Killian walked into the room, hands in his pockets and his hoodie over his face.
It had taken him five more days to not need his casts, and the organization summoned him.
His eyes scanned the room. It was painted in white, and all the furniture was wooden giving him a vibe of court trial. The door closed behind him.
When he looked up at faces, he saw he stood in the middle of a curved table, facing old bald men, with only two old women who had heads full of hair.
They all wore square-rimmed glasses. This was Killian's worst nightmare. All their eyes were on him.
"Name?" An old man asked, looking into his laptop.
All the rest did the same, burying their heads inside their screen. Their ears perked up when Killian cleared his throat.
"Killian Dominic."
One raised a brow. "When you are asked these things, you should say—
"You never specified," A lady said from the back. Killian spotted her seated behind the round tables, having a table of her own.
She was a red-headed lady with hair, and wore similar square-rimmed glasses like the men present. She had a relaxed smirk on her face when she looked at him.
"The name you need has been dubbed a 'nickname' so you have to be a little more specific." She told the old man, adjusting the glasses on her nose.
Killian wondered if the glasses were the artifact that allows others to see a Warden's rank and element's affinity. His hands tensed by his sides.
He answered the question hanging in the air.
"I am the Grim Warden."
The men began typing on their laptops.
One of them quickly raised his head. "Grim Warden, what is the inspiration for your nickname?" He spoke quickly, as if wanting to ask a question first.
Killian's expectations dimmed.
Wasn't I here to talk about the Knight Incident?
"None. My friend said it fits me."
The men glanced at each other, then started typing on their keyboards again.
The man that asked wore a small smile on his face, before reading another question that Killian found totally absurd.
"Do you have a good relationship with your family?"
Killian's hands left his pocket. He was getting pissed off. "Can I ask why that question is relevant to what I came here for?"
The men paused.
The atmosphere grew stiff as the fifteen-year-old looked directly at the elderly men in the room.
"What did you come here for?"
Killian turned to the red-haired woman who spoke. "A Knight attacked my cousin and I. Wasn't I brought here to tell you what happened?"
Whispers rose from the men, turning to each other with puzzled expressions. The red-haired lady left her seat.
"You are the one that challenged the Knight? You are a C-Rank, aren't you?"
"Huh?" Killian raised his voice.
"Why do you act surprised? Didn't George tell you how a Knight tried to kill me and my cousin. What does it have to do with nicknames and family?"
Or did they all plan to sweep it under the rug because it was a crime committed by the Goddess' Knight? He glared at each of them, before falling into a seat.
The men spoke in hushed whispers amongst themselves. The last one to speak cleared his throat audibly.
"My apologies, young man. As a matter of fact, that matter had been brought to us," He said calmly.
Killian raised his head. If the matter was brought to them, why didn't they get to it immediately?
"Then?"
The man lowered his head. "We didn't think you were the right brother. We knew the one involved is supposed to be hospitalized and last we checked Keith Dominic is still hospitalized."
Killian had no expression on his face, but he kept his gaze on the man. The man finally looked away with an embarrassed expression.
The red-haired lady clapped twice.
"This is why I say we transfer the board to the younger Wardens. We are supposed to meet Killian Dominic, not Keith Dominic. Can't you read?"
She left her seat. Her long white dress swept the ground as she strolled round the hall to where Killian stood.
"Don't mind them. They are incompetent, see." She waved her hand in front of him and the view changed. "They are literally babies."
The seated old men transformed into crawling babies, chewing on their glasses and licking their feet.
Killian's annoyance died off, and he stifled a chuckle.
This is a Crystal Element's Skill Illusion, isn't it?
His face straightened almost immediately when he noticed she watched him.
The lady smiled, and proudly walked back to her seat. She waved her hand, removing the illusion. The old men looked resigned, as they knew what she had shown him.
"Now, let's start over. Our hero is the enigmatic Killian Dominic. And not the hospitalized twin. Truly, that household has a lot of talents."
Killian pulled the seat to the middle of the round table, and locked eyes with the old man that asked him questions.
The man tiredly scrolled down his laptop. "One thing didn't make sense in the story: the possessed child was found alive and breathing, even in a coma."
"Yes. The Knight eventually left his body when I made him unconscious."
The man's jaw tightened, and his eyes shifted towards the lady. The smirk on her face never left. She sighed softly, and crossed her legs.
"You mean to say, that you challenged this Knight, survived it, and made a possessed person survive it too by knocking the Knight unconscious."
"Yes," Killian deadpanned. "I'm not the first."
It wasn't like it was extraordinary. Many Knights get thrown out of the Goddess' chambers and run mad.
Then they possess humans in their madness and get killed by A-Rank or S-Rank Wardens.
The Goddess' grace was taken after demotion so there's no consequences of killing her Knight.
"Yes," the lady agreed with a nod. She raised a finger. "But according to the A-Rank Instructor, Big Stepper, the possessed victim, Juda, uses Healing Fire. Not any Rogue Knight could possess him."
"I don't know that," Killian shrugged. "But he did."
The lady smiled. "The thing is that the Knight isn't any Knight. He wasn't mad or rogue. He came here for a reason. And that means he'd certainly return."
Killian's shoulders lowered under the pressure of those words. The Knight would return to kill him.
How soon it would happen, or who next will get his possession wasn't guaranteed.
If he possessed only Fire Element users because of his Fire affinity, could he one day use a strong Fire Element User that was close to him?
If he uses Quara, I wouldn't have the will to do anything.
Killian swallowed down those thoughts, and met the worried gaze of the lady. "Why do you think he's not a Knight?" he asked.
The lady looked up at the ceiling, her finger tapped the arm rest. "Well, he used Holy Fire according to your earlier reports."
Killian tilted his head. That wasn't enough reason.
"Holy Fire isn't an Element used by Knights." The lady rested her back on her seat. "That is an Element only used by an Angel."
"Grim Warden, the Knight you fought is merely a demoted Angel."