The Incubus System Chapter 103. Same But Different
Ethan's PoV
Half an hour had passed since the demons attacked the Cretunt bridge. The police were still covering the area with their magic shields and no one could enter without their permission. The crowd in front of the bridge looked confused and worried, some were waiting for their pick up, some were still looking for their separated loved ones, some were waiting for their belongings and cars that were stuck on the bridge. One of them was Diamond. She swept her gaze from side to side looking for me among the crowd. Occasionally, her hand took out her cellphone and tried to contact me with it.
* Ring * * Ring * * Ring *
My cellphone's ringtones sounded again. Unlike before, this time I picked up her call.
"Hello?" I said as I pressed my back against the wall in the alley nearby. My eyes were fixed on Diamond who looked for me between the crowd.
"Where are you?" she said with a worried tone.
"I'm sorry. I lost my cellphone and just got it back. I'm going back to the bridge now." My eyes on her, making sure she didn't see me.
"Hurry up," she said.
"I'm on my way." Then I hung up. But rather than approaching her, I stayed in my position and paid attention to her surroundings. As long as Ruby hadn't gotten out of there I couldn't get to Diamond. Ruby would suspect me if she found out I was here.
A few seconds later, the police and crowd moved to the side, giving way to a drenched demon hunter who had just come out of there. Even though her face was covered with a hood, everyone knew she was in a bad mood from her gesture.
'Ah ... she looks really angry.' Well, even though Lilieth was the one who used her telekinetic to throw Ruby from the bridge, she definitely blamed me for this. Without saying anything, she got into a car and a minute later, the car left the place.
After the car disappeared from my sight, I approached Diamond in a hurry.
"I'm sorry," I said in an apologetic tone.
"Ethan ..." she let out a sigh of relief.
"I thought something happened to you," she said worriedly.
"I'm fine." I cast my gaze towards the bridge.
"How's it going?"
She took a glance to the bridge before returning her gaze to me.
"Looks like the Demon Hunter Association has taken care of it."
"Should we get your car back?"
"It's fine. I've called my assistant, let him handle it." Then her face turned sour.
"I also asked him to fire my driver."
I felt sorry for the chauffeur, but I couldn't say anything about this. He left us without a second thought, at least he should take Diamond with him.
"I've asked my assistant to bring another car to pick us up. He should be here in a moment," she continued.
Just as those words left her mouth, a man with glasses and messy black hair in his thirties approached us. He gave me a slight nod and a smile as a simple greeting before turning his gaze back to Diamond.
"Miss Diamond, are you okay?"
"I'm fine, Joseph," she replied.
"Your ride is waiting for you there." He pointed to another luxury car parked nearby. Several people stared at the car in amazement.
"I will escort you," he continued.
"It's okay, I'll walk by myself. The important thing is you have to move my car from the bridge." It was a long car, if he didn't move it quickly, it would get in the other cars' way.
"Okay. I will excuse myself." After that, Joseph went towards the bridge. While we turned and walked towards the car.
"Since we can't get to Crown Island, how about another restaurant?" Diamond asked as she walked beside me.
"I'm sorry. Looks like I can't accompany you for lunch."
"Why?" she said in disappointment.
"I have another appointment with my friend." It was almost 02.00 PM so I was planning to go to Larry's place after her ride came.
"Is it that important?" she pouted.
"Yea ... this is very important for my friend since it's related to his final assignment."
"Do you want to help Larry Grandroar?" she guessed.
I let out a tired breath as I nodded my head.
"He's been my best friend since childhood. So ..." I did not continue my words anymore since I assumed she had checked about Larry including his grades.
She also let out a sigh.
"Tell him. As a student, he should be more responsible for his grades."
"I will try." I didn't know how many times I told him about that, even before he became a demon hunter.
"Then where do you want to meet him? I'll give you a ride."
"It's okay. You just used a lot of MP. Go home and rest early." Her MP was only half now, after all, I could get to Larry's place faster with my portal skill.
"Okay." Even though she looked disappointed, she still agreed.
When we were near her car, our steps stopped. She looked at me and smiled.
"Ethan ... Thank you for today. Thank you for protecting me. You are amazing."
"You are also amazing. If you didn't help those people, maybe this incident will take more victims," I said with a smile.
"Also, please don't tell anyone that I can fight," I added.
"You're too low profile."
"There she is!" A woman's voice came from behind me.
We turned to where the voice came and saw the woman who was asking for help on the bridge with her son and husband, their wet clothes already covered in the rescue team jackets. Behind them, several reporters and cameramen followed.
They approached Diamond without paying attention to me. My distance with Diamond was getting further, as the people who were coming to her were getting more and more.
"Miss Kraken, thank you for saving us," said the husband gratefully.
"I'm glad you're safe," she replied with a smile.
Several reporters began interviewing her and asked about her heroic act, the cameramen began to record it with their cameras. While Diamond answered their questions calmly like a professional.
I waved my hand to her and she turned to me. Then swung my thumb to the side a few times, my mouth moved silently 'I have to go' and she answered with a nod. After that, I turned and walked to the alley to open my portal to Larry's place.
Pearl's PoV
Pearl leaned her back on the sofa in her house, a mansion near the Ledred District. Her eyes were fixed on the TV before her, her face looked tired. Well, her body wasn't tired, but her mind was. She had just returned from the police station to give them some information about one of her strippers' death and just received a call from her parents. A chat was still on the cellphone screen in her hand.
Papa: Pearl, stop playing around. You are an honourable Kraken's descendant. Look at your sister, she doesn't make any trouble like you.
Yes, her stripper's death news made her father call her and nagged her for an entire hour without a pause. Even though her father knew that the demon attack wasn't her fault, he made it as an excuse to stop Pearl from playing around in Ledred.
Pearl's face turned grimmer when she saw Diamond appear on the news. Her sister answered the reporters' questions about her heroic acts, her face was calm and she answered those questions professionally.
Even though their relationship was very close, at times like this, Pearl couldn't help herself but feel jealous, sad and useless.
'I'm sure papa will find out about this.' And she was sure after that her father would compare her again as usual and scold her even more.
There was another reason why Pearl left her home apart from looking for her ideal man, it was because she was too tired to be compared with her twin. Since childhood, Diamond always had more intelligence than her and since they were twins, people always compared them. They always said Diamond was smarter than her. They forgot that even though they were twins, they were two different persons.
She had tried hard to catch up but no matter how hard she tried, that label never left her, finally she felt tired. Instead of pursuing her twin's shadow, she decided to take a different path from her sister. A sign of rebellion that said 'I'm Pearl not Diamond'. But of course, it was in vain, instead the 'stupid' label stuck to her even more.
Diamond knew it and finally decided to get a small tattoo that resembled a mole under her eye so people and their family could distinguish them from there rather than comparing them by their intelligence. Pearl was very grateful for that, but unfortunately, it couldn't change people's mindsets on them anymore.
Depressed, she decided to leave her home. But of course, it was not easy, because her parents thought she was too naive to live alone. The Kraken's descendant was a hybrid-beast with special powers, one could approach her to abuse her power to give him wealth. Luckily there was Diamond who helped her, she said she would accompany Pearl and make sure no one took advantage of her. With simple words from Diamond, finally, they got their permission to leave Treasure Reef Island and built what they had dreamed of. She turned a small district into a red light prostitution district, While Diamond bought a famous College in search of their ideal men.
Even though her life was much easier after leaving her home, of course she could not avoid things like this. Especially after several years had passed, their parents began to ask what their results and experiences. Now they were on the news. But their news gave a different impression to their parents' ears.
She took the remote and turned off the TV. Her eyes returned to the cellphone and her finger swiped it to check Damian's chat.
Me: Damian, have you seen the news? Are you alright?
She had been sending this chat when she was still at the police station, but he hadn't replied or read her message yet.
'Is he busy?' A security already told her about last night's incident that a demon hunter broke into their room and Damian left with her. She didn't know what their relationship was, but since he left with a demon hunter she didn't worry too much about his safety. That's why the chat's main purpose was not to ask about his safety but she needed someone to talk to.
Her eyes stared at her cellphone screen, even though she wanted to share a man with her twin, her mind began to wonder.
'Damian ... If you meet my twin someday, will you also compare me like the others?'
