"Kriek~!!"
Dressed in a casual black tee and black trousers, I leaned over the edge of the terrace boundary, observing the city below in the morning light, when a sudden bird chirping caught my attention.
I looked up, and in an instant, something fell onto my face. It was a bird! It had my head gripped in its large talons while pecking at me with its beak!
"Ouch! Hey! Hey! Sera! Stop!"
Cursing, I managed to grasp Sera by the end of her neck and pulled her up.
By now, she was more than half the length of my arm, and she was unusually heavy even for a bird of her size.
Pulling her up was a bit difficult in my current condition, but I managed.
Despite my efforts to pull her back, though, Sera persisted in trying to latch onto my head with her huge talons until she finally gave up.
"I'm sorry I left you alone, but it was dangerous outside Sera! And you were sleeping!"
"Kriek~!!"
"Okay, fine! I promise I won't leave you alone like that."
"...Kriek?"
"Yes, I promise. And I'm fine, just a little exhausted. Don't worry about me and for the love of god, stop pecking at me!"
A troubled expression washed over Sera's pretty little face before she flapped her wings and landed on my shoulders.
With a relieved sigh, I gently caressed her hair in a loving way, and she responded by rubbing back her head against my hand.
Suddenly, the terrace door swung open again, and a familiar figure strolled in my direction.
"So, that's your phoenix?" Kai shot me a wide grin. "She looks like… a crow."
"Kriek!"
Hearing his words, Sera attempted to lunge at Kai, but I grabbed her before one of them got killed.
I had used a light transformation potion on Sera, giving her black feathers. It was easy to mistake her for an oversized crow, so I couldn't blame Kai.
"She's not in her usual form," I rolled my eyes and turned my gaze back to the bustling city below.
"I see," Kai said, casually walking over to stand beside me. "How are you? I heard you collapsed?"
"Ha! Please," I scoffed. "I was just a little exhausted. Perhaps as a result of my messed up sleep schedule. By the way, good job."
"Thanks," Kai chuckled. "I'm just relieved that no one from NWO was killed."
"Hmm," I hummed affirmatively. "Well, honestly, I'm surprised that the vampires were stupid enough to split their forces like that."
"True," Kai agreed. "If they had focused solely on either Liz or Nero, they might have managed to eliminate at least one of them."
I nodded again. But despite our analysis, we both knew the vampires had no other choice but to split their forces.
They were aware that as long as Liz was alive, they had no chance of killing Nero. However, they didn't have time to deal with Liz and then shift their focus to Nero.
The academy's defense system would've activated in ten minutes. And upon its activation, defense personnel, and warbots would've rushed to the scene.
If that had happened, it would have spelled doom for the vampires. Splitting their forces and attempting to kill both targets was their only option.
Considering we were being attacked within our stronghold— within our homes, we held the upper hand.
If not for that advantage, the vampires might have gone all out and eradicated the cadets.
Sighing as I thought all that, I suddenly recalled something.
"By the way," I began, "How do you manage to move in and out of the City without being noticed at all?"
Kai smirked. "We have someone in NWO who can create teleportation gates. He can only open gates to places he's been before, but his Gift is quite useful. We also have a tech genius among us who can mess with Athena's tracking function to conceal our location."
"Huh?" I raised an eyebrow. "You've certainly assembled quite a useful group over the years, Kai."
"I know, right," Kai boasted. "I also made sure to keep their trump cards hidden from the government as much as possible."
"That's a smart move. Pass me the command."
"No."
"Tsk. Worth a try."
We exchanged glances for a moment before throwing our heads back and bursting into hearty laughter.
After a few moments, Kai calmed down and asked, "So, Lucas, you know about Leo Kurogami, right?"
I didn't need to ask him to explain since I already knew what he was talking about.
"I do," I answered. "He's affiliated with Spider, right?"
"Yes," Kai nodded. "He will be our enemy in the upcoming scenarios. What will you do then?"
I shot Kai a cold glare. "What are you trying to imply, Wiseman?"
Kai sighed and looked at the streets below with an unreadable expression on his face.
"You know what I'm trying to imply," he turned back to face and continued. "Can you assure me that when the time comes, you won't let your emotions cloud your judgment?"
Haa, I knew this conversation was due.
Shaking my head, I spoke up, "I'm only using Leo Kurogami, learning his skills and techniques. He has so much to offer, and that's all the reason I'm sticking with him. When the time comes, I'll kill him in cold blood, I give you my word, Kai."
Kai looked at me with a dubious expression but ultimately nodded, albeit a bit hesitantly.
Again, I can't blame him. Even I don't completely believe myself to be callous enough to kill a man I've called master in cold blood.
Don't get me wrong, though. If in the future, Leo becomes my enemy, I will have no choice but to eliminate him.
However, until then, I will try my best to not let that happen. Yes, at first I said that changing an event as big as War of Union would affect the plot too much but now I have changed my mind.
If I can save my master by taking a bit of risk, I would do it in a heartbeat.
"I believe you," Kai said. "I know you will prioritize the survival of this world over everything else."
For a few moments, a still silence grew in the atmosphere with only the ruffling of the morning wind audible.
After some awkward silence, Kai spoke up again, "Anyway, your plan was a success, more or less. What are you going to do now?"
"I'm thinking of going back to Wolfshire," I replied while scratching the back of my head. "My intuition tells me that I will find all my answers there."
Kai looked like he wanted to ask more, but in the end, decided against it.
Instead, he asked a different question, "And what will you do about Nero now?"
My lips curled up in a wide smile. "Oh, I'm glad you asked. I was actually going to talk to him. But don't worry, I will update you soon."
