"The warriors go by the name Zeroth. It wasn't depicted if the warrior was a male or female but people in Pompeii and Herculaneum respected Zeroth. The warrior's origin was unknown, and both cities took the warrior in with the family. It said that Zeroth gained the warrior name when Urasame expanded their territories and made the nearby kingdom fear cities that didn't obey Italia's kingdom rules. With Zeroth's help, the Earls of both cities demanded their right to make Pompeii and Herculaneum a country. The king of Italia granted their demand and finally made Herculaneum a country. Zeroth made this happen because this warrior was feared. Zeroth takes lives for the name of the country. The warrior thought it would be a home for the warrior and the family. But Zeroth was wrong. Zeroth was betrayed, and while the warrior was out on a mission, the family that Zeroth held dear was murdered. When the warrior returned, the king blamed him for conspiracy, and the warrior made a deal with the enemies. The king ordered some of his people to be killed and called Zeroth at the scene, which made the warrior the culprit," Arguela told him.
"Damn it. How cruel that king was," Shoman commented.
"Yes, fearing that one day his people will choose Zeroth for the throne and him, he did what he needed to do. Zeroth was persecuted and killed by the guillotine. The warrior's head and body were thrown away and not given any proper burial. The king of Herculaneum got what he wanted and thought his joined kingdom was strong enough; he was wrong. The enemies waited for their chance to attack them, and the king of Italia didn't help them. The king didn't realize that the kingdom was weak without Zeroth and that the enemies were lurking in the shadow; wait for that change. According to the documents, kingdoms all over ancient Europe attacked Herculaneum. They burned everything, but they were those who created the statue for Zeroth as they saw the warrior as a king over the king of Herculaneum. People have died untimely, and their soul remains in Herculaneum along with Zeroth, a victim of greed. Nobody knows how many souls were there, not to mention when the supervolcano erupted when dybbuks invaded the Azure Lapiz. The country was wiped out and buried by lavas and ashes. Zeroth probably took the statue home along with all the untimely death of people who used to see him as a warrior. And over the centuries, they developed into something the archaeologist accidentally freed," the old lady said.
"It makes sense. Of all the structures here, only this headless statue survived for a thousand years. And maybe, Zeroth gas already became a dybbuk before it was freed," Shaman said.
"Yes, all that negative energy accumulated in this statue, I can say that Zeroth probably became one, but it never developed into Yurei or the early stage of the dybbuk. So it is impossible. Zeroth might become someone we aren't sure about. It takes time to develop into a Yuerei, and Zeroth must devour a lot of Ziels and humans to become an onryo and Goryo. But Zeroth was locked in here before it was excavated. The warrior becomes that strong without consuming anything. If the elders know this information, I assume they will send an elite assassin to kill Setsuwi's son. You need to keep this information, Shoma, especially when my informants tipped me off to something disturbing a few months ago," the old lady said.
Confused, Shoma looked at his future mother-in-law.
"What is it?"
"Neckros," the old lady answered before turning back to Shoma.
"They were extinct, Madam. That is impossible," Shoma disagreed with what the old lady said.
"I also thought about that until I saw this," she said, showing him a picture of a man in a red hood, the sole sign of Nekros brotherhood.
Shoma couldn't believe what he was seeing.
"My informant who took that picture was killed after he took the picture after he sent that to me and got rid of the phone. I'm saying this to warn you, Shoma. I'm not sure, but we don't know if a Nekros has invaded the school or not. Keep an eye on the school, mainly on the kid you were talking about. I feel that the archeologist was led to that site, particularly the spot where the statue was built. It was just my theory, but I think the nekros are behind this."
Over the two hours of the flight back to Yamato (Japan), Shoma's thought was all about the Nekros and Kaede's situation when suddenly his phone rang.
"Shoma," he said when he accepted the call.
"Sensei! We have a problem. Your first-year student Kaede Rodriguez will be executed tonight. Hurry! Save him!"
"Stop the car!" Shoma shouted at one of the personal drivers of their school.
Shoma kicks the door open and apologetically asks the driver to go on and that he needs to get hurry. The driver nodded at him and sped away.
"Ah, I guess Hiro failed to do a simple job for me, I see," he said before performing a slash on the thin air and entering the space between the slashed art he had done. And when he emerged, he was in the execution room where a frightened Kaede was bound from his hands, back, and feet with a red and black chain.
He was surrounded by masked men, the executioners who usually perform the execution whenever someone has to be punished via death sentence.
"Stop it at once," Shoma said, blocking Kaede from the executioners' and the Elders' eyes.
"What are you doing, Shoma? You cannot stop an execution, and you know that" one of the Elders said to him. "Proceed!"
"If you touch one single hair of my student, forget that I am a teacher here," Shoma warned and was about to open his Realm.
"This kid has possessed by grade S dybbuk, Shoma. Why did you bring him in?" another elder spoke to him.
"He wasn't possessed at all. If you can observe him, he has the human mind. He didn't morph into hideous monsters or eat humans. He is just a normal teenage boy from Setsuwi's clan," Shoma reasoned to the elders.
"I also have seen the 'thing' in him that performs sealing which is unique only to the Rodriguez, the Piercing," Hiro seconded Shoma.
"S-sensei w-why am I here?" Kaede asks Shoma, who's back at him.
Shoma turns his head at him and smiles.
"Don't worry, kid; I'm negotiating with these old geezers. I'm going to make them let you go," he said.
"Hmm. A dybbuk who can use a trademark sealing of Rodriguez? That's new to me, but it doesn't add up that the thing inside him is a dybbuk," said the other Elder.
Shoma heaved a sigh.
"Let's make a deal," he said. "If this kid does this dybbuk thing, then I'll take responsibility for him," he said. "I will be the one to kill him if he becomes uncontrollable. Sounds good?"
There was silence among the elders—they were talking if they would come to agree on Shoma's terms.
"We will leave all to you, Shoma. We know you're different from your brother. Don't shame your family," the leader told him.
"Heh," Shoma snickered. "I am far better than him," he said. "Unbind my student, now."
The executioner unbind the terrified Kaede.
"You are safe now, kid," he told Kaede before giving him a robe to cover his body. And when he accidentally touches Kaede's body. He felt that he is trembling.