437 Fall and Rise - VIII
Asher looked at the Portal before him.
"You are a bit late, so we have arranged private transportation for you," Professor Fernando said.
"But you would only arrive around the morning of the Fifth Day," Fernando explained.
"I hope you understand, it's difficult to move the security," Fernando said.
"It's fine," Asher replied.
Asher was escorted by a different group of S Rank Hunters that belonged to the Security Team of World Academy.
Due to his status, the academy couldn't send Asher without appropriate security, so his travel was delayed even further.
Asher entered the Portal as the temperature around him became warmer, unlike the cold weather at World Academy.
"Welcome, please follow us," The Security Team on the other side said.
Asher moved with them toward the private aircraft that was waiting for him, it was late in the night.
"We will take off near 5 AM, after getting the clear from the other side," The Security Head there told Asher.
"Is there no direct Portal to the Capital?" Asher asked.
"There is, but permission from the Royal Guild or the World Association's permission is required to use them, and we don't have them currently," He replied.
"Don't worry, you will arrive early in the morning," he said.
But as they were moving, the Security Head stopped as he looked at his communication device.
"Umm, there seems to be a delay signal from the Royal Guild," he said.
"They are saying to delay the departure by two hours," The Security Head said.
"Check with the Royal Guild and confirm this," He turned towards one of his men.
While they escorted Asher to the aircraft, a barrier was placed around the aircraft.
Asher sat down on the seat, as he closed his eyes to do mana meditation, but he couldn't focus.
It was the first time he had that strange feeling as he touched his chest.
Was he anxious or was it something else, he had no way of knowing.
The scenery started cracking as the memories started to appear as the scenery changed to the Royal Capital.
"What are you thinking Amelia?" Elena asked.
"Nothing, I was just thinking about my mistakes," Amelia replied.
"Well, the dungeon exploration was tiring, it's fine to miss a few timings," Eva said.
"Yeah, it's not like we don't make mistakes either," Elena said with a smile.
"And isn't it Kevin's fault for always being too fast," Elena said.
Amelia chuckled as the three of them made their way to their rooms.
It was late at night, and they were out exploring.
"But it was fun to see Kevin charge at a monster and our mentor got worried because it turned out to be a rare variant," Elena said.
"Yeah, but his aggressive fighting style keeps the monster away from us but I worry for him all the time," Eva said.
Amelia was smiling as she glanced outside the window as they were moving down the hallway and she could see a particular person talking with someone.
'Lishia Halcyon with Alan Astaria and Gavin Neville?' Amelia thought in her head.
But they soon moved out of the view as they went inside the lobby room.
She was curious but didn't bring it up as the matters regarding Lishia didn't concern her.
While every student was in their room, one of them wasn't present in the Hotel anymore.
Alyssa was wearing a mask and a robe that concealed her as she followed the people wearing a black mask.
"This is the place," All of them stopped as Alyssa looked at the blue gate in front of her.
They tossed the ring toward Alyssa, and she used her gravity magic to grab the ring.
"You have until morning to finish the preparations," One of them said.
"If things go wrong you can use the teleporting artifact after exiting the dungeon," The woman said.
Alyssa took the ring and glanced at the dungeon gate in front of her.
She looked at the night sky above as her eyes glanced at the full moon above her.
After a few seconds, she entered the dungeon gate as the people wearing black masks nodded with each other and threw a gem-like thing near the gate.
Grey fumes came out as the dungeon gate disappeared.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Each of them went on their knees as a particular man walked up towards the Dungeon gate.
"We greet the Young Master!" They said together.
"Make sure to keep everyone unrelated to the plan from entering," he said.
"And what's the information about Asher Greville?" He asked.
"The current location is the Portals near the Border City, they have been delayed as you wish," One of them replied.
Leonard who was looking at the Dungeon gate turned around to leave.
In the Hotel,
"Will she listen to us?" Alan asked.
"It's not just us, Leon himself is involved, would you think she will refuse to know what's happening here," Gavin replied.
"I don't care if she doesn't cooperate, we don't really need her tomorrow," Alan replied as he put his hand in his pockets.
"Hahaha, I can't wait to finally clean the stain on my family name," Alan said.
Gavin chuckled as they moved together.
The night was still young, with many awaiting the morning. However, the tiring day of dungeon exploring took a toll on many students as most of them were already asleep.
"Remember to follow the plan," Gavin reminded Alan.
"All the Top-Ranking students that followed the Blood Faction are in your group," Gavin added.
"Don't worry," Alan laughed it off.
Gavin and Alan weren't worried at all as everything was going according to Leonard's plan and they believed that nothing would go wrong.
Meanwhile away from the Hotel,
In a lavish car, Leonard was sitting as he looked at masked people sitting across from him.
"Make sure both of them follow the plan," Leonard said.
"Even if you have to force them," he said while glancing out the window.
"But what if they realize the plans have changed?" One of them asked.
"What can they do?" Leonard muttered as a smile appeared on his face.
"They have no choice but to follow what I say, like it or not," Leonard said.
Leonard didn't care if he used others to accomplish his goals.
"This is the perfect chance to carry out our plans sooner,"
"I have already got the permission from Father, and everything is ready,"
Leonard said while picking up the glass and sipping the drink.
"Well, it doesn't really matter if things go as planned or not," Leonard said.
Even if things didn't go his way, he would confirm a lot of things and he had already prepared for the worst-case scenario.
"Either way, it's my win," Leonard said.
While everyone had their objectives, they all awaited the sunrise.
But who would have known that something nobody had thought would happen?
In the Border City of Halcyon,
Asher was reading some medical books while using his mana meditation method at the same time.
He closed the book as he walked toward the exit of the plane and walked out of the aircraft.
"Is there any issue?" One of the hunters guarding him appeared.
"Nothing, I just want to take a stroll," Asher replied.
"Hmmm, then please do not go further than 100 meters from this aircraft," The Hunter said.
"Sure," Asher replied as he walked under the night sky.
For some reason, Asher was feeling a bit odd, and he couldn't relax at all. Even doing mana meditation didn't help so decided to stroll.
Since Alyssa got hospitalized, Asher hadn't met her even once. He was told to stay in the Faculty Council till his report was submitted and any outside contact was impossible.
"It will be different from now on," Asher muttered.
Till now, he was thinking if he kept his distance from others, nobody would be interested in his matters. But seeing the rumors spread and knowing what kind of opposition Alyssa had to face, Asher finally decided to step out of the shell that he made around himself.
He could feel that he was becoming closer to the 'normal' he was trying to get closer to. His world wasn't grey anymore or so he thought.
Crack...
The overseer who was watching the memories till now noticed a change in Asher's body that was present in the dense mana pool.
Red hue started covering Asher, as his killing intent was spreading outside his body.
What the overseer couldn't see was the multiple system notifications that were appearing.
[ Warning Host's mental stability is... ]
Multiple notifications appeared as the tattoo around Asher's arm started to fade.
"Is this the limit?" The overseer muttered as he appeared in the night sky above the Asher that was walking below him.
But the memories started shifting, as Asher was still under the effect of the Ancient Rune.
"I guess not," The overseer said as he disappeared.
But the boundary was breaking, it was either due to the burden on Asher's mind or something else.
