The Guardian

Chapter 41: Disturbing

Walking along one of the most famous streets of Atlantis City during the night, a woman with a slim and well-groomed figure was walking along.

Bars, hotels, discos, nightclubs, and other types of buildings were scattered around.

As a city whose citizens were from different parts of the world, cultural diversity could be felt on this street.

Citizens from all kinds of countries were here preparing to enjoy their night in nightclubs with all kinds of different music as a premise.

The buildings glowed during this hectic night, and the woman could not help but hold back her smile.

If any student were present, they would recognize this woman as Professor Villacrés from history class.

Her smile was not because of the lively atmosphere and the bright lights that illuminated this night, but because she was getting closer to the person she loved.

Love...

Every time she saw him, every time she heard his voice, she couldn’t contain her emotions.

The desire to be by his side... To help him... To protect him... To love him for all eternity... That was the magnitude of her love.

That man, who was the owner of one of the most important nightclubs in the area, who had control of a gang, was the person she loved.

Professor Villacrés’s past history didn’t matter to her.

Her love... Her devoted affection that surpassed the limits of any other relationship was not related to material issues.

Holding back her emotion... Emotion similar to when she was young and met her husb...

Her train of thought stopped as Professor Villacrés approached the dark alley of the nightclub her lover owned.

At the back door, a figure was waiting for her.

A man in his thirties in a well-groomed, formal suit watched her arrive.

“Hello, darling,” said the man with a charming smile.

Professor Villacrés couldn’t help but be delighted to hear that tender phrase and to see his charming smile.

Without hesitation, she hugged him.

“I missed you,” Professor Villacrés murmured.

Feeling the warmth provided by his body made her feel relieved and protected.

How much did she love him?

“I’m sorry... Your plan failed... I thought you would succeed this time,” Professor Villacrés said in a weak and sad tone for her beloved’s failure.

Words or actions could not measure her level of love.

Once by her side, nothing and no one mattered.

Duties... Obligations... Only he mattered.

That was the reason she helped... She helped him out of love.

“It doesn’t matter, honey... Everything will be alright, as long as I have you by my side,” The man murmured, and caressing her back, he whispered. “It will be until death do us part.”

His tone was sincere and loving; Professor Villacrés felt she had heard that phrase before.

A unique phrase, spoken at an unparalleled moment in her life.

That was fifteen or sixteen years ago when she was getting married.....

“Do you remember when we first met?” the man asked, staring at her, waking her from her thoughts.

His eyes shining in a unique color, made Professor Villacrés tremble from the pure affection she felt.

At that important question, Professor Villacrés replied. “Does it matter?”

She certainly didn’t know that date.

Was it a few months or half a year ago?

There was no point in wondering about that.

The man smiled and nodded gently with a fond expression.

“It’s true it doesn’t matter... And it doesn’t matter that it failed either,” the man said without looking annoyed and taking Professor Villacrés’ hand, he stated. “My only goal is to become strong for you... To protect you.”

A frank tone and the man’s gaze were warm despite his momentary pause.

An expression of tenderness appeared in Professor Villacrés’ gaze, and gently taking her hand, they both walked into the nightclub.

The lonely and dark alley lost the bright, and tender atmosphere that those two people had generated before.

And at the bottom of the alley, in the darkest space where that darkness seemed tangible, a crack opened up, leaving two young women in sight.

“I didn’t expect her here,” Aurora murmured in a sincere tone.

“That’s not what’s important. What’s important is that it doesn’t look forced, but it felt weird,” Alice stated, looking at the door and seeing Aurora looking at her, she explained. “I’ve seen many kinds of ‘love’, but this one is weird.”

Her explanation had no proof and was purely instinctual.

However, Aurora felt the same way and reached a simple conclusion.

“This is not a job we can handle. If an Academy teacher is involved, it is Director Vincent’s duty to take care of it as a personal matter,” Aurora stated in a serious tone.

The director of the institution was supposed to take care of matters that provoked its members, and this particular matter was the same.

Alice nodded without giving it too much importance.

Sending the information she had got from the person they were looking for and the recent incident, Aurora couldn’t help but shake her head.

She had never expected that on the first day she would come to investigate her target, she would find herself in this situation.

******

Director Vincent floated, paying attention to one building in particular.

Aurora’s report had reached him, and Director Vincent moved at an incredible speed with his air magic and arrived within minutes.

Even so, he only created dozens of air bursts distorting his surroundings to hide in the night, and without hesitation, he looked at his holographic clock.

“Celeste Villacrés. Forty years old, born in Madrid, Spain. She married when she turned twenty-five, no children. At the beginning of the year, she started a divorce process with her current ex-husband, with no apparent causes. Her performance as a teacher diminished despite her professorship in Earth History and Terra nova, along with her various master’s degrees,” Director Vincent read and, with a sigh, muttered. “I thought her poor performance was because of her divorce.”

Professor Villacrés was always a hardworking woman and very dedicated to her profession, but after her divorce, her performance declined quite a bit.

So much so that a trip was set up just to conduct some interviews.

At the time, Director Vincent didn’t think much of it and only used her to take care of the mastermind and the person behind the grimoire.

He never expected that she would end up helping the person who sought to take his grimoire.

Looking through the building, as the air around him twisted, following his will, Director Vincent was able to see what was going on inside.

Perhaps in the best way that could be described was feeling through the air.

He could hear and feel everything that was going on inside the building just by wanting to.

He was an SS Rank, a Grand Archmage of Air magic... This kind of existence was assimilating into the world.

Direct Vincent had assimilated with the air element... Not only controlling this homogeneous mixture of gases that constituted the earth’s atmosphere but in a sense, becoming it.

The stronger the humans became, whether by magical or psionic energy, the more they ‘evolved’... That’s how it was named by the scientists.

Listening to all that was going on inside the building, Director Vincent sighed.

With his sigh, he became a gust of air that rushed through the windows of the building and headed towards his target, passing through corridors, doors and ignoring the security guards.

In just a few moments, he found himself in an apartment in that building where a man and a woman were cooking.

According to the report, the man was Yann Claeys, a thirty-year-old European and a Rank A psionic who owned one of the most important nightclubs in the area. Still, in the shadows, he controlled a gang that allowed him to protect himself from all his adversaries.

No matter if Atlantis City was safe, on the dark side of the city, there would always be crime and dangers that were difficult to discover.

However, Yann Claeys was a clean man... If it wasn’t for his last few months.

Before the history class happened, Yann Claeys traveled to Greece to take care of some private business, where he was presumed to have contacts there.

Contacts who were not as cautious as he was and whose information could be got, revealing that this contact introduced him to Yann Claeys, a group of sectarians.

Cultists who were the same ones who attacked the students’ hotel.

And in this last dungeon case, it was revealed that the one who had leaked the information of the deal that another gang group would have with demons in the abandoned port was a member of Yann Claeys’ gang.

This man would have been disconnected from the latest affair had it not been for Aurora and Alice’s capture of the demon, along with the subsequent interrogation they conducted so perfectly.

He had leaked another gang’s information to hide his real team.

Now this man was...

“Oh, honey, your food is delicious,” said the man, hugging Professor Villacrés from behind.

His tone was simple and loving, which made Professor Villacrés rejoice, but for Director Vincent, it was very different.

This wasn’t love; it was just...

“I love you, sweetheart,” The man declared as he kissed her; at the same time, a slight psionic disturbance was generated in his fingers as he touched the woman.

Professor Villacres’ eyes lit up with pure affection, and she smiled lovingly.

Just as vampires or succubi had an innate ‘charm’ ability, some skilled psionics could generate the same feeling by affecting people’s minds.

A psionic singer of great fame had a similar ability with which through her voice, she could charm or convey the emotions she wanted with her songs... Only in this case, it was completely invasive.

This was just a mental invasion by that man.

“This is enough,” said Director Vincent, revealing himself at her side and not caring that Professor Villacrés turned pale at the sight of him, declared. “I’ll take care of both of you now.”

“Try,” roared the man, pushing Professor Villacrés aside to cover her back and launched a mental attack towards Director Vincent.

An A-Rank Psionic could generate mental attacks at high speed, but when faced with an SS-Rank.

“...” Director Vincent did nothing, but his body’s natural barrier repelled that attack as if it was a child’s play.

Shaking his finger, the man grabbed his throat as if he was short of oxygen and fell to the floor, seeking to breathe.

With his control, he was only preventing him from being able to get the necessary oxygen the humans needed.

“No! Vincent, please... It’s my fault... It’s my fault... Forgive him!” cried Professor Villacrés in panic and fear.

“No, it’s not your fault. Maybe he took advantage after your divorce or maybe before. Anyway, he will be judged by the authorities and...”

“Divorce? I was never married!” Interrupted Professor Villacrés, and without knowing what Director Vincent was talking about, she announced. “This is the first man I ever loved!”

Hearing those words, Director Vincent frowned and, as he was about to speak, he felt a slight disturbance.

It was so subtle, so minuscule that it was almost impossible for him to notice.

That disturbance was not magical; it was a remnant of psionic energy that what made it almost impossible for him to feel it.

“...” Despite that, he noticed it.

And at the exact moment he noticed it, he made the man breathe again, but it was too late.

“Yann!” Professor Villacrés shouted as she saw the man lay still as if he were dead.

Only this time, he was breathing irregularly, but could not respond to any stimulus that Professor Villacrés desperately performed.

Director Vincent realized what had happened.

That man had gone into a coma... The cause was not the lack of oxygen in his brain that resulted in a coma, but it was an external cause.

As a Grand Archmage of SS Rank, Director Vincent had perfect control of his abilities and only used his abilities enough to render the man immobile and cause him to pass out.

That was his small revenge for endangering his students... However, that small revenge ended up with one person in a coma and a major problem.

“This is disturbing...” Director Vincent muttered.

An outside force had intervened... A force that could not be easily ignored.