Chapter 8: Welcome Back Yohan...
Warning... Too talkative
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It was sudden. Before she even asked anything regarding the trip, Yohan simply avoided her questions and only instructed her to accompany him on the bus.
And here she was accompanying him on a bus with no travelling along with them. He was wearing a black suit with a black shirt, black pants and black shoes, while she was dressed in a shiny white gown.
There were at least five seat gaps between them and both of them were sitting on opposite sides. Ramika was seated on the right side third seat, while Yohan was far behind her on the left side.
"Are you up for a conversation?" she asked, bored of the defeating silence that was going on for almost an hour.
Yohan nodded, allowing her to initiate a talk, while he was rubbing his nape, annoyed.
"Why do you have so many names?"
"Names? Like plural? I never knew that—"
"Grim Reaper, Ghost, The One, Immortal, Devilman, Uncrowned King... There are countless, actually."
Yohan sighed, clicking his tongue and tapping his feet. Thinking deeply to himself, he spoke after a short silence.
"Well... those are not mine. Those names belong to different persons..."
"Different persons? Like DIFFERENT?"
"Yes... different. Those are different individuals. And those are their names—"
"Then why they are calling you using those? All these were used synonymously with the Uncrowned King—"
"Stop saying that! Sounds awful. I... I can't really explain it to you that well, but those names belong to some excellent assassins of the underworld... Grim-Reaper, Ghost... They earned those titles with their achievements. Legends," Yohan firmly said before whispering, "It's just collateral," while his face dimmed down saying that.
Ramika observed Yohan with her frowning eyes and she sensed something was off but couldn't put a finger on it.
"So, you're not the grim-reaper?"
"Nope."
"The one who tried to assassinate Brooke Wilson?"
"Absofuckinglutely not! That's the legend I was talking about—"
"Midland Party Assassination?"
"Who is spreading such outrageous theories? NO!"
Ramika almost felt her brain melting and not able to take the frustration, she yelled out at Yohan.
"THEN WHY THE FUCK DO THEY CALL YOU A KING? WHAT THE HECK DID YOU EVEN DO IN THE UNDERWORLD?"
A strong silence followed. Yohan flinched away from facing Ramika as he dropped his chin to the ground. Ramika understood Yohan wouldn't answer that, but not before wasting her time waiting for him to answer her.
She turned away and pouted in anger, miffed at Yohan. She took a green-coloured tin can and opened it, with a *whoosh* sound of the soda dripping out. She took a sip and clicked her tongue, feeling the carbonated drink.
"Soda? Do you have another?"
Ramika said nothing back and just threw another can of soda towards Yohan, whose slippery hands failed to catch it.
"Careful with that, will you? Good thing, it didn't break open—"
"You're an elite assassin and you don't know to catch a can of soda?"
"I was nothing but a clerk... And I'm clumsy as hell, so don't rely on me often."
*whoosh* the side dripped out, as Yohan opened it. He only took a sip but spat it out immediately, panicking. He tasted something familiar, and the scent was something familiar.
"Did you buy the soda? or..."
"Sana gave it to me... You know the girl with spectacles—"
"You are chased by an army of assassins and you still received freebies from others?" he berated her, breathing heavily and his eyes wandering.
"She's my frie—wait. Whoa! Why my head is feeling dizzy?"
Ramika saw her vision getting fuzzy and her sense of hearing getting dead. She felt her knees losing its life and her chest beat faster than ever.
"Am I getting assassinated, Yohan? Is it poisoned or something?"
"Don't worry... we're just getting captured. The drink is laced with a certain... kind of anaesthesia..."
*THUD* Ramika fell out of her seat, cold and out. Yohan, too, felt his strength to stay awake, losing out to the drink. He sighed and looked annoyed as his eyes slowly blacked out.
"Goddamn, that woman..."
*THUD*
--
In a totally different place, which was dark and devoid of light, Yohan slowly opened his eyes, gaining consciousness. Then he realized he was actually blindfolded and handcuffed from behind. The first sound he heard using his recovering sense of hearing was a muffled noise of someone gagging.
'Must be Ramika. Guess she got her mouth plastered with tape or something...'
A soft sound of heels walking around was heard, and it was getting close to him with each step.
"How was the normal life, Yohan?" a seductive yet familiar voice hissed to Yohan's ears, evoking a smile mixed with contempt from him.
"Haa... It was you. Diana—" Yohan halted as he felt his blindfold being ripped off forcibly, exposing his eyes to the bright light above him.
The bright light above blinded him for a moment and it took a while for him to adjust after being in the dark for a while. But it was not easy for a man like Yohan. He tightly shut his eyelids and fumed.
"GOSH! If it's you... then you would know better that I have a certain condition—"
"Yeah, yeah, I know... I'm actually getting your sunglasses back, don't worry."
A pair of hands caressed his cheeks for a second while they were at putting the sunglasses on his face. Yohan opened his eyes and took a good look at the woman standing before him through the glasses.
"So... how do I look?" asked Diana, the woman standing before Yohan, with a bright smile but in a shocking attire.
"Where are your... clothes?"
Diana chuckled, giggling with her hands covering her mouth.
"Well, I had an urgent appointment a few minutes before... Had to seduce an old bastard and slit his throat. So... did the work and took a bath—"
"You can still wrap yourself with a long coat or a bathrobe... Please, do that."
Diana sighed disappointingly. She gestured at her henchmen to bring a bathrobe and wrapped herself.
Yohan, though kind of overwhelmed, still observed the surrounding in a matter of seconds. It was a dim castle and a room mirroring a *Royal Court*. A pair of old monks dressed in judge attire sitting on their respective royal seats behind Diana and guards armed with melee weapons positioned around the room, and importantly, Ramika, who was blindfolded and plastered with tape around her mouth, sitting on his left.
"Ramika... Good to know that you're still alive," he muttered to himself, still audible for Ramika, who was mumbling with her muffled mouth and struggling to break free of the handcuffs.
"So... did you read the room? I mean, it's obvious and natural—"
"I am in a trial. Why?"
A small smirk escaped from Ramika's lips at Yohan's question. She walked all the way to the empty seat decorated like a throne, which was in the middle, between the monks.
"You see... We don't have the same influence on the Underworld as before. We lost our individuality and had to suck up to the officials to survive and keep our place in the Underworld."
Yohan silently listened, sighing in between as some of it had happened solely because of him and him alone.
Diana continued,
"Had to lobby hard to secure this post... Head Of Damage Control. This clan survives purely because of my position and the Underworld's need for security and stuff. But we do have loyalists. It was a hassle, but these two old bastards are the ones I can gather for now, so that I can do as I wish in this trial for you—"
"Aww! You do have a good heart. I am really indebted to your—"
"Nope. This way, I can torture you on *my* terms and have a strong hand in your judgement."
Yohan wanted to slap himself hard for even speculating something good from Diana. He sighed deeply and nodded to himself while lamenting.
"Of course, of course... Okay, whatever, I'll comply, but just leave the girl out of this, okay? It's a plea. A request—"
"Do you really think, you are in a position to make demands, Yon? I don't think so... Good thing that Lance found you easily. Still a prick."
While keeping a straight face and glued towards Yohan, Diana snapped her fingers at her guards and they immediately rushed to grab Ramika and drag her in front of Yohan.
"Agree to the terms and I'll think of sparing her."
"What an ex-assassin can even do for... Damage control? Is the name right?"
"Yeah, it is. Just... Agree—" Diana halted on her own, as she felt a sharp glare penetrating her from Yohan. She felt the aura of death whirling around him as she understood Yohan was not in a good mood to agree.
"Should I ask politely? Please... Agree? Does that sound good?"
"To what? I am not interested in returning to that blood-stained life... You guys can keep that to yourself. Leave me alone—" Yohan felt interrupted as he saw Diana breaking into loud laughter, as she pressed her hands against her tummy, trying to hold back her laughter.
"I'm sorry... I'm — Why don't you listen to me? I mean... If you want peace, doesn't that require the world to be in peace too?"
Yohan frowned and blinked, confused by the absurd question.
"Elaborate..."
*WHOOOSH!*
Diana dashed off like a bolt of lightning and brought her face alarmingly close to Yohan. His messy black hair bounced from the wind that came from his ex-fiancee's super speed.
He felt her breathing up close and the scent of the blood she drank nauseated him.
"If you want your peaceful life to remain peaceful... You need to keep the madness from the other side in check. And for your information, the madness on this *other* side is NOT IN CHECK!"
Yohan calmly took the words while Diana brought her lips close to his, almost touching them.
"Come back, Yohan... If you want to save your peaceful world."
Chapter 9: He Is MERELY A Human...
The sound of the thunder was the only noise that was heard louder than the horrifying screams of the men slain by the blade.
It was a graveyard in the 'Nameless' City - An abandoned city which was once allocated to carry out for assassins to host their private functions like weddings, parties and funerals. There under the heavy rain, holding her gravely injured father on her lap, Diana was astounded by what she saw. The army of hundred assassins who almost succeeded in defeating the great vampire lord, Edward Jones, failed miserably because of one man.
Under the rain, Diana saw the man struggling to stand, bleeding from the dozens of cuts he endured from the battle. His black suit, for the supposed occasion, turned pale from the thick splashes of blood it got drenched in.
With no one around to arrive for their help or to assist the 'man', Diana was saddened, shocked and disgusted by the fact that it was 'him' out of everyone, who saved her. She was too tired to form sentences, but she still managed to utter one word.
"Yohan..." she muttered in a whispery tone while her eyelids struggled to stay still. Yohan, the man, turned back to her. He could hear the hundred more men rushing to him from a distance. His eyes screamed 'focused'.
"Just manage for a few minutes, Ma'am... We're going home soon," saying the words from his severely injured vocal cords, he again picked up his blood-stained, cracked Katana, and walked forward to continue his battle, which changed the 'Underworld' drastically as they knew it.
That night, a total of five hundred elite assassins were killed and three hundred 'A' grade assassins were left handicapped by a single man who was in fact, a mere 'Human' working as nothing but a low-level clerk for the Vampire clan.
PRESENT--
Yohan could feel the haunting eyes of Diana glued on him, as he awkwardly tried to remain calm amidst the constant glare. It was understandable since it was nearly six years since he had met his ex-fiancee and he don't know how to initiate a talk or have a topic in hand to even talk.
In a car, with just them in the backseat, Diana was waiting for Yohan to say something while remaining silent throughout. She was disappointed and enraged by the fact that Yohan not only refused to accept her proposal to join her side in protecting the underworld but also refused to ask for help in protecting Ramika.
"If me joining the underworld again is the requirement... then I don't need your help in protecting her. I can manage this on my own..."
The words he spoke in front of her guards, and her pet judges bruised Diana's ego a lot. But she also felt a sharp chill on her bone, as she saw a glimpse of the monster she saw that fateful night back six years ago.
"You lied to the authority, lied to the trainers, lied to my father, made a mockery out of the underworld... Made a mockery out of me—"
"It was just a petty thought... I was just greedy..."
"Greedy of what?" Diana's question met with a grief-stricken stare from Yohan. He sadly smiled, stammering to talk.
"I... I wanted you guys to see me in a different light. Something I hoped you may like... Guess, no one did," Yohan chuckled, smiling brightly, but his dull eyes showed what he was feeling inside - Pain. His constantly avoiding eyes painted the pain he felt for Diana to catch a glimpse.
"Maybe you could have shown the real 'you'. The monster you unleashed that day..." Diana said with a frown as she witnessed a grim look on Yohan's face.
"The monster you unleashed wreaked havoc in the underworld even after you left... It flipped the table, and the rumble was catastrophic for the people in power to handle. If it was a little earlier, then as a clan we could have benefitted a lot."
Sooner she said, she felt a piercing glare from Yohan.
"I am merely a human, unlike you and your kind. A human child who had nothing to do in the world of darkness. But I was indebted to your father, the emperor... So, I merely served the emperor... The Lord who raised me and cared for me. And when he was no more, what was left for me to even stay?"
Diana's blue eyes widened as she was reminded of 'that' day immediately after hearing Yohan.
It was a gloomy evening. Standing before her father's grave, she saw the powerful men from every corner of the earth gathered, paying their last respects. But she could hear the silent giggles and whispers celebrating her father's death. She wanted to rip their heads off, but she felt she had something at that moment to protect, and that thought calmed her down.
But her world came crashing down when she saw the badge she once gave to certain someone, back on her palm.
"I'm leaving, ma'am... Thanks for everything," he said.
Diana never knew that would be the last time she would see his 'real' eyes before he shielded them with a pair of sunglasses permanently.
It felt like it was yesterday for her. The moist eyes, and the plastic smile on Yohan when he bid goodbye haunted her for years. And here he was, sitting next to her, but not even willing to face her side.
"Do you think you can handle the 'Order', Yon?"
"Hmm?" Yohan asked, surprised, as he was distracted for a few seconds.
"Tch! Do you think you can handle it? The underworld will send hordes of assassins after you... You need to pick a side."
"I don't... And even if I get forced to, it won't be yours—"
"Yon! Literally we are your home... I am your betrothed! what else do you need?"
"You *were* my betrothed. Not anymore..."
"Yeah, yeah, I get it... I am saying, if you need to pick a side, we are the natural choice for you..."
With flared-up eyes, Yohan turned towards Diana. The restraint to not show his anger was visible through his dead eyes.
"I think we are done... Drop me off. I'll walk on my own."
Diana's lips twitched and she sighed deeply as she moved her face away from Yohan. She maintained her royal posture but her eyes were eager for something; they craved something.
"Sure... And what about the girl?"
"Drop her off at the college. She'll walk herself to the hostel."
Hearing Yohan's dead-set replies, Diana snapped her fingers at her driver who kicked the brakes. Yohan stepped out and proceeded to walk away without even bothering to turn back at Diana and say anything. But Diana did.
"The war will force you, Yon... You will be forced to pick a side!"
*THUD!* she shut the door, waving her fingers as she tried to calm herself down. But a smirk escaped from her lips.
"Ahhh... I really wanted to see his face... The face he makes when he lost everything..."
--
Walking all alone on the deserted road, Yohan was processing his thoughts recalling all the things Diana discussed with him.
"A war, huh? War among the clans... Tch! Why can't they just zip it up and live in peace..." he muttered to himself, while also recalling Diana's words.
'The Clans are at war with each other, itching to claim the bigger power... The power to outgrow the influence of the Elders on the Underworld. When that happens, the sacred rules and code of conduct will be tossed to the wind...
'The existence of the Underworld might come into the light and the humans will be endangered as the residents of the Underworld are already getting tired of the servant-master roleplay they were being forced to play... When the tiredness turns into frustration, then only god can save humanity.'
The words and the gravity they held, were crystal clear to Yohan, but could not even care the least. It was not like he had any attachments to humans nor concerned about the Underworld. He was treated as shit by both sides; neglected and left to die by the humans, and raised and moulded by the Underworld to kill.
With these thoughts running rampant in his mind, he suddenly felt startled, as his senses picked up a presence. A presence of a female, hiding behind the shadows.
It was already past midnight and the shops, and restaurants were closed nearby, with the flickering streetlight being the only source of light at the moment. Yohan calmly walked to the alleyway and stood there, waiting.
Faint footsteps on the muddy ground were heard. And Yohan turned his back to see a girl with glasses and dressed in a school uniform walking towards his side.
"It is an honour to meet you, Sir..." she meekly spoke, with her chin dropped to the ground in respect. In the faint light, Yohan could guess who the girl was, but he was a little shocked.
"Jeez... You're the girl who was hanging around with Ramika, right? what's your name?"
The girl lifted her head up and faced Yohan dead straight.
"It's Sana, sir... And I politely request you to drop your guard... otherwise, it might get nasty when I kill you..."
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
200+ Power
Ranking 
0 Power
stone 
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