Ascension of the Dark Seraph

Speaking with Mirel made Leandra even more certain of what she believed in.

And no matter what, she would not let Lucivar do what he wanted and slaughter them coldly.

Even though she didn't know what was inside Lucivar's mind and how he viewed them now, their lives aren't only worth an ornament to his awakening. No—they are more than ornaments to his story, a lot more than someone supporting him no matter what, as Master Tobias willed it.

A family is what Leandra wanted, but if that is not what Lucivar wanted, then so be it.

Despite being exhausted from the eventful day, Leandra couldn't sleep.

She spent the entire night thinking of possibilities of what Lucivar might be planning on the day of their vacation. On top of that, she also thought of ways that the family could possibly do to avoid the grim outcome ahead of them.

'I really want to kill him,' Leandra thought, burying her face against her pillow. 'I really wanted him to know that he's not invincible; that we're not weaklings that he could dispatch easily. But… that will only make me stoop to his level. Instead of killing him, taking the easy way out to the end of our family, I want to make him understand.'

Early in the morning, Leandra got out of bed, powering through the night with little to no rest.

She slept with one eye open, fearing that Lucivar might onto them somehow.

Fortunately, there was no attack.

And from Sabrina, who was handling breakfast, Lucivar was still knocked out cold.

As expected, the assassination of the last person involved with Vanessa's birthday went smoothly.

Lucivar had gotten overly strong—and used to killing, so there was nothing stopping him from killing someone as long as he put his mind into it. Just that alone made Leandra feel unbelievably nervous, but it was a matter of life and death.

She can't afford to be intimidated, or else her defeat would be certain.

Coincidentally, when she was about to head to Ravenna's room, she saw her around the corner.

It seemed both of them had the same exact idea.

"First of all, we need to figure out a time and a place for us to meet up," Leandra muttered as she, along with Ravenna, headed to the lobby, trying to find a good place for them to talk without interruptions. "If we want to survive, we have to think this through."

"I got that covered," Ravenna replied, taking out two phones from her pocket.

Seeing this, Leandra was taken aback.

She stared at Ravenna for a good moment before she smiled.

It seemed like her, Ravenna also couldn't sleep and decided to think about their situation.

"I heard from the students that our messages could be tracked by the Supreme House, but we don't need to worry about that since we're not plotting anything against their sovereignty," Ravenna handed her a phone. "Besides, Lucivar might be powerful and Godly, but he wouldn't be able to see into our texts. It is the beauty of technological advancement."

"Smart," Leandra smiled. "As long as we kept our phones close, it should be fine."

"What about Mirel?"

"I've prepared a phone for him. I'll give it to him when we meet."

Later that day, Lucivar came to them and informed them that the vacation would be in three days.

He talked about it right in front of everyone, including Mirel, and the moment he finished, he excused himself, departing the academy with Sabrina. There was one final matter to settle: meeting the informant who had revealed the locations of everyone involved that night.

It was a transaction, and Lucivar now needed to make the last payment.

Other than that, he said nothing more, but that doesn't bother the others at all.

As a matter of fact, Lucivar being busy was good for them as it was a form of distraction.

It allowed Ravenna to hand Mirel the phone without him knowing.

Of course, even though he wasn't around, she handed the phone to Mirel discreetly in case Lucivar had spying means like Master Tobias did. And once the three of them had their phones, the day blurred with them concocting a plan to survive Lucivar's ploy.

All three of them created a group and texts whenever they had the time.

Mirel frequently asked whether this was the right thing, whether Lucivar was really going to kill them.

Despite their explanations, he was still dubious about the situation.

But Leandra and Ravenna didn't blame him—at this moment, all of them were still shaken from what happened to Bob, Bakar, and Master Tobias. Now, they were about to lose two more family members, Lucivar and Nerissa.

Surely, it's not something easy to swallow—near-maddening even.

Nevertheless, the planning continues.

Nerissa was actively asking them to go with her to places, even refusing to go back to the academy, but this only made Leandra and Ravenna angrier inside. Neither of them could believe that Nerissa, the one whom they treated as the kindest younger sister, was fine with Lucivar killing them.

For appearance's sake, however, they accompanied Nerissa without showing as much as a crack.

Just like that, days blurred with the three of them texting and going out with Nerissa.

Lucivar wasn't a part of their daily lives anymore.

Most of the time, he went out to handle matters, which might as well be making sure the preparations to slaughter the family were air-tight. And that only made Leandra and Ravenna even more determined to go against him.

And when the time to depart for their vacation came, the plan was also solidified.

[Just like we planned, we're not going to be going in the car he prepared. Wait for ours.] Leandra texted.

[I already got the confirmation—the driver is coming.] Ravenna answered not even a few seconds later.

[I'm already in the lobby, and Lucivar wanted to say something. Come quick!] Mirel urged.

Upon seeing his message, Leandra's heart pounded.

It sounded serious, and she was afraid that Lucivar knew what they were planning already.

But that shouldn't be the case.

Nevertheless, she quickly took her bag and sprinted to the lobby.

Arriving there, Leandra scanned her eyes across the lobby and found Lucivar along with Mirel, Nerissa, and Sabrina standing outside the entrance. All of them were wearing loose and comfortable clothes, a façade of readiness for their vacation.

Leandra was tidying up her clothes when Ravenna came down.

"What's going on?"

"I don't know, but it seemed serious—the air around them seemed tense."

"I'm sure it's not about our plan; he wouldn't know. Come."

Ravenna led the way and met with the others outside.

She put on an excited smile, showing no crack of the planning inside her head, "Sabrina? You're really not coming? Even though you're not directly a part of the family, I think with the master gone, you're a part of us."

Upon hearing this, Sabrina stole a glance at Lucivar's stern face.

Then, she smiled acutely, "I can't come…"

"Sabrina is still under punishment. She won't be coming with us, so don't bother." Lucivar intervened.

Ravenna recalled Sabrina's mistake and shook her head as Lucivar was going overboard.

But then again, she has no say in this.

"I already arranged a driver," Ravenna said, deftly steering the conversation elsewhere as she turned to Lucivar. "I asked one of the staff last night to book a car and driver for today. I was too excited to wait, so I went ahead and did it. I hope you haven't already made the same arrangements."

"Huh?" Lucivar raised a brow. "I already did, though."

"Then what should we do? Are we going to separate cars since it'll be a waste since I already paid?"

"Sigh… Don't bother. I'll cancel mine."

Lucivar took out his phone and cancelled his driver before putting it away again.

Seeing this, Leandra and Ravenna exchanged a look as it went as planned.

For now, they could finally breathe a little easier. Since Lucivar hadn't argued the point, he clearly was not planning to act during the drive. Whatever scheme he was harboring would unfold when they arrived at their destination—exactly as Leandra and Ravenna had hoped.

"Lucivar, aren't you going to tell them?" Mirel suddenly said, his voice slightly trembling.

Upon hearing this, Leandra and Ravenna turned to Lucivar, recalling that Mirel told them that Lucivar wanted to tell them something.

As if he had forgotten, Lucivar snapped to the two, "I can't go with you guys right now. Something big came up. I don't remember if I had told you or not, but the avatar is making a move, and I need to deal with it and then go meet you guys there."

"It wouldn't take long, so I should be there a few hours later than you did." He added apologetically.

Ravenna's brows dipped into a frown.

'Wait a minute… Why do I feel like he's not trying to kill us?' She thought, confused at the situation, as the air seemed different. Not tense and filled with secretive bloodlust, but gloomy instead. 'Did we read it wrong? No, that can't be.'

She turned to Nerissa and found her looking down at the ground, unwilling to make eye contact.

And upon closer look, Ravenna could see her hands were shaking slightly.

"Since it involved the enemy avatar, I already sent Zibbo to go to the destination first to make sure—that it's safe," Lucivar then turned to Nerissa, placing a hand on her back. "Nerissa will be coming with me. I need her powers to deal with this new avatar."

Feeling the tap on her back, Nerissa raised her gaze and smiled, "I'll meet you guys later, okay?"

In the middle of the sentence, her voice cracked, but she quickly recovered.

'Is it because she's afraid of going against an avatar? It's understandable if she did.' Ravenna thought.

Something was odd, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it.

"How do we contact you?" Leandra asked, stepping forward. "How do we know if you're fine or not?"

"Really?" Lucivar smirked, eyes glistening with malice and confidence. "Who do you think I am? Don't worry about those kinds of menial things. I'm going to be fine. Besides, I have a plan in mind, and you—out of all people should already know by now… everything will always go as I planned."

Leandra's breath was caught when she heard this.

Even though Lucivar said it with hubris, not meaning anything behind what he said, the words seemed suspiciously tailored to give her a warning. One that made her nervousness spike off the charts. It made her question her plan all over again.

But they already thought of their plan perfectly.

Nothing should go wrong; Lucivar would not know what they had in store.

'Calm down… He's only saying that,' Leandra thought inside, forcing out a scoff through her narrow throat. "In that case, don't blame me if you die without any of us knowing. Since you're this confident, it would be really embarrassing if you really died."

"Heh, you wished that I'd die." Lucivar sneered and waved his hand.