Chapter 167: clean and traceless

['What gave it away?'] Al asked.

['First, things that you guys said didn't add up and secondly, the response that Xander gave me when I asked why he wasn't speaking.'] Alex answered.

His alters kept silent now that they had been caught in their lie.

['I don't really care about the lie, because when it comes to wellbeing, even if I don't want to admit it. It is a fact that no one treats me better than the way Lex and Xander do. So if they chose to lie, it must be something that is very harmful to me, but also something that I can use to my advantage. I am curious but I'm going to pretend like it never happened.'] Alex added.

['Only Xander and Lex, what about me?'] Al asked.

['You are a problem without feasible solutions, like cancer… a tumor.'] Alex joked.

['You ungrateful rabbit! After all that I've done for you! All the master plans that I made for you and I still don't make it to that list of your well-wishers!?'] Al fumed, returning to his old self.

['You create just as much trouble for me, just as much as you come up with mediocre plans for me.'] Alex jabbed at Al's ego.

['Mediocre!! Mediocre!? You f*cking twat!! I'll make sure you regret saying this.'] Al cursed at him.

Alex chuckled at Al's reaction. Now that his alter has returned to his usual self, his mood lightened up.

['Now there's the mutt that I know and don't love. Good to have the repulsive you back.'] Alex interjected, making Lex and Xander laugh a bit at his comment.

['F*ck you,'] Al added when he just realized that Alex messing with him. ['You're still going to pay for calling my plans mediocre.'] He added.

['Do your worst, pervert.'] Alex had the urge to smirk now, but he held it back because there were other people in the room. Making different facial expressions at his own thoughts will only make him look like a troubled person, which he already is.

"So, are you guys going to join the selection competition that will take place 2 weeks from today?" Andrea asked. Her question snapped Alex out of his conversation with his alters.

"What competition now?" He was confused. The competition that he knew of was the continental competition which is to take place several months from now.

"The selection competition." She answered.

"What are they trying to select?"

"Well, it is held for people that intend on competing for the continental one. Not everyone that wants to join will be allowed to join the continental competition. This selection competition is like filtering the good eggs from the bad ones. And also a way to make the students work harder." Arabella interjected.

"The top 50 teams in this competition will earn a semi-permanent spot to participate in the continental competition. They won't have to gather merit points again.

The reason it is called semi-permanent is that, the selection competition has two rounds. The second round is for those that are at the top 50 list of gathered merit points to compete with those that have obtained the semi-permanent spots." Andrea added.

"This whole thing will make the students want to get stronger quickly and also the rate at which missions will be taken will double. If you are not early enough, you might not get a chance to raise your MP. Even teams that have gathered a large amount of MP can give personal missions to other teams. The whole school is going to be busy."

Alex smiled at this news, not entirely because of the competition, but because it was a suitable time to kill the test subjects, Duna, and Vincent.

['What do you guys think? Isn't it time we killed those bastards?'] He asked his alters.

['I have no qualms with it as long as we make it clean and traceless. Although, Vincent is going to be the hardest to get to.'] Xander replied.

['Clean and traceless it is. What do you say, Al? Do you want to be the mastermind behind their deaths?'] Alex purposely said. He wanted to know how Al was going to react.

['If I'm not going to be the mastermind, who will? You?! Nah, you are too dumb to take care of things like this and I cannot trust you with my life.'] Al replied snobbishly.

Alex didn't hold his smirk back this time.

['We are doing it this time.'] Alex concluded.

"We'll be leaving now. With all this wealth, we might just be able to become your neighbors." Andrea Joked.

"I doubt that," Arabella whispered. She could remember how much the presidential suite cost. Even if they were rich now, it wasn't up to that extent. All the energy crystals that they had couldn't amount to a single purple low-density energy crystal.

"Alex, sorry about what I did earlier." Arabella apologized for the hug that she gave him down at the reception.

"Don't worry about it. I already forgot that it happened." He brushed her apology to the side. His attention was on the thought of killing Duna and his test subjects.

"Let me make it up to you later, how about dinner?" She asked meekly. She was about to start blushing but stopped herself by taking a deep breath and shaking her head. After doing that her confidence shot up.

"What!?" Katherine exclaimed. "Why? You just apologized and he told you not to worry about it." She added.

"Is it courtesy to apologize in a grand way. I openly did something wrong and I will openly apologize for it. Keep the same energy." Arabella said in her defense.

She couldn't explain the feelings that she started having for Alex. Since the night that he rejected her body and still gave her the bloodstone, and only asked for a favor in return. Alex had been in her thoughts frequently.

Arabella could also tell that Katherine had something for Alex and she didn't want to lose him to her. They were teammates, meaning that they were together most of the time, this was how Arabella saw it. If she missed her chance then she might lose.

['These girls are really going for it. Why didn't I get this type of attention back on Mars? The females there all feared me.'] He thought.

['Because you were a stone-cold killer that walked around with a frown on his face. You were heartless to them. But the girls here haven't seen much of that, they've been seeing you and not the you that is influenced by our thoughts.'] Lex replied.

['Accept her invite rabbit.'] Al said excitedly.

['No,'] Alex rejected.

"I'll think about-"

-Thud!

Before Alex could complete his sentence Camron attempted to slap the back of his head. But Alex caught his hand before that happened.

"I'll think-" He was about to give his answer again but this time Camron covered his mouth with his hand.

"Geffftt yur hanff offf my mouff," Alex said immediately.

['Hahaha, a true friend. You Camron, I owe you a big one.'] Al laughed.

"Don't worry about it sis, he'll contact you when he's ready for dinner," Camron answered for Alex.

His sister chuckled at what her brother did. "I hope so," she uttered. "Goodbye, guys and girls." She left the suite before Andrea.

Andrea bade them farewell and went after Arabella.

When she closed the door Camron finally let go of Alex.

"What kind of friend sets his sister up with his friend?" Alex frowned at him.

Camron chuckled then used his fist to touch Alex's chin and pushed it to the side, gently. "What kind of friend wouldn't want to give his friend the best?" He replied with a question.

"Wait, what!? Are you trying to say that your sister is the best and I'm not!?" Katherine asked.

"Did I?" Camron pretended and began backing away to the exit. "You know what, I'll be going to the principal's office. You can interpret that whatever way that you want to." Camron opened the door and ran out of the suite before Katherine could snap at him.

"Arrrhh!!" She shouted in frustration and kicked Drake's Shin.

"Oouch!! What the hell did I do!?" Drake fell on his back and held his shin.

"Are you asking me!?" She glared at him and was about to kick his other shin.

"No, no, I'm at fault." Drake quickly stated.

'What have I done to deserve such an abusive teammate, she doesn't even act like a proper girl. She's more like a stubborn goat.' Drake thought.

"Achoo!!" Katherine sneezed. Immediately she glared at Drake again. "Did you just insult me in your mind!?" She asked.

Immediately, Drake ran out of the suite and Katherine chased after him. "Better pray that I don't catch you." Katherine shouted as she began chasing him.

"I wish you a safe return Drake," Adrian whispered. He turned and looked at Emma. "Would you like to help me try and master my sound ability?" He asked. "I'll help you with yours too." He added.

"Sure, let's head to the backyard of the guest inn," Emma answered.

"What about you Alex?" Adrian asked.

"I'll be joining you guys there, I need to take the miracle fruit and make my breakthrough." He replied and they all left the suite…