Chapter 714 - 714: Death?

The explosion was so powerful that it blew up the entire house at once, leaving nothing in its wake. 

In the distance, Xaen was standing with his hand behind his back, looking at the cloud of fire that was spreading everywhere. 

A smirk formed on his lips. "What a waste to use this on a random person. If only Lucifer had personally come, it would've been so much fun."

He turned around. A portal appeared before him. He entered the portal and disappeared with it. 

...

Xaen appeared back at the Academy of Gifted Variants, stepping out of the portal that opened in his office. 

Grandpa Chi was sitting on his chair, seemingly bored. 

"You are back." He stood up, seeing Xaen return. "Finally. I was getting so bored here. Now take care of your chair. It's time for me to leave. Ever since you left me in charge here, I didn't get time to go home. So much dust would have gathered by now." 

"It's only been a few days since I was gone. I don't think you need to worry about cleaning your house at the moment. I've returned after a long trip. Don't you drink with your friend for now?"

"That reminds me. Is your friend fine by now?"

"Friend?" Xaen asked, confused. 

"The friend you went to meet. You said he was sick. Which other friend would I talk about?" 

"Ah, you're talking about him. Unfortunately, he isn't fine. I tried to keep him alive, but I couldn't control destiny." Xaen sighed. "You can say that the friend is dead now."

"He is dead?!" Grandpa Chi exclaimed. "I hope he rests in peace."

"Surely he will." Xaen smiled. 

'As soon as I manage to get my hands on him.' He thought secretly. 

"Anyways, I'm returning from a fruitless flight. The least you can do is have some drinks with me?"

"Alright. It's my treat this time. Same bar."

"No, I had something different in mind. How about we don't go to a bar today? Instead let me open something I have been saving for a long time. I think I want to drink my most expensive wine today."

Xaen walked behind his desk and pressed a button. A drawer came out from the wall behind him, which had only one bottle. 

Grandpa Chi walked to the bottle and looked at it. 

"There's still one of these? So old. I thought there were none left.'

"I managed to find one around ten years ago. Since then, I've been saving it for a special occasion." Xaen picked up the bottle. "But I don't think I want to save it anymore." 

"Why not?"

"My friend's death reminded me of something. Life is finite. We aren't going to live forever, so why save the wine for the future. Enjoy it while we still have time."

"Let's cherish the moment because who knows when I might die tomorrow, or you might die the next second. Nothing is certain in this life. So just live for today."

Grandpa Chi nodded. "I suppose you're right. The two of us are already so old."

Xaen brought two glasses as well and started pouring wine in each of the glasses. He gave one glass to Grandpa Chi while keeping the second for himself. 

"To the future and the inevitable death!" He clicked his glass with the glass of Xaen and finished his glass. 

"To the destiny and the future," Grandpa Chi let out as he finished his glass in one sip as well. 

"Still as delicious as I remember it to be," Grandpa Chi smiled. He placed his glass on the table. "One more."

Xaen smiled as he started pouring more. 

"Hahaha, enough. Are you planning to kill me by drowning me in wine?" Grandpa Chi burst into laughter as he saw Xaen filling the glass to the brim. 

Xaen didn't reply. He placed some in his glass as well. "Who knows, that might be my plan after all."

Grandpa Chi started drinking as well. "This old man has more drinking capacity than you think."

He finished the entire glass. 

"Let's test it then. Here, finish the entire bottle. If you can still stay standing after finishing the entire bottle, I'll accept my defeat."

"You're naive if you think a bottle of wine is enough to bring me to my knees." Grandpa Chi took the entire bottle and started drinking from it. 

Within seconds, he finished the entire bottle. He placed the empty bottle on the table. 

"See? Nothing." He said proudly; however, his calm expressions soon changed as his vision started getting blurry. 

His feet started feeling weak, and his knees started trembling. He couldn't even stand straight as he dropped to his knees. 

"W-what was in the wine?" He asked straight. He wasn't naive enough to think that the wine was ordinary wine. "What did you mix in it?"

"What did I mix in it... That's a good question. Let me tell you a story, old man."

"A few years ago, some students were sent on an exploration mission to the Clouding Forest. However, none of them returned alive."

"The world only knows about the incident as the students died because they ate something poisonous in the forest. I'm sure you heard about that story as well?"

"However, that wasn't the truth. Instead, the young Variants were killed by wild animals. Now you may ask, how could wild animals kill young Variants who possessed incredible strength?"

"That's the thing I never told anyone, including you. A few days after the youngsters had gone on the exploration, I received a call from a teacher."

"He told me about the incident of the youngsters losing their abilities in the forest. I went there with him."

"All the youngsters were still alive there. We retraced their steps and found the cause. Something which could truly make a Variant an ordinary human."

"Now, you must be wondering what happened? The kids were alive for me to retrace their steps, so how did Animals kill them?' 

"Can you imagine how dangerous it would've been for the world if people found out something which could make Warlocks useless? The entire world would've been thrown into turmoil. So I did what any sane person would do."

"You killed them?" 

"Nope. I told you they were killed by the animals. I simply took the kids and tossed them before hungry lions in the forest. The rest was handled by the lions." Xaen sighed. 

"It was really painful to do it.. I was heartbroken that I had to do it, but it was all for the greater good, so I did it.