69 Chapter 69

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"Mmm?"

There was a terrifying pain on the back of his head. For a moment, everything appeared to be blurry as he opened his eyes.

He wanted to rub the back of his head, but he realized that he couldn't even move his hands that were tied behind his back using a rope. Not only were his hands tied, but he couldn't even move his legs.

His legs suffered the same fate.

Hawrin had a really bad feeling in his heart as the memories of being hit flooded his head. He remembered the face he saw before losing consciousness. If his hands and feet weren't tied, he would've even doubted his own eyes and memories.

An unknown amount of time appears to have passed since Gabriel infiltrated Hawrin's room.

"It seems you're awake. The Healing Spell appears to have worked. Not bad." A cold voice fell in Hawrin's ears, making him look in the distance.

Not far from the bed where Hawrin was lying, there was a chair. On the chair, a young man was sitting with a glass of water in his hands, seemingly enjoying the water.

"You! What are you doing here?! A dark mage like you will be killed here!" Hawrin yelled at the top of his lungs.

From the initial glance, it appeared as if he was threatening Gabriel, but it was evident that his ultimate goal behind yelling was different.

"You know, you've been here longer than me," Gabriel casually stated. "You should know that no matter how much you yell, your voice isn't going to get out of this room. If I were you, I would've saved my energy. We have a long night ahead of us."

Tuck~

After finishing the glass of water, Gabriel placed it down on the ground before standing up.

He walked to the door of the balcony, moving the curtains aside. He didn't open the balcony doors though. The screams of Hawrin's couldn't leave the room, but that was only until the room was closed from all sides. If he opened the balcony door, the voice could escape, which he didn't want.

Through the glass doors, Gabriel glanced out at the beautiful view of the academy, which was basking in the beautiful luminescence of the moon.

"There was a time when we were standing under the same moon. That day, I was screaming, and you were laughing. And today..."

"L-look, Gabriel. I-i didn't want to kill you. I had lost my sense of reasoning in anger. I... I don't mean to do it! You don't take that to heart! Moreover, you're still alive, so there's no loss! You can't kill me for such a small mistake!"

" If you do, you'll be vilified for an eternity! If you kill a student at the Academy, you'll make the Academy your enemy as well!"

"Listen to me, and free me! We can forget what happened between us in the past. I'll also help you get out of this place! I promise! No one will hurt you! It's my promise!"

Seeing his own life in danger, Hawrin started speaking whatever he could to get out of this situation. In the same breath, he asked for forgiveness, apologized, issued a threat, and offered to help.

"If I kill you, I'll be vilified for an eternity?" Gabriel repeated the statement, seemingly amused. "You are insignificant at this point in time.  I'm already vilified as a demon. Even if I kill you, nothing will change."

"I-i can help you! I can tell the world that you didn't do anything! You can return to the normal life! I know people who can help you!" Hawrin stated again.

"You will help me?" Gabriel  turned around.

As he started walking toward Hawrin, only the sound of his footsteps could be heard.

"Y-yes! I will help you!"

"You're right about it. Only you can help me." Gabriel smiled devilishly, stopping right before the bed. "Only you can..."

"S-sure! I know people in the Church of Light! They can help you! They will allow you to live! No one will hurt you! You can trust me!" Hawrin hastily replied, slightly amazed that Gabriel had fallen for his bait.

Inside his heart, he only laughed that Gabriel was still an idiot like before.

'Help you? You bastard, you think you deserve help? Just let me get out of here once, and then I'll show you! I'll make you worse than a dog with the Church of Light and the Academy of Elements at your tail! You've managed to enter this place, but you won't leave alive! Come! Come free me!'

"Allowing me to live? Church of Light? That's not the help I need. I need a different kind of help from you."

"You don't need help with that? Then what? Ah, I get it. You are tired of this life of being a demon and need my help to give you freedom from this life of sin? You want me to free you?"

If Hawrin didn't have good control over himself, he would've been laughing out loud now. He couldn't believe that Gabriel didn't come all this way to live. Instead, he came here to die? And he wanted him to kill him?

"I neither need help in living nor do I need help in dying. I need help with something else," Gabriel clarified.

"Not that either? Then what help?" Hawrin grimaced. He didn't know why, but a grim feeling was starting to rise inside his heart. All the happiness he had until now was gone suddenly as he observed the expressionless face of Gabriel.

"You see, once upon a time, there was a guy. That guy hurt me a lot. He cursed me; he cursed my mother; he beat me... It's because of him that I've developed a lot of anger issues. And only that person can help me solve those issues. So, shall we begin?"

A dark smirk spread across Gabriel's lips as his emotionless eyes peered into Hawrin's eyes as if being able to look straight into his soul.

Gabriel grabbed Hawrin by his throat before raising him in the air. With his hands tied behind his back, Hawrin couldn't even struggle. He was like a doll that was in someone else's hands.

"Three hours... We have a full three hours to ourselves. This night is going to be fun." Gabriel started tightening his grip around Hawrin's throat before smacking Hawrin on the floor.

"Argh!"

Hawrin's back was thrashed on the floor that was made in such a way that it was impossible to break the floor. If it were an ordinary floor, there would already be a crater under Hawrin since Gabriel had cast a strength-boosting spell on himself, belonging to the Element of Light.

There was so much force behind his thrashing that Hawrin's shoulders were dislocated right away, making him scream in pain.

"Don't cry so fast. We are just getting started." Gabriel smiled. "I won't give you such an easy death, my dear friend."

"We have three hours... Three full hours..." Gabriel picked up the wooden bat again. "Three hours of breaking you and then healing you, so I can break you again."

"You took everything from me. It's only fair I take my sweet time, isn't it?"

Smack~