Journey of the Son of Ares

The surrounding night seemed to get darker as Aurelius' heartbeat drummed in his ears. He stood up and ignored Cade, trying to grab a hold of him. Walking past her, he took her tea mug. Next, with a quick movement, the tea went into the bush and the mug went along with Aurelius' arm as he gathered momentum.

Before Balgair managed to react, Aurelius had hurled the mug at his face as hard as he could with his injured body, the piece of porcelain shattering right as it came to touch the low life's face. Balgair stumbled back and fell with a loud yelp. It seemed he'd been prepared with reinforcement. Otherwise, he would've died.

He didn't have the chance to get up, though, as Aurelius put a knee to his chest and delivered his fist to Balgair's cheek, where the mug had shattered. The area already had multiple cuts on it already from the shards, but it was nothing compared to the damage that was to follow.

Balgair tried defending with his forearms while he was getting pummeled on his back, but Aurelius was simply too strong. He ripped Balgair's guard wide open and hurled full-loaded strikes right at Balgair's nose and cheeks. Just a couple of hits later, Balgair stopped fighting back. It may have been because of his inability to do so, or him just giving up. Either way, Aurelius couldn't care less.

The back of Balgair's head bumped against the ground with each hit, and a depression was beginning to form.

Abruptly, the strikes stopped and silence descended.

Cade was there, holding Aurelius' arms behind his back. "That's enough."

Aurelius sucked in a few breaths before slowly looking over his shoulder with glinting, teary eyes. As his body relaxed, Cade let him loose and inspected Balgair.

Aurelius stood up and walked in a circle, his mind in a frenzy. His gaze traveled to Balgair whose face was covered in blood and his nose flat.

"He's still breathing," Cade reported.

A painful cough came from Balgair. "Barely," he managed to say.

Aurelius got onto his knees next to Balgair in a panic. "I— I'm sorry. I didn't mean to."

Balgair wiped his face with his hand before, his expression twisting in pain when his nose was touched. "Didn't... mean to? Tch. Psycho," he said, his voice as flat as his nose, both influencing each other.

"Don't worry. It'll heal," Cade assured, her gaze on his nose. "Aleyah can treat you." Cade raised her head to look at the entrance to the backyard, where Aleyah stood stiff as a statue.

Aurelius looked to Aleyah. Aleyah didn't look back. On the contrary, she seemed to avoid his gaze intentionally. Aurelius bit his lip as he disheveled his own hair.

'Why? Why did you do that? You can't just launch at people. What's wrong with you?' he thought.

"Ah, don't look so concerned," Balgair commented as Cade was taking a closer look at his injuries.

Then Cade leaned away and looked down on him. "Yeah, Aurelius really shouldn't be concerned, and neither should I. So how about you tell us what really happened, and I decide if I want you to live?"

Aurelius cautiously opened his mouth. "That's right. Tell us why you betrayed us."

"I betrayed you..." Balgair started rolling his head to direct his gaze at Aurelius, "because I wanted to torture Laen to death, and I knew you wouldn't let me. I bet you figured that much out already based on that conversation of ours in the café."

"We did. So why are you here now? To try using us again?" Aurelius asked.

"I didn't do it," Balgair said sharply, every word having a sharp edge to it. "I did not torture him. I realized it was useless. Meant nothing."

"You expect us to believe that?" Cade asked. "After all the trouble you went through to get him?"

"No, I don't expect you to believe it. I came here expecting this. Perhaps I just really like being abused," Balgair said with his usual snarky, sarcastic tone. "I took from myself everything I lived for, only to come here... because—ah, am I really going to spell it out for you? I am here because you are the only people I have. And I did, maybe, in some sense, enjoy the little time we spent together. Okay?" Balgair said, his voice cracking a little here and there.

Maybe it would've been cute if his face wasn't flat, bloated, and drenched in blood.

A moment of silence followed Balgair's words. Aurelius and Cade looked at each other with complicated gazes. Balgair widened his eyes, seeming to scream internally for someone to say something.

It was Cade who took the opportunity. "The gang's leader, Laen, what did he do to you?"

Balgair's face twisted. "Do you really have to know?" Everyone remained quiet, so he went on begrudgingly. "He took everything from me, okay? Laen killed everyone I cared for. Sure, I wasn't that close to them, and they were just using, but I thought that all relationships worked that way. They were all I had. Then he took me prisoner. Do I need to elaborate more than that?"

"Who were those people?" Cade asked.

Balgair let out an exhausted laugh, his eyes glinting. "We were just some little gang of petty criminals, and Laen slaughtered us for being on his territory or something. I only survived because of his whims."

Cade was about to open her mouth again when Aurelius butted in. "Ah, I think that's enough."

Balgair and Cade both looked at him, their eyes asking for his decision.

"I believe that he didn't do it," he said, looking at Cade. "We'll keep a closer eye on him in the future, so he won't be able to do what he did again. He also doesn't seem to have any other motive to betray us anymore. The Boeria branch was annihilated anyway, too, so our objective was achieved. No harm came to us this time, and I don't think Balgair could have enemies powerful enough to cause us real trouble, so if he betrays us again, we can simply cut him loose for good."

"Nice thinking there," Balgair said with a wink.

Cade looked down at Balgair and then up at Aurelius. "Well, I guess our best choice now is to start with a clean slate."

Aurelius smiled faintly. "Yeah. A new beginning."

Balgair gave a pained laugh. "And here I thought my life was over."

***

"Sir, a letter came in," a young man with small round glasses with golden frames said as he entered.

The room was an office at the top of one of the highest buildings in all of Mircrest, and in it was the manager of the 4th largest Numen branch.

"From whom?" the man with slick blond hair asked as he turned to face the door.

"The Ruler of Mircrest, Gadreel, Sir," the young man said, his words slipping out of his mouth at an unusually fast rate.

"Have you opened it?"

"Of course not, Sir," the young man said as he strode to his boss' desk in a hurry.

"Why not. You are my assistant, are you not?"

The young man nodded. "Yes, but I couldn't. This is Gadreel we speak of."

The man took the letter into his hands and looked at it briefly before looking up. "I have told you not to idolize the brat, have I not?"

The young man's mouth opened wide. "Sir, what if someone hears?"

"Tch. Like someone would," the man said, leaning back in his chair. "Gadreel is a plague. He has no business sense. He's whimsical and dramatic."

"But you supported him when he faced William."

"That was because I saw his potential, but now it has become clear he does not intend to use his superior intellect for anything truly intellectual. And to top it off, he's a coward. He even hides his scar to keep up appearances." He then opened the latter and read its contents. "It seems his whims have taken him again. The Rulers' Banquet has been moved up in the calendar. Instead of taking place in the middle of the year, it will be held just a few months from now, barely over a quarter into the year."

"Will you take me with you this time?" The youth asked, a mix of fear and excitement in his voice.

"If you want to come, sure. But know that you will be outside the dining hall for the entire duration. Though it would be good for you to meet the others within the top ten branch managers, you'll only get to exchange a few words after the banquet."

"Thank you. I promise not to cause you any trouble."

"Yes, I know," the man said, shaking his head and waving the young man off.

Right as the boy was at the door, however, the man called out to him, "Opis, do remember not to engage the number one branch manager. Franz of Acelot would likely kill himself without hesitation if Gadreel wished it, and he's much more perceptive and clever than many think."

"Of course," the young man said with a deep nod.

"I cannot protect you from the other branch managers, so do your best not to offend anyone," the man said, raising a hand and flicking his wrist with an indifferent expression. "In Numen, if you make one mistake, you're dead."