200 No Even A Rival

"I can't believe you still paid for the 'damages' even though we already magically fixed anything out of place," Jay said as we made our way back entering Atlantis.

"I'm just being charitable, besides I have more gold then sense, right now." I answered taking off my leather strap and returning it back to the students at the booth.

"Welcome back, I hope everything went smoothly." different students then the ones in the morning greeted us.

"Everything went well." I smiled handing back the band.

"Great, If anything happened don't be shy to report it, Atlantis take student safety as a top priority." they smiled and looked at the rest of our group.

"Hey, Paul, you here?" I questioned into the badge.

"Hey wassup? I'm here." She replied.

"Nothing just got back from visiting Jay's family," I informed him.

"Ohhh the Carvell's? they doing well I hope." He replied making me believe Mr Wayne and Paul were two separate entities.

"They are doing great, thanks for helping them." I smiled back as if he could see me smiling.

"No problems, always here to help." He replied.

"So did you teach them to bake?" I questioned curiously.

"Yeah, Just some basic stuff though and some pointers to get their imagination going." He answered.

"Ohhh we also met Mr Wayne," I informed him.

"Ahhh yes the merchant right?" He asked.

"Yeah he was pretty friendly as well," I answered.

"Yup he's a great guy, we have done a lot of business together," Paul answered making me question if they were the same person.

"So what you been up to all day?" I questioned.

"Ahh nothing much recovering and a spot of reading." He hesitantly answered.

"You and reading?" I chuckled at the idea since he was never the type to read books.

"I know." He chuckled back.

"Hey, Emilia we're gonna head to the dining hall," Helen said catching up with me.

"Sorry I'll probably go check up on Paul since the whole reason we was so injured was because of me, I'll catch up with you guys later?" I explained to Helen quietly.

"Say no more I'll let the other know, see you for dinner, we'll save you a seat." She smiled giving me a pat on the back and retreated back to the rest of them.

"Hey, Paul can I come to see you?" I questioned curiously.

"Sure, I'm currently in the library." He answered.

"The library? have you changed your appearance or something? you always draw such a crowd." I asked as waved goodbye to everyone and headed to the library.

"Nah I'm in a secluded section." He answered.

"Ohhh okay how will I find you?" I asked.

"I'll meet you at the restricted section." He answered.

"The restricted section?" I questioned in shock.

"Yeah, its a part of the library that's off-limits to ordinary students." He answered.

"Just doing some reading and research." He answered me.

"Hmm, on that creature I suppose?" I questioned.

"Yeah...." He hesitantly answered knowing that he disappointed me.

"Well there's no way I can stop you I guess." I replied.

"It's for the best, it'll save most lives." He answered.

"Yeah but risking yours and I guess Scarlet, Ashley and Anna," I explained my point of view.

"I know it's hard to imagine but we don't just dive into situations blindly." He tried to explain.

"Yeah but you've never even met something like this before and the Dark Elves and everyone else don't have a clue either." I replied entering the library.

"Yeah but we can't have more Dark Elf raids especially since Arcadia is already dealing the Goblins as well." Paul answered.

"I just arrived." I informed him about making my way to the restricted area.

"I'll meet you at the gates." He answered.

As I arrived at the gate to the restricted area, Paul was there waiting for me standing with no sign of a wheelchair in sight making me feel extremely relieved. "Hey, you can walk again." I smiled seeing him a little better.

"Ahh yeah, a few more day's I'll be back to perfect fighting condition." He smiled flexing his very small biceps making me chuckle.

"You're kinda, skinny for someone as strong as you." I laughed as he opened the gate for me and locked it behind me.

"Yeah, over here actual muscles are not as important unless you can't use Arcanum, this way." He said leading the way through the restricted area.

"This restricted area is even larger than the actual library," I said in shock and awe at the almost endless rows of ancient bookshelves, scrolls and books.

"Yeah, there's countless almost infinite knowledge here on almost everything you can imagine." he answered showing me a table with a floating light to give it more illumination filled to the brim with books and scrolls.

"Have you discovered what it is yet?" I questioned.

"Well the life-sapping aura is quite unique very few creatures have a innate ability to sap creatures life." He answered.

"Ohh?" I questioned taking a seat beside him.

"So this large book here." He said opening a large dusty book in front of me and flipping it to a bookmarked page written in an unknown language.

"You can read this?" I questioned in shock.

"Ohhh no, I used a spell on myself call comprehend languages." He answered.

"Woah can I do that?" I asked.

"Well you have to learn it first, sadly I can't cast it on you." He answered.

"Ohh," I replied a little disappointed.

"So this thing best matches what we might come up against, it says that there's a creature that is either the result of a failed experiment in replicating a God or a failed attempt in making a new race." He said to me extremely excited.

"Paul why are you excited?" I questioned.

"I spent hours trying to look for this."He replied, "It's more of a relief." He added.

"So what can it do?" I questioned.

"Well, this scroll says apparently it has innate ability to use necromancy, has a life-sapping aura that gets stronger the closer you are to it and..... a death stare." He answered.

"Death stare?" I asked a little confused.

"Some creatures cause death through just a look." He hesitantly informed me.

"PAUL!" I yelled at him extremely angry.

"It's nothing to worry about, easily countered with a spell." He hesitantly answered.

"Paul DEATH BY A LOOK ARE YOU INSANE?!" I looked at him like his plan is absurd.

"Well technically he can only use it once a week and we have a spell called death warding." If that counts." He hesitantly replied still nervous at how angry I am at him right now.

"Death warding?" I asked still angry at him and his plan.

"Yeah it someone with Death Warding dies they are resurrected." He answered like an innocent child who was just caught doing something bad.

"And that is meant to make me feel better?" I questioned.

"Well, it kinda makes the fight safer for us." He hesitantly answered.

"What happened to you? when did you become so crazy and reckless?" I asked pleading to him.

"... I'm honestly not crazy and reckless, I plan a lot and think of all the outcomes and try and do good." He earnestly replied to me.

"I know." I replied trying to understand him but still finding it crazy that he's going through with his plan, "Can't you let someone else do it?" I questioned.

"To be fair no one from the other institutes are gonna get involved in Arcadia business. Sending normal soldiers will prob get slaughtered on the way down, and even if there was another Atlantis team that could, I think the team that would be best for the situation would be us." He tried to explain to me.

"I understand, I just don't want you dying that's all," I confessed honestly.

"I know...." He answered quietly, "You have nothing to worry about, Scarlet, Ashley and Anna. Are amazing fighters there's nothing we can't handle." He tried to reassure me. "Anyways forget about this for now, how was your day?" He questioned changing the topic.

"We gonna discuss this again before you leave." I said to him seriously, "but anyway it was fun, by the way..... are you, Mr Wayne?" I pulled up the courage to ask him directly.

"Of course not, there's no way I can be a merchant along with everything else I do." He answered like my questioned as competently absurd.

"But he's literally called Bruce Wayne." I argued.

"Yeah, we agreed to change his name as long as we run business together." He chuckled

"Seriously Paul?" I asked back angrily.

"What's wrong with it?" He asked competently surprised I was angry at him.

"Ohh nothing." I answered back with a huff.

"So when I first met the Carvell's I did impersonate Mr Wayne to teach them to bake and stuff but everything else after that was Mr Wayne." Paul tried to explain, "Did I do something wrong?" He questioned absolutely perplexed.

"It's nothing." I answered back still a little annoyed.

"Okay...." He hesitantly replied unsure what to do.

"By the way where is Scarlet and Ashley?" I questioned noticing he was alone.

"Scarlet is either probably eating or burning my kitchen or killing things in the training room, Ashley on the other hand is trying to make some magic-infused armour he's been working on for ages." He answered.

"Ohhh I forgot about Anna." I asked in shock.

"Anna is probably training as well." He answered.

"What's the deal with Anna and her cursed blade?" I questioned.

"She doesn't tell me details, just that she wants to kill her sister for betraying her family." Paul answered.

"By the way what is it with everyone and some horrible upbringing?" I questioned.

"Yeah I get what you mean, just a different world I suppose." Paul answered.

"What about that rivalry between you and Travis?" I questioned a little intrigued.

"What rivalry?" He asked back.

"Apparently you both butt heads a lot and stuff." I answered.

"Ohhhh, yeah I'm just annoyed at his behaviour, but it's a bit of a stretch to call him a rival." Paul answered with a grin.

"You can beat him?" I questioned.

"Without a doubt, so much so that I wouldn't even need to cast a spell." He answered.

"Really Paul? He's a son of that Demon guy in Eshia." I answered.

"Yes Abbraxsoth maybe pseudo-Titan making his children pseudo-Half Titans, Travis will still be a walk in the park." He answered.

"A Titan?" I inquired.

"An extinct ancient giant race that wielded weaponry and magic that could defeat Dragons, in fact there was a very bloody war between the two races." Paul answered.

"Woah..... so what does that mean to Travis?" I questioned.

"It just means he highly resistant to magic and most forms of physical attacks and is also very strong and fast." Paul answered.

"And you can still beat him?" I questioned again.

"Yup, he's only resistant, if he was immune like a Dragon or a True Titan, I may be in trouble." He grinned.

"By the way, how comes people tell me that you can sense other Arcanum users, but with you I sense or feel nothing like you're not even there?" I questioned curiously.

"Ohhh that's because I've mastered the art to mask it." He smiled.

"Is there a reason why you've done that?" I questioned curiously.

"Of course, It makes me harder to detect and track." He smiled.

"Ohhh I see." I nodded.

"Yes although Scarlet and I haven't personally engaged in any conflict with the other schools, our abilities alone are enough to stop any of the school doing anything in Arcadia." He explained.

"Hypothetically what would you do exactly if a school did something to us in Arcadia?" I asked curiously.

"Well it depends if the matter gets solved diplomatically if we can't solve the issue, school to school no doubt Xoria will have to step in, finally if that doesn't resolve anything and they declare hostility to all students of Atlantis and Arcadia then Scarlet and I will have to get involved, and well beat them into submission." Paul answered.

"Beat them into submission?" I questioned.

"Well considering Scarlet can travel with me anywhere instantly, coupled with my undetectability we'll be able to subdue them very quickly." He answered but had a look on his face like he wished for it to never happen.

"Paul, you'd never kill anyone right?" I questioned a little concerned.

"So far I haven't killed anyone, I've arrested plenty but if a school did declare war on Atlantis and Arcadia there are a few unsavoury individuals I'll be forced to take out before they hurt anyone," Paul answered.

"Unsavoury?" I questioned.