"Finally!" A gruff voice made Flav and Iris turn around. "Took you long enough," a cute little panther said.
"Oh you are here too?" Flav waved at Dumdum with a smile. "Sorry, I didn't see you."
Seeing the familiar face of Dumdum made all of Flav's worries disappear. It was a weird feeling and he knew that. He never imagined that seeing a magical beast would make him so happy.
"Hello."
Even Iris had missed Dumdum a little and greeted him.
"I see you have arrived at George's place safely," Daemon broke the harmonious atmosphere. "How was the journey?"
Joanna stayed silent. She had much to say and complain about but her current state didn't allow her. Daemon saw that and a quick frown appeared and left his face that no one caught.
"You should know that more than anyone," remembering what happened made Flav clench his molars in anger. "Was it necessary to test us that way? We could have died." he slowly said, his eyes were cold.
A heavy feeling spread through the room. It was sinister, almost corporeal even. It's density turned the air heavy and stiff, even the ghost, Joanna, could feel it.
Daemon looked on, the smile not leaving his face. Things went fast real quick but he wasn't fazed one bit. He looked Flav in the eyes before snapping his finger.
When Daemon did that, as if what happened now was an illusion, it disappeared.
Flav was surprised. Dumdum was surprised. Iris was surprised. Daemon had just dispersed Flav's killing intent like it was nothing. There was no need to show more power than this to see the difference of power between them.
Everyone in the room knew that Daemon was powerful but not how potent. From the display he showed, they finally caught a glimpse of just how monstrous he was.
Killing intent was a manifestation of how one's qi or magic could be enforced on someone. To develop it,one would need to kill a great amount of people, yet that wasn't the only prerequisite. One needs the appropriate amount of energy to manifest it, so not everyone can have killing intent.
However, this wasn't what's surprising. Other than Flav having killing intent, for Daemon to suppress his killing intent, would need a stronger one. This meant that Daemon had a stronger killing intent and body count than Flav.
"Don't test me, boy."
Daemon's smirk never left his face but his eyes deeply struck Flav as though a soul attack, freezing him in place.
Flav looked down while trembling.
The room's atmosphere became heavy and stiff. Only Joanna who didn't know what just happened remained neutral.
"Eh, should we come back later?" she asked, carefully.
She didn't know what's going on but she could feel the awkward atmosphere and tried to diffuse it.
Daemon breathed and waved his hand dismissively. "It's alright," he said. "It is, right, boy," he looked into Flav's eyes who looked at him with slight fear and nodded heavily.
It was a first for Dumdum and Iris to see Flav like this. They never saw him so scared in all the time they spent together. It's as if the feelings Daemon elicited in him traumatized for him to react like this.
"Damn, you just reminded me of this hellish week! Ashhole humans."
Dumdum suddenly said, making the others look at him in confusion. Although he had a panther face, it was apparent in his eyes how annoyed and angry he was.
"I had to go with that loud human for a week! He's loud, weak, and nothing like a mage! Why is he even a mage, he should be a cultivator! I suffered too much. I won't even say what happened, HMPH."
"Okay…" Flav tried to regain his calm and said. "Where is Li?" He tried changing the subject.
"Who's Li?" Joanna asked.
"He's a friend." Iris added, curtly. "A friend who was kidnapped as soon as we arrived here," she side eyed Daemon who coughed.
"Li is alright. He should be back tomorrow or today. 'He' should be finished with him by then."
After he said that, Daemon sat down on his chair. He looked at everyone silently.
A minute later, he started tapping his desk. "He's late," he said his thoughts aloud, confusing them.
Who was he waiting for? No one asked, only waiting with him.
Luckily for them, ten minutes later, someone entered Daemon's office. He entered in such a casual way, one would think he entered his place. The newcomer was a middle-aged man with whitened eyes.
"Hello, everyone and Panther," he looked at the kids with a warm smile before turning to Daemon and frowning. "And Daem-I mean greetings Principle."
Flav almost burst out laughing when he saw Ouht's actions.
"What took you so long?" Daemon groaned, exasperated.
"The array malfunctioned and we had to fix it. Anyway, you predicted that they would come around this time."
Everyone turned to look at Daemon with a 'are you serious look.' He had acted like they came late all this time when he had predicted that they would come even later. If it weren't for Ouht they would have never known this fact.
Daemon looked at Ouht. He only looked without any expression or anything before sighing.
"Set your worries aside. You didn't fail your mission," he changed the subject.
Joanna wasn't convinced and said, "But we used a teleportation array to arrive there."
"I never said your mission was to arrive there through natural means. Your mission was to deliver the letter only," his usual smirk returned.
"Give them the ID badge," he turned to Ouht and ordered.
Complying, Ouht gave a white emblem token shaped like an upward arrow to each one. On the top, a number appeared and each badge had the number 1000 on it. While under it, words were scribbled. The language was something everyone there knew and each badge had the name of the person and panther that received it on them.
"Use your energy to interact with the badges," Ouht said after he put Joanna's badge on the table next to her.
Following the order, everyone let their energies enter the badges and right after, runes shone on them before they felt a connection to the badges. Even Joanna could now hold her badge as if it's something corporeal.
"These badges are your ID badges, they show others who you are and that you are affiliated with the Ascension Academy."
"Is that it?" Flav had unbelieving eyes and asked Ouht, not Daemon.
"Indeed."
"Then we can leave now?"
"Yes, leave. You can enter the exchange palace to trade points for items or anything there," Daemon interrupted from the side and made a shooing gesture.
"Alright then," Iris added since forever and left the office.
The other followed her and bid Ouht goodbye.
They would return tomorrow to check on Xuan Li, since Daemon said they could see him then.
The day passed uneventfully and the next day came. They headed to Daemon's office.