Chapter 278: Anger

The next morning, Teren woke up for sunlight to pierce his eyelids. The moment he woke up, he could feel that there was something wrong. He had always trusted his guts, therefore, he sat up and looked around to find what could've caused that anxious feeling swelling within him.

After looking around, he found nothing. This made Teren scratch his head before he get off the bed.

He made the bed up and then went out to the kitchen to find nothing. He looked at the bathroom then to the front yard of his house and still found nothing.

Teren frowned and took out his phone.

"..."

He was certainly searching for something but since he took his phone, it's not something but someone...

Teren was just following his guts all this time. But when he looked into his phone, he found a message.

[I'll start from the thousandth.]

It's a message from Trisha.

Teren stared at it for a while but knew he had done something wrong.

"Hm..."

He took a deep breath in. He almost cursed out loud but kept his cool.

"I shouldn't have said that."

Last night, Trisha asked her what she could do to avoid the situation that both of them were afraid of. Teren didn't think much of it and answered-

[If you're strong enough, I wouldn't need to go to that state.]

Trisha must've thought that she's far from that strength.

"By thousandth, she must've meant the AWR. Does she know where to find them? Is she planning to travel around the world? Does she even have the money?"

He gritted his teeth but could do nothing about it.

Teren has come to know Trisha a lot. When she said it, she will do it. There are no exceptions. If she wants to hunt the top Aberrants in the world, she will do it even if it meant going around the world.

At that moment, Teren felt so weak. Not only becuase Trisha just left but also because of why she left. It's because he's not strong enough.

"Is there still a point for this?"

He held his chest where his heart is. It's been long but he could feel the blade within again.

It weakens him but it was able to retain his humanity. Making friends, feeling emotions, and sympathizing. All of these are possible because he was no longer numb due to the Spirits within him.

It had done its original job, right?

The blade created an image of weakness. Everyone now thinks that the Devil Himself is no longer the threat.

The blade seamlessly turned Iesa's position. 'Dehian' came out and put the play into a stalemate.

All of it, just to give Teren more time. Had he set the stage enough by now?

The unknown variable known as Trisha has been resolved. The Heren City is now fully under his control and every Aberrant within it. He had gained sufficient reinforcement and a piece to play among the big houses.

"Haa... instead of getting depressed over it, let's just finish it before something happens to her."

Teren clenched his fists. He hates how much he cares about Trisha. Emotions are not always a good thing. If he stayed numb, he could just ignore her and maybe, get the most use out of her.

It wouldn't have affected his line of thinking.

However, even if might not yield any results, Teren still messaged Trisha back.

[Come back or-]

But he stopped. He erased that text and sent a new one...

"Boss, umm... Teren texted you."

Chihua, who was holding a lot of bags, updated Trisha who was wearing the uniform that she got from the Drago House.

It was overly durable and good for combat.

"Don't look at it, let me see it."

Trisha took it as she entered the airport. She then read-

[If something happens to you, you're unfit to be associated with me. Return in one piece or I'll disown you.]

Trisha couldn't help but smile and be motivated.

"Hmph, acting like he owns me now..." Trisha threw her phone back to Chihua as she muttered, "He's finally acting right."

Chihua caught the phone and as Trisha told him, he didn't look at it.

'She took me with her! Without Teren! This is my chance! I'll do everything I can to make her see me as a man, not just someone she could order!'

He was also determined.

A half a day later, Trisha had no money left since her mother only gave her little money to discourage her from leaving. If she does go with that money, there's no way that she could live in another country and will eventually ask for her mother to come and pick her up which will destroy her pride. But Trisha still left which her mother didn't expect and felt dumb for actually giving her money for the flight.

When they arrived in another country, Chihua asked her.

"Woah... this is the first time I stepped into the land of another country. But Boss, how do you know that your first target is here."

"I asked a Goddess."

"A what?"

Chihua scratched his head while being intimidated by the language barrier there.

"She wanted me to die but couldn't kill me in fear of Teren hating her... Master, why are you so damn popular, it's making me crazy. But it's convenient this time."

Back to the Mershen High, Dehian cornered Teren within the emergency stairs.

"So, what got you depressed?"

"Is that why you called me out here?"

Teren asked but wasn't in the mood to feel delighted about it.

"I'm just curious. You're making Nick uncomfortable. Meanwhile, Lina and Catherine along with her friends are absent. You're very active about little people."

"Little people?"

Teren asked Dehian to which she frowned.

"Are you angry at me?"

"No... I'm just asking why you would call them little."

Dehian haughtily replied to him.

"It's just a euphemism."

Teren's face twitched.

"A euphemism for what?"

"That they are useless and unimportant people. Why would you go out of your way for them? You have more pressing matters yet you're giving your time to them. So what if Mike can't play? So what if Catherine has troubles in her home? So what if Lina is traumatized by you?"

"..."

Teren frowned and looked away. This made Dehian grit her teeth and walk to him and grab his collar.

"You have so much to fix. Yet, you're playing basketball with some students and hanging out with other women! How many of them did you meet in just one day? Are you trying to piss me off!?"

"..." Teren paused a little as irritation could be seen on his face before he continued, "We've broken up already."

"...!"

Dehian's eyes widened upon hearing his reply.

She released him and turned around before walking away.

"Sure, sorry, I forgot about that!"

The door opened by itself and closed by a bang.

After being left on the emergency stairs, Teren sat on it and held his head.

"What am I doing...?"

...

"You're back early..."

Seres saw Dehian appear in the meeting room where Milliv, her father, and Neracio, the head of the SSDA, along with his guard, the Empress.

However, Dehian didn't reply to Seres and just sat on the far opposite of the table.

"What's the agenda?"

"Oh, we're talking about Teren's acquisition of the Drago House." Neracio said with a smile.

"Tsk! I don't want to hear his name for now...!"

She stood up and walked out of the room. Seeing this, Milliv glanced at his daughter and Seres understood.

After Seres exited, the Empress did also after getting a signal from Neracio.

Once they were all out, Milliv's smile disappeared and asked Neracio.

"This is a perfect opportunity to tell you that you should step away from my daughters."

"Don't word it out like I'm a pedophile, Milliv. But for how long did you realize that by now?"

Neracio's voice quivered at the end. It seemed that his composure is only on the surface.

"For some time. But I don't know what's your goal. Care to tell me?"

"Hm, since the cat's out of the bag... you are aware that Seres doesn't trust you, right?"

Milliv felt a bitter taste in his mouth as he nodded.

"Yes, of course. That's something to expect."

"I see, death couldn't stop a genius to be a genius."

"It doesn't need to take a genius to realize that by now. Seres is old enough to realize that Teren was still a child back then. It's his parents who should be blamed for everything he did."

"Well, she isn't wrong." Neracio sighed.

"Does that mean you're against me, Neracio?"

"Milliv, the last time I trusted you, the Devil Himself almost escaped. Is your revival still part of your grand scheme or did you just get lucky?"

"Of course, I set this up." Milliv clasped his hands, "Unfortunately, until I get into the Spirit Plane again, the Spirit of Greed will not materialize again."

"..." Neracio just stayed silent as he kept his comment in his mind.

'It's about your wife again, huh...'

"Of course, just one more step and we'll be a whole family again... the family I sacrificed just to get rid of the demon."