Chapter 54: From conspiracies to disasters

A boy went into a building. It was an old building surrounded by snow on all fronts. There was not a soul in a few kilometers radii apart from the boy and the people he came here to visit.

His warm breath left his body and made mist in the air, disappearing a second later: it was cold.

The building itself was abandoned. Anyone who'd wander in would either take it as an abandoned building and leave or poke a bit more and die. 

The boy knew it. But he had to do this: He just had do. 

With an audible gulp, he took the stairs to the basement, where those people were. His breath shivered. Was it from the cold? Or was it from the fear of what he was getting himself into? Even he didn't know that. 

His fur coat and the walls did protect him from the cold, but even the coat couldn't prevent his fluttering heart. 

There was a massive double door in the basement: the home of the Murboyz. It was a fancy name. Maybe they thought the name was something fun when they thought it up. The group started as mere thugs thirty years ago. But as time passed and their activities grew, their name warped into something else: something sinister, and people just called them the 'Killboyz' instead. 

Before the boy could gather up his courage and bang on the door, it opened on its own. Everything in the room was pitch-black and there was no turning back. The boy knew it. He knew this all along. So there were no doubts. There were no second thoughts. 'Here goes.'

He took a step forward and the door closed again. Pyres lit up by themselves. He was surrounded by men in red hoods. Everyone had a mask. This place was big. Bigger than what it's interior would suggest. There were at least a few hundred hooded men in here. Some were drinking, some were playing with others, and some were torturing their captives, with chuckles.

The groans of the prisoners troubled the boy but he kept his mind calm. There was a reason he was here, he couldn't waver now. 

And in the far corner of the room, there was a man on what seemed like a throne of some sort: the handle of the throne was made from skulls. The man didn't have a hood nor a mask, just a grin instead. He sat with his legs crossed and one hand on his chin. 

And the boy's business was with that man.                                 

The surrounding men parted when one word was spoken. "Move." The word was spoken by the boy. But he meant no disrespect and yet his voice oozed hostility. 

"Well, well, well, welcome Battlesuin scum. What do I owe this pleasure?" The man on the throne mocked the boy. His voice was deep.

Everyone laughed. Normally anyone who mocked the Battlesuin family would have met a dog's death. And yet, this man, had the balls to mock the boy. Perhaps he was brave, perhaps he was stupid, perhaps he was strong. Or perhaps he was just insane.

The boy bit his lips. As frustrating as this was, he couldn't even defend himself. He prided in being a Battlesuin and yet, he was seeking help from a terrorist group, the mere thought made his stomach crawl, but this had to be done. And so, he had to bite his lips and just accept everything these guys could dish out. 

"I want someone dead and a place destroyed."

The man showed his teeth. He was old, maybe fifty or so. But his physique was that of a thirty-year-old. The only distinctive feature of his age was his tidied beard and black-and-white hair. "But shouldn't-"

Before the man could dish out more insults to his family name, he just threw a rock on the floor. "This is half. I'll pay the rest once the job is done."

The man's expression hardened. 

He signaled one of his men and he picked up the stone. His man licked the stone and grinned. "80% Sylvanide, boss."

The man on the throne grinned too. "Alright, I'm listening. Name?"

"I want you to kill…" The boy closed his eyes. "Helio Romswell Jintel. And destroy the academy"

'Jintel? So Julio, had a son?' The man's grin widened to a point where his cheeks almost tore open. He was exhilarated. "Double the payment boy! This might be worth every penny!" He burst into laughter. He was excited, very excited.

'I finally get to have my revenge.' The boy's eyes glistened. But little did he know, not everything always went according to plan.

***

Blaze Battlesuin was frustrated.                                                 

No matter what he did, no matter how many girls he slept with, no matter what he ate, and no matter who he killed, he couldn't forget. He couldn't forget about his mother's death and he couldn't forget about the shame he went through. 

Every time he remembered it, the rage and sorrows made him shiver. And yet, not a single drop leaked. 'I'll kill you, no matter what!' His determination was firm. 

But he couldn't mess with Helio no matter how much he wanted. The family head had made it clear that she'd erase everyone from existence if they were to touch Helio. So instead, he wanted to kill every member of his family. He wanted to torture Helio's mother and sister. And he was going to do just that if his father hadn't slapped him back to reality. 

"They're the Romswells you fool! We already have bad blood with them. If we go to war because of your petty ego, the whole family would crumble and I'd lose my position."

The Romswell and Battlesuin family had previous history. Both families were influential but the Battlesuins were more famous. But just because they were famous didn't mean they were stronger. Even to the Battlesuins, the Romswells were monsters. 

'So that's why?' At that moment Blaze had learned that his father never really cared all that about his mother as much as he cared about her. His father cared more about his position than his family. Though sad, this was the reality. 

He didn't know Helio was from the Romswell family till now either. Messing with that kid was a big mistake. Just because of that one kid, all of his plans, all of his dreams crumbled to the ground. And that's why he wanted to erase the mistake and that boy's existence. 

But how?

He didn't give up. Days passed. 

And then came the brilliant idea in his head. 'It's fine as long as I'm not involved, right?'

But maybe in his emotional state, he forgot that employing terrorists to do his bidding was still him being involved. 

***

Meanwhile, on an island far away, a man was in his usual position, staring at the academy grounds through the glass wall in his office. This was the norm for him.

He was lazy and left most of the brunt work to his wife. Just chomping on donuts while seeing kids run around in the field gave him more satisfaction than anything else.

He was the headmaster of the Demigrace Academy and he was also the strongest man on the school grounds. But even he was left questioning whether he was true anymore or not. 

A few days ago, when he first saw Helio's transformation, he was shocked beyond compare. It reminded him of a certain disaster that took place thirteen years ago. Back then even from his office, he'd felt the shockwaves. He felt the destruction. It was almost as if he was reliving history. 

But there was something else that was bothering him too. Namely, the transfer students. All five of them were bigshots and two were even royalty. But the most troublesome one was the Battlesuin. 

'Why would she send her direct descendant?'

The new transfer student Hyorin Battlesuin was a direct descendant of the current head of the entire Battesuin family. The heirs of the main family were to never mix with the common folks, at least that was the rule of the Battlesuin family. This rule was made so that the main family would never be tainted with inferior blood. Meaning this was a big incident if nothing else. 

But this wouldn't have troubled him as much as it did. The main problem was the rumor that Hyora Battlesuin had murdered all her children seven years ago. Of course, it was just a rumor, but what if was true? 'If it's true, then just who is that?' He stared at a girl walking through the fields, nonchalantly, towards a boy. The boy being helio, and the girl being Hyorin. The boy was walking rather fast. But the girl wasn't giving up either.

'Ah, youth.' The headmaster chuckled.

It was a fraction of a second, but the girl- Hyorin looked straight at the glass wall and smiled as nonchalantly as ever. They were rather far away. And she couldn't passively have noticed the Headmaster's gaze.

But she did.

The headmaster's blood pressure dropped a little and he fell back on his chair, sitting with a thud. 'That smile, there's no mistaking It.' He himself had a grin. 'Looks like this is your fate too boy.' He chuckled. 'Is your entire Bloodline, cursed or something, Julio?' He laughed some more, kept on chomping on his donuts.