Chapter 64: The Secret Meeting
"You all saw that, didn't you?" Seraphina asked the group gathered after recovering from the tournament massacre.
"Why did you call us here?" Elizabeth questioned, uninterested in childish talk.
"We're thinking about how to deal with Scarlet," said Elowyn, who is usually quiet but didn't want to miss out on something that could lead to their deaths.
"Sara Vortex and Dante Scarlet, both are dangerous," said Alexander, recalling the destruction he had suffered in recent days.
"We're in separate classes, so we called you to help us with this," explained Forki, looking at Elizabeth and Ethan.
"A plan, huh... count me in," Ethan replied with a smile, as did Seraphina, Forki, and Alexander.
"These guys are really nuts. Sara was right from the start," Elizabeth reflected on what her rival had said.
[Take care of your own life and don't antagonize someone because of the past of one of your loved ones]
Those words echoed in Elizabeth's head after her crushing defeat. She would have truly died if Dante hadn't stopped Sara at the last second.
She had already made a decision; she wouldn't blame Dante anymore for her mother's injury caused by Valentina, but she wouldn't forgive Valentina. Elizabeth had placed her mother's problems on the shoulders of a boy, although she didn't know why the spear pierced her, she clearly remembered the rumors about her mother being impaled.
"What do you think, Elizabeth?" Alexander asked with a slight smile, but Elizabeth gave the most unexpected response they could receive.
"Count me out," she said and began to rise to leave the room, but Forki's large hands held her abruptly.
"Stop," he said, gripping Elizabeth's arms tightly.
"You fought him firsthand and were completely wiped out. What guarantees that you can do anything against him?" She remarked and continued, "You fought him head-on, six against one, and lost."
"Do you really think he wasn't holding back? That overwhelming strength with a newly created spear, a spear made of weak material, not to mention he barely used his elemental power, he just focused on using his spear techniques. Are you all crazy?" She questioned as everyone fell silent.
"He didn't fatally injure anyone even while fighting against EVERYONE from the first year. Despite the brutality, he never aimed for a vital point. That means control. Despite clearly being out of it, he restrained himself from killing anyone. He could have killed all of you in the blink of an eye. Do you really think you stand any chance of defeating a Scarlet somehow?
They are outliers. The name Scarlet carries that. You don't know, but that name is given to the strongest Vampire Clan by my Father, and my Father is not foolish enough to let a boy with that surname be anything but a natural aberration," she said and broke free from Forki, fracturing his hand.
"Stop bothering me. If you want to die, go ahead. I couldn't care less about your deaths, especially from people who have wounded pride for what? Nothing. Because if you fail, you die, and if you manage to kill that boy, you die too. Value your lives," Elizabeth said, turning away.
She walked off.
"She's scared out of her mind," Alexander muttered after Elizabeth turned away.
"Scared?" She asked, looking into Ethan's eyes. "It's not fear, it's respect. Or do you think I didn't see you trembling when that boy crushed all of you together? It's you who's scared, coward," she said, turning around, utterly enraged.
Silence hung in the air, but they continued with the plans.
"Dante Scarlet, Sara Vortex, Elizabeth Tapes, and Clovis Arton," Seraphina said and continued, "We have major problems to deal with," she said, and Alexander nodded.
"Any plan?" She asked, and Ethan was the first to respond. "There will be an excursion to a Dungeon," Ethan suggested, and a smile appeared on Forki's face. He had the power to cause earthquakes, and if it were a dungeon, it would easily be a place where he could attack Dante.
"Who will be the overseeing teacher?" Forki asked.
"The Dungeon invasion will be a joint excursion with the entire first year. Probably a supervisor will be sent. We can't bribe without knowing who it might be," Alexander said with his eyes closed.
"That humiliation... I won't feel it again," he said.
"I agree," Forki responded.
"I'm going to kill that adopted worm, traitorous piece of shit," Ethan said.
"Adopted?" Seraphina asked, unaware of this.
"Yes, my mother confirmed that Dante was a Human from the Western Empire and was turned into a Vampire by Valentina. That's why he pisses me off so much," Ethan said with fury in his eyes.
"Doesn't matter," said Alexander, adding, "Legitimate or not, vampires are transformed through a ceremony, and since the teacher claimed he's married to that woman, it means they went through the Marriage Ritual. The entire bloodline that ran with human traits has been replaced by that woman's blood," Alexander explained. How wouldn't he know? Vampires and Werewolves have been at odds for years.
"It makes sense... So he's really married to his own mother," Ethan said with a somewhat disgusted tone. "I know, it's gross," Seraphina and Forki agreed.
Alexander, on the other hand, couldn't care less. After all, even in the King Werewolf's packs, incest occasionally happened.
"We have another problem," Alexander said. Despite being somewhat hotheaded, he had inherited his mother's intelligence... Even if he used it sparingly.
"And what's that?" The three asked simultaneously.
"Katarina Ainsworth, the strongest in Kryoris. She's really a thorn in our side if we want to deal with Dante," Alexander said, and they agreed.
They all remembered the unforgettable scene of that scary woman appearing in the middle of the Arena after Dante's victory. They had all created an information line to understand how the academy worked, especially in the years above the first.
The Second and Third Year; things were different from the norm. There wasn't the rivalry that existed in the first year. On the contrary... They were young teenagers ready to kill each other, and pranks were limited. It was a much more dangerous jungle where at every corner there were groups of Lions waiting to devour them.
"The Elite Class has been making moves since they returned, especially my brother," said Alexander in a bitter tone. He didn't have a good relationship with Boris and didn't want to go head-to-head with him, because one of them would die.
"Who is the force behind Katarina?" Ethan asked, and Alexander shook his head. No one knew who was sponsoring her to have such an open attitude, even against the teachers.
"If we're going to work together, we need to improve the direct information line," said Alexander, and Seraphina understood. She was the best at that, after all, charisma could corrupt anyone.
"But we have another problem," said Forki, and they all looked at him. "The Student Council and the Queen of Witches' Daughter. She hasn't shown her face since the opening ceremony."
"Right... Darius at..." Alexander said, remembering the boy who knocked him out when he faced Dante.
"Let's ignore them for now. We can deal with them when we have a faction or a guild. The reason they created the guild system within the academy is precisely for this. They're forcing us to work together to deal with common enemies, as well as learn to deal with problematic people," said Seraphina, and they all nodded.
"Let's cause a disaster," she said with a sinister look, and they all smiled.
"May Dante Scarlet rest in Hell." They all nodded.