The sound of the door opening woke Lucius from his slumber, the slightest sounds were enough to cut his sleep short due to his enhanced senses, and this was why he appreciated the soundproof rooms of the school dormitory.
"LUCIUS!" Ralph screamed with watery eyes as he ran to his bed.
"Hey… Hey… Hey, my body still hurts!" Lucius protested, but his words fell on deaf ears.
Ralph lunged at him with an agility that can be considered stunning for someone his size. He hugged Lucius tight with tears running down his eyes as he kept calling Lucius' name repeatedly.
"LUCIUS!" Silver's voice mimicked Ralph's as he ran into the room.
"Wait, what?" Lucius blinked with confusion written all over his face as Silver hugged him as well.
Alex, Dean, Maya, and the others walked into the room, and behind them were soldiers who carried a dining table with them.
"What the hell is going on?" Lucius was completely thrown off by this.
Soon, the table was set up and maids walked in with assorted dishes, carefully placing them on the tables while everyone took a seat and only Lucius was left on his bed.
"You don't expect us to carry you, right?" Dean mocked, but his tone wasn't as resentful as before.
Everything happening left him confused, but he just put aside his thoughts and joined them.
"You eat only meat?" Alex asked as he noticed Lucius was only eating steak and chicken, just like last time.
"Strangely I have a large appetite, probably an effect of my ability, and protein is the fastest way to satiate my hunger." Lucius responded with a nod.
"We were told you got attacked by an evolved beast. It also killed Angel… Did you get to see it?" Maya Walker asked, unable to hold back her curiosity.
Her question got everyone leaning in with excitement in their eyes.
"How can I see something strong and fast enough to kill an A-rated?" Lucius asked with a raised eyebrow.
They all nodded because his words made sense to them. In fact, if Lucius had given a detailed description, they wouldn't believe him.
"So, why are we still here?" Lucius asked as he tossed a piece of steak in his mouth. "Last time I checked, the Internship should be over."
"Well…" Ralph's voice trailed off.
"After the raid two nights ago, we found out something disturbing. Humans were being kidnapped by beasts." Dean said with a deep frown.
"What?" Lucius swallowed the wrong way, causing his throat to ache.
"Is that even possible?" He asked with a strained voice as he coughed.
"In our sectors, we caught beasts retreating while dragging humans along. We could rescue a few, but we lost a lot." Maya Walker sighed.
"The situation has escalated, and the mission has changed. We believe there is more to the new meteor discovered north of this facility, and we suspect it has already fallen into the hands of Evolved beasts." Alex said with a frown.
Lucius stopped eating, picked up his glass of water, and chugged down its content.
"So… What does this mean for us?" Lucius asked.
"The country's guardians are stretched thin, most powerful ones are on peacekeeping missions across the world. All the reinforcements will be focused on the raiding of the meteor site. We are still needed here to keep the base safe." Silver explained.
'Peacekeeping? Hmph! What a joke.' Lucius snorted disdainfully mentally but maintained an indifferent look.
"Isn't this a bit too much for students?" Ralph's voice was filled with uncertainty.
Seeing Lucius in a bloody condition alongside Ethan's corpse made him realize how dangerous this guardian job was.
"You can run off if you want, no one would object to sending a useless sidekick away." Dean sneered.
"Well, the reward for this task is instant promotion to D-rated guardians…" Silver said with a mischievous smile directed at Ralph.
Ralph's eyes shone as he heard this. It was an opportunity of a lifetime to bring back the Ashford name into the spotlight. He turned his attention to Lucius, who simply nodded with a small smile.
For the rest of breakfast, they talked about a lot of things and when they were leaving, they wished Lucius a speedy recovery.
Sitting alone in the room, Lucius wondered why they acted this way to him. They were warm to him, something he only experienced from Ralph and probably Silver.
[Foolish boy, it's called bonding. You guys went on a mission together, and you got badly hurt. It's only natural they feel worried about you. Tough times bring the worst of enemies together.] Lyxor said.
Lucius nodded as he lay on the bed, feeling a bit sleepy, but something was bothering him.
'What do you think about everything going on?' Lucius asked.
[Beasts are smart, but not that smart. The only ones that can rise to the level of planning out something as difficult as abducting humans are high-level evolved beasts, but even they cannot train other smaller beasts to be this organized.] Lyxor gave his honest thoughts on the matter.
'So, who do you think is responsible for this?' Lucius couldn't help but ask.
[Humans…] Lyxor said.
"Humans!" Lucius sat up and screamed, his face filled with shock.
Only after screaming did he look up and realize there was a camera on the wall.
[Deviant's to be precise. Only they are smart enough to train beasts and teach them how to kidnap people. Only then can they organize large operations like this, especially if they have someone whose ability allows him or her to control beasts.]
Just as expected, the lady in the lab coat, Moon, Leo, and Evelyn ran into the room a minute later.
They had been watching him from the camera, probably because they didn't completely trust his words.
"What happened? Are you okay?" The lady asked as she rushed to his side, but Lucius casually waved her off and focused his attention on Moon and the others.
"I just remembered something." He said.
The suspicious looks on their faces changed to that of surprise. They have been watching Lucius, a bit suspicious about Ethan's death but seeing him willing to give off information without hesitation made them think otherwise.
"Tell me." Moon said with a stern look.
"A beast didn't kill Ethan. A human attacked, but he looked like a monster." Lucius said.
"A Deviant!" Leo frowned.