Vannesa, who knew what kind of feat Alex had just achieved, was equally shocked like the others, but unlike others, she couldn't express it; all she could do was stare at the panel hovering above Alex with a frozen expression—that was until...
"K-Keep your palm on the cryst—!"
The moment she heard Lucious's voice, her focus shifted to Alex, only to find the archbishop moving toward Alex with urgency clear in his eyes.
That was all she needed to see.
*Grip*
Her fingers coiled around the hilt of her reaper before...
*Slash*
The blade of the reaper flashed, and in an instant, she was standing between Alex and Lucious.
*Squelch*
Lucious, who had his arm outstretched toward Alex, froze the moment the sound of flesh being sliced through and bones being cut off was heard.
*Splash*
Blood splashed in front of the guy, but he just dumbly stared at the blood, unable to make out where it came from.
*Thud*
It was when he heard a low thud and his gaze found what it was that his eyes widened.
"ARGHHHHHHHHH!!"
The pain finally kicked in, causing him to let out a guttural roar of pain.
The air in the hall froze, and everyone who saw the gruesome scene had their breaths paused.
The only ones who were still fine were Alex and Mira.
Mira didn't even look at the scene happening; she even ignored the scream from the guy. Her eyes kept staring at the panel showing Alex's talent while sneaking glances at Alex from time to time.
As for Alex, well, he did spare a fleeting glance at the guy before his attention was focused on the panel again.
[You can look at it later; you can always check it in a more detailed description in your status window; you should be focusing on the events happening right now.]
Sophie, however, quickly objected, wanting him to focus on the ongoing event.
No matter how excited he was, he shouldn't forget that things were never fixed on stone, and although he had told his mother about the archbishop's trump card, who knows if he had another one?
"GAHHHH!"
Lucious, who was roaring in pain, finally turned to look at Vannesa, glaring at her with rage and pain.
"WHY?!"
He wanted to question in a normal tone, but the cold burning sensation he felt around his cut-off wrist made it impossible to let out a low voice.
Vannesa, however, just stared at the guy, and so did Alex, who was standing a step behind her.
"THERE WAS A CHANCE THAT HE COULD'VE GOTTEN MORE STARS!!"
He screamed again, clutching down his right hand, which had its wrist cut off yet not bleeding, with his left hand.
"He didn't want to do it."
Vannesa's words, cold and direct, cut through the chilly atmosphere, sending a chill down the guy's spine.
Lucious could feel the warning in her tone, as if she knew what he was thinking of doing.
The children in the hall, on the other hand, couldn't even move, they couldn't even breathe properly with Vannesa's aura flowing toward them as well, but no one had time to focus on them.
Lucious, however, was now gritting his teeth, as he knew that he wouldn't be able to get all of the information he could about Alex, and he wouldn't be able to report the church about the exact amount of danger Alex was for them.
Even if he did tell someone about it, would they believe it?
No.
'I will just complete the main task I was sent out for.'
He closed his eyes, still growling in pain while trying to stop the blood flow of his arm by gripping it tight.
"You forced me to do it."
He muttered, his eyes glowing with an eerie light, staring at Vannesa as his palm moved behind his back, trying to retrieve something, but...
"Huh?"
A dumbfounded voice left his lips as his gaze caught sight of a black-colored crystal with a red button-type mark at the center of it held within Vannesa's palm.
"Y-You..."
He stammered, a horrified look marring his face, as it was at that moment that he realized: He had fucked up.
Alex had told Vannesa about the fact that Lucious might have something suspicious on his body, and although he knew that Vannesa didn't say anything and played along, it was only until everything was over.
She would surely ask him how he knew about it later, but Alex had an answer prepared, and it would be that his spies helped him.
His mother knew about his connections after all, so she wouldn't doubt much after he said that, or so he thought.
Right now, however, the focus was on the black stone-like item in Vannesa's palm—an item that Lucious had been hiding for a while now.
"Devil energy..."
Vannesa, on the other hand, frowned, her gaze moving toward Alex.
'How did he know about this?'
With a speed fast enough for the archbishop to not notice anything, she did snatch the stone, but she didn't inspect what it was—she just grabbed the thing she saw him hiding behind his back.
It was now that she noticed what it was, especially the devil energy seeping out of that thing like it was bathed in devil blood.
"What?! Devil energy? That too, is something the archbishop of the holy church had?!"
Alex, standing a step behind Vannesa, hurriedly spoke in a dramatically shocked voice, his eyes widening in 'fear', when he saw Vannesa's frowning gaze moving at him.
Her questioning look was clearly asking for an answer, which he couldn't give right now, so he pulled everyone's attention toward the stone in Vannesa's hand.
"WHAT?! It was in the archbishop's possession?!"
"I-I feel a bit dizzy..."
"W-Wasn't he from the holy church…?"
"Wh-What is going to happen now?"
One after another, the children started to panic, unable to understand what to do as they were still young and had yet to know the real world's functioning.
They are supposed to go to different academies—a place that taught them everything—after awakening their talents; before that, they were still children.
Alex, on the other hand, ignored those exclamations filled with shock as he stepped toward Lucious, who had horror written over his face as he stared at the surroundings.
"You are stuck now, archbishop."
Alex spoke, before his eyes turned to look at his status panel shown by the artifact, causing Vannesa, Mira, and Lucious, who had their focus shifted at Alex when he spoke, to look at the same thing.
A sharp light passed through Alex's eyes, and all who saw it had a strange chill run down their spines, especially Lucious.
Alex didn't say anything though; he just turned his eyes toward Vannesa, who had a frosty look in her eyes.
He didn't need to tell her what he was referring to, nor did she require something like that from him.
She had her mind running around something like that as well, but she couldn't think of a way to not make it all turn annoying—something she finally found.
*Sling*
Her reaper flashed again, right in front of Lucious's neck, ready to pierce through, causing the guy to almost jump back in fright, but...
"Move an inch, and you'll never have the chance to do so again."
Vannesa's voice, dripping with bone-chilling coldness, stopped the guy in his tracks.
Lucious knew that without that item, he had no hope of defeating Vannesa.
Everyone in the surroundings tensed as the scene progressed—the sons and daughters of the maids and butlers of the manor, to be precise.
Mira was still staring at all of this with her dead eyes, not in the least bothered; the only change was that she was now a bit closer to Alex and Vannesa.
"W-What do you want?"
Lucious, who saw the situation, knew that he had no other choice but to comply with Vannesa's wishes, especially now that his cover was broken.
'I-I never wanted to be the one to deal with this mission!'
All he could do was cry about how unlucky he was to get this mission handed down.