting right beside Gabby. In fact it had been her idea that Gabby being the team leader should try to learn the tactics used by the uing enemies. Information was power and knowing everything about the enemy mighte in handy. She was pleased to see that Gabby was able to see through the intentions of both the teams through the rhythm of the battle. This student of hers was not only strong but was also keen in his analytic judgement and had a cool and calm mind which made him quite a threat on the battlefield.


    Wallice agreed with Gabby about the oue of the battle being in favour of Merion High School since Reba seemed to be on the losing side and had no trump cards hidden whatsoever.


    On the other side of the battle field, the Royal Princess Rachel''s knight, Scott turned towards Rachel and slowly whispered what he thought would be the result of the battle between the two high schools. Rachel had asked him for his expert opinion regarding the battle.


    "Although the tactics being used by the Merion High team are a little dastardly, the chances of them winning the match are very high since their tactics have been devised very urately. Rather it is already a given that they are going to win since their first participant has already managed to consume her opponent. There are still four of them remaining."


    Harry was on the sidelines but he managed to hear Scott''s analysis even though there was quite a lot of whispering and many a shouts from the audience. His perception skills were really fearsome.


    "Do you think that you have the right to im whether some n is dastardly or not? Every single instant on the battlefield is can be the difference between life and death. Do not undermine the effectiveness of the tactic by saying that it seems rascally or against morality and ethics because when ites to survival, nothing matters more than winning or losing. Therefore, it would be better if you judge a strategy by analyzing the odds of sess or failure through its usage. It has nothing to do with morality, nothing at all."


    Scott listened to the advice that was being delivered straight into his mind and humbly epted his criticism. Harry wasn''t someone who would just say things without any basis or logic.


    By this point there was already a mour in the audience that Reba was going to lose. She had been tired out by the first opponent; of course no one thought that she had any chances of winning at all. The Caesar High audience was trying to cheer her with all their might but the audience didn''t just contain the Caesar High students. The others had alreadye to a conclusion that the match was about to end. There were still four more yers off the field in the Merion High School team while Reba had been by herself.

 183 Chapter 183

    Murmurs about ending the match soon were heard in the audience from time to time as the match was being stretched out due to the fight between Kacie and Reba which was nowhere close toing to a conclusion. They were still not able to bring each other down. Kacie had been trying to consume all the mana of the opponent and she had quite sessfully carried out her task. Kacie had never once thought of beating Reba by herself after all, she might just have been the worst match up for her in all honesty. The reason was that she relied on manipting weapons while Reba specialized in full body defense that was as hard as diamond. The match up itself was asking for the fight to be prolonged since Kacie couldn''t prate her defenses even if she tried and Reba wasn''t perceptive enough to deduce the stealthy attacks in advance.


    The result was a stalemate that was currently boring the audience. It didn''t take long after that for the both girls to reach the bottom of their mana storage. Their mana was almost depleted; their stamina had been all but consumed. They were barely standing and were panting heavily as if air was stuck inside their chests and they were unable to breathe it out.


    Seeing the current situation of the battle, Calista was very satisfied of the oue. This was what she had desired in the first ce. Kacie had really managed to do as she had been told. Usually, boys and girls her age who were prone to fantasies and thoughts of mour would never have done as she had told her to do. They would have definitely tried to take down their opponent till the end. But Kacie was different. She had not only carried out her orders with effectiveness but Calista had never sensed any intent of winning against her opponent throughout the battle. Kacie really had a strong mentality that her peers were severelycking in.


    Calista could tell that the game already belonged to Merion High since their opponent was already on herst legs. She raised her hand towards the referee and asked him to halt the match because she wanted to change the participant from their side.


    "Are you sure about that? Contestant Kacie would be forfeiting her match if she wants to step down at this time."


    Calista obviously understood his point and nodded her head in understanding since she had had no intention of putting Kacie back on the field again. She had already done more than enough. What she had done now had only been to keep her from taking any drastic measures that might have harmed her condition for the next matches.


    Referee was a professional as well as he immediately put a stop the battle after having confirmed that the request had been put in by the teacher of the Merion High Team.


    As soon as the fight came to an end, Calista called out to Kacie and indicated for her to step down from the field.


    "You have done an excellent job. Take some rest, you have earned it."


    Kacie didn''t show any expression despite having been praised by Calista and went to take some rest at the back.


    On the other hand, Reba too got a moment of respite after having been tense during the whole fight. Throughout she had been on edge because the opponent didn''t give her any chances at all. The attacks were unexpected and multi directional. It was hard for her to let her guard down for even a second in order to breathe properly. Thankfully, there was a slight gap between the two fights so she could take a moment for respite and recover her strength somewhat.


    Calista then pointed towards Nadia who had been stuck to Zavier like glue throughout. She felt that she might have had to pry her apart from Zavier had it not been for Zavier shooing her away towards Calista.


    Calista was slightly thankful to him for helping her out.


    Nadia unwillingly trotted towards Calista.


    "Prepare yourself. You are next. I don''t need you to drag the fight any longer like Kacie did. Your job is to smash the opponent in one fell swoop if you can. Bring out the greatest magic skills that you can cast and throw them all at the opponent. Her mana is already close to depletion, her stamina is spent, she was barely holding on by the end of the first round so you better make this one thest round. Don''t bother saving your mana. We still have a numerical advantage. So try to knock her out as soon as possible. Okay?"


    Nadia clenched her fists to show her determination and excitedly nodded her head. She was looking forward to the fight. She wanted to impress her big brother Zavier by unleashing all her strength.<sub> </sub>


    Nadia then headed towards the centre of the field with the n that had been spoon fed to her by Calista. She wanted to st her opponent with lightning so she could rush back to Zavier as soon as possible.


    By then, the audience had lost all interest in the match. Only those who were interested in the participants of the Merion High were still watching the match with anticipation. They were trying to figure out the weaknesses and strengths of the students of the Merion High team.


    The crowd had already dered this to be a win for the Merion High team as Reba was fumbling around by herself. There was a limit to what she could do by herself. Even Harry thought that the fight was already doomed to end in Reba''s failure.


    Nadia and Reba were looking at each other waiting for each other to make the first move. Reba was of course too tired to do so without risking a counter attack that might knock her out instantly. Therefore she stood her ground and let her opponent take the first jab.


    Nadia as instructed by Calista didn''t hold anything back at all as she unleashed her lightning magic. Lightning sparks danced around her with increasing intensity as she fished around her pockets to take out her weapon.


    When she retrieved her hand from her pocket there was a coin in her hand. She tossed it in the air a few times as if she had forgotten hat her enemy was right in front of her and she needed to take her out. Instead she was ying around with a coin,


    But before the audience could boo her out of the field for making a mockery of the fight, the lightning sparks around Nadia converged towards the coin as if the entire lightning element in the vicinity hade at her call.


    The electromaic forces on the coin forced it to move at a speed that wasparable to lightning itself and the propulsion force that it gave to the coin was enough topare its momentum with that of a cannonball headed straight towards the enemy. The only difference was that the enemy didn''t even have the chance to dodge because the eleration of the coin didn''t allow Reba to blink.


    Reba was unable to prepare herself and tried to defend against the ballistic attack by covering her arms in diamond and crossing them in front of her chest to block the trajectory of the coin. The result was as expected. The coin that was nothing less than a cannonball in terms of force knocked her off of her feet with a loud and explosive sound. Reba was sent flying backwards while being unable to stop herself despite having tried her best to do so. The momentum of the coin wasn''t something she could disperse just by putting a diamond shield in front of her.


    Although she had been thrown back to the edge of the field, Reba was only looked as tired as she did after her fight with Kacie. There was no exceptional change in her condition. The reason was that although she had no way for her to kill the momentum of the thunder boosted coin, it also had no way of prating her diamond hard defenses no matter how fast or forceful it was.


    Nadia knew that her attack hadn''t damaged the enemy much so she continued to unleash her lightning at her from afar. Her continuous attacks finally brought forward the result that Calista desired out of her. Her offensive capabilities were impressive due to the lightning based spells that Nadia had learned. They provided the caster with better pration and flexibility in the attack pattern.


    Reba was finally about to fall. Her condition was quite precarious as she was still standing at the edge of the field as she was continuously being bombarded by the lightning element in the vicinity. It was as if it was rejecting her very existence.


    The barrage of agile strikes was enough to hold down Reba who was already at the end of the rope. There was almost no rest in between attacks so Reba was unable to fight back no matter how much she wanted to fight back.


    "If only, she wasn''t alone in this match up. Caesar High would definitely have had a chance to win the match based on their overall strength. Reba could have also taken it easy. She is barely standing but she is unwilling to lose. Constant lightning strikes are falling down on her tired body but she still doesn''t want to forfeit."


    Wallice had been sitting right next to Gabby as he was muttering his analysis out loud enough for her to overhear. She gave a smile and shook her head with confidence.

 184 Chapter 184

    "Luck is also a part of individual strength. For example, that little girl is part of a group with five surviving members while Reba is all alone. It doesn''t mean that the students of Caesar High were all definitely weaker than her. There might have been someone who was stronger but got eliminated because they met an even stronger enemy. The little girl on the other hand sailed through it all without encountering such an enemy. Do you think that this is unfair? She had better luck than that other guy. That is her strength as well."


    Gabby was not a guy who would be emotionally attached to anyone else. But at this moment even he was feeling a little pity for Reba because she looked so miserable fighting against those odds. That was the reason that he had given out his earlier analysis. He wasn''t someone who discussed situations that started with "could have been".


    It was not just Gabby who was feeling this way. Reba looked pitiful to the whole audience she was the weaker party who was showing tremendous will power. This earned her the support of most of the audience and those of the Merion High became the viins who were oppressing the beautiful girl by ganging up on her. Even the audience didn''t notice the unfairness of their usations because in the heat of the moment they were all fighting for justice for Reba who was being bombarded by lightning strikes one after the other but still refused to give up.


    Zavier despite being a part of the enemy felt a little bad at the condition that Reba was in but his sympathies didn''tst too long as he was able to clearly distinguish what was right and wrong in this situation. He forced himself to keep calm and adjusted his mind so that he wouldn''t think that way. He recalled how talented Reba was at infuriating other with her smug attitude and felt that this was all brought upon by herself. If she hadn''t been so insufferable in the first ce, her schoolmates might havee to find her from the start and she wouldn''t have been in such an impossible situation.


    As Zavier was busy fighting a mental battle against himself, he couldn''t help but notice that the girl sitting beside him had hardly changed her expressions ever since the start of the fight. Usually it was girls who were the most sympathetic. Even he had been swayed by Reba''s situation but Shiranui didn''t even blink in its wake. She was as expressionless as the dead sitting beside him devoid of all emotions and sentiments.


    It had to be known that even if Shiranui hated Reba, she shouldn''t have been acting so indifferent to her because this was a crucial match for Merion High school. Zavier wondered if there was something bothering her but given her cold attitude earlier he didn''t bother her anymore.


    Reba had really been having a hard time both physically and mentally. She was exhausted but wasn''t willing to back down because she had something to rely on. Her teacher had given her something but she wasn''t sure if it was the right time to rely on it.


    She knew her own condition better than anyone else. There was no way she could hang on for a while longer under the intense assault of the enemy. If she didn''t use her trump card, she might as well hand over the match to her opponents gracefully because that was she would be able to preserve the little bit of dignity that had yet to be crushed by them. She was so desperate that she cast nces at the bearded old man sitting in the audience from time to time.


    The old man continued to be expressionless most of the time and after each look, Reba felt more hopeless. The old man did not care to answer her questioning gaze every single time. At some point she even began to wonder if the old man had been blinded by age and was unable to see her at all but held her rage in and waited a bit more all the while avoiding the attacks of the little terrorist.


    She was teetering on the edge of defeat as she cast a final nce at her teacher. She had decided that she would not continue to humiliate herself if the doddering old man didn''t reply her this time.


    She cast a final questioning gaze at the old man while her opponent was busy gathering mana for arge spell that would eventually be the cause of her doom. She was waiting for the answer while dreading that the answer would nevere.


    Unexpectedly the old man nodded affirmatively while looking at her. The sign that she had been waiting for had finally arrived. The old man had finally acquiesced to her decision.


    Reba dodged the iing lightning storm that Nadia had cast using most of the mana that she had gathered. Reba had been burnt by the lightning storm even though she had managed to dodge most of it and some of it had been avoided through her diamond defense. She was smoking all over with dark patches all over her skin but somehow she managed to survive by a little bit.<sub> </sub>


    Reba knew that she wouldn''t be able to manage past Nadia''s next attack. It was now or never. So without wasting any time, she pulled out the bottle that she had hidden inside her clothes. The bottle still contained the viscous ck liquid that looked like some witch''s brew at the first nce.


    She uncorked the bottle and brought it to her mouth. Anyone would have felt suspicious drinking the contents of that bottle but Reba didn''t even stop to consider anything like that. The reason was that it had been given to her by her teacher whom she could trust. But the main reason governing all her actions was that she didn''t want to lose after havinge so far. She wanted to make it till the end in ce of her other school mates in order to not let down Caesar High School. After all, in order to do that she had paid quite a heavy price.


    She took another look at the bearded old man and gulped down the contents of the bottle without another thought.


    IT wasn''t long before she was able to feel the result of that action. Her throat was constricted as if it was beingpressed from both sides. The contents of the bottle turned out to be quite hard to swallowpletely.


    It felt as if her body was refusing to let it in. As soon as the liquid left her throat, it felt as if she had swallowed thousand of little swords and needles and all of them were currently making their way towards her stomach while cutting apart her insides at the same time. This kind of pain was something that Reba would not wish even upon her enemies. Every cell in her body was being stabbed over and over again by a simrly minuscule sized sword inside her body and the collective pain caused by such a torture was enough to drive anyone insane or at the very least suicidal.


    Reba had an inkling that the consequences of drinking that potion might be painful but she was willing to do so in order to win for Caesar High school and her own prestige. But the pain that ensued after she had drunk that potion was unlike she had ever imagined. The pain of being electrocuted by lightning was not even worth mentioning in front of it.


    The only way to vent out her distress was to scream. It was the only way that humans unconsciously adopted to lessen the pain inside them. Screaming helped them divert a part of their neuralwork that was essentially responsible for delivering the sensation of pain alone. In simpler terms, it was an unconscious reaction of humans to keep their focus away from anything that reminded them of the pain that they were going through.


    Reba''s reaction was the same as well but it did nothing to lessen her pain at all. This kind of pain was something that seeped inside the bones and was impossible to drive out. Reba felt like someone had filled hot lead inside her body and it was seeping into every corner and was scalding her from the inside out. This kind of hurt wasn''t something that could be ignored by screaming your insides out. She now understood that but it was already toote.


    The fight hade to a halt as soon as she had let out that horrifying scream like a hundred year old ghost that hade back to life suddenly.


    Nadia had thought that Reba had gotten seriously hurt by her attacks and had screamed out in pain which was the reason that she had temporarily restrained her indiscriminate bombing. She even dispersed the skill that she was about to cast if Reba was still standing after herst attack.


    She was a kind girl who didn''t actually want to hurt her opponent. Her only goal had been to go to the same university as her big brother and study in the same ss as him. That was why she had put in so much effort in the fight.


    When the storm clouds cleared and the brilliant shes of the lightning strikes vanished, she found that there was something wrong with the view in front of her. She had expected that her attacks had found their target and had hurt her terribly but the way Reba was acting was not simr to the victims of her attacks.

 185 Chapter 185

    There was no trembling or scorch marks on Reba at least not more than there already were. Due to her lightning attacks, she hadn''t witnessed Reba actually taking the potion. Therefore she had previously thought that her scream had been due to her attacks. Now, it felt that Reba was suffering from the symptoms of some disease that hadin dormant until now. She was howling and was scratching her skin with her nails trying to w her insides out. Her ghastly wails didn''t stop even after the lightning had vanishedpletely.


    Nadia wasn''t entirely sure what to do but she could not just keep attacking someone who was that defenceless and in so much pain. Even though this was apetition that she had to win at any cost, she was not entirely okay with hurting a defenceless person in order to achieve her purpose and did the only thing that she could; she waited.


    Zavier could also tell that something was very strange with what was transpiring on the stage. Reba was acting very strange. She wasn''t someone who would easily give in to a little pain. She had a very obsessive attitude towards preserving her image in front of others as he had already witnessed before during the first round. She was too proud to be acting that way and there was no way in hell that Nadia''s attacks were powerful enough to have such longsting after effects that even after cancetion of skill, Reba was still suffering from such an intense bout of pain.


    Zavier remembered that earlier she had drunk something from that bottle and guessed that it must have been the cause of her current condition. But Zavier didn''t understand why she would do something like that.


    If Reba had known the consequences of drinking such a thing, why did she still do it and that too during the middle of a match? Zavier wasn''t sure what Reba was thinking. He even thought that the contents of the bottle were poisonous and had caused an adverse reaction in her body which quite exined why she was suffering like that.


    Zavier decided to stop thinking about it since he clearly didn''t have enough data to determine what the right answer was at this moment. He looked slightly confused though which might have been the reason that Calista noticed how flustered he was on the inside.


    Calista could tell that Zavier had no clue about the current situation so she decided to exin the situation to him clearly. This was also to tell the rest of the team about the challenge that they might face if what she was dreading came true in the next few moments.


    "Did you notice that she had taken out something from her clothes just before she started acting like that?"


    She knew that Zavier''s perception skills were quite close to Valerie''s and her own so she knew that he must have seen that too.


    "Yes, it was some kind of vial."


    Calista nodded in acknowledgement with a serious look on her face. She knew Zavier would definitely have noticed it.


    "Did you also see that she drank whatever was in that vial?"


    "Yes, I did. Was that something bad for her? If so, why would she take that when she knew that she was going to end up like that."


    Zavier finally decided to ask the question that had been guing his mind until then.


    "The vial that you saw wasn''t some kind of poison or harmful substance. It was a potion. You know what a potion is, right?"


    Calista seemed a little doubtful. She thought that she had seen him get confused at the mention of the potion. No matter howte he had developed as a mage, there was no way that he didn''t know anything about a potion.<sub> </sub>


    "Of course, I know what a potion is."


    Zavier responded confidently when he noticed that Calista had been looking at him in a weird manner. At the same time, he totalled his memories prodding for anything rted to potions. The potions he already knew about were healing potions and those that calmed the mind. Kacie had brought one for her previously when he had gotten injured but that was about it. He hadn''t done any borate research about the subject. He just knew that they existed. That had been the reason that he had felt flustered at first when Calista had mentioned it.


    Soon he found the answer that he was looking for. Apparently, his knowledge on the subject was totally pitiful. The potions that he understood were the most basic of all potions but even they were quite expensive to have. Even a family like his couldn''t just indiscriminately use them as they wanted.


    From his memories, he was able to infer that there was another kind of potions that were used by mages all over the world to evolve into superior ones. Some were also able to evolve a muggle into a mage in a matter of minutes. If a muggle had ess to a potion, he didn''t even have to practice or rely on natural talent to be a mage. A potion was the solution to all their problems.


    Simrly, a low level mage could ascend to a higher level mage both through practice and through the usage of a potion that could help increase their mana level in a speedy manner by forcefully increasing their mana storage in the body.


    But life was not all rainbows and unicorns. Drinking a potion was like swallowing a bomb of nutrients into the body. There was a chance that the nutrients would enable the individual to climb higher onto thedder of evolution and there was a chance that the nutrients wouldn''t bepatible with the body and the bomb would burst and would mess up his insides terribly.


    The after effects of the potion intake in case of failure included the possibility of serious health issues that might hamper the daily life of the individual, and a possibility of degenerating to a lower level in terms of the ability to handle mana that is a high level mage could turn into a low level mage in the blink of an eye. On top of that such a mage would have no hope of improvement for the rest of their life.


    There was also a very low chance that the failure in evolution through the potion might lead to the death of the individual. But such a result was only in extreme cases and usually the mages had to keep in mind the two former possibilities when they had to decide whether or not to take a potion in order to improve themselves.


    It was not as if there was more harm than good in the usage of the potion. Otherwise, it would not have been so hard to get one''s hands on a potion. If someone managed to sessfully endure past the intake of the potion and was able to seed, there would only be handsome rewards waiting for them. The benefit was definitely worth taking the risk of destroying one''s own future.


    Although mages did take potions despite the risks, they made sure that it was under ideal conditions so that they would be prepared for any kind of result. Almost no one had the guts to take a potion in the middle of a match like Reba had done. No one would have the guts to do so when they werepletely exhausted and out of mana.


    But Reba had taken a risk like that just so she would be able to create an opportunity for herself that would enable her to win against her opponents to reach the final. This was more important to her than her future or any potential that she might have yet to explore. She had risked her everything just to get a chance at getting into the Caesar University.


    Everyone in the audience contrary to Reba''s intent thought that she had done such a thing because she didn''t want to concede defeat to her opponents. They felt that it was another way of going out while preserving her grace and pride. Still, no one faulted her for it because the alternate way that she had devised was nothing less than risking her life.


    Nadia was confused and didn''t know what to do after she saw the state that Reba was in. It wasn''t something that she had readied herself for. She was unsure if she should take advantage of the situation to win once and for all. She felt that it was too mean to hurt Reba when she was already in so much pain.


    Calista thought for a moment as she too was slightly confused with what was happening. She felt that it was against ethics to attack the opponent while she was still preupied but the thought that Reba might seed in her evolution was jarring to her. She was dreading the fact that Reba had a chance to turn the tables on their team if she managed to seed. Even though it might feel a bit mean to the audience and that they might gain some ill will, she was unwilling to let this chance go.


    She looked at Nadia and asked her to continue attacking Reba. Even though it felt a little unfair, Nadia was still very much within her rights if she attacked Reba at that moment. After all, she had not forced Reba into such a situation. She had done it of her own ord without the influence of any pressure or foreign suggestion and the whole audience was the witness.

 186 Chapter 186

    Calista had already looked at the referee countless times before making that decision. From the looks of it, the match wasn''t over until Reba admitted her defeat with her own mouth. Calista as a result hardened her heart and ordered Nadia to attack while Reba underwent the painful ordeal.


    Nadia didn''t hold back this time because she didn''t want to lengthen thepetition any longer. She wanted to defeat her so she didn''t have to see her screaming like that.


    Shemanded the entire lightning element in the vicinity and her hair started to float as if charged by the overwhelming static that was converging towards her. She was using the electric charge in the air to generate lightning that she would then use to bombard Reba who was one step away from rolling on the ground in pain.


    As soon as her lightning reached within the vicinity of Reba, Nadia closed her eyes subconsciously in order to avoid seeing what was about to happen. That much amount of lightning had been enough to burn Reba into a crisp. But the screams that were already haunting didn''t increase in intensity or pitch as if the lightning had not caused her any pain at all.


    She urged some more lightning bolts towards Reba but this time forcefully kept her eyes open so she could determine whether her attacks even reached Reba or not.


    As soon as the lightning entered her personal space, a ckish substance came out of Reba''s skin and easily absorbed Nadia''s attack. Nadia was dumbfounded at the current situation.


    She had been unable to hit a person who had been rolling around in pain and was unable to fight back at all. She conjured the most brutal lightning strike that she could muster with the little amount of mana that she had remaining. The bolt pierced through space itself and arrived at its destination instantly.


    Nadia was keen to see the result of her biggest effort yet but once again she had to be struck by disappointment as the lightning bolt almost bounced off of Reba as her body was constantly secreting some kind of ck lustrous substance that managed to repel the lightning attack as easy as a kid jumping over a trampoline.


    Reba''s body was going through some unexpected changes that were unheard of. Even Calista wasn''t able to understand how someone could resist such powerful attacks despite being in such a vulnerable situation. She had even gained firsthand knowledge from those who had evolved using potions before but she had never once heard about something like this. This ck substance from her body was able to shield her from almost all kinds of attacks and she didn''t even have to be conscious for it to work.


    While the audience was mesmerized by her performance, Reba was feeling nothing even close to that. She was suffocating. Her lungs felt as if they were filled with sand. Every time she tried to breathe, she ended up trying to dig into her own chest because there was something crushing it from the inside out. Reba had felt this kind of sensation before. She had almost drowned in the past when she had been a kid and this suffocation was even more severe than that. But the feeling that she got was the same.


    At this moment, Reba''s consciousness was highly unstable. One wrong move and she might even lose her connection to her own body. Her sea of consciousness was currently agitated as if someone had thrown in a huge stone to create giant ripples in it.


    Reba was currently like a boat in troubled waters that was disturbed by every little wave that it encountered and swayed around dangerously from each impact. There was a danger of capsizing at any moment but Reba was determined to survive.


    She tried to struggle in order to emerge out of the consciousness storm unscathed but it was easier said than done. Each wave sent her under the water and was intent on drowning her till she forgot who she used to be.


    Reba was a fighter and did not give up no matter how many times she fell and drowned she swam back up and tried leaving the sea. Her perseverance in that manner was unmatched as she was willing to go to any extent to achieve her goal.<sub> </sub>


    It wasn''t long before she felt the strength in her body fade little by little. She had lost all her strength in order to fight back against the oppressive tides in her consciousness. She knew that the tides were being generated by the abnormal amount of energy that she had ingested by drinking that potion. It was too great for her to handle on her own. It was the same energy that was currently busy drowning her into oblivion.


    Just as she felt that she wouldn''t be able to go back up to the surface again even if she tried as hard as possible, something changed in the stormy sea.


    A warm and gentle breeze started to reverse all the harmful effects of the potion that she was currently trying to get under control. The breeze felt refreshing and peaceful and the warmth spread throughout her body. At the same time, the rising tides began to grow smaller and smaller until the sea had be as calm as it had been in the past before she had taken that ck potion.


    Reba was dumbfounded. She was unable to understand what had happened that had saved her from her absolute death.


    In fact, she had felt that the origin of the warmth had been from her womb. Her womb had emitted some kind of warm and magical energy that had absorbed all the excess energy from her body that had been wreaking havoc inside her and had saved her from her impending doom. Before Reba could have even begunprehend that energy, its vibration and its imprint vanished as if it had never been there at all.


    Even the white bearded teacher who had handed over the potion to Reba had never imagined that Reba would be able to absorb the entirety of the potion by herself. He had thought that the Reba would absorb some of it and the rest she could endure and forcefully expel from her bodyter on. But the results had surprised even him.


    It had to be known that the energy in that ck potion had been unimaginably high and a D rank equivalent high school student would have had a negligible chance of sessful evolution let alone absorbing it all without sparing even a little.


    If Reba could have looked at the bearded old man at this moment she would have found her otherwise unfaltering teacher with his jaw on the ground, his eyes wide open in shock and his body trembling from excitement. This was something that had been unprecedented. A barely D rank mage had managed topletely absorb the energy of the evolution potion without suffering from any of the side effects.


    In the audience stands, Wallice had a severe frown on her face that ckened her very face and made it look frightening and colorless. Gabby who was sitting to her side felt chills running down his spine as he felt that his teacher was looking at him while making that expression. Thankfully for him, it was not directed at him at all. He took his time and finally managed to look at her before asking, "What happened? Is something wrong?"


    Wallice came out of her reverie but the frown on her face didn''t vanish at all but seemed to have intensified. She looked at Gabby seriously and said, "Everything has changed. If what I am thinking has truly taken ce then your opponent in the finals might not necessarily be Merion high school. It would be better for you if you kept a watch on her moves as well. She might just make aeback now that she has survived and evolved."


    Harry was sitting at the top of the audience stands and was shocked to find such a talent; someone who was daring enough to try to evolve while fighting a match. He had never seen such a person in his life. But what had truly sent him reeling into shock was not that she had tried to evolve mid fight but the fact that she had done so in a perfect manner. She had managed topletely absorb the energy from the potion. Usually when other mages tried to evolve, there would be a part of the energy that would remain in their bodies and would harm their future development somewhat. But Reba would not encounter any such trouble in the future because she had no leftover energy. All of it had either been used to enhance the mana channels and mana storage capacity in her body or had beenpletely absorbed by her without leaving a speck of it.


    Most of the spectators had been unaware of the miracle that had taken ce on the field and had only been aware that Reba had suddenly fallen on the floor and hade to the conclusion that the victor of the match had been decided. The fallen Reba was very close to bing the loser of the match.

 187 Chapter 187

    But Calista, who was on the sidelines, understood that her team had just lost their best chance of defeating Reba. The girl had seriously managed to upgrade her level by relying on the potion midway between the fight. Not only that but she had also managed to absorb the potionpletely which meant that the increase in the mana level of Reba was bound to be more than normal.


    The tables had turned on Merion High School as their opponent had not only recovered her mana but had also managed to evolve during the match which would have definitely enhanced her fighting strength.


    Calista was sure that the girl in the field had definitely be a C rank mage by taking the evolution potion which was not the very best thing for her team. Her strategy needed to be changed if they wanted to survive past this round. Considering the circumstances, she was not sure that her team could make it past that round and into the finals.


    She attracted the attention of Nadia on the field and asked her to y defensive. Right now, they needed to make time for themselves. Her team needed to build up confidence since they had to fight a C rank mage now. Thepetition between the two teams no longer looked unfair since a C rank mage was now on the opposing side.


    Reba was still lying on the ground in a dazed manner as she was still not able to understand what that magical energy from her womb had been that had helped herplete her evolution so easily.


    The white bearded old man in the stands on the other hand was so excited that he was barely able to keep himself from jumping up and down on his ce. He kept looking in her direction in order to attract her attention and when she finally looked at him with a confused look that said that she was still unaware whether her strength had improved or not, he gave her a thumbs up. He wanted to tell her so badly that she done well for their school, she had done something no one else could have done. She had turned the odds that had been against her from the beginning in her favour. Now they had a chance to go into the finals. He wanted Reba to do her best.


    Reba felt that the shouts and excited roars of the old man were quite funny but her confidence that had died while fighting the trio hade back a little.


    Reba stood up from the ground slowly. Her dust spattered clothes were in disarray so she started by dusting herself off and managed to do so in a dignified manner. It was then that she finally found the unending reservoir of mana inside her body. This was what an infinite battery must feel like because to her there was no end to the power that she was able to feel within her body. The jump from the D rank mage to a C rank mage came with a considerable power level increase. She was just feeling its exaggerated effect since she had newly advanced to C rank.


    Unconsciously, a smug smile formed on her face as she felt her own power.


    "I am indeed a genius."


    She had finally found her prideful self once again by doing something that others kept telling her with their eyes was something inconceivable for them.


    Reba had never thought that she would be in this kind of a situation ever. A crisis could only be averted at the veryst moment because she was able to burst out with an immense power that she had managed to acquire mid fight just to defeat the opponent that had been too difficult for her before. This wasn''t a normal situation at all.


    The reason was that this was something that only happened to the protagonists of the stories that she had grown to like in her childhood. Whatever the reason may be, Reba finally felt that she wasn''t an extra at least on this day. For today, or at least during this fight she truly was the protagonist. She had earned at least that much by going through so much pain.


    She was curious to see the results of her transformation as she had now advanced a stage. She looked at her palm as she tried to transmute it into diamond just like before. The mana that mobilized inside her body was a tremendous amountpared to before but the result astonished her even more. The sparkling and glittery diamond skin had now changed to be charcoal ck with a lustrous shine. The color of the diamond defense had changed to pitch ck which was both crystalline and lustrous in looks and looked tougher than before as well. She found the change to be quite interesting.


    At the same time she felt that the diamond skin had increased many folds in strength. She wanted to experiment with her newfound strength until she had gotten a hang of her true abilities. She didn''t have to especially care about her mana since the amount of mana she had was probably more than all the manabined of her opponent team members.<sub> </sub>


    After she had evolved into C rank mage, she had far surpassed her peers in terms of the amount of mana she could hold at any given moment. Therefore, she could probably waste some of it practicing which might also help her limatize with her new body and her bursting strength.


    The next thing to test was her lethalser attack. Since her diamond transformation skill had changed a lot, she was expecting that theser should have improved by several degrees as well.


    She looked towards Nadia who had been attacking her nonstop and fired aser at her. To her surprise, theser had changed its color as well. It was the same color as the color of her improved diamond transformation skill. Not only had the color changed, the attribute of the skill had tilted towards destruction as well. It was something that was meant to pulverize everything in its path.


    Nadia was almost unable to dodge in time. This was the first time she had encountered such a fast paced attack. In fact, this was the first time that Reba had used such an attack on her. Previously, Reba had been too exhausted to even think ofunching aser attack at her opponent.


    Nadia was barely able to dodge when all her senses went on full alert and her brain started sending out response signals with lightning so as to save her from the cmity that was heading her way.


    Even so, it had been a very close call and Nadia had barely thrown herself out of the way.


    Theser was too fast to be seen by the naked eye. It could have taken any one by surprise let alone Nadia who had been busy being a bombardier.


    Nadia for fear of being caught off guard once again, conjured a shield of mana around herself in order to block a simr sneak attack. Now that her opponent had the mana to retaliate as well, she too had to think of defensive measures to ensure she wouldn''t lose instantly to her opponent.


    Reba on the other hand felt as if she was traipsing on the clouds. Theser that she had difficulty firing off before was as easy to fire as the flick of her wrist.


    ? She had a feeling of unprecedented control over theser that she had just fired. Gears in her mind began turning as she continued to imagine what she could do with that increased control.


    As a result, she decided to experiment some more as Nadia was no longer a threat to her after having lost most of her strength. She was the perfect guinea pig for her to test her new strength on. She forgot about the match for a while and yed with thesers.


    She tried to use the newfound control over thesers but found it slightly difficult at first. There was something that she had failed to grasp as if she had missed something important but was unable to remember what it was.


    After firing two moresers that were skilfully dodged by Nadia by getting out of their path she finally started to get the hang of it. She left a trace of her mana on eachser that she shot. The trace of mana acted as an antenna or a signal transmitter for her to exact control over the fired offser. This was what she had been missing all this while. She wondered if the result would be as she had expected.


    In fact, she hadn''t been sure about it at all. She had gotten the idea from Kacie who had used the same trick to control her weapons. The difference between the two was that Kacie was like a puppeteer controlling her weapons with strings made of mana, while Reba was closer to what could be called a psychokic using mana as a transceiver at both ends.

 188 Chapter 188

    Nadia felt that the iingser was somewhat different but found nothing odd about it at all. Still the danger signals rang in her mind and she didn''t try to let it hit her shield. Instead she dodged well clear of its path so as to avoid the intense danger that she was sensing from it.


    She let out a sigh of relief as she hopped out of the way and looked at Reba with a triumphant look. So far she had been able to dodge every one of Reba''s attacks with ease except the first that had taken her by surprise.


    Reba didn''t even bother to look at her while Nadia was busy feeling good about her evasive actions. Instead all of the focus of Reba had been at theser that had barely gotten past Nadia as she dodged out of the way well ahead of time of impact.


    She tried to feel theser through the trace amount of mana that she had left on it. She felt a solid entity through that mark as if it was a part of her and was willing to listen to every one of her demands no matter how against the natural order they were.


    Reba coaxed it into changing its direction slightly in order to make Nadia the target once again. As a result theser that had rushed past Nadia harmlessly started to turn towards left which was the exact location of Nadia at the moment.


    The barrier that Nadia had made in front of her had been rendered ineffective as theser that she had just dodged had attacked her from the side and there had been no barrier to offset the momentum of the ck destructive ray at all.


    Nadia had definitely not expected such an attack at all. Reba had never used such a trick at all either in the previous match with her sister or with her before. Nadia let out a painful scream as theser that had gotten past her defenses pierced right through her left arm and her shoulder in turn before exiting out her back.


    Nadia fell just like that. After all the impact that the little girl had suffered from was nothing less than that of a bullet from Zavier''s previous bullet. She had gotten a hole in her body that would have been impossible to perfectly heal in Zavier''s previous world. But thankfully, this world had healing magic and potions that would help her get through it painlessly.


    Calista felt that it was a pity that Nadia had been unable to drain a little more of her mana. As soon as Reba had evolved, Calista had already foreseen Nadia''s defeat. She knew that the girl was nowhere close enough to handle a C rank mage all on her own. Therefore she had asked her to y defensive so that she could drain her mana somewhat. Otherwise, Shiranui might have some trouble beating her too.


    As a result she was not too surprised by the oue and calmly dered her loss on Nadia''s behalf who was lying on the ground in a half conscious state. At her direction, a medical team came forward with a stretcher and cast float on her to lift her on to the stretcher in order to move her out of the field due to the injuries that she had suffered.


    Although Calista could have kept her on the field a little while longer since she had still been conscious, she had not done so. The reason was that she knew how strong their opponent had be and what she had be capable of doing. Therefore, Calista was worried that if she kept Nadia on the field a little while longer, she would suffer even more terrible injuries than she had previously.


    Calista didn''t bother checking with the paramedics about the condition that Nadia had been in. As soon as she was taken away by them, Calista had to find the answer to the next question. She was being very indecisive because she didn''t know what the true choice really was. Calista wanted the next person to be the one who would put an end to the fight by themselves. At the same time she had to take care of the feelings of those involved. Shiranui was too sensitive when it came to theparison of strength. If at this time, Calista being her own teacher refused to send her out to fight, if even she didn''t trust her enough to win a fight against Reba then Shiranui might lose her confidence. To Calista, Zavier was the best bet because she had seen his true strength. She was sure that Zavier would mow down any enemy in thepetition but she was afraid of what Shiranui might do if her switch got flipped because of that.


    ording to Calista''s judgement, Shiranui at that moment was not even close to the level that was required to beat the current Reba. Whether it was theparison of strength, defensive ability or the mana capacity, Reba was above her in every aspect. She couldn''t knowingly send Shiranui off to fight against her while knowing that it was possible that Shiranui would suffer a crushing defeat against her.<sub> </sub>


    If it had been anyone else, Calista might have sent them without a second thought but the fact that it was a choice between Shiranui and Zavier, was the problem. Although Zavier was the solution to the current deadlock, she couldn''t send him because she knew that she would be dealing a huge blow to Shiranui''s self esteem and possibly her psyche.


    This was obviously a difficult decision for her and she was hesitant in announcing the next participant from their side. Shiranui seemed to have read her troubles and took the initiative to grab her wrist and pleaded with Calista to let fight against Reba in the next round.


    Calista cursed herself for hesitating to pick Zavier at this time. Now that Shiranui had asked her before she had made her decision, there was absolutely nothing that she could do. She had to go along with her decision anyway. But when Calista looked up from her hands and looked into her eyes, she found a steely determination that hadn''t been there before. She wondered what kind of a mental battle Shiranui had gone through to get that fanatic look in her eyes.


    Calista was sure that even if she decided to send Zavier out at this time, Shiranui would have still found a way to do what she wanted. Therefore, she didn''t hesitate any longer. She announced the name of the next participant from their team to the referee who noted it down on a paper that he had been carrying with him. Calista had finally decided to send her to steal the whiskers off of the lion in the field.


    As soon as the name of the next participant was announced, a small smile appeared on the face of the emotionless Shiranui but vanished as soon as it came. It appeared that she was happy because her teacher had listened to her request but even that happiness hadn''tsted very long.


    She began to move towards the match field with calcted steps but halted midway. She turned around and whispered to her teacher so that Zavier and the others were unable to hear what she had said.


    "Teacher, let me fight till the end. Unless I give up, do not decide to concede the match. Please wait for me till I ask you to take me out."


    Calista nodded towards her with a troubled look. She didn''t want to promise her something like that because she knew that Shiranui would rather die before conceding defeat to her enemies. She was practically asking Calista to let her do a battle till death. It was uneptable for Calista but looking at her student who was making the request, she was unable to deny her wishes. The girl had already suffered a lot and Calista didn''t want to hurt her anymore than she already was.


    Shiranui was satisfied with her teacher''s response and her trust in her. She turned around and continued moving towards the field where Reba awaited her with a smug expression and an annoying smile on her face.


    The crowd shouted and screamed at her arrival. It seemed that Shiranui had gathered quite a fan following in the previous rounds. To some she was the cool one among the Merion high girls who unted her beauty without a care for the world and to the others she was the strongest of the participants from the Merion high team, while only a few among them praised her for her ruthlessness. Of course most of her fansprised of the idiots who ogled at her because of her revealing clothes.


    Shiranui didn''t care about these people at all. She was looking straight towards her next opponent. This was someone that she wanted to beat no matter what.


    Amidst the stands, Rachel became interested in the battle too. She had been looking forwards to this match up as well. Fortunately, the Merion High instructor had helped her achieve her wish.

 189 Chapter 189

    She had been curious about one of the only two surviving members of the Yamata family and she wanted to find out what she was truly capable of. Unfortunately, Shiranui''s previous opponents had all been too weakpared to her and as a result the matches ended before they even began. This was the match that would bring her true strength to the front for all to carefully measure what Shiranui was truly worth.


    When the two participants had taken their respective positions in the match arena, the referee made the announcement for the beginning of the next round. The match officially started but the participants were still busy measuring each other up with their eyes.


    The suspense was killing the audience. They kept betting amongst themselves as to who would be the first to take action.


    Shiranui put her hands inside her clothes and took out her weapon. It was a dark red fan that appeared as if it had been ming for real before she had even called out her me to imbue the weapon with it.


    Reba too transformed both of her arms with her diamond transformation skill. She had to be ready for anything since she had yet to test the limit of the new opponent.


    Shiranui called forth her ck me and a me tide appeared behind her and entered the fan that she had been holding in her left hand. It acted as some kind of conduit for her mes. As soon as she swung her fan with a flick of her wrist a ming flower rushed like a bullet towards Reba who was waiting for an attack like that ever since Shiranui had taken out the red fan.


    Reba could tell that the attack was quite powerful so she didn''t try to use her defensive ability. Instead she fired off aser of her own to intercept the iing fire lotus.


    The ckser beam which was already destructive enough collided with the ming lotus in the middle of the field and cause a huge explosion that cause the centre to be shrouded inyers of smoke.


    The visibility of the audience was reduced and some of them even began to curse for it to clear. On the other hand, those who had been too close to the explosion felt as if their ears were about to bleed. The explosion had been so loud that the audience had been shaken enough to bleed from their orifices. If it hadn''t been for the medics on duty, some of them might have even lost their hearing ability permanently.


    Shiranui was surprised to see that the ck me that specialized in devouring every other kind of magic skill had been unable to devour the ckser shot by her opponent. This was the second time that this had happened to her. The first was obviously Zavier''s cold me which was anti-thesis of her own dark me. But theser was obviously inclined towards the destruction attribute so it shouldn''t have been able to avoid the devouring power of the ck me.


    The only possible reason was that the two skills were equal in terms of strength and the ck me had been unable to exercise its attribute suppression because of that.


    Under normal circumstances, the ck me had the ability to suppress the basic attribute of the skills cast by her opponents. This basically rendered the skill of the opponents useless and allowed her ck me to devour the magic power in those attacks in order to get stronger just like normal fire used wood as kindling to get stronger.


    The attribute suppression effect hadn''t triggered which implied that either the opponent''sser was a simr skill with the same attribute suppression effect or it was simply equal or stronger than her ck me in terms of strength.


    Shiranui also noticed that theser was more agile, more flexible and easier to manipte whenpared to her ck me. There was no way that she couldst a long time against such an advantage. She had to take her opponent out as soon as possible otherwise, her own weaknesses would be revealed.<sub> </sub>


    Since attribute suppression had no effect whatsoever, Shiranui knew that she could not get an upper hand against Reba that way. Therefore, she had to fight in a way that would prove to be advantageous towards herself.


    She didn''t hesitate once she had decided on the next course of action. She brought her fan in front of her chest and slid her other hand over the fan slowly. When her hand slid past the fan, it changed into a katana of the same fiery red color. The audience was mesmerized as if she had performed some kind of magic skills. Of course in reality it wasn''t anything like that. This was just a magic weapon that had the ability to transform into different forms as per the need of the user. She had been using this weapon for a long time and it had never failed her.


    Shiranui imbued the red katana with her ck mes and continued to swing the de back and forth in order to break through Reba''s defense that was practically made up of diamond.


    She might have had the ability to break through her defenses when Reba hadn''t yet advanced. Her normal diamond transformation might have even suffered under her ck me but the ck diamond had no such weaknesses. The defense had improved beyond anything Reba could have ever imagined. Even when Shiranui tried her best, she was unable to get past her hard defenses.


    Reba had improved in all aspects as she had advanced. There was no apparent weakness that her opponents could exploit. She had an inexplicable amount of mana, a diamond defense, and a precision guided offensive that would track down her enemies no matter how much they dodge. Her abilities hade closer to perfection. She even began to feel that there was no one in the whole group who would be able to beat her not even the trio now that she had be a C rank mage.


    Neither the attacks from the katana nor the ck me that it had been imbued with was able to hurt Reba in the slightest. As Reba got used to the attacks she started to defend against the katana by transforming parts of her body into diamond. It seemed as if she had thrown caution to the wind but in reality, Shiranui could already tell that Reba had found the limits of her strength and had decided that she wasn''t a threat to her dominance.


    Shiranui felt a kind of shame that she had never felt before. It felt as if Reba was humiliating her since she was weaker but of course that was only her own imagination. Reba was too busy having fun enjoying her newfound strength to be dissing her.


    Shiranui gradually lost all advantages as all her attacks had been in in front of Reba''s defenses.


    Reba too began to fight back and exploited every opportunity to deal damage to Shiranui so as to win. She started to manipte herser attack and continuously bombarded Shiranui but the ck me was still powerful enough for Shiranui to defend herself at the very least.


    The only ones who were being inconvenienced were the audience who were close to the field as the constant explosions were messing with their ears. Still no one was willing to leave without knowing the result of this fight. Therefore, the audience close to the field cleared towards the back and witnessed the thrilling fight from afar in order to protect their ears from the frequent explosive sounds that ensued whenever the ck me collided with the guidedsers.


    Reba was slowly getting the hang of manipting hersers. It wasn''t long before she managed to control multiplesers at once that kept following after Shiranui as she used ck me to defend against the continuous offensive.


    Reba wanted to end the match as soon as possible as she had clearly found that she was stronger than her opponent. Intoxicated by her new strength, she madly chased after the dodging and parrying Shiranui and madly threw herser attacks without a care for her consumption. This was thest opponent as far as she knew because thest participant might as well have not been there. He was the same idiot that had been put together with her in initial match up and the only thing he had been good at was his perception ability. Considering theyout of the matchup, he appeared to be the weakest of the Merion High bunch. So as far as Reba was concerned, this match was thest match.


    Beating Shiranui could get her into the finals and that was all she was thinking while constantly increasing her mana output to the point that everyone in the audience could tell that she was being reckless. She looked like a psychotic woman chasing after the man that had scorned her. But Reba didn''t care at all and put everything into bringing down Shiranui.

 190 Chapter 190

    With her reckless casting, she was finally able to get past Shiranui''s defenses. Blood leaked from the wounds caused by thesers directed towards Shiranui. Although none of thesers had managed to pierce through her bodypletely, even the smallest graze left her leaking blood. Theser was sharper than any weapon and stronger than any attack that Reba could muster.


    As Reba started to gain better understanding of her abilities, Shiranui was pushed further and further towards the precipice of defeat. Thesers after her felt as if they were the dark hounds of hell who were intent on bringing her back with them. There was no way to get rid of them unless she dodged them at thest possible moment and allowed thesers to hit the surrounding objects to remove their tracking effect. She had slowly been able to discover that Reba was unable to control aser that had already encountered an obstacle in its path.


    Shiranui wasn''t one to back down despite the number of attacks that she was suffering with each passing moment. Her defenses had broken down long ago and she was barely able to keep herself standing in the face of continuous barrage of attacks that seemingly had no end to them.


    Wounds started to umte on her body and the blood loss started to affect her cognitive ability as Shiranui madly rushed towards Reba in an attempt to resist the end that the fight was heading towards.


    Shiranui was more averse to losing than anyone else in the world. She wasn''t willing to go down this easily and had chosen to fight for as long as possible even if she had to do something that was against logic andmon sense. Her reddish figure was already starting to slow down as the blood loss started to affect her physical abilities as well. This increased the difficulty of the match by many folds for Shiranui who had already been struggling.


    Shiranui was unable to sustain the magic output that she had released as she had rushed towards Reba. This caused her steps to falter as she basically stumbled her way towards her. Her body felt heavy and each step was felt full ofbor like she had never known before. The decrease in her agility and flexibility due to her heavy steps and drained body was enough to make her a moving target for Reba to practice her newfound strength on.


    Shiranui did not get a single opportunity to fight back. In front of absolute superiority that Reba was disying, her strength was like a firefly in front of the sun.


    Shiranui was bloodied and exhausted yet refused toe off the field. She did not want to lose to Reba no matter the cost. She did not want to forfeit this match. She felt that if she lost this match she would never be able to achieve the goal that she had set for herself. The fire of vengeance in her eyes would never be exhausted if Shiranui was stopped by Reba.


    Her refusal to forfeit led to a situation that was uneptable to Zavier in the stands. Reba followed after Shiranui as she tried to avoid the iing attacks and kept on attacking her by exploiting the opportunities and the gaps in her defense created by hersers that she had alreadyunched at Shiranui.


    Zavier was fidgeting at his seat and was wondering whether he should ask teacher Calista to bring her off the field or not. He knew what winning meant to Shiranui but he was not willing to let her get injured in such a manner due to that obsession. Reba was not an enemy that she had to beat no matter what. There was no personal enmity or grudge to begin with so there was no need to go so far. Zavier knew that this all sounded good to him when he appraised the logic of it but asking Shiranui to understand that was not so simple. She was extremely stubborn and bull minded when it came to situations like this. She would not back down no matter what.


    In the end, his care for Shiranui won over his understanding of Shiranui and he approached Calista to bring her out. He was willing to fight instead of her.


    "Take her out please. She would never give up on her own. This much is already enough. What are you waiting for? Please help her out."


    Calista cast a fierce re at him as if she wanted to devour him whole like a monster but her gaze softened as she witnessed the worried expression that was stered all over Zavier''s face. She could tell that he was extremely nervous from the way he constantly kept twisting and cracking his fingers.<sub> </sub>


    Even though she wanted to do the same thing too, she had been bound by Shiranui''s words from before the match. She couldn''t stop the game even if she wanted to because she knew that if she did that she wouldpletely lose her student. This would be a blow that Shiranui would be unable to forget; a stigma that would haunt her as much as the trauma that she had already been suffering from.


    Calista didn''t want to be the one to do that to her pitiful student. She nned to keep her promise to her no matter what. Before the match, Shiranui had asked her to not interfere with her match unless she gave up by herself and Calista was nning to keep her word no matter what she witnessed.


    Zavier was growing impatient and Calista could tell how terrified and worried he was but she had to let him down this time.


    "I am sorry but I won''t do that. She asked me to not interfere before the match. I have to respect her wishes. Zavier, I want you to believe in her that she can take care of herself. I know that you are worried but she is a mage as well who has her own goal in mind. I hope that you let her do what she wants or I fear that she might cast you aside if you try to be her shackles. That''s how important her goal is to her. Please give her your full support. You know that she needs it; now more than ever."


    Zavier calmed down his boiling rage and contemted what Calista had just said to him. He had been so worried that he had forgotten what was most important to Shiranui. He had never wanted to hold her back but unknowingly he had almost done the very same thing. If it hadn''t been for Calista, he might have already done something that he might have regrettedter on.


    It wasn''t just the Merion high school team that was shocked by the result of the match. There was a mor in the audience as well. There were indistinct shouts, voices of support and most of all shock that they had received at the expected loss of Shiranui who had been the most popr amongst the candidates. The reason for her poprity was not just the way she dressed, but the strength and level of skill development that she had showed had mesmerized the audience. Her mental fortitude and her cool demeanor had won over the audience in a very short period of time.


    Yet the scene that was being yed in the field at that moment was beyond the understanding of the audience. The mighty Shiranui who had been deemed to be one of the finalists was currently being crushed by Reba who had been nowhere close to her ording to the audience reviews.


    This was as unlikely as it could have been so it took a while for the audience to ept the reality that Shiranui was no longer one of the strongest. She had been overtaken by Reba through the use of the evolution potion.


    The pitiful state of Shiranui of the Yamata family caused Rachel to frown as if she didn''t believe the result that was in front of her. She had expected more from such a famous family but it seemed that she had overestimated the standard of the fallen family. She appeared to be dissatisfied with this oue as she had great expectations for Shiranui who was one of thest remaining survivors of the Yamata family.


    Contrary to her expectations, Shiranui had disyed none of the imperial regalia during the match. It seemed that she had failed to awaken any one of them despite having the bloodline of the Yamata family. Rachel felt disappointed at such a waste of potential.


    The audience had long since been silenced. It was no longer a match or apetition between two contestants. It had long since left that genre. It was a one-sided thrashing and bullying that people were watching from in between their fingers. Every single one of them wanted the match to be stopped but there was no one who was willing to get in between the two. One was punching with her fist covered in glittering diamond and the other was offering up her body as a punching target.

 191 Chapter 191

    Shiranui didn''t even have the energy left to defend herself as the pace of the battle was being controlled by Reba to the fullest.


    Only the muffled groans and the dull sound of a rock hitting a fragile body could be heard.


    Even though the one being thrashed was Shiranui, there were countless in the audience who could feel her pain and the anguish that she was feeling at that moment.


    The match proceeded towards its conclusion without a single change. The aggressor and the victim remained the same till the end. Shiranui was pummelled into the ground by Reba with a smirk on her face as if she was enjoying every bit of her new strength. The smile was for the audience though. She had to disy her confidence to them if she wanted to keep her prestige and pride in front of them. But on the inside she had long since started to feel ufortable.


    The girl was close to being a maniac. She was unwilling to lose despite the clear difference in strength. Reba had assumed that Shiranui would back out once she disyed the clear distance between them through her strength but Shiranui''s stubbornness surprised even her. Shiranui only became more desperate as the gap became clear to her.


    Reba didn''t know what was it that Shiranui wanted so desperately but she was sure that there must be some good reason behind it. As such she didn''t hold back at all and decided to defeat her with absolute strength so as to not hurt her more than what was required. She knew that the more the fight would be prolonged, the more injured Shiranui would get.


    Still, Reba had failed to take her tenacity into ount in that strategy. No matter how hard she was hit, Shiranui had refused to fall down as if by instinct.


    Reba had grown desperate since the fight was taking longer than she had anticipated despite having used her full strength in the attempt to take her down.


    Shiranui was like a zombie and refused to give up. Reba was afraid that the next attack would take her life if this continued. Just as her diamond fists were about to make contact with Shiranui''s abdomen, they came to a halt. Because there was no need to attack any more.


    Shiranui had finally run out of juice. Her body plummeted to the ground like a full sack of wheat with an unstable base.


    Reba let out a sigh of relief as she didn''t have to fight that zombie anymore. She was afraid of killing her by mistake which would have automatically disqualified her from thepetition.


    Shiranui had fallen to the ground but she had not lost her consciousness. She was forcefully trying to keep her eyes open despite the fact that her eyelids were growing heavier and heavier with each passing second. She wanted to use her fingers to pry her eyes open but her arms had long since been out ofmission. She didn''t even have the energy to lift a single finger let alone her arm.


    Shey on the heated ground while facing the ground. Her body was as tired as her mind but she still refused to go down or ept her fate. Her whole body became numb as she became unable to feel a single thing despite having suffered so much. There was no pain or heat that could reach her brain. It was as if her brain was shutting down. She began to forget what she was doing but she desperately struggled against it. Her throat felt parched and she felt as if she was gurgling with sand whenever she ingested the saliva in her mouth to keep it moistened. Still, she continued to re at her enemy as if in defiance that she still had the will to fight back against Reba.


    Her body on the other hand was not fit enough for her to even re at her enemy. Her vision started to blur like the pixels on the television had exploded into fragments. She was unable to focus and darkness wasing from all around her to surround her. She was experiencing tunnel vision but nothing had ever felt as horrific to her as the darkness encroaching onto her from all sides waiting to devour her whole.


    Her eyes closed involuntarily and her body shut downpletely as she fell unconscious.


    Shiranui felt that she was lying on a cold surface. The cold was piercing into her and was making her bones shiver from frost. She remembered that the field had been like an oven due to the fire skills she had used. The ground had been scorched and had been like an oven when she had fallen on the ground.<sub> </sub>


    She desperately wanted to know what had happened and why she was feeling cold. The cold current in her body jerked her eyes open.


    She found that she was in a familiar ce but it wasn''t thepetition field where she should have been. Instead of the clear blue sky and the bright sun, cold and blood colored moon from hell adorned the equally bloody sky on top of her.


    The astringent smell of blood and corpses assaulted her nostrils and she felt nausea overtaking her senses. Her head spun like a merry go round and her stomach would send out bursts of acidic water since there was no food to begin with. Even when she tried to vomit, nothing came out as if she had not been fed for decades.


    She breathed in and tried to control her runaway senses as she took in the bloody sight that had haunted her both when she was awake or asleep.


    The broken window and the bloodied floor was a reminder of all the lives that had been lost that night and all the souls that were still wandering around the crevices between the living and the dead waiting for someone to avenge them.


    The voices of those souls were as vivid to her as if they were right around the corner. But Shiranui knew that no matter how much she ran around in this tragic ce, she wouldn''t be able to see those that she wanted to look at once again. This nightmare was only the reminder of her promise; the vow that she had taken to avenge this injustice.


    She had finally broken her final vow as well. Since she was in this ce she assumed that she must have lost the battle that she had been fighting earlier. She had been unable to keep her promise to those she felt guilty to.


    As soon as Shiranui began to think along those lines, she finally lost her will to survive. She didn''t have anything to live for any longer. To her, it didn''t matter any longer if she ever left this ce or not.


    Sheid down on the bloody ground and stared at the blood colored sky with indifference. Her eyes that viewed this world were as lifeless as the people who had lost their lives in this ce. She had carried the burden for far too long and felt that it was time that she let it all go by giving up on everything.


    Reba felt that it was time to break her connection to the living world that had given her nothing but pain. As she thought that, a figure appeared in her mind that almost brought a smile on her face, however she couldn''t remember who it was any longer.


    Zavier had had enough of it. He wasn''t willing to let her suffer any longer. He wanted to rush into the field to get her out of there as soon as possible. The sight of her body lying there lifelessly leaking blood from all over her body made him want to shout out loud into the sky with the angst he had been holding back. While knowing that any interference in the match might lead to them being disqualified, he still wanted to rush into the field to carry her out. He had lost many things in his previous life, and he wasn''t willing to give any space in his heart to something useless like regret. Standing by while Shiranui was in that condition was something that he was unwilling to do.


    Zavier stood up with a jerk as if he had juste to his senses and intended to rush out of the audience stands. But a hand came out of nowhere and pressed him back down on his seat.


    Zavier looked up in order to determine who the owner of that hand was. It turned out that Mabel had blinked in front of him the moment he had decided to rush out. Zavier was a little apprehensive at the sudden appearance of the woman but he wasn''t deterred. He tried to get up again but the hand pressed him down forcefully.


    Mabel made eye contact with Zavier who seemed to have lost his mind. She shook her head at him while increasing the force of her grip on his shoulder.

 192 Chapter 192

    Zavier understood what she was trying to convey to him. She had a serious expression on her face as she reassured him that nothing bad or permanent would happen to Shiranui so he should calm down a bit. Moreover, hisck of impulse control could have gotten them all disqualified. Even if he didn''t care about his admission into the Caesar University, he should at least not spoil the opportunity that Kacie, Nadia and Dah had earned with a lot of hard work.


    Zavier could do nothing but keep his butt glued to his seat with a worried expression on his face. Not being able to do anything while Shiranui was in such a state was incredibly vexing to him but he had to control himself for his cousins and Dah.


    Shiranui was still stuck in her terrible nightmare. She had already lost sight of her goal and was unwilling to wake up again thinking that she would apany the aggrieved souls to the end.


    She felt her soul breaking past the shackles of her body and floating towards the sky. The sky that she saw was not red any longer but the clearest of blues, like the deep ocean. The sun shone on her face but the light didn''t blind her any longer. It felt as if the sunlight was weing her instead. A peaceful expression creeped up on Shiranui''s face as she began to cut her ties with the world in order to enter the light. And then she heard it once again; the same sentence with that same insufferable attitude and suffocating indifference.


    Boiling rage burst inside her as if a volcano had erupted inside her body. The rage inside her bubbled out of her in the form of an unfamiliar me that she had never seen before but she hardly cared about it at all. The only thing in her mind was that sentence that she had just heard.


    "Is that all you can do?"


    A severe pain clouded her mind as she began to remember things that she had wanted to forget but had been unable to for so long.


    She wanted to destroy the one who had said this to her; that horrible monster that had devoured her entire family and had med herck of power for not being able to stop her.


    The rage made her forget her earlier decision of letting it all go. She was unable to forget. How could she forget when everything else in the world was trying to make her remember what she was trying to forget?


    The same words made her want to open her eyes once again. She half expected her sister to be in front of her again uttering the same words; looking at her with the same demeaning look in her eyes as if Shiranui was worse than an insect in her eyes.


    And that was when she heard it again.


    "Huh, is that really all you can do? I thought that you were supposed to be good but you are no better than the rest."


    Her eyes jerked open and she saw who it was standing almost on top of her. It was not her sister whom she was expecting. It was her previous opponent that she had failed to defeat, Reba.


    Strength erupted from somewhere inside of her as she got back on her feet with her limbs trembling from overexertion. Her knees almost buckled from the severe pain and exhaustion but she clenched her fists tightly andposed herself so as to not fall back again. Her re at the same time wanted to prate through her opponent. If eyes could have killed, Reba would have died a hundred times over.


    Shiranui had never been unreasonable even if she had been cold hearted but at that time her eyes had gone red with anger and she was unable to distinguish the actual source of her anger and indignation. The faces of Reba and her sister ovepped at some point and their simr words started echoing in her mind with the strength of a loudspeaker making it so that she was unable to ignore it no matter how hard she tried.


    The force with which she kept clenching her fist kept on increasing and her nails pierced into her palm but Shiranui didn''t even feel the pain. Blood leaked out of her hands and fell onto the boiling ground drop by drop.


    Reba had been nning to put on a show for the audience. She was actually relieved that Shiranui had finally gone down. Reba had already given her an excessive beating contrary to what she wanted but Shiranui had been refusing to go down.


    In order to show her strength to the audience, she had been saying those provocative words like the protagonist of a novel.


    Although she thought of herself that way, she was actually acting like a viin acting out their monologue before the final battle. Her words had managed to thoroughly enrage Shiranui who had previously epted her defeat. This had put Reba in a tight spot as well as she had never expected her publicity stunt to backfire in such a way.


    Still she wasn''t afraid at all. She had already beaten Shiranui ck and blue before. This revival meant nothing at all since there was no strength in Shiranui''s knees at the moment. She was barely standing.


    Shiranui on the other hand was on the brink of bursting. The me inside her was trying to burst out by breaking apart all the seals in its path.<sub> </sub>


    As her eyes regained their vigor and life, a strange energy came out of her womb and prated each and every cell of her body while invigorating her with endless energy that she had never felt before.


    The seals that had been keeping the me in shackles started to burst apart as she felt searing sensation on her body. Her body had started to burn furiously and the color of the me was not the one that she was familiar with. It was golden in color instead of ck.


    The me had taken over her bodypletely and was burning away her whole body, or so she thought. In fact, although her body was burning there was no pain since it wasn''t burning her at all.


    On the contrary, it was a me much like her Dark me in the way that it was her skill so it wouldn''t harm her no matter what.


    As the golden me increased in luminosity and ferocity, a golden pattern began to emerge on her body as if it was being tattooed on to her by the golden me itself.


    The pattern looked as if thousands of snakes were twisting and turning around her while intertwining with each other in aplex design. Some of the snake heads were even spitting me from their mouths like a dragon.


    "Yamata pattern? It''s the Yamata pattern for sure. Isn''t it?"


    Galen who had not participated in any of the conversation before this finally spoke up as if he had been unable to control his excitement after having witnessed the golden me that had erupted out of Shiranui without a moment''s notice.


    To the others around him, it appeared that the pattern must have been a big deal as Galen was acting so excited and unreserved for the first time since the start of thepetition.


    "It''s been a while since I have seen this pattern appear on someone. After all the members of that n..."


    The people around him waited for him to continue but seeing that he had stopped midway as if he had remembered something unpleasant, they didn''t disturb him any longer.


    Galen noticed that the people around him were looking at him expectantly so he obliged them all as he felt that it was his responsibility for arousing their interest to such a level in the first ce.


    "Thest time that pattern appeared, dozens of S rank mages had perished under its wrath. I wonder what would happen this time."


    There were loud exmations at his exnation but it hadn''t been very concrete for the audience to make sense of what was happening.


    Scott on the other hand had seen this pattern for the first time in his life. He didn''t know anything about it so he had to ask someone who was more experienced than he was. As such, he turned to Harry and asked him about it.


    "I have a feeling that you know what that is."


    "Of course I know. Or did you think that I was as ignorant as you are?"


    "Hurry up and tell me what it is."


    Harry pretended as if he was thinking whether he should tell or not but didn''t waste too much time contemting. He took a deep breath to sound more mysterious as he began to exin the Yamata pattern.


    "This is a power that exclusively belonged to a single bloodline, namely the Yamata family. Even among the Yamata family, the pattern is extremely rare. Only the ones who had managed to awaken their ancestral bloodline to the extreme would be able to awaken this pattern on their body. The golden me was in fact a means to carve the pattern on the body of the girl."

 193 Chapter 193

    "It is like a knighting ceremony for the knights. It is a kind of ceremony for bloodline returning to its origin; true awakening in other words. Only the ones with the purest bloodlines and the ones who had managed to develop their bloodlines to the extreme had these patterns on their bodies in the past. s it has been a long time since that family vanished. It is nice to see that someone capable is carrying on the torch."


    Rachel who had previously been dissatisfied with the match finally had a smile on her face as if this was what she had been waiting for. Her excitement overwhelmed her emotions momentarily but she was back to normal soon. But this time, there was a rxed smile on her face as if she was already aware of the oue of the match with the appearance of the tattoo on Shiranui''s body. She knew something about the effects of the golden pattern as was evident from the mysterious smile on her face as if she knew exactly what was about to transpire in the field.


    Zavier had activated his Time space eye and had focused the entirety of his vision at Shiranui who was burning golden at the moment. He wanted to make sure that it wasn''t something that would be harmful to her. If at any moment he felt that the golden me might harm her, he was determined to pull her out of the match even if she was going to hate him for it for the rest of their lives.


    But what he found was quite contrary to his fears. Just like he had found a powerful blood colored force inside of Gabby and his two teammates, he could feel a special force inside Shiranui that was emanating from her womb and was spreading throughout that body. It was as if it was stimting that golden pattern to emerge onto her body.


    At the same time, the mana channels in her body began to expand slightly allowing for a faster flow of mana and a higher capacity. It felt as if Shiranui was advancing to a higher level; her bloodline was improving itself by returning to its essence.


    The energy responsible for this was neither as nefarious as he had expected because even the energy of the elixir had caused so much pain to Reba and nor was it like the one he had found in the bodies of the bloodline trio. Instead it was soothing to the eyes as if just looking at it was making him feel at peace. This was a calm and peaceful energy that was helping her advance in the gentlest means possible.


    Although Zavier could tell that it was something that was beneficial for Shiranui, he had to make sure of it. He couldn''te to a conclusion based on his iplete knowledge of this world. Therefore, he turned to Calista and asked her in an inquisitive manner to hide the worries in his heart.


    "I don''t think that I have seen such a force before as well. It is my first time witnessing something like that. Maybe it is some form of bloodline force. I can''t tell for sure."


    Even Calista didn''t know what it was. How was Zavier supposed to know about such energy? The heart that he had barely managed to calm down was jumping about like a fish out of water. He could barely hold himself back from rushing to her. He had to at least wait until the conclusion to determine whether it was good or bad for her in the truest sense.


    It was not just Calista who was ignorant about this unknown power that Shiranui was disying right now. Wallice who was on the other side of the audience seating was facing the same dilemma. When Gabby asked her about it, she was embarrassed to find that she had nothing to say to him at all; after all, he was just as clueless as he was.


    There had been so many twists and turns in thepetition and both sides had been so tenacious that Wallice couldn''t help but see the two participants in a different light. One had undergone evolution in the middle of the fight while the other had refused to give up at the precipice of death. Both were as stubborn as rocks but she couldn''t help but appreciate their strength on the inside.


    Shiranui who was still in the field and was feeling like a phoenix that had burst into mes, felt the true horror of the mes that were flowing out of her like an endless cascading waterfall.


    Her mana channels were being overloaded by the huge amount of golden mes erupting from her body. It was too strong for her to exercise her will over it. The me couldn''t be controlled with her measly strength. The ferocity of the golden me akin to the wrath of a divine entity whenpared to the dark me that she was able to control at will.<sub> </sub>


    Shiranui was feeling like a st furnace at the moment that had reached the end of her days and was about to burst apart into a thousand pieces. The golden me inside her wanted to wreak havoc everywhere by escaping her confines but Shiranui had been doing her best to hold it back.


    But like a broken dam, her body gave way and the me spread outwards in the field uncontrobly. The field was scorched in random ces as the me wasn''t spreading evenly with her as the epicentre. It waspletely random which made it harder for Reba to dodge it.


    Reba could instantly sense danger from the golden mes despite her newfound strength. She felt that the burn marks from that me wouldn''t go away for a lifetime which was the reason that she didn''t even try to attack in this situation. She focused on escaping the creeping mes no matter what.


    Unfortunately for her, the randomness and the sheer number of mes encroaching towards her was so huge that she found herself caught by the inevitability of her fate.


    The mes stuck to her body like a piece of gum and a scalding pain coursed through her body even though she had covered herself with her diamond skin.


    The diamond skin on her body glowed brighter as sheunchedser afterser from her diamond exterior to get rid of the mes that were eating away at her diamond body like she was made up of firewood instead.


    ? Thesers harmlessly passed through the me and didn''t do anything to save her from the bone scraping pain that was torturing her constantly. Nothing worked against the golden mes. Reba wondered whether the mes even needed air to burn continuously. She had a feeling that the mes wouldn''t extinguish even after she was dead and cremated.


    Finally, her diamond skin was unable to take it anymore and began to melt as if it was petty ore instead of the hardest substance in the world. The pain of being burnt alive was not something that people could imagine just because they knew what being burnt was like. Only those burning together could actually sympathize with each other.


    Therefore, Reba was truly alone in this ordeal and knowing that only made it harder for her to bear. The smell of burnt flesh and hair assaulted her nostrils and made her want to gag but the fact that it was her own flesh that was melting terrified her beyond her capacity. She began to scream hysterically from the soul tearing pain that made her want to forget all her ambitions and dreams in order to survive past this ordeal.


    The audience too came to their senses at that time. Those who knew that Shiranui had the Yamata pattern and were looking forward to the result of the battle finally understood how terrifying it truly was. The golden me was hotter than their wildest imaginations. At the same time they understood that Shiranui had unlimited potential. She had only just awakened the power of the Yamata bloodline but she was already capable of throwing out so much raw power even if her control over her ability was currently too weak to call it her own power.


    Calista realized that the Yamata bloodline power inside Shiranui had gone rogue and started to prepare for an intervention on her behalf lest she end up killing her opponent by mistake. She might not only be a danger to Reba but she might also end up harming herself because of her poor control. There was a chance that thepressed me inside her body would burst apart if she tried to suppress all that power that she was barely able to release.


    Shiranui had always been her best student. Even after Calista had met Zavier, she had still always called Shiranui her best student. The reason was that Shiranui was unlike the monster that Zavier was. She was a hard working student who was both obedient and talented unlike Zavier who was neither of them and had huge secrets around his existence. As soon as he revealed himself, he was already at the top. For a moment he had disyed strength that exceeded even that of Calista and Valerie.

 194 Chapter 194

    How could Calista continue to call him a student at that stage? She had unknowingly started to treat Zavier like a peer or an equal after the incident with Kyouko and the other S rank mages. So, the reason that she had never felt odd calling Shiranui her best student was that she had never considered Zavier her student in the first ce. He was too strong for that, almost like a cheat card.


    However, before Calista could have called out to the referee in order to announce her forfeiture, someone else beat her to it. It was the white bearded old man let out a roar to attract the attention of the referee while waving his hand furiously.


    The referee turned towards the old man in response to the roaring voice that was full of authority.


    Calista was dumbfounded as she was just about to call the referee before she had been interrupted. Her words had been forcefully stopped in her mouth and she barely stopped herself from rushing towards the rude old man.


    "We concede this fight to Merion High. Reba will withdraw from the fight."


    "Are you sure that you want to concede the fight to Merion high school? Caesar High will be unable to proceed to the finals that way?"


    White bearded old man let out a heavy snort as if he had been offended by the question.


    "Do I look like I care about that at the moment? Hurry up and end it."


    As soon as the old man confirmed referee''s question, he rushed into the field towards Reba who had been running about firingsers from her body in an attempt to stop the me from devouring her body.


    He went into the ming field without a single defense but the out of control me was unable to harm him in the slightest. He pulled her out of the sea of mes like he was not even making an effort.


    There was not the slightest smidge of smoke or soot on his mes despite having entered the fire. The mana shield around him had been too strong for the mes of this level to have affected him in the slightest.


    Old man pulled out a small bottle that was pitch ck in color and looked like a drinking gourd of olden times. There was a cork in the mouth of the bottle that was as ancient looking as the bottle itself. It appeared as if the bottle had never been opened previously.


    The old man hurriedly fumbled around with the bottle before pulling out the cork at the mouth of the bottle with his index finger and the thumb of the right hand.


    With a little noise, the cork came loose and a suction force erupted from bottle that was enough to suck in all the surrounding air and water vapours,


    The mes around Reba and those that were burning the field into embers started to sway in the wind as they began to be affected by the devouring force of the bottle as well. The mes looked like they were about to extinguish at first but the wind that was moving in the direction of the bottle continued to fan the mes further as they started to burn even more brightly.


    The suction got stronger until it was enough to pull all the mes on Reba''s body into it. The mes were lifted into the air like uprooted trees in a terrible storm.


    As soon as the mes had been cleansed off of the field, the white bearded old man put the cork back in its ce and the pitch ck bottle shook slightly in his hand before settling down.<sub> </sub>


    Zavier wondered if it was some kind of spatial magic or some kind of sealing magic that it was able to contain such arge amount of powerful mes in that small body. Either it was a bottle imbued with spatial magic that enhanced the actual capacity of the bottle, or it was some kind of defensive artifact that had the ability to transfer the iing attacks to somece else.


    The old man had managed to save Reba with the help of the bottle but Shiranui was still sprouting golden me from every part of her body like she was some kind of a high temperature furnace. The old man didn''t care that Shiranui was still in trouble and dragged Reba out of there without even looking back.


    Meanwhile the fire field surrounding Shiranui continued to burn fiercely and continued to gain momentum. Calista could tell that Shiranui had no control over herself at the moment and needed to be saved as well. Since the old man had no intention to save her as well, Calista started to chant while making hand signs at the same time.


    The hand signs were fluent as if she had been practicing them her whole life and the chants that came out of her mouth felt like music to everyone else. No one understood what she was about to so they left it up to time to reveal the answer to them.


    As the audience waited in silence, the air around Calista continued to circte as if it was all gathering around her in a cyclone. The moisture in the air was being dragged out as if the very essence of water vapors was being extracted. The water condensed from the air gathered to Calista''s side in the form of huge globules that looked like slimes. The water globules moved towards Shiranui at the direction of Calista who was finished with her spell.


    If possible, Calista hadn''t wanted to disy this skill in front of so many people since it had to do with her elven heritage but the situation left her out of options. This skill was a kind of elven water magic that was easily able to suppress any normal fire with the greatest efficiency. Calista was hoping to suppress the golden fire with her elven magic since she was desperate to save her student through this method.


    The water globules started to wrap themselves around the furious me trying to calm the dancing mes but to Calista''s surprise, the fire wasn''t suppressed at all. On the contrary, the fire began to grow in size and spread outward like a flood breaking past the time. It was almost as if the me was retaliating against Calista for trying to suppress it. Even the me was as prideful as the caster; and just as stubborn too.


    Shiranui meanwhile had lost all senses and was acting like a fiery volcano that had finally burst to mow down the surroundingnd through its heavenly fury. The tidal wave of the mes spread with Shiranui as the epicentre and had reached the edge of the field even after Calista''s attempt to suppress it with her water magic.


    Zavier who was standing at the edge of the fire field as well could feel the absolute heat from afar. The temperature of the field had increased as the fire continued to burn. It was as if the whole world had been thrown into a pot of boiling water. The heat was enough to deter the audience who retreated even further back to avoid being touched by the golden mes. They had already seen that the mes were inextinguishable through normal means. It was only natural that they were all trying to avoid touching it like it was the gue all over again.


    Zavier too had to step back in order to save himself from the furious mes but at the same time he could not stop being worried about Shiranui who was at the centre of the fire. He could only hope that she was fine as it was her own skill that was raging all around her.


    Those on the high seats had also seen what had happened but had yet to move despite being the strongest of all the attendees. It wasn''t because they were indifferent to what was happening and they didn''t care about the life and death of others but because they were waiting for something.


    They had been too focused on Shiranui the entire time for them to be acting as strangers now. Zavier had seen the old men at the top and had witnessed how excited they had been when the golden pattern had emerged on her body. Therefore, he had expected them to act but all of them had yet to make a move as if they had all reached a consensus.


    As Zavier had expected, the audience at the top finally started to get flustered as the fire began to grow increasingly out of control. Galen who was among the highest audience cast a nce at his apprentice who was also sitting close to him.


    As soon as their eyes met, the two of them, one middle aged and the other an elderly man with a sharp look in his eyes stood up from their respective seats.


    The audience members gasped loudly at their actions. The audience at the top was the top brass of the empire and the pinnacle of the world of mages that every mage of the empire hoped to reach.

 195 Chapter 195

    They had countless eyes on them at all times and this time was no different. Just a simple action of them standing at their seats garnered the attention of the crowd despite the fact that thepetition field was currently blooming fiery golden mes.


    Both Harry and Galen didn''t even notice the reaction of the audience as they flew above the field to avoid getting caught up in the mes.


    Galen began to chant and a heavy voice mesmerized the audience as a huge circr magic array surrounded the entire field of mes. The mes that had remained undeterred even under the suppression of the elven magic started to move towards the centre of the array as if they were being guided by nature itself. The me hardly showed any resistance under the influence of the field.


    Both Calista and Wallice let out sighs of amazement at the exquisite array that Galen had created within such a short amount of time. It had already gone beyond their cognitive range. All they could do was marvel at it like the rest of the audience with faces filled with amazement and surprise.


    As the mes flew towards the centre of the array in steady streams, Harry who had been waiting above the field flew downwards andnded right behind Shiranui.


    A glove of mana surrounded his hand as he put it on her ming back. Harry directed a steady stream of mana into her body which was far more powerful than even the special energy that was bringing about the change in her body. It forcefully pushed that energy back to her womb and the pattern on her body began to disappear as if it had never been there.


    Harry had used a lot of mana to flood her channels so that there was no ce for that energy to move about her body. In the end it had been confined to her womb with no ce else to go.


    As soon as the gilded pattern on her body vanished, Shiranui lost her senses and her body shut down by itself.


    Harry helped hery down on the ground following which she closed her eyes slowly before she lost consciousnesspletely.


    Calista rushed towards Shiranui as soon as the way to her had been cleared of the golden me by the array that had been arranged by Galen. She had been too worried all this time and wanted nothing more than to check on her physical condition. Although, Shiranui had always made her worried due to her stubborn traits, this was the first time Calista felt her heart jump out of her chest due to the fear that she had been feeling.


    Harry saw her rush into the field recklessly while the audience had been busy retreating. He couldn''t help but admire her devotion to her student. At the same time, he felt that it was his duty to put Calista''s mind at ease since everything was all right.


    "Be careful, her body temperature is still very high. You might hurt yourself."


    Calista heard his warning but she had to make sure that Shiranui was all right before taking a breath of relief. She checked her wrist for her pulse and the movement of her chest to determine her breathing. Both her pulse and her breathing seemed to be very normal and it felt that nothing was wrong with her at the very least.


    Fortunately, the golden me hadn''t hurt Shiranui at all so she was rtively uninjuredpared to what Calista had imagined. The only injuries were the physical injuries that Reba had inflicted on her before she managed to awaken her Yamata pattern.


    Since everything was fine with her, Calista felt that she should have been awake. Yet Shiranui was out of it. Out of her worry, Calista finally looked at Harry with inquisitive eyes.


    "Are you sure she is all right? Why isn''t she waking up then?"


    Harry felt that he should at least set her mind at ease since Calista looked a mom whose child had grown sick.


    "Don''t worry. The first experience for an awakening can be quite consuming. Since she was unable to control her newfound power, she ended up overexerting herself. She recklessly consumed her mana without holding back till the end. The result is that her body is currently suffering fromck of mana. Her magic circuits are stressed and it is currently hard for her to wake up due to that. The only treatment for her at the moment is a lot of rest that will be able to get her back on her feet soon enough."<sub> </sub>


    Calista''s heart could still not rest at ease even after she had heard it from Harry himself. She couldn''t help but worry for her student. Before she had even realized it, it had be one of her habits. She had no blood rtion with Shiranui but the bond between them had gotten stronger than the ties of blood. Calista followed behind the medical staff as they carried Shiranui away for treatment.


    Nadia, Kacie and Dah who had been worried as well quietly followed behind Calista as they all headed towards the hospital.


    It wasn''t as if Zavier didn''t want to go with her as well. Anxiety and nervousness for her well being were eating away at his sanity as he barely stopped himself from following behind the girls as well. He seemed to have remembered something as he looked at Shiranui''s unconscious body. Hesitation appeared on his face and he clutched both of his arms against his chest in order to keep himself in control.


    Kacie, who had always been the most perceptive of them all, figured out what was happening without the slightest of hints. It was as if she had peeked into his heart and had stolen all his secrets that he had been keeping under lock and key.


    "Don''t be worried. All of us are going to be with her. We will make sure to take good care of her."


    Zavier nodded while looking at Kacie as gratitude brightened his expression a tad further. Her eyes grew excited as well after seeing his smile but as usual she maintained her stoic expression while in front of Zavier.


    Since, Zavier was already in the field and he had nowhere to go at the moment, he decided to watch the rest of the matches as well. The second match of the final four was still pending and Zavier felt that it was a nice opportunity for him to learn about the rest of thepetitors especially those that he would have to fight against in the finals. As things were going, Melbourne High school had a greater chance since their opponent only had a single survivor from the firstpetition as well.


    Even though the match between Reba and Shiranui had ended a while ago, the audience was still in an uproar. There were various discussions taking ce and there were as many opinions as there were people among the audience.


    "I am telling you, if it hadn''t been for the evolution, Reba would have lost miserably. Shiranui has an outstandingbat potential aspared to Reba."


    "I don''t think that Reba would have lost at all. Her diamond skin is unbreakable."


    Those remaining ones who were not busy fighting about the intentions of the twopetitors were busy admiring the battle that had just taken in front of them.


    Mabel came towards the stage and acted as the announcer for the conclusion of the first match which was also an indication for the beginning of the next match. She first announced the winner of the first round for all before exining the opponents who would be fighting in the next match.


    The next match was going to be fought between Melbourne High School which was the team of those bloodline fighters and Cassell High school with the sole participant in the little girl that had given Zavier an apple in the first round.


    A few momentster, the contending teams found themselves in the battle arena. Even before their arrival, the spectators had already lined themselves up in droves on the stands. It was like a fun fair up there amongst the masses. But down in the ring, it was the exact opposite. It was just apetition, but for all of them, it might have as well been life or death. It was their youthful exuberance speaking of course, it definitely wasn''t that deep.


    Wallice led her team in her regr mother-hen vibe. She charged them with her own version of a pep talk as she brought them to the edge of the ring;


    "Okay gang, it''s time for us to take the stage¡­" She lifted up her face towards the other end of the ring, and gazed at the face of the lovely Sabrina smiling back at them. Damn, that girl really was creepy. And it was very difficult for anyone to read her. Wallice quickly averted her eyes before she could be sucked in by the girl''s personality and lose her objectiveness. Wallice wasn''t about to be a fan of Sabrina''s smiling face.


    "Hit her hard, and hit her fast okay? This shouldn''t take too much time. Reserve your true strength for the battle ahead. Let''s go!"

 196 Chapter 196

    Right on cue, the referee of the match emerged from some obscure location clutching his whistle in hand, wearing the traditional white and ck shirt that was typical of most referees in thispetition. Due to the sensitivity of thispetition, and also because of how vital it was to all the parties involved, the referees'' identities and locations were guarded safely. They were usually kept from the public and unveiled only at thest minute. All to prevent bribes, and ckmail, and any other misdemeanors that could be acted out by eager to win candidates.


    The smart looking referee blow his whistle to signal the announcement. This was the signal that both parties had been waiting for. Being the brilliant strategist, Wallice had already marked out the student who was going to fight Sabrina in this round. Naturally, as one would expect from a general, Wallice refused to tell them who she had selected for this particr fight. She knew that if she did, the others would rpse into a state of mentalxity. She didn''t want that. She absolutely didn''t want that all.


    Wallice needed all her students to be on their toes up till thest minute. It was the best state of mind they couldn''t possibly be in. So, with the referee in line already, it was now time for her to unveil her secret weapon. Wallice turned to her choice for the hour; Macbeth. He was to be her instrument of judgment at this hour. Macbeth was the perfect person for the job. His role in this wasn''t just to defeat Sabrina, it was to do it so hard and fast that the enemies wouldn''t be able to study his techniques.


    Also, she needed him to execute a certain level of savagery. This was intended to create the illusion that he and his team mates were crazy. And because they were, not even Shiranui could handle them. Wallice thought it was a good n, and no one could me her for being so overly cautious. Shiranui really made her ufortable. However, just as she was about to call on him toe forth, her eyes caught a very unusual sight.


    Sabrina was the first to respond. Like the legendary priestess'' of Gaia who were renowned of old, she came forth in a white garb, clutching a basket in her arms. As she approached, Wallice watched her suspiciously, trying her best to make sense of what exactly she was trying to do. But it was impossible to anticipate the moves of someone who was (and had been) disying all the signs of being unhinged.


    The girl stopped a respectful distance away from Wallice''s team, and in a loud voice, and a calm face, she addressed Mabel and her council;


    "Good day respected Miss Mabel, and all the respected invigtors. If you would have me, I Sabrina of Cassell High School would like to make a suggestion on how to go about this battle¡­"


    There was some slight murmuring in the crowd all around them. The Sabrina girl was cute, but she appeared to be actively trying to cash in on that benefit to ask for favors that would help her win this match. Mabel frowned deeply as the others looked to her to reply. She absolutely hated deviations from theid down protocol, but so far, the girl hadn''t broken any rules. She was simply asking if she could be heard. Mabel saw no harm in that, so, she nodded her go ahead wordlessly.


    Apparently, that was more than enough for Sabrina. Staying totally in character of the good student and a polite solicitor, she presented her extremely request;


    "Miss Mabel, if you would have me, I would like to fight all the students of Melbourne High School¡­all at once."


    Sabrina''s request couldn''t have had a more resounding effect than in that very moment. For a second or two, almost everyone felt like they almost didn''t hear her right the first time. But, very slowly, their brains began to digest the fact that there was a remote possibility that they had heard well. And then the shock came on. A wave of surprise rippled through the entire venue. The reactions were all simr.


    There were gasps, and sighs, and inaudiblements springing up from all over the ce. The astonishing suggestion from the nice looking girl made everyone''s narrative of her to shift immediately. Suddenly, Sabrina wasn''t just the ''nice looking girl'' anymore, she was now the crazy girl. What other exnation could there be? The same question echoed and re-echoed its way through out the venue until it rebounded back to her own ears;


    "Is she insane?!"


    Anybody would have definitely asked that given the situation. It was an unexpected proposal that carried serious weight. It had a serious impact on the audience, because a lot of them still hadn''t recovered from the high end octane energy from thest battle. And now, Sabrina had dropped a bombshell that had now spiced things up by a significant degree! For the fraction of individuals who weren''t wondering whether she was crazy, one other question ravaged their tidy, logical minds;


    "What the hell is she up to?! What was her end game? Surely she''s not suicidal, this would be a very bad way to go! All her contenders were top level mages! "<sub> </sub>


    Nobody asked themselves these questions more than Wallice. Thispetition was quickly bing more than what she had thought it would be. She couldn''t understand what the little girl was trying to do. Why would Sabrina choose the most unfavorable variant of this contest? Anybody could clearly see that a round-robin match was her best bet. A three on one match would be an extremely one-sided affair, not to mentionpletely detrimental to her overall wellbeing.


    Wallice was an over thinker, so her brain wasn''t short of any ideas as to why the girl was taking this path. Was she hoping to garner sympathy of any kind? Had Calista somehow convinced her to do this for some sick twisted n she was hatching? What was the end game here? What were they hoping to aplish with this move even if they were in cohorts with each other? These were the questions that were threatening to drive her to the edge of insanity.


    While Wallice ruminated on the whole thing, Mabel on the other hand felt the full responsibility of handling this situation ording to theid down rules. Objectively speaking, Mabel was the one who made the rules here. As far as thepetition was concerned, she made the rules and her word wasw. But that didn''t mean she wouldn''t be subject to scrutiny and an open panel investigation if the results were suspected to have been altered as a result of her direct influence in the games.


    She had to assess the situation clearly, and it most definitely wouldn''t pan out without her much needed rity. She took a deep breath and took notice of the external reaction to the request, and that was when Mabel found her loophole (just in case she needed to defend her actions in the future.) The crowd was eagerly eating this disy up. The sick fascination in their eyes was suggestive of the fact that they were all enthralled by the possibility of having a gruesome battle.


    Just as Mabel had initially expected, she could tell by the looks in the crowd that, some of them suspected that the cute little girl was simply doing this for clout, or because of her confidence. Whichever the case was, one thing Mabel was sure of was that the whole scenario was appealing to the audience. And because of that, she simply couldn''t afford to not take advantage of the scenario.


    So, Mabel sat up in her seat on the auditorium and stared down at the girl who was causing all this ruckus.


    "Young girl, do you realize what you''re asking?"


    Sabrina nodded enthusiastically, re affirming her original stance on the matter.


    "You want to fight the Melbourne High School team all at the same time? Entirely ALONE? ARE YOU SURE?"


    "Yes Miss Mabel, I do."


    This was getting pretty interesting. The crowd was loving it by the second. And Mabel was loving it even more. This was a very unlikely turn of events, and it was the entertaining kind. Prompted by protocol. Mabel turned to Wallice to address her;


    "Lead teacher of Melbourne High School, do you have any reservations about this matter?"


    Truth was Wallice didn''t mind a three on one situation. In fact, it was actually beneficial to her and her team''s ambition to emerge at the top. But the deal looked too sweet to be true. It was like the proverbial scene of a seemingly innocent stranger handing a piece of candy to a unknowing child. Wallice couldn''t help but feel like this was all too aligned to be without any consequences. Wallice still couldn''t figure out the girl''s true intentions, and it irked her badly.


    Then it struck Wallice, why not ask her? Why not get her to make bare her reasons to the world?

 197 Chapter 197

    Wallice was sure that the crowd would love it. Wallice wasn''t stupid, she could tell that there was a performative element to this whole thing. Asking Sabrina to dere her true intentions was killing two birds with one stone. She could tap into the entertaining aspect by putting Sabrina in the spotlight, and at the same time, figure out whether she was lying or not. Wallice was excellent at spotting untruths.


    With a self-assertive tone, she asked Sabrina the question that was on everyone''s minds;


    "Why?" the crowd was silent. Wallice spread her arms all around her, "I am sure I am pretty much speaking for everyone when I say that we all wanna know what exactly is prompting you to take this decision¡­"


    Wallice cleverly refrained from using any adjectives to describe ''this decision.'' On the long run, she wanted to seem as detached as possible from all and anything rting to prejudice and judgment. Here we go, Wallice thought. She hadid the snare, it was time to see if Sabrina would take the bait.


    The crowd approved heavily of Wallice''s question. Even Mabel forced herself to suppress a smile. She was supposed to appear impartial to all parties, and as such, she couldn''t afford to be seen taking sides. If she herself had asked that question, it would have made her seem too thirsty. Wallice had done everyone a favor. The dice had been rolled. All that was needed was for the girl toe through with a saucy answer and show her hand.


    Sabrina didn''t disappoint. She was in the big leagues now, and she had to step up her game. So, she lowered her gaze to the ground for a second. She could almost feel the thousands of pairs of eyes burning into her in that moment. Finally, she gave Wallice a t two worded answer;


    "My mother." Wallice could almost hear ''WHAT?!'' resounding all through the coliseum. Sabrina expanded further. Virtually all ears and eyes were on her now, and Wallice was acutely aware of this fact.


    "My mother always told me to fight my enemies when they are at their strongest¡­she said that if I didn''t do that, they would neverpletely ede to their defeat."


    Sabrina kept a kind smile on her face as she delivered those words deftly. She did so with the right amount of emotion, and totally devoid of any shred of arrogance.


    While those words settled in like butter into the hearts of those around, they entered Wallice''s heart like a dagger made of lightning. Wallice was infuriated! She couldn''t believe she was the only one who had heard just how thinly veiled Sabrina''s condescending mockery was! Had the little girl been ying them all along? Had she actually fallen for that ''cute-little-girl scam?''


    Truthfully, Sabrina''s face had held every normalcy of calmness. It was as though she hadn''t said anything hidden or cryptic. But Wallice couldn''t help but feel attacked! Personally and ethically! Her three students were unstoppable! Their skills were off the charts! How dare this emotional maniptive child try her in this manner?! Consumed by the toxic, dark storm of anger brewing in her, Wallice decided to teach the impudent child a lesson.


    Fuming with rage, and trying her best to suppress it, Wallice turned to Mabel (who had been watching the whole exchange curiously) and bowed slightly as she said;


    "We ept the terms Miss Mabel. Melbourne High School will ept Cassell High School''s offer to fight in a three on one match."


    Even though Wallice was boiling with anger, she made sure to watch her words very carefully. She used the word ''we'' instead of using the article ''I'' and made sure to use the word ''offer'' than the word ''challenge.'' She didn''t want to seem to eager to destroy the little girl who was just acting out her mother''s instructions.


    Mabel nodded her affirmation.


    "It is settled then! Let the games begin!"


    Oh they were going to begin alright, Wallice thought to herself as she walked back to her students in a fog of anger. As soon as they saw her face, they already knew what was up before she even delivered her final injunction; "DESTROY HER COMPLETELY!!!"


    Amongst the crowd, there were multiple personalities watching the whole show that had taken a very interesting turn by reason of the little girl''s suggestion. One of such was the princess of house Caesar. Rachel was intrigued. A few weeks back, when she had received the order from above that she was to represent the royal family at this year''s tournament, Rachel had been very skeptical about the whole arrangement.


    She thought it was simply one of those ploys to get her away for the time being, and therefore, she hadn''t been very enthusiastic abouting to Caesar University to watch a bunch of teenagers fight each other. But now, even as she found herself getting more and more absorbed in this match, she realized that things could always take a different twist. The princess was intrigued by the little girl who had volunteered of her own volition to take on an entire team, all on her own!


    The top podium with a giant fancy canopy housed the most important personalities at the event. It was like a skybox at a football game, where all the important people huddled together and looked down on every other person present. Seated in the middle was the president of Ceasar University, and by his right hand side was Rachel and her band of nicely dressed knights.


    On the left hand side of Galen was the famous Harry of course. These were the most important people here, and they sat at the highest elevated position.<sub> </sub>


    Harry was seated right next to the princess, and he didn''t hesitate to make his own doubts about the situation known. In a somber tone, he voiced his own break down of the girl''s predicament loud enough for just about everyone near him to hear;


    "This girl child might be powerful, but I highly doubt that even she would farewell in a one on three situation. The dynamic would be seriously wed on her side, and there definitely would be a lot of uncertainties."


    Galen raised his eyebrows in his habitual manner, and scoffed mildly.


    "What an interestingly foolish thing to say."


    The princess couldn''t help but break a softugh chuckle. Truly, Galen and his protege had never ceased to entertain her with their unusual repartee. It was a very odd dynamic between the two great men. She didn''t personally know their history, but she sensed that they had bothe a very long way together. It was evident in their jibber jabber. It was kind of like the usual bickering of an old married couple. Of course there was the mutual respect that shadowed their conversations and hovered over their general interaction. There was never a dull moment with them, and the princess loved it.


    Harry on the other end felt the sting. Triggered, he sat up eagerly, very much prepared to defend his stance against the old man.


    "What are you talking about old man? Do you not see clearly that the little girl is at a disadvantage?" Before he could be used of judging the girl based on her gender and physical appearance, Harry quickly added; "¡­now I am not saying the girl can''t win against all three of them, but I am saying it definitely won''t be a breeze for her¡­"


    Again, Galen chuckled in that very patronizingly demeaning manner. It was like he knew something Harry didn''t know. Rachel also picked up on this tiny bit of information, and she wondered why Harry hadn''t. Either way, she simply couldn''t wait to find out what the girl was made up of.


    "Trust me Harry, you have no idea what''s happening here¡­"


    "Oh yeah? Why don''t you enlighten us old man? Clearly you''ve got something underneath your sleeves you''re sitting on."


    Galen sighed. The princess had to restrain herself from sitting forward in anticipation of the scious piece of information that the president was about to reveal. Rachel was always rooting for the girls that appeared to be the underdogs. And she had a good feeling about Sabrina.


    Finally, Galen exposed what he had been sitting on;


    "That little girl you see there is the sole student representative of Cassell High School¡­"


    Harry raised his hands and eximed softly; "Wow! Big whoop old man! Like I didn''t know that already!"


    Rachel wished he would just shut up and let the old man finish.


    "Well, if you had let me finish, you would have learned that not only is she a student representative, she is also the lead teacher!"


    Now it was Harry''s turn to be surprised. How was that even possible? A student who just happened to be a lead teacher as well?


    It wasn''t Harry, just about everyone else who had heard the news was terribly surprised. Scott chipped in enthusiastically;


    "How is it that such a prodigy has gone on unnoticed for so long now? Her name should be everywhere!"

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    Galen exined gently;


    "Well, by the time she was ten years old, Sabrina had already attained the enviable position of a B grade mage. Consequently, she was then hailed as once-in-a-century Chosen One¡­"


    Rachel hung on to his every word, totally enjoying the sess story of this mysterious girl. It was like her own fantasy, and her eyes shimmered as she let her own imagination run wild, thinking what it would be like to be her.


    "¡­she continued in that path of glory for a while, and then, much to everyone''s surprise, she peaked and took a sudden nose dive."


    Harry didn''t get thatst part. "What do you mean by sudden nose dive?"


    "I mean she dropped from the level of a B grade mage became an F grade mage. Yes, by some freak of nature, she suddenly became an average mage over night. It was like nature suddenly decided to take back what it had given her, like it was an ident or something."


    "I didn''t even know this was possible." Harry was the one speaking now.


    "Indeed. But she turned neen this year, and suddenly became a C rank mage within a very short period. And then, she was promoted to a teacher''s position at Cassell High School."


    Harry asked thoughtfully; "How and when did this happen?"


    "Well, these sudden transformations happened only just about a month ago. So, only a very few number of higher-ups in the academic world know about this. And maybe those around Sabrina herself, otherwise, it''s been a hush hush thing."


    Rachel had sunk into her own world in the past few minutes. Galen''s brief narration triggered an eight year old memory fromst time that actually involved Sabrina. Rachel actually recalled seeing Sabrina perform at the pce in person. At the time, Vrie had also been invited to perform at the pce, but as a child prodigy since she had also been significantly younger. But even then, she had been slightly inferior to Sabrina.


    Rachel was so overwhelmed with a cascade of reflective emotions that she let out a hysterical outburst (but in a regal manner of course.)


    "It''s her! She''s she child prodigy from eight years ago! She''se back strong today!!"


    The others (who appeared to havepletely forgotten that the princess was present) were taken aback by her hysterical outburst.


    Meanwhile, Zavier who was off the field was watching the whole battle scene carefully. Naturally, no one saw what he was seeing- no one had the secret advantage of a Time-Space eye.


    With his time space eye, Zavier roved back and forth between all the yers involved, hoping to catch something that wasn''t visible to the naked eye. His instincts weren''t wrong. Inside the site girl whom was now everyone''s darling, Zavier observed a very odd phenomenon going on inside her. With the advantage of a high definition optical technique, Zavier zoomed in and took a closer look. Right at the core of her being, he saw that the girl''s essence (in the form of an aurora) was starting to faintly flicker- like it was expecting to explode into a big light at any moment.<sub> </sub>


    Gabby on the other hand led his goons onto the field. Acting like they were a bunch of magnanimous opponents, Ibneiah spoke in a seemingly gracious tone;


    "Little girl, whatever happens here, remember that you were the one who instigated this three on one. When you''ve been finally defeated, i hope you learn that this is how the real world works. No excuses or hard feelings alright?"


    Ibneiah had genuinely been expecting some kind of friendly chatter from the girl before they finished her off. She genuinely seemed like the type that would absolutely love that. But she didn''t. Not only did Sabrina refuse to answer him, she ignored him with a coldness that one would never expect from a happy-go-lucky girl like her. Acting as though she waspletely oblivious of all of them, she casually reached into her basket and pulled out a flower.


    Macbeth, Ibneiah and Gabby all looked at each other queerly. Their expressions were all the same- puzzled! What was she doing? How were they supposed topletely decimate someone who looked like she was still mentally in kindergarten? They stared on in wonder as she brought the flower close to her lip, and proceeded to kiss the petals as though she was praying to someone.


    The whole scene was simply just too cute. The referee blew on his pistol and it let out a very shrill sound, signalling themencement of the match. Macbeth and Ibneiah immediately fanned out, and took their ce in their regr tripod formation with Gabby at the head of the trident. Despite all of this, she still didn''t even as much as make above to do anything at all. She simply stayed in the position of one who was in prayer. She made no move to attack at all.


    The whole crowd watched the disy in silent gasps. No one made the mistake of taking their eyes off of the match for a second. ny eight percent of the crowd felt bad for the girl because she was about to be torn apart by three hybrids. The remaining two percent of the crowd retained an illogical optimistic hope that she might emerge victorious because of some secret power that would only be unveiled at the end.


    Of course, given how it looked, it was just wishful thinking on the part of anyone who was nurturing any hope of the girl prevailing. Gabby had never been so unsure in battle before as he was then. He always weed aggression from his enemies. Aggression, guile, and even a little dishonour were things he understood. But not this. Whatever it was, it wasn''t going to change the oue of the match. Either way, he was going to decimate her without any mercy.


    He nced at his other team mates, and the reassuring looks on their faces showed that they were all on the same page. So, in a wordless agreement, they all dove in to execute their notorious three-manbo move. It was a simple tactic (to the three of them anyway), they had practiced it so many times over that they were practically always in sync whenever they moved to execute this tripod effect.


    As the head of the trident, Gabby would go long from the side to interfere, thus allowing Ibneiah (the power house of the team) close contact with the target. And then, Macbeth, their angel of destruction who was very proficient with the sword, would swoop in with his three foot long de and deliver the fatal strike. It was a fool proof n. And their roles yed well to their individual strengths as hybrids of the choicest bloodlines.


    Ibneiah, who was part man part werewolf, literally sprang on Sabrina, hoping to at least scare her into dodging, thus changing her trajectory to set her on a course that would be in the second person''s line of attack.


    Sabrina did nothing. Still in the same praying position, and with a very sad countenance on her face, she remained stoic and unbothered, as if she had surrendered herself to the hands of fate, awaiting anything that was to happen to her.


    Ibneiah who had entered into her orbit, saw her unflinching faith in her prayer and knew that this girl was indeed suicidal. Not even his partial transformation had been able to make her shudder a little. Well, he had a job to do. And he fully intended to carry out his teacher''s orders bypletely decimating this stubborn girl. There was no shred on sympathy in him as he charged towards her with all the intensity of an apex predator.


    By now, the other spectators had their hands on their heads as they anticipated the bloody victory that was about to ensue. None of them could understand why she was choosing to remain so defenceless like this. A lot of people were now thinking what Ibneiah had been thinking; maybe she was suicidal! Maybe she had conceded defeat a long time ago, because of how overwhelming it might had been to get to this stage all on her own.


    ? But they were all wrong- dead wrong. And unfortunately, only Zavier could see it. He took a long look into her and saw that aura inside of her was glowing brighter and brighter by the second. It was like it was gearing up for something. Ibneiah on the other hand had made significant progress. He was now all but inches away from her now. No matter how quick she was, there was simply no way she could escape without being marred by the half man, half beast.


    With the tension in the venue now thick as a cloud, everyone watched with bated breaths as (what they thought to be) the final act of the scene unfolds before them. Almost as though it was a live motion picture being acted out in slow motion, they all looked on as Ibneiah''s sharp ws stretched out to rip Sabrina''s pretty face, (being the bastard that he was, Ibneiah had gone straight for her cute face).

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    But at the dying second, just at thest moment, a single lovely petal rose up from her basket in a very ethereal manner, andnded on her palm, thus defending her from the werewolf''s savage onught.


    If Ibneiah had any concept of what the engine of a Boeing 747 airbus was, he would have used that to describe the feeling of what had mmed into him at thatst moment. But because he hadn''t the slightest idea of what the hot busy engine of a major aircraft looked like, and because he didn''t have any idea of what had hit him, Ibneiah was very nearly paralysed with catatonic shock.


    Across the entire venue, every single person present, including Ibneiah himself, (ESPECIALLYIbneiah) was wondering the exact same thing;


    "WHAT IN HEAVEN''S NAME HAD JUST HAPPENED?!!!"


    In Ibneiah''s form as a raging beast, there were very few things on the that could stop him. There were even fewer things that could repel him in that manner and with such brute upromising force. A petal was definitely not one of those things! Not by half!


    While the rest of the public wondered, Ibneiah was left to deal with the ming pain that was practically engorging his palm. After he had finally skidded to a halt (as a result of the deterring force,) he finally found the time and opportunity to nce at what the girl''s ''lovely petal'' had done to his palm. With a horrid look on his face, he found a slit right through his palm! Before now, his werewolf genes had granted him immunity from broken skin.


    But now, it seemed he was not so invincible anymore. He had to alert his team mates!


    Ibneiah didn''t need to. Their eyes were already on him. Immediately, using hand signs and codes that only the three of them could understand, Ibneiahmunicated his message to them with as much urgency as he could transmit;


    "STAY BACK! SHE''S DANGEROUS!"


    Gabby was a very wilful person. If Ibneiah was actually telling them that they could get hurt by this very in looking girl, then he just had to see for himself! Even as he formted a new n, his training refused to allow him throw caution to the wind. He decided to make use of bat bombs first to test Sabrina.


    He lifted up his sleeves, and like a magician at a kid''s show, bats came fluttering out in droves. Only this time, they weren''t just ordinary bats, on the wings were loaded mid explosives. They rushed towards their intended target with destruction on their wings, casting a shadow of death on the ground beneath them as they surged towards Sabrina.


    But they didn''t even get toe close to her. Before the bat'' shadows could get to her, the remainder of the flower petals in her basket responded with a counter attack. They rose up in that same ethereal manner and triggered the premature explosion of every single bat bomb before they could arrive at their destination to do the damage they were meant for.


    Macbeth, being the fang of the three headed hydra, took advantage of the chaos to try to sneak in an attack from behind. Creeping around in the cloud of dust and smoke, he stealthily tip toed his way around Sabrina in a bid tond one on her while she was upied and still trying to recover from herst move. This was his perfect opportunity. The others had paved the way for him and created an opening. He wasn''t going to waste it.


    So, with his magnificent sword shielded from Sabrina''s sight, and with Sabrina''s attention still on Ibneiah and Gabby, he lifted up his great dragon sword and brought it down with full force (with the target being Sabrina''s exposed back of course.)


    But Macbeth was also disappointed in the grandest way. Because his sword attacks had never failed him, he went in with all the confidence that this was a done deal. However, the same petals that had stopped the other two stopped him. In fact, the had almost been wounded by them since his attack had been up close and personal because of the nature of his weapon.<sub> </sub>


    Gabby, the only one who had been sensible enough tounch an attack from afar, had watched her reactions and gauged her responses very closely. herst deflection had been a very strange one. Her back had been turned against Macbeth the whole time! Gabby was sure of it, so how then had she managed to not just deflect the attack, but also counter as well?


    Another unnerving thing about this whole situation was the fact that this cute little girl hadn''t appeared to have been focusing on their attacks from the very beginning. And yet, she had been able to defend herself against all three of them in a very graceful manner. How?!


    Sabrina had taken to pacing around the field after thest attack. It wasn''t the kind of one who was agitated and was in desperate need to move about so she could think. No, her pacing was of a very patient soul. It was almost like she was trying to dere that she had all the time in the world. Three attacks now, and none of them had even remotely hit or graze her.


    All things considered, she was pretty much on top of things. And she dered this aloud to the one watching her with careful eyes;


    "Gabby is it? By now, I''m guessing you''ve realised that you can''t beat me. I will allow you to admit defeat and get out of here in one piece. Know that if you chose to stay, you all will end up being seriously injured."


    Even now, as she addressed her opponents, her voice was still free of the arrogant, and condescending tone of a haughty conqueror. She sounded very polite, and yet very confident at the same time. While this was Gabby''s and the rest of his team'' problem, it was a whole different vibe with the public outside.


    On the stands, across the vast unending columns of spectators, there was a general feeling in the air. It was almost like an epidemic. The crowd outside was totally in love with they way Sabrina was effortlessly going about the whole thing! It was so infectious, and they loved it. Especially Rachel. Her aloofness and detachment was all very alluring to the public. It was like she wasn''t even trying at all! And they loved it.


    Sabrina''s words fell on Gabby''s ears like water on a wall. They made no impact at all. In the same way she had ignored all of them at the beginning of the battle, Gabby also ignored her and spurned her warning. He was too excited, and way too consumed with nning a decent strategy to take this creature down. It had been a while since he saw a challenge like this, he wasn''t just going to throw in the towel because she had politely asked him to.


    Even as Sabrina warned him gently, like a rebellious child, Gabby was already nning what he wanted to do next. He decided to test his suspicions. He alreadyid it down from his previous observations that her abilities were out of the norm. So, he decided to see just how extreme they were.


    On the spot, Gabby began to do the impossible. He began to rapidly burn mana the way an aircraft''s engine devoured rocket fuel. As burned his way through his mana, his figure began to slowly shimmer like an apparition. He began to resemble a blur because of how fast he was moving. Every atom in Gabby''s body was practically vibrating at an unnatural speed. Thousands of eyes in the crowd watched in awe as he disyed one of the techniques that was elusive to the vampire race only.


    Gabby''s speed began to pick up, and soon, not even his shadow could be seen. He was vibrating at a supersonic speed such that no ordinary eye could neither see nor follow his movements. Only a mage like Zavier with exceptional visual prowess could hope to see Gabby as he transversed the length and breath of the field.


    In a state that was something between a fast moving whirlwind and a human blur, Gabby zig-zagged around the length and breath of the field, hoping to take advantage of his high speed, andnd a sneak attack on the unsuspecting girl. It should have worked, but Gabby wasn''t really counting on it. Because at the end of the day, this was merely a hypothesis. After establishing an irregr pattern, he finally went in for the kill.


    Time for Gabby seemed to slow down for him in that state of very quick movements. Everything around him seemed to move in slow motion while he himself appeared to be moving at regr speed. Even the birds overhead looked like they were moving extra sluggishly. But this was just his perspective. In reality, his body mass had lessened by about one-hundredth of its original value, and he was moving approximately one hundred times faster.

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    With this being the premises of his new state, he had no difficulty distracting Sabrina from seeing his random jolting around. And when he finally went in for a back attack, he went in with the confidence that he was going to at leastnd a blow, even if he didn''t end up being a fatal one. There was definitely no way she could keep up with his speed.


    Gabby was right in that regard, Sabrina could never hope to see himing at that speed, talk less of defending herself. But as Gabby was soon to discover, Sabrina''s petals and her consciousness were two very different things.


    With the precision of an anti-missile, and with a speed that matched Gabby''s own, the flower petals rose up from the basket with that same flowery elegance and stopped Gabby''s attack before it couldnd on Sabrina''s exposed back. Gabby was seriously amused. Those petals were truly something! At this point, he was more bemused than bewildered. So, still on that same speed, and vibrating at an unfathomable wavelength that was, Gabby proceeded with his attacks.


    He had now tested the limits and reaction speed of her wall of defence. So he didn''t relent, Gabby continued to bombard her on all sides with a relentlessness that was characterised by his own craziness and speed. But every single attack was stopped and repelled by the strange flower petals. This continued for a while.


    Well, it was a while to him because he was moving at a ridiculous speed and wasn''t tethered to the same time frame. Gabby got seriously busy. He tried and tried his best, but there was no head way at all. Interestingly, he noted that Sabrina''s consciousness wasn''t the one controlling the petals. It seemed like they were acting independently of her control. Several failed attempts told him that valuable lesson.


    Moving at such a high speed had its own side effects. In order to maintain a high speed of that nature, he had to burn a serious amount of his own mana. It was the price for this ability. And even though he was part vampire, his human side demanded that he regte his mana, or risk burning out entirely. After several failed attempts to get a crack at Sabrina, he deduced that it was pointless to continue to deplete his mana on such a fruitless exercise.


    And so, he exited his high-speed state. Very slowly, all the atoms in his body began to return back to their original state. Trying to bring himself to a sudden halt was like trying tond a ne by simply dropping it from the sky. No, like a jumper easing his way with a parachute, and like the pilot gently guiding a ne''s steady descent to a perfect touch down, Gabby slowly eased his body back into their natural state.


    By the time he had slowed downpletely, he looked at Sabrina carefully and noted her countenance. Gabby froze up- he had been right after all! Her consciousness wasn''t in direct control of her defence, it was an automatic system! No wonder he hadn''t even been able tond a single attack! The little girl remainedpletely stoic. Anyone could tell that she was definitely unbothered, like she wasn''t fighting three different hybrids- at the same time!


    Her t expression hinted that she wasn''t surprised with the oue of the battle. Gabby didn''t know if he was being paranoid or something, but he genuinely suspected that all of this was ying ording to her n. It was that distinct bored look at the edges of her eyes that suggested that she might have actually expected this to be the case. If that was true, then it was possible that that there was likely to be much trouble ahead.


    It was almost always bad news if in battle, things appeared to be proceeding ording to the enemy''s n. And worse still, she was yet to even show her cards, or evenunch a direct frontal attack on any of them! So far, it had been strictly defensive and deflective maneuvers. Again, she demonstrated the chilling ability of hers that suggested that she might actually be aware of what was going through their minds, and proceeded to gainsay them into conceding defeat;


    "Gentlemen, surely you''re not too blind to see that continuing this battle would be a pointless resolve. I urge you to put your ego aside and reconsider, you might actually get hurt."


    Sabrina''s attempt to discourage her enemies was met with very different reactions. For instance, Gabby and the rest of the team were already dealing with their own individual reactions to the little girl''s petal power. But for the lead teacher of Melbourne High School''s team, ''dumbstruck'' was the best possible word that could be used to describe her. Confusion and shock intertwined themselves in the crevice of her heart, and lurked around the chambers of her mind.


    Wallice was truly shaken by this incredible disy by this girl. Surely this was a joke? As the team''s lead teacher, she was well aware of the ferocity of each of her students'' attacks. For Gabby in particr, Wallice knew that only an advanced mage could hope to match his speed. At best, they could try to anticipate his movements and read his attacks through the slight distortions in the air when he moved. But the little girl hadn''t reached that level yet!


    Or had she?! Wallice was bedazzled. She couldn''t help but feel like she had just been blindsided and as a result, she had plunged headlong into a ditch. Just who was this little girl anyway? Wallice thought to her rattled self. Who was she? Wallice couldn''t understand why her own investigations hadn''t churned out any significant information about this particr enemy! Oh Wallice didn''t like what was happening, she didn''t like it at all!<sub> </sub>


    A dark storm cloud rolled across her already disturbed horizon, bringing a very sudden and very dark realisation to her; the Blood de user! Of course, how could she forget? Could it be that it had been this little girl all along? It actually seemed very usible that it would be her! With her gainsaying smile, cute features, and polite manners, (and a record that seemed to hide her true past), it was very probable that this was the entity!


    Wallice was deeply troubled. This was a lot to chew on, there were just too many unknown variables. She could almost feel her brain churning itself out like a baker kneading dough. She had to organise her thoughts. Or by default, she would concede to the wiles of the girl-child, and automatically be a victim in someone else''s web of lies.


    No doubt, there were a lot of things that were just out off ce with the child, but what disturbed Wallice most was just how off the grid such an astute student was. Howe such a powerful high student of this caliber hadn''t gotten the recognition she deserved?!


    Wallice racked her brain from the inside out. Mentally, she went through stacks and stacks of gathered information about not just this year''s contestants, but any child prodigies that had been in existence within the past two decades. Vrie was the first name toe to her mind, but she quickly (and jealously shoved her name aside) and focused on other names of possible suspects.


    With a jolt, the name hit her- Sabrina!


    Ah yes, it was a name long buried beneath the piles of memories and long list of ambitious achievers in the mage world. It was a name that only existed within the area of a certain timeline in her memories.


    ''Sabrina¡­'' Wallice echoed the name again as she tried to jog up old forgotten memories.


    She remembered. Of course she did. The little girl called Sabrina was a well known child prodigy just like Vrie at the time. In fact, if memory served her well, the girl had actually managed to surpass Vrie back then. But that had been the peak of her own journey as a child prodigy. Nature viciously snatched back the gift it had bestowed upon Sabrina. Her decline started very early in her career. And before long, shepletely disappeared from the public''s eye.


    It had been a very sad tale indeed, but that wasn''t Wallice''s concern.


    In that very moment, the lead teacher was rejoicing that she hadn''t stubbornly held on to tradition by demanding a one-on-one robin format round. As far as things were, it genuinely seemed like it would have been a dastardly mistake for her and her boys. If Sabrina was still Sabrina, then they would have had absolutely no chance of winning that sudden death round.


    Overwhelmed with a flood of epiphantic thoughts, Wallice cupped her hands over her mouth (like a small microphone), and began to yell at her three students shamelessly;


    "If you want to show your ace cards, now is the time!! This is your chance!"


    Wallice didn''t even try to conceal the urgency in her voice. Now that she had realised what a danger the girl was, Wallice abandoned finesse to the wind. It wasn''t a time for all of that.

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    This was Sabrina, the former child prodigy! And quite possibly the Blood de user in the tournament. She didn''t like the odds, Wallice absolutely needed her students to be on their best possible techniques to stand a chance against this girl. A one-on-one would have been a real disaster.


    A strong cord of unity bound not just Gabby and his team mates, but also their lead teacher. So when they heard the urgency in Wallice''s tone, they all read the hidden meaning in her cryptic message. Of course it merely reiterated what they already knew- this was no ordinary girl. She was as dangerous as a serpent, only she had perfected the art of keeping it hidden behind a wall of polite smiles.


    Any ways, this challenge had actually brought forth a rare opportunity for them; they could actually go all out! Without the fear of being restrained now, they were like wild hounds that had gained their master''s (or mistress'') permission to go ham. So, the three hell-hounds gathered together, and assumed their formation. Ibneiah stepped forward as the lead, and Gabby and Macbeth nked him on both sides like wingmen.


    Together as one, the trio began to chant. Their gestures and hand signs were in total sync with each other, like they were of one single disposition. Not everyone was fortunate enough to have a time-space eye. And consequently, the burden of the knowledge of the real truth and image of what was happening fell on the shoulders of Zavier. Once again, he was now again privy to see what was really going on.


    Zavier leaned forward and saw that, as the three of them chanted as one, something very interesting and unprecedented inside them began to happen. Inside them, much in the same way Zavier had earlier seen the aura in Sabrina glow, he was now seeing the same thing in the trio. Only this time, their auras were merging together into one big ball of colourful me. Thebined aura of the three now entered into Ibneiah''s body. It was a very peculiar sight indeed.


    It was just unfortunate that only Zavier could see it.


    Meanwhile, at the top of the podium seated on the side of the princess was the knight Scott. He was actually very invested in this match. Much like the other dignitaries here, he hadn''t been expecting a high school brawl to be this interesting. But watching the serious looks on the boys'' faces, and the ominous tone of their incantations, Scott couldn''t help but wonder what the hell they were nning to do. Clearly, they had realised that the girl had turned out to be something else entirely.


    Scott didn''t even realise when he spoke his inner thoughts aloud to the hearing of everyone around;


    "I wonder what they are nning to do¡­" he murmured,


    Harry quickly jumped in at thest moment, as if he was d that someone had finally asked and exined.


    "The trio are trying to perform a summoning technique."


    Since he was deft at light magic, he could also see what most people couldn''t.


    But Scott threw a rhetorical question at the other man;


    "Isn''t summoning only exclusive to mages who have attained B rank and above?"


    Harry answered patiently. "Indeed. But anyone can hack it through a series of matrix magic. With the right medium, then anything can happen."


    By now, Zavier could most definitely see the powerful force that was growing and pulsating inside Ibneiah''s body. With the way it was expanding exponentially, Zavier knew it was only a matter of time before¡­


    Ibneiah suddenly screamed, jerking just about everyone else from their trance-like state they had been submerged in. The whole crowd watched on in awe as the first major hybrid demonstration began to unfold before their eyes. His body began to undergo several bizarre changes. As though something was growing inside him, trying to thaw its way out and break through the prison holding it in. All this while, his boys still continued to chant.


    In response to the growth, his body began to swell continuously. Ibneiah''s limbs weren''t spared the drastic change tearing through his body, they began to bend at different awkward degrees. All this while, Ibneiah kept screaming like a tortured soul. It was evident that having to go through such a drastic change was taking a toll on him. Everyone watched with mixed feelings as this event unfurled before them.<sub> </sub>


    Very slowly, his appearance began to gradually shy away from that of a human being, to that of a beast. Slowly, but surely, the biological process that was unfolding before Zavier began to take the form of an even greater anomaly- a sixty foot tall dragon! Zavier had never seen one before. In fact, till now, he hadn''t really given them much thought. Everyone, every single person seated in the crowd was stunned.


    Before now, they had only thought of the matches happening below them as events happening outside their sphere of influence. However, seeing this up close and personal made every one of them conscious of the fact that something was happening, and something was about to something.


    It was simply incredible, the effect of having a dragon live in the arena made those at the front rows wish they had all been at the back.


    Everyone, every single person felt the goosebumps crawling all over their skin. Those who tried to convince themselves that they weren''t scared still kept their eyes fixed on the gory sight. It wasn''t everyday one got to see a sixty foot tall dragon. Even Zavier who had seen magnificent skyscrapers in his past life was still stunned by the sheer unfathomable size of this beast.


    It''s thick ck scales were suggestive of the fact that nothing could prate its back. It appeared every inch invulnerable, as well as formidable. The dragon''s huge ck eyes, were about the diameter of a telmunications satellite. It''s powerful huge ck wings partially eclipsed the sun, casting a very terrible shadow on the field. The spectators kept their eyes on the beast, not averting their gaze even for a fraction of a second.


    They were all captivated, and heated discussions sprang forth from all over the venue. This was a sight for decades. And it was all happening because the Melbourne students thought this was their best bet against this small cute girl. Several shades of gossip spanned across, it seemed everyone had their own thoughts and opinions about this battle. But of course, the dragon stayed at the epicentre of all conversations.


    Even Scott was not spared the infectious angst.


    "A dragon?! No way!" He hadn''t been expecting to see something a sight as shocking and as monumental as a dragon in this tournament for high schoolers. Of course, for kids who had the ability to pull off something of this magnitude, it wouldn''t be wise for anyone to still address them as kids.


    Scott was practically drooling at the mouth now. "What the hell kind of dragon is that thing?! That''s not normal at all!"


    "You''re right about that though, its definitely not a normal dragon¡­" Harry was the one speaking now. Correcting the false notion that it was a dragon, he proceeded to enlighten them;


    "That thing you see is the more terrigying variant of a regr dragon¡­that right there is a zombie-dragon."


    Scott looked at him like he was speaking some kind of foreign dialect. "A zombie-dragon?" Then suddenly, his face went white; "IS THAT¡­? Are you saying what I think you''re saying mister Harry??"


    He nodded approvingly. "Definitely. That terrifying creature that you see was created by a Necromancer. It was created from the corpse of a lost dragon using forbidden arcane magic."


    On a normal day, he wouldn''t have shied away from showcasing his knowledge on the subject by exining himself away. But even he himself was in awe of the sight itself.


    Like everyone else, Zavier kept his eyes focused one hundred percent on the dragon. He couldn''t understand what exactly he was looking at. It was as though he had been gainsaid into seeing some kind of illusion or something. This couldn''t be real! And yet, it was! Zavier was able to take a closer look, and he saw that the dragon right in front of him hand been gifted with a profound set of fighting skills. In fact, once it locked it''s eyes on a target, the target was as good as gone.


    It''s bloodlust wasn''t hard to miss at all, it was extremely conceivable that this creature had been created purely for the sake of destruction. As Zavier looked on, he noticed that the dragon was in a very abnormal state; its body was fraught with several wounds and scars. It had the appearance of something that had been dead for a long time. In fact, just looking at it, one could tell that the dragon had had one hell of a lifetime. It''s glorious scars told its story clearly.


    But that was just about the length and breadth of any weaknesses the dragon had. Asides from the fact that it looked like it had just been awakened after centuries of lying in a cemetery, nothing else was off about its overall willingness and ability to fight.

 202 Chapter 202

    Its fighting spirit was still very much strong and ame. Its majestic movements, and intimidating form further augmented its terrifying aura. Nothing was normal about this dead-looking, terrifying killer dragon.


    For some odd reason, Zavier just couldn''t take his eyes off the dragon. After Ibneiah''s horrible transformation had beenpleted, the tall zombie-dragon stood in the middle of the field, and in a very dramatic fashion, it looked up to the sky, and roared in the most horrifying sound ever to grace Zavier''s ears at all. The monumental size of the beastpletely filled up the entire space of the very spacious field. But that was about all the free time anyone would get to observe the dragon.


    Almost as if he had decided that the time for regaling was over, Gabby sprung into action immediately. as though he was mimicking the voice and somber tone of the dragon, he roared a string of incoherentmanding words at the dragon. No one picked up what exactly he had said, but it seemed the dragon not only heard, but understood its owner. Immediately, it opened itsrge mouth and expanded its jaws to a very disturbing ratio.


    To an open minded individual or to a simpleton seeing this sight for the first time, what came next could have been very easily misconstrued as divine judgment. It waspletely illogical, and totally inexplicable, and yet somehow very very real. A rush of hot devouring mes rolled out from the throat of the hideous creatures in voluminous streams, and rushed directly at Sabrina with hot angst. The entirety of the audience in the venue gasped as one.


    Of course, on some level, they had all expected something like this to happen the very moment the sixty foot monstrosity appeared. An attack of his magnitude, directed at a girl so innocent looking and cute, was definitely something no sane mind could easily digest. It was like a storm, only this time instead of water, or wind, it was matter''s worst enemy- FIRE.


    With a destructive ferocity was could only be matched with that of a volcano spitting out live fire from the bowels of the earth, the dragon opened its mouth and rained down hell on poor Sabrina. The width and intensity of the fire was such that it could very easily skew a whole herd of cattle in one breath, and turn them into barbecue or charred beef in an instant. Zavier could almost tell just how raw and sizzling the heat of the mes were from a distance with his time-space eye.


    All eyes watched as the scalding red-hot acetyl mes descended on the girl in question. Everyone was thinking the same thing in that moment; "Was it possible that she might be able to actually withstand these mes? Was her mysterious defence enough to stop the fire storm?"


    Everyone got their answer alright. Just as the lengthy towering mes came at Sabrina, as expected, her rose petals rose up from the basket and formed a kind of bouquet right in front of her. The mysterious looking petals took on the full st of the dragon''s mes! Everyone feasted their eyes greedily on the spectacle, and totally devoured the scene with wonder and theatric zest.


    Something dangerous awakened in Sabrina''s eyes after that attack. Only Gabby and Macbeth saw it, and for some reason, it made them recoil inwardly. Sabrina might have appeared to be rtively calm through out the incident, probably because she was in control of the whole situation. But also because she had been baiting them into doing something drastic.


    ? She knew that because they were confident boys who were pretty used to getting their way in victory, they would be desperate after being unable to sessfullynd a single attack on her. she had been banking on the fact that this desperateness would push them into revealing their ultimate trump card. Since she was all that stood between them and their precious finals, it was evident that they needed to beat her at all costs. Hence, their ultimate hand.


    The n had worked like a charm. The dragon was clear evidence of that. That was when her countenance changed. That was when Gabby and Macbeth began to see her in a very different light.


    Without making any ostentatious moves, Sabrina closed her eyes and took in a lungful of oxygen. This was a pretty daunting move for her considering the fact that there was a sixty foot monstrosity right in front of her that was threatening to reduce her to a pile of ashes. But she obviously didn''t regard it as a real threat. Honestly, her aloofness, and soft disdain for her enemies cast her in a very sinister light. Gabby wanted to attack, but his instincts restrained him for some reason.


    Sabrina pursed her lips, and then finally exhaled deeply after a few seconds. Then it all began.<sub> </sub>


    Gabby, Macbeth, and Wallice watched keenly as the first stage of the end gradually began to y out in quick sessive scenes. As soon as Sabrina let out the breath from her nostrils, flower petals began to rise from her basket. By now this was already amon sight for everyone who had been watching this battle closely. But for some reason, almost everyone could feel something different about the ascent of these petals.


    An astute observer could argue that maybe it was because the petals had never risen without an imminent attack before. This time, their ascent took a different formation. They began to blossom and grow sessively, filling the entire arena like waves, and converting it to a lush flowery vegetation. The dragon seemed to have excellent instincts. As if it could tell that this wasn''t good at all, it began to try to resist the advance of the encroaching petals.


    But it couldn''t do much in the way of movement. Having been surrounded in a sea of petals, it found itself with little to no room to manoeuvre. The dragon let out a horrible wait. For a monster of that magnitude, no one would have thought that they could feel any atom of sympathy when its time came.


    But now, hearing its wails of helplessness aloud, filling the air with what was the equivalent of a stadium filled with agonising humans writhing in burning mes, it was difficult not to feel for it. That was just how effective and timely Sabrina''s move was.


    In the same way a cobra charms its victims with hypnotising eyes, and while under the trance of the serpent, it slowly and leisurely wrapped itself around the entirety of its prey, that was just how Sabrina''s attack had swayed the tide of victory. The sight of the rapidly blooming flowers had been sight too appealing and too passive to suggest that something was indeed brewing. It had all seemed so innocent, and too nd for it to be something other than a pretty sight.


    That had been the illusion. That had been the way in.


    Like a sinking ship in the middle of the ocean, the terrible dragon sank into the bed of magic petals and disappeared- COMPLETELY. There wasn''t even a trace. It had all happened so damn fast for any eyes to follow. There hadn''t even been enough time for the audience to enjoy the show. The dragon''s defeat had been like throwing a piece of bread into a barrel of water, and watching it being swallowed by the water itself. The petals had been deceptively efficient. They swallowed everything they touched.


    Truly, it had been a marvellous disy of power, and in the subtlest of ways too. By the time the dragon had been fully submerged in the bed of petals, everyone noticed something almost at the same time; Where the hell were Gabby and Macbeth? Everyone had been too busy with the dragon''s slow and steady disappearance that they had missed an even more significant disappearing act.


    Tongues immediately started to wag. Spectators held their hands on their heads as the search began for Gabby and the other one. It seemed very imusible, but by all count, it seemed that the sea of petals hadn''t been designed to swallow monsters only. Apparently, fight was already over even before they could figure out what was happening. The audience broke into a state of frenzied gossip. Questions flew up and down with rapid speed.


    Were the boys dead? Could it really be that this innocent looking girl really killed them? There were so many questions. Where were their bodies? Was she allowed to do that?


    Once again, Sabrina got on top of the situation without even as much as uttering a word. Almost as if she could sense the growing panic amongst the crowd, she gave the answers everyone wanted with literally a wave of her hand. As she flicked her hand over the sea of petals before her, they began to disappear at an rmingly disturbing rate. No one could understand the mechanism behind the sudden appearance and even more disturbing disappearance of the petals.


    In a few brief moment, she field that had been engulfed with a sea of pink and red petals, suddenly returned back to its normal state.

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    And right in the middle of the field, sprawled out in uneven formations were the unconscious bodies of the three haughty Melbourne High School students. It was a resounding victory and it was truly deserving of an encore.


    Right on cue, every single person seated in the audience took to their feet and brought their palms together in a thundering apuse. The whole venue shook with the pping and the cheering. Only Wallice stood pinned to the spot with a look of shock on her face. It all seemed like a dream to her. This wasn''t how she had pictured the end to be. Despite all her hard work and tight ns, somehow, she had been done in by a single girl!


    Truly Sabrina had managed to fool everyone present.


    With the bodies of her adversaries lying on the ground before her, the referee wasted no time in doing the needful. He immediately blew hard on his whistle, and made the hand gestures announcing Sabrina as the winner. But no body was even paying attention to him. In everybody''s minds, they had already announced her the winner way before he decided to step in.


    Sabrina wasn''t one for elongated public approvals. Still retaining her sheepish smile and modest conduct, she humbly bowed and excused herself from the field. Since no one had escorted her to this tournament, there was no wee party waiting for her at the exit. She simply melted away unseen and blended into the background.


    Long after the resounding apuse had died down, the shockwaves of the fight was still hanging in the air. There wasn''t anyone in the crowd who wasn''t surprised at just how efficient the fight between the two sides was. It was indeed a very juicy tale, and the spectators were electrified. Never had they expected such an oue.


    In everyone''s minds, even amongst the judges and invigtors who were supposed to be unbiased, the general expectation had been that; at the end, the final battle would be a major showdown between Melbourne High School and Merion High School. As far as every spectator was concerned, it had been written in the stars already. At the time, it genuinely seemed like there was simply no way around this.


    But s, life had happened. Within an instant, much to everyone''s surprise, the hunter had be the hunted. It had been a thrilling and entertaining match. Nothing about it had been predictable at all. Naturally, when Ibneiah literally unleashed the dragon in him, everyone had thought it was all over¡­especially Wallice. But unfortunately, nothing went as nned. The whole stadium was virtually ame with the live excited chattering of thousands of people.


    Different narratives flew up and down about the mysterious girl; some argued that this girl might actually be stronger than Shiranui who had just unlocked a new level of savagery. Others vehemently resisted this outrageous assertion, and imed that the Yamata bloodline was unparalleled when it came to sheer skill and brute strength. People began to take sides, but at the end, they all agreed that the final battle between those two would be a real sight.


    Sabrina was virtually the hottest topic right now. Suddenly, it seemed like all the loopholes and unanswered questions in the tournament up until this moment was as a result of her lowkey creeping around unnoticed.


    Amongst the groups of students incessantly running their mouths, a more intense school of thought rose up; it suggested that Sabrina was amongst the top mysterious trio that had terrorised the first round. Those who knew about the Blood de user imed she was the mysterious mage who had unlocked that chilling ability. This sizzling bit of gossip had the atmosphere thick with excitement, the kind that was birthed from mass hysteria in a public ce.


    By the time the chief officiator stood up to dere the end of the day''s tournament, the crowd had already begun to disperse in small groups. The day was over for them anyway, and they were greatly satisfied by what they had all witnessed. There was a lot to think, and talk about.


    But, way before the crowd had officially dispersed, while the crowd had been in a frenzied state, Zavier very stealthily extracted himself from the venue and found his way out without bumping into anyone or making unnecessary waves. Very quietly, he tiptoed his way through the crowd until he put the whole rowdiness behind him.


    Asides from the fact that he was currently a socially radioactive entity, Zavier actually didn''t care for idle talk and pointless conversations. He had seen way more than anyone of them had actually seen, his time-space eye had given him a very excellent view of what had actually happened. Even though he didn''tpletely understand much of what he had seen concerning the Sabrina girl, he knew way more than anyone else here, so he didn''t think it necessary to stick around.


    On his way out, he had heard all the chattering going on all around him and was amazed. Everyone had been so engorged in their own thoughts that theypletely forgot about the one person that always gave them joy to pick on- HIM. It wasn''t just that, Zavier heard all the preposterous propositions being put forward by eager to please jibber-jabbers, and he almost doubled over inughter. Of course, only he knew the truth about the Blood de user.<sub> </sub>


    But that wasn''t his problem right now. Soon enough, Zavier left the chaos behind him, and as he trotted down the semi-peaceful grounds of Caesar University, he allowed the fresh st of air to wash over him. It felt like he had been in an oven for the past few hours. And even though he wasn''t exactly an introvert, he was beginning to detest the outdoor these days. He quickly shook off the thoughts of the past few hours and concentrated on his destination ahead.


    By design, the infirmary was only a few minutes away from the venue. Of course, this was to minimise the timepse involved in ferrying injured contestants away from the field to get the required medical attention at the infirmary. At that point, the short distance particrly served a different purpose for Zavier. The truth was he always weed walks- whether they were short or long. They always gave him the opportunity he needed to gain rity of mind.


    The fog of the previous battle soon passed over Zavier, and he allowed his mind to focus on what truly mattered at this hour- Shiranui.


    Zavier had been subconsciously trying to distract himself from worrying, but he couldn''t avoid it anymore. He was truly worried about her. It wasn''t that he thought she wasn''t going to be alright, he knew she was a tough cookie to crack and that she most definitely would bounce back even stronger. But still, he was worried.


    The tall elegant palm trees that nked both sides of the path he was on, finally gave way to reveal the entrance to the brilliant white building. Right in the middle of the upper part of the building hung the universal epted symbol of medicine; the Rod of Asclepius. Zavier recalled reading about the history of this Ancient Greek symbol associated with with medicine. the familiar sight of the serpent wrapped around a rod brought back strong memories for him. He pushed them away as he entered the building.


    At the waiting room, he found a plum bright eyed nurse huddled over a pile of documents. He quickly scanned the waiting area and observed that there wasn''t anyone else present. Naturally, this was a student infirmary and not the E.R section of a major hospital, so the traffic here was low, almost non existent. With a calm and assured voice, he greeted the nurse and stated his business in one breath;


    "Good day ma''am. I am here to see a patient by the name of Shiranui Yamata."


    Zavier hadn''t had any pleasurable encounter with any nurse before. So, to his surprise, she replied him cheerily;


    "Oh hello dear, are you family?"


    "No ma''am. She''s my ssmate. I am here with my teacher and team mates for this year''s freshman tryouts."


    That seemed to be enough for the nurse.


    "Okay dear, kindly hold on while I check the records."


    She smartly whipped through a sheet of paper and her eyes lit up when she finally found the name. Within a short period, after receiving explicit directions from the nurse, and having signed a visitor''s form, he began his steady ascent up a flight of stairs towards Shiranui. On getting to her ward Zavier found the door open.


    Zavier recognised Calista''s small frame from behind, she was conversing with someone whom Zavier assumed to be a paramedic. There were two beds lying adjacent to each other. On the left was Nadia whose back was turned against the door. She seemed to be talking to herself as she faced the wall. On her shoulder was a sling with a heavily padded bandage. It seemed she might have dislocated her shoulder or worse.

 204 Chapter 204

    On the second bed was Shiranui, she was lying in a terrifyingly still condition. Seated next to her was Dah who had that same look of condescension on her face. The ice queen wasn''t quite the type to disy care or affection. Her aloofness was always part of her general outlook, and it wasn''t to be separated from her regr self. She was unconcerned, but that didn''t mean she was happy.


    In fact Dah was actually a little sad. There was a certain memory from the battle that had her disenchanted. Back then, during thepetition, when the heat was still on, Calista had glossed over including her in the battle. She had been left outpletely and denied even the opportunity for her to even try. This had been particrly hard on her. She was a girl that had often been referred to as a genius while growing up. She had been something of a star girl.


    So, having to be separated from her top peers in thispetition had been very painful. Normally, the fiery Dah would have challenged the system that was trying to keep her down. But if she had considered going against Calista in the presence of invigtors and judges, the blowback on her scores would have been terrible. Insubordination was not something that would be taken lightly. So, very wisely, Dah had chosen to keep her cool.


    Rebellion wouldn''t have gotten her anywhere. Her mind danced around the truth which her ego was keeping her from seeing; she wasn''t quite there yet. It was hard to admit it, (especially since she had a high opinion of herself) but the fact was that she had been left out for a reason. instead of letting it wear her down, Dah used this as jet fuel for her engine. She was going to get stronger, whether anyone liked it or not. There was no other viable option left asides from going forward and getting stronger.


    But of course, no one of these tumultuous emotions showed on her face. She was used to being regarded as the cold, proud, indignant one. This was a reputation she had garnered for herself over time. She was going to protect it at all costs and not look weak. These were the thoughts coursing through her heart at that moment. That was probably why she hadn''t noticed Zavier standing there all that time.


    It was only when Calista broke things off with the paramedic to acknowledge Zavier that Dah became aware of her immediate surroundings once again.


    Callista gave Zavier a casual nod. "Zavier."


    He nodded back; "Miss Calista."


    "I take it thepetition is over and the winner has been decl-"


    "ZAVIER!!!" Nadia''s high pitched shrill voice once again shattered the solemness of the room. As always, her excitement at Zavier''s presence was visible. "You came to see me?!" Nadia tried to get up to pester Zavier in their usual way.


    Just as wasmon between the two sisters, Kacie rebuked her sharply; "Nadia!! Behave yourself!! Can''t you see we''re in a hospital?!"


    "It''s okay Kacie. She''s just excited that''s all."


    "Don''t encourage her Zavier."


    He feigned a small smile and asked, "How''s Nadia''s treatmenting along?"


    Actually, he wanted to ask after Shiranui. Nadia was clearly in a good shape considering her entric attitude and mobility. But it would have been unseemly of him to skip his family and go straight to his girl.


    Kacie was one of the most perceptive people Zavier had even known. She had the uncanny ability to see through things and people. She knew that Zavier was itching to ask after Shiranui, but she also knew he was trying to put his family before his girl. It was the right and honourable thing to do. So, he helped him out by killing two birds with one stone.


    "Well, as you can see Nadia''s treatment is over, all thanks to the excellent medical magic here. We have high hopes that she will recover soon¡­Shiranui however is still ina. This is actually normal considering the stressful ordeal she has been through. So, don''t worry."<sub> </sub>


    Zavier looked at Kacie with grateful eyes. He didn''t need to thank her with words. She was one rtive that really got him. And he was grateful to have someone like her in his corner. Not wanting to seem like the lover boy or protective boyfriend, Zavier suppressed his instincts to go sit by her side. Instead, he boycotted her bed and went straight to Nadia''s side.


    Ruffling her hair in a yful way, he encouraged her warmly; "Get well soon champ so we can get out of here okay?"


    Her eyes beamed with the excitement of a little girl who had just been told she was getting some ice cream. She looked at Zavier adoringly and assured him that she would. Zavier nodded at Kacie and Dah and left with mixed feelings.


    ---------------------------------------------------------


    Zavier left the women behind him and went somewhere else to clear his head. He was d Shiranui was okay, and so was Nadia. But there was another bigger issue facing him behind those worries.


    The fact was that thepetition wasn''t over at all. With half of his team mates currently out of shape, Zavier knew that the burden to clinch the winning match now fell on him. On some level, Zavier had actually known that it woulde to this. But now, it seemed like his problems had doubled. By his own calctions, he was actually supposed to go against the Melbourne hounds. Those were enemies he had been more than willing to fight.


    However, this recent twist with this spooky Cassell girl was threatening to change everything. The girl was skilled. If he hadn''t taken away anything from her fight, he had deduced that the source and nature of her power was still very much a mystery. It was almost as though Sabrina was untouchable. Her diabolic bond with her basket of petals made her seem almost untouchable. This was a power that had stopped the full st of a close range fire storm.


    This was also a power that had singlehandedly incapacitated a dragon like it was nothing. If Zavier wasn''t going to fight this strange girl, he knew that holding back was no option. This was a big issue. He was yet to show his true power to the masses. If he did, he would be inviting a storm of questions on his head. And if he were to hold back and restrain himself, he would be letting his team and his family down.


    Worse still, even if he somehow managed to gain admission here, he wouldn''t be able to shake off the tail of reproach that would follow him. Despite how fun the tournament had gotten, Zavier knew that people still hadn''t forgotten about him. they were merely upied with the allure of the trending topic. If he were to screw up after publicly dering to the boys in the canteen that he had a special power, then his days here would be over even before he started officially.


    However, there was still the option of going all out. Of course, that would mean total exposure. And he still wasn''t sure if that would be enough to rattle Sabrina at all.


    Zavier cursed underneath his breath. These were the kinds of dilemmas he wasn''t fond of at all. Zavier took a brief break from his thoughts and acknowledged his physical surroundings. He had been steadily making his way up a high hill that was close to the university town. He had nked out so much that he had ended up making his way all to the top. This was where he wanted to clear his thoughts and purge his emotions.


    Out of breath from the hiking, he skedaddled his was through the small clearing, thankful for the open space and clean air. Just as he was about to be also thankful for the fact that he was alone, he found out that someone else was already there. It seemed like he wasn''t the only one who loved the serenity of this view. He was able to trace the outline of the person''s back, and saw that it was a man, perhaps an official by the looks of it.


    Zavier was busy contemting whether to turn back or stay when something struck him about the person in question. There was something familiar about the stance and the build. The man''s back was still turned against him, and his left hand was crossed behind him like he was in deep thought. Zavier edged his way closer, and close, hoping to sneak a peek at the man''s face without giving away his own presence.


    But he didn''t need to. He switched his vision to his time-space eye and found out that the serious looking man was none other than the famous illusionist, and protege of the president- Harry. Outwardly, he looked very formal, almost regal even. But as always, inside him was crawling with a smuttiness that he just couldn''t hide from Zavier.


    Harry was smoking on a pipe casually, and he had that typical somber look on his face that made people often mistake him for a serious minded individual.

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    Outwardly, he resembled every inch a gentleman, but Zavier knew that if Harry was here at this point, and staring into a certain location, then there was definitely something up. Zavier was determined to find out. Purposely making his voice louder and deeper than usual, Zavier announced his presence;


    "Well, well, fancy meeting you here Harry."


    Zavier made no attempt to mask his sarcasm. Neither did he make any attempt whatsoever to address him with the proper title of ''mister.'' The two were way past that level now.


    Harry cocked his head slowly in Zavier''s direction as if to say that he wasn''t shocked at all that Zavier was present. He smiled awkwardly.


    "Mister Zavier, how is it that you managed to find me again? Surely you''re not stalking me are you?"


    Zavier dismissed the older man''s attempt at humour. He could tell that the old pervert was definitely up to something. Even though Harry had tried to hide his embarrassment through a weak smile and a thinly veiled humourless rapport, Zavier saw through his whole charade. He stared at the illusionist with suspicious eyes;


    "Don''t even give me the crap you old perv. What exactly are you doing here? What are you looking at?! Have you found another underage couple to spy on again?"


    Harry chuckled softly. "Do you really assume the worst in everybody? Surely you don''t mean to u-"


    Zavier could almost certainly tell that Harry was lying. So, without even waiting for him to finish concocting his web of lies, Zavier charged towards him and stood by his side. Knowing fully well that there was something special Harry must have been staring at, Zavier flipped on his own time-space eye and began to hone in on the special sight that made Harry look so guilty when he saw him.


    Sure enough, Harry didn''t disappoint Zavier. From the edge of the cliff of the hill, Zavier saw that Harry''s line of sight had been centred on the bathroom windows of the female dormitory. Zavier was about to express his disgust when he saw the sight in particr that had made Harry so lost that he had briefly allowed himself to be caught unawares by a mere high school student.


    From a very clever angle, there was one particr window open. Through that window, the full and candid view of a very beautiful college student was bathing. Apparently, she had forgotten to close the window. And because of how uniquely positioned the windows of the female bathrooms were, there was nothing but a vast expanse of empty vegetations andnd. Virtually no soul passed through that region. Hence, her confidence that she wouldn''t be seen.


    Oh but she was seen alright.


    The light from the setting sun filtered through the window, casting the water flowing down her body in a golden light. Her body was firm and supple. Her hair was thick and long. And because she was confident that she was alone and unwatched, she candidly yed with all her body parts, like she was actually taking time to admire her own body. Zavier saw the signs and knew that it was only a matter of time before she turned the shower head between her legs to masturbate.


    This was the whole sight that Harry had been devouring unabashedly. The illusionist was truly a perv of the highest order.


    Funny enough, Harry was still shameless about the whole thing. Thinking that Zavier was enjoying the show, and that maybe they might actually watch this one together, heplimented Zavier patronisingly;


    "Wow, I really must confess, you have really good eyes Zavier. Honestly, I really think you might have a future if you decide to major in visual illusion."


    Zavier turned off his Time-Space eye and looked at Harry with a deep set of eyes that portrayed disappointment.


    "Don''t even go there, I am not interested in whatever the hell this is." As he turned his back in preparation to leave, he chided Harry; "You need serious help old man. Serious help."


    Harry would have been d to let Zavier leave so he could get back to his lewd hobby. But he just couldn''t help but feel like Zavier might snitch on him. Their first deal to buy Zavier''s silence definitely didn''t cover this second time. He was actually on edge as too what Zavier might do this time. Clearly he saw that Zavier was disappointed, and he clearly wasn''t interested in watching with him. So, unable to hide the nervousness in his voice;


    "So, I''m assuming you won''t speak of this to anyone right? I mean, when you think of it, who really needs to know anyway."<sub> </sub>


    Zavier turned back at him with burning ck eyes. Was this old perv being serious right now? this was what he was worried about? Truly he was absolutely incorrigible! Despicable even!


    "Are you asking what I think you''re asking me?"


    Harry shifted ufortably on his feet. "Well, that depends, are you thinking what I am thinking?"


    That was pretty dumb thing to say, and he knew it the moment he said it because of the immediate regret that followed.


    Because Harry had his back turned to the lovely sight, the wind was now blowing the smoke from his pipe back into his face instead of directly from him. It made him inhale a copious amount of the hash he was smoking, such that his lungs actually had a full time job trying to separate the smoke from actual oxygen. But that wasn''t Harry''s major concern at the time.


    He still couldn''t believe the fact that of all the people to run into him, he had run into the only other person on campus who knew of his proclivities. it was a pretty freaking big university that was teeming with insane numbers of students. So how was this happening again? Zavier couldn''t have possibly timed this, it was impossible if not crazy.


    The chances of Zavier randomly bumping into him very very slim. In fact, he would go as far as to say that it was a statistical anomaly. But it was happening all the same, and he wasn''t finding it funny, not at all. This wasn''t what he had nned for this evening at all. He simply wanted to have a nice quiet smoke as he watched unsuspecting girls fondle themselves in the shower. For a while, he had actually gotten that, but fate had chosen to give him something else entirely!


    Zavier on the other hand couldn''t believe this man at all. Here was a well respected middle-aged man who had all the fame and aplishments most people in this world could only dream of. If he wanted to score some action, he could actually stand a chance with some grad student in herte twenties to mid thirties who was bedazzled by his fame and stardom. But no, he had chosen a darker path- spying on unsuspecting minors! Worse still, he was using his visual prowess to do it!


    The same visual prowess that had made him popr in the first ce!


    Zavier honestly didn''t know what to make of this. The first time he had met Harry in the woods that night, Zavier had assumed that maybe the middle-aged man had actually mistakenly stumbled into the action, and had chosen to indulge his eyes. No one would have med him for that if it had actually been the case. After all, Zavier had fallen prey to that same trap.


    But this was the second time he was catching this creep. This wasn''t good at all. It only went further to say that this was a pattern. Zavier was no psychologist, but he could sense some deep seated issues here. As Zavier tried to convince himself that this was none of his business, another voice began to speak from the back of his mind, telling him to take advantage of this situation. The more he thought about it, the more he couldn''t deny that it was true.


    Zavier essentially had a very important person by the balls. This knowledge he had over Harry put him in a position of strength. He could practically see it in the older man''s eyes that he was nervous, like he wasn''tpletely sure that Zavier wasn''t going to rat him out. This was another golden opportunity that heaven had dropped on hisps. Settling into this recent realization, Zavier decided to take the shot and roll with it.


    Zavier eased up and straightened his posture. He then looked at the nervous pervert and poked the bear a little;


    "I guess you''re right. I don''t need to tell anybody."


    Harry was a bit taken aback. He wasn''t sure if he had heard well, so he asked in an unsure tone, "You won''t¡­?"


    "Of course not! Why would I? Just think about how much damage that would do to you? The president of the university would definitely disown you, you would lose all government contracts, including your rank and status. I mean, let''s face it, you would be ruined."


    Oh; Harry thought to himself as he regarded the young teenager. So that''s what this is huh?


    Harry was no child, he recognised a shakedown when he saw one.

 206 Chapter 206

    Zavier was clearly trying to get him to get him to y hardball. Lowering his gaze, he eyed Zavier suspiciously;


    "I get it Zavier, I clearly have a lot to lose if this ever gets out. So why don''t you tell me what you want in exchange for your silence?"


    "Well, if you put it like that, you make this whole thing look transactional."


    "Just tell me what you want, I get it."


    Zavier highly doubted that Harry had the power to handle his problems right now. his problems were on a cosmic scale and could only be fixed by a divine hand. But there was one thing in particr that had been on his mind for quite some time now. Zavier couldn''t deny that the moment was perfect for it. He coughed sparingly, and then proceeded with the shakedown of this very important man;


    "You saw what happened on the battlefield a couple of hours ago right?"


    Harry tensed. That was a very vague beginning, and it didn''t even at all hint at what Zavier was asking. "Well, you have to be very specific. As I am sure you know this already, but today''s battles were very spectacr. A whole lot of stuff went down."


    "I know, but this is regards to the one regarding my team mate Shiranui."


    Harry caught a sense of what might be going on, and protested. "Hold on Zavier! Are you asking me to try and influence the minds of the judges to favour your team? Look, even I don''t have such sway over these matters. I sugge-"


    Zavier rasped impatiently; "That''s not what I am talking about!"


    "Oh, what then?"


    "You saw what happened to Shiranui yeah?"


    Harry was confused. "I''m sorry, who?"


    "Shiranui, my the girl with the mes incident."


    "The girl from the Yamata n? Yeah, sure. I saw that. But what has that got to do with me?"


    Zavier pressed on eagerly; "What happened to her? I suspect that it had something to do with her powers, but I can''t really say for sure. What was all that about?"


    Now it was Harry''s turn to pause. This wasn''t what he had in mind at all. Knowing just how Zavier was, he had half expected him to ask something impossible. But this was a nice surprise because he had chosen a very peculiar path to tow.


    Being an advanced mage, and as one who was at the top echelon of the mage world, Harry was one of the very few people on campus who might actually have an idea as to what the hell had happened to Shiranui. So Zavier knew what he was doing. But this was a hard ask. Not because Harry didn''t know the answer, but because this information was a very sensitive one. The real truth regarding the Yamata girl was so precious that it had to be hidden behind a stream of lies.


    This was a very serious issue. Normally, Harry shouldn''t be able to give out such prime piece of gossip to an ordinary teenager. But he was indeed a difficult situation. Harry weighed the odds and settled at the fact that his reputation was more important than holding on to a ver high-level guarded family secret.


    Assuming a very serious tone, and with a extra stern expression, Harry charged Zavier; "Listen up Zavier, this is no freaking joke okay? What I am about to tell you is a secret that had been protected for years by those at the top. I need you to promise not to spill the beans scandalously. Deal?"


    Zavier was amused; "Damn Harry, you look even more serious than ususal."


    "Promise me Zavier! Trust me, you''re going to understand when I finally tell you. There''s a whole lot you don''t know about that family, and what is happening to your girl."


    Zavier looked at the other man carefully, searching for signs of a fibber. He had good reason to be cautious. Harry was probably putting on a show just because he knew Zavier wanted this information. Zavier wouldn''t put it past him to actually drum up all this drama just to lend credence to the nonsense that he was about to sell to Zavier. He just couldn''t risk it. He had to know and he had to know for sure.


    After a jiffy that was spent on gazing into the man''s soul through his eyes, Zavier was convinced that Harry wasn''t ying around at all. Whatever he had to say about Shiranui, it definitely had him shook. This only made Zavier even more curious than before. So, he gave Harry the assurance he was looking for.


    "Fine. I promise not to make public this revtion. Now tell me."


    Harry took a minute to organise his thoughts, and began his narration;


    "You noticed the patterns that looked like tattoos right? The ones that formed on her during the er- incident?"


    Zavier nodded.<sub> </sub>


    "Well, to those outside the n, they are simply referred to as the Yamata Pattern. They are only exclusive to the descendants of the n who lucked out on the deepest variant of the Yamata''s bloodline abilities. The official name of those golden mes is called the ''Chibiterasu!'' As you probably witnessed from earlier on, this terrible me is a very powerful ability."


    Zavier absorbed every single word. Having witnessed the incident firsthand, he asked a very intelligent question. "Just how powerful is this me?"


    <o>,m Zavier saw the unmistakable chill in Harry''s eyes as he asked that question. He answered him in an even more eerie tone;</o>


    "On a scale of one to ten, probably one hundred and fifty."


    Zavier shot him an unbelieving look.


    "Oh you better believe it Zavier. Chibiterasu is a golden me that canpletely dissolve all tangible matter in this world. No matter what it is, whether it be iron, wood or flesh, itpletely devours it all! It is a highly sought after technique. And in the wrong hands, any Yamata descendant that manages to unlock this potential will automatically be a weapon. This is the truth."


    Zavier believed him now. It seemed like a very heavy fate for someone to bear. He wondered if Shiranui was really up to this. Even if she wasn''t, he was more than willing to go all out for her. All he needed was more information. So he asked Harry;


    "Well, how does one contain it?"


    Harry looked at him with wide eyes as if he couldn''t believe Zavier would ask him that after hearing just how dangerous this power was.


    "Are you kidding me? Didn''t you hear anything I just said? It cannot be contained! It can''t be extinguished or contained. At best, it can only be sealed away or absorbed!"


    That was one answer that Zavier had been afraid of getting. No wonder Shiranui was still ina! All of that was just way too much for her. Especially after having to unlock it under such harsh battle conditions. The strain on her body alone must have been something on a whole other level.


    As he struggled toe to terms with her new condition, Harry gave Zavier a strange look.


    The young man was just full of surprises. When Zavier had begun with asking him if he had witnessed the battle, Harry could have sworn that Zavier had been trying to ckmail him into getting him to influence the results in his favor. But s, he was asking about his teammate''s new condition. It wasn''t like he was asking out of curiosity or for some selfish gain. It was evident that it was way deeper than that.


    Harry didn''t know what to think of that. It was out of character for many young participants to think of anyone other than themselves.


    "That was quite a strange ask Zavier¡­"


    "What?"


    "You could''ve asked for anything that would have been for your sole benefit. But instead, you asked about that girl. Why?"


    Zavier wasn''t about to get into any kind of mind game. He was still trying to digest the full information he had just been give, so he wasn''t in the mood at all. Not wanting to give Harry a straight forward answer, Zavier simply shrugged.


    But Harry wasn''t about to let go either.


    "You know, it''s great that you fancy your team mate. But on the long run, I think it''s best you keep things professional."


    Zavier really didn''t care for this perv''s unsolicited advice. Harry saw the dark look in his eyes and sensed that maybe Zavier felt offended.


    "Rx, I mean you no harm. However, since you''ve based your request on the well-being of your team mate, I''d like to help you out with something else."


    Now it was Zavier''s turn to to be surprised. His eyes, full of suspicion, he eyed Harry as if he was trying to figure out what he was trying to gain from such a noble gesture.


    "What exactly are you yapping on about Harry?"


    Harry pulled out the pipe from his mouth, and in a very dramatic fashion, he expertly blew curly wisps of white smoke into the air.


    "No need to be on edge Zavier, just listen. This is about that cute little girl that is to be your next opponent¡­"

 207 Chapter 207

    That was more than enough for a fresh spark to ignite in Zavier''s eyes. Was Harry actually about to do what he thought he was about to do?


    Apparently he was. Harry assumed an even more serious outward expression as he divulged the information;


    "¡­in my honest opinion; I think her attack is very scary, you need to be wary when fighting her."


    "Are you serious? Was the best you coulde up with?! Come on!"


    "Hold on, here me out," Harry answered patiently. "I observed her closely and I believe her weak point should be in her spiritual power. That''s right, her connection with that basket of flowers is key. If you can deceive her physical senses by casting a strong illusion on her, I think you might actually stand a chance of winning."


    Zavier didn''t say anything immediately, Harry had actually made a very solid point.


    "I have seen your potential, and I believe I am not far from the truth when I say that you have knack for casting illusion." Before Zavier could get his hope too high, he swiftly added; "But you have a lot of work to do. It''s not automatic you know. It is impossible to learn advanced illusion in a short time, no matter how talented you are."


    Ruling out the possibility of learning it so quickly, he concluded his analysis; "There is no way you can beat Sabrina at this point. You might actually stand a chance if you tried in a few months from now. But as of this moment¡­" he shook his head slowly, "¡­you can''t."


    Getting Harry to give his professional advice on this matter had never been Zavier''s intention. But he was d that he had gotten it anyway. So, surprisingly relieved, Zavier turned his back to leave without even as much as saying a single word.


    Behind him, Harry was shocked that Zavier was simply leaving just like that. His n had been to lure in Zavier with the possibility of winning by dangling the carrot of advanced illusion magic before him. Shockingly, Zavier didn''t take the bait.


    Still astonished, Harry called out after him; "Don''t you want to learn advanced illusion from me?! You know I''m the best at it right?! They don''t call me ''The Illusionost'' for nothing you know!! Better ask me now before I go on to change my mind!!"


    But Zavier ignored the hell out of him. He didn''t even as much as nce back or something. He simply hurried his steps on as he began to descend down the hill. Harry continued to call out to him repeatedly until Zavierpletely vanished from his sight.


    Finally, it was just him alone again. So, after turning aside to confirm that there was no one else in sight, Harry continued with his unsolicited spying. Unfortunately, the girl in the bathroom was just rousing up her showers. Harry watched in annoyance as she covered up herself in her bathing robe and exited the bathroom. Little did she know that she had disappointed someone somewhere.


    The novelty of the whole escapade wore off after the girl finished showering. There was no need to hang around any longer. Dusk was approaching really fast, so Harry hurried along downwards from the hills. The middle-aged illusionist wasn''t afraid of the dark. In fact, for a mage whose primary attribute was light magic, he was a little tofortable with the dark. On several asions, Harry had spent many a night crouched in the shadows- waiting.


    It would be astute to say that he was a mage that was now in tune with the darkness.


    But this evening was way different. Thezy moon hovered in the horizon, right over the edge of the opposite end of the sky where the setting sun had bathed the entire western firmament in a dull orange. At a time when he would normally wander about in the streets of the university, Harry found himself heading indoors. He had a lot on his mind this time. Zavier had given him a lot to ponder on. The youngd was something of a mystery himself.


    And Harry sure loved mysteries.


    With a sinister smile on his face that more than suggested that he was up to something, Harry entered the building on the one person he could truly be himself with, it was also the one person he could have an actual conversation with and who wouldn''t suffocate him with the worshipful stares that came along with stardom.


    As usual, Harry slipped into Galen''s office through the window instead of using the door like any other regr person.<sub> </sub>


    Galen, as was habitual of him, was huddled over at his desk. The paperwork that came with such an important office was something that he had done grudgingly for over two decades. The dim candlelight in his office didn''t seem to deter him at all. This was just another evening of work for him- at least until Harry stepped in unannounced.


    With the bolt of sharp rebuke that was ever ready in the old man''s tongue, he was about to reprimand his protege when he noticed the mischievous smile on his face.


    "You creep, you''ve done it again haven''t you? You''ve found another poor naked beauty to spy on haven''t you?"


    Still with that same achieving smile, Harry shook his head mildly and replied Galen in a deep voice; "NO. Not this time Galen¡­not this time¡­I found something much better."


    His tone obviously hinted that he had more to let on, so Galen indulged him. Squinting his eyes in a manner that showed how suspicious he was, he questioned him saying; "What else could possibly have you grinning from ear to ear like a Hyena if not one of your perverse hobbies of catching naked women in their private moments? We both know that is all you live for."


    "First off, I really doubt you''ve seen a Hyena before¡­" he eased himself into the seat closest to him, "And as I said earlier on, it''s not random naked beauty that has me riled up like this Galen, I found something even scarcer- I found an unparalleled talent."


    ...............¡­


    Some few miles away from Galen''s office, within the timeframe of that same hour, another important conversation was being held. Before the discussion between both parties had begun, prior to that moment, Zavier had been trying his best to get Calista alone to himself all evening. The lead teacher had been so swamped with ensuring the betterment of her hospitalised students that Zavier had to quit waiting around an pull her away for a few minutes.


    A little surprised by his state of urgency, Calista asked unsurely; "Are you alright? You look a little bit on the edge."


    "Pardon me ma''am, but I have been doing a whole lot of thinking, and I need to run it by you if you don''t mind."


    One would have thought that that would be enough to put Calista''s mind at ease. But she immediately assumed the worst and tensed up.


    "What''s this about Zavier?" She asked in a low voice. "Have you discovered something?"


    Zavier simply stared at her with a nk expression for a few seconds, making Calista all the more worried. He didn''t give her a direct answer. Instead, he chose to reply her a four worded sentence in a very grim tone;


    "We need to talk."


    In a very hush hush tone, both of them conversed in their secret corner. Zavier was careful enough not to allow the details of their conversation spill out into the open. In fact, there was little to nothing in the way of evidence of what they were actually talking about. It was that important. Calista listened with a deep frown on her face, taking mental notes at an amazing speed and at the same time trying to see things in apletely objective light.


    Eventually, after about fifteen minutes of some really cloak and dagger-like discussion, the two peeled away from each other and went their separate ways. Not even ghosts who might be hovering around would have gain said them. They had been that careful, especially Zavier. The traces of the discussion disappeared into the air, much in the same manner of the conversants long after they had dispersed.


    Calista went on like nothing happened. She was an expert at that. But Zavier however was a little bit overwhelmed. The day had held a whole lot for him. He did like to admit it, but Shiranui''s case had him a little bit on edge. She was still unconscious. She was stillying still like some modern day sleeping beauty, waiting for her Prince Charming toe along and set her free from the cold chains of mental incarceration.


    There was also the fact that he had witnessed the strangest form of attack and defense that he had never seen before. It had all been so exotic. If he wasn''t on the lineup to fight the cute looking girl who had been nice to him before, Zavier might have actually wanted to shake her hand or something. It had been a truly marvelous disy.

 208 Chapter 208

    Indeed, as Zaviery in bed that night, reflecting on the many events of the day, he discovered that that fight had truly reminded him of one of the craziest life lessons out there- things are never what they seemed to be. The case with Sabrina was a text book example. Everyone, every single person (including himself) had already ruled out the possibility that the smiling girl with the cute face would be any problem.


    That proved to be a serious miscalction. Not only had she been a problem, she turned out to be the biggest fucking problem. Zavier recalled the look of bewilderment on the faces of the crowd when the girl had dered she wanted to fight her opponents at once. That right there had been a baller move. At the time, it was a very bold statement that should have told everyone that this was no normal girl.


    But of course, no one saw it. Instead, they had all seen what they had chosen to see; a helpless girl that was trying to resort to the tricks of crowd psychology, a weak girl that was trying to bait her attackers into having pity on her. Boy were they wrong. They had all discovered the hard way that Sabrina might look every bit like an angel, but she was the most horrific types of angels- she was the angel of destruction.


    Self reflection was a deep part of Zavier''s personality. So, at evening dragged into midnight, and as the souls on campus drifted into oblivion, Zavier was stuck with his own careful thoughts. His mind went over every detail of the events of the previous day, until it brought him to his conversation with Harry. That was the highlight of his day.


    Eventually, Zavier did manage to catch some sleep. That night, he dreamt he was doing some really heavy workouts. He was exercising so hard that he felt like a demigod. But when he looked up, he was that he was in the arena of the battleground. He lifted up his eyes all around him and saw that there were thousands of people in the venue who were just watching him. It was creepy, there wasn''t a single sound. They all sat still like zombies at gazed at him with soulless eyes.


    Zavier woke up to the sound of a cock row in the distance and sighed. He felt like he had only closed his eyes for about five minutes, and five whole hours had passed.


    Without any hesitation, he got up and headed towards a public park in the area, and began to warm up.


    All alone in the park, with the early morning breeze gently whistling through the trees, Zavier allowed himself a moment to admit that his nightmare had been a manifestation of the state of mind that he was currently in. It was like his brain had hijacked his ms for the next morning, and somehow made it dark.


    While he allowed his mind to feed off of this theory, his body was busy getting into the best shape of his life. Slowly, the darkness began to fade away, and the first streaks of dawn graced the eastern skies with golden rays of the rising sun. The park began to be filled with early morning runners and leisure walkers. At first they came in singles who asionally whizzed by with making any waves.


    But eventually, groups of cliques of friends began to grace the paths of the park, and Zavier could no longer ignore their chit chat. It seemed like no one could talk about anything other than thepetition and who the possible winners might be.


    While doing some cardiovascr exercises, Zavier eavesdropped on one particr conversation between a group of people walking past. Without even trying to mask the enthusiasm in their voices, unashamedly, they chatted their hearts away. The topic of conversation was none other than who would be the winner of this year''s freshmen tryouts¡­


    "I really don''t know what more you could ask for, Sabrina took down a whole fucking dragon! All without even breaking a sweat!! Can you imagine what would happen if she decided to go all out? Can you even think about it for a second?! Sabrina is definitely winning this!"


    A rtively less assertive voice came next.


    "I wouldn''t get too excited if I were you. I''ve heard some pretty morbid tales about the Yamata family you know¡­death and destruction revolves around that n¡­"


    Someone countered that statement deftly;


    "Maybe you''re right. But I also heard Shiranui is currently hospitalised. Apparently, she unlocked some strange power yesterday and its taken a toll on her."


    "Damn! that doesn''t sound good at all. Everyone knows the finalists need to be in top shape."


    "Indeed¡­"


    "I don''t know about you guys, but my money''s on that Sabrina girl anytime!"


    "I agree. With Shiranui out of the way, I can honestly say that the remaining candidates are no match for her."


    "Come on, no need to be so dismissive of the rest¡­"<sub> </sub>


    The dominant voice argued vehemently; "But it''s the truth. The odds of Sabrina losing in the first round was at an abysmal 1:100. But in this fourth round, its looking like she''s five times more likely to win."


    Someone joked madly; "You know, you can be good at calcting odds when you want to. Howe you don''t you apply that same energy in ss?"


    The group bursted into softughter.


    Zavier was intrigued. Not at the humourless joke, (it had been a dry one by all standards) but at the odds the student had stipted. It seemed like bets were being ced already. This was one moment Zavier wished he was actually a social creature. So, bets were being ced after all. He really should have known something like this would go on.


    Still amused, Zavier put on his most polite expression and approached one of the passing students who looked like he gambled.


    "I beg you pardon, could you please point me in the direction of the gambling den please?"


    The student gave him quick directions, and Zavier swiftly located the space.


    It wasn''t exactly difficult to spot. There were a lot of people mouring around the booking store. It was a small store that was roughly a couple of miles off the bypass that led to the main campus. The day''s match was the hot sauce of the moment. Zavier didn''t need to snoop around or make inquiries, it was evident that Sabrina was everyone''s choice. After all, who else was there to contend with.


    Zavier got in line trying his best to suppress the grin that was trying to force its way onto his face. When it got to his turn, he brought out his money, ced it on the counter and said calmly;


    "Put me down for a gold coin."


    Without even bothering to look up, the manager took the money and automatically assumed that Sabrina was his choice. Just as he was about to give him his slip, Zavier dered his stance;


    "No, I am betting against Sabrina. One gold coin says she will lose in the first round."


    Utterly surprised by Zavier''s peculiar bet, all around him, the chatter died down immediately. Then almost instantaneously, a tide ofughter swept through the entire store. Thinking maybe he was an amateur, someone came to his rescue;


    "Son, I don''t think you understand how this works. 1:100 odds means that if you ce your bet with a gold coin, then you will surely lose it. Now correct yourself and ce the right bet¡­"


    Zavierughed softly. "Anything can happen sir, nothing is truly impossible."


    There was a general wave of high expectation in the air. It was as palpable as it was contagious. For everyone on campus, all roads led to the direction of the stadium. There wasn''t a single soul who wasn''t invested in this match; whether emotionally or financially, or simply for the sake of entertainment, they were all bunkers for this final showdown. It was the height of the entire event. This was what everyone had been waiting for. And so far, no one had been disappointed.


    On this note, a thick throng of spectators made their way towards the action. Way before the finals started, the entire stadium was filled to the brim. This time, the crowd wasn''t just made up of students and teachers from the university, but also of the freshmen and lead teachers who had flunked out of thepetition during the elimination stages. Apparently, their ego wasn''t bigger than their curiosity. Like everyone else, they wanted to see how Sabrina would hold up her own.


    Amongst the chief organisers and invigtors of the event, from her lofty position, Rachel sat proudly in the middle as she overlooked the host before her. Rachel knew that she was supposed to remain unbiased and stay objectively open minded about all the candidates. But much like everyone else, she couldn''t help but have her own reservations.


    While the majority of the crowd had their thoughts and expectations centred on the new star called Sabrina, Rachel''s preference veered to the left.

 209 Chapter 209

    As always, she retained a very strong hope that Shiranui would rise to the asion. She had always been intrigued by the Yamata n and their abilities. Also, during Shiranui''sst bout, Rachel had watched her very carefully. She had been very impressed. Rachel had discerned that Shiranui had unlocked a deeper and more savage level of her n''s innate abilities.


    Therefore, while the crowd foamed at the thought of Sabrina, Rachel remained hopeful that Shiranui would show up and show out.


    Unfortunately, much to the disappointment of her patron, Shiranui didn''t appear. Rachel kept her eyes and spies fixed on all entrances, hoping that Shiranui would appear out of the blue. But nothing, came, not even her shadow. Trying to mask her agitation, she turned to the one person she knew who always had answers- Galen.


    "I beg your pardon sir, but the Yamata girl seems to be unavable, has anything happened."


    "You haven''t heard?"


    "Heard what sir?"


    "Well, apparently the lead teacher of that team has banned Shiranui from participating- on the grounds of her being too weak."


    Rachel sighed aloud. This time, she couldn''t hide the thick cloud of disappointment washed across her face.


    "What a pity. Truly, this might have as well be over. If Shiranui isn''t going to grace this match with her presence, then the exciting power-charged duel everyone is expecting definitely won''t happen."


    Galen replied her with some witty saying about keeping an open mind.


    But Rachel wasn''t listening. Shiranui and Sabrina represented the apex of this year''s freshmen. If this showdown wasn''t about them. Then it was already likely that Sabrina would clinch this year''s championship.


    Right on cue, about some few minutes after Rachel had made the observation on Shiranui''s absence, the crowd began to grow restless after a very fruitless search the Yamata girl. Unlike Rachel who wasn''t in the know at all, a lot of the students and teachers knew that Shiranui had been hospitalised over the past few hours. So, when they saw that she still hadn''t shown up, they bursted into a fresh bout of gossipy chatter.


    All across the stadium, from one end to another, everyone started to express their regrets. The disdain was all over their faces. No one was happy about the fact that fate had robbed them of a chance to see this once in a lifetime duel. In fact, the disappointment was so pronounced that a couple of people began to slip out of the venue. They had all been lured in by the seductive prospect of a power packed Shiranui-Sabrina match.


    Next to Zavier, the unstable Nadia was seething with murderous rage. When she looked at the audience, she saw the disappointment in their eyes. Like she wasn''t what she was expecting. Even though she had proven herself in battle several times over, it didn''t matter to them. How dare they look down on her in that manner? The crowd was expecting the Yamata girl, and they made it obvious to Nadia that she wasn''t good enough.


    "Look at them, a bunch of vipers! Look at how they scorn us! If they were so worthy, why didn''t they try to make it to the finals?!"


    Zavier who understood the nature of the outside world knew that Nadia probably wouldn''t have said that if she had seen Sabrina fight. This was what had prompted him to continue watching the match long after Shiranui had been injured- he needed to gain a close insight of the enemy he and his team were about to face. So far, it had proven to be a very sound decision.


    Part of what made this final battle so interesting wasn''t just the fact that it had all the ingredients of an exceptional joust, it was also the fact that there were all sorts of characters present. A lot of the students and teachers who had been knocked out by either Calista''s team or Sabrina showed up with revenge boiling in their blood. Amongst the list of distinguished personalities who definitely wanted Sabrina in the ground was none other than the capricious, vindictive Wallice.


    The lead teacher still hadn''t recovered from the shocking defeat that Sabrina had dealt her and her students. The proud efficient team had been served a big bowl of a debasing defeat, and what made it worse was that everyone knew Sabrina hadn''t even actually put in any effort. It was the very definition of an unforeseeable variable. For someone who thrived on making lengthy preparations and borate ns, Wallice had been blindsided by the unknown variable that was Sabrina.<sub> </sub>


    Like everyone else, Wallice had assumed that Shiranui was the real dragon here. So, she had based all her ns on facing her. Unfortunately, a much bigger monster emerged from their very own nks, a monster that devoured Gabby''s dragon like it was a paper boat in a vast ocean. Even now, as Wallice watched, she still found it difficult to ept the fact that this was indeed her reality. she had done all she could. And yet, here she was, sitting on the sidelines as champions went at it.


    Every other loser had recovered and epted their fate, but not Wallice.


    Seated in the audience, totally dislodged from any connections or hopes of winning, Wallice continued to re at Sabrina like she had stolen something from her. Sabrina actually did steal something from her, but it was perfectly legal and done within the confinements of the rules. But it was far from Wallice to concede. In her head, she yed back the scene over and over where she had foolishly agreed to a three on one battle against a young girl.


    In retrospect, she realised what a serious mistake that had been. What had she been thinking?! Wallice knew herself, and because she did, she knew that that particr scene would haunt her forever in her nightmares. Like a big baby, Wallice sulked and sank into an even deeper bout of depression.


    Camouged by the sea of spectators to her left and right, Wallice was in the perfect ce to observe Sabrina carefully without having to mask her facial expression. All sorts of thoughts ran through her mind. Wallice still hadn''t cracked the mystery of the identities of the three mysterious high school students from the first round. Her swift vindictive mind began to connect the dots that weren''t even there in the first ce.


    "Gabby, you were there during the first round¡­" it wasn''t a question, she was merelyying the ground for the usation toe, "Do you think that maybe this Sabrina girl was among the three mysterious high school students? She does fit the profile doesn''t she? Her anonymity for one is really disturbing. How does one this powerful stay hidden for so long?"


    Gabby had already moved on from the loss. Although he didn''t admit it (he would never), but he felt a bit relived that the pressure of having to win was all over. He knew that so far, he and his team mates'' performance had been nothing but ster. So, there definitely would be some favourable scores from the judges. But he understood that Wallice was having a hard time processing this failure. It was outside her character to fail. That was why she was grasping for straws.


    In a patient tone, he replied her objectively;


    "No Miss Wallice. I don''t think Sabrina was one of them. I was there, and I still remember the peculiar aura about those three. It didn''t feel like they were three separate entities, they were so much in sync with each other. Sabrina''s vibe ispletely different. It''s obvious she''s a lone wolf. She doesn''t seem like someone who ys well with others."


    "So you don''t think that there''s even a slight chance that she might be one of them?"


    Gabby shook his head. "No ma''am¡­" he made as if he wanted to say something, but pursed his lips and hesitated at thest minute.


    Wallice''s quick eyes picked up on his reluctance, and like a bird of prey, she honed in on that hesitation and preyed on it;


    "You know better than to hold out on me Gabby! Whatever it is you''ve got to say, you''d better spit it out right now!"


    That was all the encouragement Gabby needed.


    "Actually, there''s one other thing¡­it''s not like I can really say for sure, but I had the feeling that those mysterious high school students were all boys. I don''t think there was a single female in their midst."


    Wallice was taken aback. She was a bit disappointed that the trail that was supposed to link Sabrina ran cold. But on another level, she was actually amused with this new piece of information. Gabby wasn''t just the kind to go bbering his mouth anyhow. She knew that the reason he had held off from telling her this earlier on was because he wasn''t sure. It was clear that he had given it much thought, and was therefore convinced of his im of them being all boys.


    The sound of the judges calling the finalists pulled Wallice out of her own conspiracy theories, reminding her that a very interesting battle was about to go down.

 210 Chapter 210

    This was the tradition that wasmonce here. Before the match officially started, the judges would call out the names of the participants of both sides. This exercise brought no joy to the spectators, for it merely confirmed the fact that Shiranui wouldn''t be gracing this match with her presence. One could almost see the general discontentment in the air. It was difficult to miss. What could have been the most anticipated match was looking like it was going to be a mediocre performance.


    With the steady, graceful stride of a feline, Sabrina took to the stage. Nearly every single pair of eyes in the crowd followed her. She was a strange creature indeed. She had neither the feminine allure of a sensual being, nor the striking presence of a predator. In fact, her physical demeanour contrasted sharply with her new found reputation. Those who hadn''t seen her fight before didn''t know what to expect when they saw her. There were just too many rumours flying about concerning this young girl.


    Almost everyone who saw her at first nce thought the same thing; how could such a nice, simple looking girl pack so much destructive power?


    The fact was- there had been nothing destructive about her disy the other time. Those who bore witness to her stunning victory had been so wowed that their brains had created a different version of what had truly happened. The only thing they chose to remember was the fact that she had singlehandedly taken down a whole dragon. But they forgot just how aesthetically pleasing her takedown had been. It had been all flowers, petals, roses, and of course- victory.


    There wasn''t even the usual apuse that the crowd often gave the champion of the people. They all just stared at the cute girl with the eerie smile stered on her lips. The distance Sabrina walked from the entrance to the stage was a rtively short one. But in the eyes of the spectators who were eager to see the girl wonder, it was like an eternity. It was all the time they needed to observe her closely. Maybe they wanted to see if she had grown fangs overnight or something of that nature.


    Sabrina finally nted her foot on the stage, and waited for the other side to make their move.


    Calista observed the mood in the air. Though she hadn''t personally witnessed the cute girl''s previous victory, she had heard a ton of gossip about it in the past few hours. Somehow, the cute girl had managed to attain a kind of deity-like fascination. Calista wished she had been there to watch the whole fight so she could gauge the girl''s strength by herself. But s, she couldn''t turn back the hands of time.


    Fortunately, her next card also happened to be someone who had seen Sabrina fight up close. So, she signalled him;


    "Zavier, you''re up¡­"


    This was the moment he had been waiting for. So, like a trained assassin ready for some 3D action, Zavier stepped forward to run point on this one.


    Calista''s decision to bring Zavier up shocked everyone. Protesting like a cartoon character, the ever proactive Nadia began to jump up and down-


    "THIS! WAS! NOT! THE! AGREED! PLAN!!"


    Her eyes widened in shock, she gaped at Calista hoping for some exnation, or at least, a retraction. Nadia got neither.


    Making no attempt whatsoever to dial down her agitation, she continued to pester her lead teacher;


    "Miss! My big brother might get hurt!! What''s going on?!"


    Calista looked at her calmly. "This is what''s best for now. Take a breather and rx."


    Nadia looked at Calista like she couldn''t believe what she was saying. Of course she couldn''t rx. Not after she had heard all the horrendous tales flying around concerning this Sabrina girl.


    Zavier knew the uproar his presence was causing at this time. Still, he wasn''t bothered, not in the least. Still maintaining his new found confidence, he walked majestically to the stage with a smirk on his face. Halfway there, he swerved around and encourage his team mates with a joke;


    "Hey miss, if I were to lose, forfeit the match would you? I don''t want to see anyone else get hurt again."


    Calista wasn''t big on humour, but she was able to squeeze one in; "Of course I expect to see you flunk out, but something tells me that would be a very unlikely oue."<sub> </sub>


    Zavier snickered and proceeded to meet his adversary.


    As he got to the centre of the field, a fresh tidal wave of gossip started to erupt from every corner. For the first time, Zavier felt what it was like to be under the heavy re of thousands of scrutinising eyes. They all bore down on him with judgemental, scorn-filled eyes.


    "That damn Merion High School! It''s typical of them to deploy the pawn in their midst! They''re already nning to use this guy as a sacrificialmb!"


    "It''s that haughty boy isn''t it? I was beginning to think we''d never get to see him in action¡­"


    "What terrible timing, he''s gonna get his ass handed to him! That''s for sure!"


    The freshmen in the crowd began to jeer at him. This was the perfect opportunity for them to offload their contempt on him without it being misconstrued as targeted hate. They were riled for so many reasons, but mostly because they weren''t here to see the typical David versus Goliath match, that was a serious cliche.


    An underdog show was too predictable. What they were all thirsty for was to see Shiranui in action. And unfortunately, an inept nonentity was in her ce. They booed the hell out of Zavier. It seemed all the freshmen were united against him. All across the stadium, contemptuous jeers rained down on Zavier. Anyone who didn''t know Zavier would have assumed that he had either picked a fight with every single freshman, or he had done something unforgivable.


    Harry on the other hand was stunned. He just couldn''t understand why a seemingly well adjusted boy like Zavier would be at the centre of this kind of verbal assault. What had he done exactly?


    Beside him, Galen observed Harry and noted just how surprised he was. Clearly he was having a difficult time tying to figure out what exactly was going on. The hate was so much. However, instead of clearing things up for his protege and the rest of his guests, Galen ended upughing. Any attentive person would have been able to tell that Galen wasn''t joining the crowd tough at the boy, the old man was merelyughing because as always, he knew something others didn''t.


    Part of the reasons why Galen said nothing was because there were some secrets Val had entrusted to him. In more than one way, his hands were tied. All he could do wasugh really.


    The princess who was always quick to ask questions was surprisingly indifferent about this strange boy. The whole spiteful scene before them was more than enough to generate a stream of questions from Rachel''s overly inquisitive mind. But surprisingly, she kept her tongue to herself as well as her observations. She didn''t have any questions at the time, but she made a mental note to keep a close eye on Zavier''s every move from then.


    Although, in that moment she couldn''t exin that intuitive feeling. Looking at the young chap, there was nothing striking or noteworthy about it. He looked every inch a simpleton. but she had learned to trust her instincts in situations like this about people. Shiranui was the one whom she had all her cards on- but, when something told her to watch out for Zavier in the future, she held on to it.


    Meanwhile, Zavier walked on unperturbed through the valley of the shadow of contempt. He crossed the threshold of his ownfort space and strolled to meet Sabrina across the battlefield. Sabrina who had been watching him closely opened up the banter with a mild joke;


    ? "My, my, my, you''re really not that popr around here are you?"


    Zavier''s thumb suddenly developed a very queer rtionship with his nostril. He rubbed his nose awkwardly, and then turned to face the judges with a request that didn''t score him any good points amongst the already riled freshmen.


    "Distinguished judges¡­" he began deferentially, "I am not averse to admitting the fact that I am a bit ill-prepared. I hereby solicit your benevolence, and beseech you all to please grant me a little more time to prepare ahead of time¡­"


    In order to be heard properly, Zavier used a simple magic-mechanism to enhance the volume of his voice. The magic loudspeaker worked wonders, and carried his voice across every corner of the arena, making sure not only the judges heard his strange plea, but just about every other spectator present.


    "I am aware of the stupendous amount of animositying my way from a lot of people here, but in all honesty- I really do not care¡­" truly, his voice carried no atom of fear, or remorse, or bitterness. It was nd, and devoid of any negative emotions.


    "You all probably don''t know it, but at first, I was very reluctant to partake in this year''s tournament¡­"

 211 Chapter 211

    From that point, Zavier''s tone took a dive;


    "But because of the staggering degree of psychological and verbal abuse I have had to endure from my fellow freshmen, I have decided to highlight the privilege and status of the Adam family. Yes, I have decided to honour my n through this tournament."


    He lifted up his forefinger and pointed it at Sabrina. Enunciating his words, and making it loud enough for everyone to hear, he made a very bold deration.


    "What''s going to happen next is this; this girl will pretend to be caught up in my illusion, and then she will admit defeat purely of her own volition."


    Sabrina cocked her head like a reptile trying to figure out what the heck was going on to it''s meal. She was confounded, and not in the way that ttered Zavier. What the boy had just said made no sense to her at all. In what world would she ever pretend to be in an illusion? And for what reasons exactly? Was this some kind of mind game or something? Was he trying to bait her? If so, what was his end game here?


    These were all legit questions that needed direct answers. But unfortunately, nothing was adding up. Either this was all just one big bluff, or the Zavier kid was legit going insane right before everyone''s eyes. Whichever the option was, things weren''t looking too good for him. There was no need trying to waste her mental energy on trying to decipher his cryptic message. All she had to do was wait it out.


    With remarkable boldness, Zavier continued to tow this path with a prophetic-like tone;


    "Because of how magnanimous the Adam family''s offer is, Sabrina will not be able to refuse. Therefore, she will pretend to lose to me."


    By Zavier''s calction, even if he made it clear to the public that this was the truth of what was going to happen, it still wouldn''t change a thing. Sabrina had no choice in the matter, she was still going to end up doing what he wanted. But Zavier wrapped the truth in a neat stack of what appeared to be lies. Such then when it finally happened, well¡­


    From an outsider''s perspective, in fact to anyone watching, Zavier''s words sounded dangerously close to that of the ravings of a lunatic. Was the overbearing effect of the crowd''s contempt starting to get to him? Of course it seemed like the only usible exnation. It was pathetic, but it was also funny. And that was one thing about crowds- they sure loved to have a goodugh. Andugh they did.


    It was all very amusing. Spreading like an infection, the contagious wave ofughter swept through the entire stadium, until at least eight in every ten people wereughing. Those who weren''tughing were either distracted, or still trying to figure out what was wrong with this young man. To cheat was one thing, but toe in front of a whole stadium and dere his detailed n to cheat? That was a whole other level of crazy. What was wrong with this chap?


    Was he being delirious or something?


    Indeed, it was pretty naive of him to think he could actually bamboozle the crowd in this manner and get away with it. His behaviour was a very irrational one, in not stupid. Soon, even those who had been trying not to see him as a mad person lost all reasons to give him the benefit of the doubt. Zavier wasn''t helping his case at all. He was already very unpopr amongst his peers, histest stunt had now put him on the radar of virtually the entire school.


    But then again, Zavier didn''t care. He might have as well been deaf. Anyone else who found themselves in his shoes wouldn''t have the cajones to proceed. Everyone wasughing at him. It was basically the most unfortunate situation any fighter could hope to find themselves in before a fight. On a weak mind, the psychological effect alone could be devastating. But Zavier wasn''t just any mind. He was as brilliant as he was mentally sound.<sub> </sub>


    Anticipating just how shocked the entire crowd would be when this was all over, Zavier turned to the referee and nodded, signalling that he was ready to fight.


    The referee seemed to have also been absorbed in the ensuing drama happening all around him. This particr situation was the diciest one he had ever been in. All he usually did was dere the start of a match, and dere the winner. Never had he witnessed such a mboyant opening before. A part of him was a bit excited. About a second and a half after Zavier had given him the go ahead. He broke off from his trail of thoughts and proceeded to do his duty.


    Signalling that the match hadmenced, the referee methodically blew hard on his whistle and simultaneously raised his left arm to the sky, while he stretched out his right arm horizontally. The match had begun. The poor referee had only gone through the motions, his heart hadn''t been in it at all, for he was still very much puzzled by Zavier''s strange words. These were the finals, only serious minded people were supposed to have made it this far.


    As he withdrew to allow the contestants go at it, he kept asking himself one question; ''Was he really going to perform his enterprise in full view of the ever judgemental eyes of the public?''


    The referee, (and every other person seated watching) were subjected to the power of the goddess of time, and thus had to wait to find out what was going to happen. Zavier made the first move.


    He deftly turned on his trusty Time-Space eye. He had gotten so used to it that in every situation, whether battle or not, he was forced to rely on it for the gift of true sight. With his visual prowess active, he quickly released a very peculiar illusion called ''Inevitable Hypnosis.'' And itnded squarely on the unsuspecting mind of the cute smiling girl''s body.


    Sabrina didn''t know what hit her. She could only sense it. Because the attack was more mental than physical, her petals could do nothing to protect her. It was just as Harry had said earlier on the previous day. The girl''s weakness was on her spiritual side. If a whole dragon hadn''t been able to shale her, then it was very likely that no other physical attack would make a difference.


    Completely taken unawares, with no spell to warn her, Sabrina was caught in between two powerful invisible forces. She felt like the two mental forces were ying tug-of-war with her head, pulling her from two opposite directions with malicious force. She violently resisted the incursion of the invading forces.


    With his Time-Space eye, Zavier saw a very different picture that contrasted sharply with what everyone else was seeing; he saw Sabrina''s true essence in the form of a petal-like aura inside of her. It was flickering, fluctuating with the instability of an alternating current. This was the force that was fighting against Zavier''s illusion. Like an anti-body fighting against an infection, the petal-like aura stood firmly, resisting the invasion of the external force that was trying to overpower it and take control. Zavier doubted that even Sabrina knew what was truly happening.


    He was right. From Sabrina''s own perspective, things were very different, very scary and very painful. It was difficult for Sabrina to process what exactly was happening to her. But in that moment, one thing was constant; she had a very eerie feeling of being watched by two huge eyes. She could feel its intense stare burning a hole through the back of her head from behind her.


    This was the first time Sabrina felt such immense mental pressure. It was strong, really strong, and it had the meanest kick to it. Sabrina felt like she was backed up against a wall, not being able to breathe, and not being able to move. She felt like a huge boulder was pressing down on her chest, making her gasp for breath, and rendering her immobile. Sabrina didn''t just feel stuck, she was actually stuck. The force prevented her from moving at all. She remained static, held in ce by an invisible force.


    Due to Zavier''s need to stay focused, he didn''t move an inch. This was a task that demanded his full concentration, so he remained static as well, just in the same manner his target was also stuck in one ce. The two of them remained in ce like two lifeless wooden figurines.


    Everyone in the audience was puzzled. They (especially the freshmen who hated Zavier with passion) had all expected Sabrina to crush him already. The dy was very unsettling. And even more disconcerting was the fact that they were just staring at each other like it was a staringpetition instead of bloody, jaw-dropping disy of violence that one would usually expect from finalists of this pedigree.

 212 Chapter 212

    No one could say they understoodpletely what was going on. The scene before them was strange by all standards. Why were they looking at each other like that? If words were being exchanged between the two finalists as they stared each other down, it would have been a whole different scenario ad it would have definitely made more sense! But not this! A few minutes in, some of them began to truly wonder if the match had started at all.


    But they had seen the referee clearly indicate through his hand signals and whistle, they match had clearly begun. So what was the hold up? People began to murmur, and a general sense of dissatisfaction enveloped the surrounding area. Almost everyone hade her super hyped in anticipation of the terrible battle that was to ensue, and they had been faced with one disappointment to another.


    First, Shiranui, the champion of the people had failed to show up. The crowd had only just been trying to settle that shocker in, and now this? It wasn''t long before some people revolted. A few of the members of the less patient faction in the crowd began to express their feelings verbally. There was nothing constructive about their appeals, in fact, they were pretty much vulgar with their approach;


    "C''mon!! Start the goddammnn match already!!"


    "Yeah Sabrina! Get his ass! Teach him a lesson!!"


    "Hey!!! Quit dawdling already!!! Get on with it!!"


    "Yeah!!! Get the fuck on with it!! What the hell are you waiting for?! "


    "START THE DAMN FIGHT!!"


    There were some other profanities targeted at Zavier, but the message was still the same thing; the fight needed to start already. The crowd was bloodthirsty.


    However, not everyone in the crowd was a simpleton. A handful of very astute mages, (they were basically a handful because their number could all be counted on one hand) could see that the battle had very well begun- though not in the traditional sense of weapons flying and lightning sparks flying around. A very elite group of advanced illusionists had already discerned a disturbance in Sabrina''s mana. They traced and linked this distortion to a very powerful aura in Zavier''s body.


    But then again, just as Zavier had obnoxiously dered earlier on, it was very possible that Sabrina was pretending like she was under Zavier''s illusion. Paradoxically, amongst the things that were very possible was the fact that this might actually be real. There was a great chance that Zavier had actually cast an incredibly powerful illusion that had petrified his opponent, and had gone through the trouble to dering his cheating methods just to throw others off track.


    This was indeed a conundrum. With the way things were, there was no sure way of knowing the truth. They simply had to be content with the fact that all would be revealed in time.


    While the team of astute mages battled with their dilemma, to the muggles and low-level mages in the crowd, Zavier and Sabrina looked like mannequins. Nadia was in the background fuming. She also wasn''t exempted from the tide of doubt and impatience swirling around like a tornado. At least a tornado would have been preferable to this incredibly boring showdown. Nadia couldn''t understand why her big brother hadn''tunched into action yet.


    Agitated, and desperate for answers, Nadia turned to Calista andined in her usual childish manner;


    "Miss, what''s happening with big brother Zavier?! Why hasn''t he attacked the girl yet?!!"


    Calista gave a very strange response. Instead of cating her student''s worries, she instead burst intoughter like the sound thorns made when they were crackling inside the devouring me. Her tone suggested that she clearly knew something that Nadia didn''t.


    When Calista saw that Nadia wouldn''t give up, she had to step in with actual words;


    "Rx Nadia and have faith in your elder brother. The fight will very well soon be over. Better believe that."<sub> </sub>


    Dah and Kacie had also been nurturing the same thoughts as Nadia. But Dah had been to arrogant to ask what was going on, and Kacie had couldn''t voice out her concerns like Nadia because she had been too busy trying to figure out what exactly was going on.


    However, hearing their lead teacher''s confident and assuring tone, they all knew that something was about to go down. Calista would never lie to them, or do something as basic as giving them false hope. It was evident that she knew something that they didn''t. If she was saying the fight would soon be over, then that was indeed the truth.


    Like a choreographed show, the three girls all swiftly removed their eyes from their teacher and fixed their sights longingly on Zavier. They looked at him like he was a stranger- with shock in their eyes.


    Harry was one of the handful of mages in the crowd who had a sense of what was going on. Positioned on an elevated ne with the rest of the dignitaries, he had a very decent view of the match- in sight and in spirit. From the moment Harry knew that Zavier was going to fight, he became highly invested in the match. Not because of anything else, but merely because he was keen to see what the young man was capable of. He had been a little disturbed by his unpoprity, but he remained hopeful nheless.


    So, right from the get go, Harry set his sights on Zavier''s technique. He knew that Sabrina wasn''t an easy mark. Heck, he had told this to Zavier during theirst meeting. But it seemed like his warning had entered one ear and went out of the other. The fact that Zavier was engaging her right now was a clear pointer to the fact that the young man had chosen not to listen to his advice. While Harry acknowledged the strength of the girl, deep down, he was excited to see just how Zavier was going to handle her.


    It was in this mood that he watched the first stage of the seemingly eventless match. While others found themselves bored to death, it was the exact opposite for Harry. His excitement knew no bounds when he saw that Zavier had cast an illusion spell over his target. Harry was visibly impressed. Even though he had told Zavier he wasn''t ready yet, here he was, less than twenty four hourster, trying to make his mark in front of the entire school and its constituents.


    Zavier was either mad, or exceedingly daring! Harry felt like Zavier was a little bit of both.


    Temporarily forgetting the fact that he was supposed to be an unbiased judge here, unable to contain his excitement, Harry didn''t realise when he began to chat with his master;


    "Old man! Do you see that?! Are you seeing what I am seeing?" He didn''t wait for Galen to reply. "That right here is nothing short of genius! What an awesome disy of mental strength!!"


    Galen paid him no mind, but that didn''t stop Harry from showering praises on the Adam boy.


    "He is more talented than I am when I was at his age!!"


    Beaming with the smile that came from watching one''s protege excel, Harry continued to look on proudly at Zavier as he did his thing.


    Meanwhile, while everyone else around her had their own perspective on what was going on, Sabrina was in fact battling her opponent on a quantum level. Really it wasn''t much of a battle. There weren''t sparks flying around, neither was there any ng of weapons shing, nor some grand disy of wondrous powers. There wasn''t even the metallic taste of the rush of adrenaline that was typical in battles of this stage. Everything was different for Sabrina.


    The one bit of evidence that suggested that she was in a match was the feeling she was having inside her. It was a feeling that was deeper than her consciousness. It was a feeling that sat right outside the sphere of her control. Her auto-defence system (her petals) were having a hard time. She could feel the silent rage of the power of the petals fighting an invisible force that was threatening to invade and take over her mind.


    Deep beneath the surface, Sabrina could feel the ravaging power of the petals inside her aura, fighting back frantically with great indignation. It was difficult for anyone to understand what Sabrina was going through. Even her herself couldn''t quite get a clear picture of the mental battle ending. But graphically speaking, it she were to give an analogy, it would be like a flood, backed by the power of the torrential ocean currents, beating violently against a dam.


    Sure the dam was strong, but the powerful, destructive currents of the water was too much for it to resist. Eventually, it started to take a toll on her. Gradually, like the slow and steady descent of a hiker down a hill, Sabrina began to slip into a state of drowsiness. The sudden urge to sleep came with a seductive stealthiness, goading her into a condition of helplessness, andpletely rid her of the desire to stay awake. Her eyelids began to feel like they were made of heavy curtains.

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    Like a sick joke, she started to feel her body shut down. Her mind, as well as her body intertwined together, as if in collusion with the external force lulling her into a state of slumber. Sabrina began to lose control, and what made it even worse for her was the fact that she wasn''t able to muster the will nor strength to resist this subtle wave of sleep that had managed to gainsay her. This was the state of anyone unfortunate enough to fall into an illusion.


    The architect of this whole thing smiled inwardly. At that moment, Zavier knew that the illusion wasplete. He had sessfully charmed the girl who had single handedly taken down a whole zombie-dragon like it was nothing. She had looked so unbeatable in that moment. And yet, here she was before him- as harmless as a dove.


    This technique was diabolical. Zavier knew that back on earth, there were many a psychologist who would have dly given up an arm and a leg just to learn this technique and pass it off as hypnosis.


    Zavier didn''t allow himself to dwell so much on his victory. After all, it was not over yet. The next stage was simple, he had already decalred that this was what was going to happen. So, Zavier stuck to the script and issued a paralysing injunction;


    "ADMIT DEFEAT TO ZAVIER ADAM!!!"


    To the rest of the members of the audience, Zavier was simply being stupid. It simply didn''t make sense that someone as powerful as Sabrina would just concede because he asked her to. What was he thinking? they thought Sabrina was just ying along to toy with him. They expected that any moment now, she would unleash that terrifying power of hers, and swallow Zavier before he even got a chance to finish his sentence.


    So, one could almost imagine their shock when they heard the bone chilling words that escaped from Sabrina''s mouth;


    "I concede to Zavier Adam."


    The looks of amusements turned to jaw-dropping stares. The oppressive silence that followed after those words was palpable. For a while, no one said anything, the whole stadium was dead quiet as if they were yet toe to terms with the severity of the present situation. Did that really just happen?


    After a moment of ufortable silence, the other shoe finally dropped.


    Because a lot of mouths had been hung open in disbelief, a fresh wave of gasps emerged from the mouths of damn near all the spectators present. The words; ''I concede'' bore great meaning. It was a statement that couldn''t be retracted. It was really an unexpected defeat. The whole stadium plunged into sidementaries. The discussions varied, but were all centred on one point- had the Adam family somehow influenced this match so brazenly?


    This was highly unusual. The finals were always the high point of every year''s freshmen tryout. This particr one had been a very highly anticipated match due to the candidates that were supposed to have been involved. Sabrina was supposed to go up against Shiranui. That was supposed to be the deal. And yet, not only had the game changedpletely, a new character had emerged that had altered the results with a stunning disy.


    The audience waspletely stunned. If a lot of people hadn''t witnessed what had happened, they themselves would have contested the story of what had happened here. Right before their very eyes, in a brazen manner, the unknown entity called Zavier had gotten the powerful Sabrina to concede defeat, without even as much as a single strike! This was unbelievable.


    At once, several theories began to spring up. At a speed that could only bepared to the speed of light, all the Zavier-haters in the crowd began to spread their malicious gossip. Their theories were centred on the fact that Zavier was a privileged upper-ss boy who had managed to use his family''s status to manipte the finals. No wonder he hadn''t fought since until this veryst moment. Had this been nned all along?


    Also, the fact that Zavier had boldly dered that she was going to concede didn''t help his case at all. All around him, tongues wagged shamelessly- asking if the Adam family had really gotten Sabrina concede defeat in a match as important as this. There was a cacophony of protests, and a general atmosphere of doubt and unrest. But, not everyone was susceptible to this contagious pandemic floating about in the air.


    Gabby was one of the few exceptions. While everyone else drowned in a sea of uncertainties, the astute Gabby who had been heavily invested in every aspect of the match (including the illusion), had been able to detect the disruption in Sabrina''s mana. But Gabby wasn''tpletely sure. He couldn''t make a well informed decision based on what he was seeing alone. On one hand, he couldn''t tell if Zavier was really the cause of it, or if Sabrina was in fact faking it.


    This was infuriating for the young mage because he wasn''t so used to being unsure. The whole situation was very dicey, so he knew he couldn''t afford to be wrong. But he was at a cross-roads, and he needed answers. So, he turned to his knowledgeable teacher Wallice for counsel;


    "Miss Wallice, do you really think he won fair and square? Is it possible the Adam boy manipted the girl by suppressing her with some kind of technique?"


    Even after all this this time, Gabby still couldn''t bring himself to address Sabrina by her name, he simply referred to her as ''the girl.'' Normally, Wallice would have picked up on that. But as of that moment, she was much too deep in thought to even consider anything outside what was happening before her.<sub> </sub>


    The lead teacher wished she had a direct answer for Gabby''s question. But she also seemed to be at a loss. She shook her head with a grave expression on her face;


    "Sorry Gabby, but as of this moment, I can''t really say anything for sure. We can only hope to find out by waiting it to y out. Eventually, the truth wille out."


    "Damn!" Ibneiah was the one speaking now, "If it turns out that this Zavier guy had somehow gotten Sabrina to do this with magic, we might have to revisit his portfoliopletely."


    The third member of the team wasn''t having it; "Are you being serious right now? The boy''s family obviously had a hand in this! I hear they''re well connected. His only flop was that he had foolish enough to brazenly dere how it would end before it even began! If you ask me, that was where he gave it up."


    Wallice intervened this time in their debate;


    "Don''t be absurd. Things aren''t always what they appear to be at first nce¡­"


    The others were surprised. Wallice was among the very few mages in the crowd who could read mana levels. The one thing that was clear to her was the fact that Zavier''s aura was extremely powerful. She could see it now, clear as day. And she began to wonder how she had managed to miss such a brilliant student while she had been researching her enemies.


    Wallice''s obsession with the three mysterious high school students was ever present. Even before now, she had been tirelessly searching for any clues whatsoever that could link any of her suspects to the mysterious trio. As she looked at Zavier''s incredibly powerful aura, Wallice''s brain began to connect the dots with a quickness. Yes, Zavier was definitely one of the three students who had terrorised the first round. She was sure of it. The more she thought of it, the more it made sense.


    So, the intuitive lead teacher presented her idea before her star student. Her voice, barely above a whisper, and with the subtlety of a conspirator, Wallice asked Gabby in a direct, but not so direct manner;


    "So Gabby, what do you think about this Adam boy? Could he be one of them? Or¡­?"


    Gabby squinted his eyes till they formed small slits. That was how most people around him knew that he was seriously in deep thought. This was a first. He had never genuinely considered Zavier as a potential member of the elite trio. But the urgency in Wallice''s tone forced him to consider it. The theory itself was a beautiful and catchy one. But the main problem with it was that it was full of colossal holes.


    "I''m sorry miss. While it does appear like Zavier fits the profile, there''s just one major problem that refutes that im; he was actually there."


    Wallice widened her eyes.


    "Huh? What do you mean he was there?"


    Gabby quickly realised that what he had said aloud sounded nothing like what it had sounded in his head while he had been thinking of it. So, he quickly reiterated. This time, with more rity;


    "I mean, he his alibi is solid. I recall him being physically present at the same time those three appeared¡­"


    Wallice frowned. She was about to say something when Gabby stirred the pot with another damning piece of evidence¡­

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    Wallice frowned. She was about to say something when Gabby stirred the pot with another damning piece of evidence;


    "In fact, I recall him fighting against one of the masked illusionists. I think he got himself beaten, but I do remember him taking one of the illusionists head on."


    The lead teacher felt like she had just mmed into another brick wall.


    She was so frustrated that some parts of her physiology began to betray her. This was very much unlike her. Her regr calmposed self was gradually degenerating into a puddle of doubts and uncertainties. Her lower lip began to quiver slightly, and her right eye began to twitch like a crazy person. Gabby noticed this and re-confirmed what he already suspected before- their lead teacher was obsessed with unmasking the mysterious trio. She wasn''t taking the defeat well at all.


    He knew better than to ask her if she was okay. She clearly wasn''t.


    Gabby wasn''t wrong. In actuality, his initial analysis was spot on. Wallice was infatuated with the three masked assants. She couldn''t understand why the whole authorities, the school and practically everyone had swept it under the rug like it was a normal thing. What was wrong with everyone? She was clearly obsessed, but she was too deluded to see that she was transferring that obsession onto thetest culprit she could find- Zavier.


    Gabby himself began to look deeper into Zavier Adam. Who was this kid anyway? Even though Gabby''sst revtion had virtually ruled Zavier out as a suspect, he couldn''t help but see some gaps that needed filling. The chief question was basic and simple- why had Zavier chosen to hide his full power? Why?


    The more he thought about it, the odder it appeared to him. This was apetition whose very purpose was to determine if a student was worthy of Caesar University. This wasn''t some vain event or a dick measuringpetition for jocks and egotistical mages. This was the real deal, and every student was encouraged to do their best. So, why would a young, teenage male student intentionally sell himself short? Especially being a high school student where social standing was practically everything?


    At this point, Gabby surmised that Zavier was hiding a lot more than he was letting on. Very slowly, Zavier began to take on a new light in his eyes. He might have looked like an ordinary student, but Gabby knew that there was more to him. This was a lesson his painful defeat by the hands of Sabrina had taught him- never underestimate anyone. Much like Sabrina, Zavier too appeared to be an ordinary guy. And yet, here he was¡­here he was¡­


    Meanwhile, the entire stadium had awakened from their shock, and were now in awe. In the stands, Scott unabashedly eximed out of the fullness of his abounding emotions;


    "Boy oh boy! That was something!!" His eyes twinkled with genuine wonder, and his mouth spoke from the abundance of that sincerity; "If I were to fight this Adam boy, I have no doubt that I would be in serious trouble if only illusion is on his side! Damn! What a genius!"


    Harry''s ears pricked, and his smugness rose by a higher degree. This was just another confirmation to the long list of impressive signs he had gotten; Zavier was going to be his prot¨¦g¨¦, and Harry was already extremely satisfied by his would-be-prot¨¦g¨¦.


    The old man saw the look on Harry''s face and instantly knew where his train of thoughts was heading.


    "Are you sure Harry? Have you considered this deeply enough?"


    Harry''s smugness didn''t mask the look of satisfaction in his eyes. He didn''t even bother with some quick witty reply, he simply nodded calmly, almost reassuringly.


    Galen pressed on;


    "You better be sure about this Harry. If you decide to take on this Adam boy as your prot¨¦g¨¦, you''d better be prepared for all the trouble that could potentiallye from his family- The Adam family."


    Galen called their name aloud just in case Harry had willed himself into forgetting who they were.


    "That family could be a source of constant headache for you. Are you ready for that kind ofmitment?"


    "Rx old man. As you know, my unique skills are one of a kind, and they can''t just be learned by any tom, dick and harry. I have found a mage worthy of being my tutee. If I don''t pass this knowledge on, I fear my unique skills would be a lost art."


    Galen said nothing after that. It was clear Harry was adamant on pursuing this. The old man actually approved of his choice, but he didn''t give his verbal consent of course. The Adam boy was clearly a good fit, and Galen respected Harry''s decision to make him his prot¨¦g¨¦.<sub> </sub>


    Galen was being careful for so many reasons. But chiefly because of the presence of the princess there. Harry could actually afford to be vocal about his decisions, but as a president of the University, Galen couldn''t afford to be seen ying favourites. He had the burden of being politically correct at all times. He had to be.


    Although Rachel didn''t seem to be paying much attention to their exchange, she was very much invested in it. This was particuarly funny because she hade up in here thinking Shiranui was the most powerful student in this year group, and now, she had met two more students whose abilities were definitely on par with the Yamata girl.


    At moments like this, Rachel wished she wasn''t cursed with the burden of royalty. She would have given anything to be able to nose around freely, and gossip, and ask questions like every other young person present here. But s, there was a certain level of social decorum that was expected of her as a royal. Consequently, these rules wrapped her about like invisible cords, tightly restricting her actions, words, and even facial expressions.


    So, even though she was intrigued with this Zavier character, she had to keep herself in check. Rachel had a lot of questions; Had he actually tantly made use of his family''s fortune, and made it public? Didn''t he know the rules guarding against nepotism? Was he a rebel? And most importantly, was it possible that his technique was real? Harry seemed to think so, but Galen had been weirdly quiet about all of this.


    Despite the flood of questions tumbling about in her head, she held her tongue, and retrained herself from making anyments. Rachel had to keep herself from staring longingly at Zavier before the public misconstrued her longing looks as her publicly approving Zavier as a force to be reckoned with. She sighed inwardly and maintained a poker face. But she kept her eye out for Zavier. He was definitely in her radar now and she was now watching him.


    Meanwhile, about a hundred meters southwest of her, someone else in the audience was also entertaining an opinion that was very contrary to the popr opinion.


    Reba, the semi-finalist who had been defeated by Shiranui also found herself pondering on Zavier''s sudden effortless victory. But she still wasn''t sure about anything yet. So, she turned to her white bearded teacher for counsel.


    "Sensei, what exactly is going on? Did he really win? Was this all a ruse? What did he actually do?!"


    Her line of questioning betrayed just how turbulent her thought process was, but it also showed that she wasn''tpletely swept up by the tide of negativements sweeping through the crowds.


    The old man smiled; "Child, that is a whole bunch of questions. You need to ask the right one to get the correct answer which you seek¡­"


    Reba was already used to the old man''s philosophies and principles. So, instead of fussing, she took a deep breath;


    "Forgive me sensei, what I meant to ask was; what was that?"


    "Well¡­" he paused, "that was an illusion."


    Reba''s eyes widened in confusion. As always, the old man''s answers always led to more questions. "AN ILLUSION?!"


    "Yes child. I believe its called ''Inevitable Hypnosis.'' It is a technique used by illusionists to subject the subjects to do their will. Advanced mages can project their wills into the minds of their subjects even without making an incantation, and it appears the young man has mastered the craft."


    Reba was stupefied.


    "What?! How can he do that?" A thought crossed her mind, "Wait! Is that even allowed? Can he actually do that?"


    Even as she said it, she knew the answers immediately. Of course it was perfectly legal. It was a magical technique, and so far, it hadn''t been used to harm, maim or kill any candidates.


    Reba looked at Zavier as though she was seeing him for the first time. Her look was a mixture of fascination, respect, and a little bit of fear. With this revtion, she knew that this seemingly ordinary boy from Merion High School was definitely not so ordinary. This was aplete one hundred and eighty degree shift in her perception of him. The boy whom she had always despised had now sky rocketed from a low rank position to a position where she could at least acknowledge him as a threat.

 215 Chapter 215

    This was indeed the stuff of poets, like a scene right out of the verses of a Bard.


    Unfortunately, Reba was one of the only few ones who were in the know. Because of how small minded, and ignorant the rest of the crowd was (especially those of the younger demographic), cries of unfairness began to ring out in sporadic waves. Like the steady build up of a storm, the drums of protests began beat gradually in the background.


    The freshmen were the faction in the crowd who had the most energy, and the most hatred for Zavier. They harnessed that energy and channeled it into rebellion. There was no questioning their opinion, they were of the firm belief that Zavier had cheated openly. And they were not having it. They weren''t having it at all. So, with the whole of their beings, they cried out at the top of their voices.


    Cries of foul y rang through out the stadium. The energy of the freshmen was infectious, such that it even caught up with the others who were still sitting on the fence about the whole thing.


    "CHEAT!! HE IS A CHEATER!!"


    "HE CHEATED!!"


    "NOT FAIR!!"


    "SOMEBODY GET HIM!!!"


    "GET THAT PUNK!!"


    The entire stadium was basically in mes now. There were several narrations, but one theme wasmon with them all, and it was the word "CHEAT."


    An objectively astute observer wouldn''t find it difficult to see that it wasn''t just the fact that Zavier had cheated that had them riled up like this, it was nothing other than the fact that he had been so brazen about the whole thing. It was that particr smugness, that damn confidence he had about him, like he could do whatever he wanted and still get away with it. This only served as fuel on the raging mes of their deep seated anger.


    It was already rumoured that the Zavier boy had gotten in solely by the influence of his family''s privilege. While this had pained a good number of them who had worked extremely hard to be there, they had been momentarily distracted by the Shiranui/Sabrina showdown that was supposed to go down. But s, instead of the brilliant battle, they had been presented with a substitute for Shiranui who was basically a pampered egg.


    For a moment there, they had all taken sce in the fact that Sabrina would utterly decimate Zavier, but much to their horror, what was supposed to be an entertaining bloodbath had turned into the very thing they hated most about Zavier- a tant disy of the Adam family influence. No one was even mad at Sabrina, they were all busy fine-tuning their hatred for Zavier. This was the perfect outlet for them to vent all their suppressed spite.


    As wasmon with human nature, they hid their true emotions behind a wall of political grievances. Caesar University was a renowned institution that had built and established a reputation for being a merit based institution. The past administrations had all worked hard to appear more progressive, and kill off the tradition established by the close-minded, nepotistic founding fathers. So, they very well couldn''t be seen to be ying favourites.


    The optics wasn''t good at all, so this put the present administration in a tight spot. Unofficially, the votes were spilt. Some of the senior mages obviously thought that it had been a very brilliant illusion show, (especially those senior professors who majored in illusion) and thought Zavier was an unparalleled talent in the aspect of illusion. But the ensuing wave of passionate protests all around them was hard to ignore.


    But it was still very much a match, and as was the original design, referees had the ultimate power. They had the final say, and nobody, not even a top official could step in until the referee had given his final verdict.


    This particr referee was in a fix. No one envied his position at all. Even though Sabrina had clearly said the magic words, he simply couldn''t ignore the pressure from the masses. He didn''t admit it, but somehow, he knew that if he didn''t consider his next course of action, he might actually end up not getting home safe that night.


    The referee looked around him, and what met his gaze was what seemed like a million angry pairs of burning ck eyes. All focused on him. All pressuring him into caving in to their demands. He nced over to the highest podium which housed the dignitaries, and furtively searched for any kind of reprieve. The poor man was met with the cold, hard, steely gazes of the officials. Of course they couldn''t do anything, they couldn''t be seen to be trying to influence his decision.<sub> </sub>


    Alienated, and feeling extremely pressurised by the second, the referee turned to Sabrina, and asked her again in a loud voice;


    "Miss Sabrina, do you really wish to concede? Bear in mind that this match will be forfeited, and by default, the victory would go to your opponent!"


    The referee was not stupid. Being so close to the action, he could clearly see that the girl was under some kind of illusion. She was obviously hypnotised. But he had to be seen doing this. He had to make sure, and everyone present had to witness Sabrina giving her full consent.


    Zavier still had his ws deep in Sabrina''s mind. She was still very much under his control. So, at Zavier''smand, with a dazed-faraway look in her eyes, Sabrina nodded her head like an automaton, and stated in a clear voice;


    "Yes, I concede to Zavier Adam. I forfeit this match."


    The referee sighed, and turned towards the judges. The judges, having heard Sabrina''s deration for the second time, had no other option but to proceed ording to the rules. Much to the dismay of the audience, the final decision was made;


    "Zavier Adam is hereby dered the winner of this match!!! Merion High School is the victor!!"


    The whole crowd wailed burst into a fresh bout of angry protests! Vile words, and curses flew out of the mouths of the uncouth freshmen. But it didn''t matter anymore, the decision had been made, Zavier was king!


    While the stadium basically erupted in a volcanic frenzy of emotions, Zavier himself was on another level. Had won now, and he had done so without having to use or disy his demon-level abilities. That was all that mattered to him- that he remained incognito. Oh he was pretty much famous alright, but at least, not for being some weird freshman with questionable powers. The less they knew about him, the better. That was how he had always wanted it, and how he still wanted it.


    While the entire crowd had been focusing on venting their anger, and making known their dissatisfaction, Zavier eased up on his hypnosis. No one knew it (because of the pandemonium), but as soon as Zavier heard the official irreversible announcement of his victory, he immediately put an end to his illusion. Due to the mental toll it had taken on his mind, Zavier suddenly found out that the exhaustion had also found its way into his physical body.


    His knees buckling unsteadily like a new born calf, Zavier sat down in the dust- untenably exhausted. Great beads of sweat began to form on his forehead, as his whole body regressed into a state of fatigue. He badly needed to recuperate. This was a bit obscene seeing that he had been pretty fresh only a few minutes ago. And now, with the way he was feeling, Zavier''s whole body ached as though he had just wrestled a bull. That was just how mentally, and physically drained he was after just a few moments of hypnotising someone else.


    Zavier couldn''t help but be amused. It was no small wonder that illusionists were celebrated mages. Here he was, quivering after just a few minutes. And yet, he remembered how Harry had so deftly cast, and effortlessly sustained an illusion in Zavier''s mind. Harry had been sofortable such that he had even sustained a telepathic rapport between him and Zavier, keeping the window open for Zavier''s will to be intact, while invading his mind.


    Only with this little exercise, his respect for the middle-aged, suit-loving illusionist increased. Zavier remembered how he had felt the moment Harry had released him from his hypnosis, and wondered just how Sabrina was going to take all this.


    She wasn''t taking it well, not at all.


    Sabrina was in a terrible state of confusion. She was so disoriented that for a moment, she lost her stamina, and almost swayed. But who could me her? Here she was, only a second ago she had been listening to the seemingly senseless ramblings of the boy who was supposed to be her opponent. Sabrina wasn''t one to look down on anyone, so she had been genuinely listening, hoping to make sense of what the boy was saying.


    At the time, it sounded like he was telling her how she was going to surrender to him. But before she could fully make out what Zavier was saying, it was toote. To Sabrina, from her own perspective, she felt like she blinked her eyes, and suddenly, the whole atmosphere around her had changed drastically.

 216 Chapter 216

    She couldn''t exin it, but she felt the overbearing sensation of doom looming over her. The angry protests of the elements in the crowd wasn''t helping matters at all.


    The boy who was supposed to be fighting her, was sitting on the ground with his head bowed, almost as though he didn''t give a damn. She herself, had her left hand to her temple, and her eyes a bit hazy, feeling like she was in a simtion of some kind. What exactly was going on? She didn''t like it one bit, but she felt like she had dozed off and woken up in the middle of a stadium filled with angry people. Only, she knew she hadn''t dozed off. So what exactly was happening here?! That was the million-dor question.


    Still confounded, Sabrina turned to the referee, hoping to get some answers.


    "I beg your pardon mister referee, but what''s going on? Why''s everyone annoyed and shouting?"


    The referee looked at her with a pitiful look in his eyes. Now he knew for sure that the poor girl had been under an illusion. And now, he was burdened with the unenviable task of filling her in. The referee braced himself, shook his head and told her sadly;


    "The match is over Miss Sabrina. It''s all over now."


    He reiterated it a second time, because he didn''t want her to be confused as to what he was actively saying.


    But Sabrina was even more confused, and the look on her face said it all.


    "I''m sorry what? What does that mean? What are you trying to say?" Sabrina hoped that this was all one huge joke, but the sinking feeling in her gut, plus the animosity in the air (as well as the stoic expression on the referee''s face) told her the worst.


    The referee didn''t wish Sabrina''s fate on anyone at all. It was indeed a terrible and cruel way to discover one had been defeated. But there was no other way to tell her but to rip the bad aid offpletely. He told her in a somber tone;


    "Miss Sabrina, you conceded the match. It''s over."


    Sabrina was bbergasted. As expected, she contested the referee''s im vehemently.


    "What?! when? I assure you, I have not conceded!!"


    The poor girl was still speaking in the present tense. To show just how in the dark she was about her situation, she used the use ''I have not'' instead of ''I did not.'' It was a sorry sight. Illusion was extremely rare amongst freshmen, and consequently, most candidates neither prepared against nor encountered it, at least not until muchter in their careers.


    To the referee and the judges, like a snake, Zavier had waited until the veryst moment to strike. Presumably, to keep his opponents on the ignorant side. It appeared to be a tactical move executed by Merion High School. Had Zavier been someone else entirely, he would have been celebrated at this hour. But unfortunately, nothing could reverse his bad reputation. Not even a stunning victory of this proportion.


    It wasn''t the referee''s job to exin, but Sabrina was in a pitiful state. She still believed that there had been a mistake somewhere. She still believed that the fight was still on, and she stubbornly clung to the assertion that she hadn''t conceded. So, the referee had to exin it all to her.


    "You were subjected to a very powerful illusion, and therefore your will was manipted into conceding. You didn''t know what you were doing, but unfortunately, you did it anyway. The whole crowd heard you concede, including the judges. Hence your loss¡­"


    It sounded a little bit like a fairy tale to Sabrina. A very sad, cold fairytale. Very slowly, her focus shifted from self-pity to acknowledgement. What was done was done already, there was simply no circumventing that. As she pivoted away from the feeling of defeat, her line of thought led her towards acknowledging the opponent who had so deftly defeated her.


    She looked at the seemingly normal boy seated in the dust across from her, she looked at him well. She couldn''t believe just how powerful Zavier was! Sabrina herself was a once in a blue moon prodigy. As an anomaly herself, she knew just how improbable it was that a freshman could be able to use illusion! At this stage, it was very impressive and extremely rare. It took a whole lot of determination, skill and talent. Zavier had somehow mastered this illusion and yet remained unknown.


    That was a feat that was almost asmendable as having the ability in the first ce.


    But one small detail stood out of line, and didn''t align with Zavier''s profile at all; why had he deliberately dered what was going to happen even before he did what he did? That little stunt he pulled wasn''t consistent with the image of one trying to be lowkey and humble about his abilities. Had he simply done that to throw her and everybody else of course? Was that suppose to be a distraction? But he had been so brazen, and unapologetically bold about it! Therein lied the source of Sabrina''s concern.


    The more she squinted her eyes to look at Zavier, the more questions she had. As someone who was also a lowkey person of mystery herself, she had so many questions. Her curiosity got the better of her, and her legs pretty much moved of their own ord. She took a few steps forward and marched towards Zavier''s direction. The referee was apprehensive at first, and eyed her carefully thinking that she was one of those vengeful, disdainful, sore losers.<sub> </sub>


    But that simply wasn''t the case.


    In a very diplomatic tone, Sabrina addressed him politely; "Congrattions on your victory mister Zavier. That was very well yed. Well yed indeed¡­"


    The referee''s sigh of relief was so loud that it was heard clearly by both parties. He sure as hell was d that Sabrina wasn''t about to go batshit crazy on Zavier. He knew that she was supposedly strong. So, if she decided to take things to heart, things might get a little ugly.


    But of course Sabrina''s politeness was just to throw Zavier off guard. She didn''t even wait for him to reply before she ambushed him with the real question which had been burning a hole through her mind;


    "But why did you do that? Why did you tell me that I was going to concede?" She fought the urge to keep it civil by not adding ''Were you just trying to be a douche?''


    Sabrina hoped Zavier would honour her by answering her truthfully. That was the least he could do given the situation.


    As one who could scarcely be caught unawares, Zavier rose to the asion, and replied her;


    "Well, first off, let me just say that I appreciate your politeness despite- you know, everything¡­" Sabrina didn''t even as much as blink. Zavier continued;


    "But the truth is, I did it for me."


    Her eyes widened in confusion. What the hell was that supposed to mean? Zavier exined;


    "I guess you can probably tell that I am extremely unpopr around here. This puts me in a very peculiar position where everything I do is extremely scrutinised. There is a very strong possibility that the audience would have been inclined to believe that I had cheated if I had simply gone ahead to beat you with an illusion. That is a very difficult stereotype to escape. So, I had to be creative and find a way to walk around it."


    Zavier looked at her through his serious set of eyes.


    "Do you follow?"


    Sabrina''s mind was working real fast now.


    "I do. But you could have tried to beat me in a traditional head-to-headbat. At least that way, the audience wouldn''t have any reason to doubt your strength."


    Sabrina was being civil, but she was very much bitter about the whole thing, and her reply was subtlyced with that bitterness. Zavier understood. He really did. But her reply didn''t hold water at all. The only way he would have been defeat someone of her pedigree in traditionalbat, was if he deployed the bone chilling Blood de.


    But that was a technique that couldn''t be used in public, especially not in front of this crowd. He had been left with no other choice, and he wasn''t going to feel sorry for doing that. So, he answered her bluntly;


    "Honestly, I don''t care what anyone else thinks. I''ve done what I needed to do to win, and have absolutely no regrets about it¡­"


    Sabrina wanted to counter his im by telling him that if that was indeed true that he didn''t care, he would have simply gone straight ahead to win without all the theatrics. It would have been a goode back really, but she didn''t get the chance to do a follow up. Zavier''s speech about not caring what other''s thought had echoed loudly, such that everyone in the audience had heard that arrogant deration.


    They weren''t too happy about it all at all. So, like fuel to a fire, Zavier managed to aggravate and already escted situation. Just as he expected, the crowd exploded at his point.

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    His short but dreary speech had wound them up. Fresh bouts of protests sprung up again. If the administration thought they could water this protests down before, they definitely couldn''t do that now. Not after Zavier''s deration that basically said he didn''t give a damn about what anyone had to say. This was that same entitled attitude of his that annoyed the hell out of them. And yet, here he was, grantly disying it before everyone. It was too much for them, it was a p on their faces.


    To them, it was clear as day that Zavier had cheated. That was what they wanted to believe. And his nonchnt, apathetic attitude towards it all confirmed what they were already thinking. Sabrina was caught in the midst of it all. She had a whole lot to say but the rage of the crowd around her kept her oppressed. When she did manage to find room to speak up and exin herself, Zavier stopped her.


    "Whatever you have to say Sabrina, I advice that you refrain from saying it."


    Again, there was that bewildered look on her face that betrayed just how shocked she was by his audacity. He did her a kindness by exining.


    "Yes you heard me. It''s not that I don''t rate your input or anything of the sort, but with a vast majority of the poption of the crowds being judgmental-ignorant folks, they would probablye to the conclusion that your trying to make excuseses down to you being a terrible actor. "


    The slight glitch in Sabrina''s eyes was suggestive of the fact that Zavier''s truth had struck a chord. He saw it, and pressed on.


    "They will probably mock your bad acting, and pass the bulk of some of the me to you. So, if I were you, I''d getfortable with the fact that they only see you as a victim here. Trust me, you do not want to be on the receiving end of their vitriol."


    "It''s pretty convenient for you isn''t it? I bet you''d like very much for me not to contest this alleged victory, wouldn''t you?"


    "So far, everything I have told you is nothing but the truth Sabrina. In the not so distant future, you''lle to realise this."


    Sabrina cocked her head to the side, "Yes, and thank you for it right?"


    Zavier understood her stance. She was definitely still salty about losing in such a manner. And worse still, she could''t do anything about it because it would make her seem even more suspicious. She was caught between the Red Sea, and Pharaoh and the Egyptian army. It was annoying as hell, but Zavier was right. She had to stay put. It was the right thing to do.


    In the mean time, the crowd saw Zavier and Sabrina casually chatting without the heat of two former adversaries. And they became even more convinced that what Zavier had said before was the truth. All hell broke loose. They started to yell at with with terrible slurs that would have made any grown folk cringe. A faction of the over zealous crowd even broke through the fence, and began to angrily storm their way into the ring.


    Clutching water bottles, and their faces contorted in masks of rage, they charged towards Zavier with malicious fury. Their patience with him had just about run outpletely. In their minds, they had been content with Zavier getting in on privilege. But one thing they were not about to do was sit back and allow him show case his privilege so unabashedly by cheating right in front of their faces. It was a clear breach of the core values of Caesar University.


    Not like they cared about that anyway. Part of them really, really wanted to beat his privileged ass up. And by some twist of fate, they had been given this opportunity to go all out against him, and execute mob justice.


    But unfortunately, their moment of victory was short-lived. The campus security around intervened, and proved that that they were not just for show, but were actually a very effective counter measure against elements who wanted to take thew into their own hands. Very swiftly, and in a highly professional manner, the wave of rebellion was hindered by the small army of well-built guards. Their swift response made all the difference. But it didn''t change the fact that the match was now spinning out of control.<sub> </sub>


    As the president of the University, the responsibility rested entirely on Galen''s shoulders to get things back in order. He sighed and shook his head helplessly. Here he was, so very close to a peaceful retirement, and this had to happen on his watch. He wished some younger, and more energetic president had taken his ce already. It was such a bother to have to control this situation. Especially with the princess being present.


    Strangely, what irked him the most about all this was the fact that he had to cancel the championship speech he had prepared. Ironically, it was a speech that hammered on the essence of friendship amongst mages. The irony of it all wasn''t lost on him at all. Reluctantly, he gave the order and had the members of Merion High School escorted safely away from the area. Zavier in particr had his own personal security escort him away.


    But unfortunately, the security did little to nothing in the way of stopping the numerous water bottles that came his way from the hands of very agitated protesters on his way through. Naturally, Zavier didn''t care. Instead, it was Nadia beside him who constantly made her grievances known and keptining all the way through.


    "Bastards! All of them! Bastards!! I wish I could teach them all a good lesson!!"


    And that was how the curtains closed on the finals in a very dramatic way, leaving a very ridiculous atmosphere behind.


    Winning was Zavier''s single defining trait. It was a part of him that he could neither deny nor shake off. So, after the whole charade at the stadium,ter that night, Zavier stole away in the darkness to go harvest his winnings. Seeing as he was now familiar, with the path, he wasn''t daunted by the fear of getting lost. As he made his way towards the betting shop where his prize awaited him, he couldn''t help but perceive just how charged the air was with gossip.


    At every corner, behind the bark of almost every palm tree, college students, and freshmen alike were huddled in groups. Zavier didn''t need to pay too much attention to know what the trending topic was. Even though Zavier had very much anticipated the consequences and shock waves that woulde along with his win, he couldn''t shake off just how strange, and surreal it was to be the topic of discussion.


    Keeping a very low profile, he kept to the sidewalks, and the shadows as he transversed the social nightlife of the campus. The climate seemed to have gotten the memo as nkets of thick clouds eclipsed both the moon and stars. Giving Zavier the perfect cover he needed. Not that he needed it anyway. Eventually, stifling his anxiety, he pulled up on the betting shop. Even without confirmation, he knew he had made a killing off of his bet. The time to redeem them hade.


    Immediately Zavier opened the front door and stepped into the light, he felt the pervasive mood of heavy disappointment. Of course a whole lot of people lost money, it was evident. Seeing that everyone had put their funds on Sabrina winning, Zavier was surprised that there wasn''t some agitated gambler outside the shop, raving like a lunatic. Losing could do that to a man. Zavier knew that much. But tonight, he wasn''t the loser. Tonight, he was basically the king of hearts. And like the grim reaper, he hade to collect.


    His sharp eyes swept through the small shop, and saw that it wasn''t as densely popted as it was before. Only twenty four hours ago, the store had had been lined up with all sorts of individuals who had been basically salivating at the mouth because of the prospect of the winnings toe. But now, it was almost a graveyard. Like lizards loungingzily in the sun, only a handful of peoplezied around in groups of twos or threes, no doubt nursing their regrets and nning for the next big one.


    As Zavier stood at the entrance surveying his immediate surrounding, the owner''s eyes fell on him and immediately recognised him.


    "Boy!" He called out cheerfully, "What are you standing around for? Don''t be a stranger! Come on in!"


    Zavier eyed him warily as he approached the counter. Truth be told, he wasn''t expecting the owner to be so chirpy with him. If he was mad at Zavier, Zavier would have understood. After all, he was about to take a ton of money from him. But as far as Zavier''s eye could see, the owner wasn''t mad at him or the oue.


    "Good evening¡­I''m d you remember me."

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    "Remember you? Bah! How can I forget you! As soon as I heard that the girl lost, all I could think about was the young man who told me she would lose in the first round! How the hell did you figure that out?"


    Zavier instantly knew that the man hadn''t been at the match. He had been so confident about the results that he hadn''t seen the need to be physically present there. That actually exined why he wasn''t particrly mad.


    "Lucky guess," Zavier shrugged. "I''m sorry things didn''t work out as nned. I''m sure you had a lot riding on Sabrina winning."


    "Are you kidding? That was the best business I''ve had in a while!"


    Zavier squinted, "I''m not sure I follow¡­"


    "Think about it kid, this is a betting shop, with so many people cing bets on that girl winning, if they had all won, the shop would have lost a lot of money. But thanks to her loss, I made serious bank on that single match!!"


    Zavier couldn''t believe he hadn''t thought of that before. Of course it made sense.


    He wasn''t the only one who had an epiphany in that minute. The owner was a bit boisterous, so, fragments of his conversation with Zavier spilled over to some other characters who had been on the losing side. Since they were all betting men, they had been physically present at the match. And because they were, they knew exactly who Zavier was.


    Normally, they were sure to exhibit some thuggish attitudes and try to intimidate or scare Zavier into giving up his winnings. But thanks to Zavier''s performance in the match, they aware of the full extent of the Adam family''s influence. And as such, they didn''t dare to approach him. They swallowed greedily was Zavier gingerly collected his bag of gold coins. As if the owner was intentionally trying to rub it in, he spoke in a very loud voice as he handed over the money to Zavier;


    "Here boy! It''s all in there- one hundred gold coins! You can count it if you''d like, enjoy your winnings and remember toe back next time for more business."


    The owner was really a queer one. Zavier wondered if he wasn''t aware of how insensitive he was to the others who had lost. Maybe he was simply being a douchebag.


    He collected his money gently. "Of course, I''ll be sure toe by for more business."


    The owner nodded. "Good bye. Enjoy your winnings!"


    Zavier felt like pping the man silent. He could already feel the cold resing at him from all the envious eyes in the room. It didn''t matter any way. They were like an ambush of toothless tigers, they couldn''t do anything to him even if they wanted to. Zavier hoisted the heavy purse of gold into his breeches right before their very eyes. And walked out triumphantly into the cold night. It sure was good to win. Anyone of them would have given anything to be Zavier in that moment.


    Zavier left the cold soul-less gambling den behind him, along with the envy, grieving hearts and the obnoxious owner.


    With a hundred gold coins to his name, Zavier drifted off to sleep that night. It was the first decent night rest he had gotten in a pretty long while. A couple of factors might have possibly influenced his doze this time. There was something about taking money from people who had written him off as a nobody that appealed to Zavier. The fat purse filled with jingling gold coins filled Zavier with a deep sense of satisfaction.


    But then again, it wasn''t just about the money, it was also the deep seated primal rush of adrenaline that came with victory over an opponent. Zavier considered himself to be well and truly a modern man. He didn''t think such primitive instincts would such a serious sway over him. Nevertheless, he didn''t try to fight it. Nay, he weed it. He didn''t even know when he slept off that night. But he did, and with a victorious smile on his face.


    All the long night sleepless nights Zavier had rued over the past weeks rolled over into one colossal night''s rest. Eight hourster, after a stream of pleasant dreams, and with the fond memories of the previous day still lingering in his mind, Zavier woke up in a bubble of euphoric bliss. He had slept so long that he had missed the familiar cock crow that early risers usually listened for.<sub> </sub>


    As hey in bed listening to the soft chirping of the mid morning canaries in the trees, Zavier realised that his schedule was clear. He had absolutely nothing mapped out for the day. And then, like a cold hand clutching his heart, a wave of guilt washed over him as he remembered Shiranui. Honestly, it was like he was cursed to never be happy for more than a brief moment. Shiranui was the first thing that came to his mind as soon as his mind was fully awake.


    Like the passing smoke of a forest fire over a valley, the joy of the previous day vanished under the strong gale that was Zavier''s memory of Shiranui lying on the hospital bed in recovery. He quickly sprang out of bed. Not even bothering with his usual morning exercise, he skipped all that and went to clean himself up in preparation for his short journey to the University''s infirmary. He had to see her.


    As he went through all the motions, Zavierforted himself with the fact that he had good news for her. After being ridiculed and jeered at by the public, (especially in her presence) he had turned the board around and had now single handedly made Merion High School the Champion of this tournament! He simply couldn''t wait to tell her! His intention wasn''t to gloat or anything, he knew that news like this would definitely warm her heart, especially as a patient in recovery.


    He couldn''t wait for he to look at him with those intense dark eyes of hers in admiration. That was all the reward he needed. Well, that and the hundred gold coins of course.


    Of course, this victory wasn''t totally his, it was a victory for the whole of Merion High School. Not just for his team alone as students, but for the entire institution as well. A morbid thought crossed his mind as he made his way towards the the love of his life; if for some reason he had lost to Sabrina, he would have never had the nerve to stand before Shiranui. It wasn''t some patriarchal thing, it was simply a Zavier thing. He hated to lose. And he knew Shirnaui did too.


    So, in more than one way, his victory was a victory for both of them.


    The trail of his thoughts bought him just enough time. Before he could realise it, he had auto piloted his way through a six minute trek. The brilliant white building of the infirmary stood out amongst the other storey buildings in thendscape. Havinge so close, Zavier hastened his steps, eager to meet up with his girlfriend.


    He tore through the flights of stairs like they were nothing, and knocked briefly at the door to her room before rushing to open it. The knock was only a courtesy, it wasn''t like he was patient enough to hold on for a verbal confirmation. An unexpected sight met his eyes- it was empty! The bed and the room were all empty! In ce of the warm, reassuring musk of Shiranui''s distinct perfume, his nose was assaulted by the strong disinfectant used by hospitals.


    All evidence of her being there had beenpletely removed. Including the balloons, flowers, and the endless streams of get well cards. Zavier was a man who always thought of the worst and leaned towards it. And in that moment, Zavier was doing it again. It was all so tangential.


    Fortunately, at that very moment, one of the medical staff was just exiting the adjacent room. Zavier never really made it all the way into the room. He was still holding on to the door knob, and was therefore very much in the nurse''s line of sight. She seemed to be able to discern that Zavier was going through something, so she followed protocol and made the necessary inquiries;


    "Excuse me¡­" she was young. Not as old as the other nurses, but definitely a lot younger than those Zavier had seen during hisst visit. "Are you looking for someone?"


    "Yes. Has Shiranui been moved somewhere else? Perhaps to a different ward?" He asked her, hoping she wouldn''t say the operation theatre, or even worse, the morgue.


    "I''m sorry who are you again?"


    "I am Zavier Adam. I''m her team mate." Zavier tried his best to avoid slipping the fact that he was indeed a high school student here for the tryouts.


    "Oh okay. Were you not informed? Shiranui Yamata had been discharged already."


    "What?" Zavier stammered, "When?"


    "I believe she was dischargedst night."

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    "I believe she was dischargedst night." She answered calmly, but with a hint of annoyance in her tone.


    "No! No way, no how, no how! It can''t be! " Zavier felt tears welling up in his eyes. "She just can''t be."


    "And what would cause you to think that?" She probed, trying to pinpoint the core of Zavier''s distress.


    Zavier wanted to keep his emotions out of it, to protect his heart from the truth. He was going through the motions of not thinking about what had just happened, as if he wasn''t already in deep. He now felt like the mess of emotions he tried so hard to conceal was tearing through his stomach.


    "Why did she have to be discharged?" Zavier asked himself this simple question because he needed to admit the truth without having to exin or defend it.


    "Perhaps you''ll get an answer from it," Kacie said as she pushed open the sickroom door. She took an envelope out and handed it to Zavier.


    Zavier took it awkwardly. "Thank you," he said in a daze, opening the envelope.


    "Dear Zavier,


    Please forgive myck of notice. I''ve left as you read this letter. I realized that in your life, it''s better for me not to be there. I do love you, but I don''t need to ruin your life because I''ve ruined mine. Your life is much more important than mine, and I will only cause you pain if I stay, and that''s thest thing I want to do. Don''t try to find me. I''m sorry that I can''t be the person that you need. I just hope that you will find someone who can do all the things for you that I couldn''t do. I wish you the best of luck and hope you will be truly happy. The most important thing I want you to know is that I will always love you and you will always be in my heart.


    Sincerely,


    Shiranui Yamata"


    Zavier read the entire letter through and quickly closed it before going back to the door. He sat down and pulled his knees up, resting his forehead on them. His eyes were dry, but his heart was drowned.


    Slowly, he reached for the letter once more and began reading it from the beginning over again.


    Kacie approached him and gently put her arm around his shoulder.


    When a person is hurt emotionally or physically, they often want to feel better, which is usually done through physical touch.


    She gently put his arm in her own, then kissed his cheek. She then patted his shoulders and smiled, shaking her head at him. "It was just a prelude. You know, there is nothing that we can really do right now." She made a little grimace as she said.


    Zavier shook his head and tried again to read. She continued her gentle persuasion. Finally, after what felt like a very long time of reading, Zavier came up with a smile of his own, only this time it was for himself, not Kacie.


    ---------------------------------------------------------


    Galen politely declined her invitation to hold a third elimination tournament in which studentspeted against one another. Mabel''s answer was to put students inpetition with one another. Her suggestion was not picked.


    Galen expressed his remorse, but he did not believe that this was the best way to choose a winner.


    "But what if it''s the only way?" Mabel was curious. "I understand that you will not agree with this suggestion, but I feel we should y a third match."


    "What is the point of doing anything like that?" Galen inquired.


    Mabel indicated that some students had not yet been eliminated from the tournament, "And there are certain individuals who, in my opinion, deserve a second chance."<sub> </sub>


    Galen said, "I agree with your point of view, but I think we should stop talking about this right now."


    Galen was under the notion that the oues of two contests would have supplied him with adequate knowledge to formte a conclusion.


    He believed that he already had enough information toe to a conclusion after two matches, so he was under the impression that the results of two matches would have provided him with enough information to form an opinion.


    Galen believed that two fights would be enough to teach him everything he needed to know because, if apetitor was beating their opponent in both matches, they would have been doing the same thing in each match if they were sessful in both matchups. Galen thought that two fights would be enough for him to learn everything he needed to know.


    If they were falling behind in the first match, they would have made some improvements to their n. On the other hand, if they continued to struggle in the second match, it would have been obvious that they had not made any adjustments. Somepetitors had never lost a match before, then the fact that the others lost both times suggests that they did something wrong.


    Before deciding whether or not to make an early admissions decision, the professors and instructors at Caesar University immediately began analyzing each student''s characteristics, abilities, and deficiencies over the course of the subsequent few days. This was done before determining whether or not to make an early admissions decision. This step has to be taken first before deciding whether or not to make an early admissions decision. Even if the instructor thought that the student had a high level of talent but that the student wascking in other areas, the student would not be admitted early to Caesar University. This is true even if the teacher thought the student should start at Caesar University early.


    Following several days of debate, the educational establishment came to the conclusion that 1,200 candidates would be granted early entry. It meant that just 300 candidates needed to sessfullyplete the normal admission test at Caesar University in order to acquire a letter of eptance from the educational establishment. This was a significant reduction from the previous requirement of 500 applicantsst year.


    The left 300 children in their first year got less attention than the others, not because they were less smart, but because they weren''t as spotlighting.


    The new approach had several problems, as some students who had previously been admitted early to other universities were not permitted to take Caesar University''s early entrance test. This was one of the new system''s ws. This was because the early entry test was not announced until after all of the other universities had already sent out eptance letters. Furthermore, the new structure exacerbated conflicts between the children and their parents. Some parents felt that their children were not given the opportunity to shine, while others felt that their children were put at a disadvantage by not being able to take the early entry test.


    The new approach was not without its critics, but it did fulfill its goal of lowering the number of candidates to Caesar University while also improving justice.


    ---------------------------------------------------------


    During this time period, one of Zavier''s primary goals was to broaden the skill set he now held and make the most of the potential he owned. He also wanted to maximize the potential he possessed.


    Zavier''s goal was also to perform to the best of his abilities. During this time, he also made it a high priority to maximize the potential of the human resources that were at his disposal.


    Zavier knew that abilities were no longer a necessary factor and that what mattered in this case was the amount of mana and mental power, since those were the things that affected magic the most.


    He was fully aware of the fact that it was no longer necessary for a person''s skill level to be a criterion for sess. In the past, Kyouko had won against him by using ck me that was powered by more powerful andpletely aggressive mana.


    This strategy had been effective up to this point.


    It was possible to use a potion in this world to quickly level up a character, but because of the way the body was constructed, doing so came with arge amount of danger attached to it.


    Using a potion to quickly level up a character was feasible in this world. It was risky business for a character to use a potion in order to level up more rapidly. In spite of this, there was still a remote possibility that the sequence of events in this reality might turn out differently than what was nned. It looked as though Zavier wasn''t really worried by the situation, which may have been exined by the fact that he had ess to clones of himself.


    Clones of himself allowed Zavier to replicate his actions exactly. Given that Zavier had copied clones of himself, this was a possibility given the circumstances.


    In order for himself to advance in levels, Zavier needed authentic data, which required him to first drink the potion and then conduct tests on his own body. This was a necessity for him to be able to go further. This was an essential preliminary stage.


    This looked to be a condition that caused a great deal more difort than acute insanity did when it came to daily life. When everything was considered, it showed that performing tests on human beings was considered to be cruel. This was the conclusion reached after taking everything into consideration.


    If Zavier, on the other hand, wanted to improve his strength, he did not have a lot of leeway in the issue of how he should go about it. Because of the mysterious and dangerous adversaries that loomed over him like the sword of Damocles, he was anxious about what the future held in store for him.

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    A potion, on the other hand, was out of reach for the average student because it was viewed as a form of risky contraband in some contexts.


    After giving it some thought, he came to the conclusion that Harry, who was in no way connected to the Adam family in any manner, would be the most eptable person to approach about acquiring a potion from and that he should enquire about doing so. In spite of the fact that he could have asked his uncle Val for a potion, he decided against doing so since he was ufortable with the idea of being seen by other ones.


    As a result, he did not do so.


    There was a good chance that Val was keeping a vignt eye on him while also providing him with some form of discretionary protection.


    With the assistance of the other pupils, Zavier was able to find Harry''s residence. Because Harry never secured his own door, anytime someone came to visit, the door to the room was always open, and he never closed it properly. As a result, the door to the room was not closed. His room was empty, save for a bed and a table; there were no other furnishings.


    Zavier unlocked the door with a small shove and slipped inside while carefully closing it behind him. He walked up to the bedroom, carefully opened the door, and entered the room. He found himself in a state of mild amazement after entering the door to the bedroom. Because this bedroom was not like other bedrooms, it was arge study with a desk and bookshelves that were neatly and orderly set up.


    The study''s bookcases were stacked high with mystical tomes. He took a look at the books on the shelf and realized that each one dealt with a differentponent of the process of concocting potions. He had not imagined that Harry''s study would be used as aboratory for the manufacturing of potions, so he was taken aback by the finding. He approached it and opened one of the pharmacology-rted books on it.


    At that very moment, Harry appeared from nowhere behind him and teased, "I guess there''s no nice thing in me."


    Harry''s perceptiveness astounded Zavier, and he articted his intentions in a in manner. He was taken aback by his request since he considered Zavier''s skill did not necessitate any extra methods of improvement and that the potion was rather hazardous and likely to hinder his talent.


    "There is no reason for you to improve your skill by taking a potion. Your gift is sufficient for you, and there is no need to incur the risk of further developing it. It would most likely harm your excellent potential, and if you wish to stay this skilled in the future, I would advise you to abandon all ideas of drinking the potion."


    "I need to gain strength as fast as possible!" Zavier was certain, "I hope that through specific measures, I may gain even more powerful skills so that my rank will continue to rise rather than decline! It''s far too essential to me. "


    "But... you don''t have to be in such a rush. You have an excellent future ahead of you. " Harry was perplexed as to why his potential pupil was so anxious to get stronger.


    "I have my own set of motives. I can''t promise not to tell others what I''ve seen if you reject me. " Zavier cut in with a nasty, pretending to show a menacing smirk.


    "That''s fine." As a result, Harry consented to do so. He then handed Zavier a bottle of potion, emphasizing its extreme risk and telling him not to take the liquid all at once.


    ---------------------------------------------------------


    Zavier hastily departed, then walked to a spot where no one noticed, promptly took up the empty bottle containing potion, cocked his head and swallowed it down, then smiled, "Well, let me see what happens next, right?!"


    However, there was no sensation of pain or difort, and Zavier felt as if he were sipping a regr bottle of water. He had no idea that he was in a delicate condition of relief at the time, as if he was engrossed in something so exquisite that it felt like a dream, yet he knew it was all true.


    Instead of the anticipated anguish, he felt a little more at ease after taking the potion. "It''s so bizarre; why is it this way?"


    At this point, the system told him, "The host''s rank has sessfully gone from C to B!"


    "Is this really true? Then why didn''t I suffer any pain during the process?" Zavier wondered.


    The system exined, "This is due to the host''s affiliation with a very unusual body--the Divine Fusion Body."


    "The "Divine Fusion Body" is a one-of-a-kind body that permits the host''s lineage to entirely merge with the others. The host''s blood will be unusually pure, and the bloodline''s power will grow very potent. Most medications'' negative effects can also be eliminated by the body. "


    Zavier was thrilled to learn, yet he also moaned. "Oh, no! Why didn''t you disclose me such critical information earlier? "<sub> </sub>


    "Because the host did not specifically inquire about the material." The system responded.


    "I''m such a moron." Zavier was very repentant, believing that his IQ had plummeted another notch. "I had no idea my skills were that great. Is this a skill given to me by the universal consciousness, or is it originally from that body?"


    "At the present, it appears that it should be this body''s initial bloodline power."


    "The bloodline power of the original body owner?"


    "For the time being, it appears."


    The system''s response caused Zavier to break out in a cold sweat.


    "What is the bloodline power of the original body owner?" He immediately put together a few events from the past. Maybe it had something to do with the person trying to kill him who was hiding in the shadows.


    The system then informed him that the body fluids of people with such bodies may assist others in removing the bad effects of the medicine. Zavier remembered that Reba had eaten a whole bottle of potion during thepetition. This may have had something to do with their sexual experience.


    Of course, none of this was required. The reality he knew was too hazy, and even if he could piece it together, it would be difficult to unearth additional vital information. The most essential thing to him was obtaining as much potion as possible.


    The potion was made from a wide range ofponents, the bulk of which were extremely difficult to get. As a result, he created a detailed inventory of materials as well as a n for the collection''s long-term development. This was not something that could be done in a short amount of time.


    The first step was to try and get as many of the materials on his list as possible. He started with the basics: water, air, fire, and earth. After that, he would need nts, animals, minerals, and a few other things that were a bit more difficult to find. It took him days just to gather all of theponents for the potion. And then he had to start all over again when one of them went bad or ran out.


    But he persevered because he knew that this potion was going to be special. It was going to change everything.


    He had been collecting materials for his project, but he needed more. He had been using his clones to help him collect the materials, but it was taking too long.


    Even his clones were also not able to collect all of the materials in a short amount of time because they had to travel long distances and there was only one clone per location.


    Dah came to visit Zavier when he was working t out. She crept into the dim room and sat on a stool. Zavier sat on the floor, leaning against a chest of tools. "I''m sorry, Dah, but I am too busy to discuss this now," Zavier said. He raised a book and hid his eyes behind it. "Pleasee back when I am not busy."


    "I will." Dah seemed a little disappointed but withheld, as if there was more she wanted to tell him. "Maybe I can help you."


    Zavier was surprised but delighted. "That would be wonderful! What can you do?"


    "Before that, I have to get an answer from you." Her young face grew serious. "How is it going regarding my joining the organization?" She twisted her hands together.


    Zavier smiled and motioned for Dah toe closer. "Dah, I am d you are here. I have been wanting to talk to you about joining the organization. I think you would be a valuable asset. Your skills with ice are exceptional, and I have seen the way you handle yourself in a fight."


    "I want to help," Dah said. "I can do things. I''m not just a pretty face." Her voice was soft but firm, and her hands stilled in herp.


    Zavier thought that making an organization and getting more members to join it would be a great way to get materials for potions.


    He stifled a chuckle. "I am sure you can do things. You would not get just a job working for us, you would be a part of the organization. You would be working with us, but also be forced to follow our rules. You would be expected to obey orders and work as hard as your peers. Life is not easy in ''The Avengers''. We work hard, and y hard. A lot of people don''t understand the kind ofmitment we have, the measures we must take to survive and thrive. There''s more to the job than just being able to fight."

 221 Chapter 221

    Dah was ecstatic when Zavier told her that the top brass had agreed to her joining "The Avengers". She was so excited that she jumped up and down, and then hugged him.


    "I''m so happy!" she said. "I can''t wait to meet the others."


    "I''m sure they''ll be happy to meet you too," Zavier said. "But I have to warn you, they''re not all as nice as I am."


    "I don''t care," Dah said. "I''m just d I get to be a part of this."


    Zavier, who was the actual head of the organization, was clear that he was the only member of this organization at the moment and thought that the power of himself alone couldn''t collect a lot of materials for potion, so he told Dah that the organization now had a task issued to her.


    He then gave her a list which contained a variety of different materials.


    The list contained many rare items, such as the skin of an insect called "Devil''s Fruit" and the blood of a monster named "Frankenstein". Zavier said these items were required to create arge potion.


    Dah was very happy, and she said, "I''ll do my best."


    Zavier said, "It''s not just collecting materials. You have to find out what kind of potion it will be from."


    Dah nodded and said, "Sure."


    "I''ll be that one that canplete this task." Dah told Xavier. "I need to go back to my hometown, so I can collect more material from there."


    Zavier agreed to let Dah go back to her hometown to collect more material, "I''ll be waiting here." Xavier said.


    "I''ll leave right away. I have a lot of missions to do."


    "I don''t want anything bad to happen." Xavier asked with concern and firmly shook Dah''s hand after they said ''see youter''. The moment Dah left the house, Xavier started his own things.


    ---------------------------------------------------------


    Zavier was fully aware that Dah would struggle to collect all of the numerous goods, not to mention that his needs were greater than indicated. He knew she''d be able to obtain the fundamentals, but he needed more.


    He had to venture out on his own in order to locate some umon and important resources. He gathered the other six clones and sent three of them with him, while the other three hid in the shadows, to ensure his own safety.


    Zavier took the three clones on a normal mission exchange to find tasks that had to do with materials for potions.


    The three clones with him in the mask entered the mission exchange with their heads down and their eyes on their feet. The interior design was unlike anything else.


    It was divided into two chambers, each having its own set of objects, such as various types of nts growing inside the walls. He looked about and noticed that there were no shelves or cupboards, and that everything was made of ss containers of all shapes, sizes, and contents. There was also limited storage capacity. They could never fill it entirely.


    Two tables were set together in the first room. Each table was piled high with volumes that appeared to be bound in unusual materials. A second table was set up against the wall, with vials, bottles, and jars strewn about. An enormous cauldron sat in the center of the room, atop what appeared to be a bed of dried nts. Another pot close was seething with some kind of animal innards.


    The chambers in front of them were unlike any of the others. The walls were a dark blue color with odd symbols and drawings on them. A dark crimson rug covered the floor. The chamber was illuminated by flickering mes positioned on the walls. It appeared like a magicalboratory from a fairy tale or a story about vampires.


    They didn''t want to make eye contact with anyone; all they wanted to do was find a chore and get out of there as quickly as possible. As they passed, a few hunters gave them strange stares, but they attempted to ignore them.


    "Hey," said a voice from behind them. "I''ve never seen you guys before." The three turned to face a young woman with dark hair and blue eyes.


    She was dressed in a ck tank top with the words "I LOVE POTIONS" printed in purple ink across the front.


    "Sorry, we are new here," the three said at the same time. They were all eager to go as quickly as possible.


    The girl gave them another strange nce before shrugging and turning around to leave. Zavier and his three clones went to the other side of the room and then through two more rooms until they reached their destination: a quest for Langing grass.


    Lanling grass was a major element in the potion. It was extremely unusual and was mainly vegetated in poorly popted ces where the general public would find it impossible to approach.<sub> </sub>


    It was a pale green with lighter green, almost blue tips on its des. It was short, only reaching your knee, and you had to be careful when looking for it because it was easy to overlook in a sea of tall dead grass.


    Each of these nts was needed to move on to the next step in making the potion. They could only grow in a very small area that was hard to see from the outside. It took a lot of searching to find out where they were.


    Zavier walked up to the "quest table," which was nothing like a table at all. Alongside it were two seats with cushions, as well as several piles of parchments with instructions on what needed to be gathered.


    On the table, a solitary package was left open and unattended. It contained a range of goods, ranging from pennies to gems, all of which were concealed within. There was a substantial amount of diamonds.


    A door was positioned to the far right of the quest table. When it was unlocked, it showed apletely empty corridor. There was a tacked-up map above it. There were three doors on his left and three doors straight in front of him.


    There were three rooms on either side of this hallway, separated by two sets of double doors, and one pair of single doorways on the right. The ceiling was arched, and there was arge window in the middle of it that looked out over the path outside. The double doors were nked by stone pirs on either side.


    After a while, a man who appeared to be a receptionist approached me crookedly and asked, "Which kind of assignment do you prefer?"


    Zavier answered, "We''re trying to get the parts for a certain kind of medicine."


    "Oh, I see what you mean; which of these categories do you require?" he asked. His ent appeared to be from another nation but was instantly identifiable. The way the man addressed Zavier reminded him of howmoners would address royalty.


    Each of these nts was required for the next step in the potion''s creation, and they only grew in a very small region that could not be seen from the outside unless carefully watched.


    Zavier approached the mission table, which wasn''t actually a table. There were two chairs with cushions beside it, as well as several stacks of parchments with information on what needed to be collected.


    A tiny box was open next to the table. It contained various objects ranging from money to jewels. There were numerous jewels.


    A door on the far right of the quest table opened to reveal an empty hallway beyond it. Above it was hung a map. There were three doors to his left and three straight ahead of him.


    There were three rooms on either side of the hall, separated by two sets of double doors on either side and one pair of single doorways on the right. Four stone pirs surrounded an arched ceiling with a big window facing the path outside, directly in the centre, on either side of the double doors.


    After a time, a man, who appeared to be a receptionist, approached lopsidedly. "Which type of work do you prefer?" he inquired.


    "We''re gathering ingredients for a specific type of medicine," Zavier exined.


    "Yes, I see what you mean. And which of these do you require? "He inquired. His ent was strange yet clearly recognized. The man reminded Zavier of how people spoke to kings.


    "I''m looking for Laning grass," he exined as quietly as he could.


    "Interesting. It appears that we should assemble a ragtag group."


    "I''m here for it, too," said the girl he had just met, who was d in a ck tank top with the words "I LOVE POTIONS" printed in purple ink. Her beautiful dark brown hair was wrapped back in a neat braid. Herplexion was darker than the others''.


    "You guys seem very excellent," she added, her gaze shifting between the three males. "Could you take care of this duty and lend me a hand?"


    "Thank you, but we don''t believe so." One of his clones vigorously shook his head.


    One of the reasons Zavier gathered clones early was because he didn''t think it was a good idea to work with other individuals.


    It was a dangerous position if it was discovered that they were working together.


    She shook her head, "So, why didn''t you even ask? We have enough goods and experience to get by!"


    "But we don''t have enough space in our group for one more person..." Zavier felt awful. He couldn''t tell anyone he had three clones. Especially if they end up killing themselves.


    "Are you sure?" her worried countenance shifted. She then smiled wickedly.

 222 Chapter 222

    Zavier soon realized why she was smiling so broadly. To get an orchid collection, you needed at least a C-level team, but he didn''t have a government-approved badge for his team.


    The girl had one and purposefully held it out in front of his face to show it off.


    Zavier had no choice but to ept her as a member of his team.


    He was not prepared for the work while she was a talented healer. He would not have chosen her as a partner under any other circumstances.


    "Can you tell me your name?" he finally asked.


    "Hansa," she said.


    "You can call me Captain."


    "Interesting."


    Zavier recognized her as a seventeen-year-old girl with jet ck hair twisted back into two ponytails.


    She was slim, but she carried herself confidently.


    Zavier felt bad about choosing Hansa for the task, but she''d been performing well so far and the assignment wasn''t too demanding. He would be wasting a lot of time if he chose someone else.


    But it wasn''t that difficult.


    Hansa changed into a tight fighting suit and shorts, along with a belt holding a dagger, some rope, herbs, and other odds and ends she might use to conduct basic medical methods.


    While Hansa was a skilled healer, she wasn''t the bestbatant. At least, that''s what Zavier thought. He didn''t have time to inquire about it. But she was still his teammate, and he had to maintain a professional demeanor. Aside from that, Hansa was the only one who had volunteered to assist him, and he couldn''t afford to disappoint someone who had worked so hard for a better life. He needed to show his worth to hisrades.


    When night fell, the two followed the map to a woond.


    Zavier stood there calmly waiting for Hansa to finish putting on her gear while she finished arranging her guns and equipment. When everything wasplete, Hansa took the light from her belt and lit the wick.


    "Don''t you really need a weapon?" She was perplexed.


    "I am the most powerful weapon," Zavier stated as he took herntern without hesitation.


    He felt a sense of familiarity when he stared into Hansa''s eyes. The feeling then gone as quickly as it had appeared.


    ''A mysterious man indeed.'' Hansa grumbled to herself.


    They started strolling down the road and into the woods. They came across a little creek that fed into the river. Zavier paused to listen when he heard rustlinging from upstream.


    He knelt near to the stream and listened. As he stood up and took a few steps forward, the sound became louder. He could hear voices from beneath the water. There was then quiet. He stepped into the little pool after a few moments of waiting.


    Hansa trailed close behind.


    "Won''t your mask make it difficult to see in the middle of the night?"


    "Why aren''t the rest of your members speaking?"


    "How old are you?"


    "What is your line of work? Combat? Or assistance?"


    Hansa was as inquisitive as a child.


    She had already asked about a dozen questions by the time they were halfway up the next hill, which seemed quite steep considering that it was the start of their journey. Zavier was surprised that she had managed such a climb, especially given her age andck of fitness.


    Hansa became aware that the light in front of her had vanished.


    "What''s the matter?"


    "hushhh!"


    "There are wolves ahead," Zavier said quietly. He pointed ahead to an unseen stretch of ckness.


    Hansa found this mysterious man even more interesting, so he asked, "Are you a perception mage?"


    "You can make that assumption."


    They then chose a more convoluted pathway over the easier-to-crawl main path.


    In truth, Zavier''s Time-space Eye wasn''t quite ready to see that far, thanks to the painstaking exploration his other three clones had done around them beforehand.


    When Zavier arrived at a hillside, he indicated that it was the ideal location for camping. He then took a tent from the system''s storage space.


    "Wow!" Hansa et out a gasp, "Have you got a space ring? Or some other form of space spell?"


    "You didn''t bring a tent?" Zavier had been immune to simr questions from her.


    Hansa stated solemnly, "When you go on a mission, you should be prepared for the possibility of an ident. Bringing a tent would add to the weight, something I don''t want to do."


    "This is quite unusual. You''re not a weak mage by any means, but why haven''t you applied for a C rank team badge yet?"


    "What is your reason for looking for Lanling grass? Do you enjoy potion as much as I do?"


    "I like potion the best since it helps me level up."


    "I''m really adept at repairing wounds. If you get harmed, please notify me and I will heal you."


    "..."


    As she spoke, Zavier had begun to pitch his tent. Hansa burrowed in like a rabbit as soon as he finished.<sub> </sub>


    "I wouldn''t mind staying in a tent with you," said what appeared to be the owner''s voice from inside the tent.


    When Zavier climbed into the tent, heughed hopelessly and shook his head, torn between annoyance and the want tough.


    Hansa appeared to be uneasy. Even though she attempted to appear aspetent as possible in situations like this one, Zavier could sense humiliation in the air.


    She crouched in a tent corner, squirmed, and said, seemingly inadvertently, "Where have the rest of your team gone? Do they not sleep?"


    "They''ll keep the night watch, and you''ll be able to sleep all night." Zavier sat down with the intention of sleeping.


    "Do you sleep without removing your mask? Will you have a difficult time?"


    The rambling inquiries returned.


    "I noticed that your squad members all have the same physique type. Do you use this criterion to screen your members?"


    "Do you have any erotic fantasies about me in this case? Are you sure you''re not going to hurt me?"


    "I''ll sleep if you don''t n on doing anything!"


    "Will your team members fail to perform their duties? Will we be in jeopardy? Are you concerned about that? "


    ...


    The girl''s voice soon vanished at one moment.


    Zavier was a little confused. Then he turned around and found the girl hiding in the corner had fallen asleep like a kid.


    He smiled before falling asleep as well.


    ---------------------------------------------------------


    The two awoke early the next morning and resumed their journey. ording to the map, they still had half a day until they could locate Lanling grass. They were walking in a forest as their feet crunched on the ground.


    As they approached the jungle, the sky darkened. The trees kept the wind at bay. They could hear birds singing in the distance.


    "It''s really lovely," Hansa said.


    "Yes," Zavier said dreamily. Nature''s beauty never failed to soothe him.


    She was startled as a bird soared overhead. She jumped backward, almost falling over. Her heart was racing and she was looking at Zavier as if she expected him to vite her.


    "...You can now unwind, Hansa. If I''m here, you have nothing to worry about."


    Hansa''s face flushed. She crept behind Zavier.


    They walked until the afternoon. Except for the asional animal noise, there were no other signs of life.


    Then, all of a sudden, Zavier''s expression clouded. His body tensed.


    "What''s the matter?" Hansa inquired.


    "There''s someone ahead."


    "Who?"


    "Unkind individuals."


    It turned out that one of his clones had just seen two people fighting in front of him through the time-space eye. The conflict appeared to be reaching its finish based on the surrounding traces and mana in the bodies of both sides of the battle.


    A white bone spike appeared from the earth and pierced one''s feet. The other took advantage of the situation and used his sword to finish off the wounded one.


    Zavier saw the masked man in ck''s expertise, which immediately made him rigid.


    The masked man had attacked Vrie and him in order to obtain the box containing the giant-faced monster. He couldn''t be mistaken, because that man''s abilities and mana were one-of-a-kind.


    He thought for a moment before deciding to fight.


    "Shall we go around again?" Hansa inquired, slightly concerned. She wasn''t very good at fighting and was terrified of getting into a fight with other hunters.


    "Don''t be concerned! I''m not going to allow you get hurt." He stroked her head, then arranged for one of the clones to stay with her while the other two clones and the three hiding in the shadows surrounded the unknown masked guy.


    Hansa reddened once again, then eximed, "If you are harmed, remember to tell me, and I will heal you."


    Zavier looked around and waved his hand.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    Fred waspletely exhausted.


    He moaned as he deftly shed another man''s skull off "Oh, no! The information provided by the employer is clearly incorrect this time. This person''s strength is clearly more than the paper stated."


    His actions abruptly ceased after inserting the still-dripping head into the box. Then, almost humorously, he said to the air surrounding him, "You should know, my friend, that sneaking up on an experienced hunter is not a good idea. Especially if your hidden abilities aren''t at the master level."


    Zavier then emerged from his hiding ce, surrounded by his five clones.


    He was not startled to learn that he had been detected. He would have been more startled if he had been able to sneak up on them so casually.


    "Five C-ranks and one B-rank. I would never talk to you like way if it were normal. Are you aiming for my current condition, in which my strength and mana are going to run out? I have to apud your ingenuity." Fred said it nonchntly, but in actuality, he was wary.

 223 Chapter 223

    "Would you believe me if I imed we were just passing through?" Zavier shrugged and spread his hands.


    Fred craned his neck, his guard heightened. ''Damn it!'' he eximed, not believing it was a coincidence. ''Who the hell leaked my data?''


    "I don''t think we have any hostility, especially since we''re both wearing masks."


    "Certainly," Zavier replied, "but I need you to tell me something."


    "Please forgive me that I can''t inform you about the assignment. I am, after all, a professional hunter." Fred began to mobilize the few remaining mana in his body, intending to fight.


    "I never had any illusions about this from the beginning," Zavier and his five clones said of their ability to mobilize mana.


    The fight was about to start.


    Zavier uses his blood sword first, stabbing Fred in the face.


    Fred dodged expertly, but there was already a cold ze in hisnding site.


    "Chiiiiiii~"


    A strange sound was emitted when the bone membrane and the cold ze collided.


    "Indeed hard!" Zavier yelled.


    "So freezing!" Fred exhaled a frigid breath.


    Zavier''s consecutive strikes urred before Fred could take a breather.


    Fred had to defend himself because he couldn''t counterattack. He was amazed by how well the team worked together. Their strength wasn''t A-level, but their tacit understanding was definitely S-level.


    His battle experience, though, was more than Zavier''s. He swung his de at the back of one of the guys after exchanging several light wounds for a chance to counterattack. But he easily bent over and evaded the strike, as if he could see behind him.


    ? "How did he aplish that?" Fred eximed.


    His battle experience revealed that there could be a variety of exnations for this. To put his numerous theories to the test, he covertly buried a bone seed in the earth during the struggle. However, before he could release his ''bone spike,'' Zavier used cold ze to kill the ungerminated bone seed.


    Fred was taken aback "Is it conceivable that all of my information has beenpromised? Or does he have eyes that can see everything?"


    He inhaled deeply with mixed emotions, and his body swelled like a puffer fish, followed by a massive cloud of smoke. This was a maneuver he had nned ahead of time to obscure his opponent''s eyesight in conjunction with a sneak attack, and now he had to rely on it to escape.


    However, he was still surrounded by smoke and enemies, which caused him to lose his vision.


    "Stop!"


    Fred yelled helplessly.


    "Have you changed your mind?" Zavier asked as he paused his onught.


    "I must ept that you have a good team, but it doesn''t mean I''m giving up. Simply because one of us will die if we continue to battle. I don''t believe we need to go such far."


    Fred still had some cards to y, but he didn''t see the point.


    Zavier clenched his fists against his chest "I believe the same. So you''ve agreed to respond to my question?"


    "It all depends on the question. If the knowledge involved is too high level, it may kill me," Fred stated seriously.


    Zavier acknowledged with a nod of his head. A key piece of knowledge in this isekai could cost the lives of a dozen senior mages.


    "What I want to know is that you were just told to take an unusual package from Vrie Adam''s squad."


    "If you want to know who the employer of this mission is, then we can continue the war of life and death until one side falls forever," Fred said solemnly.


    Zavier confidently waved his hand and stated, "Believe me, you can''t beat me. But first, let''s get one thing straight. So, that task is quite high-level, right?"


    "I''ll be eternally hounded if I give out any information about it," Fred said solemnly.


    Zavier massaged his chin, knowing that if the struggle went on, he''d have to sacrifice one or two clones to defeat the masked guy. And there was a high risk he wouldn''t catch him alive. Because it was much more difficult to catch someone alive than it is to kill someone. And, unless absolutely necessary, he was unwilling to murder. He, too, did not want to go through death again.


    Fred was concerned. The group reminded him of the mystery man who had helped one of Vrie''s ssmates. If they belonged to the same group, the opposite side was capable of defeating or even killing him.


    The two guys pondered their options in silence, facing each other.


    Fred was finally the first to cave.


    "Okay, then! I conceded. I''m not sure why you''re interested in this, but I can tell you that this employer is a member of the Royal Family. I am unable to provide any other information."


    Such degree of information had originally satisfied Zavier.<sub> </sub>


    ''Royalty? Is it Uncle Val''s opposing force?'' He thought to himself.


    "May I go now?" Fred inquired, his voice trembling.


    "Just a second." Zavier gestured with his palm that he shouldn''t be in such a rush.


    "I can''t really tell you anything else. I''ll be as good as dead if they take me away." Fred had a minor breakdown.


    "I didn''t mean that. As a thank you, I shall treat your wounds," Zavier said as he waved his palm over Fred''s wounds. He then directed Hansa''s clone to bring her over.


    Hansa was taken aback to see Zavier uninjured and the other masked man weary. She had a feeling the wounded masked man was of higher rank than them both. Nheless, the members in Zavier''s group appeared to be doing quite well. She was taken aback by Zavier''s genuine fighting ability.


    Hansa then utilized her special abilities to begin mending Fred.


    Fred was shocked by the odd girl''s ability to cure his wounds at a perceptible rate. He was soon back on his feet.


    "Aren''t you frightened I''ll murder you now?" he said as he rose up and squeezed his wrist.


    Zavier''s eyes were filled with homicidal purpose. "You could try."


    There was a brief stalemate until Fred deliberatelyughed "Geez! I''m not serious! I was just trying to make things a little more interesting."


    "We should go find the Lanling grass," Hansa said, hiding behind Zavier and pulling on his cloak, not certain if the masked figure in front of her was a friend or foe.


    "You''re not here particrly to deal with me this time?" Fred was clearly astonished.


    Zavier shook his head, "As I already stated, I was only passing through but you simply do not believe me."


    Fred was even more taken aback. Because this meant that his intel had not beenpromised, and the war he had just lost was due to the opposing side being more capable. Cold sweat raced down his brow. He inwardlymended himself for not choosing to fight to the death on the spur of the moment.


    Then he turned around and walked away, privately murmuring, "Sure enough, those who learn blood de are all insane!"


    The group of Zavier resumed their search for Lanling grass after recovering.


    They arrived at a cliff, ording to the map. The adjacent cliffs were gued with fissures in both look and construction. It wasn''t clear whether the damage was caused by natural causes or by some kind of destructive technology, but there was a distinct pattern: cracks extending downward toward the surface and then widening outward, forming a straight route.


    In theory, no matter where you walked, the paths would intersect and cross directly.


    However, the passage was actually connected to multiple caves beneath. asionally, a cave would open into anotherrger cavern, which would lead to a smaller tunnel that ran beneath the city throughyers uponyers of caves.They all led to the abyss''s bottom.


    ording to the map, these caves housed arge amount of Lanling grass.


    "I''ll go down and look at it."


    Zavier leaped down without waiting for Hansa''s response.


    "Be cautious!" Hansa yelled from above, concerned.


    It appeared to be a dead end inside the tunnel, but a few minutester, an entry emerged on the walls in front of him. The path continued forward after it opened up, eventually leading to a cave.


    From within, a faint green glow could be observed.


    "It must be the origin." As he headed towards the cave, Zavier reflected.


    When he first entered the cave, he noticed a small nt. Its leaves were luxuriant, as if the entire room was filled with water that would never evaporate.


    "It''s certainly unusual." As he grabbed for the nt''s leaves, Zavier said. He felt a surge of energy go into his hand as soon as he touched the leaf; its texture and color were unlike any other nt material.


    He drew his hand back and carefully examined the grass. As he had predicted, there was something remarkable about the leaves, particrly in the middle. Its stem was unusually slender inparison to the surrounding foliage.


    "Hmm... Interesting..."


    Zavier opted to experiment with this particr nt since his curiosity was piqued.


    The grass disintegrated into numerous fragments and floated towards him with a wave of his fingertips. Every piece fell to the ground after being blown away by the wind, forming a little windrow of leaves.


    "What a powerful spiritual force. It appears to have absorbed a significant amount of spiritual power."


    The grass roots were coated in green veins that wound around the stems of the nts that grew within, like little snakes.


    Afterpleting his examination of the nt, Zavier directed the other clones to bring Hansa over.


    Hansa was overjoyed when she noticed the Lanling grass here "Oh my goodness! There are so many Lanling grasses in this ce!"

 224 Chapter 224

    Zavier had noticed her because her voice had echoed throughout the cave.


    She then jumped about like a child.


    "You are my fortunate star, Captain!"


    Hansa eximed happily as she danced around Zavier like a puppy. She was overjoyed, and while looking at the Lanling grass, she couldn''t help but think about Zavier''s face. Her heart was racing, and she didn''t stop until her body began to heat up.


    After a while, she stopped dancing and became bashful again. "Please ept my apologies, Captain."


    Zavierughed "There is no need to apologize. I pledge that we will do our jobs correctly. Anyway, do you know how to concoct a potion?"


    "Of course!" Hansa said immediately, "I can brew the best potion in the world, and the only problem is that the ingredients aren''t simple toe by..."


    "We''ll be receiving the ingredients here," Zavier said, smiling, "so all you have to do is create the brew. Don''t be concerned. Everything will be alright."


    "I appreciate it very much, Captain!"


    They then began to collect Lanling grass here.


    To avoid an increase in the mission''s failure rate, they had to set aside a little portion for the mission''s employer.


    Many hunters frequently went above their rank to ept missions or purposefully failed toplete them to obtain free information. To stop this problem from recurring, the government required that ones have the right team rank badge to receive the mission.


    The difficulty and sess rate of missionpletion were used to establish the team rank badge. As a result, they must set aside a portion of their Lanling grass to finish the assignment, or Hansa''s team badge would be soiled.


    Zavier was collecting when he heard Hansa''s startled call for help.


    "Oh my goodness! Look what I discovered!"


    When Zavier looked back, he noticed she was carrying a brightly colored branch in her hand. Through the time-space sight, he could tell that it held a distinct energy.


    "What exactly is it?"


    "It''s a branch from the Divine Tree," Hansa said incredulously.


    "The Divine Tree?"


    "Yes!"


    "Only the branches can contain such essence!" Hansa nodded.


    "The Divine Tree... I''ve heard about this type of tree before. They''re dubbed the ''Tree of Life'' in ancient times," Zavier whispered gently.


    "Yes¡­" Hansa said "There''s a reason these trees are known as the Trees of Life. Their seeds will continue to develop and feed us with mana for thousands, if not hundreds, of years."


    Hansa went on to exin in a serious tone, "It can grow in the absence of sunshine and could live for a thousand years. Records show that the trees can even grow in space. The most significant aspect of them, though, is their ability to reproduce. With the energy contained inside its seed, the tree could produce a great amount of mana for everyone. And their vigor is limitless."


    Zavier''s brows wrinkled slightly together. His curiosity grew.


    "Are they umon? Where can they be found in this location?"


    Hansa shook her head and said, "They''re quite difficult toe by. They are difficult to identify and harvest. I''m not sure why it''s here."


    Zavier scowled and considered for a time. He then opened his time-space eye to survey his surroundings. He soon discovered more fissures deeper down the cave. Some of those fissures remained, but they didn''t appear to be too firm, implying that they wouldn''t cause much damage to the cave wall. Others, though, looked like they had been broken or torn apart, suggesting that the whole cave could fall down at any time.


    "Perhaps we can delve further to gather important knowledge."


    "What did you discover?" Hansa inquired.


    Zavier pointed to a crevice and said, "This appears to be an entrance. We''ll go down and look first; perhaps there''s a clue somewhere. I''m concerned that going deeper will be more perilous."


    Hansa simply nodded and followed Zavier without saying anything. She was eager to try her luck again.


    When they reached at the crack''s edge, Zavier straightened up and took a deep breath before leaping into the darkness. The two of them then began searching all the way down.


    "There appears to be nothing..."


    Hansa exhaled a sigh. She hoped they''d find anything, but the darkness of the caves was so dense that she couldn''t see more than ten meters ahead.


    But for Zavier, this is not a problem; the time-space eye provides him with significant convenience.


    Zavier kept mumbling as he searched, "The density of spiritual force should be greater here than at the summit. Perhaps there is anything worth investigating."


    However, as he descended lower, the cave became darker and darker until he reached the bottom and couldn''t even see the end.


    "How far down does the hole go?" he said quietly.


    Hansa returned the favor.


    "I''m not sure."


    "Then let''s continue. Maybe I''ll strike gold."


    As he strained, Hansa unconsciously tugged at his cloak.


    "Are you terrified of the dark? Don''t be afraid, I can see," Zavier said as he took her hand.<sub> </sub>


    Zavier then took his time walking down. When he went halfway down the hole, he realized his feet couldn''t move any more. A force was crushing down on his feet, stopping him from moving down any farther.


    "Damnit! What exactly is this? "He screamed angrily.


    His feet came to an abrupt halt, and Hansa, who was following him, almost ran into his back when she collided with him.


    "What''s the matter, Captain? Do you find it difficult to move? "She inquired, her voice trembling.


    "There''s something wrong."


    He suddenly found himself treading on a dark, sticky material that resembled glue. This substance was disseminated throughout the cave and exuded the same spiritual power as the Divine Tree, leading him to misidentify it as y. It''s no surprise that his time-space sight didn''t notice this unusual substance sooner. Even though he was very spiritual, theck of light made it hard for him to understand what was going on.


    Zavier attempted pushing against it, but he could only make minor motions. It was quite tough to break through the sticky fluid.


    "Damn, I''m stuck."


    "What in the world is going on?" Hansa inquired, concerned.


    "I''m being stuck."


    Zavier''s face clouded, and he fought furiously. However, the sticky liquid pressed on him as if it were a coating of metal armour, denying him the opportunity to remove them.


    He couldn''t take another step forward because of the weight, so the more he struggled, the tighter they felt. His muscles were beginning to ache. The sticky substance also pressed tightly on his legs, limiting his movement.


    Hansa attempted to assist him but was stopped by Zavier.


    "Don''te over here yet; don''t get stuck like I did."


    "What are you fixated on?"


    "A slimy ck material."


    "Could this be rted to the Divine Tree?" Hansa wondered.


    Zavier then took a close look at the sticky stuff. It was absolutely dark; it had nothing to do with the natural substance or the cave.


    "There must be some sort of secret here."


    Suddenly, the voice of the system came to him.


    [Congrattions to the host for activating the hidden mission: gathering the Divine Tree''s fruit.]


    [The Divine Tree, a tree with strong spiritual qualities that is closely tied to spirits, has remained dormant for millennia. There is no known way to obtain its fruits. Only someone who can extract its core and absorb its energy can obtain its fruit.]


    At the same time, Zavier was startled and excited. This was the first time the system told him directly that he had to do something.


    But for the time being, he needed to get out of this predicament.


    So he thought to himself, "What do I need to do to get rid of this ck goo?"


    [As far as the system is aware, there is no method to eliminate this substance.]


    ''Are there no other options?''


    [There shouldn''t be, ording to the system''s information.]


    Zavier was almost depressed. "So you''re fucking triggering hidden missions for me now just so I can stay locked here?" he said inwardly.


    [Please, host, calm down. If you be irritated, you will be unable to attain your aim.]


    Zavier was desperate to kick the system in the shins. He instantly calmed down, given the system''s previous messed up response pattern.


    In this world, there was no such thing as an intractable problem. He was well aware that no existence was wless. There will always be a remedy as long as there was a problem.


    So he rephrased the question, "What can I do to get out of my current situation?"


    The system suggests that the host use his own bloodline power to try to fuse this ck, sticky substance, since the host has a body that can fuse anything.


    ''Of course! I knew it. It can''t be removed, but it can be fused. ''How exactly...?''


    [The host''s blood has the highest affinity.]


    ''Okay. ''I''ve got it.''


    Hansa noticed his silence and inquired, "What''s up with you?"


    "Shh!"


    Zavier motioned for her to keep quiet before releasing his blood and mana to touch this ck goo. As soon as the ck ooze met his blood, it flowed wildly towards his wound, like a shark smelling blood.


    Zavier was startled and used his blood sword to put a stop to it. The powerful blood de first stopped the ck goo. However, it would not give up; the neighboring ck goo began to move and then enveloped him.


    The clone with the Magus System also appeared to assist in stopping the mystery ck goo. In the cramped cave, the ck ooze and blood de collided fiercely, generating a terrible sound.


    BOOM...

 225 Chapter 225

    The enormous roar resonated loudly throughout the cave and off the walls, shaking the entire cave floor. Zavier and his clones were both propelled backwards andnded on their backs. Hansa was flung to the side, away from Zavier. As she rolled on the ground, she covered her ears and yelled in anguish. While this was going on, Zavier struggled to stay on his feet and watched in horror as the ck goo''s attack kept pushing the blood de away.


    In fact, the ck goo began to expand and eventually engulfed all of the clones one by one, leaving only Hansa.


    "Damnit! I''dpletely lost control of my body!"


    As the slime continued to attack him, he cursed and clenched his fists fiercely.


    The ck goo seemed to be more concentrated as he poured more energy into it, and it was slowly consuming him. They would never be able to escape if the ck ooze continued to develop in this manner.


    He was engulfed in arge pool of sticky liquid.


    Hansa crawled on the ground, attempting to reach for her dagger. She shed at the sludge surrounding her until she finally managed to grab it. The knife, however, did not seem to bother the goo; instead, it absorbed the knife and began to expand once more. It kept spreading in all directions, causing Hansa to flee. To avoid losing the dagger, she sliced at the ooze and had to drag herself backwards.


    The ooze had spread much beyond what she had previously seen, and it now reached as far as her vision could see. It appeared to be hundreds of thousands of tentacles, each of which contained an entity. And when she focused her gaze, the beings seemed toe to life; all of these things were linked together, giving them the appearance of huge worms. However, there was something else about the creatures that stood out: they were not formed of flesh, but of an unknown ck substance that was covered in a transparentyer.


    "Oh my goodness! What in the world is this?"


    The ck slime tentacles moved around the ck liquid, causing it to move faster and quicker, trapping both of them.


    Hansa continued to cut at the tentacles that were encircling her, but the tentacles grew in size by the second. It would soon entrap all of her. She shouted in agony, as if she were being crushed and tortured. She could hear Zavier pushing against the power that couldn''t be seen or touched, trying to pull the tentacles off but not being able to do so.


    Zavier realized Hansa was in danger as well. He was nervous, but he couldn''t think of a remedy right away.


    "AHHHH~~"


    At the same time, he heard his clones scream.


    The memories retrieved from the feedbacks made it clear that his other four clones, who were unable to wield the blood de, had been eaten by the ck material that had been present.


    The thought of dying made him extremely sick.


    When the goop entered his clones'' bloodstreams, it began to spread through every muscle fiber, bone, and organ inside his body. It entered his blood vessels. His entire body was swallowed and consumed.


    Their cries tore up his heart as their voices were drowned out by the constant fighting noise. Their cries rang out throughout the dim cave. The sound was agonizing and filled him with anxiety. As he endured the great anguish, he longed to scream in agony.


    He could feel his heart racing in his throat, sweat flowing from his brow, and his teeth clenched together in fear and hatred.


    Zavier fought back with all his might, releasing a crimson de to sever the tentacles that bound them. But before it could reach its target, the red de was yanked abruptly and ripped to shreds.


    The tendrils thickened and became more focused until the des stopped moving. He attempted to utter a spell, but nothing came out. He couldn''t even say anything. Instead, he was drawn backwards, like a moth swallowed up by a gaping mouth. It was as if his life was being sucked from him.


    Zavier hurriedly looked about, hoping to locate a way out.


    He was not concerned about his life because he had left a clone in the closet at home. But Hansa would almost certainly die here because of him. That was something he didn''t want to happen.


    He couldn''t understand why the ck substance was so invincible in the face of his blood de. Even Kyouko''s Yasakani no Magatama didn''t have such a powerful contrast blood sword.


    Something suddenly urred to him. He then promptly took out the branch, which had most likelye from the sacred tree earlier, and attempted tobine it with blood and mana.


    The branches soon made reaction. The branch zed with a blinding brightness the moment blood dripped on it. Then a strong spiritual force passed from his hand to his arm and body. He could feel the energy coursing through his veins and spreading to his limbs and organs. The branches lit up again and became more brilliant after the blood was fully infused.


    Zavier appeared to enter a state of egolessness at this point. He appeared to see everything and nothing at the same time. He felt like a long, long time had passed, although it had only been a second.


    When he regained consciousness, his blood de appeared to have evolved and be even more powerful.


    Although it couldn''t pierce the goo''s surface, it had already sliced at least a few dozen strands, severing all of the goo and freeing the three of them.


    Zavier ran up and held Hansa''s shoulders as Hansa got up shakily.


    "Are you hurt?" he inquired, his voice trembling.


    As soon as he shouted those words, he realized that the blood that had soaked her body had vanished, as if it had evaporated off her flesh. Her back wounds were also mending quickly.


    Except for the blood spot on her clothing, her physique appeared to be fully healthy. She didn''t appear to be hurt in any way.<sub> </sub>


    "How did you manage to recuperate so quickly? It was supposed to have taken us many days." Zavier spoke forward, taken aback.


    "When my physical body was harmed, my bloodline ability was activated," Hansa simply exined."I''m fine, but you need therapy right now." She expressed concern as she examined the various wounds on Zavier''s body.


    "Not right now."


    The ck substance behind them reappeared at that same instant.


    Zavier shed at the tendrils once more with his blood de. Instead of swiftly spreading, they did not move at all. The blood de began to shine brightly with bright red light, illuminating Zavier''s eyes, as his energy was constantly reinforced. His expression was determined. The power of the blood de went up a lot, and the tentacles that were around them werepletely cut off, turning into many pieces of darkness that fell to the ground.


    The blood de shed brightly once more, and tendrils were unstoppable as well. The two kept crashing into each other violently in the small space, sending huge shockwaves through the cave again.


    The tumbling rocks above began to fall regrly.


    The stctites that had previously fallen to the ground now formed a bridge between the ceiling above and the floor below. Every collision shook the cave, as debrisnded on Zavier''s arms and torso.


    The bits of rock and dust shot over the cavern.


    "This isn''t looking good."


    Zavier smirked.


    "You go first! Leave me alone! "He asserted.


    "No!" said Hansa emphatically. "I might not make it if you don''t get help fast."


    She took a deep breath and gazed up at him, her gaze locked on his blue eyes.


    Her voice was weak but determined. Her stare was ferocious.


    "Everything will be OK. We''ll be fine... We''re usually so fortunate, aren''t we?"


    She gave him a reassuring grin.


    He wanted to cry at her words, but instead nodded slowly.


    Zavier jumped towards her and gripped her waist without hesitation.


    They leaped up together came to a stop in the center of the bridge.


    A wave of dark stuff enveloped and coiled around them both not long after theynded. They were trapped there and couldn''t get away because the ck substance and its tentacles had them in their grip.


    There was no more space on the ground for them to stand. It would take them too long to jump over to the opposite wall. Without any other options, Zavier chose to close his eyes and battle his way out.


    His eyelids closed as he concentrated on defending himself.


    When he reopens his eyes, his clone started "Crescent sh."


    With a great spiritual force, the crescent-shaped blood sword plunged inside the ck sticky substance. However, an odd thing happened: the blood de did not cut anything but instead melted in it like water.


    It passed directly through the ck substance and vanished, leaving no trace behind.


    Zavier felt as if he had expended all of his strength at that point. He wasn''t even sure if he''d be able to trigger ''Crescent sh'' if he used up all of his energy.


    Unexpectedly, a strange emotion overcame him. It was as if he imagined the dark substance in front of him to be his own blood, which he could manipte.


    [Congrattions to the host, who has sessfully merged with the unidentified ck substance.]


    The voice of the system appeared in his thoughts at the appropriate time.


    Zavier attempted to drive the ck goo in order to confirm the system''s results. The goo, as expected, reacted by migrating away.

 226 Chapter 226

    This brought him a sigh of relief. They weren''t sure what would happen when he mixed his blood with ck gunk, but they knew it wouldn''t be easy.


    [Congrattions for sessfully fusing your blood with the mysterious ooze.]


    Zavier was quite weak at the moment due to blood loss, but reality didn''t let him even a moment of rest.


    The falling rocks above him continued to dribble like rain, the ground began to tremble, and the walls around him began to tremble.


    "It must be the dark stuff that kept the cracks from copsing previously. Furthermore, these were caused by the prior explosion. We must leave right away!" Hansa''s voice was franker than usual.


    A massive boulder fell from the roof andnded on the location where they were standing. It shattered a massive hole in it. Fortunately, none of them had been hit, but the entire area was still trembling with each passing second.


    "We have to get going!" she eximed emphatically.


    A loud st interrupted Zavier''s ability to respond effectively.


    With a thud, the cave they were in crumbled!


    A significant part of a hillside crumbled could be seen from a high altitude.


    The trees in the area were all uprooted and damaged. Trees and stones began to fall from the slope. All of the rubble finally slid downhill, forming a massive ditch that stretched for miles.


    Within seconds, a massivendslide had engulfed the region. Thendslide was so powerful that the earth shook violently as it was dragged down into a pit.


    "Rocks were constantly sliding down the hill, and trees were being crushed beneath their weight as well. Everything appeared to go slowly.


    The earthquake grew stronger and more powerful as the rubble pile went downward. Thendslide reached its apex in seconds, driving everything it touched backwards until there was nothing left standing.


    After thendslide stopped moving and all sounds stopped, a faint sound of fractures could be heard.


    A massive pile of debris was removed from below with a thud.


    Two figures came from beneath the ground.


    It turned out that Zavier arrived just in time to control the ck ooze and save them from being crushed to death by boulders.


    "At longst, we''re saved." After a rough time, Hansa eximed, "Rebirth!"


    Herfort was short-lived, however, when she noticed the plight of her surroundings. "What in the world happened here?! This ce has been destroyed, and the ground is littered with rubble!!"


    That sentence was followed by a thunderous bang. A tree had been pulled out of the ground and had fallen to the side, blocking Zavier''s path.


    "It appears to have been caused by the recent mountain copse, but I didn''t expect it to be so broad." Zavier conducted an examination.


    Hansa returned her gaze to the ck sludge beneath her feet and mused, "What an oddity! Didn''t it just attempt to murder us? Why would it want to help us?"


    "Because I have control over it now."


    When Hansa heard this, she turned to Zavier and asked him, "What exactly do you mean? Can you really keep the ck ooze under control now?"


    Zavier solemnly nodded his head. "Indeed. I''ve mastered this ck goo." His tone was not arrogant. It was urate and confident.


    "How do you go about it? Incredible!"


    Hansa was taken aback, but she quickly recognized that this was probably due to his hereditary power. It was also banned to inquire about each family''s hereditary power.


    But Zavier was unconcerned, exining inly, "I fused it using my gic strength."


    Hansa, on the other hand, was startled that he said it so directly. When she realized that four members of their group were absent, she queried shyly, "The other four members of your group...?"


    "It devoured them." Zavier pointed to the remaining ck ooze on the ground.


    Hansa took a deep breath, followed by a sad, self-conscious look "I apologize. I was too feeble to be of any assistance to you."


    Zavier made a wave "No. I made the proposal for further investigation. I should shoulder the majority of the me."


    Hansa had not expected such a significant loss of life, but she had seen casualties in previous trips, so she did not appear overwhelmed. "What are you going to do with it?" she questioned when she had calmed down a little. He indicated the unidentified ck material.


    Zavier stroked his chin and wondered, ''How did I manage to fuse those dark chemicals so quickly?''


    [This is most likely because of the spiritual strength in the Divine Tree branch.]


    "What exactly do you mean?"


    [For unknown reasons, the host''s blood could not directly fuse the ck substances, but the two fused properly by using the spiritual power in the Divine Tree branch as a conduit.


    "Do you mean my blood, the dark material, and the spiritual power in the Divine Tree have now merged?"


    [Almost certainly.]


    Zavier swiftly made an educated guess. Then he pulled out the branch and told the ck stuff to eat as much of it as it could.


    Themand was received by the ck matter beneath the ground, and it began to wrap around the branch, but for some reason, it was never able to entirely swallow it. So, the dark substance kept trying to swallow the sacred tree branch by making itself smaller and smaller.


    During this procedure, Zavier appeared to form a familiar bond with the branch. He appeared to believe that the branch was his arm and that he could drive it at will.<sub> </sub>


    At the same time, the dark substance continued topress its volume and adhere to the branch''s surface like glue. Zavier could sense that they were also undergoing a particr fusion throughout this process.


    After a few seconds, many ck things and sacred tree branches came together to form a ck rod.


    The ck rod was light, much like a regr wooden stick, which surprised Zavier.


    "It''s incredible that such a vast volume squeezed into such a little one retains its mass!"


    He said to Hansa, "Let''s go back and turn in the mission," as he put the ck rod around his waist.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª-


    It was time to say farewell when they both arrived at the exchange toplete the filing process.


    "Will we have another chance to work together?" Hansa asked, hesitantly.


    "Without a doubt! I still require you to create a potion for me." Zavier answered positively.


    Hansa nodded and smiled softly.


    "How can we contact you if necessary?"


    Zavier paused for a bit before saying, "Humm..."


    Because he had chosen to act alone at first, he wasn''t totally ready for this.


    "You can contact me through it," Hansa said, removing a green pendant linked to her wrist and slipping it into his hand.


    "No, it''s over the top."


    In this isekai, magicalmunication jewelry that worked at the right time was especially expensive, and even though he was a noble, he did not have one.


    Hansa jumped away like a rabbit before he could return it to her.


    "Don''t forget to contact me!"


    Zavier soon lost sight of the girl''s figure.


    He groaned and reced the chain around his neck.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª-


    When Zavier returned to Caesar University, he discovered from the clone that stayed there that his Uncle Val was relocating their family to Caesar, the capital city.


    This surprised him a little, but he quickly realized it was because of the secret behind him. If Val''s intention was to protect him, it made sense.


    ''Wait! If that''s the case, will Vrie join us?''


    The door to his room was suddenly pulled open while he stood on the bedroom floor mulling this topic.


    When a woman with an hourss shape saw Zavier, he used a judo move to put his head between two big breasts.


    "I heard you defeated this freshmen''s dark horse. When did you be so skilled?"


    The strangtion had almost taken Zavier''s breath away. "Oh my God, I''m literally dying."


    Vrie muttered as she let go of her hand "It''s a pity! I''m not able to tease you as much as I used to."


    "Did Uncle truly send you here to protect me and not to murder me?" Zavier coughed a few times.


    Vrie nned to keep joking with him, but she was pulled to the hazy aura that had been disclosed about him. "You upgraded to B rank?" she asked, surprised.


    "It was a few days ago," Zavier said happily.


    Then Vrie''s demeanor became solemn, as if she was deliberating over something.


    "What''s the matter? Isn''t that a good thing?" Zavier was perplexed by her expression.


    "Of course, it''s a good thing if it''s for other people," Vrie remarked, "but it could not be for you. Do you recall what I stated previously about my deliberate taunting of you?"


    "I empathize," Zavier smirkded bitterly.


    "It''s mostly Val''s n." One motivation was to attract possible assassins. If I continue to act too friendly or near to you, the enemy in the shadows will not be able to strike as easily, increasing our workload. Because the cost of constantly being on the defensive is significantly more than the cost of creating a trap once."


    "That makes sense," Zavier massaged his chin.


    "And one of the reasons I don''t need to pretend to act that way longer is that you have the basic ability to defend yourself," Vrie continued. Plus, I''ve moved from being a hidden pawn to an open pawn on the board, which has raised the number and rank of your dark guardians."


    "Why?" interjected Zavier.


    "Because the enemy has taken more aggressive steps," Vrie stated solemnly.


    Zavier''s heart skipped a beat, and he realized, "Because I''ve grown stronger?"

 227 Chapter 227

    "Most certainly," Vrie said, nodding. "The enemy is concerned that dealing with you will get more difficult as you grow stronger."


    Zavier scratched the back of his head, distressed, and depressed.


    Vrie gently patted the top of his head andfortingly stated, "Rx, I''ll fix it. I will create a barrier to conceal your aura, which is why I became one of your guards."


    This action reminded Zavier of the annoying but cute girl, and he unconsciously remembered the clones who were eaten by the ck slime. His sick experiences and emotions caused him to frown.


    He and the clones acted as Hansa''s guards in the previous perilous environment, but then something awful happened.


    "What''s the matter with you? Where are you having trouble?" Vrie noticed his painful expression and inquired worriedly.


    "Guardians like you, are they okay?" Zavier inquired after a brief pause.


    Vrie clearly didn''t anticipate him to ask such a question; her expression shifted from sadness to pain to reluctance to relief, "They all have the best ce for themselves."


    It was an obvious question.


    People would undoubtedly die in this world, but Zavier didn''t want anyone to perish as a result of his actions. But, sadly, he couldn''t make such decisions any more.


    "Let''s not go there; let me set your bounds."


    Vrie remarked this as she reached down to take his top off.


    "What are you going to do?" Zavier inquired, his face flushed and angry.


    "It''s a specific border that requires a charm to be drawn on your skin," Vrie said with an uncertain smile. "then why else I''m pulling your clothing off?"


    ....


    After he put the border on, Zavier looked in the mirror at the design that looked like a tattoo on his stomach and wondered, "Will ite off in the shower?"


    Vrie''s left crescent-shaped earring is emitting a wave of mana at this time. "I have other things I need to take care of, I''ll see youter sometime," she added, her face immediately turning work-like. She promptly pushed the door open and walked away.


    "My aura has been dropped to E level," Zavier grumbled, "I guess I''ll have to be busy in the universityter." He seemed to be able to hear the voices of his ssmates who were questioning him in the future.


    The good news was that he was used to terrible things happening to him, whether in his past or present life.


    He arrived at Harry''s house without any notice after dealing with certain emotions.


    He took a deep breath before knocking, but was astonished to hear, "Come in," from inside.


    He opened the door to find Harry dressed casually in what appeared to be trousers and a turtleneck sweater.


    "I knew you''d get into difficulty, nobody doesn''t have doubts when using potion," Harry smiled. "But you arrived considerablyter than I expected, indicating that you attempted to tackle the problem on your own. Well, well... not bad for my future apprentice, your talent and effort exceed my expectations..."


    Harry was speaking to himself like a prophet, as if he had nned a bellyugh in anticipation of his arrival and then to demonstrate his cleverness. When he finally spotted Zavier, he froze like a fool.


    "What the fuck!" he eximed, as if someone had kicked him in the shin, "what the hell have you gotten yourself into?"


    "I remember you were a C rank a few days ago, howe you''re down to an E rank now?" he went forward and grabbed Zavier''s arm, asking him. "Didn''t you just drink the entire bottle of potion?"


    "It tastes quite decent," Zavier said, nodding his head.


    Harry''s expression was filled with shock, then his eyes shifted to the floor and he shook his head, "It''s over, it''s over, it''s over... A brilliant genius has passed away here. You''re such a moron! A fool, definitely!"<sub> </sub>


    "Hey! That is something I should have considered. I should not have given you the potion bottle. It''d been nothing if my reputation suffers! If I could go back in time, I would have taught you how to properly protect yourself."


    He kept talking to himself like a lunatic in a fit of rage.


    "You no longer look closely at my aura?" Zavier said as he pped his fingers to wake him up.


    Harry seemed perplexed at first, then seemed to discover something. "Borders?" he inquired of Zavier. Then he lifted Zavier''s blouse and noticed the runes on his tummy.


    "Don''t just lift people''s garments without permission!" Zavier was outraged and defended himself.


    "I knew it, I knew it!" Harry eximed, jumping andughing like a lunatic.


    He finally rxed and questioned, "What are you doing getting a shield type border for nothing? Why are you keeping your true rank hidden?"


    Zavier did not respond positively, saying, "It''s my personal secret."


    "Potion''s impact is scarcely beneficial above A level unless rare and precious ingredients are included," Harry reminded him. "Many mages cannot ovee this obstacle in their lifetime, and you should be aware of this."


    Zavier was relieved because he hadn''t expected him to see through his genuine status so quickly. After all, this formidable old guy was one of the world''s few SSS-ranked wizards.


    Zavier could not get rid of the old man Harry who continued to pester him about the true results of the potion ingestion. The shield boundary ced by Vrie was more effective than he had thought. Although Harry could tell that the true level of Zavier''s strength was far more than that, he was unable to determine the extent of it which made him curious beyond the normal range.


    Zavier held the helm of his shirt with both hands in defense as the old man tried to lift his shirt up without any notice every time his curiosity got the better of him.


    "I will remove this boundary for a minute. Don''t worry, I will rece it before leaving. Come here. Why are you resisting? Are you a little girl? Why are you looking at me like I am some kind of a monster?"


    Looking from afar the scene depicted the picture of an old man trying to tear away the shirt of a high school student while the student tried to protect his innocence with both hands firmly grasping the edge of his shirt with an unwilling look on his face.


    Thankfully for the both of them, no one was around to create a misunderstanding of that level.


    "Stay away from me. I don''t associate with people who swing that way." Zavier finally lost his marbles as he said out loud.


    "HEY, don''t nder me. I am adies'' man through and through. You have seen it as well, haven''t you?" Harry reminded Zavier of the previous incident that the two of them had shared together.


    "HUH, who knows? It might have been one of your perverted kinks, you perverted creep." Zavier retaliated in annoyance.


    Harry grumbled in his mouth, cursing Zavier wholeheartedly without sparing any effort but in the end let go of him fearing that his reputation might be smeared if someone actually listened to their conversation.


    Seeing that Zavier had no intention of revealing any of the secrets behind the results of the potion, Harry didn''t continue any further as it was proving to be counterproductive. He felt that beingbeled as a pervert was the least that might happen with Zavier being so stubborn and touchy about his inquiries.


    Even though Zavier hadn''t allowed him to remove the boundary ced by Vrie, Harry was an old coot who had a wealth of experience and skills at hand. He had already determined the extent of Zavier''s strength approximately and had helped him chart a course towards the next step for promotion of his strength beyond A level.


    After leaving Harry''s home, Zavier was stuck in deep thought and was mindlessly walking along the narrow road as countless thoughts spun in his head. His ambition, Harry''s words, Shiranui''s departure, the secret of his bloodline; a cocktail of all chaotic thoughts was the most urate description of the current state of Zavier''s mind. He was trying to figure out his next course of action. There were many things that he had to take care of and not time to rest.


    But the foremost on his agenda list was increasing his strength. Rest of his goals would be achieved only if he continued to grow stronger and for that he had to look for rare and precious ingredients for brewing potions and elixirs.


    "I had limited myself too much thinking that the multi-system was the greatest and the fastest means to improve my strength but that was not the case at all. It seems that the greatest gift was to be transmigrated into this body. I have received the talent to be the greatest mage of all time just based on my bloodline but the condition is that I continue to find rare and precious ingredients to push me past the A level which is slightly difficult as those ingredients can''t be found easily and are not easy to acquire either even if their location is known. Just like the branch of the Divine tree. I almost died in that ce. If I didn''t have my bloodline and the multi-system, I would have died without a trac¡­"


    "HEY, watch where you are going." A slightly old man had caught him by the arm and the angry yell brought him back to reality as he saw what had happened.


    It turned out that his mindless wandering had led him to a steep slope at the edge of the road and he was standing right at the precipice of it. If the old man hadn''t stopped him in time, Zavier would have broken a bone or two from the fall.

 228 Chapter 228

    "I am sorry for worrying you. Thank you for your help. I was lost in thought and didn''t pay attention." Zavier could only apologize since the old man seemed to be out of breath. It looked like he had run towards him from a distance to stop him from falling off.


    "Young people nowadays are worse than even us old fools. What is so difficult about looking ahead while walking? Can''t you even do THAT right?"


    The old man shook his head as if in disappointment and walked away with a hunched back as if bearing the weight of the whole world.


    Zavier gave a slight smile watching the old man walk away and went on his way back to the student dormitories where the contestants had been staying all this while.


    All the participants of the Merion high school had been admitted into Caesar University without a doubt since they were the strongest of all the teams who had participated in the entrance examination and had the most surviving members in the second group.


    Even though the fiasco in the final between Zavier and Sabrina had sown doubts in the hearts of the other participants, the top leaders of the Caesar University were in the know that Zavier was the true talent that they had managed to get their hands on in the entrance examination. It was only that Zavier had been hiding too deep and the teammates that he hade with were all exceptional which gave the illusion that Zavier was weaker than them but that was not the case at all.


    Currently, all the participants were waiting for the official announcement of their early eptance into the University because only then would their shriveled hearts beat with life again. Getting epted into this university was the assurance of their futures and that of their families. Therefore, the official announcement of eptance was the most awaited event at the moment.


    Unlike the participants, the leadership of the university was in a dilemma. Galen was presiding over the meeting that was being conducted in the Dean''s office and various instructors of the institution were in attendance with a serious look clouding their faces.


    "What do you think we should do about that kid Zavier?" One of the instructors who didn''t believe that Zavier had the ability to beat Sabrina finally put forward the question that all of them had been waiting to ask.


    Even though he was an A level mage, the instructor clearlycked the perception ability to gauge the level of that mental battle that had surmised between Zavier and Sabrina in the finals.


    "What do YOU think we should do?" The question that was directed towards Galen was answered by Harry who was sitting right next to him.


    The hint of displeasure in Harry''s tone stumped the instructor named Alder but was not enough to make Alder question his own judgment.


    "In my humble opinion, the student should be disqualified from the entrance test. Using one''s family connections was one of the major reasons behind the implementation of the new system of entrance tests. Wouldn''t it be a failure if even after all the effort, someone got in using their family connections?" Alder had a haughty tone as if his argument couldn''t be bested by anyone.


    The instructors looked towards each other and wondered whether to support Alder or not as they still had not been able to gauge the thoughts of the dean. They were waiting for the dean to reveal his stance before conveying their own points of view regarding the matter.


    Of course, only the foolish ones like Alder would be on the opposing end once the Dean revealed his thoughts.


    Among the A rank mages in attendance, there was only one instructor who was sure of Zavier''s abilities but couldn''t reveal her thoughts. Mabel was already one of Marquess Val''s people and knew that it was time to earn her keep.


    "I don''t agree with instructor Alder''s words based on two things. Firstly, I think that it is still unclear whether the student named Sabrina had been paid to concede defeat or not since there is no evidence of that fact. And secondly, even if it is true we should not reveal this fact to the public since it would be a severe blow to our reputation. It is better to deal with it internally. If student Zavier is really incapable, then we only need to find a reason to expel himter on instead of revealing the facts surrounding this matter."


    Mabel could not just reveal the strength of Zavier to the whole congregation of instructors even though she had witnessed Zavier''s achievements in the first round. This was because of the promise that Val had made to her in return for her protection of Zavier in the University.


    This was the reason that Mabel used this approach to protect Zavier in the meeting against Alder''s allegations.


    "I have been waiting for you to speak up. Of course, YOU would try to defend him; after all it was you who developed the new entrance test, was it not?" Alder revealed a smirk as if he had been waiting for this point to be brought up. He was feeling that everything was within his control and things were progressing just the way he had wanted them to.<sub> </sub>


    Mabel had no way to refute this statement as it was true. She tried to say something but no words came out of her mouth. Alders had rendered her words meaningless with the previous statement. The harder she tried to protect Zavier, the more it would appear that she was trying to protect her own image. Therefore, it was better to take a silent stance and wait for the leadership to speak.


    The participants of the meeting were sitting with their bodies tilted towards the presiding chair from their waist upwards. The position looked both awkward and painful but they were too stressed to even notice how peculiarly they were acting.


    Galen on the other hand looked calm and peaceful while Harry was trying to hold himself back from punching off the smug look on Alder''s face. He already knew that Zavier was trying to be low key so he didn''t say anything. Even Galen hade to the same conclusion as well.


    Galen let out a long sigh and finally looked towards the participants as if to pass on the final verdict. There was a silent drum roll in their heads as the instructors waited for the final decision.


    "I agree with Teacher Mabel''s point of view. We can not let one bad fish tarnish the reputation of our prestigious institute. Since we have no evidence that the match was fixed, it would be wrong of us toe to a conclusion at this point. We might lose two potentially exceptional students by going down the pathid down by Teacher Alder."


    Before Galen could proceed any further, Alder spoke out mid sentence.


    "With all due respect sir, there is no need to expel student Sabrina as well. Her talent has been witnessed by all of us in the other matches but the other student has relied on his teammates and his family to make it this far. He is the only ck sheep in thispetition." Alder said while practically grinding his teeth at the mere mention of Zavier''s name.


    Finally an instructor seemed to have been convinced by the argumentsid down by Alder and spoke out in a low voice so as to not sound too energetic while going against Galen.


    "Teacher Alder seems to be right on this ount. The student managed to seed because he was in the same team with Student Reba who showed exceptional results in the teampetition. Isn''t that right, Teacher Mabel?"


    Mabel was once again dumbfounded at the newfound evidence. Since she couldn''t reveal that the so-called worthless student in their eyes had been the devil who had fought against all the other participants by himself in the first round of the entrance exams, she once again adopted silence as her weapon of choice in this argument.


    Her silence was taken as the eptance of the fact by the rest of the instructors.


    "I won''t say anything if you want your faces to be pped so badly¡­hmph." Mabel thought to herself sneeringly.


    The voices that had been reluctant previously gradually increased in volume. The arguments presented by Alder began to gain weight as Galen continued to maintain his silence and the instructors began to join the movement to expel Zavier.


    Harry, who knew that it was impossible for Galen to agree, wasughing at all of them.


    "You imbeciles just wait until his truepetence is revealed. None of you are worthy of judging him with your low level perception. The so-called geniuses in the university can''t evene close to him. You sh*tty swines can''t recognize the pearl right in front of you. Even I feel ashamed that you call yourselves the best instructors of the country. You should all just beat yourselves to death."


    Galen saw Harry''s eager appearance and knew what Harry was thinking in his heart. Harry was after all his own student.


    Although there was some substance to the facts that Alder hadid out for all to see, Galen felt that the vision of these instructors was truly too narrow. They were unwilling to even look into the possibility that the student might really be very capable.


    At the same time he felt that the current situation was quite optimal when it came to fulfilling Zavier''s wishes.

 229 Chapter 229

    The more these teachers opposed Zavier, the less suspicions would fall on his true capabilities which was in line with what the student wanted. Galen wanted to maintain the same facade for as long as Zavier intended to stay in the University.


    Galen coughed to gain the attention of all the instructors before beginning in a solemn voice that was a tinge heavier than before and produced the dramatic effect that the situation warranted.


    "I understand all your concerns regarding this student. You can rest assured about one thing at the very least. I will not let anything or anyone tarnish the prestige of this University whether it be a dishonest student or an overbearing teacher. So use your next words with great caution."


    The instructors waited for the following words with great fear and anxiety. The seriousness of the matter could be gauged from the fact that even Harry who had always been nonchnt looked more serious than ever.


    Even Harry was busy ying his part topliment the old man''s efforts.


    "All of you who im that Student Zavier has cheated his way into the University and are willing to bet their future on the line for it, please raise your hands. I would like to see who out of you has the righteousness to put their own future on the line before trying to harm the future of a potentially outstanding mage."


    Pin drop silence ensued and calm enveloped the whole conference room as the weight of Galen''s words fell in its entirety on their feeble shoulders. Breathing grew harder as they began to realize the implication behind those words, especially for Alder who had been gunning for Zavier''s expulsion as if trying to avenge a personal grudge or some unresolved past hatred.


    Galen had left no doubt at all whatsoever in the fact that each instructor had to be responsible if their im regarding Zavier turned out to be false.


    The facts provided by Alder were enough to give wind to some suspicions but they weren''t solid enough for the instructors to willingly bet their lives on it.


    Under the screening gaze of the old man Galen, not a single hand rose. Each of the instructors was busy trying to hide his/her face with lowered eyes and shattered confidence.


    Eyes of the old man hovered over each individual instructor in a sequential manner for five to ten seconds each as if goading them for answers, taunting them to retort even slightly. His burning gaze seared all the courage that the instructors had gathered from the argumentsid forward by Alder.


    The result was as Galen had expected. None of them had the guts to say that they were sure. They could easily ruin someone else without facts but were reluctant to put themselves on the line. Every human being was inherently selfish when it came to self-preservation. There was neither morality nor righteousness before self preservation and survival.


    Galen nodded to himself with a snicker and continued addressing the teachers.


    "Since, none of you are able to establish based on facts OR confidence that Student Zavier HAS in fact cheated, or otherwise; the matter of his expulsion will no longer be discussed from this moment onwards. We will gauge his performance in the university before deciding on what to do with him. Until then, no one is allowed to harass the student without any reason. He will henceforth be given the same treatment and respect as the other talents of our university are treated with."


    Galen gave them a few moments to soak in his words and waited for any voice of dissent that might have arisen despite his careful countermeasures.


    Despite how he looked, Galen was a crafty old man who was quite thorough based on his vast experience in dealing with the ill ways of the wicked and the ignorant.


    Satisfied with the ending, Galen pushed the arm rests of the chair down with both hands and stood up from his seat. Without casting a second look at the participants, he casually walked out of the conference room with small strides exuding calmness akin to a sereneke.


    Harry followed after his teacher while practically prancing like an excited deer. He was obviously happy with the oue of the meeting.


    "I am one step closer to taking in that kid as a pupil. Although he is a little crude and foul mouthed, his talent is first rate without a doubt. On top of that he is aplete bastard full of craftiness, ingenuity and strong mental acumen. Such a pupil is definitely a rare find." Harry was already making ns to take in Zavier without having asked his opinion at all.


    Harry had yet to find out that his decision to do so would be one of the greatest turning points of his life.


    While Harry was busy making castles on the beach without a care about the raging tidal wave of fate that was about toy waste to his fantasies, someone else was suffering the tragic pain of their internal organs being roasted on hellfire.


    After Galen''s exit, the instructors in the conference room all got busy whispering to each other all the while giving pitiful looks to Alder who had borne the brunt of the incident as the initiator.<sub> </sub>


    "That''s why he should have kept a low profile." said one of the instructors who had been one of the neutral ones.


    He had neither chosen to support Alder nor had he chosen to trust Mabel. He had just wanted to y safe like most of the other instructors who had refrained from giving any opinion of their own.


    Neutrals like them never went far in their careers but they could make the work environment hellish just with their existence. Their constant self righteousness that usually made an appearance after the culmination of a crisis situation and their runaway imagination regarding their farsightedness and predictive abilities regarding such situations yed a major role in driving people mad. These people liked to justify their indecisiveness and inability to take risks through the end result that had nothing to do with them at all.


    Alder looked at the source of thement and fumed with anger at the thought of how pitiful he must look to the other instructors at that moment.


    He clenched his fists and gritted his teeth but the overflowing menacing aura from his body was clearly showing the emotional turmoil he was experiencing. But not a single word of the profanities that were only one step away from being showered unto the world, escaped his mouth even though he had reiterated them thousands of times in his heart in this short period of time.


    "What''s the use of being angry now? Instructor Alder should not have put forward such a suggestion in the first ce." said another instructor in a voice that was audible to all present but still pretended as if he had unintentionally said it in a loud voice and was actually feeling quite sorry for Alder.


    "That''s right. Not only did he ask to expel Zavier, he also wanted to get rid of a seedling like Sabrina. Just imagine, had the dean listened to him, wouldn''t that have made us look exceptionally foolish?"


    "Yes yes, thankfully our Dean has a good head and doesn''t arbitrarily listen to riffraff, otherwise our university would have really suffered a loss at the hands of an idiot suffering from delusions of grandeur and power." ridiculed a female instructor this time, proving that women were not any less than men when it came to pouring salt over someone''s bleeding wounds.


    Such pretentious but obvious behavior finally sent Alder over the edge. His eyes turned bloodshot as he engraved this humiliation in his heart.


    "If it hadn''t been for him¡­"


    "If only he hadn''t been there¡­"


    "If it weren''t for him, I would still be respected by these idiots who don''t even have an opinion of their own but are ready to criticize everyone in their paths to climb a step higher. These lowly mongrels, I will show them that I was right and they should have listened to me."


    There was an almost manic look in Alder''s eyes that had not been there before. He had turned this into a personal vendetta and all his hatred had gathered onto the one person who he thought was responsible for the humiliation he was suffering.


    Throughout this all, there was an instructor who was unable to hide the smile that unintentionally crept onto her face.


    Mabel was excited at the thought that she had managed to keep her promise with Val. At the same time she had earned herself an excellent opportunity which she might have otherwise lost, had Zavier been expelled from the university at the behest of Alder.


    The smile was an unconscious reaction but Alder, who was already conscious of every single individual in the room, felt as if that smile full of joy was mocking and diminishing every inch of his being.


    "What is sheughing at¡­?"


    "Why is sheughing? Is it fun to watch me be humiliated? Is she taking revenge on me because I am weak now?" There was a manic streak in Alder''s eyes this time that looked dangerous at the very first nce.


    Mabel would usually have been wary of him but she was too busy thinking about her increased prospects to notice something like this.


    Her unintentional but brilliantly shing smile therefore earned herself a lifelong enemy in the form of seething Alder.


    "I think he should resign now. There is no future now that he has managed to offend Sir Galen." whispered another female colleague that Alder had a good impression of but had nevermunicated with.

 230 Chapter 230

    "You are right. If it had been me in his ce, I might have quit at the spot after such a blunder."


    "Don''t get me wrong, I am not against what Alder was trying to do. I still don''t think that the kid deserves a spot in the university but you can never ever go against the higher ups. That''s pretty basic if you think about it. Alder is pretty dumb to have done something like this."


    Alder found that even those who had agreed with his point of view during the meeting were now avoiding him like a gue and were busy gossiping about his future in the university as if he wasn''t even there among them.


    The teachers began to exit the conference room one by one. Mabel was one of the first after Galen to exit. She had been barely holding back her excitement. Once Galen left, she rushed out of the conference room to report to Val about the proceedings.


    Rooted on the spot, Alder heard all the criticizingments as the teachers passed by him and saw their pitiful gazes directed towards him like he was some puppy standing in the rain looking at the passer-bys with huge eyes.


    Only the puppy in this situation wasn''t pitiful at all. It was feral.


    The expression ''mad dog'' was not enough to justify his oozing bloodlust and thirst for vengeance.


    Before long only the sounds of teeth grinding against each other and heavy breathing could be heard in the room. Words that came out more like the howl of an injured animal or some wailing banshee left Alder''s now twisted mouth.


    "If I don''t let you live a dog''s life on campus, I won''t be named Alder. I will let you experience the same hell and the same humiliation that I have gone through. ''Zavier Adam'', you areing to my turf now. Let''s see what your family can do for you now."


    Zavier wasn''t very interested in the results of thepetition since their school hade out to be the winner of thepetition. There was no doubt that he would get a letter of eptance despite the controversy of the fight between him and Sabrina.


    Only the experienced old dogs who witnessed thepetition were actually able toprehend the level of mentalbat that had taken ce between him and Sabrina. Zavier could be sure that those oldies had figured out some of his strengths and were bound to support him.


    With nothing to worry about, Zavier was mostly free and wanted to go out for a while.


    "Let''s ask the others if they want to go out and take a look around the campus." thought Zavier before leaving the room withrge strides.


    Zavier had been upset that he was unable to talk to Shiranui before she left for the hometown of the elves.


    Had he stayed alone in his room waiting for the announcement of the results, he would have inevitably thought about Shiranui.


    So, he had to get out.


    The city streets, the crowd of students and the majestic buildings in the distance were a source of awe no matter how many times he looked at it. Caesar University wasn''t called the best university for no reason. It was the leading university of the empire not just in terms of the quality of education, but in terms of infrastructure, the faculty, magical research and development, and the practical ability of the students.


    Even the worst drop out of Caesar University had the chance of being hired for a potentially lucrative job that muggles and even some average magicians could only dream of achieving.


    Zavier could tell the difference byparing it to his own hometown. The amount of magic integrated into the lives of the people in this area was far higher than his hometown. Even some muggles used magic essories for daily chores which could be considered a luxury back home.


    Zavier didn''t use his Time Space eye for the observation this time. He was enjoying the stroll in the street and didn''t want to look at something that he had no intention of watching.


    "This is quite fun for a change. I have been running around ever since I came to this world. I must have grownzy after thepulsory resting period imposed by Uncle Val." Zavier thought to himself as he med Val for his ownziness quite shamelessly.


    The direction that he had been walking in was the dormitories of the girls.


    He was looking forward to Nadia''s cute antics as only she had the ability to lift his mood seemingly without any effort at all.


    Reaching at the entrance, Zavier thoughtlessly asked a girl with bouncy brown hair to help himmunicate with his cousins inside.


    "Can you help me call out my ssmates?"


    The girl stared at Zavier with a weird expression. She clearly recognized him.


    "Isn''t that the guy who bought his way through the finalpetition?" thought the girl while feeling slightly disgusted.<sub> </sub>


    The girls'' dormitory had in fact been out of bounds for all male students. Zavier had no other option but to rely on the brown haired girl despite having figured out her prejudice against him.


    "Are you going to pay me too?" provoked the brown haired girl.


    "Do you want me to?" Zavier yed along since he had nothing better to do.


    Zavier too knew that he had to live in a simr manner for some time since he could not reveal his true abilities so soon. He had to get used to such taunts and simr antagonizing behavior from the rest of his ssmates.


    His words hit home and the brown haired girl faltered slightly obviously not expecting such an answer. But she regained her previous momentum and came back in full force, even stronger than before.


    "You really have no shame. Do you have any idea how hard we have worked toe here while you were busy riding the coattails of your ssmates and family?" shouted the brown haired girl with indignation and anger.


    "Are you going to me me for your poor family conditions as well? If so, I am sorry about your family situation but I really had no hand in that. Some people are just born to struggle."


    Zavier was particrly calm and mean while facing the girl who was taking out her anger on him for no reason whatsoever.


    Zavier hadn''t meant to go in that direction but the girl had been really unreasonable.


    "YOU¡­YOU¡­You shameless¡­" fumbling for words, the girl puffed out smoke from both ears; and practically ran into the dormitory fuming with anger.


    This was the first time that Zavier had acted like those rich second generation snobbish idiots, with shit for brains and their families to block wind and rain for them. It wasn''t bad for a one time experience but didn''t sit well with his normal temperament.


    Zavier didn''t bother with the girl any longer and looked for other means to contact Nadia somehow.


    Only now did he miss the cell phones from his previous world.


    "In myst life, I didn''t have anyone to contact despite having a mobile phone and in this life I have people to contact but nomunication device except that for Hansa. Ah, what a pitiful life." humored Zavier as he employed his Time Space eye to scan the dormitory for Nadia."


    The whole area of the dormitory was smaller than 80 meters so it was well within his range of vision. The walls weren''t thick enough to stop his prating gaze. In a matter of seconds, the whole building had been scanned to the tip, but there was no sign of either Nadia or Kacie.


    "Looks like they headed out already." thought Zavier, a little disappointed with the situation.


    As soon as he turned around to leave, he found that a wave of girls was heading out of the dormitory with red eyes like those of maddened bulls.


    Zavier instinctively felt that something was wrong but he couldn''t quite put his finger on the situation. He didn''t panic since he had not done anything wrong.


    Even while he was scanning the building for Nadia, he had held himself back from appreciating the view of the twin hills and the deep valleys despite the countless opportunities all over the girls'' dormitory. Zavier had acted in quite a gentlemanly manner.


    The girls came out in full force holding whatever they got their hands on. Some were even carrying extra slippers in their hands as if to take aim on some dirty pervert.


    "How dare he say something like that? Let''s see how daring he is now." said one of the girls with a stern tone. Her name was Melissa and she appeared to be the big sister among the girls of the dormitory.


    Rest of the girls nodded hard in response to her words and then focused on the pervert in question.


    Zavier couldn''t figure out why the girls were staring at him with such ferocity.


    "Have they somehow figured out that I scanned the dormitory with my Time Space eye? Is there some kind of detection system in this ce?" thought Zavier with worry but still retained his cold hard exterior expression.


    "No, no, no¡­that is simply not possible. There is no way that there is such a defensive countermeasure in a ce such as this. The chastity of the university girls shouldn''t be that important. There is definitely something else going on." Zavier''s thoughts raced as he continued to figure out the reason behind this collective assault.


    And then everything fell into ce. Melissa, ''the big sister'' pulled out the arm of the brown haired girl who was hidden among the sea of girls and brought her closer.

 231 Chapter 231

    "Is that sneaky bastard the one who did that to you?" said Melissa in a coaxing manner as if afraid that her loud tone might frighten the brown haired girl.


    Zavier figured out the whole situation with just that sentence. This was the revenge of the brown haired girl on him. She had either made him out to be a bastard, one who was even worse than he had acted to be previously or she had concocted some other story with him as the main viin and herself as the damsel in distress. Otherwise, such a huge turnover of her supporters was impossible. She wasn''t royalty or some politician after all.


    The brown haired girl acted as if she had been wronged by the whole world and had no one to turn to despite having called upon the gang of unruly women hell bent on drawing blood of some pitiful bastard that she would direct them towards.


    "¡­"


    "What''s wrong? Don''t be afraid. We are all here. Let''s see who has such guts." coaxed Melissa like a real kind elder sister.


    "¡­" the brown haired girl tried to speak but no sound came out of her mouth as if something had gotten stuck in her throat.


    The more she remained silent, the angrier the girls became.


    In the end, the girl barely managed to look towards Zavier like she was looking at some predator and let out a barely audible "Hmm" that acted as a signal for the maddened bitches to turn on him.


    Zavier had to acquiesce that this girl was truly an amazing actress; changing public opinion without a word was something that he had witnessed for the first time in both his lives.


    Zavier didn''t let out a single sound throughout the drama. He stared straight at them as if he was a bystander who was slightly amused by their antics.


    "Want to mess with me? Let''s see who ends up under whose thumb." challenged Zavier in his heart. He was determined to teach these girls a lesson without standing out too much.


    Melissa walked towards Zavier with heavy steps and the rest of the girls followed after her as if to exert pressure on the bastard in their eyes.


    "Were you the one who threatened our Lulu?" Melissa seemed more like how Valerie used to be when she used to be his teacher in school; strict and authoritarian.


    Zavier was intrigued by her questioning tone. She had been acting as if she hadn''t already made up her mind regarding him.


    "It is funny hearing you say that." Zavier said with a provocative smile adorning the corner of his lips.


    "Why? Why is it funny?" said Melissa calmly with a stony face.


    "I don''t even know who or what that Lulu is. Is it your pet? It feels like it should be, from the sound of it." Zavier replied unfazed by her stony expression.


    Melissa breathed heavily as she tried to rein in her anger despite the raging storm in her heart.


    "I am talking about this girl. You dare to tell me that you haven''t seen her before." Melissa pointed towards the brown haired girl as she spoke while grinding her teeth this time, her intentions obvious to all.


    "I can''t understand why you ask me that, when you have no intention of listening to my answer. Isn''t that just a waste of time? You probably won''t even let me say anything before you try to uphold justice for that damsel behind you who only appears pitiful but has the heart of a wolf. Why would I wash my neck just to let you chop it off as you wish? Do I look that easy to you?" Zavier continued tough as he replied to her question.


    "I was only trying to be civil since even criminals deserve a chance to speak for themselves. But it looks like you are past that point already." Melissa couldn''t keep her anger in check any longer.


    She was about to lead the charge when she witnessed Zavier''s expression twist for the first time since their confrontation.


    "Who do you think you are?" Zavier spoke with enough iciness to freeze the surroundings altogether. Coupled with his expression, Melissa felt fear. She felt as if she was standing naked without any weapon in front of a terrifying monster that had broken past his chains.


    The girls beside Melissa didn''t feel a single thing because Zavier had focused all his bloodlust on Melissa due to her unjust actions just then.


    "What?" Melissa finally managed to squeeze out a word with a barely audible voice.


    "Are you some kind of heroine? Are you responsible for thew and order in these parts? Or do you want to justify your pitiful existence by acting as a savior who protects the weak?" Zavier sneered with disgust as his piercing gaze settled onto Melissa.


    "If there are sick bastards like you who harass weak and innocent girls, then at least someone has to stand up in their ce." Melissa found some courage again after reiterating her conviction.


    "Then do you have proof of me harassing this innocent and weak girl that you speak of?"<sub> </sub>


    "Of course, she told me all about it herself." Melissa retorted confidently.


    "And did you bother to hear the story of this so-called bastard before trying to exact justice for your damsel?" Zavier had finally caught her in his trap.


    "Why would I want to do that? Viins like you need to be dealt with to save other lives from being destroyed."


    Zavier gave out a heartyugh as if he had heard the greatest joke ever.


    "Aren''t you acting too hypocritically? You say that you are upholding justice but that justice itself is twisted. You had already decided that she was the victim beforeing here because she was bawling her eyes out and looked all pitiful and weak while I became the viin just because she said so." Zavier brought them all to reality with his poisonous words.


    "¡­" all the girls were speechless while Lulu was suffering on the inside. Her earlier actions were about to backfire.


    "Don''t you all just want to do whatever you feel like under the guise of upholding justice? I would have preferred it, if you all had been upfront about wanting to beat me up because you felt like it, instead of making it look like some cheap holy war for seeking justice for your angelic sister who has nevermitted a wrong in her life. Why do you need a reason to justify your actions by making me look like a viin when that pet of yours is clearly shedding crocodile tears over there while manipting you all into fighting me with her pitiful appearance?"


    Zavier finally stopped smiling and seriously confronted the girls who were itching to fight him.


    "You can continue if you still haven''te to your senses. I don''t mind beating the shit out of idiots who are willing to be hired muscle without even knowing the context of the situation." Melissa looked conflicted as she didn''t know which person to believe as there really wasn''t any other evidence beside the words of both parties.


    "Sister, how can you listen to him? From his crudenguage, it is obvious that he is a viin." One of the overprotective sisters shielded Lulu from Zavier''s sight as she hid Lulu behind her back and spoke to Melissa.


    Melissa raised her hand to stop the sister from talking. She too had started to feel that something was wrong with this situation.


    As she began to calm down once again and looked at Zavier who was stillposed as before but the joking manner had changed into a stern expression as if he was reprimanding their earlier actions with his expressions alone.


    "Then let me hear your end of the story as well. We can continue from here if I find it unsatisfactory." Melissa gave her decision.


    "Since you havee to your senses, I won''t bother about you any longer. Let me show you the true demonic face of your little pet Lulu."


    "Your little pet has you all under an illusion without you all even knowing about it. I guess none of you managed to use your brain to think that she had managed toe this far in the entrance examinations by herself. If she had needed your help for a small matter like this, wouldn''t that have been a joke?"


    Zavier finally revealed what he had long since found out. Even at the beginning when such a huge number of girls had rushed out to beat him up, Zavier had felt something wrong about the situation. No matter how he saw it, it hadn''t been that long before the girls had met each other. How could they have developed such a strong bond with each other?


    "Let me ask you in a way that even you brainless ones mighte to understand the situation that you are in."


    His words drew him the ire of the already irritated girls but no one tried to stop him since Melissa had given him the green signal to speak his mind.


    "Who is the girl that you all are trying to get justice for? How long have you known her for?"


    The girls didn''t find anything wrong with those questions and tried to answer them with confidence.


    "Of course she is my sister."


    "¡­my best friend."


    "¡­my mother."


    "¡­my older sister."


    "¡­my only family."


    As the answers came one after the other, the girls started to discover something wrong about the whole situation.


    The girls who had yet to answer the question faltered mid way as if remembering something from a long time ago.

 232 Chapter 232

    "Now, tell me something. Can this innocent little girl have a personal or blood rtionship with all of you at the same time? I am impressed. You must all have been one big happy family. Otherwise you wouldn''t havee running to the rescue of your precious Lulu with such a huge force. Blood really is thicker than water." Zavier''s tone had turned into a light one but his words were stillced with poison.


    Sometimes poison is the only remedy for a mdy. Zavier was using such words to rile them up so as to help them shatter the illusion that the girl had caught them in.


    "You girls gave me a really hard time. I might look tough on the outside but I am a weak person at heart. My quick wits really saved me today or I would have ended up as mincemeat on the side of the road thanks to you all. The worst of it all would have been that you wouldn''t even have remembered taking care of me afterwards since you were being manipted by a hormonal and jealous bitch." Zavier looked towards Lulu towards the end.


    "Damn it. I feel like vomiting after having been manipted by this bitch." said one of the bold girls.


    "That evil witch made me think that she was my precious little sister. I even tried to protect her behind me." The big sister who had tried to hide Lulu behind her earlier was incensed at the thought that her precious memories with her little sister had been tarnished by Lulu.


    Even though the group had met not very long ago, there was a sense of mutual trust among the girls and all of them still looked up to Melissa. At least that much had been true even without the illusion.


    Melissa had been the real leader of the dormitory since she had helped them all actively during the first round of the entrance examination.


    Melissa came forward at this time and bowed towards Zavier as a token of thanks.


    "Thank you for helping us today. I will be sure to return the favor if there is a chance."


    Zavier didn''t think much of it since his battles had gone beyond the point where a normal student could help him out.


    "No need to be too polite. I just couldn''t stand her awful acting so I decided to expose her in front of you. As to what to do with her, I shall leave that up to you since she took the ce of the most precious person in your heart."


    Zavier didn''t stay around any longer after he witnessed two to three girls in the back sessfully grabbing Lulu who was trying to make a run for it.


    He turned around and walked back towards his own residence since Nadia and Kacie were nowhere to be found.


    The walk back wasn''t without any incident either. Midway between his residence and the girls'' dormitory, he heard someone constantly calling out to someone from behind him.


    Zavier didn''t bother looking back since all the girl yelled was "HEYYY" and nothing else. Nobody here knew him so he didn''t think someone would call out to him so fervently.


    After having ignored the voice for a while, Zavier finally turned around to see who was making so much fuss.


    Looking back, he found Melissa waving at him from afar.


    "What does she want with me now? It hasn''t been that long since we parted."


    Zavier waved back in response since he didn''t have any particr grudge against the girl and waited for her in ce so she could catch up with him.


    "What do you want?" Zavier asked as soon as she was within hearing distance.


    "Do you have to act like that? I can tell that you are a good person otherwise you wouldn''t have bothered to help us back there." said Melissa who hadn''t had a chance to thank him earlier.


    "I am not such a good person. You see, I am too weak to protect myself from an angry mob of super violent girls. Figuring out the trick behind the farce was the only way out for me. So, don''t feel burdened or obligated to thank me since I didn''t do it for you, I did it for me. Youing back to your senses and not beating me up is thanks enough." Zavier acted nonchnt as he hadn''t expected anything from them in the first ce.


    "No matter what your reason might have been, you have done all of us girls a favor. As their representative, I want to sincerely offer our thanks for your help today."


    Melissa proved to be even more stubborn than she looked.


    "Can you tell me your name at least?"


    Zavier had thought that Melissa already knew who he was but it seemed that it was not the case.


    "Are you sure you haven''t heard of me? I have be pretty famous recently."


    Melissa couldn''t understand why Zavier had suddenly started to put on airs. She revealed a nk look on her face that made Zavierugh a little in a good natured manner.<sub> </sub>


    "Haven''t you heard of the student who won the entrance exam finals using his family''s connections and money?" said Zavier mysteriously while raising his eyebrows inquisitively.


    "You mean¡­You are¡­" stuttered Melissa as she fumbled for words to handle the situation amicably.


    The stories she had heard about the finalist had portrayed him as a shameless rascal without any sense of remorse or guilt whocked even the slightestbat potential.


    Zavier looked at her panicked expression and spread his arms wide from the elbow onwards as if saying, "Here I am in the flesh".


    Melissa had lost her mind for a moment there and had forgotten how to speak but it didn''t take her very long to get ustomed to the truth.


    "I don''t believe that. But if you really are that ''Zavier Adam'', then you must be very strong. Strong enough to look weak when fighting an expert." Melissa uttered confidently as she looked in his eyes.


    Zavier was taken aback. He had not expected her to say something like that at all.


    "What did you say?" Zavier asked dumbfounded.


    "I don''t think you are weak. I think you are ying the pig to eat the tiger. I don''t know what your circumstances are but I will help you keep the secret. Don''t worry." Melissa muttered nonstop without giving Zavier a chance to speak.


    "What makes you think that? Everyone else seems to believe that I havee this far due to my team and my family connections and not because of my own strength." Zavier was interested to hear her answer. He had been careful and had not revealed any of his strength earlier so he was confident that he hadn''t left any breadcrumbs.


    "The way you handled the earlier situation. You were calm throughout it all. Withoutbat experience no one can remain calm in the face of a mob that is out for blood. You not only figured out a way to break us out of the situation but also managed to do it in a cool manner. So, I don''t believe that you are ordinary at all."


    Zavier let out a sigh of relief once he was sure that Melissa was just acting like a fangirl. She hadn''t found any actual proof and was only fumbling around in the dark based on her personal beliefs.


    "Everyone is free to think whatever they want. I won''t stop you from thinking this way though. It makes me feel better about myself. Help me spread it to your friends. I might be able to live afortable life if people think I am some hotshot¡­hehe." Zavier said in a joking manner with a dastardly expression on his face.


    Melissa scoffed at the way he was acting but didn''t back down either. She thanked him wholeheartedly and told him that she would try to return the favor if she could since they were both going to be in the same university in the future.


    Zavier was unable to understand where her belief stemmed from.


    "She is the true weird one." thought Zavier as he briskly started walking back to his dormitories.


    Boys dormitories, unlike the girls'' dormitory, didn''t have many rules because this society, like the one in his previous life, was simr in the way that it differentiated men and women.


    Women were treated as inherently weakerpared to men. The only way to break the cliche was neither wealth nor family connections, but rather magical capability.


    Bing a mage was the only way to discard such meaningless discrimination.


    Mages were a step higher than the normal poption and could not be judged based on normal perception.


    Traditions andmon sense became meaningless when encountering magic.


    For example, Valerie who was considered to be the closest A rank mage to bing an S rank mage was actually a woman.


    "The essence of human nature hasn''t changed a bit, whether it''s this world or the previous one. The basic rules are still the same." Zavier talked to himself as he carefully analyzed the simrities between both worlds.


    "I will just do my best to live a good life this time no matter what. Let''s just think about that for the time being." Zavier shook his head and put his head back in the game.


    Zavier had his own enemies to beat but no way of figuring out who they were or what they wanted from him.


    Sometimes just the very existence of an enemy in the dark can bring down a person. That kind of psychological pressure alone is enough to destroy someone.

 233 Chapter 233

    The number of students whoe along would inevitably increase.


    Many of the other studentsughed as the boy with the long nose boasted about how powerful his family was and how his ancestors were the best.


    Zavier noticed immediately that the school auditorium had been divided in half.


    While the majority of the novice mage trainees were conversing in small groups of two or three with ones they already knew, a small group of more experienced mages had gathered near the exit on the central podium.


    Zavier deduced that these people were neither neers nor teachers, or so he thought.


    They could be advanced students or members of the president''s administration.


    "My grandfather was the most aplished mage in Caesar University''s history. Nheless, I n to outperform him and be the school''s most well-known student in theing century."


    As the youngster with the long nose continued to brag, two who appeared to be of advanced age walked right past them.


    The older of the two had a calm expression on his face while the younger one was fidgeting nervously. The old man had long grey hair tied up into a neat bun and wore an old fashioned ck robe. The younger one''s appearance seemed around thirty years old. He also carried a bow slung over his shoulder with several arrows sticking out from it.


    However, as soon as they passed by Zavier''s sightline and vanished behind the exit stage doors, the youth''s expression changed to a little changes.


    The air became filled with the glow of magic, and all of the neers felt an immediate pull toward the magical arts.


    Everyone in the auditorium began whispering among themselves, wondering what exactly happened.


    Some even spected that someone must have used a spell to make their mana flow faster.


    But just as many questions remained unanswered, especially since nobody knew when it had happened, much less how it was done.


    It was like a mystery.


    "Did you see that?"


    "What was that? It looks familiar¡­"


    "Who are that two?"


    "I don''t know. They didn''t look very friendly¡­"


    "Hey! Who do you think taught them how to cast spells? He look really old¡­ And their robes!"


    The professor who got old wrote words that nobody could understand with a magical pen while wearing a gold-rimmed monocle over his left eye and holding a long roll of parchment in his right hand.


    Zavier had no reason to believe the professor was wearing a monocle to improve his vision.


    The blue inscription on his left eye was actually a magical artificial eye.


    The magical device quickly searched the room and found nothing suspicious.


    The professor looked at his pupil before looking at the floor once again and then turned around with a smile.


    Zavier watched quietly as the professor put away his magical tool and walked back to the center podium with his hands folded neatly together.


    He spoke with a slightly high pitched voice.


    "...Good day, everyone."


    When the professor gave him a disapproving look, Zavier realized he needed to put an end to what he was doing.


    But as soon as he locked eyes with the professor, the professor smiled and turned to the other freshmen.


    "Now then... Let me introduce myself properly. I''m'' Professor Alder, and today I will exin some concepts to you." Before beginning his remarks, the professor smiled warmly, "I''m d everyone arrived on time; punctuality is amendable quality. At the same time, I want everyone to have the opportunity to be a good person, regardless of where they are in life."


    "If we''re going to talk about ss, there should be no need for names. But not today."


    Professor Alder paused for a brief moment before continuing.


    "Today, I''m not just going to tell you that you''ve been epted. It''s also yourst chance to get your affairs in order before enrolling at Caesar University, so make the most of it."


    The vast majority of those in attendance appeared nervous as they listened to him.


    "Many of you may already be aware from your elders that the ceremony is the Freshman Wee Ceremony, but none of you have a clear on what it truly represents," the professor said in an authoritative tone.


    "I want you to know something important: it will not be the only factor in determining which school you will attend in the future."


    "It is intended to give students who did not meet the admission standards a second chance to seed; I am confident that each of you will be able to demonstrate that you are capable of enrolling in Caesar University by using your full strength."


    The freshman students murmured among themselves as a result of the professor''s words. They were powerless to stop themselves


    "To prove your worthiness, you will be judged against the entire school, including the faculty members. This is not the kind ofpetition I normally condone, but I''ll let the students decide whether they''re prepared to fight."


    Zavier looked at the professor who stared straight ahead. He wondered if he understood what the professor meant. Did he really expect the freshmen to take part in this examination again? Wouldn''t that look repetitive?<sub> </sub>


    "As far as my intentions are concerned, I''d rather not worry about it. However, if a few of you fail this exam because you cannot stand being challenged, I''ll have no choice but to reconsider my opinion." The professor''s gaze was steady, giving off the impression that he wasn''t joking "There are certain things in the world that you can never ovee if you keep running from them."


    "And the first of these is the fear of failure."


    After a short silence, Professor Alder nodded in response to the sound of apuse from the upperssmen.


    "Well then, it seems you have made your decision..."


    Zavier turned to the freshmen. Although the atmosphere was a bit tense due to the pressure of the uing examinations, the young students were smiling cheerfully. Such a game was mainly for previously unselected eliminated students. He didn''t care much about such things and prefered to stay out of it.


    Everyone would benefit from taking advantage of thisst opportunity before the list is made public.


    Even Zavier had no idea what was going on. He was aware that Caesar University would be holding an orientationpetition, but no one knew what that meant because all of the seniors remained silent.


    He was concentrating on some experienced mages.


    Just based on their ages, these contestants should have been old enough to graduate. Maybe they had something to do with this orientation contest There was a possibility they were the students attending the college for the same reasons he was, but he couldn''t confirm it.


    A couple of times, Zavier caught his own ssmates staring at him. Their curiosity was palpable, but they were hesitant.


    In addition to the obvious difference between himself and the others, he was also known to have a strong dislike for authority figures. If the situation turned out bad, Zavier wouldn''t hesitate to turn the tables.


    This wasn''t the sort of thing he enjoyed doing. It was the kind of thing that earned him an enemy''s hatred. That wasn''t the kind of feeling he wanted to experience in his life.


    While he was thinking about what had just happened, he witnessed a massive amount of magical light spread outward and engulf the entire Caesar University school district, with the professor at its center.


    The older mages gave off a bright red magical glow, while Zavier was suddenly surrounded by a bright blue magical light.


    He felt the magic on his body and quickly deduced that it had to be a defensive magic formation, and that the level of the formation was most emphatically not low.


    When he activated his protective magical light shield, a tenuous link was established to the mana source of the mana shield that encircled the entire school district. This shield protected the entire school district.


    In other words, the caster could figure out whose magical shield had been broken and, if necessary, respond by letting out more mana.


    "Guys, the graduating seniors are in front of you, and perhaps you will make more contributions to the magical world with them after you graduate," the old man said loudly.


    "But for the time being, you willpete as temporary adversaries. Eventually, the entire school district will be the battleground for your entrance ceremonypetition."


    "Fight with any spells you know, but if your magical shields are broken, you must leave the arena immediately."


    "It''s a second chance for students who weren''t chosen the first time, so I''m hoping you can take advantage of this difficult task. I''m keeping my fingers crossed for you. Okay, fight to your heart''s content from now on "The elderly man stated.


    The old man, who had just finished making the announcement, turned around and left without waiting for anyone. As a senior mage, his position allowed him to pass through the crowd in no time.


    Only until he left did a group of youngsters finally react to what the professor had said.


    They began shouting, "Wait! Professor! We aren''t ready yet!"


    "Yeah, sir! Please wait!" The people who shouted followed the professor closely behind.


    "I''m sure everyone knows what happens after a duel. You must be prepared to lose."


    Those who were talking stopped in their tracks and stared nkly in the direction of where the professor disappeared.


    "You won''t be able to leave the arena once a duel is over. In fact, I can guarantee the academy won''t allow any student to leave the campus unless they''vepleted half the tests listed. It''s a great opportunity for both of you."


    The old man''s reminder rang true. If they continued with their current arrangeme, it''d be better for both parties if they lost this battle.


    One of the new students was the first to find his voice and shout at his colleagues.


    "How does this even make sense? How does anything even make sense here?!"


    Several other participants started shouting at different levels, all expressing their frustration.


    The man, who stood by Aleder just now, tried to calm them down with gentle gestures.


    However, it didn''t seem like any of his attempts seeded at all.


    Zavier was uninterested in what the professor had to say because he never named the students who had done well, which would have encouraged everyone in the audience to do their best.


    He interpreted it as an older student keeping an eye out for newer students. It was easy to understand why the cadets in the higher sses were unconcerned.


    The unspoken rule was unnecessary because freshmen would always be seniors one day.


    It appeared to be a foreboding circle. What he didn''t understand was how something of this magnitude could have been kept secret for so long.


    The auditorium was too small for everyone to fit inside at once, so the neers fled screaming.


    They might seed, but only if they have arge enough numerical advantage over the other students.

 234 Chapter 234

    Zavier, like the rest of the audience, left early because the game did not excite or entertain him.


    Entering Caesar University was a foregone conclusion for him. He was bound to seed, whether through strength or power.


    He saw Kacie and Nadia leave the building before the rest of the freshmen as he passed them in the hallway.


    The freshmen struggled to gather the energy they needed to cast their most powerful spells as they left the stage and began their battle.


    The haughty braggart even set up two magical traps at the auditorium''s entrance.


    The enchanted traps transformed into the beautiful tiles below after the mystical light faded. Despite the fact that many students disliked his personality, they couldn''t easily construct magic traps like the ones he did.


    At the same time, several confident freshmen were hiding behind the tall support pirs on both sides.


    They were all waiting for the senior ss to arrive and step on the magical trap, some with fireballs and others with strange nts.


    They had already gathered enough courage from thest time they faced a stronger enemy. Their hearts were racing at this point as they prepared themselves for another attempt.


    When he passed by their hiding spots, he heard one of them say, Are you sure we don''t need help? Maybe the seniors can do something?"


    "I''m sure we''re fine." A girl''s voice came.


    It was a girl who always stood out among her ssmates. He had never seen her face, but there were plenty rumors surrounding her. Some said she was part goblin or half goblin. She always acted cool and seemed to be more confident than the other members of the ss.


    "We can handle it!"


    Zavier, who could see in all directions at the same time, had already fled the auditorium, which was about to be the first location of the battleground.


    He didn''t believe that such some simple traps could reduce the number of mage graduates quickly enough. But he didn''t want to risk his own life if the trap wasn''t working.


    The students behind the columns began to run away with Zavier as soon as they heard his footsteps. They all looked around anxiously as they tried not to get noticed. They knew how dangerous these traps were.


    But Zavier ran faster and deeper into the auditorium, hoping to reach the exit. He could hear his ssmate whispering in fear behind him.


    The trap wasn''t working.


    Through the crack in the wall, Zavier noticed that three of the graduating seniors had a spell-activated glow under their feet. The three then appeared to merge with the wall as they walked quickly through the auditorium''s floor and walls.


    His first instinct was to seek refuge behind a tree.


    Then three mages rose from the ground near the main entrance, and a massive explosion erupted outside the theater''s main entranced window.


    "Aaahhhhhh!"


    Some students screamed at the sight of the destructive scene that took ce beyond the window. The explosions had destroyed most of the nearby buildings and left the auditoriumpletely engulfed in mes. Even those students far away could clearly feel the heat. Some students fell and slid against the floor from the impact as people cried for help. Others jumped off the walls, trying to escape the congration. One student tried to jump onto the stage, but he got stuck inside arge hole. He managed to free himself with difficulty, but only managed to climb halfway up the stage and almost lost his footing. The other students were still running towards him. Many of them shouted encouragement, telling him to hold tight.


    The second st of the explosion caused the students further from the center to fall back into the crowd. There were still some students on the stage, including Zavier himself. Luckily, he wasn''t close enough to be affected by the sts. He was still in the safe distance of the stage.


    After the initial shock, Zavier realized what was going on: someone, probably one of the iing seniors from the senior ss, was using their Quirk as a distraction, letting everyone else avoid the fatal blows.


    The third st caused the remaining students to turn around and run towards the exits again. They would have no problem getting past the trapped students, because they hadn''t taken any injuries yet. And they weren''t too worried about the consequences for beingte since the event hadn''t ended yet.


    Zavier felt relieved when he saw that everyone had cleared out from the auditorium. All that remained were a few stragglers that would stay behind for awhile, but nothing he couldn''t handle alone.


    The first st must have scared them out of the auditorium. It was definitely strong enough for them to break free. They were probably just waiting around until the school closed up for the night. Or maybe they decided to wait for the next day, so there wouldn''t be too much confusion. Either way, it was definitely time for Zavier to go. He didn''t know if the other students had escaped safely, or if the seniors had also made a run for it. But it didn''t matter. Whatever happened, he''d cross that bridge when he got there.


    The three had caught up to the iing some of freshmen thanks to this period of confusion.


    The ensuing brawl was an all-out assault on the children by the adults, and the three made their way to the eagerly anticipated first-years.


    Zavier stepped backwards to make space between himself and the three senior students. As far as he was concerned, he''d been here long enough already. He was ready to retreat and continue searching for ones he would.


    The first battlefieldsted only a few minutes.


    Almost simultaneously, a group of mages in white robes walked onto the field to assist the sick freshmen.


    The mage in white robes was clearly recognized by the majority of the graduates, and a few of them even struck up conversations with him.


    Zavier stood up straight and clutched the ck magic stick in his hand, the nature of whose power he didn''t fullyprehend.


    It was so strong that even a blood de couldn''t cut it, and it wasrge enough to use as a club or walking stick.


    He bolted from the stage, looking for Kacie and Nadia.


    Graduates who supported the pursuers made light of the rookies'' clumsiness.


    "How romantic! It''s like going back in time to when I first started college and didn''t pay much attention to theplexities of magic, instead focusing solely on its destructive potential."


    "Only first-year students exhibit such naivet¨¦."


    A few older mage graduates persisted in their teasing.<sub> </sub>


    Two of the graduates, on the other hand, cast nces in the direction Zavier hadst been seen.


    "Don''t waste time. Let''s start this party and end it on a high note."


    The onlookers all agreed as they looked at the speaker, "That''s right, that''s right, let those kids know what it means and what real magic is."


    An investigation had beenunched after several individuals vanished into thin air at the same location.


    When Zavier came across Kacie and Nadia, they were wondering where he was.


    The majority of the neers, on the other hand, were already grinning and pumping their fists in anticipation of their showdown with the seniors


    They wanted to show the seniors the kind of power theycked.


    If only they had known that they were the ones to finally make a mistake. If only they understood...


    "Hey. You guys should hurry, they''re going to attack now. Those seniors really went crazy today."


    Nadia and Kacie rushed back into the auditorium and hurried towards the stage.


    As the two of them neared the front row, a wave of heat greeted them.


    On top of several pirs stood the remains of a magical barrier. The barrier wasposed mostly of the remains of a small stone sculpture and the pieces of wood and metal debris left from the previous explosion.


    The barrier''s strength was simr to a shield, but while the shields of the academy are generally constructed of enchanted steel, the stone sculptures used to make the barrier are formed from stone instead of iron and metal.


    However, due to the powerful explosion, the entire barrier shattered. This meant the barrier was now useless.


    Zavie saw theing towards the stage from his ce.


    Nadia''s face lit up as soon as she saw Zavier, and she rushed over to embrace him.


    Zavier felt a twinge of embarrassment at the sight, because there were obviously a lot of individuals outside, and probably another twenty or thirty talking about a possible counterattack not far away.


    He swung his head toward the distant eyes of students who were already looking, signaling Nadia to pay attention to her behaviours.


    Nadia paused for a moment to consider the situation before saying, "Should we follow them? Those graduating seniors seem to being on strong; in the auditorium, they looked at the freshmen as if they were going to eat them."


    Zavier said, shaking his head, "Those graduates and these neers are not on the same level; will you join them? They will be cleaned up sooner orter."


    He was about to continue when he became aware of an ominous mana shift emanating from somewhere behind him.


    Zavier cocked his head to look, a bluish-white radiance emitted from his eyes.


    He noticed two recent graduates sprinting in their direction as he entered Caesar University''s main building.


    Zavier grabbed Kacie and Nadia and dashed into the crowd.


    Then he dashed through the crowd to St. Ansa Castle.


    As Zavier had discovered, St. Ansa Castle was a massive, intricate magic training ground.


    Thendscape was moreplicated, with numerous magical practice areas, each protected by a magical barrier. Each individual magical arena was surrounded by different kinds of wards. These barriers were often designed as obstacles or defensive spells, and each arena was surrounded by several smaller buildings which could also serve as defensive structures. However, each arena had its own unique design that was unique to it as well.


    This is why the arena walls of many of the arenas were decorated with runes and designs. The runes were drawn by wizards who were skilled in Runescrolls and their specialties: Magic Wordsmiths, Spellcasters, Rune Masters, and even Spellcaster''s Apprentice.


    All three types of apprenticeships are usually reserved for talented wizards and magicians in certain categories.


    Magicians can be an apprentice to any type of wizard, but those that choose to take a particr specialty are typically wizards whose specialties lie elsewhere and thus cannot be an Apprentice Apprentice.


    Zavier turned back as he ran after the trio had just left when they heard a loud explosion behind them.


    After making their way through the crowd, the two were seen acting as if they were on their way to scare a group of first-year students away from campus. The reason why they did that was actually because of something else. A student was running around trying to find an exit from the grounds. As she tried to get to the entrance, a ball came from nowhere, hitting her square in the chest. She flew back against one of the walls, then crumbled to the ground.


    After inspecting the deep crater in the ground, Zavier quickly determined that the two men were at least C-level and certainly not weak.


    They arrived at St. Ansa Castle quickly. Perhaps because of today''s ceremony to wee freshmen, the entire training ground were empty and the powerful mage guards were unavable when they arrived.


    The magical light from Zavier''s eyes quickly swept a circr area of the castle, but he couldn''t see inside the sealed magic training room.


    They were the first freshmen to arrive at the castle, and everyone else had already left.


    Nadia inquired, "Why do they keep running? We haven''t even seen what they''re capable of."


    Zavier was speechless inside; if he could, he would have in them with a single flick of his bloody de.


    But now that they were at Caesar University, he should probably avoid using it whenever possible.


    "There is no reason for us to..."

 Chapter 235 Chapter235 Counterattack

    Zavier turned around in surprise as the entrance to St. Ansa Castle was transformed by the power of magic before he could finish his sentence.


    And these two strangers were staring at them, captivated by that same old, familiar aura and faces.


    Zavier considered at himself and realized why these two people kepting back to him.


    "You guys get out of here first; someone is watching me," he said when he noticed Kacie and Nadia standing off to one side.


    "What do you think we are if we flee when someone catches up with us?" Kacie inquired, her blue eyes tinged with displeasure.


    "Of course not that," Zavier hastily rified, "I suspect the reason why they can keep following me is because there might be some problems with this magic shield on me, it is possible that the caster has marked me. I''m worried about getting you involved if you keep following me around."


    Nadia asked in apparent bewilderment, "The spell caster...could it be that professor?"


    Zavier agreed; he had no idea what he had done to so enrage the professor that he was being singled out.


    Kacie took in the information and ultimately decided that leaving was not an option, "Then we can''t leave."


    After some consideration, Zavier exined, "You can sneak up on your enemies. Hide in these magic practice rooms and strike when the time is right, because the boundaries of these rooms can greatly shield magic perception."


    They done and then ran to the nearest magic room and hid.


    It was the first magic practice room they''d found, but it was a little cramped.


    Another two individuals, at the same time, hurried toward the castle''s east.


    Within moments of entering the east building, they spotted Zavier. He was being sneered at by one of both who said, "Why don''t you run away? I heard that the Adam family had developed a loser, so you really know how to run away."


    Zavier scowled.


    Why, despite his efforts to conceal his identity, did problems always seem to find their way to his life?


    His body shook violently from rage as soon as he heard those words


    Still, he asked the two, "How much did that professor give you, and are you really not afraid of the Adam family retaliating against you?"


    "Tell me, what''s your family''s name?"


    The graduate stood politely in front of him, saluted, and then said, "This is the Mesfield-Gerobney, a branch of the Gerobney family."


    Mesfield introduced himself and said gravely, "You are not a loser as rumored, but the professor has made a sacred contract with me, so I have to ask you to withdraw."


    Mesfield carried an old family''s one-dimensional gentlemanly style.


    Zavier gave the surname Gerobney some thought, and quickly recalled a well-known myth.


    He scanned Mesfield from head to toe before finally asking, "Is Burns-Gerobney your grandfather?"


    With a nod, Mesfield agreed.


    Zavier scoffed at him, "You disgrace the family name with your doings."


    He was getting angry at the idea that a professor would cheat so obviously in apetition for first-year students by putting a graduate student against an average neers on purpose.


    What kind of moral character does a professor need to have to do such a thing, even if this freshman was not strong?


    As a rational, progressive individual, he could never condone such behavior.


    A man behind Mesfield yelled in rebuke as soon as Zavier''s words had fallen, "You are the one who really brings shame to the Adam family. With your strength, how dare you to mock what is thought of as a real gentleman, a real mage!"


    When the wordsnded, Zavier could feel the other person''s body fill with mana.


    Not only did his personal magical shield vanish, but so did his own.


    Huge gravitational forces pressed down on Zavier''s body, and as the spell intensified, he realized that he was under the influence of a magic gravity spell of intermediate difficulty.


    Regrettably, only magic at the C level did definitely have no effect on him.


    However, he first pretended to be attacked by the magic, so as not to reveal his true strength immediately.


    Mesfieldughed uproariously when he saw that Zavier was indeed being pushed backwarmed by an enormous amount of physical energy.


    "You will regret your actions today. You are a disgrace to all freshmen, and you have no businesspeting with me!"


    Zavier squinted a Mesfield as he replied, "I am a geniuspared to you! You should just stay where you stand."


    In anger, he lifted his right leg to stomp on one of them.


    The two of them seemed to have noticed this fact since the smile on both their faces suddenly disappeared, reced with fear. The aura of their bodies changed drastically, bing filled with the aura of despair, sadness and terror.


    They didn''t dare move anymore; they could feel their hearts beating rapidly in their chests and could even hear their blood flowing in their veins. Their throats became dry and constricted. Their mouths opened wide and their eyes widened in shock. Their breathing became heavier and their hands were clenched tightly together, their fingernails piercing deep into their skin.<sub> </sub>


    Then he shot his gaze upward and yelled to the other person, "Look straight at me, punk!"


    Instinctively, the two in front of him nced at Zavier, but at that very second, the mana in their bodies shifted and then stabilized.


    There were some gentle mana falls, and otherwise everything went smoothly.


    In fact, they both copsed.


    Simultaneously, Zavier acted as though mana wasn''t supported, showing signs of extreme distress such asbored breathing and profuse sweating.


    The professor was, indeed, keeping a covert eye on himself.


    Zavier did not think it possible for the professor to sneak into St. Ansa Castle and hide in many rehearsal spaces there.


    After all, the Guardian''s Building with its many guardian statues stood between the main school building and St. Ansa Castle, and if a fight broke out there, the statues would immediately apprehend anyone who made a move.


    That''s the safest ce to duck into if you didn''t feel like brawling.


    "Hey, Zavier..."


    At Kacie''s voice, Zavier looked down and saw her staring anxiously up at him.


    Zavier walked over to where Kacie and Nadia were sitting and wondered if maybe it was the power of that magical artificial eye.


    In the magical realm, there are always mysterious seals and other magical artifacts. Maybe something simr happened here. If so, maybe he could somehow remove that spell casted on him.


    Even though he felt nothing physically, there was a slight difort throughout his entire being.


    "Damn it all¡­"


    Zavier muttered angrily while rubbing his forehea It would probably take some time to work through whatever caused this. At least until the effects were gone.


    "Are you okay?" Nadia asked nervously, ncing at him warily.


    "Yeah," Zavier replied, smiling brightly, trying to make sure that she didn''t notice anything wrong, "I''m fine!"


    But Zavier''s eyes remained unfocused for several seconds.


    "Hey, what''s going on?" Kacie questioned. She had been trying to get his attention for some time now but failed at it due to Zavier''s unresponsiveness.


    "Nothing! Don''t worry about it!" he replied cheerfully, forcing a smile.


    The others were still concerned, but after seeing Zavier''s expression, they eventually left the matter alone.


    Instead, the three continued observing each other curiously.


    Nadia questioned him as looking the two victims who were lying on the floor with suspicion, "Did you just use a mental shock?"


    In agreement, Zavier simply said, "Of course."


    He did release Inevitable Hypnosis, even though it didn''t look like he did. He did it to throw off the professor''s suspicions.


    Illusion-wise, sudden fainting and psychic shock were simr, but it was extremely rare for two C-level mages to be stunned by psychic shock at the same time unless they were staring directly into the eyes of an illusionist.


    Roaring was actually challenging his opponents to look him in the eye.


    When two stared at him, the power of the mental shock increased significantly. If one person''s mental power was slightly weaker, and they did not have time to mobilize magic to resist, then there was a remote possibility that the other person will be defeated.


    However, most people weren''t illusionists. It was considered extremely dangerous to y around with things like looking directly into someone else''s eyes.


    Most mages didn''t make the rookie mistake of staring into each other''s eyes because vision magic was so rare among the different types of spells.


    He had just finished telling them that the outbreak had used up all of his mana when two more came to the door.


    The man was tall and muscr, and the girl was both sexy and enchanting. They also looked like good friends. Both wore smiles on their faces.


    They headed and saw Mesfield on the floor almost immediately.


    When the woman saw Mesfield and Paley on the ground, she dropped to her knees beside him and eximed, "Mesfield and Paley, my God, how did they fall to the ground?"


    "If you want to marry into the big time, I think it''s a perfect opportunity," the tall, stocky man next to her teased, his eyes darting to the three of Zavier down the hall.


    "Shut up, you idiot." With her own pair of eyes, the woman turned to Xavier and said, "I didn''t expect you guys to have this kind of ability. But when you meet us, you won''t be so lucky. Are you go out from game on your own, or do we beat you up before you get out?"


    The man beside him scowled and remarked, "The professor asked for teaching a lesson."


    "It really lifts you up to be called stupid. Do it yourself if you want to do it. I''d like to see how the Adam family ughtered you!"

 236 Chapter 236

    While the two were arguing, Zavier noticed the five men who appeared at the castle''s entrance through the wall.


    A ck magical boundary encircled them, and the source of magic was in the one with the short stature, who was surrounded by the other four.


    Even the Time Space Eye couldn''t see past their outward appearance. Zavier felt a sudden surge of dread. These uninvited guests had to be there for a reason, or they wouldn''t have needed to use magic boundaries to hide their forms in Caesar University.


    "There''s another person around here with a magical barrier; this one isn''t friendly, though; if there is an immediate threat of violence between the two sides, we will leave," Zavier said quietly.


    Kacie''s nerves tightened instantly at the sound of his words, as did her muscles. "Are you sure? What if something happens to you?" she asked, her face filled with concern.


    Zavier tried to appear reassuring to his lovely cousin.


    "I''ve had more experience fighting these people than you," he reassured her, gently smiling. He touched her chin and turned her face towards him so she could look into his eyes. As he spoke, he squeezed her hand. "All you have to do is stay behind me and keep your distance; nothing bad will happen to me."


    Kacie looked down at where he was holding her hand, and even in the dim light, she could see how concerned he was about the situation. Her face brightened at the thought.


    She nodded slowly and let go of his hand, wrapping both arms around him protectively. Her hands were on the back of his head, and she lightly pressed her forehead against his shoulder.


    "Don''t be concerned about me," she said softly. "I''m not going to let anything happen to you."


    Zavier smiled as he wrapped his arms around her waist. He buried his nose in her soft hair, closing his eyes briefly before releasing his grip and turning to face the intruders.


    His intuition warned him that things were not going well for these strangers.


    If the two sides shed, it was actually good news for Zavier and the others because the more chaos there was, the easier it was to hide. He might have to reveal some of their strength today if they don''t.


    "What are you sneaking around talking about?" yelled the male graduate at the door.


    "I seeded in sneaking in just now, my mana is also depleted to the critical point, and I am also mentally exhausted," Zavier continued, "there is no problem for them to care about me."


    "So, do you want to go out? You three brats would be better off just surrendering, and we don''t want to get into a fight with the Adam family," the man said impatiently.


    Zavier didn''t say anything because, from where he stood, it was clear that the group had arrived outside the door and started to cast magic.


    Even if the group decided to fight, how would they fare against magical barriers? And what chance did he or the others have of escaping safely?


    Zavier desperately wanted to flee, but he couldn''t leave without taking at least one life with him, and he knew that even he wouldn''t be able to get out the door before being apprehended. This meant that the only option he had was to leave.


    Still trying to appear weak and tired, he murmured, "I''ve already been defeated tonight; I''d rather not repeat the same fate." He fell over, unable to support himself. Kacie rushed over to him right away. She took his arm in hers and helped him back up to a sitting position.


    As soon as he stood up, the man in front of him opened his mouth in surprise. "How?! Are you telling us he cheated?!?"


    That statement sent shivers up Zavier''s spine.


    Even though their strength was weak, the two seniors, a man and a woman, felt a huge wave of magicing from behind them at this moment.


    They looked behind them quickly, and when they saw that the other party was casting magic, they frowned and asked, "Who are you?"


    The five individuals beyond the gate did not respond, and the two seniors were not slow to react, only to see their bodies lit up with white light, three times in a row.


    But in the middle of this three-way standoff, a chanting voice from the outside came in.


    "God of the Forest, your light shines on thisnd, growing the world''s never-failing tree, and the fruit of the Divine Tree gives us a new eternal divine kingdom."


    "We will return to Your embrace as Your children, and the Eternal Divine Kingdom will be our eternal home!"


    Zavier''s ears were filled with the ethereal female voice.


    The chanting voice suddenly changed Zavier''s color, and a lot of magical light filled the whole east building of St. Ansa Castle.


    His gaze swept underground, only to discover a green tree root scurrying between the earth''syers. They kept getting tangled up and linking up until they made a huge half-circle that went all the way around the East Building.


    It appeared to be digging itself deeper and deeper every time its roots touched the soil, making it harder and harder for others to attack them.In an instant, the root began crawling towards the north building of St. Ansa Castle, and in less than thirty seconds, a hole was carved inside of the northern building.The chanting voice eventually ended."Come on! There must be more enemies around!" Except for Zavier, the rest of the students followed closely.


    Then countless sky-high trees rose from the ground, their massive branches connecting in the sky, quickly forming a massive sphere.


    "Kekkaishi, it''s Kekkaishi!" the boy yelled, "The power of the professor''s defensive magic formation is being repelled from the outside. Who the hell are you guys? What do you want?" he continued, warily ncing around while backing away further into the ball of protection.<sub> </sub>


    Zavier was equally perplexed at the time. He wasn''t afraid of the other party''s power, but he didn''t understand why he had to cause such amotion.


    If the goal was to teach himself a lesson, the price was too high. Even if the school gathered arge number of mages after thepetition to re-restore the East Building, the amount of manpower required would be substantial.


    Except for Kekkaishi who was holding skull''s ,his eyes narrowed slightly outside the building.


    The other four drew their weapons from their waists and rushed like ghosts into the East Building.


    The building where Zavier and his men were housed had begun to tilt vaguely to the left as a result of the crustal changes underground.


    Zavier knew there was no way out this time; these mages were supposed toe after him and kill him. Otherwise, there would have been no need to make such a fuss.


    His right hand was clenched around the magic stick in his hand at this point, but he was irritated.


    For uncle Marquis Val, he felt even more untrustworthy. What about the promised covert protection? The adversary pursued him all the way to Caesar University.


    Saying what not to tell him is to keep these lies from him. The greatest risk is not knowing who the enemy is.


    Pooh! Pooh! Pooh! Pooh!


    While two innocent seniors were hit with two swords each, Zavier slowly stood up.


    The sword was extremely fast, one person attacked the heart, the other instantly stabbed the throat. These four were unquestionably not nobody.


    It was impossible to tell what upation they were based on their movements alone.


    Zavier stood up and walked towards the door as the magical shield on his body vanished.


    "Even if youe at me, you don''t have to kill innocent students," he said coldly to the few people in front of him.


    But before he could inquire, the four men had banded together to attack him.


    The first person on the left was suddenly filled with holy light all over his body as they approached Zavier.


    Because of the holy light, the long sword in his hand grew three or four inches out of thin air before he arrived.


    "Exterminate the heretics!"


    He yelled at the three men standing behind him. One stabbed at his throat, another attacked towards his heart, and another grabbed into his cane.


    This was no ordinary nonverbal cooperation in an attack; these were supposed to frequently train or go on missions together.


    Arge amount of information entered his mind in a split second.


    Zavier crossed the skin of his index finger with his thumb. The killers noticed right away because the magic was moving.


    Out of nowhere, a red, like a crystal-clear long sword, appeared, blocking the first Pdin.


    The longsword then split into three pieces, blocking the attacks of the other three in a row.


    "Blood de! Heretics perish!" roared the leading pdin, only to be met by a massive hammer of holy light mming through the upstairs ceiling and sting towards Zavier.


    The pdin then swung his sword repeatedly, his longsword moving so quickly that it was barely visible to the naked eye.


    Zavier no longer needed to conceal himself. His speed was increasing, blood flowing under his control into a shield block, a longsword stab, a hammer mming, and an arrow shot.


    He was clearly one against four, but in such a small space, he appeared to be walking with ease.


    With the Time Space Eye, hepletely restrained these four killers, who were clearly superior in physical abilities.


    Every attack theyunched was visible to Zavier, and he could predict their next move.


    Zavier didn''t finish them off quickly because he wasn''t just watching them and analyzing who the killer side might be. He seemed to be stalling for time because he wanted to know how many people in this school were involved in this.

 237 Chapter 237

    The fact that he had escaped death so many times before wasn''t due to his ability to hide in in sight; rather, it was due to the attackers'' apparent underestimation of him. He would have been killed long ago if he had fought them head on. He required some sort of advantage. He had to take advantage of every opportunity that came his way.


    When they finally started attacking in earnest, Zavier easily dodged and avoided every blow. He almost seemed to be dancing around them, which irritated them because he refused to focus on them. When he was about to charge forward again, he heard a loud cracking sound and a chunk of stone fell to the ground beside him.


    It turned out that his opponent was still casting a spell to slow him down, but the spell had now failed.


    He saw the rock in front of him shatter into smaller rocks as he looked at it. He shook his head and turned to face the four opponents, who had retreated to a ten-meter distance from each other. He was curious how much mana they had left to keep attacking.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    Nadia and Kacie snuck out the back door.


    The two did not dare to enter the battle because the killer was too quick, and if they released the spell and were unable to hit the enemy, they would be the target of the opposing side. If the enemy found out them and ckmailed Zavier, they would be a liability.


    They were both afraid that if they joined in, something would happen to them, but they also wanted to help him, but what could two young girls possibly do when the enemy had already formed an alliance with the professors?


    The girls'' most terrifying discovery during their escape was that they hadn''t seen anyone elseing from the North Building.


    However, they soon discovered Zavier and the group of five inside the east building.


    As they stepped outside, they discovered that they were surrounded on all sides by thick walls, indicating that this was a fortified castle made entirely of concrete blocks. At least twenty-one towers of simr design rose throughout the city, implying that the entire structure was a fortress. They were most emphatically not alone.


    Nadia''s face became paler. This structure was muchrger than she had anticipated, and the enemies were formidable. Even if they couldn''t fight all of them, it should have taken at least a dozen people to bring them down if they''d joined forces. She shivered as she realized how powerful they were.


    Fortunately, the main building was still standing.


    They took deep breaths and made their way inside, their bodies drenched in sweat.


    "I guess we''ll die today, huh?" Kacie, clearly shaken, asked.


    Nadia didn''t respond, instead remaining focused on the doorway.


    Her gaze was drawn to the east building''s door, a portion of which had been blown open. A woman with short silver hair and sharp blue eyes emerged from the hole from a distance.


    Although the Kekkaishi had a strongyout ability, the majority of them were also the easiest to kill.


    The Kekkaishi''sbat power was undeniably the weakest in a one-on-one fight.


    They were secretly pursuing Kekkaishi.


    "I''ll sneak up on him with the dagger to draw attention, and you handle it," Kacie exined quickly.


    Nadia jumped a little, knowing she couldn''t help Zavier, but crossing the line was always an option.


    "Don''t be soft, make sure you kill her," Kacie said quietly as she was about to do it.


    Nadia froze for a moment, but she quickly realized that this was not a simple matter, and that the most important thing was to save her life.


    ''What are they used for?''


    No one cared anymore; a boundary of this size was used to attack, and even if the wrong person was killed, it could only be considered bad luck for these attackers.


    Kacie controlled a dagger shot at the Kekkaishi with speed.


    The fast flying dagger pierced the air, leaving a long trail of air behind it.


    "Boom!"


    Just as the ordinary dagger was about to strike the Kekkaishi, it exploded in the air.


    It sounded like it had struck something.


    Several more daggers flew towards the Kekkaishi from behind the tower.


    These daggers could attack from multiple directions due to their multi-threaded control.


    The Kekkaishi turned her head to look at the daggers for the first time, and the green glow they emitted drew her attention.


    "I was blessed by the forest God," the Kekkaishi said softly.


    Her voice, like the voices of those talented singers, was lovely.


    A small tree root was seen growing out of the ground. The root grew bigger and bigger as some kind of magic worked on it, and it eventually turned into a huge tree man.


    "A seed of a tree-man warrior has been catalyzed!"As she stared at the tall tree man in front of her, Kacie eximed. Only to see the tree man stumble towards Kacie and Nadia''s hiding ce.


    The ground started shaking violently.


    However, the Kekkaishi abruptly turned her head back in the direction of the high tower''s entrance.


    "Pooh!" Two of those four extremely skilled fighters were instantly killed.<sub> </sub>


    The pdin returned to Kekkaishi immediately and reported, "The information is incorrect, his flesh possesses at least B-rank strength."


    "The blood de magic mastery proficiency is very high, even my power is restrained against him, he doesn''t care about blood consumption at all."


    The pdin and Kekkaishi both looked at Zavier in front of them.


    Zavier gave them a cold stare and said, "Who is interested in my life? Your lives will be saved if you can provide me with answers to my questions."


    He used a remote control to send his illusionist clone rushing towards this ce. Judging by how well this pdin and the other killers worked together, the power behind them was not small.


    Not to mention being able to call a Kekkaishi who could use the Tree Boundary and the Hunter''s specially trained tree-human warriors.


    The majority of former Kekkaishi served in the Hierarchy''s special departments, where their very powerful supporting abilities allowed them to make the most of their abilities in groupbat.


    Thetter breeding tree warriors typically required B-ss Hunter Department professionals, and Hunter Department professionals were moremonly found among the elves, as tree warriors were the elves'' unique skills.


    There were humans, but not many of them were powerful. After all, living in the elves'' ancient forests provided a decidedly advantageous position in the Hunter Department of upation due to the quality of magical potions and ease of collection.


    The killer, who coborated closely with the rigorous and close, was able to casually take out the valuable tree-man warrior seeds as well as the sealing object, which allowed them to freely travel through Caesar''s College.


    The mastermind behind the scenes reallyid down a lot of money to kill him.


    They didn''t say anything and just stood there quietly.


    Kekkaishi made a sudden gesture, and the pdin charged at Zavier desperately.


    The hatched treeman warrior was standing in the middle of Kekkaishi, Kacie, and Nadia.


    "Are you attempting to flee?"


    These guys now knew a part of his strength, and he didn''t want Kekkaishi to go back and report on it.


    Zavier''s hand was no longer held back, and two blood arrows shot straight at the pdin in front of him as soon as the hand was free.


    The pdin raised his hand to block, a massive bloody scythe shed out of nowhere. The pdin didn''t have time to consider the direction in which the surrounding blood would appear weapons, and the scythe''s sharp de severed his head.


    Zavier''s speed had not slowed at that point, and he had already arrived behind Kekkaishi in three or two steps. He raised both of his hands and mmed them down on Kekkaishi''s back! As a loud sound echoed in the air, the Kekkaishi felt something hit her from behind.The pain caused her to drop to one knee, but she recovered quickly enough to stand up without missing a beat. The blood-red eyes red at Zavier, a surprised expression on their faces.


    She was astounded that she had been injured by a single hit from Zavier. But it shouldn''t matter because he was able to defeat those men before they even got close.


    "Impossible," she grumbled.


    Suddenly, an invisible force appeared around Zavier''s feet, and he vanished in a split second, leaving only faint footsteps behind him.


    "How does he do this?" Kacie eximed in amazement. "I couldn''t react because he was moving so fast; I''M GONNA DIE HERE! NEEEEEAAAHHHHH!!!"


    "You should concentrate on what the enemy is attempting to do instead!" said Nadia harshly.


    "Yeah... but-"


    The earth rumbled beneath their feet again before Kacie could finish speaking, and the giant tree man advanced once more. The Kekkaishi, on the other hand, did not wait patiently for him this time. She dashed away from the wall, straight for the massive tree behind which Zavier had vanished.


    Zavier emerged from the corner she had been running past a few moments earlier as soon as the woman got close enough. He brought his right arm forward and mmed it hard on her neck, then lifted it slightly up, giving the impression that he wasn''t holding her neck at all. The tremendous force exerted by his muscles increased the pressure on her windpipe to the point where Kekkaishi''s mouth was filled with blood.


    "Pooh!" The long knife pierced her heart in an instant.


    "Eh, eh!" The skull and half of Kekkaishi''s body had already passed through the boundary.


    But her body was out of her control, and as she looked down, the long bloody de prated her chest, and her brain lost consciousness instantly.


    The bodies of the Pdin and Kekkaishi were taken into the storage space by Zavier, and a cold ze burned directly over the rest of the bodies.


    The bodies of the graduates and the two Macefield idiots were left in ce.


    Zavier also promptly removed the skull that had fallen to the ground.


    It was a good thing, because even his Time Space Eye couldn''t see through the holder''s true face, and it could also help owners cross the boundary, but he didn''t know if this skull had a negative impact.


    The boundary in the sky, which was made entirely of interconnected roots, vanished quickly.


    Those roots quickly turned into dead branches that lost moisture and fell to the ground in pieces.


    Outside the boundary, it was empty, and there was a lot of noise, but no one came to look.


    Zavier could sense the gravity of the situation.


    Kacie and Nadia rushed to his side after confirming that he had suffered no injuries, putting their minds at ease.

 238 Chapter 238

    At this point, the entire East Building of St. Ansa Castle tilted to the point where it began to be at a 45-degree angle to the ground; if not for the power of magic, the building would have copsed long ago.


    "Why is there a pdin, Caesar University absolutely cannot appear the pdin profession," Kacie wondered.


    "With the exception of the Inquisitorial Order of the Holy See, I have never seen the appearance of other pdins."


    Zavier agreed and added, "Those who did not use holy light should be the legendary pdin''s war servants."


    "A pdin typically has two ordinary servants in charge of maintaining the armor and holy sword, as well as four diviners in charge of fighting alongside the pdin."


    The Holy See wanted to kill him was a real possibility; after all, blood de was a highly immoral magic. The Pope had long stated that the blood de was a form of ck magic, and the Inquisitorial Council would issue holy warrants to mages who used the blood de.


    The question was, how did the Holy See know he could control the blood de?


    ording to what Uncle Val had said, everything about him was shrouded in mystery within the Empire.


    Zavier shook his head, assuming he wasn''t fighting alone, but it now appeared that he couldn''t put his faith in others.


    If the Holy See was astute enough to learn everything about him from other people''s information, the situation would be very different from what he expected.


    "We''ll meet again," Zavier thought to himself.


    They didn''t say anything else and just stared in awe at Zavier. They could tell Zavier''s abilities were far beyond theirprehension and ability. Their admiration, however, was mixed with some emotions in their hearts.


    That terrifying aura waspletely different from Zavier''s calmness, and it was even scarier than a Kekkaishi''s aura.


    Even if they used all of their best resources, they would be helpless against someone who could control blood des.


    Furthermore, the opponent might not even only use magic, so there was nothing anyone could do against him unless they had a secret weapon as well...


    Nobody knew when the time woulde.


    He would even be able to use the fact that they had no idea where he was hiding to flee the world and live in seclusion, eventually bing the strongest of these ones.


    He motioned to Kacie and Nadia to hurry up, and the three of them walked out of St. Ansa Castle without making a sound.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    The most important buildings on the campus of Caesar University were the main school building, where sses were held, St. Ansa Castle, where magic was practiced, the Nolo Library, which had been around for a long time, and the Guardian''s Building, which watched over the whole campus.


    This structure was constructed to keep the students safe within its boundaries. It could withstand almost any attempt to break in.


    However, each of the universities'' main buildings had been attacked several times. Even though they were all powerful magical structures, they couldn''tst forever, and only the Guardian''s Building remained standing in these cases. Of course, this structure was equally valuable; it housed the most books, as well as many powerful spells and artifacts.


    Zavier fled the East Building of St. Ansa Castle, which was on the verge of copsing.


    When they left, they noticed that many students were leaving because the freshmen could see the boundaries as being sorge right now.


    When a magical boundary of at least B-rank strength appeared, no one wanted to rush over to St. Ansa Castle.


    Everyone understood that a B-rank boundary would result in the deaths of numerous innocent people. And, while they were capable of protecting the students, they were also capable of getting themselves into trouble. As a result, they all rushed to the Nolo Library.


    When Zavier brought Kacie and Nadia to the guardian building, they saw a big group of senior graduates and a lot of magic traps and improvised magic formations on the ground.


    They were looking around, as if to say, ''I''ll see who dares toe.''


    Zavier had no choice; he didn''t know if there was a professor inside, and if he tried to force Kacie and Nadia in, they''d be besieged by each other.


    He had just noticed a few familiar faces among the crowd of senior graduates when he noticed them.


    Gabby, Ibneiah, and Macbeth from Melbourne High School were among them.


    The three did not appear to be coerced, but rather to be in collusion with the seniors.


    Zavier sighed in frustration, wondering how a simple Wee Competition had devolved into this.


    The murderer, the professor''s malicious treatment, and the seniors'' and juniors'' collusion to put pressure on the rest of the freshmen...


    Every day, those freshmen had nothing better to do bute over and trash him. The Melbourne High School trio was supposed to be sentenced.


    They used a loophole in the rules to rape their ssmates, and now they were working with the seniors to find the freshmen.


    When he got the chance, Zavier needed to give these three a run for their money. But first, he had to deal with these assassins.


    The first thing he needed to do was figure out where he was.


    The illusionist clone was already in ce and not too upset.


    However, he felt bad after going through the clone''s memory. He remembered seeing the gatekeeper at the entrance when he arrived, but the gate was empty when the clone arrived.


    There were no teachers or professors to be found along the way.<sub> </sub>


    The only professor still on campus in the entire school district was most likely the guy who wanted to teach him a lesson.


    He now regretteding so early in the morning; he should have returned to sleep after waking up.


    Zavier decided to stay in the academy until it was time to leave and return to the church after some more thought. At the same time, he considered going to the library to find something that would assist him.


    While Zavier was thinking, a senior student patrolling near the guardian building sneezed with an unexpected rise, froze, and then pointed to where the three of them were hiding and shouted, "Ugh, there are three hiding!"


    The seniors who had been stationed here on guard had grown tired of waiting and flocked to them as soon as they saw them.


    Zavier dragged the two grils and began to flee without saying anything.


    At the same time, he noticed that the magical shield that had never appeared on him before had reappeared.


    It appeared that he was once again discovered by the professor, which puzzled Zavier; why wasn''t that skull of little use?


    It was obvious that no one had noticed the Kekkaishi when he had used it earlier.


    The three of them fled, dodging the various magic that flew behind them.


    The number of seniors following them was also growing. When Zavier realized the situation was dire, he dashed towards the clone.


    He couldn''t perform to his full potential in front of so many students, but that didn''t mean the clone couldn''t. Those who trailed him felt an iparable heart warp as he dashed past the tree where the clone was hiding.


    As the sky and the earth gotpletely dark, the brick and stone ground became so muddy that it was impossible topare.


    The pungent stench of blood made all of the senior graduates feel nauseated.


    Crows were always cawing in the trees, and the sound made people feel uneasy.


    A monster made entirely of corpses appeared on the ground, twisted together with countless arms, severed limbs, and heads.


    At this point, Zavier''s consciousness had been transferred to this illusionist clone.


    Continuing to move with Kacie and Nadia was reckless with their lives.


    Transfering to the clone was the better way to find out who was responsible for his death.


    The seniors in front of him fell to the ground one by one, except for those who were mentally strong enough to continue.


    After making certain that no one continues to follow his clone, Nadia, and Kacie, he took a few steps in the direction where clone had taken the two girls to flee, and quickly found the skull that clone had found the opportunity to throw down, then proceed quickly toward the auditorium.


    The magic power for the whole big magical array was stilling from the auditorium, which showed that the professor was still there.


    He wanted to see if this professor was working with the assassin who wanted to kill him.


    When St. Ansa Castle caused such amotion and the professor who was guarding the academy did not react, there must be something wrong.


    He took the skull and surrounded it with a strange power, shielding it from the prying eyes of other mages.


    With caution, he entered the auditorium and quickly used Time Space Eye to see through the wall to where the professor would sit at the lectern.


    Several senior graduates dressed in white stood beside the professor; these were the same people who had just carried the fainting freshman away.


    The pen beside the professor remained motionless in the air for a long time before making a stroke on the parchment.


    The professor then spoke to the graduates next to him. He saw one of them leave quickly and run toward the main academic building.


    Zavier raised his head. With the help of Time Space Eye, he could see what was going on inside, and he watched for a long time, but no one else appeared.


    But then he felt a magical wave emanating from the skull in his hand.


    Looking down, he noticed the skull''s eyes light up quickly and then return to their original form.


    The professor in the middle of the auditorium jerked his head up to look outside and eximed loudly, "Who is there?"


    Zavier vanished into the void in an instant, his speed so quick that he was long gone by the time the professor appeared.


    Zavier took out the skull when he reached a safe location. But it looked like the skull could make a boundary to keep people from being watched.


    The w was that the boundary would disappear at random times, and the enemy would be able to figure out where he was by seeing magical changes.


    Zavier had some idea of how to use the sealed artifact now that he had figured out its special effects.


    He exited the auditorium quickly.


    The good news was that the professor didn''t notice the clone. The bad news was that he probably took precautions against it, and thank goodness therge-scale magic array he was using wasn''t a trigger-type array.

 239 Chapter 239

    The magical pen and parchment floating beside the professor might be essential to this magical formation.


    Simultaneously, it provided magical shields for thousands of students, not only to have a strong magical power but also to distinguish between friend and foe. Even S-ss mages couldn''t do it without powerful treasures.


    If the spell was not used correctly, it would fail in an instant, leaving them defenseless. Of course, they could still ask for help from people who know how to manage array.


    Zavier sensed the clone''s location and realized he couldn''t get too far away from it. Those who dared to strike at Caesar University might not get off so easily. He''d need someone else right away.


    Zavier paused for a moment as he scanned the crowd.


    If his clone was attacked, the clone might not be able to defend itself. A very powerful enemy would be too strong for a single system with limited abilities to handle.


    After determining the clone''s location, Zavier rushed in that direction while wearing a mask.


    The battle between freshmen and seniors in the entire school district was one-sided at this time.


    Sneaking through was a little tricky.


    The road, the flowerbeds, the woods, and the school buildings had all been turned into battlegrounds.


    Zavier discovered that none of the freshmen could defeat the seniors.


    It was a crushing gesture, especially for those who fought with the seniors.


    These seniors had a clear division ofbor; some were in charge of frontal output, others of nking support, and others of breaking the freshmen''s magic to clear obstacles for the strongest in the group.


    The seniors knew what they were doing because of theirbat experience.


    In the most basic sense, even the freshmen were unable to match.


    This was due to the fact that, with the exception of the senior sses, all students were not proficient with ranged weapons.


    Also, they didn''t know how to use the different spells that the seniors cast.


    Of course, they tried to fight back, but many were injured or being defeated. The only way out was to work together and take down the seniors, who were constantly trying to keep the freshmen upied with attacks on the weak and inexperienced.


    Zavier shook his head. It was clear that thisst ceremony for new students before they started school was just a filter.


    He tried to avoid everyone, and only when he couldn''t, would he use illusions to quickly get rid of them.


    They wouldn''t be able to see him and no one would hear him as long as they didn''t attack his clones or interfere with his vision.


    Zavier was able to move around without being noticed as a result of this.


    If the students weren''t actively looking for a fight with the seniors, they''d be looking around and attacking other juniors.


    Zavier moved closer to where the main group was congregating.


    ? On his way, he noticed that most of the freshmen had be separated.


    Zavier made a snap decision and walked over to a small group of freshmen.


    Just as everything was going well, he noticed a familiar figure.


    In the sunlight, crystal clear ck diamonds shone.


    Numerous ck, destructive radium rays are constantly filming the senior graduates around them.


    Even though many of the seniors were C-rank professionals, the three seniors who surrounded Reba couldn''t stop her because she was so good at both offense and defense.


    Reba retreated and fought back, mocking the three male graduates chasing her.


    "Go back to school for a few more years if you want to catch me like that."


    Those were her words, and the students who heard them understood what they meant.


    Some seniors were enraged at Reba for saying such things.


    Reba had a habit of behaving arrogantly in public.


    Her actions frequently demonstrated her arrogance and pride.


    She wanted to teach them a lesson, but the moment she spoke to them, her arrogant demeanor turned to mockery.


    When the seniors were distracted, one of the junior seniors, who wasn''t afraid of Reba at all, took advantage of the opportunity.


    Reba was hit by a massive explosion!


    The ground shook violently as a result of the shockwave, and several trees fell on top of Reba.


    Reba stood tall.


    Something was wrong here.


    Reba clearly felt pain as a result of the explosion; this type of pain could not be felt by ordinary humans but it wasn''t for her.


    "What are you looking forward to? Kick her ass already!"


    Several of the seniors yelled theirmands.


    Reba, on the other hand, didn''t care and just stood there and looked at the ground.


    "You dare to call yourself a member of the elite? You''re nothing but a gang of thugs."


    Reba raised her right hand, punching with the wind de, and then fired aser light from her left palm at the man standing behind the three graduates.


    The ckser light kept turning in the air, crossing in front of the two graduates, before splitting in half and shooting at them at right angles.


    "Oh, Pooh!"


    Theser light prated the two''s thighs instantly, and the blood couldn''t stop flowing downward.<sub> </sub>


    "This magic of yours is not even worthy of my shoes," Reba said mockingly, "if you want to catch me, you''d better find some more stupid dogs!"


    "Keep your mouth shut! I''m going to kill you! I''ll kill you all, and anyone who dares to stand in my way!" One of the students became enraged and yelled angrily.


    Reba calmly dodged the first one and struck him on the leg with her left fist.


    The sound of bones breaking escaped the man''s body, and he copsed to the ground. His screams filled the atmosphere.


    A second student joined in, followed by another, until four students gathered. They encircled Reba.


    They weren''t stupid either; they must have realized they couldn''t beat her.


    Instead of wasting their time, they decided to engage her and try to get rid of her before reinforcements arrived. They didn''t want to draw attention to themselves.


    "Don''t worry, you''re not going to die today!"


    Reba sneered and emitted a beam of light from her brow. She then took a step forward and kicked one of the students in the gut.


    The student took a step back and collided with the wall. The impact caused cracks in the cement wall.


    She then took another step forward.


    "Die!"


    Reba extended her left hand and fired a beam. It was aimed at the student who stood up this time.


    The young man stumbled and copsed.


    The young woman was taken aback; this girl didn''t appear to be a freshman, and the spell she cast seemed very advanced; she hadn''t expected her spell to be countered by a freshman.


    Before that student could get back on her feet, the other three seniors showed up and surrounded her.


    Three C-level mages.


    "I don''t mind you guys as long as you''re out of my sight."


    Rebaughed softly and crossed to the other side.


    The students were enraged by her actions, but they could only obey her orders while helplessly watching. They let out sighs of relief and dispersed because she wasn''t fighting anymore. Zavier gently shook his head, this Reba will never change her bad character.


    Wasn''t this expecting a siege from the graduates?


    The two injured graduates were helped away by their friends, but it was clear from the look in their eyes that they hated each other.


    The ck diamonds on her body vanished instantly, revealing her iparably full breasts and still very beautiful clothes. She was the one who shone the brightest no matter where she was.


    The students in the distance were all envious of her.


    "How does she have such a great body?"


    "Look at her curves..."


    "Howe the guys always look so awesome when a newbiees along?"


    Reba then proceeded to the Nolo library after the battle was over.


    Zavier had to admit that thisdy was quite astute. Even though the Nolo Library wasn''t as safe as the Guardian''s Building, it was still a ce where no one could hurt students.


    There were a lot of magical books in the Nolo library, and anyone who tried to break the boundary of the library would bemitting suicide.


    Of course, the school would not punish the person who broke it.


    It was because the magic book collection did not only have simple magical knowledge, but some books required strength to open.


    Because no one knew what strange and wonderful things were hidden in the processed magic books, they could be opened normally.


    If the book''s boundary is vited within the hidden monster escape, the person who vited the boundary will be the first to die.


    Just as Zavier was about to continue on his way to the clone, he noticed three people appear on the road next to Nolo''s library.


    At first nce, those three were not students.


    One of them was an elderly man who walked with a full screen of the scepter at his side, as if he was about to die halfway through.


    The two men who followed him, one of whom had triangr-shaped teeth, and the entire body was carved with ck, unknown patterns that looked like writing. The other man was carrying a massive box that was three times the size of the man''s body.


    The box, which was supported by a wooden frame, nked as if it were the sound of ss bottles or tin cans nging when walking.


    Zavier''s mind was filled with extreme fear in an instand.


    The system abruptly warned, [Advise the host to share memories with the perception system clone located immediately.]


    Zavier didn''t even think about it before sharing all of his memories with the perception system''s clone.


    He took a quick look at the Perception System''s spells.


    [Danger Assessment: Everyone, including professionals, has a spirit of their own. Those who have learned the spell can tell how dangerous the other person is by looking at their spirit.


    [Please choose carefully because this spell is of low level magic and the evaluation result is only the lowest lower limit of the opponent''s danger level.]


    Zavier was surprised. "It''s important enough to be able to recognize the lower limit of danger."


    He cast a spell quickly. The Time Space Eye, which was glowing blue, was suddenly infused with a massive amount of magical power.


    In Zavier''s vision, he saw a monocle made entirely of magic. Its lenses had strange andplicated writing on them.


    He looked at all three of them with his monocle. The man with the backpack had two small spirit bodies that looked like silhouettes.


    The one on the left was shivering in a corner, while the one on the right was gesticting at his twopanions like a demon, constantly threatening to kill each other.

 240 Chapter 240

    [A normal person who has been oppressed for a long time, whose spirit is about to break down without any danger.]


    Zavier looked at the other two, then his breathing came to a halt.


    [Devil Worker: constantly thinking about how to open the link to hell to meet the devil''s arrival, extremely dangerous, no countermeasures after the devil descends.]


    There was no alternative!


    Zavier realized that this means of countermeasure was referring to him. If he understood correctly, that meant that even all seven clones couldn''t defeat the descending demons, which caused him to gulp.


    Zavier shifted his focus to the third man.


    [Alchemist: He was preparing for a grand ceremony that would be fraught with danger.]


    He got a headache after the monocle magic sses vanished.


    The presence of an alchemist and a Devil Worker at Caesar University at this time would not be a casual visit; it was almost certainly directed at him.


    In response, he picked up a stone from the ground and tossed it at Reba.


    Despite the fact that the stone flew very fast, Reba has advanced to the level of C-ss professionals.


    The stone hit her from behind.


    Reba had no intention of blocking it; instead, she looked for the attacker in the direction the stones were flying.


    Reba''s bright eyes lit up when she saw the familiar mask and clothes.


    She ran so fast that she left a streak in the air and came close, squirming in her excitement, and said, "Is that you, my lord?"


    "Yes."


    Reba fawningly picked up Zavier''s arm. She recognized the mask, his voice, and his clothes from the previous time.


    "Have youe to fetch me, my lord?"


    Her voice was trembling uncontrobly.


    Zavier paused for a moment before responding, "No."


    "What can I do for you, my lord?"


    "I require your assistance."


    "Without a doubt! Everything for you!"


    Zavier gave a small smile. It was so simple to make Reba happy.


    "Someone is trying to make some big noise here, and I came here to see what''s going on," Zavier said, pointing to the trio that had invaded the school.


    Reba took a look but didn''t take it seriously. In her opinion, and it was unlikely that there would be any major disruptions at Caesar University.


    Zavier, on the other hand, was bing concerned.


    "Someone appeared to be nning something dangerous. But I don''t want to drag you into this because interfering will only make things worse for all of us."


    While Reba waited patiently for an answer, Zavier thought.


    "So, please tell me everything you''ve seen thus far and use your best judgment."


    "Okay, first, I''ll exin this ce to you," Reba nodded.


    She then described everything that urred on the university grounds. She described in detail what she saw and how many people were present. She went over every single one of them who were present even their expressions.


    She is more interested in the mysterious, powerful man in front of her. She could better understand the power of this person in front of her as she sessfully stepped into the C-ss professionals.


    Especially the wonderful taste that made her linger.


    She was now in the top tier of freshmen. Of course, if she had to face hundreds of freshmen at once, she wouldn''t be able to defeat them all.


    "I want to be your woman, I can''t forget you after that day," Reba dered passionately.


    "You don''t deserve it now," Zavier said, touching her smooth face.


    Reba was perplexed. She was now a C-level executive, and her beautiful face and perfect body were still unworthy of him?


    "Oh, if you want to follow my side, just being pretty is useless," Zavier said coldly.


    "As for the C rank, you are ineligible to join my organization; you can only serve as cannon fodder!"<sub> </sub>


    He was well aware of the type of person this girl was. A minor aplishment would cause her to float away.


    But then again, she was his. Her body or strength is still useful to him, and she may be absorbed into the Avengers. Reba would bepletely under his control at that point.


    Reba was taken aback, but she maintained her resolve. "I''m not leaving unless you ept me!"


    "What organization can reject a genius mage?" she asked, surprised. Her words were brimming with pride.


    Zavier said with a smile, "I, too, am a freshman in the organization, but my strength already rivals that of some high school teachers. And those match to my strength are only the organization''s outeryer; the organization''s resources and power are far beyond what you can imagine."


    Reba was a freshman about to begin her studies at Caesar University. Her only knowledge was that her family would not allow her to join other organizations.


    Her father always warned her that there were many evil organizations out there, and that if she fell into one, she might never get out.


    Reba was a little unsure.


    She said, somewhat terrified, "Even if I do not join the organization, I can be your woman. After all, my body is fantastic."


    She turned in front of him.


    Zavier licked his lips behind the mask, but now was not the time to eat Reba.


    Zavier raised his head.


    "No, even the Tower couldn''t hold a cannon fodder like you. You are nothing but a source of contention."


    Reba sighed, "I don''t understand, I thought we were meant to be together."


    Her expression grew solemn.


    Her tone abruptly shifted, "Can you tell me, Lord, why you''ve brought me here today? What exactly do you want me to do?"


    Zavier put up his hands.


    Initially, he intended to inform Reba of the uing battle between the Avengers and the demon army. He was now a little hesitant. There was far too much danger involved. He had no idea how well Reba understood the situation. He needed her to be safe if at all possible.


    He said nothing and continued to stare at the three figures in the dark.


    The ordinary one had already ced the massive box behind him on the ground.


    The old man wobbled and opened the drawer, taking out several bottles andbining them.


    When the magical materials in the bottles werebined, they emitted a colorful light.


    The old man shook the bottle quickly and saw that the magical materials inside had finally turned into dark green smoke, which was spreading in all directions.


    When he saw the other side start to do something, Zavier grabbed Reba''s hand and ran backwards around the way to the clone''s side.


    His consciousness quickly switched to the original and gave the clone the order to take Reba to the nned location and leave the school with her.


    "We have to leave now," Zavier said to Kacie and Nadia after the consciousness switch.


    "Why?" Nadia inquired, suspicious.


    There was no reason for them to leave if the professor was only after them. After all, it was better to finish the wee ceremony ording to the school''s rules, or else that professor wouldn''t be able to resist and would track them down after the ceremony.


    Zavier borated, "I''m sorry I can''t tell you right now because I''m not sure. But, if I''m not mistaken, something major will have to happen soon, and I''ll be worried about you guys here."


    His expression was solemn, and the two girls next to him froze before finally agreeing to listen to Zavier''s words.


    They had been observing Zavier''s changes for some time.


    Soon after, the clone and Reba appeared by his side.


    Kacie and Nadia had a vague dislike for Reba because they had been rivals in the past.


    They were as taken aback by the next clone as Reba was by the first.


    The two girls cast an unintentional nce at the clone. This one was wearing a simr mask and clothes thest time, and worked with Zavier together to save everyone''s life.


    Even more shocking was one of them''splete fearlessness in the face of death.


    And when this person appeared, Kacie and Nadia immediately realized in their minds that something else had appeared in the school that they were unaware of.


    Why else would they sneak into Caesar University rather than risk being discovered?


    They arrived at the university''s entrance, and the journey seemed very calm; no senior graduates showed up to mess things up, and no killers attacked them.

 241 Chapter 241

    However, when the group arrived at the school''s entrance, they were taken aback.


    The entire school was surrounded by a boundary, which even Zavier did not notice when it was raised.


    There was a sudden sound of footsteps behind them as Zavier was about to take out the skull and sealed artifact to send the crowd away.


    Zavier immediately turned his head, the man behind him was the previously seen the Devil Worker.


    He immediately took out the skull and ced it in Kacie''s hand, whispering, "Quickly take the others and leave first, and after leaving the boundary, ce this skull next to the school''s main entrance and remember never to return. Don''t worry, he won''t be able to beat me."


    Kacie nodded quickly, aware that by remaining here, she was burdening Zavier.


    She grabbed the skull and dragged Nadia outside. Zavier took control of the clone and pushed Reba out of the way. The Devil Worker opened his mouth and sneered behind him, but made no move to stop him.


    His triangr sharpened teeth appeared extremely intimidating, as if he wanted to devour him.


    "Hello, we''ve met before." With a smile, the Devil Worker said.


    "I don''t remember ever seeing you anywhere," Zavier said rhetorically.


    "Ha, I saw you carrying that box, but you didn''t notice me." The Devil Worker continued excitedly after a brief pause. "It''s too bad; sacrificing your body to the demon will almost certainly attract a powerful demon to Earth. I was unable to fulfill this wish thest time, and now it is my turn to kill you."


    Zavier''s heart dropped when he found out that the mysterious group he had been looking for was back.


    "Can you tell me your name?" he inquired.


    "What is my name? What does it matter?" The Devil Worker mused on this.


    "You should reveal your true name to people."


    "Do not y dumb with me, boy!" said the Devil Worker. "I recognize your name and who you are."


    Zavier frowned, wondering what the enemy could possibly know about him, but something came from the other side of the field before he could respond.


    He immediately removed the Pdin''s and Kekkaishi''s bodies from the storage area.


    The pale skin emitting turquoise blue spectral light from the eyes immediately allowed the opposing the Devil Worker to see the true situation.


    "Are you still a necromancer?" The Devil Worker inquired, surprised.


    Zavier remained silent.


    "I can consider letting you off the hook if you can reveal the secret of being perfectlypatible with the three professions of mage, necromancer, and illusionist. You''re only about B-rank right now, and I believe you''re the one who requires me to consider absolving you. Of course, if you can borate on what kind of organization is behind you, I''ll let you go."


    Zavier waited as long as he could. He was confident he could kill this Devil Worker if he had a mage clone alongside him, as well as an illusionist clone.


    He''d discovered that unless he transformed, he waspletely powerless against the Devil Worker.


    He now only had one illusionist clone beside him, and the mage clone may still need some time.


    "The secret is that I''m just your dad," Zavier said, smiling at the Illusionist clone beside him.


    The sky suddenly filled with thick green smoke when the twomunicated.


    Zavier and the Devil Worker exchanged nces.


    "I think you''re the one who needs to be careful," he said with a smile to Zavier.


    After he said that, he took out from behind his back what looked like a full-face mask.


    "Click, click ..."


    When he put the mask on his face, the very end of it suddenly telescoped outward and fit perfectly.


    "Soon you''ll be able to take a sweet nap, and I''m looking forward to our next meeting," he said abruptly.


    The green smoke rushed towards the three, its breathing thickened by the mask.


    This was not the alchemist''s deliberate maniption.


    Zavier could see with his own eyes that the green smoke hadpletely engulfed the college.


    He was surprised that the mysterious organization that wanted him dead had increased its killing budget.


    The green smoke had just drifted over, and the two bodies were unaffected in any way.


    Zavier''s body floated in a white cold ze, and any smoke that came close to him was instantly consumed.


    When he ced his left hand on the illusionist''s shoulder, the cold me quickly diffused to clone.


    " Actually obstructed!" The Devil Worker muttered to himself, dissatisfied.


    "Lord Devil, look how stupid that old man is, I guess he''s fine as a good sacrifice," he said as if to someone who didn''t exist.<sub> </sub>


    Zavier activated the risk assessment.


    Through the monocle, Zavier saw another spirit in the Devil Worker''s body, and this spirit resembled a real demon.


    The little demon immediately returned Zavier''s stare after sensing it.


    And the Devil Worker snarled angrily, "How dare you use magic to see the Lord''s true body!"


    When Zavier sensed the mage''s location, he rejoiced inside because his clone was not far away.


    "I can see if I want," he said, growing more confident.


    The pdin corpse violently waved the longsword in his hand the next moment, adding sacred holy light to Zavier''s body.


    The de began to shine gold, and golden sparkles began to form around the tip of the sword after a few seconds.


    At the same time, the pdin''s body began to glow with a golden radiance.


    Kekkaishi immediately chanted the incantation as well.


    As he rushed towards his opponent with great speed, Zavier felt his body be lighter and faster, and his thumbnail gently cut through the belly of his little finger.


    The blood condensed instantly into a sharp weapon to sh at the opponent.


    With his increasing blood magic proficiency, every time he attacked, the main branch of the weapon spread outward in a thin line, as if arge tree branch bud.


    These thin lines are constantly flying through the air, ready to transform into a sharp weapon and stab the opponent at any time.


    The entire battleground was covered in blood in the blink of an eye as both parties began attacking furiously.


    But the Devil Worker appeared behind Zavier, his right hand sping a steel fork of unknown material.


    The fight between the two was instant, and as soon as they exchanged blows, he realized that this Devil Worker was clearly above rank A.


    Zavier''s blood de was easily blocked by the powerful physical strength.


    "Spirit of the wind, heed my call, Gale!" yelled someone from behind them.


    The masked mage clone appeared behind Zavier.


    The ordinary general spell gale had been nicknamed "the waste of all waste," but now was the time to put it to use.


    The ferocious gale of wind that blew wildly through the university district.


    However the green smoke contained a unique type of magical material, the gale magic was unable topletely disperse it.


    The wind was strong enough to break the trees, but was extremely limited in front of the green smoke, with only a small portion of the poisonous smoke blown away around itself while the rest continued to fill here.


    For a while, Zavier was concerned.


    After seeing that the poisonous smoke couldn''t be cleared away, the mage clone joined the battle.


    The two acted as one, hurling countless blood des in a ferocious strike that hit the Devil Worker instantly.


    He attempted to obstruct them with the metal fork. The metal fork smashed the blood de with a loud sound, but it only slowed it down slightly. The Devil Worker''s arms kept iling in front of the blood de, as if he were fighting a master swordsman of equal skill. He was trying to stop it from hitting.


    "Boom!" The blood de struck the fork with such force that Devil Worker''s body was pushed back several steps and the fork almost fell from his grasp.


    Zavier''s clone raised his longsword above his head, as if performing a karate chop. His de moved so quickly that even Zavier couldn''t react in time. He had not anticipated his clone''s extraordinary talent. His attack appeared to be something he had mastered a long time ago.


    The blood de and the fork collided, with the Devil Worker attempting to block the blood de with his arm while defending with the fork, but the blood de stabbed deep into his chest in a split second.


    "Humph!" In pain, the Devil Worker sneered.


    Despite the fact that he had already been hit several times and suffered some injuries, this attack had only further injured him. He then took advantage of the opportunity presented by Zavier to stab the wound.


    Before Zavier could recover from the shock, he was struck again. This time, the de pierced the flesh on his shoulder and nearly pierced the bone in his arm.


    The force was so strong that Zavier was forced to release both arms from the spell circle and fall to his knee. However, due to the pdin armor''s defense, it was unable to push him to the ground. It did, however, cause him to lose concentration and loosen up his spell formation.


    The Devil Worker stepped on ground, causing the two of them to collide again in the air.


    While in midair, Zavier noticed something odd about his surroundings.


    Outside the campus, the green smoke was rapidly spreading. It was as if it was drawn to the poison.


    "Is it heading our way?" Zavier pondered.


    He used his detection ability to look around quickly and discovered that the source of the poison was not the green smoke. In fact, when he cast spells, the poison spread throughout the area.

 242 Chapter 242

    Even if the poison were to be stopped, it would spread until it reached the students. Zavier realized it was most likely rted to the poison.


    That poison was extremelyplex and difficult to detect. Despite his intimidating physique, Zavier knew he couldn''t keep fighting the Devil Worker.The poison was the source of the problem!


    Zavier would not be able to survive if there was no antidote.


    The Devil Worker smiled cruelly and asked, as if sensing Zavier''s thoughts, "Do you still wish to depart? Are you scared? I guarantee you that once the poison gets to you, it won''t matter what kind of life you have!"


    Zavier ignored him and maintained his expression. He maintained his focus on his goal. The blood de in Zavier''s hands moved faster than he could imagine, piercing towards the Devil Worker''s heart.


    However, just as the Devil Worker predicted, a strong gust of wind blew past before the de could reach his chest.


    Suddenly, Zavier was yanked backwards, and soon afternding t on his back, he felt a strong force pulling his arm and legs. He noticed that his limbs were weakening and that he couldn''t move an inch.


    "No¡­ no¡­" Zavier struggled to break free from the grip, but it was futile. His body could move a little because he was tightly restrained, but he couldn''t do much else.


    "Pooh!"


    The Devil Worker''s chest was covered in blood.


    The clone''s blood de pierced him, it turned out. These were the possibilities that Zavier provided for clone.


    However, Zavier frowned. The wound the mage clone made was much smaller, and the blood running down was very acidic.


    The venomous acid in the blood caused everything within three meters of the wound to corrode. When it came into contact with something, anything within the circle quickly turned into a pile of charred ash.


    It was fortunate that the cold ze all over his body kept the green smoke in the air at bay; otherwise, he would have been trapped.


    The Devil Workerunched his active attack at this point.


    His body disappeared in front of Zavier, and a sudden smell of rotten eggs came from behind the cloned illusionist.


    The illusionist clone''s reaction in the system was extremely fast; he was flying back at the same time, eyes instantly and the Devil Worker stare.


    The other side''s strength as A-ss professionals, illusionist clone only controlled him for a brief moment. His hands sped theva sword, cutting the illusionist clone''s waist.


    Just as theva giant sword was about to cut the illusionist clone, two strings from the blood-condensed shield blocked the attack on the sh.


    "Boom!"


    This only worked for a split second before two blood shields shattered one after the other, scattering crumblingva on Zavier mage clone''s trouser leg.


    The collision of flesh andva resulted in the leg''s blood and flesh being burned.


    In a fight with an A-ss professional, it was undoubtedly a dangerous situation.


    Zavier''s eyes swept, and he knew he couldn''t be kept waiting any longer.


    The clone beside him copsed and shattered instantly, frightening even the Devil Worker.


    "You practice ck magic, brat!"


    Blood and flesh in Zavier''s clone body had formed a set of blood armor before he could finish his sentence.


    Simultaneously, he cast an illusion spell forward.


    A dense forest suddenly appeared on the ground in the Devil Worker''s vision. A swarm of rats crawled out of one corner and merged into a massive tide of ones.


    "Ha, good strength, it''s aplex illusion scene." The Devil Worker vanished into thin air in an instant.


    Zavier frowned, wanting to use ''Crescent sh'' to solve the enemy in front of him with a move, despite the fact that this guy was very experienced. He had to spend a lot of mana to keep casting illusion rather than staying in ce and being hit by an unknown attack.


    The battle became difficult at this point, but the illusions of the illusionist were extremely powerful. Advanced illusion scene construction may cause some confusion in the opponent''s eyes.<sub> </sub>


    Zavier kept closing the gap between himself and the opponent, and blood coagted into a rope-like weapon that swept towards the opponent.


    As soon as he got close, he turned blood into a weapon and attempted to kill his opponent.


    Because of the close quarters fight, the Devil''s Worker was able to rx a little.Zavier secretly took control of Kekkaishi''s body in the corner to set a boundary. This showed the Devil Worker that Kekkaishi''s only advantage was that he was controble than the Devil Worker.


    Instant movement and spatial flicker spells wouldn''t be allowed inside the boundary as long as they couldn''t instantly break through it.


    Zavier was guessing, and he kept using Illusionist''s [Scene Building] and his own attack synergy to make the Devil Worker flicker toward areas with simple terrain.


    Because theplex terrain couldn''t see where the attack wasing from, the Devil Worker would constantly try to use the blink ability subconsciously towards the simple terrain.


    Zavier exploited the fact that humans subconsciously avoid obstacles in front of them, and lured the opponent into his trap by utilizing the fact that the moreplex the terrain, the more likely it was to conceal an attack.


    At this point, the Devil Worker couldn''t use his Blink skill, and he could see a lot of arrows flying away from him.


    The illusionist clone was panting and struggling to keep the massive illusion going.


    "Pooh!"


    Under the illusion''s concealment, nearly a hundred feet of blood-colored, arc-shaped wind de revealed its sharp fangs.


    The lower half of the Devil''s Worker''s body was instantly severed by a single blow.


    Zavier dashed towards his opponent, not giving him the slightest chance to slow down.


    He violently threw two blood des with his left and right hands as he closed the distance.


    His speed increased, and the flying knife stabbed the Devil Worker as soon as the person moved to the side, hand up the knife, and cut off the opponent''s head.


    The surrounding illusion vanished instantly, and the illusionist clone copsed to the ground exhausted.


    When Zavier realized that Devil Worker had not died, he breathed a sigh of relief.


    The earth was nourished and corroded by his blood.


    He has a cold smile on his face "Zavier, even if we didn''t manage to kill you this time, do you think you can hide from the hunt forever? Let me let you in on a little secret: the group that came to kill you before, the Kekkaishi next to us, and we are not a team. We''re only a little stronger than Kekkaishi''s group, hahahahahahahaha."


    Zavier frowned, his mind racing; he only knew that the Devil Worker''s most powerful ability was blinking, and he was unaware of any other abilities. Those who dared to go the Devil''s way was either ruthless or insane.


    In his opinion, the man in front of him was not even dead without his head, most likely because some aspect of his profession guaranteed him not to die for some time.


    The most likely exnation was that he was stalling for time while waiting for his teammates to rescue him.


    Zavier raised the blood de in his hand, ready to sever the remaining head and end the ordeal.


    The head then immediately yelled, "Wait, wait, wait, don''t you want to know why we walked into Caesar University casually? I can work something out with you. If you save my life, I''ll reveal some secrets to you. It has not been easy for me to get this far, but don''t worry, I will not lie to you."


    Zavier clenched his teeth as he thought about what he saw when he used [Danger Assessment: there would be no way to stop the demon once it came down.]


    The chance to learn the intelligence of the forces who assassinated him was not umon.


    "Is there any spell that can tell me if this person in front of me is lying?" he asked the system in his mind.


    [Perception system has the skill lie determination, based on the other party''s expression, breathing, movement, and eyes for aprehensive conclusion, there is no guarantee of uracy if the recipient of the spell has specifically trained on this result.]


    It was useful to have a foundation for judging at this point.


    Zavier didn''t even have to think about it, he just started recalling the memories transmitted by the perception system clone.


    Then she discovered the spell about the lie judgment.

 243 Chapter 243

    Zavier snapped his fingers, and two blue circles appeared in his right eye, followed by the words, "Tell me your secret, and I''ll spare your life."


    What that Devil Worker didn''t realize was that the illusionist was already standing by, ready to cast a spell at any time, and it was impossible for him to leave whether he said it or not.


    The Devil Worker smiled, unconcerned about Zavier''s promise. "You''d been on our lists for quite some time, and I''d been tasked with investigating all of your information. More than four people have been following and protecting you. ording to my investigation, the first is the Mosa family, the Hiling Empire''s secondrgest family, the second is the Adam family members who protect you, the third is the military Merckeby Party, and the fourth is the military''s MI13."


    There was a brief pause, and the Devil Worker clearly stalled for time.


    Without hesitation, Zavier stabbed him in the ground near his ear. The only head left broke out in a cold sweat from his brow.


    "What else did you discover?"


    "The Mosa family is well-known throughout the empire, and their family fiefdom is located at the empire''s southernmost tip. The entire family is the most loyal guardian of the royal family, and they have not copsed despite through four emperors. Everyone believes that the Mosa family and the royal family signed some kind of sacred contract, which is why the royal family trusts them so much. Perhaps you know more than I do about why the Mosa family is spying on you."


    Zavier kept looking at the other person''s face and found that he was very calm and that everything he said was true and valid for the system''s authentication.


    "Do you really have no idea what the Mosas are up to?" Zavier inquired.


    "What does that have to do with us? The Hiling Empire has also wanted me."


    [The oue of the lie determination revealed that all of them were true.]


    "Then tell me about the Merckeby Party and MI13," Zavier continued, he had never heard of two organizations.


    The Devil Worker was happy to help because it was just some information that was right in front of him.


    With a rxed expression, he said, "Merckeby Party is ine''s firstrge family. The Merckeby Party, the white glove of the ine family, is the number one local gang, and you should know who they are. MI13 is the empire''s dark side; this organization handles all scandals. I only know why MI13 is following you out of all of these forces."


    He deliberately paused at this point, as if waiting for something.


    Zavier grabbed his ear and cut it with the blood de in his hand in an instant.


    "Ahhhh!" The head screamed in vain.


    Zavier stated vehemently, "I''ve given you enough time as a loser, but don''t treat me like a fool. I require additional information. I''ll crush your head straight if you say one word less!"


    Devil Worker realized this fearless young man was telling the truth.


    He was afraid of the consequences and finally exined, "Nowadays, young men are truly remarkable. MI13 tracked you down because they tried to steal that box from you thest time. The box is far from ordinary; it contained the raw materials for a SEALED artifact, and as long as we obtain it, we can easily create a powerful SEALED artifact."


    "It is expected to produce a sealed artifact, as long as it is not in the case of the ability to be restrained, which can allow B-ss professionals to cross the S-ss challenge, and is the type of strength that has a high chance of directly wiping out the opposing side. While everything appears to have been handled perfectly in the end, MI13 will generally follow the person in question for a period of time to ensure that they were not further harmed. Trust me when I say that the sealed artifact ingredient taking over the body is never a good thing."


    "And what is the ingredient in the SEALED artifact?" Zavier inquired.


    "Hahahahaha... It''s like a god or a demon," said Devil Worker,ughing.


    Despite this, the lie determination magic concluded that what the other party said was true.<sub> </sub>


    Zavier had heard so much that his mind was still trying to figure out whether the Sealed Artifact''s ingredients were gods or demons.


    The clone suddenly came over and pointed his hand in the direction of the Nolo library.


    When Zavier looked up, there was a huge hole in the sky, as if it had been melted through.


    He hurriedly turned his head to look at Devil Worker''s remaining head, only to see a little spirit dragging the head and fleeing.


    "What''s that in the sky?" Zavier inquired of the system in an instand.


    [The preliminary determination is space power; please be cautious when making a decision.]


    Zavier was startled, so he ran out of the area with the skull in his hand and through the fence behind him.


    As his heart rate went up, he turned his head and saw a familiar figureing toward him quickly from a distance.


    The other party''s very visible magical righteous eye was simply a familiar sight.


    There was no way the professor could have missed the fluctuations caused by the two A-ranked professionals from the start of the battle to the end, then there was only one possibility: he was doing it on purpose.


    The professor never left the auditorium, whether it was the first wave of killers or the second wave that followed. Instead, when Zavier was ready to run away, the professor left the school to go after him, even though there were still students there.


    This professor''s identity was far from ordinary, and Devil Worker is a gang.


    The professor''s identity is far from clear, and he and Devil Worker may have coborated. With this in mind, Zavier quickened his pace and attempted to flee.


    The Devil Worker''s flickering ability was so powerful that the illusionist clone had to set up a scene for nearly half the school district before Zavier was able to defeat his foe.


    But the more powerful the illusion, the more it consumed, and it was difficult to fight with all of the mana still in his body.


    He sensed the location of the other clones and began to n his next move.


    He quickly shuttled through the streets, as many guards were already running towards Caesar University.


    Caesar University was not your average university. The upper ss could y games, but the lower ss would not.


    Zavier yelled, "I''m a first-year student at Caesar University, and that man is an assassin disguised as a professor. A dozen assassins have entered the school, and this phony professor doesn''t care; instead, he is after me."


    The number of murderers was undoubtedly small, but at this point, more talk was more likely to catch the attention of others.


    "Be careful, he may be a ss A professional," Zavier warned as a number of guards with lower professional ranks rushed straight towards the professor.


    The low-level magic [Sound Flood] enchanted shout spread over at least eight or nine blocks nearby.

 244 Chapter 244

    Many guards were rushing towards the Caesar University district, and as soon as they heard the noise, they rushed over to try to catch the killer first.


    It was not that these guards weren''t afraid of death; the guards of the capital are unlike those of other cities.


    Each area of the capital guard was responsible for maintainingw and order, and the senior captain was required to be a ss A professional. If there was an emergency, the captain could call the right departments right away to get more individuals to help with the situation.


    So it was impossible to make too much noise here if it was just an A-ss professional.


    Zavier fled to a small alley, where the surroundings are filthy and stinky.


    A few figuresy in the depths of the alley; his gaze swept over a few people and found others all over the dirty smell, putting his mind at ease.


    It was just a few homeless people.


    He turned around and walked in the direction of Caesar University after walking through the alley to another street and making sure the professor was not following him.


    He wanted to figure out who was the enemy and who was the friend and then searched for a location with a clear view.


    He looked far towards Caesar''s College, but due to the distance, it was difficult to see some, and he could only see that the surrounding boundaries hadpletely vanished.


    The battle was fierce, and the ancient and stately buildings could be seen turning to dust and copsing downward from time to time.


    Even the Nolo Library, the lifeblood of the colleges, had dropped by at least a tenth.


    Zavier shook his head, as if something big was about to happen this time.


    He was only concerned with one thing at the moment. Where had all the school''s professors went?


    If it was because some power had moved all of the school''s principal and professors away from the college, he would be able to figure out which power was behind the two waves of killers, or one of them.


    At this point, more and more people were rushing towards Caesar University on the roadside.


    The battle in the school district was quicklying to an end, and Zavier could no longer sense any magical fluctuations.


    When he saw this, he followed therge group to Caesar University.


    But when he arrived at the school, he was stopped by the guards, who said, "Uninvolved ones stay away."


    "I''m a student at this school, there was a killer chasing me just now, I was a little afraid to meet the killer again in the city, and I saw a lot of peopleing, so I followed back." Zavier said hurriedly.


    After hearing this, the guard shot a wink at hispanion and attempted to arrest him directly.


    "Everything I said is true, and my uncle is the Marquis of Val, and I represent the Adam family," Zavier said coldly.


    "Sorry, sorry, but there was a demon inside just now, and ording to the rules, all relevant people need to be cleared and quarantined by the Holy See," the guard who scowled said hurriedly, taking a step backwards somewhat awkwardly.


    Zavier gave a nod: "I won''t argue with you, but I need to wait until the family arrives before I can help with the investigation. I''m sorry, but I can''t trust anyone right now."


    Zavier was holding his ck cane and appeared extremely polite.


    The two guards were relieved by this courtesy.


    "Of course."


    "I didn''t see any demons when I was being chased, can you tell us what''s going on?" Zavier asked, seeing the two guards give in.


    "I heard that Devil Worker used ritual magic to link up with hell and called in demons to possess them," said the one who scowled and wanted to make a direct arrest.


    "I heard at least three captains were injured, and the danger level is between S- and SS-rank."


    The danger level was actually the professional''s level. Because of the various sealed artifacts, treasures, and so on, it was impossible to determine whether the person was S- or SS-level strength, but this simple and brutal grading made it easier to know the level of danger.


    Zavier thought the demon that came down was at least SS-ranked, or else he wouldn''t have used the [danger assessment] to decide he couldn''t fight it.


    He''d fought S-ranked mages before, and while he couldn''t beat them, he could at least block them for a short time.


    Zavier was perplexed; if this organization wanted to kill him, why did they only send an alchemist and a devil worker?


    If they wanted to kill him in one blow, two A-ss professionals who were very good at fighting, he would be killed in a sneak attack. He was able to resurrect Valerie thest time because her powerfulsted so long and he was able to recruit the clones.


    He didn''t n defense because the first thing he thought was that the school was announcing the list of entrants, and he didn''t think there would be any entrance ceremony or killer attack. If two A-ss professionals who were good at fighting attacked him at the same time, he might not be able to wait for the clone.


    Zavier went off to think, but his limited knowledge couldn''t help him.


    When he looked up, he noticed the two guards were staring at him. Despite the fact that no arrests were made, they were still concerned that he would flee.


    Zavier stood his ground; he was the victim, so there was no need for him to flee.


    It cannot be left alone at this time. Uncle Val''s protection didn''t work because his attackers were after him on campus, and the school couldn''t even keep its students safe.


    If he continued to go to school in such a dazed manner, he would have no idea how or when he would die one day. He didn''t want to be poisoned at home like he was the first time he crossed over.


    Regardless of which department came forward, he needed to know the exact name of the hidden power.


    Da-da-da...


    Behind Zavier, the sound of military boots stomping on the ground became audible.


    He didn''t need to look back to realize it had to be someone from the Empire.


    "This is Gus, the head of MI13 Caesar University District," the one who came said.


    "Hello." Zavier shifted his gaze to Gus, who was speaking.


    The man in front of him had a razor-sharp stare.


    "I need you to tell me the whole plots before and after the incident, preferably with the killer''s resemnce," he said indifferently.


    Except for the conversation with the Devil Worker, Zavier disyed it all without hesitation.


    Zavier gave Gus a serious look and said, "I need an exnation for this; why was a pdin among those who assassinated me first? Also, who was the person who attempted to murder me?"


    Gus, on the other hand, said as if he didn''t care, "I am not required to inform you of the findings of the investigation. You must be investigated immediately under thew, so please cooperate with us."

 Chapter 245 245 Conversations In The Classroom

    It was clear that Zavier didn''t like how this officer had just shown up out of the blue. Most people, including Mabel, would have rather talked to him than ignored him because he came from a noble family. It was possible that Gus and his uncle Val were political adversaries.


    "I will," he said as he stood there with his arms outstretched, "it is my duty as a member of the Adam family of the Hiling Empire."


    "Thank you for your cooperation," Gus said with a broad and sincere smile.


    Zavier then imnted his consciousness into the clone while conversing with Reba. This conceited youngdy was constantlyining about being excluded from the organization''s activities.


    "Are you absolutely certain that you want to join us?" Zavier decided to encourage her further.


    She gave a brief nk stare in response before nodding emphatically.


    "Yes!"


    That was sufficient on its own.


    "The organization must now figure out what is going on here, as well as the background map of the forces at work. You mustplete this practice mission. If you are capable of sessfullypleting this mission, I will consider inviting you to join our team."


    Reba eximed, "It''s a deal!" as she jumped up and down. She returned to campus immediately after that.


    In fact, Zavier didn''t think she would understand howplicated rtionships are. His original body, however, was being examined, and he couldn''t just show up on campus as a mystery, so he had no choice but to rely on the girl to help him look for clues to the mystery. Even though he knew Reba was unlikely to find anything, he believed that if there were other people who had a stake in the oue of her investigation, she would be more likely to find something.


    It suddenly urred to him how serious the situation was due to hisck of social connections.


    Despite the fact that his clones could perform a wide range of tasks, the vast majority of them shared a single consciousness. When faced with genuine challenges, he did not excel at creative problem solving.


    Whatever the reason, he needed to expand the size of his team. This was one of the most crucial points, and he would have to make a deliberate choice.


    Even if he didn''t go up against anyone in particr, he had to choose people who were skilled in a variety ofbat styles.


    He thought that mercenaries had the highest level of military skill because they put making money ahead of their own safety in battle. They mostly relied on raw power and pure intelligence, but he knew that raw power alone wasn''t always enough to protect himself.


    His primary goal was to find people who were skilled in a variety of disciplines. To take advantage of the skills of the other fighters, he would have to persuade the most skilledpetitors to join his team. Recruiting them alone would not be sufficient to solve the problem.


    He suddenly realized that the way clones shared information with each other was a lot like how people share information on the Inte. He might as well take advantage of the situation. Not only that, but his warehouse also functioned as a logistics station in space.


    He used to insist on getting everyone together because it gave him a better chance of getting rid of his opponents. Even though his strategy wasn''t to me for anything, it made it much harder for him to get more people to join his team.


    He just kept circling on spot.


    He learned more about what he couldn''t do, especially after he was attacked by those yers.


    In his mind, aprehensive strategy began to take shape over time.


    Reba''s return came just as Zavier was putting the finishing touches on a long-term development strategy for his formidable organization.


    "I''ve done my job, and now it''s up to you to deliver on what you promised," she said, a gleeful smile on her face.


    The incident had no effect on Zavier. "I think you should start with me."


    Reba was speaking slowly. "Kekkaishi, the person in charge of establishing the border, is an Elven Empire native with a quarter Elven ancestry. ording to the rumor, she joined the yer''s League at a young age."


    "Is it the Elves'' Empire?" Zavier''s thoughts turned to the seductive Calista.


    "The other person who used to be releasing demonic magic appears to be connected to the Dawn organization."


    "Seems?"


    "Yes, I''m not sure."


    "Where did you get that information?" Zavier asked, a grin on his face.


    "My master."


    Zavier recalled the elderly gentleman with the white beard. The bottle in the old man''s hand that could seal Chibiterasu impressed him. "Is there anything else?"


    "The Pope ordered the arrival of a new team of knights." Reba said, spreading her hands. "That''s all there is to it,"


    Zavier was taken aback by Reba''s performance. He had expected her to find only minor clues, but he had not expected the old man with the white beard behind her to have such a sophisticated intelligencework.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "I will respond to the organization''s senior management about your needs," he said, nodding his head.


    "Really? Great!" She danced by leaping and moving.


    He then told Reba to stay in campus until he informed her of the oue of the situation and then to leave.


    His consciousness returned to his original body and the memory of being interrogated quickly filled his brain.


    Gus'' demeanor was hostile, but not too difficult for him. Marquis Val arrived after some time had passed.


    Gus, dressed in his military uniform, appeared to be waiting for the marquis to appear.


    "You appear to have arrived a littleter than I had anticipated. Are you currently in a lot of trouble?" Gus let out a strange halfugh.


    "Just mind your own business," said Val, who was clearly irritated. "Follow me," he said, motioning towards Zavier.


    "Oh!" Zavier had a much more pessimistic attitude than he did.


    Gus didn''t really stop Val much, and it appeared that he was just trying to tease him.


    After Val led him into the ssroom, he put up a barrier that blocked the noise from outside and surrounded the area.


    "I heard from Vrie that you reached B rank, that''s good."


    Val''s words wereplimentary, but Zavier couldn''t make out any tone of voice in his delivery.


    "It is necessary for you to describe the events leading up to this mishap to me. Where are the people who are looking out for my safety behind the scenes?" Zavier was clearly dissatisfied with Val''s disregard for his responsibilities.


    "I nearly died!"


    Val''s expression never changed from none of guilt. "The truth is that you are still standing in front of me. Don''t have emotions in the face of adversity or you''ll die without a trace."


    "Instead of lecturing me, please provide me with an exnation." Zavier didn''t move an inch.


    Val''s intensity of gaze shifted slightly, and she let out a long sigh.


    "Ugh~"


    "They''re all dead."


    Zavier was visibly surprised, but he quickly recovered and continued. After all, he had learned about these urrences from Valerie.


    After a brief pause, he finally broke the silence with the question, "Who did it?"


    "Me."


    Zavier jerked his head up, his expression questioning, "What the fuck is going on here?"


    "Others among them went rogue and plotted to kill you in private, but they were foiled by another group just in time. Those traitors were executed with my own hands." When Val recounted these tense events, he did so in an unusually calm tone, almost as if he were having a rxed conversation about family matters.


    Zavier felt a flutter in his chest, but he chose not to investigate because he was well aware that his power was insufficient to deal with the situation.


    "What do you expect from me?"


    Zavier didn''t believe Val was talking to him alone to share information unrted to the main topic.


    Val''s eyes glowed with recognition at that moment. "We''re going to increase the number and quality of bodyguards protecting you, and we''re going to put some on the table. And all you have to do is keep pretending to be weak."


    "Is that it?" Zavier asked, with a curious cocking of the head.


    "To make things easier for you, they''ll pretend to be your friends or other rtives, and you''ll have to match their performance."


    "Got it," Zavier said solemnly.


    Val''s face lit up with tenderness as he looked at Zavier, but it vanished almost instantly. He then quickly withdrew the boundary and left.

 Chapter 246 246 Monica

    Nadia and Kacie were both standing outside the dormitory, ready to help him move into their new home and pack his belongings when he returned.


    Kacie took it upon herself to mention Alder, who hatred Zavier.


    "I''m still baffled as to why he''s after me, I admitted." Zavier seemed a little perplexed.


    "It doesn''t matter now that he''s been arrested," Kacie said with a grin.


    Zavier reacted with surprise and recoiled. "Doesn''t that seem like an excessive amount of punishment? After all, he was just trying to teach me a life lesson."


    Kacie responded, "It has nothing to do with you. I heard that he appears to have been used by others, which has resulted in more damage."


    "To employ a third party as a tool in themission of a crime?" This popped into Zavier''s head out of nowhere. Perhaps Alder was simply an idiot who was taken advantage of. After all, preventing backstabbing was the most difficult task.


    Nadia, on the other hand, couldn''t care less about the political conflict because her thoughts were entirely focused on the happy college life she would have with Zavier in the future. She thought that once she started college, they would have to find a new ce to live. She didn''t expect that her dad, Val, would move the family to the state capital.


    She softly hummed and grinned at the air around her, making her look like a drunken deer.


    On their way to their new home, a magnificent vi, the three of them rode in a carriage together.


    When they arrived at the gate, Kacie gave the attendant, who was apanied by Rainbo, the responsibility of carrying the luggage. Nadia approached Kacie and began to follow her.


    The maid unlocked the door and the three entered. It felt exactly like being at home, with everything looking exactly the same as it had before. Nadia smiled as she imagined her future life, when she would be able to live in this beautiful home with her adored older brother.


    It did appear to be a little extravagant.


    Rainbo eventually brought them something to eat after a short wait. As they ate their meal, which was mostly fruits and vegetables, they talked about what happened at school that day. Nadia was having a good time with Kacie and didn''t want anything to spoil it for her.


    Nadia began getting ready for bedter that night, after Kacie had already gone to bed. Because Zavier didn''t have the luxury of leisure time, he feltpelled to get started on his n as soon as possible. He could now create eight clones, but only he had reached the B rank; the highest rank any of the others had achieved was the C rank. It was critical that he quickly increase both his strength and the size of his team.


    He gave orders to all of the clones, telling them to form a decentralizedwork and travel across the country in search of anyone who could help him. It would take a considerable amount of time. Following that, the clones were separated into their own distinct individuals. He was confident that each of them would search the entire country in order to find the people they desired.


    Meanwhile, he needed someone to tell him about the people who lived in the kingdom''s capital city. He was curious as to who his opponents would be. This would give him the chance to prepare something.


    He gave it a lot of thought before finally falling asleep, and when he went to school the next day, he was surprised to see Dah had returned. He had assumed she had abandoned him.


    "I found what you were looking for." When she handed him a list, Zavier''s reaction was unexpectedly startled.


    He hadn''t expected Dah to collect so much about potion.She also appeared to be supported by arge family.


    "I''m sorry to say that I can''t help you with some valuable resources anymore because I''ve reached the end of my abilities."


    Zavier was overjoyed as a result of this. "I''m pleased with how everything turned out." Following that, he asked, "You can tell me if there is anything you want, and I will apply to the organization."


    Dah had made so many contributions to the organization that he felt obligated to thank her in some way. Zavier knew that an organization that demanded egregious things from its members would not be sessful.


    Dah''s eyes brightened when she heard that. After a brief moment of thought, he cocked his head and dered, "It would be nice to have an ice ambergris."


    This caused Zavier to squint, followed by a hesitant smile. "You have a healthy appetite, which is not at all bad. You must emphasize the importance of striking a bnce between giving and receiving."


    Even though ice ambergris was scarce, there was no market for it. Because it is only useful to magi who have a natural talent for ice magic. Dah is well aware of her physical limitations, and as a result, she desires to improve her physical strength.


    Dah lifted her chin confidently and dered, "I will give everything I have to be stronger."


    Zavier didn''t press her for information too hard because he assumed she had apelling reason for wanting to be more powerful.


    He then transferred his consciousness into another clone close to theexchange. He searched the storage area for the pendant Hansa had given him, and then infused it with mana. The pendant reacted quickly, and a voice could be hearding from within it.


    "Hey! Captain, you are there?"


    "I need your help. I''m near that exchange from before; would it be convenient for you toe over here?"


    "What a coincidence, me too!"<novelnext></novelnext>


    The two then met at the exchange''s front door.


    Hansa was dressed more casually thest time he saw her, but this time she appeared to be on a date with her boyfriend.


    "You''ve only gotten more beautiful since west saw you." When it came topliments, Zavier didn''t hold back.


    "I''ll help you out for yourpliments," Hansa said as she spun around.


    "That would be great!" Zavier handed her the list of ingredients and asked, "Here are some that I gathered; how many bottles of potion can you make?"


    Hansa was clearly taken aback by the amount on the list, eximing, "My goodness, did you rob some nobleman?" She realized that this might be a bit offensive, then continued, "There are many different kinds of potion, and ording to your list, I can probably make one hundred bottles," she said after a brief pause.


    "Not bad," Zavier said, nodding. Following that, he inquired, "Is there anything else I can do for you?" He had the impression that they didn''t know each other well enough to help each other for free.


    Hansa cocked her head to the side and asked, "Can I see your face?" after a brief pause in which she appeared to be pondering something. She appeared to be anticipating something.


    This clearly caught Zavier off guard a little.


    He hadpletely lost trust in other people due to his lifelong history of being targeted for murder. He quickly realized, however, that the young girl had no ill will toward him because he could offer a more realistic exchange of benefits than the young girl seeing his true face.


    Hansa was quick to crack a perfectly timed joke, "Haha, I''m teasing you. Will you let me join your organization?"


    Zavier agreed without hesitation, saying, "Sure, the organization iscking elites like you."


    Hansa is a skilled healer with extensive knowledge of alchemy. There is no reason for Zavier to refuse. And with someone as capable as her, Zavier would never allow her to engage the adversary inbat.


    Following that, Zavier removed arge amount of materials from the storage area, and Hansa then took out a space ring and used it to draw the materials inside.


    The space ring was a luxury artifact with its own storage space. Hansa, Zavier reasoned, must have had the support of a wealthy family to get where she was today.


    After the important talks were over, Zavier broke his connection with Hansa and went back to the body he had before.


    The start of the next academic term was still a long way off, so the majority of freshmen would make the most of their time by improving themselves as much as possible before the start of the new term. This did not bother Zavier in the least; rather, he was bothered by a number of other things.


    He discovered Harry was nowhere to be found after an uninvited visit, but he couldn''t help but feel a pang of nostalgia for the crusty old man. The residents of the neighborhood are baffled as to where this enigmatic elderly man has gone. He could have been standing around somewhere, watching the girls as they showered.


    Arge figure came to a halt in front of him, just as he was about to begin walking down the desertedne alone.


    A plump figure stopped in front of him as he left to walk alone down the desertedne.


    ? "I''m sorry, sexy... Would you rather pretend to be my boyfriend, or get to know the real me? I have no objections to either, man."


    Zavier looked up to see a sexy girl in a enchanting pose in front of him. It was impressive that the girl had a mountainous and fat ass.


    The youngdy approached him right away and asked, "Didn''t the Marquis mention me to you?"


    Almost immediately, Zavier realized that this person was supposed to be the member Val had mentioned cing on the table to protect him. It appeared that the role that this girl yed was that of his girlfriend.


    "I was aware of it, but he did not provide any additional information."


    The youngdy wiggled the swaying fat ass and walked next to him while doing so. "My name is Monica, I''m 21 years old, and I have the S rank and the mage ability''s genius tier. Your protection will begin immediately and willst indefinitely, either until the mission ispleted or until..." She concluded on a somber note, saying, "you die."


    Zavier was unfazed by the provocative statement because he''d been in fights that ended in death before, and he put his arm directly on her waist. "Given what''s happened, it''s very likely that you''ll die a lot sooner than I will."


    Monica inquired, looking a little surprised that her work ploy had failed. She did not sever Zavier''s hand but did seize his arm. "Isn''t it the mutual cooperation that makes the y more realistic? It''s the mutual assistance."


    Zavier was taken aback by the girl''s carefree demeanor. He had intended to take advantage of the situation at first, but he had not anticipated that the girl would be uninterested.


    They appeared to be a couple deeply in love as they strolled side by side, arm in arm, along the deserted path.


    The two actors'' journey had officially begun.


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