The Messenger of Death

Alex made a mental note to not use his bloodline suppressing abilities again as recklessly as he did.

"Arrhh." He groaned as he forced himself up. His injuries were healing slowly.

Alex shifted the curtains at the entrance of the tent and stepped out.

The night sky was calming and serene to Alex – he looked up and stared at the stars twinkling for a while. He brought his gaze back to earth and saw his teammates and the other teams sitting by a campfire quietly eating roasted meat.

The sadness was very evident in their expressions, they were still mourning their loss.

"Alex."

Katherine saw him and rushed to his side.

"How do you feel now?" The worry and concern could be clearly seen on her face.

['You have this girl's heart sealed in a bottle, Alex. She wasted no time in rushing over to your side.'] Al mentioned.

['I didn't do anything to cause that. In fact, what I did shouldn't have earned such emotions from her to me. She's just a weird girl.']

['Hahaha. Says the guy with a dissociative identity disorder.'] Al jeered at Alex.

"Here let me help you to your seat."

Alex was about to reject her offer but she had already put his hand over her shoulder and placed her hand on his waist. She brought him over to where the rest were seated. They had placed logs of woods around the campfire and that's what they were seated on.

"Alex, how do you feel?" Camron questioned.

"I'm alright." Alex lied. He bent so that he could sit.

"Argh." He groaned.

"Are you sure that you are alright? You don't need to pretend to be okay. You can put the strong front away. No one here would dare to underestimate you." Camron stated as he smiled at his friend.

"Hahaha." Most of them laughed at what Camron said.

"Do you want me to massage you?" Drake smirked as he asked Alex playfully.

"I am alright, just a little pain here and there. And also, keep your pale hands to yourself" Alex stood his ground.

His reply only added more fuel to their laughing fit.

"Nonsense, stay still while I check your injuries." Amelia came to his side, knelt, and started to untie his bandage.

Alex wanted to hit her hands away but he held the urge to do that back and let her continue.

"Are you the one that has been treating my injury?"

"Yes, but I had some of them help me."

Alex stared at her as she continued to untie the bandage on his upper body.

"Thank you."

He forced himself to say that after a while. Even if he felt grateful it was a struggle with himself for him to utter those words to others.

"You are welcome." She flashed a smile at him.

"How long was I out for?"

"2 days. We thought that you would have been out for at least a week. Your injuries were a little over the top."

"Hmm, how far are we from the academy?"

"We should be within the school's territory by the afternoon of tomorrow," Sara answered him.

"We came out to earn MPs but only ended up losing what we already don't have." He chuckled and closed his eyes. Alex made the calculations of how much merit points were going to be deducted from them.

His words threw them all back to their depressed state, till Emma spoke up.

"Alex, how did you kill them?"

"Kill who?" He acted like he didn't know who she was referring to.

"The berserkers, how did you do it?" Adrian asked too.

"That's right. I would also like to know that." Camron voiced out.

"When you went into the village did you see anything there was able to end them?" Drake joined in.

This topic had snapped everyone from their depressed states into a curious one, they all faced Alex and waited for him to tell them how he did it.

['I can't possibly tell them about the gourd and letters that the wisp guided me to. I'll just have to act like I don't know what they are talking about.']

['Sure, you do that.'] Lex encouraged.

"I don't know what you guys are talking about, I didn't kill them. I was just about to ask you how we escaped them." Alex pretended to be confused, he frowned his face and cocked his head a bit.

['Smooth. Like they would believe such poor acting.'] Sarcasm oozed off Al's tone.

"If you didn't kill them, then how did they just die like that?" Katherine wondered.

"Why did you head into the village then? I mean you said that you didn't do anything, but after you left all the berserkers chased after you. Are you certain that you didn't see or do anything?" Lenny wanted to confirm.

"Yeah, I didn't do anything. I only went into the village because I knew that one of the berserkers was going to chase after me. The one that held a grudge against me and kept on calling me pest, and also because you guys would have been a burden if I had fought that berserker with you people present. My control over the lighting is not perfect."

"It's a good thing that you did. That lightning of yours is hell." Drake rejoiced.

"You still got beat up badly." Adrian took a bite of the piece of roasted meat in his hands after he mentioned that.

Alex raised his head and looked at Adrian, he scoffed. "Not just beat up, I was passed around like a hot cake." Adrian chuckled at his response.

"One more question, how did your cultivation level increase?" Lenny asked.

"I found a miracle fruit," Alex said, somewhat truthfully.

['And he told them the truth. Why don't you know how to lie, you are an assassin for Pete's sake.']

['Exactly, I am an assassin. Not a liar.']

['Whatever.'] Al dismissed Alex.

"How?!" Drake asked.

"When was running away after striking them with lightning in the forest. After running for while I stumbled upon a… peach. I was hungry and I couldn't help myself, so I ate the peach, and then before I knew it I was breaking through ranks."

"What did the peach look like?" Katherine inquired.

"Uh, a normal peach fruit. What else?"

"A normal peach? You are so lucky." Amelia who had almost finished checking the state of Alex's injuries thought out loud.

She probed into Alex's core.

Alex could feel the intrusion in his core and knew that it came from Amelia but he still left her to do as she pleased.

"Huh? Your cultivation dropped by 2 ranks." She had her eyes wide open as she looked at Alex.

"I know. As of why? That I don't know." She kept silent and finished dressing his injuries.

Sara walked to Camron's side and sat next to him.

"What do you think about what he said?" She asked her brother.

"What he said about the peach or what he said about the cause of the berserkers' death?"

"Both."

"Well for starters, Alex is a shitty liar." He chuckled. "He was definitely lying about the peach that he found. I wouldn't be surprised if he used something to boost his cultivation temporarily. That might be why his cultivation is dropping."

"I wouldn't be surprised either," Sara mentioned.

"As for how the berserkers were killed. I am almost a hundred percent sure that he wasn't the one that killed them. What I am completely sure of, is that he knows who killed them.

It might have been that protector that has his back from the shadows. Think about it, they all died at the same time and turned to dust. I don't think Alex is capable of that." He looked as his friend…

************

IN AN INDEPENDENT ARTIFICIAL SPACE, LOCATED IN THE ORDAIN REALM…

"Bram." A disembodied voice called out and a young man in black attire and a mahogany mask came into sight. The mask on this young man's face covered from his forehead to the tip of his nose.

"Yes, master." He responded.

"It's been 10 years since I imprisoned 137 people in a forest, in the lower realm. Hasn't it?"

"Yes, it has been 10 years and a few months now," Bram answered.

"By now they should have gathered a substantial amount of life force for me. Head there and retrieve the life force for me."

"As you wish master. What should I do about the prisoners there?"

"End them, they are of no use now. I suppose that you know how to do that?"

"Yes, I do. I will be taking my leave now." Bram bowed.

"Master, can I go with him?" a detached voice asked.

"No, I have a more important mission for you to take care of."

"Why would you be giving a more important job to your student, instead of your right-hand man, I don't believe you."

"He is my right-hand man and you are my disciple. You will inherit what I have and most likely inherit him too."

Bram who had already started to make his way out with a smirk on his face stopped in his track. What his master said didn't sit well with him. He shook his head and left to get what his master had sent to retrieve.