'I… lost?!'
Even as he was teleported away from the simulation, even as he made a 'very long' trip to where Tamra was standing, he still couldn't believe that he had lost.
He was supposed to be all powerful in this world with his encyclopedic knowledge of bible verses. He was supposed to have unmatched powers but he just kept getting hit by one stumbling block or the other.
"If it makes you fell any better". Tamra said as he stood beside her. "You weren't half bad".
That wasn't what Azure wanted to hear at that moment. He wanted to know the difference between him and the rest of them. Why did his bible verses seem so lame and theirs seem so powerful.
"I have a question though". Azure said.
"What?" Tamra replied almost immediately, almost as if she had been expecting him to ask her something.
If Azure took notice, he didn't let it show on his face. Then again, there wasn't much space left for any other emotion over there.
"Why do your bible verses seem so powerful and mine seem so weak?" Azure asked.
Tamra sighed, then did what Azure did not expect. He didn't even see her move at all, all he knew was that he just felt something pressing on his face.
"You fool, you really didn't go to any of the introductory school classes, did you?"
Azure hadn't fully processed what happened. It was only after a few seconds that he raised his hand and used it to caress his face.
"You slapped me". He muttered just loud enough for Tamra to hear him. "You…"
He was about to add a couple of swear words to his second statement, then he remembered what happened to Exo when he used one swear word in front of her.
So instead of angrily lashing out, he said; "No, no I did not".
"Figures". Tamra said. "Anyways, as you were told in the introductory classes, the more you understand bible verses, the more powerful it becomes whenever you use it". Azure rolled his eyes. She was just repeating what Alex told him. "But to understand these verses well, you have to ponder and decipher deep meanings hidden inside them. You do that by meditating".
"Meditating?" Now that was a new term to Azure. Alex didn't mention anything about meditating in their training session. Come to think of if, what they did was the opposite of meditation.
He didn't feel like he knew much but weren't things like meditation supposed to happen in a serene, quiet environment. How was getting mauled by demon beasts enough motivation for Azure to understand bible verses.
Then it hit him, the assassin that was sent after him, Alex's threat then his sudden 'helpfulness'.
He talked as if he knew the Bastian person personally, and although the Bible verses that Bastian used were strong, they didn't seem like they were enough to kill him.
The conversation while he hid behind the shield. He could hear the conversation that transpired between the two of them but he decided not to pursue matters because of what Alex told him.
There was no way that Alex didn't know that he could hear everything that they said, unless… unless he was meant to hear everything, then believe that Alex was helping him to get strong enough to find out what happened to his parents.
The training simulation lasted two weeks, exactly the duration for the introductions classes. Alex wanted Azure to be pompous and nonchalant because he knew bible verses.
All this aimed at one thing; to delay his growth as much as possible. If he knew that snooping was just going to get him killed, of course he wouldn't make too much of an effort to dig up things.
If he didn't snoop around then he wouldn't be able to find out the cause of his parents death. He would be robbed of the truth.
Alex didn't want him to know what happened to his parents. He smiled bitterly, the. he laughed. It was a well calculated, well thought out plan. It was completely fail proof.
Even if Azure found out about meditation, Alex assumed that he wouldn't be able to connect the dots. Alex assumed that he wouldn't be able to connect everything back to him.
Azure nodded in recognition. It was a really well thought out plan, unfortunately, like Alex always said, he was smarter than he looked.
'That bastard thought that he could slow me down. How naïve of him. If I don't pull one up on him then my name isn't Azure Smith'.
It was only after Azure finished his vow of vengeance that he realized that his name actually wasn't Azure smith. Oh well, that unfortunate mistake just gave him more room for failure.