บท 123: A New Objective
"You know, I've never cut classes before. Much less on the first day of school."
"You lost a family member, you can ask the school for a couple of weeks off. Cutting a class is hardly anything."
"I guess you're right."
James laughed lightly but Sebastian could see that like Amy, he didn't have a single bit of rest since that night. He had bags under his eyes and he looked so tired that Sebastian wouldn't be surprised if he suddenly fainted.
—You're not the culprit.
Though Balanos had kept trying to convince him, until his memories were restored by Arler, he couldn't be completely sure.
Then again, there wasn't any need for him to kill Markus and neither could he do so even Soul Armor.
At the very least, Sebastian would suffer some serious wounds even if he were to defeat Markus.
Still, Sebastian couldn't completely rule himself out just yet. Even if he were to believe that he wasn't the one to kill Markus.
"How was my father?"
"He… he was a very fun person. He kept on making jokes and helped lighten the mood whenever the air turned heavy."
"That sounds like him…"
James leaned forward and buried his head in his legs. The two of them were sitting on the wall at the side of the school. Nobody could see them here, but it wasn't as if it was completely safe.
"Uncle Bryan was also strong."
"Right? The reason I never lost hope in training my ability is him. Though he never really told me what his position was in the House of Luna, I'm guessing he must've been some big shot."
"He was Lord Markus' right hand."
"That was way more than I expected."
"Do you know how he revealed his power to me?"
"Knowing him, it's probably something flashy. He's always had a thing against people thinking that he's weak because we can only control fog and mist."
James chuckled. This time, it was a little more genuine. Talking about the person he admired was better than mourning for his death.
"He took me in front of a peak Caster-ranked beast and crushed it in a single hit. He showed it to me, an Apprentice."
"Hahaha!"
Finally, James smiled and laughed out loud.
"He was a great father."
In the middle of James' laugh, he began crying. He held up both of his hands to his eyes and continued to wipe away the tears that kept flowing down.
"He… was the best father I could ever ask for. Everything… everything he could do, he did for us…"
James' wall had finally broken.
All of the pain and sadness that he felt in the past few days all came gushing out as he vented his woes on Sebastian.
"Why?! Why did he have to die?! He still had plenty of years left ahead of him!"
Sebastian bit his lip and grasped James' shoulder.
"I promise you, I'll find the culprit behind this and put him to justice. I may not be able to do it soon, but one day, I'll avenge Uncle Bryan."
"Haha… thanks."
James suddenly stood up. Though he had a great deal of faith in Sebastian, trying to deal with someone behind the death of a house head was too far for him.
At the very least, it'd take him more than just a few years. And, James didn't want Sebastian to be put into danger just to avenge his father.
"Even if you want to do it, you won't be able to. I'll put the culprit to justice before you do."
"Heh. Dream on, we both know which of us is stronger."
"Unexpected things happen."
The two of them bickered for a while before returning back to their classrooms. Or at least, James did. Sebastian headed straight for Amy's classroom and picked her up as it was already break time.
"Do you want to eat?"
Amy shook her head.
"I'm not in the mood."
"Then, where do you want to go?"
"The field."
Sebastian decided not to question what she wanted. He led her to the grassy field by the hand and sat down.
Amy positioned herself in his lap and closed her eyes.
"Stroke."
"Yes, yes."
Sebastian answered Amy's wishes and began stroking her hair.
"Do you want to skip school?"
"I can't do that, I'm the student council president."
"So? You're still only human. The school will allow you to take a couple of weeks off."
"I know. But… I don't want to stay at home."
"..."
Sebastian clenched his other hand.
"Do you want to stay over tonight?"
"The major houses will have a ceremony tonight so I can't."
"Got it."
Just like that, the two of them fell into silence. Amy's breathing slowly became fixed and Sebastian continued to stroke her head as she slept.
Around half an hour later, Sebastian lightly shook Amy.
"Amy, it's nearly time for class."
"Nn… Just five more minutes…"
"Wasn't Miss Student Council President the one who didn't want to skip school?"
"Urgh…"
Amy slowly got up from her spot and kissed Sebastian. It wasn't the light pecks she usually initiated, it was a long and passionate kiss.
After nearly half a minute, she let go of his lips and licked her own.
"Thank you for the meal."
"You're becoming closer and closer to a succubus… Well, I don't really mind if it's only to me. Ouch!"
Amy had suddenly hit him after hearing his comments.
"Of course it's only to you—!"
BOOM
An explosion stopped her. Sebastian and Amy looked back at the school and saw smoke coming out of the building.
"Sebastian!"
"Yeah!"
The two of them quickly stood up and used their abilities to get back to the campus' buildings as soon as possible.
"What the…"
Amy was shocked. There was a giant hole in the side of the school. The classrooms were also set on fire but it didn't look like anyone was left behind.
They could see all the students outside with a lot bleeding in some areas.
It didn't take Amy long to see the culprit. There were dozens of people throwing their abilities everywhere. Some students and teachers were doing their best to stop them but they were outmatched.
"I'll go provide help!"
"Found you!"
"?!"
As Amy manifested wings, a figure appeared in the corner of her eyes and took Sebastian with it. She turned her head and saw one of the walls of the hallways in one of the buildings crumble.
She could then see fire shooting out of the crumbled wall followed by the floors and walls breaking apart.
"I'll be fine! Go help them!"
Sebastian yelled out from the hole in the walls. While a normal person wouldn't be able to hear him at this distance with all the noise, Amy wasn't normal.
She nodded and decided to put her faith into Sebastian and began helping the students and teachers.
"Agh…"
"What's wrong?!"
The one who questioned Sebastian, the Valian taunted and landed a hit at Sebastian.
"Why don't you use that armor from last time and fight evenly with me?!"
Saying so, the Valian kicked Sebastian up and had him break through the floor above them and crash into the ceiling.
"Agh…"
Without his armor, it was tough to survive a hit from the Valian. Sebastian quickly used the opportunity that he was out of the Valian's sight to take out Mile's spear from within the shadows and raise it to defend.
BANG
Sebastian managed to defend against one of the Valian's blows using the spear and dropped down on the ground. He brandished his spear as lightning crackled around him.
"Hooh… So you have no intention to use your armor, huh?"
Sebastian grit his teeth and charged forward.
"Lightning God, Third Form: Lightning Strike!"
A blur of light passed through the Valian and appeared a ways behind him.
"Ugh…"
The Valian staggered and held onto his chest.
Sebastian quickly focused himself and brandished the spear once more. The Valian slowly turned around and then looked at his hand.
"Wow. There's absolutely nothing there. What happened to your power? And, how come you're able to use lightning?"
In the end, a Caster was a Caster. Sebastian's Apprentice-level abilities had no effect on his skin at all.
The Valian was becoming excited. He longed for strong opponents to battle and Sebastian, though currently weak, had great potential.
"You should do better to entertain me than that!"
Saying so, the Valian sent Sebastian flying once more.
…
"Crescent Light!"
"Aaahhh!"
A couple of the attackers were blown away with Amy's attack.
"Miss Amira, there appear to be students stuck in the library as well!"
"Are you sure everyone is fine here without me?"
Amy questioned the teacher who had spoken to her. There were quite a few people here and the grand majority of them were Novices and Apprentices. The average level of the attacks were peak of Apprentice while there were also a few Adepts into the mix.
There were only around ten teachers in the area and only a few students were able to overcome their fear and fight back.
"Yes, we'll do fine. Miss Amira, while you are outstanding, you should know that all of us are able to become teachers for a reason."
"...alright. I'll head back as soon as I ensure everyone's safety."
"Please."
Amy glanced at the frightened students and the teachers fighting back one last time before flapping her wings and heading for the library. With her speed, it took less than half a minute to reach the library.
However, as she reached the library's doors, she slowed her steps.
"For some trapped students, everyone sure is quiet…"
Amy opened the doors to the library and was met with the sight of unconscious students everywhere.
"?!"
A sword had suddenly pierced the floor she was standing on a second ago. Amy followed the trajectory of the sword and saw a very familiar woman.
"You…"
"Have you been well?"
"What are you all doing here?!"
Amy ignored the sorcerer's question and asked.
"For the same reason as last time, but with a different objective."
Surprisingly, it was as if the woman had no intentions of keeping their goal a secret.
"We want something, and the academy is the perfect place to get it."
Saying so, several dozens of books suddenly floated around the sorcerer and the pages began ripping themselves out one by one and forming swords out of paper.
Amy glanced at the sword that had pierced the floor earlier and could see that it was made of paper as well.
"A library, a treasure trove of knowledge, is the home of a sorcerer."
The sorcerer pointed her hand forward. The paper swords all flew out.
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