The scream that erupted from their leader wasn't ordinary—it didn't sound human. It didn't sound like anything that should exist in this world. The leader staggered, fighting against the pull of the hole in the wall, which descended into infinite darkness.
However, the old man smiled, his expression twisted with cruel satisfaction. "You hear that?" he asked. "That's your signal."
"My signal for what?" the leader demanded, sword trembling in his white-knuckled grip. "If you think I'm going down there, you're gravely mistaken."
"You don't have a choice in the matter," the old man replied, his voice sharp as broken glass. "Someone who should be dead waits for you down there. Particularly, your curiosity." He chuckled darkly, the sound scraping against the silence. "So why don't you just do it? Because in reality, you have no choice. Refuse, and I'll throw you in myself."
The leader didn't move an inch.
"All right then." The old man strode forward, seized the leader by his throat, and hurled him down into the infinite darkness within the wall.
The leader plummeted through the void, not striking a single surface until he slammed into the ground. Surprisingly, he didn't die on impact—he didn't even feel much pain. He found himself on some type of soft, large pink material that had somehow absorbed the force of his fall.
"What in the world—"
"You came," a voice rasped behind him, raw as if it had been screaming for years on end. "You make my imprisonment so much better, brother. Now that you're here, we can both die together."
The leader froze. He turned around slowly and saw his brother Ormond—dark black hair covering most of his face and cascading to his shoulders, dead eyes that no longer cared about anything. He wore fully black clothing, ripped in places where bruises and scars showed through.
"To make this so much better for me," Ormond continued, his voice dripping with venom, each word a blade. "To think it should have been the other way around. You don't have magic—I did. I was never going to bully you. I cared for you. I always nurtured you, even though Mother told me not to. Everyone else treated you like a disgrace. I never did. But after all I did for you, you hurt me in return. You took advantage of my kindness and weaponized it, hurting and damaging my mental state beyond repair. And then you wanted to play the victim and make your little cult—The Cult of the Magicless, if I remember correctly. So tell me, brother, why would you do such a thing? Why would you hurt me after all I did for you?"
The leader stopped in his tracks. "I'm... I..." He didn't know what to say. He was the villain in this story, and he knew it all too well. "I'm going to change. I'm a changed man—"
"You think I care about that?" Ormond snarled, stepping closer, his presence suffocating. "You're a changed man? Such lies you spill! You're not changed. I don't even see regret in your eyes for what you did. You're just trying to fabricate a lie to look good in front of me, to seem like you feel remorse. You manipulative, disgusting human being. You want to know why I've lived so long despite the torture, despite everything? I lived just to witness you come down here and share my same fate. It's my purpose now—watching you die in an agonizingly terrible way. And after you're gone, I'll take my anger out on your corpse for a while. Then I'll die as well."
Cain jumped back from his brother's pure fury, the hatred radiating from Ormond like heat from a forge.
"You're shocked?" Ormond said, advancing on him with predatory intent. "You're shocked I would say such things about you? You have no idea how many weeks, how many months I've spent in this place. You have no idea how much rage I've been holding inside me for years because of you manipulating me. I say everything with no regret. People usually say things out of anger that they don't mean. I mean every word I said. I hate you, and I hope you know that. So it's time for you to share hell with me, you magicless, disgusting, manipulative demon!"
**Meanwhile**
The next day arrived at the academy, and Arthur woke. He was the first one awake—everyone else remained sound asleep. He glanced around, disoriented.
"What time is it?" he mumbled.
Instead of looking at anything, the system responded. A black screen appeared before him with white text: *It is 4:14 a.m.*
"Why the hell am I up so early?" Arthur sat up and climbed out of his bed. "Well, might as well go back to sleep. I have nothing else to do."
*New quest available: Reach Level 2 to get your first void skill.*
"Another quest? Really?" He was only at level one, which made him wonder what he needed to do to reach the next level. He examined the system page: *0 out of 50 XP.*
"I wonder how I can gain XP. My brother just woke up—I'm not ready for this." He looked around. The darkness offered no answers to the system's nonsense. He could deal with this later. Right now, all he wanted was sleep. He closed the system window and returned to his bed, lying down beside Soul and Kai. He rested his head and finally fell back asleep. Hopefully when he woke this time, he would be more energized and actually able to deal with the system's demands. But right now, he had no patience for such things. He would find out how to gain XP later.
**Back in the Church of the Black Serpent**
The news of Anonymous's death soon reached them.
"Anonymous is dead!" one of the men shouted as he ran through the church, which was oddly massive, screaming this over and over again. "Anonymous is dead! Anonymous is dead! Anonymous is dead!"
"All right!" another man said, standing up abruptly, his voice sharp with irritation. "I will inform the leader right now. Please shut up—we get it. Anonymous is dead. He's a spoiled brat anyway, so I'm happy he died. For once we get some peace and quiet. That stupid kid started wars for petty reasons, and this is what happened. He wasn't strong enough to start a war with an entire academy over one student. I knew a few would be able to kill him if only he had just not gotten into any trouble. Well, I guess I'll have to send someone else to infiltrate the academy, since Anonymous did a poor job at it. And I have just the man."
In a large room adorned with decorations, a man sat on his bed.
"Let's see what I can do." The man rose from his bed and looked at the nearby button on his nightstand. He walked over and pressed it. "I'm requesting a few guards. I want to spar with them real quick. I need to train."
Someone immediately answered back. "Guards will be immediately located to your room, sir."
"Good," the man said. "Is six enough?"
The reply came swiftly. "Yeah, sure. Just more than four is fine."
The man spoke in a tired, monotone voice. "Of course, Talon. Whatever you wish. Six guards will be located to your room immediately. Just remember—do not kill them."
Talon smirked, although his voice remained artificial and monotone. "Don't worry."
"Wait, hold on. Before you leave, one of our men has a message for you. Goren wishes to speak with you."
Talon looked up. "Goren? What could he possibly want?"
"Goren wishes for you to infiltrate the academy," the voice said.
"No," Talon said simply, his refusal absolute.
"Look, if you do this for me, Goren will provide you with endless training grounds. I'm not pulling your leg."
Talon sighed. "Fine. As long as I can train at the academy, then I'm fine with it. So when do I leave?"
"Tomorrow."
"All right. Let me go train for a moment, then I'll pack my bags." He unlocked his door just in time. He walked over and opened it. Six guards stood there, a flicker of fear visible in their eyes, though they tried to hide it. Talon noticed immediately.
"You're scared of me," he said simply, his tone devoid of emotion. "You're scared I'll hurt you. You're guards of the Church of the Black Serpent—shouldn't you be able to handle one simple kid like me?"
One of the guards shuddered. *This guy's not a kid—he's a monster,* he thought. *Anonymous, who was pretty strong, at least in my eyes, wouldn't even stand a second against this kid.*
Some of the guards gulped, their fear palpable.
"I'm not going to end up like that," one muttered. "They're going to give me stronger opponents—they're going to give me stronger guards to fight."
The guards shuddered and quickly ran off.
"I don't understand why you guys keep giving me such weak guards. It doesn't make any sense to me. Or maybe it's just because every single guard in the Black Serpent is weak. What a shame, I guess. Well, missing one training day won't hurt. Time to pack my bags."