"Oh wow," Stark was surprised she responded this quick, "Must mean she was really worried, but oh well."
To be honest, Stark was mostly focused on fighting and getting stronger, so romantic relationships were something who didn't pass through his head even once.
Whether in his past life as an accountant or this one, who would him anyway?
And so after ten minutes of just waiting, the overwhelming crimson aura not disappearing once, and even Stark not knowing how to remove it...
~VROOM~
A beautiful luxury car painted in red appeared before him.
Some classifiers even stopped pointing at him and filming his appearance to check out the car, as it was a beast that would probably cost a fortune.
"What the hell happened to you?" Lana had a weirded out expression as she lowered the windows, confused how Stark could end up like this.
"Stuff," Stark was actually surprised she was able to recognize him even though his appearance should be hidden by the aura, but oh well, a stalker always recognizes their target, don't they?
"Anyway, just get in, we have things to talk about," Lana patted the seat beside hers, and Stark got inside the car, a cute smile on her face as she didn't look scared of Stark one bit in comparison to all the others.
"Thanks."
And so just like them, both of then drove off, toward Stark's hotel room as he instructed the blonde-haired girl.
***
(20 minutes later)
The ride was just Lana talking about what she did during those three weeks, while Stark remained silent, too tired to even engage in the conversation.
And Lana clearly noticed it as she noticed his eyes were slowly closing, although he was trying not to fall asleep.
"Here we are," she parked herself in an empty spot.
"Anyway, thanks," Stark was grateful, and he got out of the car.
But...
~TUT, TUT~
Lana also left, locking the car behind her.
"What?" he titled his head.
"I'll just stay a bit, I did say I wanted to talk about something, right? If you read my messages you should know about it," Lana raised her eyebrows, absolutely confident Stark hadn't read any of them.
[Alchemist] was there in his white robe and holding his potions.
But...
[Domination], even though he was weird, looked different than usual.
He still had that giant smile on his face, one that was evil, much like the [Superior Clone], but... instead of his body being completely made out of crimson aura, his pupils had a golden cross in them, and strands of holy aura could be seen in his figure.
"New look," Stark smiled.
"You could say that," [Domination] responded.
The reason was obvious: [Domination] had merged with [Exorcist], meaning that they became one, although it seemed like [Domination]'s personality completely ruled out [Exorcist], fragments of his holy aura and power being the only thing left.
In the end, it didn't matter, as it meant less annoying doppelgängers to speak to.
"Good work," Alchemist clapped his hands together.
"I do agree," Domination nodded.
It was the first time they actually praised Stark instead of blatantly insulting him or criticizing what he was doing.
"But..." Domination's expression darkened, "It is not over."
"Remember you're starting your life inside that rift conqueror academy or whatever, be ready to fight things possibly even stronger than the warden," Alchemist shrugged.
"..." Stark nodded.
And then...
""Get up, then, dumbass,"" both Alchemist and Domination (Exorcist) spoke, pointing at the sky.
And when Stark looked up, he saw a giant demon, one that looked very similar to EGO.
"It's time for things to get real," Domination snapped his fingers, and both of them, as well as the demon, disappeared.
And just like that, Stark's consciousness began to fade as well.
He knew that what they said was true: the Rift Conqueror Academy regrouped people that were over level 125, meaning that they some would potentially be able to fight back against Warden, if not beat him.
And... he would have to join this academy, and fight his way to the top to survive as the passing rate for JUST the first year is less than 5%.
Just how bad could this school be...?
Well... he was about to find out.
That it was true hell as well.