Maya couldn't say anything but her eyes were enough to answer. A stream of tears trickled down her cheeks. It was unclear if Maya was crying because she was scared for her life, or because she was regretting her past decisions but Gabriel didn't care.
"What happened?" Gabriel asked. "Don't tell me you're taking pity on me by letting me leave with my life today? Don't worry about me. Be the hero you wanted to be. Right?'
Maya understood that Gabriel was being sarcastic but she was in no position to answer.
"You should stop. I know what happened in the past, but you shouldn't blame kids for that. If you were in her place, you would've done the same!"
Gabriel was talking to Maya when someone intervened, attracting Gabriel's attention.
Gabriel glanced at the person who had spoken. "Head Teacher of Earth, Rem. It's been quite some time since we last met, hasn't it?"
"Leave her. I'll show you the Storage Room. You can take as many Spirit Stones as you want. Just don't hurt any student here!" Unlike Eliana who had to think about the Academy's interests along with the students' interest, Rem only cared about the students.
Even if they lost some Spirit Stones, he was fine with it. They could always find ways to get more Spirit Stones but they couldn't bring a person back to life! He also understood that only Spirit Stones could distract Gabriel at this point.
Gabriel only smirked in response. He didn't stand up. There was a smile on his face, but still, Rem had a bad feeling about this. It was as if a Predator was looking at him.
"I think you have some kind of misunderstanding," Gabriel said.
The sky above their head was already covered in clouds, as if it was going to rain soon. The wind was already cold, but it felt even colder thanks to Gabriel's intimidating aura.
"What misunderstanding?" Rem asked grimly.
"The misunderstanding that you're all in control, and that you can give me the Spirit Stones," Gabriel replied. "The truth is that you don't even have the right to negotiate with me. I can take whenever I want from this Academy and whenever I want! None of you can stop me this time. How can you give me something which is already mine?"
Many students felt a chill run down their spine, hearing the arrogant tone of Gabriel. Even the teachers couldn't say anything to Gabriel. Everyone understood that this arrogance wasn't blind arrogance! In fact, Gabriel had enough strength backing this arrogance! All their lives seemed to be depending on Gabriel's whims.
Rem was taken aback by the response. He glanced at the other Head Teachers. All of them felt so insulted! Even if Gabriel was strong, he was just too arrogant!
Eliana gestured for the other Head Teachers to stay silent and not take any action against Gabriel. It was as if she had already surrendered to Gabriel. However, the reality was different.
Inside her heart, she was already cursing Gabriel with all her might!
'If we didn't have to worry about the other students, do you think you had the right to be so arrogant?! Even if you're strong, if all of us had worked together, do you think we couldn't take you down?!' Eliana looked down at Gabriel in her heart.
She kept looking back and forth between the Tower and Gabriel, as if waiting for something. ' I'll see how much longer you can be arrogant!'
There was a long period of silence in which no one moved or spoke anything at all. The silence was calm yet scary.
After a long time, Maya finally managed to gather some courage. Her heart was racing and she was scared, but she still opened her lips, "What do you want from me? If you want to kill me, then do it! I won't resist as long as you promise that you won't hurt my family after killing me!"
"I was the one who hurt you! It had nothing to do with my family! I'm willing to pay the price!"
Maya didn't think that Gabriel was going to let her live! If he didn't want to hurt her, why was he even here and not getting the Spirit Stones? To her, it was clear that his end goal was to take her life! Since there was no way out of here alive, she tried to at least save her family.
"For the sake of all those years that you've lived with our family... All the care and love that my family gave you... Give them a path to life!" She exclaimed.
It was surprising that even in such a situation, her voice was still loud enough.
"Their love and care...?" Gabriel repeated. He knew that it was true once upon a time. The family treated them like their own. But that was all in the past... That was all before things changed that day.
Gabriel subconsciously touched his back where Maya's mother had stabbed him when he was trying to protect her from Maya's attack.
He rubbed his back softly. There were no wounds left on his back. No one could even see any signs of him being hurt there, but for Gabriel, that wound was never going to disappear. It was going to stay there forever.
"You're right. I really felt their love and care when I was stabbed in the back."
Drip~
The dark clouds in the sky couldn't contain themselves for longer. A raindrop fell from the sky, right on Gabriel's hands. Before long, more and more rain drops started falling as the rain intensified.
The rain droplets were cold and everyone's clothes were getting wet but none dared to move even a single inch from their place to look for a shelter.
Water trickled down Maya's cheeks, making it impossible to distinguish between ordinary water and her tears. Maya's entire body was drenched.
"I felt your love and care even more when you attacked me..." Gabriel's hand was still on Maya's cheeks but it slowly moved down.
Before long, his hands were already on Maya's throat. Maya felt a chill run down her spine.
Initially, Gabriel thought that he didn't care about the past and these insignificant people. He had come very far in his journey but the more he saw Maya, the more he was reminded of the past. He wasn't as aloof as he thought. There was still anger in his heart which was boiling like molten lava the more he looked at her.
Gabriel grabbed Maya by her throat and pulled her closer to him.
From a distance, it even looked as if the two youngsters were tightly hugging each other. However, only the ones with good perception knew the truth.
Gabriel brought his lips closer to Maya's ears. Even the sounds of rain couldn't prevent Maya from hearing what he wanted to say.
"On our last day on the roof, there was one thing I wanted to tell you. I wanted to wait until I became stronger before telling you."
Maya felt as if she was suffocating but she couldn't free herself. She didn't even dare ask Gabriel what he wanted to tell her.
Without even being asked, Gabriel took the initiative on his own. His feelings for Maya were different from what they were in the past before he was stabbed by her. They were more complicated now!
Gabriel didn't want those complications anymore! He wanted to kill the old Gabriel! He wanted his past to die along with everything his naive self cared about! And for that, he wanted to tell Maya the thing that his naive self had held on for so long.
Only by telling her could he end the fate that they had together, forever erasing his old self and take his first step into this new life... A life which had no place for Maya!
"I love you..." Gabriel spoke, stunning Maya. However, just before Maya could come out of her daze, Gabriel continued, "And I hate you..."
Maya froze in place.
"I want to kill you so bad," Gabriel further said. His voice was cold and filled with anger and hate. "I want to destroy you with my own hands and erase every semblance of that past!"
