51 A "friend" from the pas

Time had frozen. Every second that passed as he looked at her seemed to him like an eon. How was it possible to meet her here? The past came to knock his door when he was making plans for the future. How could he know that before he had the chance to confront the ghosts from his life, one of them would suddenly appear in front of him?

"Hello, John. My name is Angelica." Her voice sounded like a clap of thunder in his ears. Behind the smiling mask on her face, the youth could feel her hidden hostility that was ready to devour him the moment he would let his guard down.

"It's my pleasure to meet you." his calm voice didn't betray the turmoil inside him. John was sure that she didn't expect he would be in the Academy too. If she had come for him, she wouldn't make him aware of her existence. She would come to meet him instead, under the pale light of the moon in some isolated area with no friendly intentions.

"Shall we add them to the party then?" Vladimir asked as he looked at Henry and Angelica innocently. John didn't dare to reject his brother's suggestion for three reasons. Firstly, he had already lost the initiative when Angelica found him first. He could only wait and see what the girl had in her mind when she asked Helena to meet him. Most importantly, there should have been a reason she was in the Academy. John had to find out why a person like her enrolled in the Academy. As for the third reason..."

'I have to kill her. I can't let someone who knows my real identity and the fact that I am alive to exist. It seems it's our fate to become enemies.'

"Let's go then!" Vladimir shouted with excitement.

*****

"Why are you here?" John asked the girl with a monotonous voice. The group was currently heading towards the forest for another request for gathering herbs. The youths were left behind on purpose to talk privately.

"Shouldn't I be the one to ask this question? Why are you alive, no.9? We even found your corpse. Master was very disappointed you died in a simple mission like this." she replied with a smile.

"You wanted to see me. Why?"

"I wanted to say hello to an old friend and warn him not to involve himself in my business. Although assassinating you would be the safest choice, I am not confident in winning against you. You were a troublesome opponent when you didn't use magic, much less now that you can manipulate the Dark Element. Since you are an unpredictable variable, I decided to negotiate with you."

"An interesting suggestion. However, I don't have a reason to accept it."

"Are you sure? I can already find four reasons for you to accept." Angelica answered with her trademark smile as she stared at Vladimir, Helena, Henry, and Maria, who were chatting happily.

"Are you an idiot, no.4? Why do you think I would care if you killed some brats?" the youth asked indifferently.

"You wouldn't? People change, no. 9. No, I shall call you John now. Not that it matters. The fact you are with them means you have your reasons for this. I don't need to comment that if I revealed to the organization that you are alive, they would hunt you to ends of the Kelvin." the moment she said that she used her one hand to block the strike of the boy who had taken out his dagger silently and with the other, she attacked his neck. Alas, the youth suddenly disappeared, but the girl didn't seem to be surprised. Like she had eyes in her back, she attempted a round kick instinctively at the space where John suddenly appeared. The move of the girl caught him off guard, as it threw him on the ground. The noise, though, alarmed the group that was in front of them.

"What the hell are you two doing?" Maria asked, surprised. Although these two were taking intimately, they suddenly started fighting like they were mortal enemies.

"I heard that John managed to defeat a teacher, so I asked him to spar with me a little. I was lucky to hit him by mistake when I started to panic." Angelica said while carrying an apologetic expression.

"John, are you alright?" Vladimir, who didn't believe her nonsense, asked with worry. His instincts were telling him that the girl wasn't so simple, but since she was a friend of Helena, he had thought he had been paranoid.

"No, she is telling the truth..." he replied with a laugh as he stood up. He gave a momentary glare at her before he continued his explanations. That demon was the roommate of his brother's girlfriend, after all.

"I wanted to impress Angelica with some moves, but she caught me off guard instead..." he said with a flushed face.

"We should leave them alone for some time!" Helena said to the silver-haired youth with a pleading voice. The girl truly wanted the two of them to hook up, as she cared for both of them.

Vladimir was hesitant, but upon seeing the eyes of his brother staring at him confidently, he changed his mind and gestured at the rest of them to proceed forward.

"It seems you have become stronger."

"No, you let me hit you on purpose. The moment I would think I had the upper hand would be the moment that would signal the end of my life. If the others didn't stop us, I wouldn't notice you camouflaged your weapon with dark magic. You didn't betray my expectations."

"So you noticed! You sensed my mana? How surprising since I only used a little magic." John remarked with a nonchalant expression.

"Do we have a deal?" Angelica ignored his nonsense and got down to brass tacks.

"As long as you don't reveal that I am alive."

"I can promise this, until the end of my mission, though."

"Let's sign a cursed contract then. I am sure you came with one."

"My big brother knows me well..." she answered with a smile as she took a piece of paper from her backpack.

*******

Time passed, and John had to go to the Tower of War. He truly had an eventful day. He first asked Stanley some advice on how he should act when proposing a deal to a merchant before meeting with a ghost from his past. John knew that one of them would die in the future for the other to continue living. He had to gain information on his opponent to be prepared for that moment. The two of them knew well what someone needed to do to survive in the darkness. Both of them had to become monsters. Emotionless and cruel, the organization raised them to turn them into puppets, after all. John renewed his resolve to destroy Erebus after meeting her again.

'Too many things to do, and now, I have to walk a tightrope. After meeting with Adriana tomorrow, I will start acting. I have no time to waste anymore...'

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