Suddenly, the Legionnaire smiled as he lowered his hand from his hair and tapped the white gauntlet on his wrist.
"I guess I'll give you just this one kid." Axus nonchalantly shrugged as the gauntlet on his wrist split in two and fell to the ground after a tap.
Kellen exhaustedly nodded his head as a small stain of blood coated the corners of his satisfied grin.
"What the hell!"
"When the fuck did that happen?"
The once quiet trainees exploded in disbelief. Not only was their real instructor an absolute monster and kind of odd but now one of their fellow trainees was also a battle crazed freak.
"I think I might actually miss instructor Noctus..."
Murmured some of the trainees as they figured their crazy substitute would at least be safer to be around.
"Alright, you two head over to the med-bay and recover. Once I'm finished with the rest of the trainees I'll stop by, so don't runoff anywhere." Axus ordered as he pointed to both Rena and Kellen's fatigued figures.
The viscous light in Kellen's eyes settled down as he accepted his orders while nodding his head over towards Rena, who slightly flinched.
Kellen noticed the strange reaction of his fellow trainee but was to exhausted to care at this point. He did not hold her frosty crescent slash from earlier, that nearly hit him in its wake, against her, but he also did not owe her anything.
'I think I may have over done it, but I couldn't help it anymore. I'm used to being a loner anyways so it's not like I have any reputation to uphold.' Kellen shrugged his aching shoulders and left the training grounds, without waiting for Rena, and headed back to the medical wing of the academy.
'What? He just left...' Rena scrunched her nose at the now distant trainee.
Although she was secretly relieved that she would not have to directly accompany this crazy person, she still felt annoyed for some reason.
She calmed herself and tried to recollect some of her drained strength in order to make it across the academy to the student med-bay. However, she could not regain her complete cool as the image of Kellen's fierce red eyes persistently remained in her mind.
'Humph, it's not like I asked for his help anyways.' She stubbornly stomped with her cold face lifted in the air.
However, her head drooped slightly as she recalled when the grinning psycho had slashed his sword down in front of her and pushed the Legionnaire back.
Rena forcefully shook her head in an attempt to remove the memory as she pushed open the white door leading into the med-bay.
Kellen raised his head from his seated position on one of the sickbeds to watch the strange girl enter the med-bay.
His eyes locked with the girl's and an uncomfortable atmosphere was soon created.
"I-I did not need your help back there!" Stammered Rena for a reason unbeknown to her.
Kellen smiled in response to the awkward girl.
"What help? I just held a grudge with that guy." Shrugged Kellen indifferently as he recalled the fiery passion for war that he had felt earlier.
He did not fully understand whether this was actually his real desire or just an urge created from his now demonic body. Kellen ignored the now dumbstruck girl, as he curiously inspected the few scratches and cuts, gifted by the Legionnaire, slowly begin to close on their own all over his body.
'Is this the effect of being a demon?' Kellen thought to himself in dismay.
'That is correct.'
Nergal's voice answered the rhetorical questioning.
Kellen sighed and laid back on the sickbed with his arms crossed behind his head. He did not know what to think or feel anymore.
'Was this the right choice?'
He did not know, but in order to survive it was the only present option. Kellen now felt mixed emotions as he tried to picture his future progression.
'Am I going to end up as one of those weird demon lords from a webnovel?'
Kellen tried to imagine himself as a coldblooded tyrant or the king of hell that stepped on the lives of others but both images only yielded him disgust. He could not comprehend what fate could possibly have in store for him other than his revenge.
'If that is what it takes to find and destroy the laboratory Romans or slay that Goddess bitch then so be it... But I refuse to follow this irritating system of power!' He strongly thought.
He had been on the bottom feeding end of this cruel world for so long that becoming what he hated most was rather revolting. However, in order to achieve his vengeance, Kellen realized the irony in which he found himself in.
'Who says you gotta follow the rules brat?'
Kellen welcomed the other familiar voice residing in his mind.
'I know old man, but like most of my life, my options are beginning to feel limited.' Said Kellen with disdain.
'So what if you're a demon. Does that really dictate who you are or who you will become? Does all the pain and suffering of your past not matter so much anymore? What about that Goddess?' Suggested Osiris surprisingly insightfully.
'Well for all I know I'm just gonna end up like that lazy blooded potato in the back.' Complained Kellen.
'You are still my inheritor as well you ungrateful ingrate! Did you already forget that too?' Angrily pushed Osiris as he stomped around in Kellen's mind.
'So what if the demonic sun lord himself is now your grandpa. I didn't train you and become trapped in your mind by that geezer for nothing!' Protested Osiris.
'Watch yourself little ghost.'
'Who's a fucking ghost? I'm the king of the underworld you demonic sun loving heretic!'
The two old demons fought between each other while Kellen shut them out to regain some peace of mind.
Surprisingly, Osiris's advice had relieved some of his worries, but unfortunately did not solve any of his problems. Kellen sighed on the sickbed as he let the rest of his superficial wounds heal themselves.
'This cursed fate and life of mine...' He grumbled while the two demons continued to argue in his head.
Rena curiously peered around the thin curtain sectioning off the different sickbeds and studied Kellen.
'What is he?' She wondered as she noticed his odd wounds and returning strength.
Rena considered herself somewhat of a recluse but she could not help her wandering interested gaze. The trainee that was currently reclining on the sickbed, seemingly without a care in the world, boggled her.
Even with all her studies and training provided by her family, she could not understand the strange presence and aura surrounding Kellen.
'She's still staring at me...'
Kellen could feel the inquisitive stare through his closed eyes from across the room. It was not that he minded it, but it was also true that he did not need to respond.
'Who knows how long I'll stay here in the capital anyways...'
Kellen figured that friendship was only something of his distant past and he still held his mission and goal as his utmost priority. The academy was only but a means to an end and he had already received or found what he originally was looking for here.
The only mystery that was currently left for him here was that odd feeling that kept resurfacing in his chest. It did not make him feel uncomfortable, actually, Kellen somewhat relished the heated fury now, but its origin remained unknown.
'What is this feeling?'
Originally, Kellen figured it was just his demonic urges for battle and war, but now, as he laid in a sickbed in the med-bay, the strange feeling continued to quietly burn.
It almost felt like a calling to Kellen, like his body was signaling to him that it needed to move. But Kellen did not understand where it wanted him to go. Kellen had guessed that fighting and combat could satisfy it but in the end he was still left stumped.
'I'll just have to monitor it for now...' He concluded, as he stretched his now rejuvenated limbs.
He could feel that his previous wounds were now somewhat fully healed and his energy was beginning to resuscitate. Deciding that it was now his cue, Kellen rested his eyes for one more moment.
Then he abruptly stood up from the bed and left the med-bay while straightening his black jacket.
'I should leave before that weird Legionnaire gets here and starts asking a bunch of annoying questions. Strom and them are probably still at that pub anyways.'
Kellen departed the medical wing and raced off towards the streets of the capital.
"What! He just left?" Murmured Rena in shock as she watched Kellen's departing figure disappear from the med-bay.
"What should I tell that strange Legionnaire now?" She worriedly voiced her thoughts.
"Who said I was strange?"
A monotone voice echoed from the other side of Rena's sickbed causing her to nearly fall off of it.
"Ah... Um, Legionnaire Axus... The trainee... He-" Rena's voice cut off.
"Yes, I know, I arrived a little before he ran off." Axus calmly stated.
'His wounds healed again like before...'
The Legionnaire gazed at the exit of the med-bay with more interest.