425 Trap of Memories X - Envy
"HAAAH!" Damian shouted as he blocked the monster's attack.
Sam quickly moved past him and swirled his spear removing the hand of the monster.
SLAM!
Damian pushed the monster into the wall, as he stepped aside letting the ice spear impale the monster.
Alyssa, who was falling from the air, stopped just above the ground as Asher caught her.
Alyssa maintained her balance, and she glanced at Asher.
"Thanks," she said.
"It's fine, you can rest for now," Asher said.
"Are we taking a break?" Damian asked.
"Yeah," Asher replied.
Sam nodded as he sat on one of the rocks while Asher took out the potions to give them to Alyssa.
'Is this the same Asher Greville?' Sam thought in his head.
The first impression of Asher that Sam had was of a ruthless and indifferent person, that matched the personality of those that hailed from the Greville Family.
But the person in front wasn't like that at all. Others couldn't notice it that much as pretty as Asher wasn't a very social person, but Sam who was in their team could notice it.
Damian on the other hand could notice it, but he was happy that Asher wasn't too emotionless like in the past.
After a few more hours of hunting and taking breaks, Asher stopped all of them.
"This should be enough for today, we can leave now," He said.
"I will go ahead with her, you can take these monsters," Asher added as Sam and Damian nodded.
They distributed the profits from the monster hunts they did as an equal share for all four of them.
While Asher and Alyssa went ahead, Sam and Damian were taking the monsters' corpses inside their storage rings.
"Aren't you worried about him?" Sam spoke up.
"About what?" Damian looked a bit surprised as Sam wasn't a person who would interact with them too much.
And because it didn't bother their teamwork, they let Sam do his thing.
"About her, from what I can see, they seem more like friends than mere teammates," Sam said while adjusting the ring on his hand.
Damian face changed as he got more serious, he might look or act silly, but he was aware of his and Asher's social positions.
Sam noticed the look.
He had long since noticed that Damian Seymour wasn't an idiot, or a simple person either. The only person who acted closely with Asher Greville, there had to be something that made him different.
"Take my word or not, it's not good for him if he gets too friendly with her," Sam said.
Was it guilt, or something else Sam wanted to say it once.
He didn't say anything else after that as both of them quietly collected all they needed and went out.
But Sam's words were still on Damian's mind.
"I guess, I am just happy that isn't his old self anymore," Damian muttered.
Being with him for so many years, Damian knew what young Asher was like.
A person that was disconnected from the rest of the world, all alone. And Damian was just happy to see a change in Asher's emotionless eyes.
What he couldn't do as a friend, was done by someone else.
"I don't care if it's her who can help him, I will just support him," Damian shrugged his shoulders as he disregarded the thoughts in his head.
As he was walking toward the Rankers Dorm, he stopped as he noticed Amelia and Kevin's group exiting the dorm.
Things were still awkward between him and Amelia, but Damian forced a smile on his face as he went ahead.
Amelia noticed him, as she was on her way to the Mage Class, and saw Damian wave a hand at her at a distance.
"Quick Amelia, if we get late, Professor Elsa will deduct our marks," Elena said as she pulled her hand.
"Oh-Yeah, let's go," Amelia stuttered for a bit but she knew that they were already late so she went with them as she made a small wave gesture.
Damian saw them leave and soon the smile on his face faded as he went inside the dorm.
"I guess, both of them are happy," Damian muttered as he stretched his hands.
Soon came the time for the End Term Tournament, and just before it was about to start, Asher and Alyssa were completing their research report for this term.
"Cough, Cough," Alyssa coughed as she felt pain all over her body.
"Sorry," Alyssa said as she took a deep breath and drank another potion.
Due to the constant use of magic, her health was deteriorating, and she could feel it.
"Can you give up on the rankings this time?" Asher asked.
Alyssa looked at him.
"I don't think it will do any good to go too far, it will only harm your body more," Asher said as his eyes glowed red.
He was using his bloodline ability to see the constant disruption of mana flow around Alyssa.
As he was growing more efficient in controlling his bloodline ability, Asher could see how messy the mana flow of Alyssa was in reality.
"I-I cannot," Alyssa hesitated at first but said it.
"I see," Asher replied.
"I have waited long for these opportunities," Alyssa said.
"If I give up now, I will be betraying myself," Alyssa said looking at Asher.
She knew what Asher meant by saying those words.
Asher wanted Alyssa to give up on her revenge, but she simply couldn't. The pain she had felt, the pain she had endured. Her entire life would be meaningless if she gave up.
She clenched her fist because there was a part of her that didn't want to let go of the comfort and peace she found with Asher.
Both of them stayed silent as they completed their reports as Asher constantly used his bloodline ability to suppress Alyssa's mana.
It was a thing he started doing to stop the constant disruption of Alyssa's mana.
***
End Year Tournament was a week away, as all the Fourth Years returned to the World Academy.
"So, what did you notice till now?" Leonard asked as he removed the suit he was wearing.
"He is strong, I don't think he is below me or even Matthew," Sam added as he looked at Matthew who was standing there as well.
Matthew frowned as he didn't think that Asher was stronger than him.
He felt a bit insulted that someone who had awakened two years ago would overtake him.
"I see and what about the second thing," Leonard asked.
"They appear to be friends," Sam said.
"Hmm, who would have thought?" Leonard smiled as he looked out the window.
"And here I was thinking of a way to trap him, and he created a hole for himself, hahaha," Leonard laughed.
Everyone else in the room stayed silent, as they were too scared of Leonard Tarvian.
Not only he was the strongest student currently in the World Academy, but all of them were also afraid of Leonard Tarvian.
Not a single person present here wasn't in Leonard's hand already.
Just like Sam, and Matthew the others couldn't even think of betraying him.
For Sam, he couldn't betray Jack or Leonard even if he wanted to, so he didn't even think of redacting any information.
"Isn't this funny," Leonard looked around the room.
"Jack, start the plan," Leonard glanced at Jack.
"Ok," Jack smiled and nodded.
"And you can go now," Leonard looked at Sam.
"About our deal-," Sam said but he stopped midway as Jack grabbed him by his throat.
"Look at this bastard, you think you can have a deal with us?" Jack grabbed his throat.
Sam couldn't breathe as Jack laughed at his misery.
Because everyone here present was loyal to Leonard, Jack didn't have to worry about news spreading out.
"You aren't in a situation to negotiate, just listen and do your job," Jack said as he let go of Sam who fell on his knees.
Jack leaned a bit.
"Don't forget, how you behave will increase the number of days your mother lives," Jack whispered as Sam kept coughing on the ground.
"Take this guy out of here," Jack said as Leonard just kept looking out of the window.
"And tell Alan and Gavin to come meet me," Jack instructed them as they were grabbing Sam.
Leonard turned toward Matthew as he walked closer to him.
"I heard you lost a spar against Asher Greville?" Leonard asked.
"That, he caught me off guard!" Matthew replied.
"Hmm, I see," Leonard put his hand on Matthew's shoulder.
"I dislike useless people, so try hard not to become one of them," Leonard patted his shoulder as he turned around to leave the room.
