Ascension of the Dark Seraph

"How was it?" Lucivar asked, his voice calm and composed—oblivious to the storm churning inside of Leandra right now. One that was violent and strong enough to worry the Gods. "Did you find anything quite interesting in there?"

Even though he seemed composed, there was a hint of irony.

He was the one used as a shield, so it would be meaningless if she didn't find anything.

But Leandra didn't give him an answer quickly.

Instead, she stared at Lucivar with a blank gaze, one that formed a frown on Lucivar's face.

"Hello? Did you find anything?" He repeated.

Just then, Leandra blinked—and nodded enthusiastically, "Yes, the chest you opened seemed to once contain powerful items… they left behind divine energies, so they must be divine materials. I don't know for sure, but they could be materials to create the Ending Needle."

"Really?" Lucivar tilted his head, surprised. "How do you know that?"

"Ravenna could feel it; her bloodline must've had ties with the realm of Gods," Leandra shrugged.

Upon hearing this, Lucivar's eyes widened slightly.

A reaction that didn't escape Leandra's gaze.

'Hmm… It made sense. Ravenna's bloodline does have a connection to the Gods.'

Recalling how heated Sha became whenever Ravenna's name was brought up, this doesn't surprise him too much. She has the bloodline of Surpanakha, an entity—who could seduce even the likes of Sutekh, so she could certainly feel divine energies.

Leandra's eyes narrowed, 'If Ravenna could see it, he could also see it, but he said nothing.'

"What do you want to do?" She asked as Lucivar raised a brow, asking what she meant without uttering a single word. "I mean, if those materials really are materials to create the Ending Needle, then there's a weapon that could kill you somewhere out there. Don't you want to retrieve it?"

"Even without you telling me to, I would've done it," Lucivar picked his ear, seemingly nonchalant. "It hadn't been that long since Master Tobias, Bakar, and Bob left us. I'm not going to burden the family with this when I have it under control."

"Just process what happened properly, and get back to your normal mental state." He added.

Just from earlier, it was clear that Leandra was still shaken up.

All of them were still shaken up, so they shouldn't think about this for the time being.

'Just process what happened…?' Leandra sneered inside. 'You want us to lower our guards, I know.'

Soon enough, Ravenna walked out and instantly made eye contact with Leandra.

She was still perplexed as to what Leandra said, but didn't show it to Lucivar.

"Are we done for tonight?" Nerissa approached from the gate, her face innocent.

Leandra couldn't help but clench her jaw the instant her gaze met Nerissa's face; knowing full well that she had already betrayed them, betrayed the family by siding with Lucivar, even though it was likely involuntary, was maddening. 'She should've warned us… told us he was aiming to kill us. If what we had ever truly mattered to her, she'd tell us. But clearly, our bond is nothing for her, too. Sher's already too far gone.'

"Let's look around one last time and then head back," Lucivar said, walking away to check the mansion.

It was already getting too late, and they had done enough for today.

Moments later.

After making one last sweep across the entire mansion to make sure—that there really wasn't anything for them to find, the family headed back to the academy. It had been a very long day, and most of them wanted nothing more than to hit the bed right now.

Upon arriving back at the student dormitory, the four of them walked out and stretched.

At this hour, the street was already empty except for a few Kalvins here and there.

Leandra, Nerissa, and Ravenna headed to the lobby while Lucivar stayed behind.

He leaned down and looked at the driver.

Under his gaze, the driver sweated a little as the tension rose like static.

Even though Lucivar had told him that he was going to be spared as long as he promised not to speak of anything that happened today, this parting moment was choking. It felt like Lucivar would kill him anyway, so there would be no loose ends.

"D-Do you forget something?" The driver stammered.

Hesitantly, he turned to look at Lucivar and smiled sheepishly.

His face was already as pale as a sheet of paper, and his heart pounded inside like a war drum.

As Lucivar's hand moved, he flinched instinctively.

But instead of doing what he thought, Lucivar only tapped on the door gently.

"Have a safe drive, and thanks for today."

Upon hearing this, the driver lowered his arms and looked at Lucivar, finding that he was smiling.

No malice behind that smile.

"A-Ah… right, no problem," He raised a hand, waving it awkwardly. "In that case, good night."

"Good night." Lucivar turned and walked away.

As soon as he did that, the driver wasted no time to step on the gas and zoomed across the street.

Meanwhile, Ravenna was following Leandra closely as she went to wait on the lift.

Questions still loomed inside her mind, and she needed the answers, but she knew that Leandra would not talk to her while Nerissa was around. Clearly, Leandra realized something earlier, and now she was completely focused at survival.

Upon stepping out on their floor, the three of them walked towards their room in silence.

Ravenna glanced at Nerissa and nodded, 'She didn't seem to suspect a thing. She's still clueless.'

Once the three of them made a turn, their eyes locked onto someone coming out of a room.

It was Sabrina.

Sabrina walked out carrying a fresh set of clothes—men's clothes, not her own, and they were all-black in color. The implication was unmistakable. If she was the one bringing them, then they could only be for one person: Lucivar.

"Have a good night," Sabrina bowed towards them and walked past.

"Wait."

Just then, Leandra called, stopping her dead in her tracks.

Sabrina turned around and tilted her head, "Yes?"

"Are those for Lucivar?" Leandra asked, but she already knew the answer. "It's late in the night. Where is he going?"

"I told you, didn't I…?" Lucivar appeared from around the corner, taking the fresh set of clothes from Sabrina, and then turned to look at Leandra. "I'm tying up loose ends. This one is the last one, so don't worry about it."

Upon hearing this, Leandra recalled the person in the car that Lucivar was talking to.

He said that he was hunting down the rest of the people from that night.

"In that case, I'll count on you." Leandra nodded.

But then, Nerissa took a step forward, her face twisted into slight concern, "Wait, this… this is the last one? There's nobody else after this, really? That can't be right, you've only been doing this for a couple of days!"

"Yes, the sooner the better." Lucivar shrugged as she wore the black jacket and beanie.

"No! No, the sooner is not better!" Nerissa retorted, but quickly paused when she realized what she was doing. She turned to look at Leandra and Ravenna—and saw both of them were looking at her weirdly. "I… I'll go on ahead."

Instead of lingering around, she quickly turned around and walked away.

"Oh," Lucivar's voice rang again. "Since Leandra already knew, I supposed there's no need for me to be secretive anymore. In a few days, we're going on a vacation, so pack your essentials. I'm finishing the arrangements, so I'll tell you about it later."

Not even waiting for Ravenna or Leandra to answer, Lucivar walked away.

No sleep for him tonight as he needed to go hunting.

Sabrina bowed again towards them before she chased after Lucivar, seemingly a part of the hunt.

Once the two of them were alone, Leandra sighed, "You see…? How dumb do they think we are?"

"Just what is happening?" Ravenna asked, following Leandra as she headed somewhere. "How did you come to realize that he's going to kill us? All I know is that he's handling the loose ends by hunting the people who were present that night."

"Having the family tied up in a scandal would put us in the spotlight. He didn't want that, so he's doing this," Leandra answered, not even bothering to stop and explain. "Master Tobias' death marked the start of his new life, and to fully be free to do whatever he wanted and reach his goals, he's going to kill us. We are the last thread binding him to the family, the very family that he was coaxed into."

"Him being nice… Him handling the family's affairs… It was all preparations for him to kill us during our vacation." She added, moving through the corridor—with wide strides. "He didn't even seem to be interested in finding the book. Perhaps, he already has the book, and was annoyed that we're trying to find it now."

Bob's last message… Lucivar got careless.

He wasn't expecting there to be a message in Bob's back pocket, and that led them to the book.

In fact, this might be the only lead that was actually true.

"You're saying he's being nice because he wanted to kill us? So, this is like… A farewell from him?"

"Yes. You felt that they were acting weird, and this is exactly why."

"No wonder… We were supposed to spend tonight together, away from the family. He wanted that, and I was shocked. But to think that this is a farewell… I don't believe it."

Ravenna's heart was aching at the realization.

Just earlier today, she watched Bob's corpse and even handled his burial, and now, another problem came to slap her across her face. The world is unfair; it's like the world was actively going against her today, and that's depressing.

"Where are we going right now?" She asked, finding that they weren't heading to one of their rooms.

Since Lucivar was away and Nerissa had made a mistake, this was their perfect moment to plan in peace.

But Leandra wasn't heading to their rooms.

Leandra took the torn page from her pocket and handed it to Ravenna, "I found this earlier, and I talked with Lucivar about it, and he said it might be a weapon that could kill him. I'm betting that it's bullshit. It's not a weapon that could kill him, but a weapon that is suitable for him. And when we luckily found the chest, it confirmed one possibility. Maybe the materials inside were to make the Ending Needle."

"Are we going to make it?"

"No, I'm guessing Master Tobias already made it."

"But if he made it, why didn't he use it on Lucivar? He died now because he didn't use it."

"And that's precisely why I think Lucivar lied… Master Tobias used it, but he didn't tell us. To find out whether it was the truth or not, we need to talk with Mirel."