About an hour earlier, before Zero reached the Bryxton's Lake…
Lucia, preparing to leave for the Bryxton's Night Auction, moved towards the road, however as soon as she turned her head slightly up she noticed an airplane blasting into two parts.
-Boom!
It wasn't just her, but everyone else also looked up in the sky as soon as they heard the explosion. Lucia, however, noticed much more than everyone else had…
'Red gem demon,' she thought as she observed what was going on in the sky. Her eyes narrowed at the girl, who was first trying to save another girl, but then
-Snipe
Something killed the demonified human who was approaching them before killing every one of them one by one in a similar fashion. Out of curiosity, she analysed the area before looking at a tall building nearby. Then she muttered,"[Blood Sacrifice: First Moon]" before her eyes turned dark red and her fangs became more prominent.
Her skin turned a bit harder than before and she took a jumping position immediately…
-Baam!
Jumping from there towards one of the high rise building's tops. Reaching the building's top, she then turned around to see what was going on around that area. As she waited, she saw the girls coming out. However, one of them had already been demonised.
'How sad!' Lucia smiled at the fate of that girl who was going to kill her sister and the other people around there, at any moment now but… then she looked at someone dashing from one roof to another and hurriedly moving towards that area.
'Interesting,' she thought as she smiled and then proceeded to observe the scenario for a few moments. She had more or less figured out that he was the one who killed those demonified humans in the air.
That kid then reached towards the area… killed one man swiftly before confronting the guy who looked like he was the leader of those men.
'He is strong… but just what is he trying to accomplish?' Lucia asked, a bit confused by his actions. According to her, that guy should already know about demonification… or perhaps he did not know about it?
What happened next made her interest pique when she saw two other powerful men joining the fray. One of them looked like he knew the girls, while the other one was with the kid in the black cloak.
That man, who was with the girls, saw the demonified girl and immediately moved towards her with his weapon without any hesitation.
'Well… at least someone has a brain among those idiots,' thought Lucia as she yawned at the 'stupidity' of the black-haired kid and the other men there.
However…
The kid asked his friend to stop the guy from killing the demonified girl.
"Just how annoying can that kid be,"Lucia said irritatingly, but before she could even complete her sentence, something beyond expectations happened…
That kid summoned a being from another place. Looking at that being gave Lucia the chills of her life. Never had she seen anything like that and looking at it, she couldn't help but hide behind the walls to not let herself be noticed by her.
She then quietly looked at that kid talking with the being in a nonchalant manner before…
"What??!!!" Lucia screamed before covering her mouth as she saw that kid taking out the gem and pushing it inside his arm, immediately turning into a demonified person.
'Is he crazy?' Thought Lucia, but she still intently saw the whole process as that kid simply stood there dormant, doing nothing for the next few minutes.
After a few minutes passed…
Lucia's eyes widened enough to almost make them pop out of their sockets. The demonified girl… she became normal again! And the kid was fine too, smiling at the heavenly being.
From there on, it was a simple matter of killing and saving with a small twist, the previously demonified girl ran away from there with her companion, who was unconscious.
Lucia pondered whether she should follow that kid or not, but after thinking about it, she formulated a different plan. That is, to approach the two girls first and get to know him through them. However, before doing that… she decided to create a clone of herself and send it to the Bryxton's Night Auction.
She 'accidentally' bumped into those girls, created a small scene, and, using partial charm magic, she took them back to her hideout.
Inside the hideout…
Elizabeth was sleeping on the sofa with her head resting on Annabeth's lap, who was caressing her head. Annabeth looked like she was in a deep thought about something, perhaps thinking about whatever happened at Braxton's Lake.
"Hey! Who are they?" asked Cristine in a hushed voice as she looked at Lucia and Lucia smiled as she answered,"they are the key to a revolutionary method known only to a certain guy."
"What revolutionary idea?" asked Cristine with a curious look, however Lucia only smirked without answering her, which irked Cristine and…
-Bump
"Ow!" Lucia spoke as she rubbed her head where Cristine hit her before moving back to the kitchen where Eliza was. Her eyes were still smiling though as she then looked at Annabeth.
"Annabeth… you look so worried. Is everything all right?" spoke Lucia as she moved towards Anna with a worried and apologetic look as she observed Elizabeth.
"Ah! No, it's okay. I was just… thinking about something," spoke Anna, half lost in her thoughts. Lucia, a bit curious about her words, spoke,"something?"
However, Anna didn't look like she was listening. Lucia, a bit annoyed at her behaviour, almost glared at her but then controlled herself and smiled before speaking,"So what are your plans from here onwards?"
Hearing her words, Anna snapped out of her thoughts as she then looked blankly at Lucia before recalling what she just said and then spoke,"Ah! We were planning to go to Arcadia Academy… but there were some… problems in between."
There was a worried expression on Anna's face, which she was trying her best to hide. Lucia heard her words and then made a shocked expression before speaking,"Oh! What a coincidence! We, too, are going to the Arcadia Academy."
"We are?" spoke Eliza with a confused expression as she looked at Cristine with a 'how come I never heard about that?' kind of expression. Cristine glared at Lucia before dragging her back as she apologetically spoke to Annabeth,"Personal talk break."
Lucia being dragged, tried freeing herself, but failed to do so as before she could do anything she was already taken by Eliza and Cristine.
"Just what are you trying to do? Aren't we here for a different purpose? You do know the consequences if we fail to catch that guy, don't you?" Cristine spoke in all seriousness. Her eyes narrowed at Lucia demanding a genuine explanation from her and then Lucia spoke with a smile,"they know a guy… a certain guy who can remove the curse of Red Demon Gem."
At her words, both Eliza and Cristine made a dumbfounded expression as they both tried to comprehend what Lucia had just spoken.
"How.. are you sure it's the right information?" Cristine questioned Lucia, and Lucia nodded before speaking,"confirmed with my own two eyes."
Eliza and Cristine couldn't help but once again look at those sisters. Cristine then looked at Lucia.
"Who is that person?"
Lucia pondered before telling them whatever happened at the Bryxton's Lake and as they heard about the whole ordeal… the first thing that came into both the sister's mind was…
'It's definitely Zero.'
"Now, if only we could meet that guy. Well… after thinking a lot about it, I believed if that guy saved those girls once, then he would probably come in contact with them again. All the more because he immediately went searching for them after he finished his business in Bryxton's Lake," Lucia spoke, pondering about it on her own. She was really excited about this guy who seemed far more mysterious than anything she had seen in her entire life.
Lucia then looked at the white-haired girls communicating with each other using their eyes and asked,"what are you guys discussing?"
However, both the girls only looked at Lucia with an even more questioning gaze.
"So when are we leaving for Arcadia Academy and what about here? Also, what roles do we need to play at the Arcadia Academy? Eliza as a student with us being guardians?" Asked Cristine and Lucia smiled at her words before giving them an even more mischievous look.
......…
Zero reached the venue of Bryxton's Night Auction. The auction was supposed to take place here at exactly midnight. He checked the time and found that there is still an hour left before the auction will start.
He sighed in relief and then once he looked at his outfit to see if it's proper, after thoroughly checking it, he decided that it was all good. He then moved towards the building, loosening his tie a bit and removing the bottom of the mask, revealing his mouth and nose as he changed his eyes colour back to normal, white.
As he moved forward, he took out the black card and showed it at the reception. His way of walking changed into that of someone with a high and mighty status and his demeanour suited that of a supreme being.
The receptionists couldn't help but take a second look at Zero as they read the black card on which his name, Reaper, was written. They then called a couple of girls who began escorting Reaper towards the auction.
Zero walked up towards the lift and entered it along with the women. After waiting for the doors to close, he expected the lift to go up, but before the lift went up, the door once again opened.
The door opened and what came in front of Zero was a beautiful red-haired girl wearing a stunning black one piece and a black mask on her face. He looked at her for a few moments before moving a bit sideways and then she entered the lift and stood beside him.
A smile formed on both the girl's and Reaper's eyes as they waited for the lift to reach the top.
"Scarlet," spoke Lucia as she waited for the lift to reach the top.
"Reaper," answered Zero as he waited for the lift to reach the top.
"Never seen you here before," Lucia spoke without turning her head as she raised her hand to check the time.
"Never been here before," Zero answered with a smile as he just stood there without making any gestures.
"Not a man of many words, I see," Lucia spoke as she looked at the lift that almost reached the top.
"I just don't talk to people whom I don't know," Reaper said as he saw the lift finally reaching the top and the gate opening. Lucia first stepped out, but then stopped midway before turning around as she spoke,
"Enjoy your visit here. It's a nice place to relax and spend money, though the competition can be really intense if your pocket isn't deep enough."
She then smiled at him before moving forward, and Zero smiled at her as he stepped out of the lift. He then saw her moving forward without turning back and his smile vanished, replacing it with an expressionless face. He checked his fist, which he had clenched so hard that it had almost started bleeding.
However, he sighed before heading towards his seat in the auction hall. Having a black card allowed him to use a VIP seat and the one he chose was… 'coincidentally' the same room as Lucia's.
He wondered about the kind of reaction she would make when she would get to know about it… no, he already knew what kind of reaction she would give. He then shook his head before heading towards room no. 35 where Lucia probably went.
The source of this c𝐨ntent is fre𝒆w(e)bn(o)vel