Two weeks and one more panic attack later, Ryder was discharged from the hospital.
His doctor initially wanted to keep him under observation for longer, but…
“We both know that my staying here is not going to delay the inevitable. The least you can do is let me spend my final days at home.” Ryder was stubborn about going back home. He initially didn't plan to guilt trip his doctor, but she was reluctant to sign the discharge papers.
“Fine! I will allow you to leave. But make sure that you take the painkillers I am prescribing to you." The doctor warned him. "I know you think that those meds don’t work, but trust me the pain will be a lot worse without them.”
“I’ll think about that.” He gave a vague reply.
And with that, Ryder found himself back at home.
“It’s good to see you are finally back.” Rachel greeted him at the door.
“There’s no way I am going to spend my last days in that crummy room.” Ryder grinned at his newfound freedom. Rachel, on the other hand, sighed at her brother's carefree attitude toward his own death. But Rufus had reminded her not to mention anything about the illness to Ryder, so she pushed her words down her throat.
Instead... “Your doctor called me to let me know to make sure that you take your meds on time.”
“Oh, don’t worry! I will make sure to take them.” Ryder answered, already prepared to trash them in a corner of his room.
“Hand them over to me.” Rachel squeezed his shoulder. Tightly. Ryder almost felt his shoulder bone crack as Rachel stopped him with her strong archer grip. “Your doctor already told me you weren’t taking your meds at all last time. So this time I am gonna make sure you take all of them, even if I have to force your mouth open.”
‘Gulp!’
“Yes, Mom. I’m okay. Yeah, I am at the Academy right now. No, I am not sneaking out, Mom.” Miyu answered her mom's questions on the phone.
Ever since the Fallen’s attack on the Apex Plaza, Touri had been asking her daughter for constant updates on her situation.
“Wow, Miyu! You must be seriously traumatized from the incident. Are you feeling okay? Should I bring you some soup? Maybe even blow on it. ” Ophelia teased her friend, speaking in a super concerned tone.
“Shut it!" Miyu tried to block her friend's mouth but Ophelia just dodged it.
Noticing her friend's lack of playfulness, Ophelia asked curiously. "You seem kind of down. Is something the problem?"
"Well, I am glad my mom is keeping in touch with me, but she should worry more about herself. The League is under immense pressure from all the recent events."
Hearing the mention of the League, Ophelia's ears perked up. "Events? What happened?"
Miyu scratched her head, wondering if she should reveal it to her friend. Her voice sharply decreased as she responded, “I am not supposed to know this, but it seems The League captured a spy in the northern forest. That's why the League is in an uproar."
"A spy!!" Ophelia pretended to be shocked at this information. "Did they find out where the spy come from?"
"No idea. But there are talks of moving the prisoner soon."
“So, they are already planning to move her…” Ophelia mumbled under her breath.
“Did you say something, Ophy?”
“Ah, no. Nothing.” Ophelia snapped out of her thoughts. "So the spy..."
“Enough about the spy! Let's focus on the Competition now. ” Miyu changed the subject as the two of them made their way into The Academy Coliseum. “I am sad Kyla isn't here with us. Well, we can’t do anything if her family called her back home so urgently. Ophy, aren’t you and Kyla from the same hometown?”
"Yes. We are." She nodded.
"Now that I remember correctly, aren't you guys from a town in the North? That's where the spy was found!"
"Really?" Ophy let out an awkward laugh at her friend's observation. "What a crazy coincidence."
"Yeah, that's super crazy."
Suddenly a bell rang from inside, signaling the two to go in.
“Yeah, that’s enough talk. Let’s fight to make Kyla proud.” Miyu cheered.
“Let’s do that!” With a final cheer, the two entered the Coliseum.
Rhian was sitting on the audience tiers of the Coliseum when he noticed Miyu and Ophelia entering the arena floor.
Usually, the physical exam for second-year students happens right after the first-year students have theirs. But because of the monster attacks during their exams as well as the Faydes that had infiltrated the Academy, the second-years’ Physical Exam had been kept getting delayed.
Finally, the administration and the teachers decided to hold a group battle match between all the students, in teams of two. The grading system was done based on the number of wins secured in the competition. Even some of the Guilds were called out as a publicity stunt and to dampen the rumors that had been floating around.
Today was the final battle between the two teams that had scored the most wins during the competition and would decide the final winners.
“Any bets?” A student interrupted him from behind.
Rhian gave it a thought and then handed him a 500 R note. “Miyu and Ophelia’s team.”
“Really? I feel like they are going to lose. I mean The Executioner is super strong. No one can ever take her place beside The Mastermind.” The bookie tried to tempt him into betting on the opposing team.
“I am sure Miyu is strong enough to substitute The Executioner!” Rhian replied in a matter-of-fact tone.
Without explaining, the guy just shot him a disappointed look and left to collect more bets.
"The stands are full of students. I guess everyone is eager to see The Mastermind in action." Beside him, Victor finally looked up from his newspaper.
Usually, strict checking is done by the Academy when letting outsiders in, especially after the recent incidents. But for Victor, who has been a part of the underworld for most of his life, he had multiple fake IDs that could bypass such security checks.
“The Mastermind, Ophelia, and Her Executioner, Kyla are very famous in the Academy circles.” Victor explained to his master. “This entire betting thing began because the students wanted to show how much they disapproved of Miyu substituting for Kyla during the Exams.”
“Wow! That is a lot of hate generated for something so trivial.”
“They are just paying the price for being famous." Victor shrugged it off.
"That doesn't make sense. On the battlefield, it's not like you can choose who you are teaming up with. How is being a famous team going to help you there?"
"It's just teenager hype. Nothing practical about it. Also, aren’t you a bit too uninterested in student affairs? You are a human teenager now, so you should act like it! I noticed that you don't even have friends with you. What a sad life.”
Rhian just stared at his servant, giving a look that clearly said, 'Are you my parent?'
Victor quickly became flustered after that.
“And anyway, there is no point in making friends with these people now. We both know what’s going to happen on Earth soon! Now that the mana density has increased significantly on the planet, the Dukes will soon start descending. Half of the students here will be killed during their ‘fun time’. It’s no use forming relationships when you don’t even know if they will survive.”
“Are the Dukes as horrible as they say?” Victor asked in a sheepish tone. When he was still a part of the Alliance, he did hear from his fellow Alliance members that very high Ranking Demons were soon going to visit Earth. This was why Kurt and many other Fallen were frantically trying to gain achievements.
If one of those Dukes noticed them, they could even switch their demonic contracts and serve stronger Demons. It would be a huge rise in status in the Fallen society.
'Well, I already got myself a contract with one.' Victor blushed in pride about his achievement, conveniently forgetting that Rhian was not a normal Duke.
“The Dukes are far worse than you imagine!” Rhian brought him out of his daydreaming. “The Dukes are on the top of a species that thrives on destruction and chaos. The only way you can become one of them is by being the worst of them all.”
“Can I ask a question?” Victor asked, a bit nervously.
“Is it how I, one of those said Dukes, die?” It was easy to guess what he wanted to ask. Victor nodded at it. It was surprising to hear that someone who reached the peak of existence could also be brought down.
“A fellow Duke betrayed me.” Victor could see the rage burning in his eyes.
“He was a very sneaky bastard. He was cunning and a liar. He convinced the Demon King that I was after the throne. So the King massacred my entire family and all my subjects. I was left all alone in my castle.” Anger started to boil inside Rhian as he remembered the powerlessness he had felt watching those around him die. " And after my entire Dukedom was ruined, he killed me."
He would never forget or forgive them for what had been done to him. The day Rhian had found himself on Earth, he had vowed that he will get stronger here on Earth, hidden away from their sights. And then he would take over the entire Demon Race, just like how the Demon King had accused him of doing.
“Let’s leave. We have some training to do.” Rhian commanded, and the two got up to leave.
With Ray’s scandal, he was under a “vacation” period generously granted by the Academy. So Ray had decided to spend his days tinkering away with Potions in his lab. Izzy and Mike were still students, so they had to attend classes in the morning.
This left Jacob and Deus quite a lot of free time to just laze about around the house. Or at least that should have been the case.
“Kyu! Kyu!” The two Fox Spirits were sprinting around the house, full of energy, like children in an amusement park.
“Uh, stop running for a minute.” Deus chased after Yuna and Ryu, as they ran around the living room. They had been playing in the garden before, so their paws were scattering mud all around the house.
“Ha-ha! Those two are playful.” Jacob just watched them in content, like an old grandpa watching his grandkids play on the field.
‘Ding!’ A notification chimed on his laptop, and Jacob quickly turned back to his screen.
“What are you doing, Jacob?” Deus asked, tired from running after the two. Jacob was staring at his screen with a very serious look.
“I have been trying to hack into the Aurum Guild’s network for the past few days. I finally succeeded.” Jacob explained nonchalantly, without turning away from the screen.
Deus’ eyes turned wide at Jacob’s unexpected revelation. “Um, Jacob…I am not familiar with the computer systems used on Earth, but I am pretty sure that the security system used by one of the top Guilds won’t be easy to break into, right?”
“Yeah…it was one of the toughest firewalls I have ever had to bypass.”
“Were you always this…multi-talented?” Deus stared in disbelief at the ex-man of faith.
“Did you think I was a priest all my life?” Jacob just chuckled at Deus' expression.
“…I guess.”
Jacob just gave him an amused smile. “The world during my time was one filled with chaos. At that time, there was no organisation like the Hero League to run things efficiently. Dungeon Rampages were more prone and your h could be attacked by monsters at any time. Humans like me, who weren’t Awakened by mana, had to develop a variety of skills to survive.”
Jacob could see himself walking down his memory, as he recounted his story. And despite the tragedy that sprang from his lips, Deus could see a faint smile forming on his frail lips.
“At that time, those who had Awakened were beginning to use their abilities and closing Dungeons around the world. The riches they brought back found much fascination among the people here and the Heroes amassed great wealth.” Jacob explained as Deus listened in fascination about the firsthand account of the history of the world.
“At that time I belonged to a group of orphans that had banded together from here and there. We pickpocketed, robbed, and broke into the houses of those so-called Heroes, stealing their wealth. Not a proud way to live, I admit, but it was our way of rebelling against the society that discriminated against those not selected by mana. Among the five of us there, I was the only one who knew about computers, so I decided to try a little bit of hacking.” There was a hint of pride in his voice.
“Seems more than a little bit, if you ask me.” Deus gave him a suspicious side-eye. The life Jacob described seemed brutal. The Awakened were proud people and would have, no doubt, tried to capture such thieves many times. The fact that Jacob and his team were able to pull such tricks and survive, despite not being Awakened, meant they were no ordinary group.
“Well, anyway, I left the group long ago. My criminal days are behind me.” Jacob sweared, placing a heart.
“Yet here you are, hacking into the Aurum Guild’s network.” Deus pointed out.
“I only did that to find some dirt on them. Ray is Mike and my saviour. The least I can do is help him clear his name.”
Deus was a bit skeptical about this group that Jacob belonged to but decided to accept his goodwill. “So, did you find anything worthwhile in there?”
“Oh yes, I did." Jacob grinned like a cat who finally caught the mouse's tail. "There were several unofficial withdrawals made by Edward Martin from the Guild’s funds. If I dig around a bit, I am sure I can find evidence on who was on the receiving end.”
"That would be great. We will have irrefutable proof when the court hearings happen." Deus slithered down to the lab to tell Ray about their new findings.
On the table, with his laptop open in front of him and some herbs tangled in his hair, was a sleeping Ray. He had been making batches of different Potions non-stop, so as to increase his reputation on Pandora’s Box.
‘The exhaustion must be finally getting to him.’
Deus grabbed a blanket with his tail and gently placed it on his shoulders, so as to not wake his Master up.
‘Hmm! What’s this?’ Just as Deus was about to leave, he noticed a document opened on his Master’s laptop. ‘Is this a story?’
Two weeks and one more panic attack later, Ryder was discharged from the hospital.
His doctor initially wanted to keep him under observation for longer, but…
“We both know that my staying here is not going to delay the inevitable. The least you can do is let me spend my final days at home.” Ryder was stubborn about going back home. He initially didn't plan to guilt trip his doctor, but she was reluctant to sign the discharge papers.
“Fine! I will allow you to leave. But make sure that you take the painkillers I am prescribing to you." The doctor warned him. "I know you think that those meds don’t work, but trust me the pain will be a lot worse without them.”
“I’ll think about that.” He gave a vague reply.
And with that, Ryder found himself back at home.
“It’s good to see you are finally back.” Rachel greeted him at the door.
“There’s no way I am going to spend my last days in that crummy room.” Ryder grinned at his newfound freedom. Rachel, on the other hand, sighed at her brother's carefree attitude toward his own death. But Rufus had reminded her not to mention anything about the illness to Ryder, so she pushed her words down her throat.
Instead... “Your doctor called me to let me know to make sure that you take your meds on time.”
“Oh, don’t worry! I will make sure to take them.” Ryder answered, already prepared to trash them in a corner of his room.
“Hand them over to me.” Rachel squeezed his shoulder. Tightly. Ryder almost felt his shoulder bone crack as Rachel stopped him with her strong archer grip. “Your doctor already told me you weren’t taking your meds at all last time. So this time I am gonna make sure you take all of them, even if I have to force your mouth open.”
‘Gulp!’
“Yes, Mom. I’m okay. Yeah, I am at the Academy right now. No, I am not sneaking out, Mom.” Miyu answered her mom's questions on the phone.
Ever since the Fallen’s attack on the Apex Plaza, Touri had been asking her daughter for constant updates on her situation.
“Wow, Miyu! You must be seriously traumatized from the incident. Are you feeling okay? Should I bring you some soup? Maybe even blow on it. ” Ophelia teased her friend, speaking in a super concerned tone.
“Shut it!" Miyu tried to block her friend's mouth but Ophelia just dodged it.
Noticing her friend's lack of playfulness, Ophelia asked curiously. "You seem kind of down. Is something the problem?"
"Well, I am glad my mom is keeping in touch with me, but she should worry more about herself. The League is under immense pressure from all the recent events."
Hearing the mention of the League, Ophelia's ears perked up. "Events? What happened?"
Miyu scratched her head, wondering if she should reveal it to her friend. Her voice sharply decreased as she responded, “I am not supposed to know this, but it seems The League captured a spy in the northern forest. That's why the League is in an uproar."
"A spy!!" Ophelia pretended to be shocked at this information. "Did they find out where the spy come from?"
"No idea. But there are talks of moving the prisoner soon."
“So, they are already planning to move her…” Ophelia mumbled under her breath.
“Did you say something, Ophy?”
“Ah, no. Nothing.” Ophelia snapped out of her thoughts. "So the spy..."
“Enough about the spy! Let's focus on the Competition now. ” Miyu changed the subject as the two of them made their way into The Academy Coliseum. “I am sad Kyla isn't here with us. Well, we can’t do anything if her family called her back home so urgently. Ophy, aren’t you and Kyla from the same hometown?”
"Yes. We are." She nodded.
"Now that I remember correctly, aren't you guys from a town in the North? That's where the spy was found!"
"Really?" Ophy let out an awkward laugh at her friend's observation. "What a crazy coincidence."
"Yeah, that's super crazy."
Suddenly a bell rang from inside, signaling the two to go in.
“Yeah, that’s enough talk. Let’s fight to make Kyla proud.” Miyu cheered.
“Let’s do that!” With a final cheer, the two entered the Coliseum.
Rhian was sitting on the audience tiers of the Coliseum when he noticed Miyu and Ophelia entering the arena floor.
Usually, the physical exam for second-year students happens right after the first-year students have theirs. But because of the monster attacks during their exams as well as the Faydes that had infiltrated the Academy, the second-years’ Physical Exam had been kept getting delayed.
Finally, the administration and the teachers decided to hold a group battle match between all the students, in teams of two. The grading system was done based on the number of wins secured in the competition. Even some of the Guilds were called out as a publicity stunt and to dampen the rumors that had been floating around.
Today was the final battle between the two teams that had scored the most wins during the competition and would decide the final winners.
“Any bets?” A student interrupted him from behind.
Rhian gave it a thought and then handed him a 500 R note. “Miyu and Ophelia’s team.”
“Really? I feel like they are going to lose. I mean The Executioner is super strong. No one can ever take her place beside The Mastermind.” The bookie tried to tempt him into betting on the opposing team.
“I am sure Miyu is strong enough to substitute The Executioner!” Rhian replied in a matter-of-fact tone.
Without explaining, the guy just shot him a disappointed look and left to collect more bets.
"The stands are full of students. I guess everyone is eager to see The Mastermind in action." Beside him, Victor finally looked up from his newspaper.
Usually, strict checking is done by the Academy when letting outsiders in, especially after the recent incidents. But for Victor, who has been a part of the underworld for most of his life, he had multiple fake IDs that could bypass such security checks.
“The Mastermind, Ophelia, and Her Executioner, Kyla are very famous in the Academy circles.” Victor explained to his master. “This entire betting thing began because the students wanted to show how much they disapproved of Miyu substituting for Kyla during the Exams.”
“Wow! That is a lot of hate generated for something so trivial.”
“They are just paying the price for being famous." Victor shrugged it off.
"That doesn't make sense. On the battlefield, it's not like you can choose who you are teaming up with. How is being a famous team going to help you there?"
"It's just teenager hype. Nothing practical about it. Also, aren’t you a bit too uninterested in student affairs? You are a human teenager now, so you should act like it! I noticed that you don't even have friends with you. What a sad life.”
Rhian just stared at his servant, giving a look that clearly said, 'Are you my parent?'
Victor quickly became flustered after that.
“And anyway, there is no point in making friends with these people now. We both know what’s going to happen on Earth soon! Now that the mana density has increased significantly on the planet, the Dukes will soon start descending. Half of the students here will be killed during their ‘fun time’. It’s no use forming relationships when you don’t even know if they will survive.”
“Are the Dukes as horrible as they say?” Victor asked in a sheepish tone. When he was still a part of the Alliance, he did hear from his fellow Alliance members that very high Ranking Demons were soon going to visit Earth. This was why Kurt and many other Fallen were frantically trying to gain achievements.
If one of those Dukes noticed them, they could even switch their demonic contracts and serve stronger Demons. It would be a huge rise in status in the Fallen society.
'Well, I already got myself a contract with one.' Victor blushed in pride about his achievement, conveniently forgetting that Rhian was not a normal Duke.
“The Dukes are far worse than you imagine!” Rhian brought him out of his daydreaming. “The Dukes are on the top of a species that thrives on destruction and chaos. The only way you can become one of them is by being the worst of them all.”
“Can I ask a question?” Victor asked, a bit nervously.
“Is it how I, one of those said Dukes, die?” It was easy to guess what he wanted to ask. Victor nodded at it. It was surprising to hear that someone who reached the peak of existence could also be brought down.
“A fellow Duke betrayed me.” Victor could see the rage burning in his eyes.
“He was a very sneaky bastard. He was cunning and a liar. He convinced the Demon King that I was after the throne. So the King massacred my entire family and all my subjects. I was left all alone in my castle.” Anger started to boil inside Rhian as he remembered the powerlessness he had felt watching those around him die. " And after my entire Dukedom was ruined, he killed me."
He would never forget or forgive them for what had been done to him. The day Rhian had found himself on Earth, he had vowed that he will get stronger here on Earth, hidden away from their sights. And then he would take over the entire Demon Race, just like how the Demon King had accused him of doing.
“Let’s leave. We have some training to do.” Rhian commanded, and the two got up to leave.
With Ray’s scandal, he was under a “vacation” period generously granted by the Academy. So Ray had decided to spend his days tinkering away with Potions in his lab. Izzy and Mike were still students, so they had to attend classes in the morning.
This left Jacob and Deus quite a lot of free time to just laze about around the house. Or at least that should have been the case.
“Kyu! Kyu!” The two Fox Spirits were sprinting around the house, full of energy, like children in an amusement park.
“Uh, stop running for a minute.” Deus chased after Yuna and Ryu, as they ran around the living room. They had been playing in the garden before, so their paws were scattering mud all around the house.
“Ha-ha! Those two are playful.” Jacob just watched them in content, like an old grandpa watching his grandkids play on the field.
‘Ding!’ A notification chimed on his laptop, and Jacob quickly turned back to his screen.
“What are you doing, Jacob?” Deus asked, tired from running after the two. Jacob was staring at his screen with a very serious look.
“I have been trying to hack into the Aurum Guild’s network for the past few days. I finally succeeded.” Jacob explained nonchalantly, without turning away from the screen.
Deus’ eyes turned wide at Jacob’s unexpected revelation. “Um, Jacob…I am not familiar with the computer systems used on Earth, but I am pretty sure that the security system used by one of the top Guilds won’t be easy to break into, right?”
“Yeah…it was one of the toughest firewalls I have ever had to bypass.”
“Were you always this…multi-talented?” Deus stared in disbelief at the ex-man of faith.
“Did you think I was a priest all my life?” Jacob just chuckled at Deus' expression.
“…I guess.”
Jacob just gave him an amused smile. “The world during my time was one filled with chaos. At that time, there was no organisation like the Hero League to run things efficiently. Dungeon Rampages were more prone and your h could be attacked by monsters at any time. Humans like me, who weren’t Awakened by mana, had to develop a variety of skills to survive.”
Jacob could see himself walking down his memory, as he recounted his story. And despite the tragedy that sprang from his lips, Deus could see a faint smile forming on his frail lips.
“At that time, those who had Awakened were beginning to use their abilities and closing Dungeons around the world. The riches they brought back found much fascination among the people here and the Heroes amassed great wealth.” Jacob explained as Deus listened in fascination about the firsthand account of the history of the world.
“At that time I belonged to a group of orphans that had banded together from here and there. We pickpocketed, robbed, and broke into the houses of those so-called Heroes, stealing their wealth. Not a proud way to live, I admit, but it was our way of rebelling against the society that discriminated against those not selected by mana. Among the five of us there, I was the only one who knew about computers, so I decided to try a little bit of hacking.” There was a hint of pride in his voice.
“Seems more than a little bit, if you ask me.” Deus gave him a suspicious side-eye. The life Jacob described seemed brutal. The Awakened were proud people and would have, no doubt, tried to capture such thieves many times. The fact that Jacob and his team were able to pull such tricks and survive, despite not being Awakened, meant they were no ordinary group.
“Well, anyway, I left the group long ago. My criminal days are behind me.” Jacob sweared, placing a heart.
“Yet here you are, hacking into the Aurum Guild’s network.” Deus pointed out.
“I only did that to find some dirt on them. Ray is Mike and my saviour. The least I can do is help him clear his name.”
Deus was a bit skeptical about this group that Jacob belonged to but decided to accept his goodwill. “So, did you find anything worthwhile in there?”
“Oh yes, I did." Jacob grinned like a cat who finally caught the mouse's tail. "There were several unofficial withdrawals made by Edward Martin from the Guild’s funds. If I dig around a bit, I am sure I can find evidence on who was on the receiving end.”
"That would be great. We will have irrefutable proof when the court hearings happen." Deus slithered down to the lab to tell Ray about their new findings.
On the table, with his laptop open in front of him and some herbs tangled in his hair, was a sleeping Ray. He had been making batches of different Potions non-stop, so as to increase his reputation on Pandora’s Box.
‘The exhaustion must be finally getting to him.’
Deus grabbed a blanket with his tail and gently placed it on his shoulders, so as to not wake his Master up.
‘Hmm! What’s this?’ Just as Deus was about to leave, he noticed a document opened on his Master’s laptop. ‘Is this a story?’
