KNM: Volume 2

• Chapter 1 : Strange Ruins
• Chapter 2 : The Mystery of the Cross Necklace
• Chapter 3 : Light and Darkness
• Chapter 4 : Silver Mask is such a bas——
• Chapter 5 : Liola's Rage
• Chapter 6 : Lancelot's Apprentice
• Chapter 7 : The Strongest Student Dormitory in History
• Chapter 8 : Difficult Decisions

This volume is brought to you by AnmesicCat, Masadeer, and StellarAshes.

Chapter 1 : Strange Ruins

"It looks terrifying." Purity hesitated. To Purity, dark and cold places were too scary.

Kaiser grunted: "Have you ever seen a place with treasures that wasn't eerie and scary? If it were less scary, the treasures would have already been taken by now, or did you think it would wait for you? So the scarier the place the better, then other people wouldn’t come in before you. Understood?!"

Purity and Meinan nodded their heads, as if they've been taught a valuable lesson.

"Hurry up hurry up, the treasures await us!" Kaiser screamed, and waved his hands as if he had already gotten a hold of the treasures.

"Treasure!" Purity's eyes flashed light beneath her huge glasses.

‘The treasure must be a legendary sword, and stuck in a rock. Liola-dage wearing elder brother's white Knight uniform, and under a ray of light, will pull the sword out. God, that would be too cool, too handsome, and too great.’

Purity, who had always wore magical contact lenses, was afraid she wouldn't be able to wash them properly during an adventure, so she had to wear humongous glasses. Cute girls will be cute girls. To match her dresses, she actually brought more than ten sets of glasses, and they took up more than a third of her luggage.

"Treasure!" Meinan brushed his bangs, and he was intoxicated by the various sets of white china, silverware with engraved patterns, and uniquely shaped candelabra adorned with jewelry.

‘Ah! If one could dine within such art, what an elegant atmosphere it would be.’

"Treasure!" Kaiser held his fists tightly. He dreamt of bills flying everywhere, a bed lined with money, endless amount of food, and an advanced housekeeping Maxun beside him to take care of all the chores. How wonderful!

"..."

Liola's face was still expressionless because he was still currently using Heart of Consciousness to scout the surrounding of the palace.

The palace was a little strange. There were some places Heart of Consciousness can't seem to penetrate. Then he saw something that could be the cause of this — a piece of rock that was emitting a strange energy. Liola was starting to get curious about this rock.

With the anticipation of running into what they each consider to be treasures, the four of them stepped into the dark path. With Meinan's Luminescence, the shape of the palace was starting to be visible.

There was a huge corridor, and two rows of strangely-shaped demon sculptures were lined up on each side, but this was not enough to scare the three of them who had been captivated by the idea of treasures.

As for the fourth person, Liola, it would be lucky for demons if he didn't scare them into tears.

After they walked through the corridor, there was a fork in front of their path. What's different was that, one path was filled with candlelight, as well as many majestic armor and beautiful vases. Not to mention, many majestic armor sets, and beautiful vases. Not to mention, many other shiny decorations that were enough to turn Kaiser's eyes into dollar signs.

The other path, however, was as dark as the corridor they had just passed, as if it was hinting at the darkness of their future.

"Which way?" Liola asked concisely.

But as soon as words left his mouth, the other three had already ran towards the bright and glamorous road.

One person stared at the armor and swords with worshipping eyes. One was fixing his hair in front of a large bronze mirror carved with various gods,while the last one was desperately stuffing any stuffing anything shiny inside his bags and pockets.

Liola frowned, and said: "There is a rock emitting energies at the end of the other road."

Unfortunately, they completely ignored Liola. Had Liola used "gem" instead of "rock", perhaps he would get a tiny bit of attention. But, in Liola's eyes, rocks are rocks, be it diamonds or cobblestones.

The only thing that truly interested Liola was the strange energies coming from that rock.

However, the other three people were completely indifferent at his opinion, Liola said plainly: "I'm going to the other path and check it out."

He thought about it. The path Kaiser and the others picked didn't seem to be too dangerous, and Kaiser and Meinan were more than capable of handling a few small traps. So without further hesitation, Liola walked into the dark corridor.

* * *

Without Meinan's Luminescence, the pathway was pitch-dark. For an ordinary person, it would be similar to walking with their eyes closed, and they would be practically unable to move. But for Liola, who had grown up in the dark, and spent more time in the dark than in the light, it was hardly difficult.

Liola walked as he normally would, and before long, he reached a stone door. Liola stopped two meters before the door, and also a centimeter before the contraption on the ground.

It was a common mechanism. When weight is put on the stone pressure plate, it will slowly sink deeper into the ground, and it would activate something bigger.

Liola thought, 'Would this trigger a fatal trap, or open the door?'

'Perhaps both.'

He had already sensed the area around the door. Other than the contraption on the ground, there was nothing else.

In other words, unless he wanted to break open the door with brute force, he would have to step onto the pressure plate before him.

Ever since he came to this world, he felt like he had lost the alertness he had before. While Liola thought of his circumstance, he stepped on the pressure plate, and prepared to face all kinds of dangerous situations.

However, nothing happened other than the stone door in front of him slowly opening. It led to an empty room. No, it was technically not completely empty. There were buttons on the wall, and a large screen covered with layers of dust.

To Liola, who couldn't fully comprehend Maxuns, these buttons and screen were no more than patterns on the wall.

Other than curiously pushing a few buttons, Liola didn’t do anything else. Finally, he headed for another door in the room, and continued his journey to find the strange energies emanating from a rock.

* * *

At this time, on the other side...

"I'm rich! I can really lie on a bed for the rest of my life and still afford food." Kaiser hugged a strange statue that was a bit taller than him.

It was standing upright, with crossed arms in front of its chest. Though Kaiser didn't understand why the statue was so simple and completely different from Meinan's idea of beauty, but what mattered the most was, it was completely made out of gold.

"Dear goldman, I'm never letting you go for the rest of my life life." Kaiser repeatedly kissed the golden statue.

Kissing gold seemed like a strange thing to do, but compared to the guy blowing on the mirror and wiping it clean, and the girl rubbing a sword with her face... Kissing gold seemed quite normal.

*Clang!*

Even if the three were in their own fantasy world, they couldn't ignore the clear sound of metal colliding. Meanwhile, after the clanging sound vibrated throughout the area, it was followed by a sound of a heavy stride. Only one thing appeared in all three of their minds — armor!

Kaiser laughed wryly: "Don't panic, armor cannot walk. Maybe the stand fell."

Purity froze on the spot and tears filled her big eyes. The sword she was touching moments ago was slowly raised itself in the air. The cold sword swung merely centimeters away from her face, and the metallic foot got off the stand it was on, clanging the ground below it.

Meinan backed his face away from the mirror, and trembled as he looked at the reflection in the mirror. There seemed to be a bunch of metals that ‘shouldn't be able to move’ but were up and about, running around.

"D-don't panic." Kaiser said with a trembling voice: "Even if the armor moves, they may not be harmful to us... But... Has anyone seen Liola?"

"Uwaaahhh, Liola-dage said, he was going to go check out the other path." Purity was crouched on the ground, held her head and cried.

"Defense Shield!" Meinan yelled hurriedly, shielding himself and the bronze mirror behind him.

As soon as the shield formed, a scary greatsword brutally slammed itself against the shield.

Meinan sweated and said in relief: "Lucky! Luckily my mirror is okay."

"Don't touch my goldman! You pieces of metal trash." Kaiser held up his gun, and turned its setting to the highest.

He fired at will towards three sets of armor, and they were riddled with holes, becoming pieces of metallic trash.

"AHHH!" Purity screamed on the top of her lungs, and her trembling finger was pointing somewhere.

Somewhere... If Kaiser and Meinan remembered correctly, wasn’t there a super large armor standing in that direction? And the clanging sound that resembled earthquakes seemed to have confirmed their fear.

Kaiser frowned, looked at goldman, then back at the valuables he carried, and said with anguish:

"My goldman, I'm sorry. I can't give up the treasures on me for you, nor my dream of eating on my bed for the rest of my life."

After he moaned, Kaiser immediately backed up ten meters. With tears in his eyes, he saw goldman being flattened into a sheet metal by the huge armor.

Seeing the huge armor charging at him, Kaiser quickly ran toward the exit, meeting Purity and Meinan on the way.

They ran as fast as they could, and they were followed by a long line of walking armor, including one that was destroying the ceiling and walls as it walked. The place where they were before had immediately turned into shambles.

"Where the hell is Liola?" Kaiser screamed.

"My bronze mirror is gone, uwaaahh." Meinan was sad beyond belief, and with two rivers of tears streaming from his eyes, he ran for his life.

Purity responded to Kaiser's question: "Uwaaahh, we went the wrong way. We're dead, and I will never see Liola-dage wearing another Knight's uniform."

‘Wrong way?’ Kaiser looked at ruins behind him. If they turn back, they would most likely become corpses embellishing the shambles.

"I-I have never missed someone so much in this life. Liola, where the hell are you?!"

* * *

Compared to three people missing him, Liola was leisurely examining the new room.

He deduced, the other three would spend a long time being intoxicated in that room, so there was no point for him to hurry back.

To Liola, the room he was in was yet another strange place.

There were many coffins laying around, and a portrait was found on every coffin. Liola opened a coffin, and found a corpse wrapped in bandages. It was quite extraordinary!

* * *

Kaiser took a deep breath, and looked at these ‘boxes’ with portraits. His instinct were alerting him of the possible dangers. But considering the way they came from had walking armors, they couldn't turn back.

"Kaiser, I-I'm scared." Purity was trembling so much that Meinan, who was carrying her, was swinging back and forth.

"Don't look. Shut your mouth, and don't scream." Kaiser turned his gun to the highest setting.

"Kaiser, I... I'm scared too!" Meinan turned pale and said: "I'd rather take my chances with the armor, than to run into rotten flesh."

"What the hell are you saying!" Kaiser grunted in disdain: "Corpses don't walk!"

*Snap!*

"Didn’t it sound like a box that hasn't opened in a long time, was being opened?" Meinan asked with a strange expression on his face.

Kaiser's irises dilated as he saw every box cracked open one by one.

He screamed: "RUN!"

* * *

The shape of the coffin was very similar to the cross Anise had given to him.

With some hesitation, Liola took the cross from Anise out between the collars of his shirt, and started wondering who was really responsible for him sending him to parallel universe.

Liola walked in front of yet another door, but he couldn't find any levers to open this door. The only thing he saw, was an indention on the door in the shape of a cross.

Although crosses were fairly common, this particular cross had a pair of Dragon’s wings in the center, which was uncommon.

This was the reason why Liola had started wondering. ‘Could it be this uncanny? That this ruin had something to do with Anise?’

"Should I put Anise's necklace on it?" Liola hesitated and could not make up his mind. This was, after all, the only thing Anise had left him, and he didn't want to destroy the necklace.

* * *

"Liola, do you believe in fate?" Anise asked leisurely, as she had always had.

"No."

"Really?" Anise laughed playfully:

"You don't think that our meeting was destined? If someone didn't order a commission to kill me, I wouldn't have gotten caught and brought here. And if I didn't know how to heal, the organization wouldn't have kept me. That day, If you hadn't been injured for the first time in your career, you wouldn't have come to me for healing."

Anise suddenly held Liola's hands, and she said emotionally:

"I believe in fate, Liola. I believe that our encounter was very significant. I hope, that you won't run away from that significance, okay?"

* * *

At that time, he didn't give Anise an answer. Back then, he could only do as the organization asks of him, he didn't have the ability to give Anise an answer.

But now... Liola put the cross into the wall, and said firmly: "OK!"

The stone door slowly lifted, and a huge Dragon statue appeared before Liola's eyes. It was a giant Black Dragon, whose statue looks somewhat similar to Baolilong, but far bigger, probably more than ten times bigger. There was also a huge horn on its forehead that Baolilong didn't have. From far away, this statue looked practically like a black mountain.

Liola started to wonder if this was really a statue. It looked too life-like. The huge Dragon was made up of shiny black scales, and they made it look darker than the hallway behind Liola. It made him feel that if he gets close to this Dragon, he would never be able to see light again.

"My destiny seems like it has something to do with Dragons?" Liola shook his head. First it was Baolilong, now he meets another one.

Liola decided instantly that, regardless of whether this was a statue or a real Dragon, considering his injuries hadn't fully healed and his ankle bone was broken, he wasn’t interested in forfeiting his life against a Dragon ten times the size of Baolilong. So he decided to leave without waking the Dragon.

Taking back Anise's cross, Liola walked as if he were a ghost, and without making any sound he walked across the Dragon and reached the door on the other side.

He planned to continue his journey of fate, but who knew that as soon as he opened the door, there was definitely something he had been destined for. After he had opened the door, water came flowing in, together with three other people.

Liola side-stepped lightly, and dodged the stream of water coming from the door he just opened. He also fished out three people in the water, to prevent them from being pushed by the stream and collide with the Dragon’s skin. The three were completely wet, their clothes were torn, and they were gasping for air.

Liola was quiet for a second, then asked: "Were you guys looking for me?"

The three discomposed people raised their heads, and Kaiser even hugged Liola's leg and cried:

"Uwaaahh, I will never leave you again. Not only did we get chased by armors, surrounded by mummies, we even almost drowned by water. Had you not opened the door, we would've all drowned outside. What's even worse was that all my treasure was washed away, uwaaahh."

"Liola-dage, sorry, Purity should've followed you obediently." Purity bawled.

"Cough, cough..." Meinan couldn't say anything. Purity was on his back, and she held onto his neck so tightly that she nearly broke his neck. This was the reason why he couldn't use his shield to save their lives.

Liola didn't say anything, but instead remembered something Kaiser murmured before:

"We may be last two people on the world that should have met. One causes trouble, another makes the trouble worse."

Liola remembered those words because he was now certain the Dragon in front of him was definitely not a statue, and the eyes of the Dragon were blood-stained red.

Kaiser probably realized there was something wrong with Liola. He gulped, and he was wondering what the hell it could be to upset Liola, who would remain expressionless even if the sky falls.

Kaiser slowly turned his head back, saw what was behind him, and immediately stood up.

"I'm sorry, I was wrong. I think we should go separate ways!"

Kaiser took less than a second to say his parting words, while running in the direction of mummies and walking armor.

He'd rather help bandage the mummies and oil the armor, than to stand in the sight of this Dragon.

Meinan and Purity had also finally seen this mountain-like Dragon behind them. Purity climbed back onto Meinan's back again, while Meinan continued doing what he was doing before — carrying Purity, and ran behind Kaiser.

Liola and the Black Dragon stared at each other, and neither of them blinked. It had almost felt as if it were Baolilong playing a staring game with him.

‘This Dragon really looks like Baolilong... other than the color. Could it be...’

The blood-red eyes of the huge Dragon stared at the small body of Liola.

A terrifying Dragon mouth slowly opened, showing sharp teeth not unlike those of Baolilong, and then the room thundered with the Dragon's voice:

"You have my child's smell."

Liola was stunned briefly, then said: "You're black, it's white."

"Its color is white."

Liola was quiet again. ‘This place was related to Anise, and Baolilong's father... Was this all fate?’

"Do you want Baolilong back?"

The Black Dragon, who had not moved, slowly raised its head: "Baolilong? You named it?"

Technically speaking, Kaiser named it, but Liola nodded.

The Dragon let out a thunderous laughter, and the dust from the ceiling fell as a result of the laugh. Liola dodged a few of them, without making any sounds, and he waited until the Dragon's deafening laughter stopped.

"You want Baolilong back?" Liola asked again.

The Black Dragon grunted in disdain: "Why would I want that runt back?"

"I'm leaving then." Since the Black Dragon didn't want its child back, Liola was planning on looking for Kaiser, so that they wouldn't lose their lives here.

"Leave?" The Black Dragon laughed coldly.

Hearing the murderous intent of the Dragon, Liola stopped and, without turning back, asked: "Are you planning to kill me?"

"You are very direct, I kind of like you." The Black Dragon narrowed its eyes:

"Unfortunately you are that runt's master, so you have to die. But before you die, I will let you know the name of your killer. My name is Miluo. Tell me your name, runt's master."

Liola's eyes grew cold as well...

"Liola!" A scream came from afar. Kaiser and the others ran back to Liola. Kaiser hurriedly asked:

"Liola, what's outside of the door on the other side?"

Liola looked at the door he came from, and answered truthfully: "Nothing at all."

Kaiser bowed: "Thanks, then I'm going to run for my life. You have a nice chat with Baolilong's dad."

In fact, Miluo's voice was so loud that even Kaiser, who was running further and further away, had heard him, including the declaration of killing him.

Kaiser was only forced to turned back because the things that were chasing him were far too many and appalling.

Liola felt an abnormal heat behind him. His instinct told him to move away from the door. A fiery three-headed hound jumped out of the door. The center head looked at Kaiser, and shot out a stream of flames directly at him.

Seeing this, Kaiser jumped behind Baolilong's dad, and caused the flame to land on Miluo's body. Miluo had finally moved, and his enormous wings flapped, trying to extinguish the flame with the wind. But this instead angered the three-headed hound, whose heads all shot out flames, but this time it wasn't at Kaiser.

Dragon vs. Hound, who would win?

Dragons and hounds were on different levels, and just judging by the size difference, anyone would know that the flaming hound losing would be just a matter of time. However, Miluo seemed to hate flames, and as long as he was avoiding the flames, they seemed to have been evenly matched.

"Liola, hurry, let's go." Kaiser waved his hand beckoning, gesturing Liola to flee.

Liola didn't hesitate, and he left with Kaiser. Liola wasn't interested in this Dragon-hound war, he was just a bit curious: "Where did you guys find this hound?"

"That you'll have to ask our great magician, Mr. Meinan." As he fled, Kaiser said snappily.

Liola was in shock. The hound was the result of Meinan, who had never gotten into any trouble?

"I..." Meinan showed an innocent expression: "I accidentally stepped on a hound statue's tail; who knew it would become a real hound and started chasing us."

"This place is really strange." Purity had already cried her tears dry, and she weakly said on Meinan's back.

"If this was wilderness survival, then who in the world could survive in this kind of wilderness?" Meinan said, with a pale face.

"Damn that geezer Barbalis. He obviously wanted us to die here." Kaiser swore, outraged: "When I get back, if I don't pull out all of his beard, I'm going to change my name to 'Kaiter'*."
[T/N: Kaiter would mean ‘Kai-Idiot’.]

* * *

"Barbalis, the Yaron Plains shouldn't be hard to Liola, but wouldn't it be too hard for others?"

Mizerui stretched comfortably and continued sunbathing: "Liola could get careless, and then..."

Barbalis sipped his bubble tea, and waved his hand:

"It'll be fine. We won't lose a single one of our toys. The strongest thing on Yaron Plains is the Leikesi Dragons, which is just 15 meters tall and 20 meters wide.

Meinan's protective shield is as thick as the skin on his face, and Leikesi Dragon will never break the skin on his face... I mean, never break his protective shield.

Though Kaiser's true strength is unknown, but at least this guy has mastered the Kung Fu of running for his life.

As for Purity, if she gets ferocious, then you will understand how much of a human weapon she actually is..."

Mizerui listened with increased interest, but these four interesting guys were sent so far away for a month, which means he won't have any toys to play with for a month.

"A month is a long time. Why did you send them to the far away Yaron Plains?" Mizerui complained.

"Mi-ge, reconstructing the dorm would take at least a month, right?"
[T/N: Mi is the short form for Mizerui, while ge (bro) is the short form for gege (brother).]

Mizerui looked at Barbalis skeptically.

‘Constructing the dorms takes a month? A week would be already too long.’

If all Maxuns in Aklan Academy were utilized, the construction could be done within a day. Even a Dragon Prince's palace wouldn't take more than three weeks.

"This definitely won't be a simple dorm!" Mizerui already saw Barbalis' sinister grin, and soon, the smirk on his face as well.

‘Fine then, let Liola and the group rest in the Yaron Plains for a month, then they can resume playing after.’

Mizerui leisurely turned, and imagined many fun scenarios in his head.

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Chapter 2 : The Mystery of the Cross Necklace

"Whoa! Baolilong's dad is catching up! God, did the three-headed hound suck that bad? It sure got taken care of really quickly."

Kaiser slowed his pace for only just a moment to look behind him, and he immediately saw the corridor behind them was being crushed under tremendous weight of a Black Dragon with blood-red eyes, furiously chasing after them.

Suddenly, Meinan tripped. He and Purity both fell on the ground, hard. When Liola saw them, he stopped, grabbed them both, and said calmly: "Hurry."

Meinan said breathlessly: "I... can't run anymore..."

Purity, too, was trembling: "My legs are petrified."

Liola turned and saw the Black Dragon was already less than 100 meters away from them, and it was clearly moving much faster than they were. The Black Dragon was going to catch up to them inevitably.

Liola yelled and stopped Kaiser: "Kaiser, take them with you to the sidelines. Meinan, use your protective shield, and if you find the chance, escape."

"Are you really going to fight him?" Kaiser's expression changed: "Are you confident that you can win?"

Liola didn't reply. Logically, for him to escape from Miluo wasn't hard. However, defeating Miluo wasn't an easy feat, especially considering his current condition. His injuries from the previous fight weren't fully healed, his ankle bone broken, plus he can't kill...

"Liola, if you don't kill him, he will definitely kill you!" Kaiser had probably guessed what Liola was thinking, and then added:

"Besides, that Dragon isn't a person. Killing him shouldn't be breaking your promise, right?"

‘Is that so…?’ Liola didn't have time to hesitate. Miluo, who was hundreds of meters away moments ago, was already in front of them, in a matter of seconds.

Liola turned his head, wanting to tell Kaiser to back away... Nonetheless, Kaiser could sometimes be quite swift. By the time Liola looked at Miluo, they had already ran back to a hole in the wall, and were then surrounded by several layers of protective shield.

When Miluo opened his mouth in an attempt to swallow Liola, Liola started his Blood Fluttering Ki, and jumped using the Dragon’s whiskers as trampoline, launching himself over the Dragon’s head. Liola suddenly increased his weight, and stomped on Miluo’s head.

If Miluo was an ordinary person, the force would've been enough to crack his skull open like a watermelon. Unfortunately, Liola had had just about every kind of opponent, except an ordinary person.

Though it caused Miluo enough pain, to force him to let out a cry, it didn't do much damage.

Miluo angrily swung his head against the wall, trying to crush Liola who was standing on his head. But with Liola's agility, he would never get hurt so easily. He jumped onto the Dragon's neck swiftly, and easily evaded Miluo’s attacks.

Miluo calmed down after failing to get rid of Liola in several hits. Miluo said suddenly: "Looks like that runt does have an eye for talent. Killing you would be a bit unfortunate."

The Dragon's enormous body suddenly emitted black smoke.

When Liola saw the strange event, he had already jumped down from the Dragon’s neck. However, he didn't know whether he should take this opportunity to launch attack.

He had no idea what Miluo was up to. Though the smoke seemed harmless, but he wasn't sure if would fall into a trap by attacking without resolve.

Meanwhile the black smoke had completely engulfed Miluo, and suddenly dispersed. Miluo, who was originally as large as a mountain, was now covered in a black smoke of only about a person's height.

The black smoke slowly returned to Miluo's body, and a person emerged. He was a handsome man with dark hair and blood-red eyes. His jagged face showed off his character, and it was quite the contrast, compared to Liola's elegant face.

"Hmm..." Kaiser knitted his eyebrows and looked at Miluo, and said without holding back: "You look nothing like Baolilong, whose face is so smooth that it looks like an egg. Are you sure Baolilong is your offspring?"

Miluo's red eyes looked at Kaiser, and a black ball of energy flew out of his hand and hit the protective shield. Meinan's face went pale, and strengthened the shield. The black ball exploded, and the hole they had been hiding in disappeared in an instant, even the protective shield shook violently.

Kaiser, who was petrified at first, calmed down when he saw that the protective shield was still holding, pouted and said: "Getting angry just because what I said was true. You really are a Dragon without manners."

Miluo narrowed his eyes, raised both hands, and created black balls three times the size of the previous one.

Meinan was sweating profusely as he finished his incantation to increase the layers of the shield. The originally transparent shield had so many layers, it now looked like a giant glass sphere.

Kaiser was still itching to ridicule Miluo more, so he put his face near the protective shield. With the glass-like shield magnifying his face, Kaiser's face looked like he really ought to be taught a lesson.

Miluo's veins popped out of his forehead, the two black balls doubled in size again.

Without any hesitation, Miluo threw them at the shield. But just as they left his hands, two throwing stars suddenly appeared in the black balls' trajectories. They collided and a giant explosion ensued. The explosion caused the entire palace to collapse into ruins, and the dust formed a mushroom cloud.

* * *

"Wow, what a giant explosion. The shield lost three layers in the explosion, Meinan hurry up and put them back. We might be facing Baolilong's dad playing bowling again."

Kaiser playfully looked outside, and looked to see if Liola was still in one piece after the explosion, or if he was already shattered into pieces.

Meinan turned and looked at Kaiser. Meinan’s face was completely pale, and as soon as he opened his mouth, blood oozed out the corners. Meinan looked at Kaiser with sad eyes.

Even for Kaiser, he couldn't turn a blind eye to these gazes, so he grudgingly said: "F-fine, I'll say less."

"You really are crazy. With such a short distance even you will be swallowed by the explosion."

Miluo was hurt by his own magic, and he got angrier as a result. However, seeing that his opponent wasn't in a much better situation than him, Miluo started smiling.

Liola quickly examined his own wounds: medium internal injury, a twenty-centimeter cut on his left arm, and his sprained ankle seemed to have fractured, not to mention plenty of bruises and cuts... But it felt like it wasn't too severe.

Compared to his opponent, Liola closely examined, he seemed better off. Miluo's hands were severely burned, and there was a thirty-centimeter red mark on his chest. Liola was satisfied, at least his opponent's situation was as bad as his — they were both seriously injured.

"Hmm, Meinan, look at them with those bloodied wounds. If we go out with a few bullets, shouldn't we take care of it?" Kaiser pushed his face against the shield again, and saw the two people facing each other, both covered in blood.

Purity trembled: "Uwaah, the entire palace disappeared. What horrifying magic..."

Meinan said with a pale face: "And with such a large explosion, it's more horrifying that there are two people standing up like that...."

"That IS horrifying, then I should just stay behind the protective shield." Kaiser carefully concluded.

Miluo finally ran into a worthy opponent, so the smile on his face got wider. He reminded Liola:

"Stop caring about that little runt's feelings and summon him already. Use your Dragon magic and let's have a good fight!"

Liola remained quiet. He couldn't even feel a bit of magic element, let alone using Dragon magic. He even had trouble using the "Summon Dragon" that Baolilong and Purity spent a night trying to teach him.

"He wants Liola to summon Baolilong?" Kaiser's eyes flashed: "It would be faster to call that geezer Barbalis and ask him to bring Baolilong with him."

Miluo's cold eyes scanned the shield, Purity and Meinan immediately used all four of their hands to cover Kaiser's mouth. Kaiser, who still wanted to talk, could only make muffled noises.

Miluo turned around towards Liola, and asked unbelievably: "You don't know how to summon a Dragon? Are you really a Dragon Knight?"

"I'm not a Dragon Knight." Liola answered simply and honestly.

"Oh? You are not a Dragon Knight?" Miluo smiled coldly: "Then is the cross around your neck fake? Only the Dragon Emperor's bloodline has the necklace to enter the room that imprisoned me. Twenty years ago... the Dragon Queen was pregnant, so you are the Dragon Emperor's son?!"

"I don't know who the Dragon Emperor is. This necklace was given to me by someone else." Liola calmly stated the truth. ‘Anise's cross... has something to do with Dragon Emperor bloodlines?’

Miluo suddenly covered his face with one of his hand, and burst out laughing: "Y-you don't know who Dragon Emperor is? Dragon Prince, your deception has gone too far. Who in the world would not know about one of the three biggest kingdoms: Dragon Empire, and its ruler?"

"I'm an Assassin." Liola frowned slightly, confused as to why he was mistaken as the Dragon Prince, something he couldn’t comprehend.

Miluo suddenly stopped laughing, and his eyes were filled with hate. He didn't believe anything of what Liola said, and thought the Dragon Empire's Dragon Knights were becoming less and less chivalrous.

‘To save his own life, he would lie as far as this... that runt couldn't be given to someone like this!’

Miluo lifted his bleeding arms, his eyes narrowed, and his arms began to change: skin turned into scales, muscles doubled, and fingers became sharp claws. Miluo said with hatred: "Die!"

Broken Silver was already in Liola's hands, and it was already unsheathed, revealing a sharp dagger.

Liola had temporarily put the promise of not killing in the back of his mind, because he didn't think that under the current circumstances, it was possible for him to kill Miluo at all. Or perhaps he should run?

Liola's mind flashed with the most intelligent choice, but... Liola scanned the protective shield. If he were to run, what would happen to Kaiser and the others?

But why should he care about those three? He had only met them for a bit over a week.

While Liola stood where he was, fending off Miluo's ferocious attacks, his instincts wanted him to run. An assassin would never fight his opponent head-on, nor would they attack when they are at a disadvantage.

Instinctively, Liola wanted to run, but his feet stood firmly on the ground. Liola's conscious thought, he had already let Anise die, and he couldn't let it go even now.

If he were to let Kaiser and the others die here, then perhaps he would never have the courage to speak to anyone else again.

"Dragon Blaster!" Though Miluo didn't understand what Liola was struggling with and why he was distracted, but he wasn't going to let this opportunity pass. When his Dragon claw was in front of Liola's chest, Miluo used Dragon Blaster without hesitation.

When Liola realized what was happening, it was already too late. His body already flew off and blasted through several walls, only to be stopped by a large pillar.

He didn't need to examine his wounds to know that his internal injuries had turned from mediocre to severe, but without having time to recuperate, Liola instinctively raised Broken Silver to block Miluo, who had flown over and was following him.

This block made Liola's blood boil. Facing his enemies head-on was a disadvantage to him, but with his ankle fractured, Liola couldn't use his speed to evade Miluo's horrifying power. Every time Liola blocked Miluo's attack, he felt as if his arm was going to break.

"Liola-dage!" Purity screamed. The white clothes she had specially prepared for him had already turned red. Everyone could see Liola was in bad shape.

Liola finally couldn't hold onto Broken Silver any longer. When Miluo attacked, he hit Broken Silver out of Liola's hands, and it flew and got stuck in the protective shield.

Liola could only use his arms to defend for a few more attacks, however, he couldn't even raise his arms. They were deeply cut by Dragon’s scales, and his bones were vaguely visible in various areas.

Without being able to use his arms, Liola could only use his legs to defend.

Miluo let out an evil laugh. Ten black arrows appeared in his claw, and shot them with a wave of his hand.

Liola used Blood-Fluttering Ki to block the attack, and the dark arrows collided with his Ki, making Liola's blood-drained face even paler.

Liola's body went numb, and he no longer had the strength to stand up. He knelt in front of Miluo, with blood dripping out of his mouth to the ground.

Miluo looked down at Liola. With one arm, he grabbed Liola's thin neck, and raised him high in the air as if to show off. He even laughed evilly toward Kaiser, while purposely waving Liola's body back and forth.

"T-this is too ridiculous!" Purity had tears covering her face, while her body was trembling.

She kicked Meinan at the back of his head, making the "Protective Shield Generator" unconscious. Thus, the layers of shield instantly disappeared.

"Uh, Purity, do you know what you're doing?" Kaiser gulped as he backed away a few steps. He even kicked Meinan in attempt to wake him up.

Meanwhile, Purity was unusually calm, and without any signs of fear.

She started making various gestures with her hand, and started chanting some indecipherable incantation. The presence of magic forced Purity's black hair to fly in the air.

Miluo realized something was wrong. He threw down the dying Liola, and rushed towards Purity.

When his claw was just about to reach Purity's face, a gunshot sound occurred.

Miluo didn’t care much about an antique weapon, for the handgun couldn't do enough damage to him. However, a strong wave of magic and flame made Miluo duck. A white bomb brushed across Miluo's face, which made him scream in pain.

The white bomb crashed into the side of a rock. Though the hole it made was only half a meter wide, and its power seemed nothing compared to Miluo's black spheroid, but if someone were to measure the hole, they would find a surprising depth of the hole...

‘Compressed Fireball?’ Miluo's iris contracted. The fireball was white.

‘How long had it been since someone used a white fireball?’ Miluo thought of Kaiser as another threat, so he immediately raised his claw to kill Purity and get rid of her first.

"Kyaaa, so ugly!" Purity finally finished her incantation. However, as soon as she opened her eyes, she saw Miluo's face, which was already half destroyed by Kaiser.

Because of the surprise, Purity immediately used her magic, and Miluo's whole body was surrounded by her terrifying magic.

Miluo felt a strong pull behind him, confused, he turned around only to see a black hole behind him. He finally understood what was going on, and he let out a scream louder than when he was hit by Kaiser: "Damn! Space Magic."

A strong gravity pulled Miluo's body into the black hole.

Miluo struggled with all his might, and he even left deep claw marks on the ground. He finally realized that there was nothing else he could do, so he screamed at Liola, who was lying on the ground:

"Dragon Prince, just you wait. I, Miluo, will never forgive any Dragon Empire royalties!"

As he finished his last word, his last claw could no longer hold on, and he was sucked into the black hole. After the black hole had "swallowed" Miluo, as if it had been satisfied, it obediently closed its mouth. Everything went back to normal, as if nothing had happened.

And the ruins were even more in ruins. Everything that should or shouldn't have been destroyed, had all been in shambles.

* * *

"What's going on?" Meinan finally woke up, but he didn't see Miluo, so he asked his friends what had happened.

Purity and Kaiser didn't answer Meinan, they simply looked at each other. Finally, Kaiser pointed at Purity with blaming eyes and yelled:

"You had this kind of magic but you didn't use it earlier? Why did you wait until Liola was almost dead?! You obviously wanted to see how Liola looked when he was covered in blood, you vicious woman!"

"Ridiculous! Purity would never want Liola-dage to die." Purity protested profusely:

"Besides, why didn't Kaiser use that white bomb earlier, then Liola-dage wouldn't be hurt by Miluo. Kaiser is the vicious one."

"Are you joking?" Kaiser wouldn't back down either:

"Do you know how hard it is to successfully cast that magic? Last time I tried, I almost blew myself up, and I had to spend a fortune just to patch my wounds. Do you really think that I would use it all the time? You really think I have too much money for hospitals?"

'Hey... The most important thing is your life, right?' Meinan thought while black lines covered his face.

Purity pouted and said:

"At least you would only kill yourself. The last time I used this magic, I almost sent the entire Aklan Academy into the black hole, so do you think I should use it all the time? And then they would have to find more students to accept, how troublesome it would be!"

Of course, after the incident, she never admitted that the space magic was her doing, although she had always felt that principal Barbalis already knew...

'Hey... The important thing is the students' lives, right?' Meinan was already on the ground, speechless and crying.

He wept towards Liola: "Liola, we are still alive. How miraculous!"

"Can you tell me about Dragon Empire?"

Liola turned his head toward Meinan, but as he tilted his head, blood gushed out of his mouth like water out of a facet, but in his eyes, he still showed a desire to know the answer, though that too was diminishing. Then Liola tilted his head, and went unconscious.

'This guy isn't normal...' Meinan realized that despite his strange habits, he's probably the most normal person out of the four.

"If you argue like this, Liola is really going to die." Meinan placed Liola on his back, and anxiously yelled at the other two who was still screaming at each other.

Purity and Kaiser both turned their heads around, and saw blood gushing out in every areas of Liola body, despite the fact that Meinan had already bandaged parts of him. The blood from Liola's mouth and his pale face indicated that, if they don't get some help soon, there would be an additional corpse here in the ruins.

"Purity, use your space magic and send us back to Aklan Academy." Kaiser said immediately.

Purity instead said with tears: "I don't know how. I have no idea where my space magic would send people to."

"What?!" Kaiser screamed in surprise: "Then where the hell did you send Miluo? Don't tell me you only sent Miluo back to the Yaron Plains?"

Purity shook her head, because she had no idea where Miluo was sent to. Perhaps he's in the next room, or perhaps he became an interdimensional traveler like Liola.

"Purity, can't you at least try?" Meinan asked anxiously: "Yaron Plains is too far from the city. Liola will never live long enough for us to reach the city."

Purity was just as anxious, but she was too afraid to try because she didn't know how to position her magic. If she uses it to send Liola and the rest of her group away, no one would know where they could end up.

Seeing that Purity had no confidence in positioning, Meinan and Kaiser were both helpless. Judging from Liola's wounds, perhaps they would be visiting his grave the next year...

"Kaiser, tell me about the Dragon Empire." Liola, who was unconscious seconds ago, raised his head and asked.

"...Someone is dying and you're still asking questions?" Kaiser was surprised, and snapped. But he was worried that this might be Liola's last moment of consciousness before he dies.

"Someone is dying?" Liola asked, confused: "Who's dying? Is anyone hurt?"

Kaiser, Purity, and Meinan all yelled unbelievably: "You are the one dying!"

Liola was stunned. He's going to die? Liola frowned, wondering if he missed any fatal wound in his last scan. To make sure, he checked his wounds again. Though he did confirm that he had sustained heavy injures, but they weren't enough to kill him.

Liola asked skeptically: "Why am I dying?"

"Your arms are almost similar to a skeleton!" Meinan pointed the arms around him that were covered in blood.

"Hm, I can't move my arms for now."

"You are covered in blood!" Purity observed that his white shirt had turn red.

"I've already stopped the bleeding."

"You are f—ing spitting blood like a water faucet." Kaiser yelled.

"I have internal injuries, so I'm spitting out the clotted blood."

Kaiser and the others stared at Liola, who should be "near death". After a long moment of silence, Kaiser said calmly: "Okay, actually... It's because we want to kill you!"

Liola replied calmly after observing: "Even with my disabled arms, fractured ankle, severe internal injury, and severe loss of blood, the chance of the three of you succeeding in killing me is less than 10 percent."

Upon hearing this, Kaiser laughed coldly, and raised his gun. A small white bomb slowly materialized.

"Stop! Kaiser, calm down, you are going to blow yourself up..." Meinan and Purity quickly held Kaiser.

Kaiser struggled and said: "Let me go! Let me butcher this ungrateful bastard!"

Liola frowned, and with a light jump, he got off Meinan's back, and landed with his left foot. He bent over, and with his mouth he took out the dagger from his boot. As the three stood still, stunned by his actions, Liola disappeared where he stood, and then the blade of Broken Silver appeared a centimeter away from Kaiser's neck, with Liola standing behind Kaiser like a ghost.

Kaiser's face was immediately changed to a flattering smile: "Liola, you know, we've always been best buds! Why would I really want to harm you? I was just kidding, just kidding!"

Liola moved Broken Silver away, and accurately spit it back into his boots. He seemed indifferent towards Kaiser's lack of humor, and said plainly: "Didn't you guys want treasure?"

Treasure! Lights shone again in the other three pairs of eyes.

Liola nodded towards the right: "Over there."

"What kind of treasure?" Kaiser asked curiously.

"A stone with energy." Liola answered directly.

"Is it a art piece/sword/gem?" Three of them asked together, but each with what they wanted.

Without responding to any of the questions, Liola said softly: "Behind that pillar."

Though each of them three were disappointed that it was just a rock, but even if it's not what they wanted, simply because Liola said that it was ‘emitting strange energies’, it meant that, even if it's just a rock, it was definitely not an ordinary rock.

Better than nothing, was what they thought. So they all ran as fast as they could to the pillar Liola pointed.

A bright ‘rock’ quietly laid on a pedestal, waiting for them.

Judging from the snow white light that the ‘rock’ is emitting, they all knew, this ‘rock’ was hundreds of times more valuable than the treasures they've seen before.

Kaiser even gulped continuously, then murmured to Liola: "Liola, next time, if there's any rock emitting energy... no, no, if anything emits energy, please tell me first, and as soon as possible."

"Such a pretty gem!" Purity had already forgotten anything about swords. Her feet walked towards the rock as if they had minds of their own, and her eyes had only the reflection of the rock.

However, Kaiser was faster than Purity, and suddenly ran to the rock and held it in his hands. Purity, on the other hand, also seemed to show a woman’s natural desire for gems.

When Kaiser held up the gem, Purity also put her hands around the gem; her pouting face indicated that she was determined not to let go.

Liola turned to see why Meinan didn't line up to grab the gem, only to see that Meinan had gotten a huge mirror out of nowhere, together with a comb, and was combing his tousled, gold hair carefully. He then pulled out his bottle of cologne, carefully sprayed it around his body. The carefully grooming Meinan didn't seem to care at all about the gem.

While Kaiser and Purity were each trying to grab the gem for themselves, they didn't realize that the pedestal on which the gem sat, flashed some strange pattern, and then slowly disappeared.

But Liola noticed something was wrong. Something was moving around the ruins. Something that shouldn't be moving.

Even though the fight between Miluo and him had caused many loud explosions, ‘they’ hadn't moved, but why would they now...

Liola looked at the gem in Kaiser and Purity hands as if something was on his mind.

'Perhaps that gem was some sort of seal?'

"Uh... Purity, Kaiser..." Originally Meinan was about to put two strings of hair back to where they belong, but what he saw in his mirror made him decide otherwise.

Meinan took a couple of steps toward Liola, and trembled as he tried to remind the two friends of his, who didn't notice the surrounding dangerous due to the allure of the gem.

A few headless ‘people’ walked past Liola and Meinan, completely ignoring them. Their target was obviously that gem... Or perhaps the two people who were trying to take the gem.

Seeing that the two had already been surrounded by corpses, Meinan couldn't hold back anymore and yelled: "Purity, Kaiser! Look around you! Stop fighting!"

The two finally seemed to be woken up.

After being stunned briefly, Purity and Kaiser finally realized the situation they were in. Purity immediately screamed, and let go of the gem. She ran back to Liola, while trampling a few corpses on the way. She then held onto Liola tightly.

Only Kaiser was left.

He gulped, and carefully put his arms around his precious gem. He wanted to run back to Liola like Purity, but he wasn't successful like her. Wherever Kaiser went, all the corpses moved in that direction.

Finally, Kaiser was just about buried by corpses. He got angry, and pulled out his gun and fired at will. For corpses that had heads, he shot the heads, as for the others, he shot the legs.

However Kaiser quickly realized it wasn’t helping his situation. The corpses didn't seem to mind that they didn't have heads, and the ones with broken legs crawled on the ground towards him.

With more and more corpses coming out of the surrounding rooms, Kaiser finally started calling for help: "Liola, help me! If you want, I'll share 0.5 carat with you!"

Liola said plainly: "Put the gem back to where it was."

"What are you saying?!" Kaiser ground his teeth: "No! This is my darling. I'm never letting it go."

"Put it back, and the corpses will stop." Liola calmly determined.

"Never! Not even if I die!" Kaiser screamed.

"Let's go." Liola said straightforwardly, and at the same time turned around to leave this strange ruins.

"Wait, are you really going to leave your friend behind? Damn you, Liola, we are friends, how can you possibly leave me behind! Remember when you first came to this world, who took care of you? Who answered your questions?" Kaiser cried on the top of his lungs.

Liola thought quietly. All he remembered was someone telling him to go the shelter.

And by now, the corpses had already gotten a hold of Kaiser. The decomposed and smelly hands had grabbed Kaiser's ankle, shoulder, arms...

Back to top

Chapter 3 : Light and Darkness

"Kaiser seems extremely depressed. Is he going to be okay?" Purity kept turning back to check on Kaiser, who was walking with his face parallel to the ground.

"Yes." Liola said straightforwardly.

"Sigh, it was just a gem. Could it be more important than his life?" Meinan brushed his bright, golden hair, and shook his head in confusion:

"Kaiser really overdid it. He almost got torn to pieces by those mummified corpses for that gem. If Liola didn't put the gem back on the pedestal in time, Kaiser would have turned into a corpse too."

Though Liola saved Kaiser’s life, all he received in return was a couple of days of death glares. Liola was beginning to think, perhaps he should have let Kaiser die with the gem, then maybe he would be happier?

"Liola-dage, how's your arm?" Purity worriedly looked at Liola's arm.

"I can move it now." Liola lifted his arm, and stretched his fingers to reassure Purity.

"Don't worry." Meinan interrupted: "The northern city of Freesia is just up ahead. When we're there, I'll bring him to the best healing Maxun, and I promise it won't even leave a scar."

"I'm hungry." Kaiser's eyes were staring at the others, with stares full of rage from losing his precious gem.

Purity, who was on the brink of tears from being stared at, said with a trembling voice: "Purity will buy you the best food. Kaiser should stop being mad. Purity is scared!"

"Really?" Kaiser's eyes immediately brightened.

Purity nodded continuously, and Kaiser finally seemed to have lifted his spirit, with the desire for food flashing in his eyes.

Before long, Kaiser arrived at the gate to Freesia, and turned around to beckon at Liola and the others. Liola and the others sighed and quickened their pace. Then they all arrived at the tall gate of Freesia.

* * *

"Put your student ID inside the checkpoint, and the Maxuns there will automatically identify us." As Kaiser inserted a black card into a Maxun, he explained to the confused Liola.

With Aklan Academy's student IDs, the four easily entered Freesia.

The city was an obvious contrast to the capital city of Aklan. It was open and spacious, and there were far less flying Maxuns in the air. There were many people who, like Liola and the others, walked on the side of the road.

There were far fewer metallic buildings compared to the Aklan’s capital, with quite a few real trees buried in the earth. The buildings were also short... At least far shorter than buildings in Aklan, which are all hundreds of stories tall.

"Freesia, the city closest to the Yaron Plains, and the city furthest to the north in the continent of Aklan. It's also called the Northern Star, Freesia. Since people living here will often have to fend of sub-Dragons, they are all very strong, and their customs are fairly rough."

Meinan explained to everyone:
"Their barbecue is quite famous. When Liola is cured, I'll bring you to the most famous restaurant here."

Everyone cheerfully agreed. However, Kaiser still murmured "But I'm about to die from starvation."

Everyone arrived at the healing center, and with Purity's insistence, Liola used the best as well as the most expensive healing Maxun.

Although it wasn't as good as the one Barbalis purchased, it wasn't too far off. Besides, Liola's injuries weren't nearly as bad as last time, so Kaiser only had to chant "I'm hungry" for half an hour, before Liola's wounds were completely healed.

Liola realized, the healing Maxun was quite amazing at external wounds. Wherever it touched, the wound would be healed. But for internal injuries, its uses seemed extremely limited. So, although Liola looks perfectly fine on the outside, his internal injuries remained quite severe.

'Looks like I'll have to rely on my Ki to heal the internal injures for the coming days,' Liola thought.

With Kaiser's continuous urging, Meinan lead everyone to a special restaurant. Kaiser arrived as if he were a hurricane blowing through the front door, and he was so happy that he almost danced on the spot. His eyes sparkled as he requested a room from the waitress.

Meinan showed a proud smile: "Fortunately, there is one room left."

As soon as he heard, Kaiser cheered with Purity, and even Meinan showed a big smile on his face. Though Liola seemed expressionless always, but judging from the tension from his face, he was a bit more relaxed, indeed.

"We want a room." Another person appeared through the door, and rashly asked for a room.

The waitress at the door was apologetic and said: "I'm really sorry, the last room was booked."

"What? No room? Do you know who we are?" The black haired, black eyed man showed discontent, and started yelling. The waitress seemed to have gotten more and more angry, and her middle fingers from both hands looked as if they were about to be out of control…

Originally, Liola and the rest had already walked away, but then they suddenly stopped. The reason as to why they stopped, was obviously not because of Kaiser, who only had grilled meat in his mind. Nor was it Purity, who would be trembling at the mere sight of an argument. Of course, nor is it Liola, who was a cold-hearted assassin that didn't care much about others.

"Sir, if there were no rooms left, can't you find another place to eat? Why make things difficult for this lady?" Meinan brushed his hair, and denounced at such rude behavior.

The yelling man heard Meinan's criticism, and flashed a smile as if some evil plan had worked; he then turned all of his anger towards Meinan:

"It's none of your damn business. If she doesn't want me to yell at her, then give me your room! Otherwise stop faking chivalry over there."

As soon as they mentioned giving up their room, Meinan had already felt two burning eyes on his back. If he says yes, then those eyes would probably materialize as bullets, and Meinan certainly didn't want to hold a protective shield while he was eating, so he decidedly declined:

"No! We booked the room first. My friends and I will never submit to bullies." Although, he was already giving into the bully known as Kaiser...

"Bully? Haha, do you know who my master is?" The man said in disdain.

Meinan said righteously: "No matter who it is, you shouldn't..."

"My master is the Paladin Lancelot!" The man's face sank, and all the rough expressions were gone. When he said Lancelot's name, his attitude was similar to that of a devoted follower saying his God's name.

At this time, everyone was quiet, and their eyes opened wide, showing complete disbelief. Meinan stammered: "H-How is that possible? A Paladin appearing in such a remote location."

The man laughed. Every time he says Lancelot's name, everyone's expression would always make me laugh out loud.

The man resumed his rough expression: "What? My master disappeared long ago because he wanted to travel the world. Now he’s traveled to Freesia, what's wrong with that?"

"Mr. Paladin is really here?" Purity rushed up, her eyes filled with sparkles: "Where is he? Where? Can you tell me where he is?"

The man was dazed by the long series of questions, and said:
"Lancelot... couple days ago he went to the Yaron Plains to check out the disturbances there. Today I got a message from him, saying that he'll be back today, and told me to book a room to have a drink with him... Wait, why the hell am I telling you this?"

"So I will be able to see the famous Paladin soon?" Purity resumed her fantasy of the prince charming.

‘Disturbances in the Yaron Plains?’ Liola thought, ‘these "disturbances" were all in the barbecue restaurant in Freesia, other than one who was sent to God-knows-where.’

"That's right, so give up your room! Lancelot wants to eat meat and drink." The man laughed evilly

Meinan and Purity almost nodded, but the sound of a gun stopped their heads. Meinan took out his mirror, and with a shaky mirror he saw Kaiser pointing a gun at two people in front of him. Their faces went pale, and immediately changed their nodding to shaking of their heads. But they were afraid that, when the Paladin arrives, he would be giving the speech on their funeral.

"I-WANT-GRILLED-MEAT!" Kaiser said slowly, word by word.

Liola, who was next to him, murmured, "I haven't felt this strong of a murderous intent in quite a long time..."

Meinan ran back to Kaiser's side, and used this action to show that he won't give up the room. Purity was crying instead, and said unwillingly: "I-I want to see the Paladin, wooo..."

"What's so great about the Paladin? Is he edible? Can he fill my stomach?" Kaiser yelled angrily. Kaiser, who had already smelled the scent of barbecue, will never give up the room.

Though Purity was trembling, but in order to fulfill her dream of seeing the Paladin Lancelot, she heaved her small chest, and screamed on the top of her lungs: "I want to see the Paladin~"

This explosive scream made everyone cover their ears in pain. Kaiser was the only one covering one ear with his left hand, while his right hand still pointed a gun at Purity.

"I say..." The man also covered his ears, and tried to find a way to resolve the current situation:

"Since you don't have that many people, and there's only Lancelot and me, how about we share a room?" The man thought, if this continues, then the whole restaurant might be destroyed today.

"W-We can eat together with Sir Lancelot?" Purity covered her chest, as if she were about to faint.

"He's not going to rob me of my grilled meat, is he?" Kaiser asked skeptically.

The man's mouth twitched: "Order separately!"

After coming to an agreement, they all followed the waitress, who sighed in relief, into the room.

* * *

When Kaiser saw dishes of red meat being served, he almost forgot that humans ate cooked meat, and picked up the raw meat as if he were going to eat it. Fortunately, Purity grabbed them back, and within seconds she cooked them, so Kaiser didn't have to eat raw meat.

The black haired man drank a few cups, and then started laughing. He turned to the cold Liola and asked: "Bro, what's your name?"

Liola gave the man a cold look, and said: "Liola."

The man frowned: "That's a strange name..."

"What is your name?" Purity asked curiously, while her hands were still busy cooking meat for Kaiser.

"Oh, my name is Blood..." The man suddenly paused, then continued: "Just call me Wolf."

Purity nodded understandingly: "So it's Wolf-dage."

A thought suddenly flashed through Liola’s head, but he didn't say anything. Besides, after this meal, they will be going in separate ways. It didn't matter who this man was at all.

"Wolf! L-Let's drink!" Kaiser, whose stomach was now filled, had already forgotten the hostility moments before. He started drinking with Wolf. They both started to get drunk, and even started dancing. They were drinking as if they had been the best friends for their entire lives.

As time passed by, dishes containing meat were piling up in front of them. Kaiser stared at the growing "mountain" of meat, but he didn't want to grab any because, he felt that if he continued to eat, he would have to fill his skull with barbecue.

But Purity continued to order more, and her hands continued to cook more. She stared at door, waiting for someone in shining armor, carrying a flashing blade, and push through that door as if they were a soldier from heaven.

Meinan said with a pale face: "Kaiser, eat some more!"

"Uh..." Kaiser looked at the meat mountain in front of him. It was the first time in his life when he wanted to vomit at the sight of food.

Meinan and Kaiser were both staring at the meat and sighing. Only Liola, who was chewing slowly from the beginning, was eating the meat slowly. But with Purity cooking a piece every 3 seconds, the meat mountain was only growing.

Then, there was suddenly a ringing sound. Kaiser, Meinan, and Purity all looked at their communication Maxuns. Finally, Wolf, sitting on the side, grabbed his communication Maxun, and said angrily:

"Damn Lancelot, where the hell are you? I've been waiting for you for ages, and there are already three meat mountains in front of me." Wolf said as he saw Purity's longing and yet terrifying eyes.

"Wolf, come back me up!" A deep voice said, and it was panting.

"What did you say?" The levity of Wolf's face disappeared. He suddenly stood up, in complete disbelief that there would be anything in Yaron Plains that would result in Lancelot asking for back up.

Lancelot didn't answer. The only thing that could be heard from the communication Maxun was a sound of a violent fight.

Lancelot continued to yell: "Twenty years ago... The one Dragon Emperor sealed away... Black Dragon..." Before he finished, the voice fragmented, and then there was nothing but static.

"Damn!" Without saying bye to Liola and the others, Wolf pushed the room's door and ran out.

Strange expressions appeared on all their faces. Then everyone looked at Purity, whose face had turned pale. Kaiser cleared his throat and said:

"Looks like we won't be seeing the Paladin today."

"Good thing we left the ruins quickly, otherwise 'he' would've found us." Meinan said as if his fear hadn't subsided from before.

Liola's face sank, and he turned his face away from Purity's doggy-eyed expression. But Purity sat closer and closer to him, and there were more and more tears on her face. Finally, she practically put her large glasses in Liola's face and begged.

"I don't want to cause trouble." Liola said coldly.

"Silver Mask!" Purity said as if she were prepared. No matter what she was going to convince Liola. The problem was started by them, and they can't dump it on the Paladin.

Liola was still indifferent, and continued to chew slowly. Purity turned to Kaiser, and begged: "Kaiser, weren't you just friendly with Wolf? He went as reinforcement, what if something goes wrong?"

Kaiser shrugged: "There shouldn't be anything wrong. After all, Lancelot is the Paladin!" Just like Liola, Kaiser had already noticed that Wolf was probably... Plus the Paladin, with the two of them they shouldn't lose to Miluo. Worst case scenario they could at least escape.

Purity thought: ‘How could the legendary Paladin Lancelot lose to Miluo?’

After thinking that way, she calmed down, but still continued to murmur: "But I want to see the Paladin."

At this time, the door was rushed open again, and Wolf appeared again. He yelled hurriedly: "You guys need to take a Maxun and leave Freesia immediately." Without any further explanation, Wolf rushed out of the room again.

"Why do we need to leave Freesia? This is the closest place to Yaron Plains. Before that geezer Barbalis come get us, we still have to go back to the Yaron Plains to pretend that we're still in our wilderness survival test." Kaiser scoffed at what Wolf said.

But just as Kaiser finished, the ground suddenly shaking violently. This mountain-moving shake was all too familiar to the four of them, and their faces all turned pale. Purity asked while trembling: "So we take a Maxun back to the capital of Aklan?"

Meinan and Kaiser both nodded. But strangely, Liola declined: "You guys go first. I'm going to go and see."

Meinan and Purity both looked at Liola in disbelief. Only Kaiser raised his eyebrows: "You want to see the true strengths of the Knights, don't you?"

Liola did not deny it. He took out the mask and, as if he already knew, dug through Purity's luggage. As expected, he found the silver Knight's uniform — Purity would not forget to bring her brother's Knight uniform even in wilderness survival.

After Liola put the uniform on, he pushed out the door to the room, and prepared to see the true strength of the Knights.

"Didn't think this guy was a martial arts fanatic." Kaiser murmured.

* * *

Liola stepped outside, and saw many people running for their lives.

A doubt flashed in Liola's mind — Miluo was practically released by him with Anise's cross necklace. If these people were killed by Miluo, would that count as him killing them?

Although Liola knew that he's nitpicking, but he didn't want any possibility of breaking his promise with Anise.

With these thoughts, the white figure accelerated. Liola could already see from afar, the black mountain, Miluo, who was trying to destroy Freesia's not-so-tall walls. There were only two figures stopping him, one was a bright white, and the other was black and red.

Liola lightened his step, and jumped on the walls. He saw Miluo, who was in his Dragon form, shooting out rays of black light towards Lancelot. Coincidentally, Wolf was also on the walls, looked at his own situation with a frown: "Crap, my black aura has limited effect on the Black Dragon."

Wolf turned around, and suddenly realized Silver Mask was standing next to him but he didn't know when or how.

He was stunned, but then he saw the white uniform on Liola, he treated him as if he's a rank-silver Knight. According to Knights' ranks, rank-Silver Knight must obey Wolf's orders. Therefore, Wolf said coldly: "Runt, don't butt in! A rank-silver Knight will only become a liability in this fight."

Liola nodded. With his internal injuries, he didn't want to fight anyhow. He was here to only watch the strongest of this world fight.

He curiously looked: Lancelot was in the air with a sword, riding on a snow-white horse, and the horse even had a horn. Liola frowned slightly, not knowing whether that was a horse or some other creature.

If Kaiser were here, he would've definitely answered, that it was an unicorn, supposedly the holiest of creatures, and only the Paladin Lancelot could ride it.

Wolf again observed the battle, and then started chanting. An enormous black pike appeared in his hand. Knowing that he and Miluo both had dark element, Wolf knew his attacks wouldn't be useful against the black Dragon.

He wasn't planning on joining the fight, but he was defending, so that the Black Dragon wouldn't have the opportunity of breaking the wall of Freesia and injuring the lives within.

But, something seemed wrong. After the Black Dragon couldn't defeat Lancelot, and noticed that there was the threat of a large pike on the wall, he angrily used a Dragon howl into the sky. A dust storm appeared in the distance, and with Liola's sharp eyes, he could see them clearly. He said: "Sub-Dragons."

"What did you say?" Wolf couldn't believe it as he looked at the approaching dust storm, but he too could feel the rumbling of thousands of feet.

Wolf immediately started murmuring: "I'm Blood Wolf. My mount Blackie, if you don't come here in three seconds, I'll skin your hide for a coat."

Liola was stunned. This mount summoning spell was far different from the one Purity had taught him.

‘How can some random things he said summon something?’

Though Liola was skeptical, but obviously, Blood Wolf was the famous Dark Knight, and was significantly different from Liola, who was not even a Knight and a failed Dragon Knight.

A crack appeared mid-air, from which an enormous black wolf jumped out, and it obediently let Blood Wolf get on its back.

Wolf... who should now be called Blood Wolf, frowned at Liola and said: "Runt, summon your mount, and follow me to kill those Sub-Dragons!"

Liola hesitated: "I... don't know how to summon."

Blood Wolf almost fell out of his mount: "You've already gotten to Silver rank, and you still don't know how to summon?" Blood Wolf widened his eyes in complete disbelief.

"I can't feel the magic element..." Liola said hesitantly.

"Who cares about magic element." Blood Wolf waved his hands impatiently: "Just think about your mount in your heart, and then call for him."

Hearing this, Liola closed his eyes, trying his best to think of Baolilong's look... Slowly, Baolilong's appearance did indeed appear in Liola's mind. He could almost see Baolilong pouting in Mizerui's arms, and Mizerui was lazily sunbathing.

Liola tried to call out for it: "Baolilong?"

Baolilong's pink eyes really blinked, and looked around for Liola, but it couldn’t find it’s father.

The confused Baolilong turned his face, not knowing what had happened.

"Baolilong! Come to my side." Seeing that it was working, Liola concentrated and yelled again.

Baolilong suddenly jumped up, and its little feet heavily stepped on someone's family jewels, which was accompanied by a loud scream.

Baolilong said: "Father is calling me."

Baolilong floated up in the air, and it’s figure suddenly disappeared.

Only Mizerui covering his parts was left behind, and a few words came out between his clenched teeth: "Good fella, you've finally learned summoning. Uwaah~~ that really hurts."

* * *

As soon as Liola "saw" Baolilong disappear, and he knew that he was successful in summoning.

He pulled his consciousness back, and sure enough, a crack appeared in the sky — one that was even larger than the one Blackie came through. And then a White Dragon of more than ten meters tall flew out of the crack, and gave out a loud Dragon roar as it landed.

For a moment, Blood Wolf was stunned. And even Lancelot and Miluo in the distance were also stunned.

Blood Wolf murmured: "This is the first time I've heard of a Dragon Knight didn't know how to summon his own Dragon, and had someone else teach him."

"Sacred White Dragon?" Lancelot started feeling uneasy. If he remembered correctly, the Sacred White Dragon was the offspring of the Black Dragon in front of him. ‘Did it come as reinforcement for its father?’

"Runt..." Miluo realized the situation with mixed feelings.

"Ah, that Dragon..." Seeing another Dragon, Baolilong yelled. Liola frowned, as he had forgotten the relationship between Baolilong and Miluo. But then Baolilong continued: "... is black!"

Everyone fell to the ground! Miluo and Liola fell especially hard. Miluo yelled angrily: "Damn runt, it's only been twenty years, and you've already forgotten your old man?!"

"Old man?" Baolilong blinked its big, pink eyes, as if he suddenly realized: "You're the old dad!"

‘There was old and new dad...?’ Everyone thought. Liola, however, was wonder if the new dad referring to himself.

"Runt, you're not allowed to recognize any of the Dragon Empire Royalties as your master." Miluo narrowed his eyes. He couldn't imagine the little runt liking its master enough to call him dad. So killing its master was more troublesome than he previously thought.

"Dragon Empire Royalty?" Lancelot frowned and looked at Liola. Lancelot had seen all three sons of the emperor, and he said with absolutely certainty: "He is definitely not a Dragon Empire Royalty."

"You must be lying? Even the youngest son of the Dragon Emperor has become rank-gold a long time ago." Even though Blood Wolf hadn't seen the Princes, he would not believe Liola was a Dragon Empire prince.

"I'm not a Dragon Empire Royalty." Liola denied again.

Miluo finally realized something was wrong. For Liola's denial, he could treat it as a lie. Miluo doesn't know Blood Wolf, but he knew Lancelot well.

Considering Lancelot's relationship with the Dragon Emperor, he would definitely know what the Emperor's sons would look like. And given Lancelot’s straightforward nature, there was no way he would lie... ‘Can it be that the runt's master really isn't a Dragon Empire royalty?’

But twenty years ago, it was obviously the Dragon Emperor who took the runt away. And the only people who could free him, were the royalties. Miluo was getting more and more confused, and he didn't know what to believe.

"What a stupid Dragon!" Just as the atmosphere intensifies, a disdained voice came from the wall, and a green-haired boy lazily lying on the walls.

"What did you say?!" Miluo angrily breathed.

"Stupid Dragon! I've already told you. The queen gave birth to the princess twenty years ago! Li... Silver Mask was just someone who accidentally became Baolilong's master. You can’t even comprehend such a simple thing, and you have such a large head. What the hell is in your head, tofu curd?"

Kaiser stood up, and yelled condescendingly. He thought that, since there was the Paladin, the Dark Knight, plus Liola. There was no way Miluo could breach their defenses. So he would never be satisfied unless he spoke everything on his mind.

Lancelot raised his eyebrows because he couldn't deny what was said, and Blood Wolf was already rolling on the ground, laughing. But Liola was thinking, what is tofu curd?

Good thing Miluo was already shocked by the previous statements that he didn't hear the bit about tofu curd, otherwise Kaiser's days would be numbered.

Miluo said in shock: "The little runt... really didn't recognize a royalty as its master?"

"I don't know what had happened in the past between you and the Dragon Empire." Kaiser laughed like a thief:

"But, Silver Mask not only took the Dragon from the Empire, he even defeated the Emperor's precious daughter. It's safe to say that, he hasn't gotten along well with the Empire either."

Miluo's face showed hesitation again. He was starting to doubt who Liola really was. Ever since the beginning, Liola's actions didn't match that of a royalty. And now even Lancelot denied his identity as a royalty.

Miluo hesitated for a moment, then he transformed from that mountain of a Dragon into the black-haired, black-eyed man again.

Miluo walked in front of Baolilong, and asked: "Runt, why didn't you recognize a Dragon Empire royalty as your master?"

Baolilong's big, pink eyes flashed with dissatisfaction: "They, disgusting!"

Miluo seemed very satisfied with this answer. His previous anger completely disappeared, and instead it was replaced with great laughter.

Miluo yelled as he laughed: "Dragon Emperor! Now you can't have your ways! Let's see what you could do with the little runt!"

Lancelot frowned, and tried to explain on the Emperor's behalf: "Back then, the Dragon Emperor had no choice."

Miluo stopped laughing, and coldly said to Lancelot: "No choice? 'Righteous' Paladin, there are plenty of immoral things you don't know about. You have no idea of what the Dragon Emperor is really like."

Miluo then scanned Baolilong and Liola, then took off into the air. Before he left, he said: "Runt, treat your master well. I have some things to settle with the Dragon Emperor."

"Old papa..." Baolilong sat there as he saw Miluo leave, its pink mouth was pouting slightly.

Seeing Miluo's leaving, everyone sighed in relief. Only Lancelot yelled in distress: "Crap, I have to go warn the Dragon Emperor."

As Lancelot finished, the unicorn emitted a long snort, and carried its master towards the Dragon Empire.

Blood Wolf who that saw Lancelot was leaving, hesitated and then complained: "What the hell, he called me from the Commerce Alliance for a reunion, now he just leaves by himself... But, the fight between Dragon Emperor and the King of Dragons, Miluo will definitely be exciting to watch."

"Fine, catch up." Blood Wolf, with an excited expression, ordered Blackie to catch up as fast as possible to the snow-white figure.

Only Liola and the others were left behind to stare at one another... There were also a crowd pointing their fingers at Liola, and one could faintly hear them saying:

"Silver Mask", "Dragon Knight", and "Such a large Dragon"...

Back to top

Chapter 4 : Silver Mask is such a bas——

Since Kaiser expressed himself and yelled at the King of Dragons, Miluo, the crowd who watched him remembered his appearance. People were afraid that the Black Dragon would come back for revenge, so they exiled Kaiser as well as his companions.

Without any other choice, they had to go back to Yaron Plains to live out their month of wilderness survival. What was funny, was the fact that with Baolilong being there, all of the Sub-Dragons kept their distance from them... All except one, which got dissolved in their stomachs.

The time they spent here with Baolilong was, in fact, the most peaceful time they had spent ever since Kaiser met Liola.

When Mizerui appeared in front of them with anticipation, Liola was somewhat sad. Perhaps the rank-A danger zone, Yaron Plains, was actually more peaceful than Aklan Academy.

When they stepped back on the flying Maxun, Barbalis counted of all the students. There were exactly 30, none were missing.

Barbalis nodded in satisfaction: "You are all worthy to be sophomores, and you've all learned how to survive. Hahaha, I, Barbalis, sure taught you all well, hahaha!"

Black lines grew down every student's face. All of them helplessly returned to the place more terrifying than rank-A Yaron Plains — Aklan Academy's School of Sorcery!

Everyone thought that, since they had already been through a month of trouble, they would at least have some time to rest, and the principal wouldn't come up with some strange new ideas.

They all thought wrong. The very reason why Barbalis sent them away, was to prepare a bigger game. This month of wilderness survival was the rest and relaxation they had hoped for.

* * *

With a large smile, Barbalis took the students to the brand new student dorm.

They couldn't believe the School of Sorcery dorm looked even flashier and newer than the School of Mecha Fighters. With bright silver metallic wall, and modern designs. All of which suggested that Barbalis was up to something.

All the students gulped, and started backing away. They all feared the dorm would suddenly stand up and eat them alive.

"Hot damn, the penny pincher suddenly turned around!" With his jaw dropped, Kaiser stared at the new dorm that looked nothing like the old ruins. He then immediately ran through the door, and as he swiped his black student ID, he yelled happily: "Dear bed, soft sheets, puffy pillows I, Kaiser, am here to sleep on you!"

As Kaiser swiped his ID, the door opened with amazing speed.

Before Kaiser even had the chance to scream, with a woosh sound, he was sucked into the black room behind the door.

The door closed with amazing speed, as if the whole thing happened in the blink of an eye! It was then when everyone realized how horrifying the door was.

"K-Kaiser got eaten by the dorm!" Purity cried, and ran behind Liola, as if she were afraid the arms would come out of the door to grab her.

"Papa, where did Kaiser go?" Baolilong, who was in its human form, asked Liola curiously.

Liola's face sank. He turned only to see Barbalis smiling, as if he was pleased with his work.

Though he wasn't sure of Barbalis' intent, but he was certain that he would never step into this building without knowing more about it.

Barbalis probably noticed the Assassin's cold eyes. To avoid having a dagger around his neck, he quickly explained:

"This is a special design. This dorm will, according to your student ID, instantly transport you to your own room."

As if he was trying to prove what Barbalis had said, Kaiser time pushed open the window, and yelled through the window:

"Liola, before you go to your room go buy me some food. I want to eat when I wake up."

Without responding to Kaiser, Liola frowned slightly, walked up to the door, and swiped his own ID. The door swung open again, and a strong suction grabbed Liola into the hall.

Liola wasn't too fond of flying through the air without being able to control it, although Baolilong, who was on Liola's back, smiled brightly, and even cheered with its hands in the air.

In a matter of seconds, Liola floated to an empty room. The only thing inside the room was a very large sphere in the center, and it was flashing with various ray of colorful light.

The sphere suddenly shone a ray of light towards Liola, and Liola almost ducked on reflex, but the light stopped in front of Liola, and a semi-transparent screen appeared.

There were many buttons, and every had different destination written on them, such as: Your room, Hall, X person people's room, etc.

Liola hesitated, but Baolilong didn't.

Seeing the bright screen, Baolilong laughed innocently, and with its little hands, Baolilong started mashing every button on the screen.

Liola took off again, and with blazing speed, he flew to some sort of hall. There were all sorts of strange things placed in it, and they confused Liola. Had Kaiser been here, perhaps he would have been able to identify them all.

The Maxuns looked identical like gaming or entertainment equipment... Perhaps the only difference was, they were more deadly.

Liola was just about to walk forward to take a closer look at these Maxuns.

With a cute look, Baolilong pounded on the screen again. Liola then instantly flew to a place that, no matter how advanced it was, it always had the same functions — the bathroom.

When Liola was considering whether he should go to the bathroom, Baolilong decided to put all its weight forward and rammed its head against the screen.

The holographic screen obviously couldn't support Baolilong’s weight, so it went through the screen, and landed on its face. The pain made Baolilong cry.

"How did you fall." Liola was just about to pick Baolilong back up, but because Baolilong used its face to press some button, Liola flew away from Baolilong.

Baolilong wanted to run back to papa's arms, but as soon as it got off the ground, it only saw Liola flying away from him.

"Papa!" Baolilong suddenly stood up, its baby face filled with fear. It stretched out its small Dragon wings, and flapped them as hard as it could to try to catch up to papa.

Finally, Liola stopped, but Baolilong couldn't stop in time, so it flew through the transparent screen. Before it reached Liola's arms, Liola started yet another flying journey.

Some people say, humans were species incapable of learning. But obviously, same could be said about Dragons. Or perhaps Baolilong was special. It continuously tried to catch up to papa, run into the screen, only to have papa fly off again.

Liola couldn't do anything but watch the tears running down Baolilong's face as it gave chase. It wasn't until the next morning that Liola had finally arrived at his own room. By this time, he had been to just about everywhere. Finally, there was something Liola understood better than Kaiser, the School of Sorcery dorm.

"Hmm? Liola, why did it take you so long to get food?" Kaiser got up from his bed, still half asleep. He looked at the situation in the room:

Baolilong was kneeling on the table with face filled with tears and regret. In front of it was Liola who wore a naturally cold expression.

"What happened?" Kaiser asked curiously, and then turned pale: "Baolilong didn't eat all of our food, did it?"

"No." Liola looked at Kaiser: "It's time for class."

Kaiser touched his stomach, and thought, did he really sleep for such a long time? No wonder he was so hungry.

Thinking of food, Kaiser finally felt some motivation. At the same time, he realized that Liola was still wearing the same clothes as last night.

Kaiser asked: "You're such hobo. Why didn't you take a shower before you sleep, or is not taking a shower popular among Assassins?"

Liola murmured: "I haven't slept."

Kaiser looked at Liola with unbelieving eyes:

"You didn't sleep for the whole night? What did you do? Did you have a tryst with the Dragon Empire Princess?"

Though he said that, Kaiser knew Liola too well. Liola was more likely to play with Broken Silver all night than to have a tryst with a worldly beauty. In fact, Kaiser doubted Liola even knew what tryst was.

Liola wasn't too interested in Kaiser's nonsense. He quietly walked to the bathroom, there can never be any smell on an Assassin.

When Liola stepped out of the room, he looked at that semi-transparent screen again. He sighed in relief, seeing that Baolilong, who had been up all of last night, was so tired that it was sound asleep, otherwise he wasn't sure if he could even step out of the dorm.

"Hey, you didn't sleep last night, are you going to have a problem? Don't fall asleep half way. I'm not going to carry you." Kaiser examined Liola, who was rather thin, but considerably taller than him.

"Not sleeping for one night isn't going to affect me." Liola plainly stated the truth. When he was chased by Assassins from the organization, there was a time when he didn't sleep for a week, and he even had to fight some of the organization's top Assassins.

Kaiser grunted: "How can you not sleep? Humans should sleep everyday, and when you wake up you should eat, and then after that you should sleep again."

Kaiser lazily held his stomach. He wasn't eating or sleeping, and that was violating his principle of what humans are supposed to do.

‘Is he talking about pigs or humans?’ Liola started wondering.

"Liola-dage, Kaiser, I'm here." Purity cheerfully stepped out of the dorm, and greeted both of them.

Kaiser said idly: "Boss you're finally here, so please hand out breakfast."

"Kaiser sure loves to eat." Purity shook her head helplessly. Good thing the allowance her dad her was still enough, otherwise Purity didn't know how she could keep Kaiser fed.

Finally, Meinan arrived. As soon as he saw Purity waiting for him, he started to apologize, murmuring something about how gentlemen should never make a Lady wait.

As for the two guys who were standing beside Purity, Meinan completely ignored them. After all, no one says anything about gentlemen making other gentlemen wait.

After Kaiser stared hard at Meinan, the four of them were finally ready to solve the problem of breakfast.

Before stepping into the cafeteria, Kaiser murmured: "I wonder if Jetter is going to cause more trouble today?"

"Don't worry, he's too busy to cause us trouble, but..." Meinan looked at Liola from the corner of his eyes as if there were something on his mind:

"Silver Mask better be careful. From the rumors I've heard yesterday, big trouble is coming for him."

The three had suddenly straightened their backs. They had almost forgot not ever mentioning that Liola was the Silver Mask, but Liola changed into Silver Mask's uniform right before Meinan's eyes.

"Uh, Meinan, can you not tell anyone about Liola-dage and Silver Mask?" Purity asked carefully.

Meinan bowed exaggeratedly, and said in a gentle manner: "Meinan will definitely follow Lady Purity's request."

Liola asked bluntly: "What kind of rumor?"

"Seems like it has to do with Princess Lanski." Meinan wasn't sure. But what was certain, was it was definitely not something good.

Liola remained silent, thinking that as long as he doesn't appear as Silver Mask, it will be fine.

Ever since he arrived in this world, the wounds he endured were actually worse than when he was being chased by the organization.

With the internal injuries from the fight with Lanski, plus the ones from his fight with Miluo, plus not having any sleep last night, Liola was in a bad mood.

Fortunately, an Assassin's instinct told him that, no matter what the situation was, his emotions had to be under control. Indeed, Liola would never lose control of his emotions, never.

As soon as the four stepped into the cafeteria, they all immediately realized there was something wrong.

The School of Mecha Fighters, who were wearing blue military uniforms, all sat in a line with their face towards the School of Knights students. Their eyes were filled with rage, and their forks, as if it were taking revenge on the food, forcefully stabbed the food.

However, the Knights seemed normal. They weren't angry, but instead they were curiously looking among themselves, as if they were searching for someone or something.

The Knight students with gold eyes received the majority of the angry stares. Fortunately, there was no Knight with gold eyes and black hair, and there was no rank-silver Knight, otherwise the result might be catastrophic.

"Let's go let's go. We're from the School of Sorcery, and we have nothing to do with Silver Mask." Kaiser laughed loudly, with a sly look in his eyes, and seemed happy seeing the conflict.

Hearing Silver Mask, some Mecha Fighter students finally couldn't hold it in anymore. A tall and buff student suddenly stood up, and yelled:

"The School of Knight really are a sanctimonious bunch. You actually performed such shameless acts toward the beautiful and royal Princess Lanksi!"

"Definitely bastards! You went as far as seriously injuring the beautiful Princess Lanski, when you shouldn't have even touched a strand of her hair!" Another Mecha Fighter student angrily stood up as well.

Kaiser and Purity looked confused. They thought, it was obviously Lanski who almost killed Liola, and no one actually touched even a strand of hair. It was her own doing, using up all her Ki, and there was nothing wrong with her other than not being able to call forth her Dragon Aura for a couple months.

"If the principal hadn't arrived in time, Princess Lanski probably would’ve been defiled by that bastard Silver Mask." Another student cried in pain, as if it was his wife who was to be tarnished.

"Definitely shameless! I really wanted to, too." Hearing this, every Mecha Fighter student seemed to have an indescribable pain on their faces.

Then the first student who stood up yelled again: "Give us that bastard Silver Mask!" Then all the Mecha Fighters started chanting the same thing.

At this time, Kaiser and the others turned to looked at Liola, who remained expressionless.

They thought: ‘This guy was 99.9% likely to be still a virgin? It was more probable that Lanski would defile Liola!’

The Knight students maintained their cold appearance and stared back at the Mecha Fighter students.

Finally, a Blue Knight stood up, and said in a cold voice: "The internal matters of the School of Knights does not concern the School of Mecha Fighters. As for Silver Mask breaking the code of chivalry, we will deal with him ourselves."

It was probably better if something like this wasn't said, because as soon as it was mentioned, the Mecha Fighters became even more enraged. Most of them had already pulled out their cannons and lightsabers.

The Knights wouldn't back down either, who took out their swords and shields. For a moment, the tension was extremely high, and with the sound of a cannon from the Mecha Fighters, a huge battle raged on...

"Liola, please!" Kaiser immediately turned around and cried to Liola: "Please grab me some food in the middle of this battle. I don't ask for much, ten sandwiches would be enough."

Liola turned around to leave, completely ignoring Kaiser. Kaiser was stunned, and then touched his nose and cried: "Purity, breakfast..."

"L-Let's go outside to eat." Purity looked at the knives and chairs flying across the cafeteria, she was so scared that her body was completely stiff, let alone going in to grab food.

"Great!" Kaiser cheered, and hurriedly grabbed Purity and Meinan to catch up with Liola, who was already outside.

* * *

As they walked, Liola and the others suddenly realized a military formation was in front of them, consisting of more than ten Red Knights, and there was a Blue Knight in the middle of them. The person in the middle, wearing blue Knight uniform adorned with red stripes, was radiantly beautiful, and incredibly elegant. This was the famous Dragon Empire Princess, Lanski.

'She isn't Anise...' Liola quietly walked around these Knights, not wanting to look at Lanski's near-identical face to Anise's. When they passed each other, a Knight suddenly stopped them: "School of Sorcery students..."

Liola and others stopped, and turned around to look at these Knights. Other than Liola's expressionless face, the other three appeared to have innocent expression on their faces.

Kaiser, who was the best at acting, asked in a trembling voice: "Sir Red Knight, is there something I can help you with?"

"Is there anyone with gold eyes and black hair in the School of Sorcery?" The Red Knight asked as he looked at Liola's black hair with suspecting eyes. But when he saw Liola's unique silver eyes, he frowned.

Another Red Knight asked impatiently: "Why bother asking them? Silver Mask wore Knight's uniform."

"Wearing Knight's uniform doesn't necessarily mean he's a Knight. There is no Silver Knight, definitely no gold-eyed black-haired Knight, and most definitely no Knight that would hurt Princess Lanski!" The first Red Knight yelled back.

Lanski, who had already walked afar, suddenly stopped and turned around to look at them with her beautiful and cold eyes. Her voice was as cold and proud as her eyes:

"I've already said, my fight with Silver Mask was honorable, and no one should fight him in revenge."

The Red Knight hastily clarified: "I just want an honorable duel with Silver Mask too, Princess Lanski, please don't misunderstand."

Lanski's face seemed a bit calmer and nodded.

She glanced at Liola and others, and when she saw Liola, her eyes hesitated a bit. But when she saw Liola's silver eyes, she seemed a bit disappointed, and looked away from Liola and the others.

Her ears seemed to be perking up, as if she were afraid that these Sorcery students actually knew about Silver Mask.

The Red Knight asked again impatiently: "Is there any gold-eyed black-haired student in School of Sorcery?"

"No, sir Knight." Kaiser answered honestly. There was genuinely no gold-eyed black-haired student enrolled in the School of Sorcery, even though it does have Silver Mask.

The other Red Knight interrupted again: "School of Sorcery can't possibly have a strong student, and definitely not someone who can beat the Blue Knight, Princess Lanski." As he finished, he smiled in satisfaction. Since he conveniently bragged about the Princess getting to Blue rank in the process, thinking that the Princess would be fond of him for doing so.

Liola was still expressionless, but Kaiser and the others weren't so happy. In fact, they were the ones who survived in the rank-A Yaron Plains, not to mention the dangers they had run into had far surpassed rank-A. The King of Dragons, Miluo, was someone who made even the legendary Paladin Lancelot call for backup.

Liola's incredible strength didn't need further mentioning. Purity's space magic wasn't something to be laughed at, either, even Miluo was defeated by it.

Meinan's protective shield also blocked Miluo's attacks. Finally, Kaiser's white bombs were also powerful. If hits, even the toughest Dragon scale would rupture.

Altogether, the four of them actually possessed incredible strength, just that the two of them were still unstable with their magic, so friendly fire was a real danger among them.

So hearing the Red Knight looking down on them, Kaiser and the others felt quite unhappy. But they obviously weren't going to pick a fight with the School of Knights Red Knights.

Purity was afraid, Kaiser didn't want trouble, and Meinan was actually a friend of another Blue Knight there.

"Meinan." A true Blue Knight suddenly called out Meinan's name. Her flowery bright smile made everyone fond of her.
[T/N: Lanski had just received her Blue Knight ranked, and therefore not counted as a ‘true’ Blue Knight.]

Meinan, too, smiled: "Long time no see, Jasmine."

"I heard that you guys went to Yaron Plains for a month of wilderness survival?" Jasmine suddenly asked. She was satisfied when she saw the Red Knights in complete disbelief.

Jasmine would never let her friends' reputations be tarnished, especially since she was fully aware of how powerful Meinan's protective shields were.

"Sure did!" Meinan smiled. He knew all too well why Jasmine asked, because he had already told her about it before, there was no other reason on why she would ask.

Seeing the Red Knights' faces change, the two looked at each other in satisfaction. It wasn't until then, when Jasmine actually excitedly asked her real question:

"I heard that the Paladin appeared in Freesia, and even fought with a Black Dragon. Even the Dark Knight watched them. Did you guys see it?"

"About that... We saw it from afar, but it was too far to see clearly." Meinan hesitated, and decided not to tell Jasmine the truth.

After all, Jasmine was close to Lanski, so she could end up telling Lanski the secret. If some day Lanski comes looking for Liola, then perhaps that day would be the day Meinan dies.

Jasmine looked disappointed: "Such a shame. It would be great if I could see the Paladin and the Dark Knight."

Seeing her disappointed face, Meinan almost told her everything about running into Blood Wolf and Lancelot. Fortunately, Kaiser opened his mouth in time:

"Sigh, I'm really hungry, and we have to go to class soon. Let's go eat breakfast."

Jasmine also suddenly woke up from her fantasy, turned around and hurried Lanski: "Lan, we should hurry. If we don't stop them soon, who knows what the cafeteria might turn into."

Lanski nodded, and marched away towards the cafeteria. It wasn't until then when Liola looked directly in Lanski's direction, and felt a sense of sadness in his heart.

* * *

Hearing that Silver Mask wasn't in the School of Sorcery, Lanski felt empty. Just thinking of that silver masked Knight, mixed emotions would appear in her eyes.

On one hand, Silver Mask was the person who stole her Sacred White Dragon. On the other hand, Lanski couldn't deny, he was indeed charming: his white uniform suited him, and his cold temperament was attractive.

When he was fighting, his body was moving as if it were dancing in the air. But what she liked the most was, when Silver Mask called her Anise, she could see the weakness in his eyes...

Fortunately, Anise was dead, Lanski couldn't help but think about her.

"Lanski? Lanski?" Jasmine called for her several times without getting a response. She saw her preoccupied with something, then blushed lightly, and then seemed frustrated.

Jasmine knew, Lanski was definitely thinking about Silver Mask again. Jasmine couldn't resist but said in mischief: "I heard that Silver Mask..."

Lanski was stunned, and hurriedly ask: "Silver Mask? You know who Silver Mask is?"

Jasmine scowled: "I don't know..."

She waited until she saw Lanski's disappointment, and then she laughed out loud:

"I heard that, when the Paladin was fighting with the Black Dragon, people at Freesia saw that Silver Mask appeared with the Sacred White Dragon."

Lanski couldn't help but imagine heroic appearance of Silver Mask in white Knight uniform riding the Sacred White Dragon, and then pulled herself together and said:

"Is it possible, for Silver Mask to be related to the Paladin?"

"Probably. His white uniform signifies that he probably is on the side of light. Perhaps he's the apprentice of the Paladin?" Jasmine guessed, and she felt she was right on the mark:

"Or perhaps Silver Mask was visiting the principal on behalf of the Paladin? That could be why only the principal could find him, since Silver Mask isn't a student of Aklan Academy."

"Definitely possible!" Lanski murmured as well. After all, she had never heard of a Silver Knight in the Academy.

Though she originally thought that Silver Mask might be hiding his strength, so he didn't wear a Silver uniform to school. But after looking for so long, she couldn't even find a gold-eyed black-haired student...

Though she didn't think of it, but she couldn't deny the possibility that Silver Mask may not be a student at Aklan Academy at all.

Then where would she go to look for Silver Mask? Lanski couldn't help but feel a bit flustered.

Back to top

Chapter 5 : Liola's Rage

"Whoa, Silver Mask, the lowest Dragon-thief, most heartless woman beater, and the most shameless woman kidnapper." Kaiser looked at headline of the Academy Weekly in his hands, as he shook his head in confusion.

'As Liola's room mate, how come I didn't know Liola was this terrible?'

"Liola-dage isn't like that!" Purity seriously objected.

Kaiser took the newspaper, used it to wrap the fried bread-sticks he planned to eat as a midnight snack, and shrugged: "At least now we know that the Academy Weekly has its uses as a bread-stick wrap."

"The Academy Weekly isn't usually this biased." Meinan quickly clarified: "But this time it involves Princess Lanski, so everyone's a bit strained."

Kaiser raised his eyebrows, and reminded Meinan that they had just walked past the cafeteria: "They blew the cafeteria into smithereens, and you call that 'a bit strained'?"

Thinking about the original state of the beautiful cafeteria compared its current outlook, Meinan couldn't hold back a sigh: “A gentleman’s rage is always because of a lady”

"Even for a lady, there should be a limit to the rage." Kaiser shook his head in disagreement: "With the cafeteria gone, we have to go really far for breakfast."

"Don't worry, the cafeteria will be rebuilt in three days." Barbalis's voice suddenly came from behind Kaiser, whom jumped in fear.

"But you guys really are..." Barbalis didn't know if he should be happy because these four are interesting, or start to worry considering they were natural troublemakers.

“Hey, hey. This time we weren’t the ones who caused the cafeteria’s destruction. It's because the Mecha Fighters and the Knights started fighting each other." Kaiser immediately started to protest.

Barbalis frowned: "I'm not talking about the cafeteria. I'm talking about Freesia."

"Freesia?" Kaiser's heart shook, and he made an innocent face: "What's Freesia? We were at Yaron Plains Plains!"

"Stop playing dumb." Barbalis said with a serious expression:

"Mizerui received a notice from the Paladin to immediately head of to the Dragon Continent. Both Lancelot and Blood Wolf mentioned a Knight wearing a silver mask and had golden eyes with black hair. Let me ask you, did you let Miluo out?"

Kaiser didn't even stop to think, and immediately denied it: "Definitely not."

But as soon as Kaiser said so, Liola glanced at Kaiser.

Barbalis smiled: "Oh? Then how would you know what the heck Miluo even is? No newspaper even published the Black Dragon's name."

Kaiser's jaw dropped wide open. He was completely speechless.

Barbalis turned towards Liola, and asked solemnly: "Do you have the Dragon Empire Royal Family’s Dragon cross?"

Liola hesitated, and then took out Anise's cross necklace.

Barbalis stared hard at the necklace, and frowned. "How the hell did you get that?"

"An old friend gave it to me." Liola didn't like Barbalis staring at the necklace, so he immediately put it back inside his shirt.

Barbalis murmured: "But how is this even possible? You aren't even from this world. How did the Dragon cross get to the world you're from?"

Liola already had a guess in his mind. Seeing the similarities between Lanski's and Anise's face, between Purity's space magic and the magic that sent him to this world using the necklace, Liola had already guessed that Anise was from this world, and perhaps she was even closely related to Lanski.

"*Sigh*, no matter what, this necklace belongs to the Dragon Empire Royal Family. Maybe you should return it?" Barbalis gave the most reasonable suggestion.

Liola's eyes suddenly turned cold, and the temperature seemed to have dropped as result.

Kaiser and others shivered against their will, and even Barbalis felt the pressure that made even Mizerui shudder.

"Don't even dream of it!" Liola said with a cold expression. Everyone around him felt as if they were about to freeze to death.

As soon as Liola finished what he was saying, he turned around to leave, completely ignoring his class and its instructor.

"I think that guy is in a bad mood today." Kaiser murmured.

"What!" Barbalis, who was nearly frozen to death, screamed:

"You knew he's in a bad mood, and you didn't stop me? Are you trying to get your instructor killed?! Don't make me expel you and force you to fight Mizerui."

"Damn! I didn’t know you’d be someone who’d say those words. I didn't think you would dare to cross the best Assassin. Do you honestly think an Assassin would respect his instructors?"

Kaiser pouted in disdain, and advised kindly: "Next time when you speak to Liola, stand further away. Even Mizerui isn't brave enough to stand too close to Liola."

Barbalis thumped his chest: "Fine, fine. Next time I will stand a mile away. That way, I will have time to use Teleportation to escape."

Kaiser and the others started to wonder: ‘Who in the world appointed Barbalis as the principal?’

* * *

Even though Liola left class out of rage, he soon regretted it. Why was he so short-tempered, and rash? Though now that he left, wouldn't it be weird for him to go back?

Liola sighed, and decided to head back to the dorm to use Ki to heal himself, since it's not a good idea to leave his internal injuries unattended.

However, when he was halfway to the dorm, Liola changed his mind. He remembered Baolilong was still inside the dorm.

The little White Dragon who was far more troublesome than helpful, would probably ram into his arms when it sees him, and therefore preventing from concentrating his Ki.

Liola sighed again. He decided it was best to find a secluded grove. Liola intentionally walked deeper into the forest, until he reached a small hill where no one was around, and started using his Ki to treat his internal wounds.

His internal injuries seemed to have far surpassed his previous estimation. While circulating his Ki, Liola had already spat out many mouthfuls of blood, and time flew as he tried to heal.

Suddenly, Liola felt someone was heading towards his direction.

He originally planned to stop healing, but when he felt the approaching person was holding Baolilong in their arms, who shared a mind with Liola.

Liola told Baolilong via telepathy, not to disturb him. He then continued healing, and planned to completely take care of his internal injuries in one go.

* * *

"Baby, your papa is vomiting blood, are you sure he'll be okay?" Jasmine was concerned when she saw the black-haired man was surrounded by dark blood stains.

"Papa said don't disturb him." Baolilong took another huge bite from a piece of beef jerky Jasmine bought, as it told her what Liola had told it.

Jasmine answered with an "Oh".

She contemplated on the strange situation she had earlier. She had ran into a five year-old child who was running around by itself, and Jasmine, as the child lover, went and asked the child where its parents were.

When Baolilong screamed that he was hungry, Jasmine took it to buy food... Though Jasmine had always wondered:

‘Do all the five year-old kids like to eat this much meat? And a lot of it too, he had already eaten enough beef to cover half of its body!’

Jasmine turned and looked at Liola. She thought, that black-haired man seemed really young and he was, at most, her age.

‘He really didn't look like a father. But then again, for a man as handsome as he, it wouldn't be surprising if he had some... Accidents. It was definitely possible.’

Jasmine imagined this aloof man in front of her eyes, fumbling around as he changed diapers, fed the child milk (cow milk, of course), or coaxed the baby to sleep.

She couldn't hold back a burst of laughter. Baolilong was confused by the sight, and it didn't understand why Jasmine suddenly laughed.

"Baby, where is your mama?" Although Jasmine knew this question could hurt the child, she couldn't repress her question.

"Mama? Dead." Baolilong answered as a matter-of-fact.

Jasmine blinked several times as she held back sympathetic tears.

‘So Baolilong's mother had already died, and his dad must be devastated by her death, right?’

Jasmine looked at the handsome man with compassion.

* * *

Liola vomited out the last of his clotted blood. The blood he had spit out had almost dyed the ground around him completely red. But Liola felt his whole body relaxed. Unlike this morning, his steps no longer felt heavy.

"Are you okay?" Jasmine ran to Liola's side with surprise and worry at the same time.

Liola slowly opened his eyes, and a pair of unique, silver eyes met Jasmine's eyes.

Jasmine said without thinking: "Your eyes... are you blind?"

As soon as she said ‘blind’, Jasmine suddenly realized she said something very rude, and she got annoyed of how careless she had always been.

"I am looking at you." Liola replied plainly.

Jasmine looked at the eyes staring back at her, and stuck out her tongue. She then handed Baolilong to Liola: "Here's your son."

Liola took Baolilong without saying a word. He didn't tell her of the two mistakes she made.

One: Baolilong wasn't his child.
Two: Baolilong was genderless.

"Hmm, classmate, you're from the School of Sorcery, right? Were you meditating? I've never heard of vomiting blood during meditation." Jasmine asked Liola curiously.

"I was healing." Liola told her the truth.

"Oh." As Jasmine replied, she stared at Baolilong's actions.

As soon as Baolilong got back to Liola's arms, its two little hands grabbed onto him tightly, as if it was afraid Liola would run away.

Jasmine had originally doubted if Liola really were Baolilong's father, but seeing Baolilong's actions, Jasmine was no longer worried.

"It's dinner time. Baby's dad, would you like to come with me for dinner?" Jasmine invited Liola with sincerity.

Liola had planned to reject the offer, but Baolilong pulled him, begged him with its pink, big eyes, and it even murmured: "Hungry."

‘Didn't you just finish two huge pieces of beef...’ Jasmine's eyes widened. ‘Where did the meat he just ate go? Can it be that his stomach was connected to another dimension?’

"Fine, I'll go with you." Liola nodded. He thought about the fact that he was penny-less, and the cafeteria was destroyed. Kaiser probably had already dragged Purity to some restaurant, and Liola wouldn't know where to look for them.

Jasmine smiled, and she brought him to the restaurant where Lanski and her had agreed to meet for dinner.

On the way, she couldn’t restrain herself from asking Liola various questions. But except his name, Liola used silence as an answer to all of them. This really wasn't Liola's fault, it's just that Jasmine's questions were far too...

"Classmate Liola, when did you meet baby's mom?"

‘Never met her’ Liola thought.

"How many years did you spend with baby's mom?"

‘Never spent any time together, though I spent quite a few hours with the baby's dad’

"Was your wedding a Knight's wedding, or Mecha Fighters... Ah, sorry, I forgot you're a Sorcerer."

Finally, Jasmine stopped, and said solemnly:

"Classmate Liola, I don't think drowning yourself in sadness is good. If the baby's mom is still watching you from the heavens, and she sees you being this depressed, she would be unhappy. So restrain your grief and find someone else. Find a new mom for your five year old child."

Liola nodded. He would surely pass all these messages to Miluo, that is, if he was given another chance to see him.

Seeing Liola had agreed, Jasmine nodded in satisfaction.

* * *

They arrived at the restaurant, and was guided by a waiter to the best room in the restaurant. As soon as they opened the door, they saw more than ten Knights chatting amongst themselves cheerfully.

When they Knights caught a sight of Jasmine, they greeted her with warmly. However, when they saw Liola following her, they quieted down and stared at Liola with suspicious eyes.

Jasmine easily found Lanski among the Knights. She walked up to Lanski, and greeted, then introduced Liola: "Lanski, I brought a friend, is that okay?"

"Of course." Lanski glanced curiously at Liola, and she started to guess what Liola’s relationship with her good friend was. Lanski was also curious about the child in Liola's arms. As a woman, she was naturally drawn to Baolilong's cute face.

"He's not a Knight." A Red Knight narrowed his eyes as he observed Liola. He was disturbed by Liola's handsome face, and wasn't fond of Liola's thin body. But none of those reasons compares to his dislike to the gray Sorcerer robe.

Another Red Knight grunted: "A Sorcerer."

"This is a meeting for Knights. This weakling of a Sorcerer shouldn't be here." All the Knights complained with dissatisfaction.

Liola wasn't interested in the dissatisfaction among the Knights, but in the tone of their voices.

The Knights spoke differently than the straightforward Kaiser. Had it been Kaiser, he would probably have said somewhere along the lines of:

"This is the Knight's territory, all Sorcerers get the hell out."

"If I remember correctly, I asked Jasmine to come. So any friend she brings is my friend. Do you guys have anything to say about my friend?" Lanski said coldly.

"We would never insult your friend, Princess Lanski, but this person is a Sorcerer." A Red Knight protested.

All the Knights were trying to hold back their hatred, but the truth was, Knights despised Sorcerers. Their hatred were far deeper than their hatred towards Mecha Fighters.

Mecha Fighters and Knights hated each other because of their competitiveness. The only common ground they had was their similar hatred for helpless Sorcerers.

Lanski waved her hand impatiently. Since she was a child, she knew Sorcerers were not all helpless. At the very least, she knew the Dragon Emperor, her father, has a Sorcerer friend who was terrifying. Someone never to be trifled with — Mizerui.

"Jasmine, come sit beside me with your friends." Lanski maintained her gaze on the adorable Baolilong. She really wanted to pinch Baolilong's face.

Jasmine knew it all too well. She knew Lanski would definitely like Baolilong. In fact, she perceived that no female creature who wouldn’t fall in love with Baolilong. With a smile, she led Liola sit between her and Lanski.

Liola sensed his seat was an important position. The rage index of the surrounding Knights' eyes had already gone up from 100% to 1000%.

If he was a normal person, he probably would have ran off before his butt touched the seat. But Liola was the best Assassin, and the best Assassin must have the best ability to calm himself.

As a matter of fact, the only thing that’s challenging Liola’s ability to maintain his calm was not the terrifying eyes (He saw these eyes way too often. He had grown accustomed to them.), instead, it was the fact that she was sitting right next to him. The woman who had Anise’s face and Anise’s creamy golden hair.

"This little child is..." After Lanski had taken a few bites of her food, she finally asked.

Jasmine answered with a smile: "This is my friend Liola, and this cute little child is his son. His name is Baolilong."

"Son?" Lanski looked at Liola curiously. However, Liola couldn’t look back, because Baolilong was bugging him to get the honey-baked ham on the table.

The pouting Baolilong once again took Lanski's attention away, and she grabbed the plate of ham and set it in front of Baolilong.

Baolilong happily took large bites at the ham.

Lanski, with a smile on her face, got closer and closer to Liola. Liola could almost smell Lanski's fragrance, though Lanski's real intent was to touch Baolilong's head.

"Sorcerer!" A Blue Knight couldn't hold himself back anymore and yelled at Liola.

Lanski, who had noticed what she was doing was inelegant, bounced back to her original position.

Liola raised his head, looked in the direction of the Blue Knight, and stared at him curiously.

The Blue Knight put on his perfect Knight's smile: "Since you're a Sorcerer, and you've received Princess Lanski's hospitality, shouldn't you showcase some magic spells to entertain our Princess?"

Lanski and Jasmine both turned and looked at Liola. To them, this wasn't too difficult of a request, and they were definitely curious about Liola's ability, especially after Jasmine had witnessed Liola's blood-spitting healing method.

Liola found himself in a difficult position. He couldn't even feel the magic elements, so how could he possibly cast any magic spells and show these Knights?

Liola suddenly realize that Kaiser was useful in cases such as this. Had Kaiser been present, he could probably come up with some excuses to get through the current situation.

However, Liola could only answer them honestly: “I haven’t learned any Sorcery.”

Now, all the Knights looked down on Liola. So much that they almost started pointing at him to ridicule him! Even Lanski seemed colder. She could perhaps befriend a Sorcerer, but she didn't want to be friends with someone completely helpless.

Jasmine, who had seen a number of similar situations in her days, kept her calm. She noticed how extremely calm Liola was, and she knew he was obviously not ordinary person.

"I should go." Liola said, knowing he had overstayed his welcome. And if he stayed longer, these Knights would probably pull out their swords.

"Go?" A Red Knight laughed coldly: "Since you didn't fulfill a guest's duty, then leave behind the money for the meal."

Liola replied apathetically: "I didn't eat."

The Red Knight pointed at Baolilong, who was still wrestling with the honey ham. The Knight obviously he wanted Liola to pay for his child.

If Liola had the money, he would have paid them without a word, but now he finally realized how money could bring about a hero. However, Liola would never become a hero because of money.
[T/N: Hero is referring to someone who died in battle and become a hero.]

Nevertheless, the Knight had the guts to ask Liola for money.

Perhaps he should go earn some money? Liola started considering this possibility seriously, especially when he had the king of eaters, Baolilong, next to him.

"Stop making things difficult for my friend." Jasmine started frowning. She started to feel uneasy. Trifling a secretive person like Liola couldn't possibly end well.

Under normal circumstances, the Red Knights would never disobey the Blue Knight Jasmine.

However, with a damsel next to them, all the Knights wanted to show off their skill in front of Lanski. Therefore, the Red Knight ignored Jasmine, and slowly pulled out his sword, with hatred flashing in his eyes:

"If you don't perform your duties, and you don't pay, then don't blame us for attacking you to protect our Princess Lanski's honor."

Liola tried hard as he could to turn what the Knight said to "Kaiser-ean":

‘If you don't f—ing pay, then for the sake of my wallet, I'm going to beat you up so much that you have to crawl out of here!’

"I have no money." Liola said again with honesty.

The Red Knight smiled with satisfaction: "Draw your weapon!"

Jasmine got angry of what she saw. She didn't think a mere Red Knight would possibly dared to ignore her orders, but Lanski stopped Jasmine.

Normally, Lanski would follow the Knight’s chivalry code to the letter, and would never let a Knight touch an ordinary person.

Lanski whispered in Jasmine's ear: "Do you think that person looks ordinary at all?"

Jasmine smiled with understanding. She finally confirmed Lanski’s thoughts were similar to hers in regards of Liola.

From the look of things, Lanski seems to want the egotistical Red Knight to be taught a lesson, in addition, he could be a pawn to help her and Jasmine observe Liola’s real strength.

Liola had no plans to unsheath his weapon. Lanski had already seen his Broken Silver. If he pull out Broken Silver, isn't he practically admitting he is Silver Mask?

Furthermore, Liola had no intention on battling with a Knight, since a Sorcerer shouldn't even know martial arts. Liola stood still as if he planned on taking a beating, and said:

"I have no weapon."

The Knight got angrier. A Knight was absolutely forbidden to swing a weapon at someone who had none. In anger, the Knight threw his sword aside, and threw punches at Liola.

Liola nonchalantly looked at the random punches. He thought of hundreds of ways to avoid them, not to mention thousands of ways to kill this Knight in a single blow, but he didn't use any of them. The Knight's fist landed heavily on Liola's face, and many more landed on his body.

Lanski and Jasmine both widened their eyes in shock. Something seemed wrong. ‘Could Liola really be helpless?’

Baolilong was still biting the ham, and its pink eyes were filled with rage. If it weren't for Liola who had already told it via telepathy not to do anything, Baolilong would have swallowed the Knight who dared to attack its papa. Baolilong bit hard on the ham, to try to suppress its rage.

Seeing Liola being beaten up, Lanski stood up and yelled at the Knight: "Stop. Let him go. A Knight should never hit an ordinary person."

The Knight stopped his punches, and saluted Lanski as a fellow Knight, with his right hand across his chest.

Lanski looked down at Liola, her eyes were filled with sympathy. She took out a few pieces of gold coins, placed them in front of Liola, and apologized:

"Sorry, I didn't stop them in time. Please take this money and go to the nearest healing center."

Liola slowly raised his head. Compared to the punches, Lanski's sympathetic eyes was far more fatal.

'Please don't look at me with Anise's eyes!' Liola screamed in his heart.

He noticed his feelings were identical to what he felt when Anise died. It was a feeling Liola was completely unfamiliar with.

Like a child throwing a tantrum, Liola hit the gold coins and they flew off the table. He glanced bitterly at the Knight who threw punches at him, and then walked out of the room without looking back.

Baolilong saw Liola leaving, it spitted out the ham inside of its mouth, and caught up to papa. At this time, Baolilong's eyes had turned from pink to a near blood-red color.

Jasmine saw those bitter eyes, she shivered. Unlike Lanski, she still felt Liola was definitely not an ordinary person.

* * *

Liola didn't know what he was doing. He started circulating his Ki and healed all the wounds he had on his skin. He didn’t consider these scratches and bruises as wounds. However, he was very frustrated, as if his heart has been set aflame.

After he had ran out of the room, he coincidentally ran into Kaiser and the others, who immediately backed more than ten steps away.

Kaiser yelled:

"Don't come near me. Your eyes are a thousand degrees below freezing point. I don't want to be the first person to die from cold eyes."

"What are you talking about? I'm just a bit... unhappy." Liola hesitated, still unsure of how to describe what he was feeling.

"Did you blow your lid?" Kaiser widened his eyes.

‘If this was just a bit unhappy, then how would Liola be when he's furious? Would he run straight to the Commerce Alliance, launch all of their missiles, and perish along with the rest of the world?’

"Lid?" Unfamiliar with the expression, Liola didn't want to say anything more.

He on reflex: "Give me the Knight's uniform."
But even Liola, himself, didn't understand why he wanted the uniform.

Kaiser and others gulped.

Even if Liola had told them to bring Mizerui to him, they probably would rather pit their lives against Mizerui than to see Liola's cold eyes, let alone some Knight's uniform.

Purity trembled as she handed the uniform to Liola, and unlike her usual behavior, she didn't stick around Liola’s side.

Liola took the uniform and patted the pocket where the silver mask was. He then disappeared into the darkness, only leaving behind a single sentence: "Get Baolilong something to eat."

"I pity the poor bastard who messed with him."

It was rare for Kaiser to show pity, but as soon as he thought about eating, he placed his pity on the back of his mind and happily went along with Purity, Meinan, and Baolilong to go eat some hot pot.

* * *

Liola put on the Knight uniform and the Silver Mask.

He knew what he planned on doing. He also knew full well that what he was about to do will do far more harm than good... But, he had to do it. The rage inside his heart continued to burn.

Liola walked into the restaurant. He stood by the door, completely ignored the waiters, as well as the curious and terrified eyes around him.

Even in Aklan Academy, it was rare to see a Silver Knight, let alone a Holy Knight wearing a silver mask, surrounded by a terrifying aura.

Before long, more than ten Knights approached the restaurant door. After seeing Silver Mask, they were all stupefied.

The Silver Mask, whom they have searched for long and hard, had actually been found, and was obviously waiting for them.

Everyone was surprised. Especially Lanski, who, with a surprised yet happy tone, asked shyly: "Are you looking for me?"

"Yes." Liola said coldly.

Lanski was slightly flustered and a little loss for words: "Then... have you eaten yet? Uh, do you want to have dinner with me?"

Lanski had completely forgotten that she had just eaten.

Liola smiled in a strange, yet sinister way: "I'm full... of anger."

Lanski was stunned, she didn't know what Silver Mask was talking about, but all the other Knights were already quite angry when they saw Silver Mask.

With the addition of Lanski's unusual behavior, their rage grew even more. A few Red Knights jumped out and yelled:

"You honorless coward, for our Princess Lanski's honor, we challenge you."

"You want to challenge me?" Liola smiled in satisfaction, and used his ability to feign a Knightly way of talking:

"Funny, I, too, want to teach a lesson to the people who tarnished my honor."

Lanski looked at the Red Knights in complete disbelief.

A challenge across different ranks was not unheard of, but almost no Knight would dare challenge anyone who was two ranks above them. It was practically suicide! Since Lanski knew full well of Silver Mask’s true strength, he definitely had every right to be a Silver Knight.

"Princess Lanski, don't worry. We suspect that this guy isn't even a Knight, but instead just a lying trickster."

A Red Knight said in satisfaction: "We already went through the entire list of silver Knights, and not a single one had a silver mask."

"Any Knight who runs into a trickster with a Knight's uniform has the duty to punish those who tarnish our reputation." A Blue Knight who had been silent had jumped out after he heard the Red Knight.

Hearing this, Lanski was confused. 'Could Silver Mask really be a trickster?'

Back to top

Chapter 6 : Lancelot's Apprentice

"I had a fair duel with Knight Lanski, but people have been spreading rumors of me bullying her."

Liola opened his mouth and said coldly: "This rumor is an insult to both me and Knight Lanski, and I will not let the people who started this rumor go unpunished."

"Shut up. It was obvious you who used dirty tricks to get Princess Lanski to duel you. How can you even defend yourself when you know you're guilty?!" Red Knight yelled loudly at Liola.

Lanski, however, felt a bit dizzy. Since when did her duel with Silver Mask spread as such a twisted rumor? No wonder Silver Mask was angry. No Knight could stand such a dishonor. Lanski suddenly felt like crying, she thought Silver Mask must think she was one who spread such rumors to tarnish his reputation.

"He called you Knight Lanski, not Princess Lanski." Jasmine started to admire Silver Mask. It was rare for someone to call Lanski as a Knight instead of a Princess.

Lanski smiled forcefully: "Yeah, Knights should call each other 'Knight'."

Lanski thought to herself: ‘He was able to get approval from the Sacred White Dragon, his actions is filled with a Knight's pride, and his martial arts were amazing. For someone like him, what could he be, other than a Knight?’

Lanski blamed herself for even doubting Silver Mask.

"Can a Silver Knight handle ten Red Knights, plus two Blue Knights?" Jasmine smiled.

"Two?"

Before Lanski had time to react, Jasmine had already pulled out her sword and jumped into the group of Knights.

The Knights surrounded Liola, and Jasmine's face was filled with desire to fight. A Silver Knight wasn't something that she saw everyday. If she didn't challenge him now, she feared she would not be able to sleep at night.

Liola took out Broken Silver from his boot. But unlike what he normally does, Liola pulled the dagger out. He held the sheath in his left hand and the dagger in his right.

Like a light breeze, Liola's white outline appeared in front of a Red Knight. The Knight was frightened and lifted his sword to block but Liola had already, without any hesitation, cut the Knight's broadsword in half with his dagger, and knocked the Knight out cold with the sheath in his left hand.

Jasmine took a deep breath: "In that instant, he hit the Knight 8... No, perhaps 10 times."

It was too fast for Jasmine to see clearly. ‘Was this the strength of a Silver Knight?’ Jasmine held her favorite sword tightly, her eyes flashing with excitement for battle.

Liola continued towards his next target, and left Jasmine a surprise: "It was 13 times."

The Knights knew that one-on-one, they had no chance of beating a Silver Knight, so they all rushed in, to try and win with numbers against Silver Mask.

However, they had no idea that the person in front of them was an Assassin, and chaos was always what Assassins favor.

Most of them blacked out before they even saw Silver Mask, let alone actually land a hit on him. The battle was one-sided.

Finally, Liola appeared in front of a Red Knight whose face had turned pale, and this was the Knight who punched the crap out of Liola.

With Silver Mask's gold eyes narrowing, he appeared behind the Red Knight, the Red Knight’s mouth foamed and fell to the ground with injuries all over his body.

Jasmine frowned and asked: "32 times?"

"39." After releasing some of his anger, Liola seemed to have calmed down a little, especially since he always had a good impression of Jasmine.

But, there was still one person who hadn't been taken care of.

Liola slowly turned around to look at the Blue Knight who stood in silence with his mouth wide open. Of course, it was the other Blue Knight and not Jasmine.

Though the Blue Knight knew, he would never be a worthy opponent to Silver Mask, he couldn't beg for mercy, that would be destroying his own honor.

When he saw Liola approached him, the Blue Knight was so scared, his knees almost gave out. He no longer doubted Silver Mask of being a Silver Knight. He knew he was one of the people who had tarnished a Silver Knight's honor, and how serious the consequences would be...

Jasmine could no longer hold herself back and jumped in front of the other Blue Knight. Her right hand held a narrow sword, and a small shield on her left arm. She was wearing a light armor that didn't restrict her movement.

Jasmine wasn't sure why, but she was shaking. Could it be trembling because of Silver Mask’s incredible strength? Or was she just excited to be able to fight a strong opponent?

Liola stopped and asked to verify: "Are you going to protect him?"

Jasmine raised her eyebrows: "If I have to find a reason to duel with you, then yes, I'm protecting him."

Liola slowly put Broken Silver back to its sheath, and Jasmine's face turned sour in dissatisfaction.

Jasmine said with frustration: "You're not going to fight me? It is because I'm a woman?"

"No. Only when my dagger is sheathed will I be able to use my true strength." Liola had already sensed Jasmine's true strength, which was much higher than the trembling Blue Knight behind her. To fake his Knighthood, Liola planned on facing his opponent head on like a Knight.

Jasmine probably knew the difference in strength between her and Liola, and she knew how sharp Broken Silver really was. For him to turn it back to stick, would let him fight without holding back, so he wouldn't injure her.

After she understood Liola’s intention, she said: "You’ll have to let me make 10 moves first."

"Sure." Liola said without hesitation.

Jasmine couldn't hold back. After a few steps in the air, her sword had already reached Liola.

Jasmine was famous for her speed among Blue Knights, and the rate at which she swung her sword, made it seem like she was swinging three swords at once. However, to Liola, who had easily evaded Lanski's nine Dragon Kis, three swords was nothing to him. With a swift move, Liola easily evaded Jasmine's first attack.

Jasmine was determine to use all of her ten moves at once, so Liola wouldn't have any breathing room, since he can't attack.

For her second move, Jasmine's body was wrapped with a blue aura. She jumped in the air, and jabbed her sword at an amazing speed. The sword jabs fell like raindrops toward Liola from above.

Liola took the Broken Silver in his hand, and waved it like an ordinary person waving his hand. Ten crisp metallic clashing sound filled the room.

Jasmine had two setbacks, but the smile on her face only grew broader. Jasmine increased her speed even more and attack again and again...

Under the naked eye, one could only see Jasmine's outline moving around like a gust of wind.

Liola looked like he wasn’t doing much. Sometimes, it even looked like he was standing completely still. However, both Jasmine and Lanski knew, Liola wasn't stock- still. He was just so fast that people didn’t notice him moving.

Jasmine finally stopped, her hands were on her knees as she tried to catch her breath. Her eyes were not filled with frustrations from setbacks, but instead, excitement for facing a strong opponent. She raised her head, and had a large smile on her face.

"You attacked 13 times." Liola smiled slightly.

Jasmine stuck out her tongue, put away her sword, and laughed as she said: "So I attacked three more times than I should. Fine, we'll count that as me losing."

*Clap, clap, clap!*

Someone in the room suddenly started clapping. Everyone turned around to look the in the direction of the source of the applause. They saw a man dressed in black, whose face was filled with smile as if he was watching a show.

Jasmine and Lanski were both confused, but Liola wasn’t. He knew who exactly the man was. However, he thought that the man would still be in the Dragon Continent with the Paladin, Lancelot.

"You’re worthy to be Lancelot's apprentice. Ten Red Knights were nothing to you, even a Blue Knight didn't make you move more than a meter." Blood Wolf laughed as he said this.

‘Lancelot's apprentice?’

Everyone’s jaws dropped in disbelief, and even the other people in the restaurant who were watching the show sputtered wine from their mouths.

However, the person who was most surprised, was the Blue Knight who insulted Silver Mask. He looked as if he was about to pass out.

"Excuse me, Sir Knight, who are you? Or how would you reveal to us the identity of the Paladin's apprentice?" Jasmine asked carefully and respectfully.

Blood Wolf smiled, and used his strange summoning: "Blood Wolf is my name, and I'm not going to say much. Damn Blackie come here."

As always, every Knight was in disbelief when they heard the strange way of summoning, but Blood Wolf's mount really did come.

It was the same as the last time Liola had seen it, a black wolf jumped out of thin air, and its majestic presence left all the Knights in awe.

Everyone knew that the Dark Knight Blood Wolf's mount was a black wolf, they also knew of the friendship between the Paladin and the Dark Knight.

"Greetings, Dark Knight Blood Wolf." Jasmine and Lanski both greeted, with their right hand across their chest, performing a standard Knight salute.

"Hello to you two, pretty ladies." Blood Wolf greeted them dubiously, but no one could say anything about it.

The ranks among Knights were clearly defined, and there was nothing wrong even if Blood Wolf completely ignored the two Blue Knights.

Liola's head was in a fog. Why did Blood Wolf say that he's Lancelot's apprentice?

Liola narrowed his eyes. He didn't like the feeling of being involved a sinister plan.

Blood Wolf still kept the smile on his face. He placed his arm around Silver Mask's shoulder and said:

"Little Silver, your master, Lancelot, asked me to talk to you about a lot of things. Why don't we find another place for some wine?"

Liola maintained his cold expression, and still held onto Broken Silver in his hand.

He thought: ‘At least Knights use martial arts.’

To Liola, Knights were far more easier to handle than Sorcerers. Liola responded: "There sure are a lot of things to discuss."

Seeing them acting strangely, and that they were about to find another place for a good talk.

Lanski asked somewhat impatiently: "Silver Mask, will I see you again?"

Liola turned to look at Lanski. He didn't know why she wanted to see him again, and Liola wasn't sure if he's going to ever appear again as Silver Mask.

He was silent for a moment, and then he nodded, after which he saw a bright smile surfaced on Lanski's face.

* * *

After Liola and Blood Wolf had stepped out, Jasmine had a mischievous smile on her face.

She prodded Lanski with her shoulder, who was still giggling, and said: "Wow, the Paladin's apprentice? Wouldn't that be a perfect match?"

Lanski suddenly blushed: "What are you talking about, what perfect match?!"

"You know what I mean." Jasmine continued teasing her good friend, and enjoyed her rare blushing face: "Alas, remember to let me borrow your boyfriend later for sparring!"

"What the hell are you talking about?!" Lanski protested, even her ears were red.

As the two girls playfully talked to each other, the Blue Knight standing beside them, who had been ignored for all this time, let his sword fall to the ground. His face was filled with rage.

* * *

As Liola and Blood Wolf walked, a crowd gathered around them. A Silver Knight was a rare sight, and now there's even a Knight with a huge black wolf...

There were already plenty of people who guessed Blood Wolf's identity, and their jaws were almost reached the ground.

"Little Silver, you have to promise me, when you have time you'll spar with me." Blood Wolf rubbed his palm. Seeing the previous fight, he was itching to fight Liola — so much that he almost jumped in the middle of the fight.

"No." Liola denied instantly.

Blood Wolf almost slipped off his mount, and he murmured:

"What the hell. Even Lancelot would give me some crappy excuse, something about a rain check. You little runt denied me without hesitation?"

On the way back, Blood Wolf kept pestering Liola with dissatisfaction, trying to make him promise for sparring.

However, as an Assassin, Liola had plenty of patience, and he actually answered "No", "No", "No" the entire way back, until they were back in Aklan Academy, and inside principal Barbalis's office.

Barbalis was sitting inside his office, waiting for them. When he saw them walking in, Barbalis immediately asked: "Blood Wolf, did you do as I asked?"

With his mouth dry from pestering Liola, Blood Wolf snapped:

"Yes. But old geezer, aren't you afraid of what would happen after Lancelot finds out he suddenly gained an apprentice whose face he has never seen. Won’t he be incredibly furious?"

Barbalis laughed: "Lancelot's rage is nothing. He's straight as an arrow, not to mention this was approved by the Dragon Emperor himself."

"What are you two doing?" Liola's expression started to change. Blood Wolf plus Sorcerer Barbalis, whose abilities are unknown, would be hard for Liola to handle.

"I'll tell you the truth." Barbalis stopped laughing: "At the same time, I'll tell you the truth about your Dragon Cross necklace."

"You probably didn't know this, but as long as you wear that cross necklace, the Dragon Emperor will know everything you're doing." Blood Wolf pulled the chain on Liola's neck and revealed the cross pendant.

Blood Wolf added: "Even what you did in the past."

Liola's face sank, and he pushed Blood Wolf's hand away.

No one likes to be watched, but Liola knew he would never let go of this necklace. Even if his life was broadcasted to the world, he wouldn't let it go.

Barbalis simply said: "Anise is Lanski's twin sister, and also a Dragon Empire's Princess."

Liola's face suddenly changed. Though he had guessed it before, but he never thought about it seriously. Now it was finally confirmed that Anise was from this world.

"Twenty years ago, there was an accident. Princess Anise, who had just been born, was sent to another world."

Blood Wolf continued: "That accident had also caused Miluo's wife, that is, your Sacred White Dragon's mother, to die. Because of this, Miluo and the Dragon Emperor had turned into each other's nemesis."

"When the Dragon cross returned to this world, the Dragon Emperor had already felt it." Barbalis sighed:

"He originally wanted to obey to the will of his daughter and let you live peacefully, so he didn't come to disturb you. But he didn't think that, not only would the Sacred White Dragon recognize you as its master, you even let Miluo out."

"Destiny is like a drunk man. You never know what it’ll do next. In my opinion, you were never meant to be an ordinary person." Blood Wolf laughed.

Liola, however, couldn't laugh. He sank deep into self-blame again. Had he not caused Anise's death, she may have already returned to the Dragon Empire, lived peacefully and happily as a Princess.

"You now have two choices, Liola." Barbalis continued:

"Declare Silver Mask is Liola, and Lancelot will really accept you as his apprentice. Then the Dragon Emperor will announce to that world, that twenty years ago, you were taken in by Lancelot to be trained in secret, and Princess Lanski's twin brother. Then, you will become a Prince of the Dragon Empire."

Blood Wolf laughed secretly: "Or, you can continue your current life, and see where destiny takes you."

Liola's mind was in chaos. After finding out many truths, Liola was clueless on how he should respond. So he could only remain silent.

"Think about it. I will be here for a week. If you plan on being a Prince, in a week I will bring you back to the Dragon Continent." Blood Wolf leisurely laid down on the sofa.

* * *

Liola had no idea how he had gotten back to the dorm.

After he had gotten back, he saw Kaiser turning himself in a sushi wrap again, and Baolilong actually did the same thing and wrapped itself up on Liola's bed.

Liola frowned, and decided not to ask Kaiser to look after Baolilong too much, or else who knows what other habits Baolilong would pick up.

When Liola got on the bed, Baolilong immediately unwrapped itself while half-asleep and went to Liola's arms.

Before Liola closed his eyes, he prayed Anise would appear in his dreams tonight. He had far too many questions to ask her.

* * *

"Anise, where is your home?" Liola asked suspiciously. The doesn’t seem worried about her family.

My home?" Anise blinked her beautiful eyes: "My home is right here."

Liola was confused: "Here? This is the headquarters of the organization that abducted you."

Anise laughed sweetly, and pointed at the sky and the grass: "My home is here. I swore to travel the world, and practice healing around the world!"

Practice healing around the world!

* * *

Liola opened his eyes again, and saw a pair of blue eyes, and Liola realized his face was being pulled in opposite directions by four fingers.

Liola asked coldly: "Kaiser, what are you doing?"

Kaiser said in all seriousness: "Getting the lazy Assassin off the bed."

And then, Kaiser added: "Originally I was going to leave you alone, but then I thought, without you, boss might not be willing to go pay for breakfast, so I had to get you up."

"How come you were so sound asleep?" Kaiser raised his eyebrows.

Before today, he could never get within ten meters of Liola without being noticed, but now he was even able to touch Liola's face. This was more unfathomable to Kaiser than winning the lottery.

Liola did not respond, and instead he asked Kaiser: "What exactly do I have to do to learn healing magic?"

"Meditation, sensing magic element. Practice magic, continue meditation. Learning magic is fairly difficult, and there is no shortcut at all."

Liola sighed in his heart, and understood he was too impatient. Even when he was trying to learn martial arts, it took years of practice and training. How could he expect to learn any healing skills like those of Anise in a short time?

Liola, Kaiser, and Baolilong, who clung onto papa's leg, walked outside of the dorm.

As soon as they did so, they saw Purity and Meinan already waiting outside. When Purity saw Liola, she cheerfully went up to him, and said with curiosity: "You guys seemed slow today."

"Because someone was still on the bed, and I couldn't get him up!" Kaiser replied confidently.

As soon as he replied, he saw Purity and Meinan glancing at him, as if there were no possibility of the Assassin, who was standing right next to him, to be the person who couldn’t get up.

Kaiser immediately protested: "Hey! I wasn't the lazy bum, it was that silver-eyed guy."

Purity's eyes widened in complete disbelief, and Meinan looked at him as if his eyes were saying "stop feigning your innocence". Even Baolilong poked its head out from behind Liola, and its eyes were filled with doubt.

Veins popped out of Kaiser's forehead: "I wasn't the bum! When there's breakfast, I will never stay on the bed!"

Purity and Meinan both suddenly realized: "That's right, when there's food to eat, Kaiser would struggle and crawl over even if he hasn't had sleep for seven days. So did Liola really oversleep?"

Should he be happy that his friends believed him? Or sad about what they said of him? The corner of Kaiser's mouth twitched. But in the end, he succumbed to the smell of food. He grabbed the bag from Purity's hands. Kaiser asked as he pulled food out of bags:

"We aren't going to the cafeteria today?"

"Didn't you see the class plans announced yesterday? Yesterday the principal said, we will be having classes inside the dorm today." Purity worriedly said.

She was suspicious that the principal might have came up with some new stunts to pull on the students.

"This dorm is beautiful, but something seems very strange about it." Meinan sighed.

He wasn't sure if he could graduate from the School of Sorcery. He heard the graduation rate in recent years had become terribly low.

"Of course it's strange." Kaiser said as he was swallowing: "I noticed the other day, the room we're staying in is on the top floor. That floor was completely empty other than our room. Why didn't they make more rooms in that floor?"

‘If the principal’s plan only involved Kaiser and Liola, then it’d be great…’ The Sorcery students congregated in front of the dorm thought.

"Dear students," The principal had suddenly appeared behind everyone with a satisfied smile on his face.

All the students trembled. Seeing the smile on Barbalis' face, everyone's heart sank.

The principal must have thought of something absurd for class. And unfortunately, this class probably had something to do with their dorm. Meaning even after class, the dorm they would go back to probably won't be a safe place at all.

"Come, come, everyone take a textbook." Barbalis cheerfully handed out textbooks, completely ignoring the dropped jaws of every student.

‘Since when did we have something like textbooks?’

Dormitory User's Manual. Kaiser blinked, realizing he didn’t read it wrong.

Kaiser started wondering:

‘What needs to be explained about a dorm? Can it be that they need to explain where you should go to pee, or where the fire escapes are? No, Barbalis can't be that bored... To be exact, Barbalis was pretty boring, but no matter how bored he might be, he would never care about the students’ escape in the event of a fire. On the contrary, he was more likely to be the arsonist who sets the dorm on fire, and expel anyone who dies in the fire.’

Liola was more practical. He didn't make any guesses. He immediately opened the book and started reading. However, Liola was completely clueless as to what this manual had to do with the dorm, because it was obviously a Mecha manual. More specifically, it was one that required multiple pilots.

‘Can't it be...’ Liola raised his head to look at the metallic hull of the dorm.

"Principal, sir..." A student raised his hand hesitantly.

"Don't ask me. Every room has an assigned number, use your eyes! I'll give you half an hour, go learn what you need to control it."

Barbalis yelled: "We will begin drills in half an hour! Anyone who makes a mistake will be expelled!"

All the Sorcery students gave a long sigh. ‘Why is graduating this difficult?!’

Back to top

Chapter 7 : The Strongest Student Dormitory in History

"Kaiser..." Liola said calmly.

"What's up? Don't bother me. This is difficult. God, why were you and I assigned the hardest part? Most of the actions are controlled from where we are. Wooah. Purity is only responsible for a barrel. Let's me see about Meinan. What? He's only responsible for the temperature of the air conditioning system?!" Kaiser was so mad, he almost tore the manual in half.

"Kaiser..."

"Stop bothering me, Liola. Go and read your manual quickly. We'll have to divide labor." Kaiser’s blood was pumping with adrenaline. He was using his ability to read 10 lines at once, and he was determined to compress ten years of Mecha Fighter classes into half an hour.

"Kaiser..."

Kaiser finally raised his head and yelled loudly: "Why the hell do you keep calling me? Why aren't you reading the manual? What do you want?"

Liola pointed at the first line of the first page of the manual: "What is a control stick?"

"Uh..."

Kaiser was too busy minding his own business. Finally, Purity, who spent 3 minutes on barrels, and Meinan who spent 3 seconds on air conditioning, took the job of explaining things to Liola.

However, the main functions of the Mecha Fighter was very complex. Even Meinan and Purity could only understand about a third of it. When they explained what they understood to a confused Liola, no one knew how much Liola actually understood.

A minute before the half hour was up, Kaiser asked while trembling: "Liola, which parts do you understand?"

"I know how to use the sensors." Liola answered honestly. The sensors looked fairly simple. As long as you equip them, the sensors will detect the user's movements.

Kaiser almost fell to the ground. He then gave a muffled reply: "Then you control the sensors."

When Barbalis was teaching the students, he would never arrive late.

In exactly half hour, without even a second of delay, Barbalis appeared in front of the students. His face was filled with a strange, satisfied smile. He said excitedly:

"Come, come. Everyone head up to your rooms and get ready. We're going to be putting on a show for the Mecha Fighters and the Knights. To display that we, the School of Sorcery, can do everything! Hahaha!" Barbablis finished his instructions and burst out in laughter.

"The principal must have gotten into something with the mentors from the other two schools." Purity and Meinan both wanted to cry.

With two streams of tears on his face, Kaiser patted Liola's shoulder: "Bro, let's prepare you for the fight with Mizerui."

Liola had no rebuttal. For someone who didn't know what a control stick was just a few moments ago, controlling the large mecha without any mistakes would be impossible.

Liola and Kaiser practically walked into the dorm thinking they were going to be expelled soon. When they reached their room, the first thing Kaiser did was pack his belongings. Although it was just a couple sets of clothing.

"Hurry up and start the mecha! Otherwise everyone in room 111 will be expelled!" Barbalis' voice echoed throughout the entire dorm.

Kaiser was so scared that he stopped packing and rushed towards the desk with his life was on the line. He placed his hand on a circular symbol made out of paper. After a few rays of light emitting from the symbol, a soft and neutral voice could be heard.

"Mecha starting. Please choose the transformation shape."

"Human." Without thinking Kaiser chose a shape of a human. Considering they were not familiar with the Mecha, he didn't want to choose the shape of an eagle to fly. Although if he fell out of the sky, he wouldn't have to worry about getting expelled or fighting with Mizerui.

Liola sat quietly in another desk, also putting his hand on a symbol.

The large metallic dorm started to change. All the walls and room started to recombine.

The bed in their room turned upside down, and it turned into a metallic platform, and Kaiser's chair was moved on top of that platform.

The walls started to move towards them and, before long, the whole room became a small cubicle.

A dashboard and buttons appeared on the walls surrounding Kaiser. Liola was standing in front of Kaiser's platform, with all sorts of sensors wrapped around his arms and legs.

Finally, they were both surrounded by screens. The screens all around showed the outside view.

They saw Barbalis flying in front of the Mecha, with shining eyes, he yelled: "DESTINATION: SCHOOL OF MECHA FIGHTERS!"

Sweat ran down Kaiser's back. He thought, while crying:

'We haven't even had time to practice, and now we're taking the fight to the School of Mecha Fighters? When they see something this huge coming towards them, wouldn’t it be strange for them to not open fire? Can a bunch of Sorcery students, who spent half an hour with a manual, even have a chance against Mecha Fighters? Forget it. It's probably better for me to fight Mizerui.'

"Kaiser, what am I supposed to do now?" Liola lifted his hand and looked at the sensor on his wrist. He was completely clueless as to what it was.

"The things on your hands and legs are sensors. Whatever you do, the mecha will do the same." Kaiser said weakly.

Of course, things were easier said than done. Every single action must be coordinated by the complex control panels in front of Kaiser.

Kaiser took a deep breath: "Don't move too fast. This is a robot, and it can't move as fast as you. You have to coordinate with me, otherwise we won't even need to wait for the mecha fighters to fire at us. We'll fall to our deaths first."

"Now take a few slow steps ahead." Kaiser said, as his hand started hitting buttons, activating various parts of the mecha's body.

Liola nodded and slowly raised his foot. Outside, the human form mecha also slowly lifted its foot. This made the students in other parts of the body very busy, as they all tried to obey Kaiser's coordination commands.

Liola took a few steps ahead, and turned his head to ask: "Everything good?"

"You don't need to turn your head. Doing so requires another command. As long as you talk, everyone will be able to hear you. Now walk towards your 10 o'clock. Barbalis is getting impatient again." Kaiser snapped.

A silver, human shaped mecha was slowly heading towards the School of Mecha Fighters, although sometimes it seemed like it was about to fall on its face.

The news immediately reached the ears of the Mecha Fighters’ mentor. Because of the disappearance of the School of Sorcery’s dorm Barbalis flying proudly in front of the Mecha, the mentor immediately jumped up and yelled:

"Damn Barbalis! It's certain that he wants to break the School of Mecha. He only lost a game of chess. Does he really have to make such a big deal out of it?!"

Seeing the reports in his hand, the School of Sorcery's Mecha was more than 30 meters tall. The mentor's eyes almost popped out of their sockets. Such a large mecha would take the students a long time to learn to operate, even for Mecha Fighter students. Could it be that their previous wilderness survival was actually a secret training in operating Mechas?

The mentor immediately used the emergency broadcast and yelled: "ENEMIES INCOMING! All Mecha students on deck! Go to our mechas and wait at the academy gates!"

The emergency broadcast, which had never been used before, shook the entire school of Mecha Fighters.

Could someone actually dare to attack the Aklan Academy? Every student started running, boarded their Mechas, and waited for their first real battle with anticipation and nervousness.

Seeing hundreds of mechas lining up outside of the School of Mecha Fighters, the hearts of all Sorcery students sank. The only fortunate thing was that all the Sorcery students were well prepared, they all bought a very high life insurance policy... ... ...

However, driving a mecha to challenge the School of Mecha Fighters was probably a suicidal act.

The students wanted to cry, they were worried that if they die, they will not be able to cash in the insurance policy!

"Liola, do you think it's easier to kill Mizerui and Barbalis, or to control this mecha and defeat hundreds of mechas controlled by the students of Mecha Fighters?" Kaiser started to hesitate.

"I can't kill." Liola answered straightforwardly.

The giant mecha from the School of Sorcery slowly came to a stop about 10 meters away from the School of Mecha Fighters, and the students quietly awaited Barbalis' next order.

All the Sorcery students had already started their prayers, and the opposing students gulped when they saw the gigantic mecha. Such a gigantic mecha was a rare sight to be seen. The School of Mecha students began to wonder if they would be flattened under the huge mecha.

Barbalis proudly yelled: "Such tiny things. With a single step of my mecha, they will all turn into paper maché!"

The opposing mentor used an angel-shaped mecha to fly in front of Barbalis, and yelled angrily: "What the hell are you doing?! Is it necessary to start a war between our schools because of a round of chess?!"

"Hehe, of course it's necessary!" Barbalis said with a sinister smile. Of course he wouldn't admit it was just an excuse. The real reason was that the Knights mentor said to him in disdain:

"The School of Sorcery sucks at everything."

After Barbalis takes care of the School of Mechas Fighters, and the resulting fear had been instilled into the School of Knights, he will of course, take a trip to the School of Knights.

"Liola, I really want to flatten Barbalis with his mecha!" Kaiser ground his teeth. The Sorcery students inside the mecha’s body nodded their heads like crazy in agreement.

However, Barbalis didn't give them a chance to flatten him. He yelled at the giant mecha: "Fire the main cannon!"

The main cannon was Purity's jurisdiction. Purity who was scared to death of Barbalis, didn't give it much thought, and she immediately aimed the loaded cannon at the School of Mecha Fighters and fired.

Meinan, who was right next to her, couldn't stop Purity in time. Two large rays of light shot towards the School of Mecha Fighters. No one would have imagined that Barbalis, as the principal of Aklan Academy, would be serious in starting a war.

Before the School of Mecha Fighters even had a chance to activate their protective shields, half their school was destroyed.

The Mecha Fighter's mentor's jaw dropped. He couldn't believed Barbalis actually bombarded the School of Mecha Fighters.

Barbalis proudly said: "It sure was really powerful. Now we can go have fun with that holier-than-thou Knight's mentor. Hahaha! This time, he will definitely pay for what he did!"

"Y-you have grudges against the School of Knights? Why the hell did you take it out on my school?" The Mecha Fighter's mentor pointed at Barbalis with a shaking finger. He was so angry, his face turned into the color of pig liver.

The angel-shaped mecha took out a bow and an arrow.

Barbalis burst out in laughter: "My good old chess mate, how could I dare to take it out on you? I've already obtained money from the Aklan Empire to remodel the academy. So now that I'm taking my mecha for a test run, I can also save you the money for demolishing your School of Mecha. Hahaha!"

The Mecha Fighters' mentor sat there trying to digest what happened. Barbalis, again, commanded the Sorcery students towards their real target, the School of Knights.

"Knights... Aren't exactly easier to mess with than Mecha Fighters." Kaiser sighed, hoping the Knights will follow the 'one-on-one' chivalry code. If so, then the chance of the School of Sorcery being destroyed would lessen.

Liola also hesitated for the first time.

Lanski and Jasmine are both in the School of Knight. Knowing their personalities, they would be the first and second person to jump to their School's aid.

With the gigantic Mecha's big steps, Kaiser and the others quickly arrived at the School of Knights.

* * *

The trained Knights of the school who were riding their mounts, had already formed two lines in front of the school. The person in front of them was a Silver Knight wearing a mostly-black uniform. It was the mentor of the School. He was riding on a black horse, and looked at the giant Mecha with scorning eyes.

"Mentor, please let me fight it!" Two female voices could be heard, and they were Lanski’s and Jasmine’s. Judging by strength, these two were probably among the top students.

Seeing his fearless students, the Silver Knight's cold firm lips turned into a smiled. But after some consideration, he decided not to send the two out.

He said with dignity: "You two don't have mounts, so it would be hard for you to handle a mecha of this size."

Lanski and Jasmine were disappointed when they heard their mentor’s response.

Jasmine actually sighed in relief in her heart. She thought if this mecha were really controlled by the Sorcery students, then Liola too must be inside!

The Silver Knight looked at the incoming giant mecha. With an icy laugh, he thought,:

‘Come Barbalis!’

He will prove to Barbalis how strong his students are. Without any hesitation, he called forth the strongest student in the School, someone who was strong beyond belief.

"Daylight, you will fight them." The Silver Knight mentor called out a name that everyone in the School of Knight knew.

He was one of the only three Dragon Knights in the school, and the strongest among the Blue Knights in the school, not to mention the one closest to rank Silver. His chivalry was also famous, and people in the school had often called him the perfect Knight.

In fact, had Daylight not been so perfectly chivalrous, his blue hair and gold eyes, and the fact that he was holy-aligned, would have made everyone in the School of Knight believe that he was Silver Mask, especially since, out of all the students in the school, only Daylight could block Lanski's Dragon Dancing Ki. (Of course, he could only block the 9 Kis, not the 66 one that Liola had sustained.)

"I will do all that I can, teacher." Daylight stepped out of the crowd, wearing a white uniform and silver light armor. His ocean blue long hair was tied behind him, and his face was calm. He was the exact image of a true Knight.

He murmured a spell and called forth his mount — a Red Fire Dragon. After jumping onto the Fire Dragon, Daylight held a long, snow-white pike in his hand, and flew towards the giant mecha.

* * *

"A Knight is flying toward us!" Kaiser nervously looked at the Dragon heading towards them.

Purity's voice could be heard throughout the mecha: "It's Daylight!"

"Bullcrap! I know it's broad daylight without you telling me!" Kaiser yelled.

Considering he was using his two hands and eyes as if he had 16 of them, Kaiser was in a terrible mood.

Purity was so scared by Kaiser's yell that she went into a corner to cry. Meinan continued to explain:

“The ‘Daylight’ Purity pointed out is the name of the person who is heading towards us, riding the Fire Dragon. He's the strongest Knight in the school, even Jasmine is no match for him."

Kaiser was frustrated. Even though School of Sorcery also had a strongest "Knight" — Silver Mask, but under the circumstances, there was no way to send Silver Mask out.

Although the giant mecha looked imposing, Kaiser knew all too well. Having had only a crash course on the mecha controls, the Sorcery students couldn't get out a tenth of the full potential from this mecha. Besides walking slowly, transform, and automatically launch missiles, they couldn’t do much else.

How could they possibly beat such an agile Fire Dragon Knight?

"Kaiser, can we speed up?" Liola's eyes stared at the Fiery Dragon Knight. He was estimating in his mind; if they don't speed up it would be impossible to block the Knight's attack.

"Yes." Kaiser said as if he had no other choice: "Perhaps we will fall from our uncoordinated controls, but at least that would be better than the Fiery Dragon Knight hitting us and blowing us up."

It was easier said than done. When Liola deducted what the Knight’s intention was, he used his right hand to quickly block the Knight's attack. But the movement was too fast for Kaiser and the students in the body.

The giant mecha's right hand didn't perform the action Liola wanted it to. Instead, the whole mecha spun in its place.

Kaiser was busy with the controls for a long time and finally made the spinning mecha sit on the ground, and stopped the endless twirl.

"Slow down! Liola, please use the speed of an ordinary person." Kaiser yelled as if he just had a heart attack.

"We will lose with an ordinary person's speed." Liola stated as a matter of fact.

At this time, Daylight rode the fiery Dragon and stopped in front of the giant mecha.

He yelled at the Sorcery students: "Please stop. You aren't Mecha Fighter students, so there's no way you can control this mecha properly. Stop. Knights will never attack ordinary people."

All the Sorcery students, including Kaiser, wanted to run out and scream, "I'm an ordinary person! Please don't attack me!"

With Barbalis staring widened eyes, everyone could only cry while hiding inside the mecha's body, wondering why in the world they enrolled in School of Sorcery.

Barbalis had already seen the glorious smile on the Knight instructor's face. If he weren't the principal, he would've already ran up to Daylight and knock him off the Fire Dragon.

Barbalis thought, since he can't fight himself, and his school couldn't win with the mecha, then...

Barbalis remembered that within the school, there was someone as good as himself, but he was still just a student.

"School of Knight dude, are you willing to accept an one-on-one duel from the School of Sorcery?" Barbalis yelled at Daylight.

"Shameless Barbalis, are you going to fight with student?" The Silver Knight replied coldly, thinking that Barbalis wanted to fight himself.

"Of course it's not me." Barbalis let out a sinister laugh: "It's a student who just joined the School of Sorcery!"

Everyone was confused, especially those from the School of Sorcery. There hadn't been any new students coming into the school, nor was there any Sorcerer who could hold their own against Daylight.

Of course, Meinan could hold his protective shield for a long time. Provided, Purity's magic works, and if Daylight was easy on girls and didn't attack first, she could possibly send Daylight to another place using Space Magic. But they had both been in the school for over a year, definitely not new.

Barbalis knew he had captured everyone’s complete attention. He cleared his throat and said: “A while ago, Lancelot asked me to take care of his apprentice.”

The expression on everyone’s face changed.

‘The Paladin Lancelot's apprentice?’

Even the rank-silver instructor's face sank. He did indeed hear of the Dark Knight, Blood Wolf being here yesterday. And he knew Lancelot's apprentice had taught a dozen Red Knights a lesson.

"Hot damn! Is there anything our principal couldn't do? Even Lancelot's apprentice got forced into his School of Sorcery? He should be a Knight, right?" Kaiser murmured.

"No, he's an Assassin." Liola said plainly as he took off the gray robe, showing a white, silver-lined Knight's uniform. And then he put on a silver mask!

"What?!" Kaiser was stunned, the only Assassin he knew was... Liola!

"Which way is the exit?" Disguised as Silver Mask, Liola asked Kaiser.

"Use the escape door behind me, so no one sees you coming out of the control room from the mecha’s head." A calm expression returned on Kaiser’s face. Up until now, there was nothing Silver Mask couldn't handle.

Liola nodded. He went out the escape door, slid down the mecha, and hid in a nearby forest.

He concentrated on summoning Baolilong, and not before long, the small Baolilong appeared in front of Liola. He touched Baolilong's forehead and used telepathy to say: "Transform."

Baolilong immediately turned into a ten-meter Dragon, and carried Liola into the air. With everyone’s surprised gazes on him, he flew next to Barbalis.

"Hehe, please handle that Dragon Knight over there." When Barbalis saw the surprised expressions of the Knights, he was so happy that he wanted to do a happy dance.

Liola glanced at Barbalis, and said coldly: "Only if you promise me, no one will be expelled."

"No problem!" Barbalis answered without any hesitation.

Unlike Daylight, who was a true Knight, and rode his Dragon, Liola was actually standing on Baolilong's back.
[T/N: The original text has a play on words which only makes sense in Chinese. Knight literally means, Riding Warrior, so Daylight is a true Riding Warrior because he was riding his Dragon. Whereas Liola was standing, so then the author said he might be a Standing Warrior]

In fact, Dragon scales were very slippery, and the muscles of a flying Dragon make it quite a bumpy ride. Factoring in the air current at such a high altitude, standing on a Dragon was terribly difficult. Considering Liola was keeping his balance perfectly, the Knights were terribly impressed.

"Silver Mask? You're Knight Lancelot's apprentice?" Daylight was surprised. As a holy Knight, Lancelot was the idol he worshipped.

Liola nodded. Being honest was a Knight's virtue, but lying was an Assassin's virtue. Liola didn't feel uncomfortable with his lies.

The mentor had already heard about Silver Mask's strength from Lanski, Jasmine, and the other Red Knights. He was afraid that Daylight couldn't beat Silver Mask. Without giving up, the mentor yelled at Barbalis:

"Barbalis, you found a Knight to fight for your School of Sorcery, don't you find this disgraceful? Is there no talent within the School of Sorcery?"

Unfortunately, Barbalis' skin was as thick as the mecha's hull. He completely ignored such verbal provocation and replied:

"Silver Mask is a student in the School of Sorcery, so he is a Sorcery student, so of course he can fight for us."

"You..." The mentor gritted his teeth in anger, but he didn't know what else to say.

"Do you accept this duel?" Liola asked calmly. He wanted to get it over with quickly, instead of being watched from below.

"For the School of Knight's honor, and for Princess Lanski's honor, I accept your challenge." Daylight accepted the challenge seriously.

Though Daylight thought it was strange. A higher ranked Knight challenging a lower ranked Knight was something uncommon, and it brings dishonor to the higher ranked Knight. It was suspicious for Silver Mask, as Lancelot's apprentice, to challenge him.

Liola didn't say anything else, and took out Broken Silver from his boot. He didn't unsheathe Broken Silver, and used it as a stick to fight, so Liola wouldn't have to worry about making a mistake and break his promise with Anise.

Both schools already knew the outcome of this battle. Though Daylight was a Blue Knight with unbelievable strength, but the gap between the valley of Blue and Silver Knights wasn’t something that could be crossed easily.

Furthermore, Silver Mask was Lancelot's apprentice, and Lancelot was the legendary Paladin, whose power cannot possibly be ignored.

However, no one clearly knew the disparity between the participants of the duel was far more than they had ever imagined!

First of all, Liola was not just a Silver Knight. If Liola’s strength was measured properly, he could possibly be in the same rank as Lancelot. Secondly, among Dragons, the Sacred White Dragon was one of the commanding species.

Daylight, who was riding on the Fire Dragon, couldn't help but feel fear. He knew that under the current situation, he was in a disadvantage in so many ways. Not only would he lose, he would lose very quickly.

As the two Dragons clashed in mid-air, Liola unexpectedly jumped onto the Fire Dragon, and stood facing Daylight. Daylight's expression changed and also stood up. But unlike Liola, he did so with great difficulty.

"Go down. We'll fight on the ground." Liola said calmly.

Daylight nodded. In his heart he admired how honorable Liola was, because he purposely gave up a huge advantage — his terrifying sense of balance. This eased Daylight's doubt about Silver Mask's identity.

Daylight commanded the Fiery Dragon to land on the ground, and then ordered it to go away. While staring at Silver Mask, he tightly held onto the pike in his hand. Though he knew he would probably lose, as a Knight, so long as he fights honorably in a duel, there would be no shame even in losing.

Daylight lit up his blue aura, in accordance to his rank, but on the edge of his blue aura, there were some silver light. The Knight students gasped in admiration. For a twenty-five year old Daylight, his current level of power was already amazing.

On the other hand, Liola, who was also twenty five, had already been through terrifying training in the organization. Plus he had been living the life of an Assassin ever since he was five. All this gave him power far surpassing Daylight’s. However, for the strength he gained, Liola had already given up far, far too much...

The two talented people moved at the same time. Liola immediately dodged Daylight's pike, and used Broken Silver to accurate hit Daylight's hand. With the sound of a bone cracking, Daylight almost lost hold of his pike. But he gritted his teeth and swung the long pike around to aim on the back of Liola's head.

Liola felt the changes in the air. He lowered his body to dodge it, and Broken Silver once again landed on Daylight's hand. This time, however, Daylight could no longer hold onto the pike. With a crisp metallic clang, the pike landed on the ground, and Daylight's right hand was severely bruised, it even seemed to be crooked in a strange angle.

"The outcomes of this duel was decided without you having to use your aura. Is this the difference between Blue and Silver Knights?” Daylight smiled bitterly.

Liola's expression changed. Should he learn how to emit auras? Otherwise, sooner or later people will know that Silver Mask isn't a Knight at all.

"I lost." Daylight calmly accepted defeat. A pair of determined eyes looked at Liola: "I will work harder, and hope to one day catch up to you, Lancelot's apprentice."

Daylight didn't know, but Liola actually admired his tenacious eyes. To Liola’s current self, who lived day-to-day, those eyes filled with goals and fighting spirit was what Liola lacked the most.

However, the Knight students gasped. Seeing how easily Daylight lost, some students were about to run up to support Daylight, but Daylight stopped them. He took a deep breath, picked up his pike from the ground, and returned to the rows of Knights.

The mentor went up to check on him. After he realized it was just a fractured hand, he walked up to Liola, and said with criticism and anger:

"As a Silver Dragon Knight, you should never challenge a Blue Knight."

Liola looked past the mentor, and he saw Lanski and Jasmine. The two's eyes were also filled with critique and disappointment. Liola’s heart suddenly felt bitter.

Barbalis was full of himself. He landed on the ground and said loudly: "What now Silver? Don't you dare say my School of Sorcery has no talent."

"Shut up!" Liola suddenly yelled angrily. His yell made Barbalis' mouth turn into a big "O". Even the Knight students widened their eyes, and couldn't believe Silver Mask actually told his own mentor to shut up.

Liola was surprised at himself for yelling. But he didn’t want to explain his agitated mood. Without a care as to whether or not Barbalis would expel him, Liola jumped onto Baolilong, and suddenly flew off. To get away with the feud between the School of Knights and the School of Sorcery, and to get away from Anise's disappointed eyes.

* * *

Sitting on Baolilong's back, Liola took off the mask, and his mood slowly returned to the calm waves that it was supposed to be. He started to wonder why his mood has been strange lately. Especially when he wears the mask. His emotions easily went out of control. Or is it... because of Anise's face that's making him lose control?

This was not a good sign to an Assassin... But Liola suddenly remembered he had stopped being an Assassin a while ago.

Liola was at a loss for words concerning his emotions, which were getting closer and closer to those of an ordinary person.

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Chapter 8 : Difficult Decisions

"Papa?" Baolilong opened its eyes and did not understand why Liola was looking at the silver mask in a daze.

Liola awoke from his thoughts, and at the same time he realized there was someone nearby, so he instantly put the mask back on. Liola blamed himself for being not vigilant enough.

"You don't have to cover your face, it's me." Blood Wolf jumped out from behind a tree while laughing

Liola didn’t know how to respond to a Knight who kept laughing and joking, and didn't have any chivalry. So he did what he do best: stood there with an expressionless face, while waiting for the other person to strike up a conversation.

"So? Have you decided?" Blood Wolf asked curiously.

Liola was confused for a moment and asked: "What decision?"

Blood Wolf opened his mouth and said in disbelief: "The decision of whether you want to be a Prince in the Dragon Empire... Hey, it's a rather big deal, don't tell me you forgot about it?"

He really did forget... Liola thought for a moment and remembered; when Barbalis was telling him about Anise's real identity, he did mention something about being a Prince. It was another problem to which Liola didn't know how to react, so he simply said: "Let me think about it some more."

"What's there to think about?" Blood Wolf said: "To an Assassin who doesn't want to kill, staying in the palace as a Prince would be a dream that comes true. All you have to do is learn the etiquette of the court, no one will force you to kill, so you can live there peacefully."

Liola frowned and answered: "It goes against my wishes."

"Then what's your wish?" Blood Wolf asked curiously.
"To become a healer."

Blood Wolf was silent for a moment, then blurted out: "Is that your wish? Or is it Princess Anise's?"

"It's Anise's, but I will fulfill her wishes." Liola answered without hesitation.

"Oh? Do you really think if you fulfill her wish, she would be happy? Don’t you think she wanted to save you and not become a copy of her?"

Liola remained quiet. He didn't completely understand what Blood Wolf said.

Without getting any response from Liola, Blood Wolf sighed:

"You know, Liola, you've been an Assassin who obeyed orders for twenty years. Your biggest problem is not having thoughts of your own."

Blood Wolf walked up to Liola, and patted his shoulder: "Think about it. What's important here is what you want to do, not what Anise would do."

Liola hesitated. He began wondering if his thoughts were better than what Anise might have planned. As he was thinking, he reached the dorms unknowingly, and at the door, he saw Kaiser and the others waiting for him. Kaiser’s face was filled with discontent.

"Liola-dage, you're finally back. Let's go eat." Purity smiled in relief, and grabbed Kaiser, who had already been complaining about his hunger, taking him to his favorite hot pot restaurant.

Having finally eaten, Kaiser finally eased the tension on his face. As he munched on dessert, he looked at Liola, who was feeding Baolilong.

"You really love disappearing lately!" Kaiser flung his finger in disdain. Seeing Liola wasn’t going to answer him, Kaiser exploded. He placed both his hands on the Assassin’s shoulder and said:

“Explain everything to me now! When the hell did you become Lancelot’s apprentice?”

'Here we go', Liola thought, explaining to Kaiser and the others what had happened.

When he said he was considering whether he should become a Prince, the other three's jaws almost fell into the hotpot, being cooked as human jaws.

"Dammit! You and I are in different worlds!" Kaiser yelled: "I'm still wondering what I should eat for my next meal, you're actually considering about whether you'll be a Prince?!"

'You and I ARE from different worlds...' Liola thought to himself.

"So is Liola-dage going to be a Prince?" Purity asked hesitantly.

‘This question again.’ Liola remained silent. He was completely clueless as to what he should do. Out of habit, Liola raised his head and asked Kaiser: "Kaiser, what should I do?"

Kaiser snapped: "How would I know. I’m not the one becoming a Prince."

Seeing that Kaiser refused to answer, Liola's face sank. Purity felt bad, so she said to Kaiser: "Kaiser, I will get a plate of Kobe beef, why don't you explain things to Liola-dage?"
[T/N: Kobe beef is a rare style of Japanese meat. It is sold for about $180 USD per kilogram in Japan. In the United States, One Kobe beef burger cost around $40.]

‘Kobe beef...’ rays of light came out of Kaiser's eyes. He suddenly adapted professional attitude and started to analyze the situation:

"You have two choices. First choice, you become a Prince and live peacefully, not to mention you’ll never have to worry about food. Second, you stay in the Academy, living in a world where tomorrow may not come, and you don't know when Barbalis would expel you."

"I know." This was why Liola was frustrated. No matter how he looked at it, it seemed he was better off being a Prince than staying here. However, Liola remained hesitant, and his biggest problem was not knowing why he was hesitating. But he can never ignore his hesitation and immediately become a Prince.

"Besides, during the past few adventures, our luck has been damn amazing. Coming back alive from those journey should be listed under the ten wonders of the world." As Kaiser finished, he suddenly raised his head and asked Liola without thinking:

"If you didn't have to keep your promise to not kill, would you have beaten Miluo?"

Liola hesitated, and answered: "I could have killed him." An Assassin never defeats his opponents, he just kills them.

"But you didn't. If it weren't for Purity and me using our unmastered magic, we would have all died in Miluo's hands." Kaiser said coldly.

Hearing these blames, Liola yelled quietly: "I can't kill."

Kaiser suddenly stood up, and yelled angrily:

"In this world, if you don't kill, then you're waiting to be killed! If you want to die, it's none of my business, but if one day you have to kill to save us, what would you do? If you do what you did last time when you faced Miluo, who was absurdly powerful, then you better effing be a Prince. Stay in your dark palace, because there will be more than enough Knights to protect you!"

Purity and Meinan's eyes almost popped out of their sockets. They couldn’t believe Kaiser would talk in such a manner especially when he was talking to the best Assassin.

Baolilong was chewing on a piece of meat and looked confusedly at confrontation between Kaiser and Liola.

Liola looked at the angry Kaiser, and his heart had finally decided the place he should go — the dark palace...

Only in such a place, Liola could keep his promise with Anise. It was also a place where Liola wouldn’t have friends giving up their lives in order for him to keep his promise. Liola sighed and said with calm resolve: “I understand. I will leave.”

"Liola-dage!" Purity’s widened with disbelief. She could accept Liola’s decision and leave the Academy just like that.

However, before she was able to stop him, Meinan grabbed her to prevent her from saying anything. Meinan shook his head to express to Purity that she should not interfere.

Kaiser continued: "If you can't judge right from wrong, then you’re better off hiding inside the palace."

Liola stood up, and without saying anything else, he walked out of the room. He thought it was about time for him to find Blood Wolf, follow him back to Dragon Continent, and grow old living inside a palace.

* * *

While being held back by Meinan, and not having a chance to stop Liola, Purity exploded. Her hands were clenched into a tight fist and yelled at Kaiser: “Kaiser, did you know what you just did? Liola-dage will really leave for the Dragon Continent and you won’t be able to see him ever again!”

Kaiser lowered his head and chewed on the beef, and mumbled: "It’s not so bad to be a Prince!"

Purity was so angry that she used her hand to pull out the Kobe beef that was halfway inside Kaiser's mouth. A fight for the beef soon ensued. Meinan watched from the sidelines and sighed: "Kaiser, your way of caring for someone is rather unbearable."

Liola walked out of the restaurant. He felt depressed and empty.

Kaiser's accusations felt like a twisting blade through his heart. If he caused three deaths because he didn't want to kill, wouldn't it be the same as killing?

Liola as getting more and more confused, and his steps got faster and faster. He wasn't heading towards the principal's office, but instead in all sorts of random directions. Even Liola didn't know where his destination was...

"Papa!" Behind him, Baolilong was continuously running, but it still wasn’t able catch up to Liola. Baolilong was worried that papa would disappear, so he yelled loudly. However, being in a terrible and confused mood, Liola ears had blocked all sounds. No matter how many tears Baolilong cried or how loud it yelled, Baolilong saw that papa was getting further and further away.

Suddenly, a shadow grabbed Baolilong, and took huge steps towards Liola. When they reached Liola, the person tapped Liola's shoulder. Liola suddenly turned his head.

"Blood Wolf?"

* * *

"Ahhh!" Purity screamed explosively on the headboard of Kaiser's bed. Even Kaiser's specially-made thick pillow was no match for Purity's scream. Two hundred decibels of terrifying voice reached Kaiser's ears.

The biochemical noise weapon, Purity vs. Kaiser’s unbeatable sleepiness. The former seemed to be winning...

"What the hell do you want?" Kaiser couldn't take it anymore. He got out from under his pillow and started complaining.

With tears in her eyes, Purity grieved: "L-Liola-dage has already been gone for three days. Is he really not coming back?"

Kaiser turned, and pretended he didn't care:

"He went to enjoy his life as a Prince in the Dragon Empire. Why the hell would he come back to the peasants he only spent a few months with? He didn't even say goodbye before he left! Hmph!"

‘Looks like Kaiser was also unhappy that Liola left without a word...’ Purity and Meinan concluded.

“For Liola to leave on the same day you had the confrontation… He was probably hurt by your words.” Meinan sighed.

Kaiser’s body twitched a little on his bed: "I was just telling the truth."

"No matter what, you should go ask the principal. Perhaps Liola is still on campus, and he just doesn’t want to see us." To comfort the irritable Purity, Meinan quickly suggested with a smile.

Who knew that as soon they spoke of the devil, he arrived. The principal kicked open the door, and then rushed in. He immediately asked Purity: "Where is Liola?"

All three of them were confused: "Didn't Blood Wolf bring Liola to Dragon Continent?"

Barbalis was stunned. He had been frustrated for three days because he couldn't find Liola. Since something happened in the Dragon Empire, Blood Wolf had rushed back to the Dragon Continent, so Barbalis came to find the trio who were closest to Liola, but he couldn't believe that these three would say that Blood Wolf had taken Liola.

Barbalis scratched his head in confusion: "Blood Wolf didn't take him. Both he and I haven't seen Liola in the last three days."

Kaiser and the others widened their eyes. ‘Where the hell was Liola?’

Purity's face turned pale: "C-could it be that Liola-dage got really angry at Kaiser? Could he have done something stupid…?"

Kaiser snapped back: "You're thinking far too much! If an Assassin would kill himself just because I yelled at him, I would make a hell of a living from this special ability. Besides, Liola still has to follow his promise not to kill. Suicide the same as killing!"

"Could Liola have run away from home?" Meinan suggested with hesitation. But as soon as he did, 3 pairs of eyes stared at him. He then lowered his head in shame.

Barbalis frowned and murmured: "Could Miluo put his plan on motion this quickly?"

"What did you say about Miluo?" Kaiser rushed up, and grabbed Barbalis by the collar. Even Barbalis wanted to run away from the crazy look in Kaiser's eyes.

Barbalis sighed:

"I guess it's fine to tell you. Miluo had ran away from the Dragon Empire. From what the Emperor told me, it seems Miluo had teamed up with an underground group, and planned on turning the Empire inside out."

Kaiser and Meinan took a deep breath. Purity asked: "This doesn't have anything to do with Liola-dage, does it?"

"Of course there is!" Kaiser yelled loudly: "There are two things Liola has that are important to both sides!"

"Dragon cross necklace!" Barbalis said with a frown.
"Sacred White Dragon!" Meinan added.

Purity understood now, and she covered her mouth with both of her hands in fear.

Kaiser paced around the room, as he tried to collect himself:

"Liola is really strong, and he was close to the Emperor's daughter. Unfortunately he is also the master of Miluo's child. Now both sides probably want Liola on their side. No wonder the Emperor would request that Liola to be a Prince. Liola was practically a gosu who fell out of the sky."

Kaiser suddenly stopped. He looked at Barbalis and asked sharply: "Old geezer, you said Miluo had already acted, what did you mean? Do you already know Miluo's plan regarding Liola?"

Barbalis replied seriously: "As you've said, Liola would be a huge advantage to both sides. We’ve guessed Miluo might do something to Liola soon. Either bring him to his side or... kill him!"

"Liola has been missing for three days." Meinan tried to remind everyone of the seriousness of the issue.

Purity couldn't help but scream, while Kaiser paced back and forth while pulling his hair.

Tuning his brain gear to the highest, Kaiser attempted to make sense of the situation. He finally yelled:

"Not possible! It's impossible for Miluo took him, at least it wasn't Miluo who did it!"

"Why?" The other three asked.

"It's not easy to take Liola by force. There would have been be a huge battle at the very least before Miluo can capture Liola. But there hasn't been any battles around the Academy."

Kaiser bit on his finger: "Who could possibly take away Liola without making a fuss?"

"A Sorcerer!" Meinan brushed his hair confidently, and said the conclusion what he deeply believed:

"By using the unfamiliar Sorcerer spells, could someone take such a powerful Assassin."

"Who cares! Let's find Liola-dage and bring him back!" As soon as Purity thought of the horrors Liola being in the hands of Miluo, she immediately bawled. Who knew how much Miluo would torture Liola?

Barbalis hesitated, and stuttered: "I do have a way..."

"Then tell us!" Three of them yelled together.

"We could use the senses between dragons." Barbalis shrunk his body, and said timidly: "But there are only three Dragon Knights in the Academy... And the closer the Dragon Knight’s rank to Liola's, the better. Which means..."

"Daylight!" Kaiser and the others yelled in unison.

After Kaiser yelled, he pulled his hair again: "Damn, we just finished messing with the Knights. Liola even defeated Daylight. How the hell are we going to get him to help us?"

"Purity must save Liola-dage! Even if I have to threaten Daylight by sending the whole Academy into a dark hole, I’ll do it!" A chilling expression floated on Purity's face, which made the others shiver. The words "Human Weapon" emerged in their heads...

* * *

Liola was deep in his self-blame and regret. Because of his negligence, he had fallen into a terrible predicament. This made Baolilong hungry, and it could do nothing but lie sobbing in Liola's arms.

That day, Liola ran into Blood Wolf. Without thinking he gave Blood Wolf his answer — to become a Prince in the Dragon Empire.

Blood Wolf smiled and asked Liola to follow him. Liola followed him to a small field in Aklan, and five or six other people suddenly appeared. These weren't enough to worry Liola worry, so he quietly waited for Blood Wolf's explanation.

Blood Wolf gave Baolilong, who had fallen asleep, to another person.

"These are Sorcerers. They can transport us directly to Dragon Continent." Blood Wolf laughed, and he beckoned Liola:

"Let's go, we can now go to the Dragon Continent. There you can live comfortably and without any worry as a Prince."

Liola hesitated. He didn't think he would be leaving immediately. He said: "I need to say goodbye to Kaiser and the others."

"What good bye, you will be the royal Dragon Empire Prince soon. The Emperor wouldn't be happy if you're friends with such lowly peasants." Blood Wolf seemed a bit hurried.

Upon hearing Blood Wolf’s disagreement, Liola's eyes turned cold. And with an even colder tone, he asked: "Who are you?"

Liola glanced at Baolilong, and he tried to use telepathy to call him, but there was no response. Liola frowned.

Blood Wolf was stunned: "Me? I'm Blood Wolf, the Dark Knight Blood Wolf."

"No matter who you are, you're not the Blood Wolf I know." Liola narrowed his eyes. That easygoing Blood Wolf would never say something like ‘lowly peasants’.

Blood Wolf's expression changed, stomped his foot and yelled: "Binding Symbol activate!"

A magic circle suddenly appeared on the ground, and it was covered in indecipherable runes.

Liola's outline quickly flashed towards the impostor Blood Wolf, but before he reached him, a transparent wall separated them.

If Liola used Broken Silver and forced his way out, he wouldn't be trapped. However, as a result, the impostor on the other side of the wall would end up being pierced by Broken Silver. Because of this reason, Liola hesitated, and it gave a chance for the impostor to yell for backup:

"H-hurry, use Illusion of Paradise!"

The other five immediately started an incantation. The spell made Liola, who was standing in the circle, feel weight on his eyelids, and his body started to become uncontrollable.

Liola used the Assassin's Strong Will, and forcefully rammed the unguarded part of the circle.

With one hit, the wall started shaking violently, and cracked slightly. Though it was quickly repaired with magic, the six of them who maintained the symbol were in a state of shock. The impostor yelled again: "Use Lightning spells to hit him.”

"It will kill him!" One of them hesitated.

Liola stood still and attacked with what seemed like an infinite amount of hits.

When they couldn't repair the wall fast enough, the crack became bigger and bigger. The six of them no longer hesitated, three bolts of lightning headed towards Liola. But unexpectedly, Liola easily sidestepped it, and Broken Silver continued to enlarge the crack.

The impostor trembled with fear. Without any hesitation, and without any time to ask others for help, he chanted a spell: "Element of fire, obey me... Fire Bomb!"

Liola suddenly feel a heat wave behind him. He turned around, only to see a fireball shrinking, and then finally exploded. The magic circle where he was trapped was in range of the explosion, so Liola had no place to run. He could only use his back to take this attack.

The six of them looked at the explosion nervously. If this person dies, they would be in big trouble. After the smoke cleared, the impostor yelled: "H-He's still awake."

That's right, Liola's silver eyes were looking at them coldly. With another charge, Liola broke a foot-wide hole in the wall, and the impostor, who was closest to the hole, received a jab on his shoulders. He yelled in pain, then screamed: "Beat him up, or we will all die here!"

Without thinking, they all unleashed their most powerful attack into the magic circle. In a flash, Liola's body was submerged under the colorful lights from the spells. Terrifying bolts of thunder, huge boulders dropped, and invisible wind blades...

"Damn, he's going to die." The impostor pressed down onto his shoulder, which was continuously bleeding, and cried out. He didn't expect them all to attack at once, or use their strongest spells.

Under the ferocity of these spells, even the wall couldn't handle it, and it fell into pieces. And the ground on which the magic circle was, became a huge crater.

When the smoke cleared, the impostor kept feeling uneasy. Although he thought it would be impossible for Liola to stay alive. And even if he was, there was no way he’d be able to move...

Right before the impostor’s face, appeared a pair of ruthless silver eyes. A line of silver light passed by him, and a stream of blood oozed out the impostor's chest.

However, the ruthless killer was not satisfied. He suddenly appeared before his next target, and frightened him to the point where he fell on his knees. Nevertheless, before he even any felt pain, his stomach was sliced open.

The Assassin found another his next target, but before his Broken Silver could chop the target's hands off, it was stopped. Countless vines held the Assassin tightly, and he was no long able to move.

The Magician who almost peed in his pants, mustered all his encourage and yelled: "Bind!"

The strong vines tightened around the Assassin. After the sounds of cracking bones filled the air, the Assassin, whose body was covered with injuries, finally spat out blood like a fountain, and fell unconscious.

The Magician who casted the binding spell didn't dare to get any closer.

He immediately casted dozens of the strongest vines, then sighed in relief. However, he wasn't brave enough to check whether the Assassin was dead.

The impostor, whose body was oozing blood like a fountain, finally received healing from his accomplice, and then said weakly:

"Three rank-A and two rank-B Magicians, trying to catch a single person. We even used deceit. Still, we ended up with two seriously injured... No wonder, master Miluo valued him greatly."

* * *

When Liola woke up, he realized he was hanging in the air. A layer of thick steel chains locked him in place. In addition to the chains, he was also locked inside a steel cage.

Even though Liola felt extremely weak, he was still able to sense the unusual energy continuously flowing through the cage. Touching it was definitely out of the question.

Without needing to examine himself, Liola already knew he was in a horrible state. A sharp pain began to manifest from his body.

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