Capítulo 23: Changes
"Hey, are you alright?"
Neo's heavy eyelids slowly opened as he woke up after hearing a somewhat loud voice by his ears.
"Urgh..." Neo groaned as he tried to move his body, but it didn't answer to his will and only made him feel pain on every inch.
"Are you okay?" The person asked with a sweet, soothing and relatively high pitch voice that Neo was sure that belonged to woman.
"Who are you?" Neo struggled to focus his eyes on the person, but all he saw was a blurred figure at the side of his bed. He didn't know why, but he felt that he had heard such voice before, he just didn't remember when and where.
Despite with his eyes open, he couldn't see anything, only blurred figures and shadows.
It also didn't help the fact that the moment he woke up, a splitting headache came forth with full force, making him frown his eyebrows from the pain.
"I'm Kellith." The blurred figure answered Neo's question, "But people prefer to call me Kelly."
[Kelly?] The name indeed rang a bell. In less than a second, Neo remembered when he heard such voice. It was when he just woke up in Elana's house.
[If I remember correctly, Kelly was that white young girl about 16 years with slight curly, black hair, and a black eyes, that was beside me the moment I woke up after exhausting my mana in the fight with the demon that controlled marionettes.]
"Uhm?" Neo looked at his surroundings and realized that he was on his bedroom, more specifically, lying in his own bed.
[What...?] Neo was confused. He tried to remember what happened yesterday, and came to the conclusion that he fell unconscious in the living room's floor.
That means...how did he woke up in his own bed?
Neo also lifted his sheets and saw that he was also with other clothes, it was a simple white pajamas, completely different from his ruined, and bloodied clothes as a result of his..."fight"...with Bog.
[It was really a dream?] Neo asked himself, but then he remembered the girl that was just beside him, [Maybe she...]
"Hey." Neo called Kellith out with a cold tone. Since she already knew a little about his true nature as when he just woke up at Elana's house, he didn't bother trying to act all friendly and warm in front of her.
"Y-y-yes?" Kelly's lips quivered as she hurriedly answered and lowered her head to dodge from Neo's cold and eerie eyes.
"It was you..." Neo was about to asked something when he shut his mouth and changed his words, "When you arrived, where was I?"
"Uh?" Kelly was surprised by the strange question and unconsciously lifted her head just in time to catch Neo's piercing glare staring at her, "Y-y-you... I-I-I rang t-t-the doorbell a f-f-few times, b-b-but Y-y-you didn't answer, s-s-so I-I-I entered u-u-using a key g-g-given t-t-to me b-b-by Elana. I-I-I walked a-a-a-around t-t-trying t-t-to find y-y-you, a-a-and saw t-t-t-that y-y-you were s-s-till sleeping i-i-in y-y-your bed."
Neo was slightly annoyed about her quivering and how slow she was to speak, but he pressed down his annoyance and questioned again, "What about my clothes? Was I already in this white pajamas?"
Being asked such question so suddenly made Kelly blush profusely until almost her whole face was red, "W-w-w-w-w-what a-a-a-a-are y-y-y-y-you s-s-s-s-saying!?!?!?" She retreated a few steps in panic.
Neo's lips twitched as he observed her reaction, "Forget about it..." He decided to just ignore his situation for now, "Why are you here?"
"Well..." Kelly fidget a little before finding finally replying, "Elana seemed to be worried since you didn't come to school and sent me to check if everything is okay."
Neo was surprised for a moment and then turned his head to look at the window.
The sky was painted with a beautiful orange coloration of the sunset.
[Looks like my injury was really bad. It took almost an entire day to recover enough to allow me to move my body...] Neo thought to himself, [I, probably, unconsciously changed clothes and came to rest in the bed while I was under recovery.]
Neo shook his head and tried to get up, but his whole body ached at every single movement.
If not for his high pain tolerance, he wouldn't be able to bear with all the pain he was suffering.
Kelly saw that something was wrong with Neo and approached to help him.
The moment she got closer Neo immediately glared at her with cold eyes that clearly threatened to kill if she got a little more closer.
Meeting those frosty eyes made Kelly shudder and stop on her tracks, she immediately backed away an inch, creating some distance between herself and Neo.
The moment he saw that Kelly gave up in getting closer, Neo ignored her presence and slowly stood up amid his pain and numbness.
"Where's Elana?" Neo asked Kelly when he got on his feet.
"She's still on school." Kelly answered without delay as she was very scared of this emotionless and cold person in front of her.
"I have to talk with her..." Neo said in a low tone.
His face was dark as he really thought whatever or not he really needed to ask for help.
Although he didn't have much pride and neither arrogance, he really hated asking favor to people.
"Why are you still here?" Neo threw a side glance at Kelly, "You can go now. Tell Elana that I will be coming in just a few minutes."
"Y-y-yes!" Kelly answered swiftly and immediately retreated from his room like she was fleeing from something very dreadful.
The moment Neo went towards the wardrobe, his reflection on the mirror that was just at the side entered in his sight.
Neo immediately stopped on his tracks as he saw some clear changes on his body through the image in the mirrors.
His hair, which a few hours ago was a mixture of black and white, became completely white just like snow.
Seeing such change in his physical appearance, Neo decided to check for changes inwardly as well, and he soon realized something that really surprised him.
The restless voices of those vengeful souls within him were gone. Not a single voice echoing in his mind.
After decades dealing with those voices, he learned how to ignore them to the point he almost forgot that they were continuously echoing within his mind.
Usually those voices would only bother him when he was in a perilous situation that make the souls excited as they couldn't wait for him to die.
This was the first time in thousands of years that he could finally feel peaceful and think clearly.
Of course Neo had some clue as why this was happening.
The origin of his Law of Darkness came from the power in the souls he absorb.
But probably because Bog sealed his Law of Darkness, the voices were also sealed.
Neo was elated, but his happiness was soon washed away when he remembered his powerlessness.
With his Law of Darkness sealed he couldn't use dark magic.
He was different from demons that could use dark magic without understating of the Law.
Mainly because his Law wasn't something he completely earned by himself, but it was something that was partially granted to him.
Without the Law, Neo could use all types of magic but dark ones, which was a very big trouble to him.
Since he learned how to use magic, he always specialized in dark magic.
Although he have some memories from all types of mages within him, he couldn't reach those memories and see them, since the souls were sealed away.
He could have fused his own memories with those belonging to the people absorbed, but this would mean completely erasing what little remained of himself, of what he can be sure to belong to himself.
His own memories, be them good and bad, he would never fuse them with the ones he stole from other people.
So, he couldn't learn other types of magic faster.
Without those memories and without his Law of Darkness, he was completely powerless.
He only knew a few basic light magics, his new body's other expertise.
[Looks like I will need the school's help after all. I could probably learn a few things about light magic there.] Neo grimly thought to himself. He wanted to just keep the appearances and just be present in that institution until he got stronger or found information about his target, but from the looks of it, he would have to stay there and learn to get stronger, at least until the seal is broken.
Neo changed into the school's uniform and walked out of his apartment.
...
At Gwindor's school, Neo had just crossed the gates.
Immediately after putting his foot on the institution, he changed his aura and personality.
He became the warm and gentle Neo that he presented himself as in the first day he went to school.
The normal students of the school that were busy with their clubs or were just studying but were leaving at the end of the day looked with awe at the handsome white-haired Neo with his enchanting golden eyes.
Boys and girls alike couldn't help but spare a few glanced at Neo as he walked pass them with a warm and gentle smile on his face, capturing a few hearts belonging those young maidens.
While he was maintaining a gentle outward appearance, his inward thoughts were almost all about how much he regret his choice of personality, and how troublesome it is to keep his act.
But there was no vengeful voices echoing in his head, and no inner demons to mess around with his mind and briefly take control over his emotions. He was much more peaceful and controlled after he had killed those two brutes and absorbed their souls.
The sensation of freedom and peacefulness on his head made Neo acting even better.
...
As Elana was a student of the S class, Neo concluded that the most probable location she would be was the building where he had classes yesterday.
Neo glanced at the tall building in front of him and was about to swing the door open when someone opened the door from the other side.
"Huh?" The person that was exiting the edifice looked at Neo in surprised for a moment before flashing a flirty smile.
"Your name must be Neo, if I'm not wrong." The good-looking boy in front of Neo said with his suave voice.
Neo glanced at the boy that was fixing his silver hair and staring at himself with crimson eyes.
Searching his memories, he couldn't come if the boy's name and so he said with a gentle smile plastered on his face, "Yes, I'm Neo. Nice to meet you..."
"Oh...right, I haven't introduced myself." The boy said apologetically before introducing himself, "I'm Raychovick Crest, but you can call me Ray. I'm a Light Mage, by the way." Raychovick extended his hand.
"Nice to meet you, Ray." Neo said as he also extended his hand.
The moment both hand touched each other, Raychovick's eyes widened a bit and his smile twitched a little.
Of course such minuscule changes didn't went pass Neo's piercing eyes.
Although he saw the changes in expression, Neo didn't know what made Raychovick have such reactions.
"I see..." Commented Ray in a low whisper that Neo barely heard.
Neo's eyes became cold as their hands separated from each other.
He couldn't read Raychovick's thoughts to know exactly what was going on his head and he neither could get a clue from that static smiling expression on his face.
"I have to go now, Elana must be waiting for me." Neo said as he walked past Raychovick. He really wanted to get away from this person least he find out a bit of his secrets.
Seeing Neo walk away, Raychovick's eyes flashed with an unknown light, "Who did you kill?"
The unexpected question caught Neo by surprise, making him immediately stop on his track.
"Excuse me?" Despite the surprising question, Neo's face didn't change a bit as he turned around with his usual gentle smile.
But inwardly his mind was racing, thinking if he had left any clue behind or anything that could have traced back to him, but even after thinking for while he arrived to no conclusion.
When "he" killed both the ruffians "he" even made sure to use the absolute minimum amount of mana and no Magic so that it could be traced back to him.
All this thinking only took a split of second. His expression remained the same, but his eyes became colder as they glowed with a faint killing intent. "What kind of question is that?" He asked.
"Your killing intent is extremely faint today, just like your dark aura that's very mild at present, almost inexistent." Raychovick's sharp eyes glinted as he looked up and down at Neo, "Even though you cleaned up all the smell from your body, I can still tell that you probably killed someone. Not only your killing intent is under control, your emotions and behavior are way better than yesterday. When I met with you, at the classroom yesterday, your emotions and killing intent were forcibly being held down by you, at the brink of going berserk, but now it seems that you have them under control."
Raychovick explained slowly, "Of course this also had some of my deduction as a Light Mage. I'm very sensible to things such as killing intent, bloodlust, and...the aura of death, such as the one around you, today. While you also had the aura of death yesterday, it was very faint, almost disappearing, but today it got a lot stronger. That could only mean that you killed recently."
Neo squinted his eyes and approached Raychovick.
He swiftly extended his hand to grab him.
But...
Raychovick's figure immediately disappeared the moment his hand touched him.
Neo sensed something and looked behind him.
There he was, outside the S class building, with a wide smile on his face.
"We'll have time to play together very soon, there's no reason to be impatient, mister murderer~" He said playfully.
[Illusion...] This was the only possible conclusion Neo could come with, after all, the moment he entered in the classroom yesterday he had gauged the strength of everyone in the class, and neither of them were that strong. In terms of elements, there was also no space or time mage, which Neo could say that Raychovick didn't warped or something like that. In terms of raw strength he could possibly defeat all of them, in terms of magic it was inevitable that he would easily overpower them, or so was how he thought.
"Bye~" Raychovick waived his hand as his body slowly blended with the surroundings and disappeared right in front of Neo's face.
Despite Neo focusing on the changes in his surroundings, he didn't manage to grasp how Raychovick disappeared.
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