Chereads / The Shadowfall Invasion / Chapter 9 - The Voice In My Head

Chapter 9 - The Voice In My Head

"The Agents have been summoned, Javier". Sebastian came in through the window with a group of agents following behind him.

They were all wearing silver armor which covered up to 80 percent of their bodies.

"They look cool," Ethan said from the side as the light reflected off their armor and onto his face. "Why don't you guys wear armors" he asks Mathias

"Unlike them, we're more resistant to the poison radiated by the Specters." Mathias shrugs

"There are poisons in the Spectres?" Ethan asks, dipping his fork in his salad

"They cause infections when you get in contact with them for too long. They're fear born, remember? It's hard to say something like that wouldn't emit poison. It infects lungs and turns the skin purple"

"Hmm". Ethan hummed in response, "Do we have to help them? "

"Nope, we're tired" Mathias places his hands behind his head, puts his legs on the dining table and relaxes

"Well, would you look at the guy who says we're not doing our job well" Damien was a bit annoyed

"Like I said, we're tired. Not to mention we're higher ranking" Mathias smirked

"We're not on the same level". Damien smirks back

"It's about time I put you in your place, Damien". Mathias tried to sit up but Damien swiftly grabbed an apple from the table and threw it at his head causing him to tip over and fall.

"Idiot, I'm on the same level as Sebas, and you're nowhere near him". He looks at Ethan. "Who are-"

"Damien!". Javier waved at him

"Javier, we're busy". Damien squints his eyes and walks towards him

"Ha! Yeah sure" Javier points out the window, "That's what you're dealing with today"

Still with that slight frown on his face, Damien slowly trudges towards the window and looks outside. The laziness in his eyes disappeared and he whistles. "Well, this seems fun"

Without saying any more word, he jumps out the window.

"Due to unfortunate circumstances, you agents will be the ones dealing with the Invasion today. Peace" Javier said and left for his room

"Come back here, Javier" It seems the agents weren't taking shit today

Javier paused for a moment, he continued walking away

"Javier!"

"What's the matter, aren't you on break" Javier suddenly realizes, "It's too early to be on break!"

The agent's eyes darted around the room.

"You know what, just go down". He sighs, "Is this everyone?"

They began jumping outside the window one after the other.

"No, purple is still coming" An agent with blonde hair responded

"She stopped by for a bit to take care of something". Said another

"Really?". Javier sank in thought, "When will they be back- wait who's purple?"

"I'm here! I just stopped by for a bit somewhere to get something" A bubbly agent with long purple hair came in through the window.

"Mimi...!" Javier exclaimed, Why do they call her purple

"Javier!" Isla grinned

"Mimi"

"Javier"

"Mimi…"

"Javier..."

"Hehe" They both laughed akwardly

"If Nathan were here he would have called them both idiots" Mathias sighed at their stupidity

"Their relationship is embarrassing". Ethan stated with dull eyes

"Thank you. You understand so well". Reo applauses him.

"Those two look alike". Ethan looks between Isla and Reo. They may be from the same kingdom but they have some sort of similarity between them

"What did you get?" Javier asks her trying to fill the awkward silence

"A plant, the one with vines". She replied bringing the spiky plant out

"That's great, more damage" Javier laughed, "Just remember to be careful, don't compromise your safety okay"

"Alright!". She grinned enthusiastically and ran out the window

'Battle maniacs'. Ethan thought to himself. "I've been wondering, during the Invasion yesterday too, why do you guys always go out the windows" he pushed his unfinished bowl of salad towards Mathias

Mathias chewed on another apple. "Do you see how big this castle is? Only an idiot would try to go out through the doors"

"You could say the windows are our main sources of entrance and exit". Javier said it like it was all normal..

"There are doors leading outside". Ethan pointed out

"And what kind of stress is that? Using doors when you could just jump out the window". And incoming Felix butted into their conversation

"Where have you been?". Javier asked, "It's almost noon"

"In the city". He replied, "Where's Kelvin"

Reo looks up from his book, his eyes narrowing slightly at Felix. "Why are you asking about her".

"Chill, Reo". Felix chuckled, "What's got you so worked up? Haha. Where are Sebas and Nathan also"

"They're in their rooms." Javier replied

"Why are you asking" Mathias asked, stuffing his face with Ethan's unfinished salad

"I met with the King of Oren and he said to remind you of the school you promised to teach. I'm guessing the issue with his daughter made him forget"

"Ah, even I forgot about that". Javier blinked

"But you see, Kelvin-". Felix has this strange smile on his face like he wanted to reveal something big but he was interrupted.

"Hello!" Kelvin exclaimed, entering the dining room with her usual lovely smile and energetic stride.

"Kelvin!" Javier smiled upon seeing her, "What have you been up to?"

"Nathan was helping me with books" She climbed on Javier and nestled her face on his shoulder.

Ethan was speechless, he looks at Mathias. "Their relationship is like that of a father and his daughter. No worries there". Mathias assured

Ethan nods in affirmation. "She's really short. Is she fifteen"

"Kelvin? No, I guess she was six then. We spent ten years in HQ. And well, this should be our tenth year as this empire's sentinel. So yeah, she's twenty-six" Mathias confirmed

If Ethan was having a drink, he would have spurt it out right now. "Twenty what!?"

"Her short stature is a relatively common side effect of the serum experienced by some users. I don't know what Javier was thinking, bringing you here because eventually you will give in to old age. But if you get that serum, seeing as you're not a child anymore, you just might die"

Ethan's gaze lingered, his mind sinking into deep contemplation. "It doesn't work on adults?"

"Yeah, that's general knowledge known by all Royals. But you on the other hand don't seem to know what adults do, so you're technically a child" Mathias bites into an apple

"Sir Felix is teaching me lots of things though!". I'm not sure I should be hearing them but still

"Are the Agents here?" Kelvin asked, checking outside the window. "They're working really hard, should we lend a hand?"

Nathan slammed the door open and took short strides Inside. "You can go if you want, but I'm definitely not joining you".

Kelvin's expression turned somber. "That's why you don't have friends, Nathan"

Nathan's steps halted. "Bitch" he spat, hands flaring up in raging flames.

"Calm down Nathan" Javier said hopelessly. "Perhaps we should help the agents. There are only ten of them"

"And eight of us". Reo flips a page from his book

"True that". Mathias frowns

"The rest of you, if you're not studying, go training" Javier said before leaving

"Alright" They replied. But they definitely weren't going to do either

Javier lands squarely on his feet and surveys the battlefield. "Isla's ability is as beautiful as it's deadly"

The little plant she had shown him earlier was now a long prickly vine that tore apart anything that comes into contact with it.

"Javier, did you feel sorry for having to overwork your agents so you came down here to apologize". The agent closest to him spat through gritted teeth

"This isn't overwork yet." Javier ignores him

'If I use a large-scale attack, my stamina will go down in the blink of an eye.' Javier processed his thoughts

"Oh well". He majestically walks into the battlefield and kills every Specter on his radar.

If one was too far, he launches an ice crystal at it or slices through it with a wind blade and If it's too close, he ignites it with burning flames. But most of the time, he uses the long range abilities he has to kill more Specters in a short time.

He continued this process for a long time until he alone cleared all the Specters in a section of the battlefield.

"I say that, but this is also draining me" Javier sighs.

"It's not like I can just sit back and relax while my Agents do the grunt work ". He sighs again, "But its.. really tiring, I haven't recovered my stamina from yesterday"

As soon as those words dropped, Javier fell flat on the floor and passed out.

{Well, look who's back. Little Javier}. The glitching voice in his head laughs in animosity

"Not you again" Javier was unconscious, but he could feel his surroundings. 'What luck, falling unconscious on a battlefield'.

And once again, he was conversing with the deranged voice in his head.

{I see you've missed me} the voice in his head laughed

"Just tell me who you are" The glitching sound was irritating to his ears and Javier couldn't help but feel the need to throw up.

{And risk that information getting to Ma-} The voice paused

"Who?" Javier caught on

{Nevermind.}

This was the first time the voice was sounding like this. It seemed to be excited, but scared.

"How did you get inside of me" His head wasn't ringing like it used to, it's the perfect time to gather information.

{Mhmhahaha} the voice giggled lowly and then erupted into a full blown laughter

"..." Javier wasn't sure whether to be cautious in fear or be frowning in annoyance.

{Ahahaha} it continued to laugh

"Ugh" And now his head was starting to ring

{I've been with you since forever, Javier!} It screamed

{Have you ever thought why I haven't tried manipulating you all these years!? It's because of that bastard!}

"Wait, stop". Javier held his head tightly. He couldn't take the reverberations and high pitch glitch. It was sending shockwaves of different wavelength inside his brain

{I should have known better than to choose your father as a target, because of him I'm but a fraction of how I used to be}

"I'm sorry, you never tell me who you are! You never tell me where you're from! Every question I ask, you're always evading it, those damn riddles I never seem to figure out. How am I supposed to know what you're always talking about!? And just who exactly is my father!!" Javier snapped. He throbbing in his head was causing him to tear up

{You're an idiot if you don't know who your father is}. The voice sounded exhausted, {I should have found a way to go for Joyce instead}

Javier had a shock in his brain. "That name is familiar" he had tears flowing down his cheek, "Who is Joyce?"

{Hahaha!} The voice laughed merrily, "You seriously don't even know your own-}

Glitch! The voice came to an abrupt stop, and Javier's eyes flew open as he jolted awake. "Gasp!"

Tears kept on rolling down his cheek.

"Javier!!" The voices surrounding him almost screamed in happiness when he woke up.

His vision was a little blurry but a few seconds later, he finally managed to see clearly the familiar faces of his Vassals and Agents all staring at him.

He blinked twice, a warm hand was on his face and so were a few strands of purple hair. Javier looked up to find a beautiful lady with purple eyes staring back at him worriedly.

"Javier" Isla called out

Javier turns his head and only then did he know he was laying on a pillow on Isla's lap. "Heh" he cackled

"Geez, Javier" an agent slapped his forehead

"See, I knew we shouldn't have worried about him in the first place"

"We should have buried you in water"

"You've been unconscious for hours and because you see a pretty sweetheart, that's the first thing you say?"

"Why did I even wait here"

The more they talked, the more vile the comments became.

"I just ran out of stamina, that's all". Javier slowly carried himself up

"What about the Invasion?". He asks

"It's been taken care of". Damien responded

"It's because everyone was worried about you, we haven't gone back to the city yet". Isla was relieved

"Oh, yeah?" Javier had an ugly smile on his face as he looks at them

"We didn't care"

"Yeah, why would we"

Javier's face turned stern. "Tsundere"

"I'll kill you!" The Agent tried to knock Javier back to where he's been but Damien held them back.

"Now that you're okay, we'll be heading back" Damien nods

"No problem". Javier held his throbbing head

"If you're running low on stamina, don't go into battle. We don't want you croaking too soon" Damien turns and leaves

"See you next time, Lord Javier" The female Agents said coyly before leaving

"I'll be going now too" Isla beamed

"Hm. Take care of yourself". Javier gave her a thumbs up

"Yes, you too!" She followed after the others

When they had all left, he fell back down on the pillow. The only ones who remained were his Vassals gathered around him.

"Do you know who Joyce is" he asks them

"Joyce? I feel like I've heard the name before" Kelvin wasn't too sure

"No" the rest shook their heads

"I see" He said nothing more

"Javier, you're crying" Kelvin felt his face

"Your ears are also bleeding, and so is your nose" Nathan pointed out

"I see". Javier said before passing out again