"I... I'm sorry, Mother..." A boy's voice was heard, followed by footsteps entering the room.
"You don't have to apologize," the lady said as she crossed her legs. "You did nothing wrong."
Instantly, Arthur walked forward and knelt down on one knee in front of her. "I got killed by a Vampire. Even an apology won't be enough."
The lady was silent for some seconds before she spoke. "Stand up, Arthur. What has happened has happened. We can't change it."
Suddenly, an oppressive aura radiated from her, making Arthur, who was just about to stand up, fall back to his knees.
"But we can make sure it doesn't happen again," she added.
Before Arthur could say anything else, the lady spoke again.
"You'll give me your report later. For now, wake the Fifth Wing and bring him here."
Arthur instantly got up. "As you wish, Mother."
A small smile formed on the lady's lips as she whispered, "The Vampires will regret this. Since they're asking for war... we'll give them war..."
Lina was walking around the Academy while twiddling her fingers. Her eyes were darting to the right and left, clearly indicating that she was looking for someone.
After arriving back at the Academy, her friends had all gone to their rooms, but she decided to look for Arin.
'Or has he entered his room already?' Lina thought. 'I heard something happened where their expedition took place... I hope he's okay.'
Even though the people she heard it from said that everyone was fine, she still wanted to see Arin to confirm for herself.
Suddenly, she sighted a boy with black hair dashing towards her, a shocked expression on his face.
"Lina, Lina," the boy called out as soon as he reached her.
Lina furrowed her brows. "Uhm, is there a problem?"
The boy was catching his breath, so he was unable to say anything at first. After some seconds, he finally spoke. "It's your brother..."
Immediately, Lina heard those words and gripped the boy's hand, worry evident on her face.
"What is it? What happened to my brother?"
The boy raised his head, looking at her. "I don't know. I just saw him over there with some other boys, and he sent for you."
Lina looked in the direction he was pointing and noticed that it was the Main building for second-year students.
"Oh no..." Lina whispered as she realized something. "Is it because of what happened that day in The Area?"
The worry on her face increased as she let go of the boy's hand and began pacing back and forth.
'No... I can't tell the teachers,' she thought. 'If I do, they might target Arin again next time and do something even worse.'
At first, she didn't believe the boy, but after remembering what happened in The Area, she realized there was a high chance that Arin had been caught.
Since she couldn't tell the teachers, there was only one thing she could do.
Instantly, she began walking towards where the boy had pointed. 'I have to save my brother...'
Arin stretched his arms as he prepared to sit down in a lotus position to continue working on the new Water Element Spell he was making, but suddenly...
Two loud knocks were heard, making Arin turn back. "Tch... Who could it be?"
He opened the door, revealing a black-haired boy who was breathing frantically. It was the same boy who had met Lina to tell her that Arin was in trouble.
"What is it?" Arin asked, staring at the boy.
"It's your sister..." The boy said, pausing to catch his breath. "She's in trouble."
A frown instantly appeared on Arin's face. "What kind of trouble?"
"I saw some second-year students dragging her to the back of their Main building," the boy said, still breathing heavily.
Arin squinted his eyes, thinking, 'It must be that same dude from The Area.'
But apart from that, he suddenly had another thought.
Instantly, he gripped the boy's shirt, raising him a few inches off the ground.
"Huh? What... What did I do?" the boy stuttered.
"Spill it out," Arin whispered, his voice cold as he stared deep into the boy's eyes.
He had a feeling that something else was going on. First of all, not many people had seen him and Lina together to know they were siblings.
But most importantly, if the boy really saw something like that, why didn't he go to the teachers first?
"I said spill it out," Arin whispered again. "If not..."
Arin suddenly raised the boy further off the ground, making him tremble.
"Okay, okay," the boy said hastily. "I'll talk."
Immediately, Arin dropped him on the floor.
The boy began talking under Arin's cold gaze.
"Uhm... Th... The second-year students threatened me to lure Lina to their Main building by telling her that her brother was in trouble..." the boy said.
He avoided eye contact with Arin while speaking; Arin's gaze alone was enough to make him stammer. "And after that, they told me to tell you that your sister was in trouble, so that you would go to their Main building."
'I see...' Arin thought. 'And it seems they knew that neither of us would tell the teachers.'
Seeing that Arin was thinking about something, the boy dashed away in fear... not that Arin would pursue him anyway.
"What are you going to do, Master?" Seraphine asked as Arin squinted his eyes.
"First of all, I have to save Lina. At the end of the day, she's still my sister. But apart from that..." Arin paused as he closed the door and began walking toward the stairs that led to the dorm building's exit.
"If I don't deal with them now, they might cause problems for me later... So I just have to make sure they never think of something again..."
With that, he exited the dorm building with one destination in mind.....