Once the group was cleared, the Hybrid Association took over the night market incident.
Having their own driver awaiting to bring them back to the academy, the group declined the offer from the Hybrid Association to be escorted back. Most of them were already in the car, but they realized that Bob was still missing.
He was talking with the officers earlier and then disappeared, nobody saw him leave.
Naturally, the others waited for them.
Bakar, who sat at the back and gazed out the window vacantly, suddenly saw a figure in the shadows.
It made him snap out of his trance, and he soon realized that it was Bob.
Bob seed to be calling for him.
Out of instinct, he turned to the car ahead where Nerissa was.
'Did Bob also call for her?' Bakar thought but shrugged and stepped out of the car again.
Once he was out and closed the car door after excusing himself to the driver and Mirel, almost in sync, Nerissa also ca out of her car. Both of their gazes t, and instantly, they nodded. From the looks of it, Bob wanted to talk with them first before leaving.
Silently, the two walked side by side and headed to where Bob had peeked from earlier.
Coursing through an alley and erging on the other block, Bakar and Nerissa stopped to look around.
Then, they saw Bob was sitting on a secluded bench.
Exchanging another look again, Nerissa and Bakar approached and stood right behind him.
Despite the bench being long enough for them all to sit down—they prefer to stand instead.
"You call for us?" Bakar opened his mouth first and asked.
Bob remained silent for a few seconds longer, letting Bakar's words linger in the air before he raised his chin and nodded, "Do you see the truth now?" He started—keeping his eyes locked onto a passerby across the street. "Lucivar is the family's lucky charm, that's his role in the family. Master Tobias took him in because of that."
Upon hearing this, Bakar and Nerissa nodded in understanding.
Neither of them didn't knew what Lucivar was going to do to help them, this is still an independent city.
Strong Hybrids were everywhere, and one wrong move would bring their doom.
But sohow, there was a gang that attacked the civilians blindly, which suddenly gave them the perfect alibi to comnce any kind of horrid acts. Bakar surged with natural ether when the night market turned into a battlefield, while Nerissa also amassed a lot of natural ether for herself.
…
"It's alright, let it all out. Scream…" Nerissa whispered softly with her seraphic voice.
She was kneeling on the ground, slowly helping the thug lie on the ground.
From behind, it seed like she was helping the thug, but she wasn't—the sharp knife in her hand was deep inside the thug's body, grazing against his beating heart. A soft, choked scream clawed its way out of the thug's mouth, but it was barely above a whisper.
"I'm sorry, I'm really sorry…" Nerissa shed a tear, her voice laced with deep sorrow.
It was almost as if she was also feeling the pain the thug was feeling.
Regardless of the fact that she was the one who caused the pain.
"I really wished—things wouldn't need to go this way. I really… really don't want to do this," Nerissa sobbed, empathizing with the thug would only throw insults at her if he could still talk. "I know this is wrong but… I promise, I'll always rember your choked scream to atone for what I did."
Once the last words escaped her mouth, the knife stabbed through the heart and killed the thug instantly.
Nerissa watched as the life slipped from the thug's body through tearful eyes.
Then, she wiped her tears right when another thug stood behind her with his hand-axe raised high.
Before the thug could strike, a thin line of water hacked at his throat and moved like a serpent, piercing through his ligants and crippling him in an instant. It took a few seconds—before the thug fell to his knees with multiple holes across his arms and legs.
None of the wounds was lethal, but they still left him paralyzed.
As if the wounds were deliberate—inflicted with surgical precision, not to kill, but the paralyze him.
Not to kill him on the spot, but the render him helpless.
Just then, the thug's heart skipped a beat when Nerissa stood up and turned around.
Her tear-stricken face, the blood sared on her—along with the bloodied knife in her hand, etched an extrely haunting picture. In that mont, the thug regretted attacking Nerissa, thinking he could catch her off guard, and delivered a swift blow.
"I'm sorry," She whispered hauntingly. "I'm really sorry for what I'm about to do."
…
"Nerissa, he's talking to you."
Bakar whispered as he nudged Nerissa, who seed to be in a daze.
Blinking, Nerissa realized that she was swept in what had happened earlier and didn't realize Bob was now talking to her. Clearing her throat, she quickly said, "D-Did you say sothing to ? I'm sorry, I was not feeling well."
Instead of keeping his gaze straight, Bob glanced over his shoulder to look at her.
His eyes were sharp and calculating.
"I said, did you use this opportunity well?" He repeated.
"Y-Yes," Nerissa nodded ekly while fidgeting with her fingers. "I did."
"Master Tobias has always been soft on you, and I can see what effect it has on you, right now." Bob turned around again, shaking his head. "If you don't make use of your opportunities well, forget about protecting anyone, you wouldn't even be able to protect yourself. Like your previous family, one day, we might be attacked by the Shadow and you won't be able to do anything about it."
Upon hearing this, Nerissa clutched her fists hard to the point that they turned white.
Just rembering about the Shadow made her body tremble.
Bakar reached his hand and held her shoulder firmly, assuring her that it wouldn't happen, that Bob was only saying that to motivate her, nothing else. But even so, the scar from her past was still imprinted in her mind.
"Also, rember what Master Tobias said. When there's an opportunity, there's also a danger."
Bob stood up from the bench and darted his eyes left and right, scanning the block.
"What makes you say that? Did you sense anything?" Bakar asked with a frown.
"I'm not sure…" Bob shook his head, his steps slow as he made his way back toward the alley. "Just a hunch. Lucivar was drawing in good fortune, and we reaped the benefits—but beneath it, I can sense a small ember. A faint ember of misfortune, waiting patiently for the perfect mont to ignite."
"In any case, be careful," Bob added. "Co, let's go back, the others are waiting."
Despite the unsettling warning, Bakar pulled Nerissa and followed right behind.
Once the three disappeared into the alley, the street light across the bench flickered a couple of tis.
It went on for a few seconds, then streams of light oozed out like liquid, spiraling around the head of the street light before coalescing into a squatting figure of pure luminescence. Slowly, the light solidified into a person clad in a student uniform—Caldaros.
"That fat guy is quite sharp, he's as dangerous as Lucivar." He mumbled with a clear frown.
Even though he was using his Godly power, Bob was still able to sense him, albeit barely.
No one regular could do sothing even remotely close to that, especially not a Chrysalis-rank Hybrid.
"I've been thinking that you must have friends, but turns out, you have a family," Caldaros smirked, and his eyes glistened with malice and wrath. "I clung to the hope that for once, you'd not use underhanded tactics—and win against fair and square, but who am I kidding? You touched Ciri… If it's dirty war you want, then a dirty war you shall have."
Caldaros' eyes burned, his mind fixing on the blonde-haired woman with Bob earlier.
Sothing that might start this dirty war for real.
Nodding his head, he dashed away and landed on a rooftop, away from prying eyes.
Ciri was there, cradled on the corner and pale.
"Aunt Ciri," Caldaros called once he landed. "Is there anything else about tonight that I should know?"
"No… I already told you everything that hap-" Ciri stopped mid-sentence, her eyes slightly widening.
One thought ca to mind.
"So Ciri, what makes you think Sunna would not feel good? And if she felt good, doesn't that an your precious Caldaros, the mirror of her divine grace you said, would also feel good?"
Lucivar's words rang in her mind like a broken record.
It made her pause for a second, but she quickly snapped out of it, refusing to entertain those words.
"Aunty…?" Caldaros raised an eyebrow. "Are you okay?"
"Oh, yes!" Ciri put on a vibrant smile and nodded. "Don't worry, I was only a little distraught. As for what I was saying, I already told you everything that happened. That devil couldn't touch , and from the looks of it, he didn't find intentionally."
Upon hearing this, Caldaros nodded and approached.
His expression softened as he knelt down and held Ciri's shoulder gently, "I have sothing to do—to get rid of that devil and make the world a better place. Aunty, can you go back on your own? Just be honest, I can take you back if you can't."
"My apartnt is nearby. I can go back on my own." Ciri answered, still retaining her smile.
Nodding his head, Caldaros walked to the edge of the rooftop.
As he was about to leap away, Ciri called for him.
"Caldaros…"
"Yes, aunty?"
Caldaros turned to look at her, the sa soft smile playing on his lips.
For a second there, Ciri paused, hesitant, undecided.
Then, she shook her head, "Be careful."
"I will." Caldaros nodded and disappeared, turning into traces of light.
Once he was gone, Ciri could finally breathe easily again, "No way that kind boy would take pleasure in killing, even if the person he killed was that devil, who deserved to die. That devil was only trying to corrupt and sow doubt into my mind…"
anwhile, on the other block.
Bob, Bakar, and Nerissa ca back together.
Seeing that Bob was with them, Mirel didn't ask questions as it must be a disciplinary thing.
On the other hand, Nerissa stopped when she was about to open the car door.
Then, she moved to the front door and knocked on the window.
Lucivar rolled down the window and raised an eyebrow, "Why aren't you getting inside, Nerissa?"
"I was planning to take a night walk, to take so fresh air before going back," Nerissa smiled stiffly, which told Lucivar that she was lying almost instantly. "I was wondering if I could ask for so cash, I'd take the bus later."
"Sure," Lucivar nodded and gave her so cash. "Be careful on your way back."
Despite the others' confusion, the cars finally left.
Nerissa was left alone on the side of the street with the sirens ringing in the background.
She then walked along the street in silence.
Her feet moved aimlessly, and before she knew it, she was standing in front of a store—a Cakery.
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