I Alone Am The SSS-Rank Regressor

***

As Mikhail was exiting the messing halls, he saw a familiar figure in front of him.

His grey eyes were already staring at him, as if waiting for him for quite a while.

"Lord Commander." Mikhail nodded, paying his respects to Vlahovic.

He knew that he had been outside but didn't show it.

It was no wonder the chatter had died down.

Vlahovic nodded, accepting Mikhail's greeting.

"Mikhail, you are needed by Master Avalon in his quarters right now."

Mikhail tried to hide the annoyance in his face.

He was expecting this but it would have been better if they hadn't linked him at all.

'Well, nothing I can do.'

"Oh, what for?" He asked, feigning ignorance.

"A squadron leader was found dead on a route nearby yours. His body was totally torn by monst-"

"Huh?" Mikhail was unable to hide his surprise, causing Vlahovic to raise an eyebrow.

Masking his emotions, he quickly excused himself from the suspicion.

"I was taken aback by the news of someone's death by monsters. The ones I heard were quickly taken care of by me."

"Oh. Well, it is unfortunate and all the while suspicious that we weren't able to sense it quickly enough."

Mikhail nodded but inside he was just as confused.

'Monster marks? There is no way they thought of those marks on the man's body as a monster's marks.'

Either the camp was too dumb or the Silent Pact had forced monsters to attack the man's body to cover their own marks.

It was probably that.

Unfortunately, if they did that then they would have definitely found Mikhail's involvement too.

It wasn't a problem but it made his work more tougher as the group would now be more careful with their operations.

"You are our only clue to what happened so I hope you'll cooperate. Taking aside your issues with Avalon." Vlahovic looked him in the eye.

Matching his stare, Mikhail sighed.

"It's fine, it's his issues with me, not me with him," Mikhail shrugged.

He was right. 

The Master of Security, Avalon, also among the two masters that were glaring at him in the morning, had unnecessary issues with him.

Whenever Mikhail used to perform well in training or defeat his guards, the man punished him.

Unfortunately, the black-haired boy could only suffer as he was a Master.

Fortunately, he was mostly safe from his major threats because of Vlahovic.

"That's all." Vlahovic tapped his stick, disappearing into thin air.

'Well, here we go.' Mikhail prepared himself for a tiring interrogation session.

***

[After 2 Days]

Mikhail stood in the castle's central ground, with his squadmates.

His eyes swept around the area as his friends trained in front of him.

He wasn't just preparing himself with his training, he was still trying to figure out the traitor from the academy.

'Who could it be?'

For the past 2 days, everything had just died down. No suspicious behavior or anything.

It was as if now they were just waiting for the main event.

In better terms, only 6 days.

Looking at how slacked these people were, Mikhail wished he could all force them to train all day.

This was going to be their cause of death in the coming battle.

They were men of the hold, people who were supposed to protect this damn wall.

Yet, you had people looking fatter than the royal pigs here.

As he was about to turn back to his teammates, Mikhail was tapped on his shoulder from behind.

Turning, he saw a group of 5 people behind him.

Just from a glance, he could tell they were strong but their faces told a different type of strength.

Paid strength.

Mikhail looked up above on the bridge overlooking the castle grounds, ignoring the five.

There he was.

With curly black hair with a touch of gray at their tips now and a scrawny face that was screaming displeasure.

Master Avalon, staring right back at him.

These five worked under him and probably came to him to try and interfere as always.

"What do you want?" Mikhail asked, getting straight to the point.

"You must be the punk right, the one who's always on Vlahovic's dickroll," The man neared him.

Mikhail could smell alcohol off of him, he was drunk. He smelled like he hadn't taken a bath in a week.

Usually, words like what he had just said about some higher up would get you executed but not on the Ironhold.

Vlahovic knew about it and didn't mind it too. He knew these weren't civilized people to begin with.

As for why he said it, it was known to everyone that Vlahovic favored Mikhail.

They said it was because of his strength but Mikhail himself didn't know.

The man had been looking after him since he had come here as a kid.

"Ay, are ya deaf you asshole?" The man tried to push him back.

Unfortunately for him, Mikhail was quick to react, holding his arm in place.

One of Avalon's common tactics. To try and provoke them back into attacking.

Afraid that it was too easily seen by all of them now.

"I don't think your words relate to what I asked you first. You can either answer me or leave," He answered calmly, letting his hand go.

The man sneered with rage.

"Shut up bastard, I don't take orders from you. If ya aren't afraid, why not take me to the sword ay? Ya afraid?" He roared, attracting the attention of even others now.

Mikhail sighed, already knowing where this was going.

Unfortunately, he wasn't falling for the bait as always.

"No-"

"Why are you refusing Mikhail? Is the strongest squadron commander afraid to take on a mere nobody now?"

A familiar but annoying voice interrupted Mikhail from his rejection.

Looking up, he saw those dirty brown eyes looking back at him.

Again though, this wasn't going to convince him.

His squadron didn't even bother to look. They already knew this was normal for him.

He was a day 1 target for Avalon.

As Mikhail was about to reject them again though, a sudden idea struck his mind.

From every day since he had regressed back here, he had been training.

But not once had he been tested in a real battle like his past life. The man from before barely even counted.

He needed some real challenge, where he could test his [Essentia].

And what better way than to experiment on the pig in front of him.

Avalon's goons were always trying to kill him anyways, so what better option could he have?

And so, he grabbed the steel sword next to him, ignoring the training wooden ones.

He threw it to the man, surprising even Avalon along with everyone in the process.

"Alright, I guess I can take you on for a good beating."