"N-Neraxis?" Ae''s startled voice brought him out of his thoughts as he nced at the Zarj Encampment.


    "What the..." His eyes widened at the sight.


    Bodies upon bodies, blood practically spilling like a waterfall.


    There weren''t any student corpses; however, most of the encampment''s residents were killed.


    Yet as Neraxis focused on a few faces, his expression soon eased.


    The gambling den dealer. He looked to the side. The gamblers, human traffickers. Someone did a wonderful culling.


    While the sight was chilling, the people who died certainly deserved it. Therefore, Neraxis proceeded to walk toward a certain building—the only one that had not a single bloodstain on it.


    A bar. With the other girls following behind, he soon entered.


    Yet the sight that greeted him was a bit strange—Kael was sitting in the middle, slurping down several mugs of alcohol at once.


    As Kael noticed them, he waved, signaling them toe over.


    Neraxis was speechless but nheless sat down in front of him, with the girls gettingfortable too, before asking, "I assume the sight outside is your doing?"


    "Yup, correct assumption," Kael replied, stretching out the hand holding an alcohol bottle. "Want some?"


    "I''m good." Neraxis shook his head. "While I didn''t exactly take you for the stealthy type, Couldn''t you have killed them somewhere in the forest instead?"


    Kael shrugged in response. "If I had to lure each and every one of them out into the forest, this encampment would still be brimming with them. Besides, what''s the big deal? They''ll clean it up anyway."


    Why do I even bother... He let out a sigh and tapped his hand on the table a couple of times, causing the haggard-looking bartender toe to serve them.


    "Give us some brunch—four portions, please," Neraxis said, causing the bartender to heave a relieved breath.


    "Fifteen minutes."


    With that, the bartender went behind the bar counter and started fiddling with some cooking equipment.


    In the meantime, he wanted to rx.


    However, that rxation was soon interrupted as the bar''s doors swung open, and the students from the other academy came in.


    Most importantly, the one in the very forefront was a limping Bale, who did not even notice Neraxis was there until he arrived before him.


    "Y-You are here too." Bale stammered and froze up after meeting Celina''s and Ae''s gazes.


    "You are not wee here—get out," Ae stated in a cold tone.


    Seeing that, Bale retreated back a couple of steps, identally bumping into his ssmates.


    But despite the embarrassment that was likely welling up inside him, he swiftly got out, taking his ssmates along.


    "That guy sure is arrogant, huh?" Ae snickered, making Celina chuckle.


    However, both Aurelia and Kael shared puzzled looks as they asked in unison, "Who''s that?"


    Neraxis did not want to go into many details, so he whispered, just loud enough for their table to hear, "An enemy of mine. You don''t need to know more."


    "You''ve got enemies in quite high ces, don''t you?" Kael said as he downed another bottle of beer.


    Neraxis raised a brow. "So you do know him?"


    "His reputation back in Skryder Academy is very well known. He is an arrogant yboy who has a backing that will cover up all his tracks," Kael exined, earning a nod from Neraxis. Continue reading at My Virtual Library Empire


    "Yeah, it''s not surprising that he is trash. Though that is not exactly the reason I have enmity with him."


    And I am definitely not going into detail—not until I know I can trust them. He nced around, meeting the faint smiles of the girls around him as well as Kael''s suspicious gaze.


    Ae was the prime candidate for his trust, but he would not be rash. He''d give it some time for their friendship to develop further, and only then would he tell her about his past.


    Not like she would believe him anyway.


    Before anyone could question Neraxis further, the bartender arrived with four tes of food, saying, "We''re out of the good stuff, so the meat isn''t that plentiful, apologies. As for the payment—"


    "Put it on my tab," Kael interjected, making the bartender''s expression sink as he walked away in defeat.


    Neraxis watched the situation unfold with an amused look before digging in.


    Yet as they all ate together—with the exception of Kael, who was still trying his best to get drunk—he spotted Aurelia''s picky behavior.


    "Aurelia, do you not like the food?" Neraxis asked, earning a shake of the head in response.


    "No... It''s just..." Aurelia looked him up and down before ncing at the others.


    And then he understood what she had in mind.


    The blood was on all of them, and from what Neraxis could assume, it was ruining her appetite.


    Neraxis shared knowing looks with everyone present and suddenly stood up, dragging Kael along as he said, "We''ll be right back."


    "What''s that for?" Kael questioned, not failing to pick up a bottle of beer on the way out.


    "Aurelia''s afraid of blood," Celina remarked.@@novelbin@@


    "Ohhh! That''s a bit of a hazard," Kael voiced out his practical thoughts.


    Someone like her could get them killed in battle. Fear of blood was one of the worst traits to have.


    Nheless, Neraxis interjected. "Hazard or not, this killing exercise the instructor sent us on is meant to ovee such fears."


    "What do you suggest?" Celina questioned in a testing tone.


    He narrowed his eyes at her antics and soon exined his n. "We''ve killed a hefty amount of prisoners; however, there are many left. Let''s capture one and create a situation where she has to kill no matter what."


    "Won''t that make her resent us?" Ae asked with skepticism.


    And he immediately answered, "Coddling her won''t aplish anything. We either take drastic measures or watch her fall apart in the future. So what do you all think?"


    "It''s good," Celina affirmed with a nod. "But if we do end up going through with it, how will we make her have no choice but to kill?"


    "I feel a bit left out of this conversation," Kael said with a sigh before adding, "But why don''t one of you act as bait instead? It will give her no choice but to kill the one trying to inflict harm on you."


    "That''s..." Neraxis trailed off. "That actually works. Who wants to be bait?"


    He looked around, expecting a show of hands, but instead, all of them were looking straight at him.


    "It''s obviously you," Ae stated matter-of-factly.


    "Yes... You are the most likely to make her ovee her fears," Celina remarked with reluctance and turned toward Kael. "Sweaty dude, can you go uproot some trees or something—prepare the perfect arena for us."


    "Sweaty dude?" he voiced out, shocked.


    But upon noticing Celina''s expression of resolve, he gave in. "Fine, I''ll do that. Since we''re doing this weird n in the first ce, I expect it to seed."


    Neraxis shrugged before saying, "Just don''t mess up."


    "Haha, yeah, you''re right," Kael expressed with augh, and with a wave, made his way into the forest.


    "I''ll catch a prisoner," Celina dered before vanishing out of sight, leaving Ae and Neraxis alone.


    But the silence did notst long as she spoke up, "I have a cleaning nanobot—stand still."


    "What—" Before he could even finish his question, he felt a warm sensation cover his entire body, and soon, the dry blood began falling to the ground, leaving his skin spotless.


    "Much better," Ae remarked with a proud look before focusing. "But we should probably talk strategy."


    "Yeah." Neraxis nodded. "I want you to..."