Everyone was shocked when Zachariel shrieked. He held his head with his hands as it pained in agony.
“Amelia, Sabrina! Stay away!” Cody immediately grabbed the two girls out of the room.
`Oh no! His guilt is killing him!`
“Call your senior Cassia over here, now!”
The two girls hastened to the lounge. Sabrina called out her senior.
“Senior Cassia, senior Cody has called for you!”
“What happened, Amelia, Sabrina?”
“It’s Zachariel! He’s gone mad!”
Cassia left in a hurry. The rest followed her to the rotating area.
Cassia arrived at Zachariel’s room.
“Cassia, cast sleep on him now!”
“Sleep!” Cassia tried to put him to sleep, but something absorbed her mana essence. Cassia was shocked and suddenly coughed blood.
“Oh no!” Cody grabbed Cassia’s hand to cancel the sleep spell. `Damn it! He’s going out of control now!`
A figure went past the door. It was Edward.
“Egg-head!”
Edward tried to knock Zachariel out, but he was surprised when Zachariel lifelessly leaned over his body. `What’s going on? Wasn’t he a bit crazy just now?`
He placed his hand over his neck. `He’s unconscious, and his heart rate is fine.`
“Egg-head, how is he?” Cody was busy supporting Cassia with his body. She was about to faint.
“All okay now.” Edward carefully put Zachariel back on the bed.
“Let’s go.” They left the room and closed the door.
…
[ Warning: User experiencing extreme mental breakdown ]`It’s this thing again!`
[ Assessing further parameters ] [ … ] [ Assessment completed ] [ Initiating emergency procedure – Code 001 ] [ Forcefully shutting user down ]`No!` Zachariel’s mind spun for a moment and he lost consciousness.
[ … ] [ Warning: *)#_.$%%^-_ ] [ … ] [ (%_* #. ? #) _.& %^ #$^ ] [ … ] [ Error: Corrupted data ] [ Shutting down ]…
“Can you stand now?” Cody was worried about Cassia.
“Yes, senior.”
Cassia gently let go of senior Cody’s body.
“Cassia, are you okay?” Rainald hurried over to her.
“Yeah, I’m fine, Rainald.” However, her face betrayed her.
“Come on, stop lying. You’re clearly not well. Come, I’ll lead you over so that you can rest, okay?” Rainald held her hand and guided her to a room.
“Hey, remember that this is a public place. Don’t do anything funny inside, alright?”
Edward teased the couple.
The two jolted, embarrassingly entered a room, and closed the door.
“Egg-head, this is no time for jokes.” Cody reprimanded Edward. That girl almost died, and he has time to humor them and himself?
“Tsk, Jockey. You’re such a party pooper.”
“Senior Cody, how’s Zachariel?” Amelia reached to Cody.
“He’s okay, at least for now.” He patted her head and smiled. This girl’s attachment to Zachariel brought satisfaction to him, hoping that that junior of his would not waste her feelings.
“Don’t go near his room for a few days. Something happened to him and I don’t want you to be implicated in it. Go back to the lounge and rest up. It’s been hard for you.”
“Yes.”
Amelia dropped her head. She had cried for two days when she learned about Hal’s death. Even though the culprits were dealt with, the pain in her heart remained.
The Strom Household sent letters of condolences to her. It included the part that they will take the body after a few days from the Imperium Capital City and bring it back to Brion City and bury Hal’s body there.
Her seniors talked to her in order to comfort her. After a series of continuous dialogue, they successfully calmed her down and brought her to Zachariel’s room, allowing her to spend the night there.
Cody decided to put her there. After all, Zachariel was the only remaining person close to her here in the Prospect building.
Amelia talked to Zachariel even though he didn’t hear her. She let out the feelings inside her heart and mind until she got tired of it and slept on the floor.
Earlier, she had dreamed that Hal was alive, and when she woke up, she was still stuck in her dream, crazily telling Zachariel that her brother was alive.
When she left the room, she received a mana link message from senior Cody, telling her to wait outside the door. She listened to Zachariel, finally finding out the reason why he became cold and detached from the world starting 7 years ago.
Cody and Edward were left in the hallway outside the rotating area.
“Jockey, something’s wrong with Zachariel earlier.”
Cody was intrigued. “What do you mean, Egg-head?”
“Before I could knock him out, he suddenly leaned to my body with his closed. I checked him out and he was unconscious.”
Cody was confused. How could Zachariel put himself to sleep? Even Cassia had almost lost her life just to calm Zachariel’s insanity.
The door from the rotating area was opened, disrupting Cody’s thoughts.
“Rainald, how is Cassia?”
“She is okay now, senior Cody.”
“Good, let’s go.”
…
7 days later
43rd Day of Exios
…
“The lockdown is already over after 10 days, but he’s still not awake?” Matthias sat on his chair as he discussed with Cody. The entire Imperium Capital City was locked down for 10 days to catch the culprits of the murder, and also to protect the students. Although the culprits were found shortly thereafter, the lockdown continued.
“Yes sir.”
Matthias repeatedly tapped his finger on the table. “What about Amelia?”
“Amelia has slowly recovered from the tragic event of her brother’s death, though at the expense that she had become colder than before. Also, the Strom Household had taken Hal’s body and is now on their way back to Brion City to prepare his burial.”
“Does she know the one behind her brother’s death?”
“Prince Kane? No, not yet.”
“Did she blame Zachariel when she heard the recording?”
“No sir. After she had heard Zachariel’s thoughts, she made up her mind to forgive him, and even proactively fixed the misunderstanding in Zachariel’s memories.”
“That easily? Interesting. Any other reports?”
“Yes sir. When Cassia tried to put him to sleep, something absorbed her mana essence and she nearly died.”
“She casted the sleep spell, right?”
“Yes sir.”
“Intriguing. None of that happened when I put him to sleep on a different occasion.”
“I think the situation with the two scenarios may have impacted the result, Sir Matthias. Zachariel may only have experienced an existential crisis that time so calming him down and with you doing it might not have been a problem.”
“However, the guilt of knowing that he had misunderstood his brother’s intentions and even lead to his brother’s death must have greatly impacted his mentality, increasing the difficulty of putting him to sleep.” Cody concluded.
“Indeed. Furthermore, Cassia is still a peak gold-level fighter, so dealing a more insane Zachariel must’ve stretched her abilities.” Matthias complemented Cody’s thoughts about the matter.
“Keep an eye out for them. I’m still busy preparing the plan for the upcoming meeting. You can go leave now.”
Cody bowed to Sir Matthias and left the room.
`Ah, I forgot to ask him about that other person. No matter, we’ll get more opportunities to assess her soon.`
…
Class W1-A.
The students entered the class as Solus shined over the Imperium Continent. Although it carried a small red hue, the light it gave was enough to brighten the day.
“Sabrina, do you know where’s Zachariel?” Luiz looked around and waited for Zachariel. However, he still hasn’t arrived even though it was almost Instructor Rufus’s class.
“I don’t know. Maybe he’s absent again?” Sabrina hid the fact that they stayed at the Prospect building during the entire lockdown.
“Luiz, what are you doing? How could Sabrina know about Zachariel’s situation?” Iria reprimanded Luiz’s idiotic question. However, she carefully thought out Sabrina’s answer to Luiz’s question.
`That tone, it carried a hint of anxiety? Did something bad happen to him?`
“Iria, I’m just asking. No need to be so strict, okay?” Luiz was confused. What’s wrong with asking Sabrina about Zachariel?
`Or don’t tell me, she wants me to ask her instead? After all…` His imagination went wild.
Luiz looked at Iria and smirked at her. Iria noticed that and stared daggers at him. “Luiz, I’m warning you!”
“Oh, did I do something bad again? Hehe!” Luiz feigned ignorance and immediately ran away.
Iria was infuriated. `That guy must be thinking something else!`
She looked at the time. “Everyone, get back to your seats now!”
…
Instructor Rufus arrived at Class W1-A.
“Good morning, everyone. Today, we’ll just use the time to train in the training field. The lockdown has prevented everybody from training and improving their skills. We’ll conduct the second round on the 46th Day of Exios instead.”
The students were gratified by Instructor Rufus. At least he would consider the situation and adapt to it.
Training was way better than sitting around and listen to the topics being discussed by their instructors.
“Furthermore, the deans have released an announcement regarding the upcoming skirmish event for the regular category. There will be 3 students for each class that will represent the regular category selection process next month.”
“I will have to send them the top 3 students in this class, 1 week before the start of the selection process. In that time, I will use the test matches in order to determine the top 3 students who will be representing this class.”
The students were shocked. `He’s going to use the matches to determine the representatives?`
`F*ck, I have to work harder then!`
“Sir, what about those who failed in the first round last week?” A student was worried because they would no longer have the chance to be the top 3 students and chosen as representatives.
“Don’t worry, I’ll conduct the test matches every week. If you’re one of the top 3 for this week’s test, you’ll be exempted for the next week. However, you will be challenged by the top 3 students that will win in the next week. If you lost, then you’ll have to participate in the test in the succeeding weeks.”
The students became confident when they heard that. `Nice! I still have a chance to be one of the top 3!`
Instructor Rufus smiled when he saw their determined expressions. However, he noticed something peculiar.
“It looks like we are lacking one student?”
“Yes sir. It’s Zachariel Strom.”
“Him? Oh, never mind that then. Anyway, that’s all for the skirmish event. Let’s go to the training area now.”
The students cursed. `Damn it, what a special treatment!`
If they were the ones who were absent instead, they would receive an hour of scolding from their instructors.
