Autumn brought not only a brisk breeze but also intermittent dark clouds. The great sun disappeared behind the somber clouds that had lost their white. Almost no one would want to get wet under the rain, even more so when they have to face the ground for at least one hour straight.
Yes, they had mat and pillow; though those were made from waterproof materials, the rain was still going to lay on them.
"Can't Gods do something about this…" Grumbled a kid.
"They can, but it's considered a sin to tamper with natural events," kindly answered his teacher.
"That's right," another kid chimed in, "I heard that we already had the technology to change the gender of a baby even back in a century ago. But we can't do something like that since it will be a sin."
"Exactly. Changing the gender of a baby is more than an easy feat for our technology now, but we must adhere to the rules set by the Great Ones."
"Yes, that's the only thing we can do anyway…"
"Ehem!"
This time, the teacher's stern gaze grew furious, but she regained her smile and, "By the way, those books of yours are waterproof, so, no worries," changed the topic for the sake of the kid.
Minutes passed until the fierce, fearsome, at the same time, gorgeous headmaster made her appearance once again. Slowly looked at the children who didn't notice her or didn't care, even when their teachers told them to be respectful.
They just kept talking and talking, made the vein on her forehead appear, and raised her tail to create a shadow.
Buumm!
"Listen up!"
Her attack on the pitiful ground was more than enough to take children's attention. Some were on the ground, while some were barely standing. Leon and his friends were in the second batch, holding onto each other.
"As you know, we all must partake in a school-wide pilgrimage!"
Stopped for a second to have her words reach to kids' brains, "Your teachers will check your clothes to see if you are tidy enough! If you think you are not, immediately tell your teacher and go home! Understood!?"
""Understood!!""
'I'm asking this again, is this a fucking military school? Also, aren't you the cause of kids eating dirt?'
At this point, every child seemed to echo Leon's thoughts. Compared to this, their primary and middle schools were heaven. This was the first time they were getting this kind of treatment, yet they had nothing to do about it since they had to obey.
Teachers were akin to Gods' helpers, and a good student has to follow them, the same way a good citizen has to obey the Gods.
Because of the two earthquakes that happened on the same day, thanks to a certain someone's grace, some kids had to rush to their homes.
They haven't had the time to wait for them to come back, just as she said. That is why they took their way to the prayer site without ado.
Prayer sites wouldn't differentiate people, whatever the reason is. For that, although kids were on their school pilgrimage, they still had to go through the same queues as ordinary people.
Gods and their prayer sites treated everyone equally, with no VIP seats. Everyone had to find their own prayer seat, an empty place on the ground.
Time passed and passed. Sometimes, their marching paced up, while most of the time, the exact opposite happened. And for the past few minutes, it almost halted, with barely enough space to move forward.
"Leon, we decided to visit our usual café first."
"Sure, you guys go ahead."
This time, Zennava, who already gained her smile back, asked in a quiet tone, "You will join us later on, right?"
"Of course I will. Have you ever seen me lying before?"
"I'm not sure."
"Righ—"
"Because sometimes you are lying so nicely that it becomes no different from a fact."
In front of such accusations, Leon didn't flinch even for a tiny second, "Stop rapping, alright?"
"Not denying anymore, huh?"
"Tha—"
"Hey!"
Leon's words were cut off by a man's voice coming from next to him, where the guards were stationed. He was a young-looking lady killer of a man. His face was so handsome, so cool to anyone, that no one can forget him that easily.
However, Leon's reason for remembrance was utterly different.
'There we go, the b*stard from before.'
Though he could recognize him at one glance because of his daring words at that time, he still chose to stay innocent.
But, abruptly, "Weren't you the guard before?"
"Yes, yes, that's me. Haha."
Their conversation had already caught the attention of the nearby since, unlike others, they weren't whispering to each other.
"So, can I help you?"
Glancing left and right, "Seems like you are on a school pilgrimage."
"You should have seen that from kilometers away, though."
"Hahaha, you are absolutely right," he scratched his head with an innocent face, "By the way, the name is Andrew."
"Leon."
Andrew's scowl came and passed like lightning couldn't be seen by the eyes of onlookers. It was as though he couldn't get the answer he wanted.
"Andrew Nastar."
"Leon Rastia."
"Nice surname you have there."
"I know."
"So—"
"How can I help you?"
Leon's determination, more like vigilance, was evident in his eyes. Yet, the fierceness of a beast waiting to be unleashed lay deep within.
"Umm…"
"Don't act like you are shy, alright?"
This time, his scowl didn't pass as quickly as before, but still was quick enough to pass through some eyes. His smile was on his face, fingers fidgeting like that of a cute, shy girl.
"I-I wanted to ask if your mother will be here today?"
'Motherf*cker, you know that she has no other choice!'
Unlike before, when his inner thoughts and spoken words were vastly different, Leon took a different approach this time, adopting a mocking face.
"I already talked about it with your mother last night. Go ask her."
His daring words dumbfounded everyone around them except the two girls. The shock of hearing such an unbelievable statement directed at a God's Guard gave way to laughter.
Yet, one person gritted his teeth, "Ha Ha, I like funny kids like you."
"I know, right? Everyone likes me."
Having nothing to say to each other anymore, both went their own way. One laughing, the other burning.
---
A white-haired, middle-aged woman with a scar on her right brow that makes her strength more apparent stood in front of the guards at the end of the line.
"I've already transmitted the list of absences into your God's Watches," she kept on speaking while everyone's eyes were on their watches, "Since there aren't that many people missing today, most of you will be staying here."
The guards' faces brightened at the prospect of having less workload, avoiding the work. However, some faces lost themselves in the shade of clouds above by reading the following notice transmitted to their watches.
"Teams are already set. So, as always, girls will go to a girl's place while men are to men's. Also, don't forget to check your watches since they show the target's current location."
Knowing that was all she had to say, the guards either joined their teammates or went to their prayer mat.
Only one person chose to stay behind, looking at the hard-to-approach leader for a few seconds.
"Won't you speak?"
"Ma'am, I want to join a team."
"Why?"
"There is a possibility for one of them being someone from Rebellious."
"Makes sense, but…" Slowly got closer to that person, making him sweat with just her looks, "Are you doubting my disciples' powers?"
"O-Of course not, ma'am!"
Smiled a bit to ease up the atmosphere, "And you are?"
"It's Andrew, Andrew Nastar, ma'am."
"Never heard of you."
"I've earned the blessing of joining to Gods' Guards only recently, ma'am."
"And you want to prove yourself, is that it?"
This time, Andrew just smiled, said nothing, and did nothing. As if his intentions passed on to her, she also smiled back.
"Alright, just go join one. It doesn't matter which one you joined, since you will do absolutely nothing."
"Understood, ma'am!"
His smile was so broad that it was as if he was living the moment of his life.
---
Three girls and one man stayed in front of a white house in a neighborhood where not even a soul remained, just the four of them looking at each other.
Even though they were God's Guards, they still had to be careful since there were people out there who explicitly aiming for them, calling themselves Rebellious.
"So, should we do it in the usual way?"
"That seems like the most reasonable one."
"Let's stick to the traditional way."
The three women seemed like a team from the start, making the man appear out of place. However, he had come for a reason and had to prove himself.
"Excuse me…"
"What's up, pretty boy?"
"I know it's not my place to meddle with your job, but if you want, I can go inside and take a look for you."
Girls looked at each other briefly, "And why would you do that?"
"To check if she is alive so that we wouldn't waste time."
"We are wasting that now."
"Yeah."
"True, so just let him go."
"Sigh, doesn't matter anyways," looked at the bright-eyed man with a smile not losing to his eyes, "But come back quickly, Andrew."
"Understood, miss!"
As though he was a professional in his field, he made a quick tour around the house first, checked whether there was a back door.
Making sure the house had only one entry, he did the next best thing he could do on a two-story house: climbing to the second floor, which he did in a jiff.
There was only one window and a curtain to blind eyes from the side he climbed. Yet, those were no obstacles for Andrew.
A water ball appeared on his palm in a flash; then, he began to lay it down all through the window as if laying a carpet, but much more carefully.
The water he created stayed around the frame of the wooden window, not splashing anywhere else. Then, water slowly seeped to the other side, paving its way from the tiny gaps until it was big enough to cover the handle on the other side.
"And I'm in, hehehe," his smile wasn't cool looking now, it was a devil's grin.
In front of him lied a woman on her bed, breathing slowly and painfully while her eyes closed. Even breathing was a road made of thorns to her.
And her condition only widened the devilish smile on Andrew's face.
Knowing that others would come to check if he took his time, Andrew chose to do nothing for now. Then again, he also knew that if he were to make a noise, the beauty laying in her bed may wake up. For that, he slowly and carefully made his way out of the house, didn't let out even a tinge of sound like that of a ghost.
"She is dead."
"Haha, what a waste of time."
"That is why I've been saying they should upgrade these things to show other people's heartbeats or something."
"It does show ours, though."
"It isn't showing. It's just alerting the team leaders when one of us dies."
"Well, yeah, that's true."
"Whatever, let's go."
They didn't even doubt Andrew. It's more like they just didn't care and took their way to the prayer site.