Leuko - Blind to the Sunlight

Chapter 13: The Sin of Ignorance

Nurse Joy slowly closed the door behind her before covering her face with her hand while pushing a deep sigh.

She wanted nothing more than to heal Luciel from all the injuries he endured, including the mental one.

But she knew that her prayer wouldn't be heard, so she would do what she could to at least make Luciel earn the joy he deserved.

However, she must first attempt her duty, or else others might also get hurt. She took a deep breath before reaching into her pocket and took out her phone.

It rang one time before the respondent answered her call.

'Weird, she doesn't take this much time to respond usually.' Such a thought passed through her mind, but she discarded it in favour of listening to the call.

"Yes Kanjo Joy? Anything I can help you with." A feminine voice responded to the call with a hint of tiredness in her voice.

"Yes Miss Geeta, I'm here to make an updated report on Luciel's situation."

"I see, is he doing well?"

"…he would need more treatment, but most importantly he will need some mental support…a lot of it."

"…this…I would do my best to assure this need…anything else he would need?"

"Yes, he is also a…wait? Need? Don't you want to know more about him first?"

"The council has reached a consensus that we will agree to every demand of the King of Danu as long as it is within the limit of the reasonable."

"Oh…then for now the only thing he wants is to appreciate his life and everything it can offer him."

The phone stayed silent for a moment. "I see, thanks for your information, is there anything else that is worth mentioning?"

"Yes, we need to raise his rank of esper from rank 8 to rank 10, he is without any doubt an Archon."

"…I doubted as such, can you assure me he can at least control them enough to not harm the other student? We were able to justify the harm done to the candidates during the exam by blaming Volo, but we won't be able to continue to do so if he causes more problems."

"I believe there should be no problem about that. When he is in a calm state, his halo has a much weaker effect, probably strong enough to distribute those with a weak will, but I doubt any of those were able to succeed with the challenge Volo added."

"Very well, any information on the type he is?"

"…I hoped it was ghost type…but it not."

"You hoped? Is there something wrong with his current type? Don't tell me it's a flying esper!"

"No, no, it's not a flying esper, it's not that urgent."

"Oh, then sorry for my outburst, what is the problem then."

"He's dead." 

Geeta immediately turned silent, but Joy still waited patiently for an answer.

"I'm sorry to make you repeat, but can you elaborate on that?" Geeta said with an hint of concern in her voice.

"Luciel's heart has never beaten by itself since his conception, Luciel is the one to manually beat it to keep his organism working."

"He...how…no…is it painful?"

Joy bit down her lip in regret before answering. "Yes, according to him, it's comparable to someone touching and compressing your organ directly without giving you any anesthesia. Apparently, he stops it from beating when he wants to fall asleep...but it brings him a different type of pain."

"…I will see if I can find a way to fix it…maybe Volo knows something."

Even if Geeta couldn't see her face, she knew that Joy just frowned at the mention of the name.

"Do we really have to? I'm sure we can find a better source of information than that."

"Sadly it is not possible, as all the main clans are currently mad at us for most of their candidate failing. So Volo is currently the only one who has any information about a mystic way to heal him."

"I don't like it, Volo seems to have a plan for him, and the last time he had any plan, a whole country got evaporated off the map!"

"Miss Kanjo…if you prefer, I can try another way to find information…I could agree to some demand of the clan concerning the academy…I'm sure in exchange they would at least be willing to give us what esper type he is." Geeta said hesitantly.

Joy wanted to accept the proposition immediately, but she stopped to think about it. 

'Whatever he has planned for Luciel cannot be good at all!'

'But at the same time, Luciel is in considerable pain that no child should ever experience."

'But he will probably cause him even more pain if I allow him!'

'…but maybe it wouldn't change a thing…maybe Volo will have his way no matter what I say now…I might as well just give hope for Luciel to not suffer again.'

'And even if we manage to make a deal with these clans, their information will never be as good as the one of Volo…'

"…No… it's fine, you can ask Volo…just make sure to tell him these words.

If you ever hurt Luciel again, I will make sure to find a way to make you feel pain again." She said calmly before hanging up her phone.

She audibly sighed before walking toward the kitchen.

'Luciel wanted poképuff didn't he? I should make some for him then. Maybe it will help him change his mind after what he just learned.'

Just this thought made her smile as she moved toward the kitchen, but it immediately turned upside down when she saw the door of the kitchen open.

'Why is it open? Did someone infiltrate the building?' Nurse Joy wondered when her eyes immediately widened.

'Oh no, I forgot about her.'

She quickly walked inside the kitchen hoping she was wrong, but her fear only got confirmed after seeing the state it was in.

Each cabinet, every freezer, the oven, and even the oven had their door open, and that was only if they were lucky enough to stay attached,

The oven seemed to have suffered an even more serious burn than the last time she looked at it, except that it was somehow covered in sand. 

Wait! It's still open!

Nurse Joy realize tried to run toward it to close it, but she almost lost her footing while doing so.

She looked down just to realize the floor was covered with soup, and near her was the pot that was completely spilled on the floor.

She took back her footing and closed the oven before it could explode and hurt the one who caused this mayhem.

She looked at her side, just to see the trash filled with fresh vegetables or berries, some purple smoke was also currently burning them.

In fact, among all the plates in this kitchen, the only one spared was the poképuff pastry that rested on the table.

But this wasn't what caught Joy's worry, it was instead the giant pile of chairs in the middle that clearly looked unstable, yet a child still used it to climb up to the ceiling that had for some reason a hole in it. 

But even that wasn't enough for her to reach it completely, so instead she lifted her pokemon to look inside the hole.

"Do you see any ice cream Nibble?!"

"Gible!"

"I still don't understand you!" Cynthia screamed as she tried to stand on the tip of her toes.

However, this was the drop to spilled the vase, and the structure fell on itself. 

"Ah!" Cynthia started to fall down, but just before she could hit the ground, Joy Chansey was able to catch her.

Cynthia looked confused before looking at the pokemon who caught her with eyes filled with wonder. "Are you a scope of ice cream!?" 

The Chansey was shocked, before looking at himself. She was forced to agree that she was indeed shaped like an ice cream ball.

"Miss Cynthia, may I know what you did with my kitchen?" Joy said extremely calmly, but a deep anger was barely hidden in it.

But Cynthia didn't even notice it as she looked at her with indignation. "There's no ice cream here! I searched everywhere and I didn't find a single one! You lied to me!"

"…was that your reason for making this previously neatly cleaned kitchen into a pandemonium?"

"Of course not! That's just because I searched for the ice cream. If I wanted to make a mess you wouldn't even be able to find the door!"

Joy looked silently at Cynthia before throwing her a gentle smile. "Well then, let's get to it."

"Let's get to what? Making ice cream?!"

"The cleaning session of course."

Cynthia looked at Joy in horror, and finally, she understood she wouldn't leave this place in one piece. 

She tries to run away by jumping out of the hand of Chansey, but before she can reach the door, Joy takes her clothes.

"UNHAND ME YOU VILE WOMAN!" 

"Why, I thought you were the best, surely someone as good as you won't have any problem doing such a menial task?"

"NOOOOOOOOOO!"

***

Geeta slowly deposed her phone on her desk just beside a giant pile of paper. She caressed her eyebrow in exhaustion, she was already tired from filling all of these complaints from a bunch of fools, and now she just learned Luciel was an Archon…and also somehow death? 

She was currently dealing with all the complaints the test generated, but all of them only came from the low-level investor, so at least it wasn't such a big issue. But to assure the reputation of this academy, it was her duty as a dean to deal with them. 

Some ranged from complaints about the injury their kid suffered to receive compensation, and some even ordered that they destroy the Zenith Academy. 

However, the most popular complaint was without any doubt the existence of Volo and his interference inside the academy.

'Not like any of us want him here.'

She at least felt lucky that there was almost no one near the Drattak when it went into a rampage, but she was still concerned about dealing with the complaint of two great clans these kids belonged to.

Dealing with low investors was fine, but it was a whole other story, as of now none were petty enough to actually fill a complaint, but if they had some real legal ground on them, it would cause some serious issues.

But to her joy and dismay, none of these clans cared about Raihan and Wallace. As sad as she felt for these two kids about this fact, she was still relieved that she didn't have to deal with their true fury.

However, a complaint was thrown by the family member of the third member, but more than a complaint, it was practically more of a begging to help her niece. This was the only request that made her feel bad, as all the other complaints drained all of her pity to replace it with disgust.

Because the majority of these papers were sprinkled with veiled threats or some 'merciful' solution of letting their kid join the academy or asking her to leave her position to instead make them have control in the administration of the school.

She agreed to some demands that were at least reasonable, as she didn't want to lose all of their investors, despite that even combined, the money they offered the academy paled in comparison to the financing of the government.

However, some simply didn't leave her any choice as their behaviour and ideologies would cause more harm to the academy than their money could help.

Especially the one she was currently reading that ordered her to step down and expel all students who came from Galar.

'Old fool, they couldn't even send them by pokemail, they just had to throw them by paper.' Was what Geeta thought as she threw the last complaint she had to deal with. 

Geeta rubbed her eyes which already had dark circles around them, proof that she had stayed late to deal with these foolishness of people who still believed their interest mattered.

Yet she didn't leave her office despite the fact that everyone else in the council had already left to go to sleep.

The worst was that she already had another problem on her plate, the arrival of another archon in the academy. Not only that, but he was also dead and keeping himself alive through horrible suffering.

She really didn't like this idea, but she knew Joy would never lie about something like that, so it meant it was true. But what she dreaded the most was the context behind his condition. 

He was an Archon, a being of extreme power, yet he was reduced to a state where he could only run away from his own kingdom. Hide to the point where his file was practically empty, with only his name and gender.

'No, I suppose we now know who his father is…the Emperor of the Barren. So he had children?'

Not a lot was known about this Emperor, except that he was the one who gave himself this title and moved to Danu where he self-proclaimed himself as a king. When he declared Danu independence, most ignored him, but others tried to make him pay for his insolence…none came back. At this point, the war was still assumed to go on for a long time, so they let him have it. There was nothing precious on this island anyway.

Until the war ended, each nation was at loss on what to do.

After multiple considerations on how to never reproduce this tragedy ever again, they decided to build this academy, the way they were supposed to present it was that they would train children with war veterans in the art of battling with their pokemons so that instead of making large-scale war,, each extra-continental conflict will be decided by a single pokemon battle between only two pokemon wielder. 

But as no nation trusted each other enough to not sabotage the education of the youngster from their own country, they decided to place the academy in a region that was not controlled by any of the major nations.

It was at this moment that the island of Danu gathered much more attention, as not only was it far away from the influence of each nation, but it also had an ecosystem suitable for the training of pokemon.

There was only one problem, this island had already an owner, and he really didn't want to let it go. Neither were the inhabitants of this island in fact, that considered this place as their sanctuary that should not be defiled by invaders.

Evidently, if they only wanted to take the island, they had more than enough power to force them out, but they couldn't make a step forward in peace if they started it with a bloodbath, so they tried to negotiate with the Emperor of the Desolate, but he was impossible to convince.

This is why Geeta suspected that one region decided to simply assassinate him, as one day they found out he was found dead in his house, a look of horror on his face.

As offended as Geeta was by this action, she decided to keep quiet so as to not worsen the situation.

And it was probably the right move, as the refugees on Danu suddenly became very submissive and almost begged them to let them leave, as apparently this island was now cursed by the Bringer of Eclipse.

Just to make sure this island truly wasn't, Volo, as a professional in any mystical event, was sent to investigate, but the report was simply that the resident just lost their mind at the death of their leader.

In retrospect, maybe it would have been wiser to send more investigators than only Volo...as this caused him to be interested in this project, to the point he imposed himself inside the Academy council.

Suddenly, the door of her office opened, so she posed down the copy of her file to look at the new arrival.

It was Volo who walked inside the office with his hand in his pocket.

"The task is done, can I leave now?" Volo said in a tired tone, yet his appearance still looked more relaxed than Geeata's despite having a much harder task.

"Did you fix the ecosystem?" 

Indeed, as Spiritomb was under Volo's care, it was his task to correct its mistake. Not only was he the one who had to pay for all the damage he caused, but the biggest problem was that he killed an apex pokemon without replacing it, which led to a void in the power balance of Danu. If it was left unattended, the pokemon would start to fight among themselves for the territory. The last thing Geeta wanted was for a stampede of pokemon to happen because the weaker ones fled the actual territorial fight, especially when the student hadn't even started their education.

"I put Spiritomb to the task, now he will act as the apex pokemon until I finish training its replacement." Volo took out from his bag a pokeball that revealed a blue pokemon with two little feet and two small fangs on its side.

But Geeta didn't concern herself with that. "Why did you leave this living disaster to take care of the problem, I think he already proved himself to be unreliable."

"Hey, I know he caused some little trouble, but he can still be reliable when he needs to be."

But Geeta clearly did not believe him. "Did you believe the same thing when he almost killed a student?"

"You're so hard on him, it's not his fault that he's still immature and brash, he was barely born 30 478 years ago!"

"Maybe in your perspective he is young, but for us, mortal, this is a considerable age where maturity is expected."

"Ah, little detail," Volo said jokingly, but noticing Geeta was still looking at him warily, he gained a more serious expression. "Alright, my attack weakened him a lot, and I put him in his sealed state as a punishment. In other words, he doesn't have the power to cause trouble now. Just accept this, because this is the most I'm willing to do to my friend, understood?"

Geeta's brow eased as she relaxed on her chair, finally taking a look toward the pokeball Volo held.

"A Bagon?"

"Yeah, I'm going to make this guy evolve into a Drattak so it can take the place of its dad or uncle or whatever its relationship with the previous leader was." Volo shrugged as he put the ball back in his bag.

"You really think you will be able to make this pokemon become strong enough to replace an elder that stood on this island for generations?"

"This is barely a challenge for me, it should be done in 3 years at most."

"I see, then at least use this opportunity to show the new student how to do it."

Volo looked at her in surprise. "I mean, I didn't plan to…am I obliged to do it? It kind of a bother."

"Yes, you are."

"Tch, fine. I will show them my amazing training technique that consists of not being a failure. Can I go now?"

Geeta was about to agree, before remembering about Luciel's file. "Not now, I still need your help about something."

"Oh come on! It's stop acting like I have nothing else to do! Even thought you're right," Volo complained but still approached Geeta's desk before sitting on the chair in front of it.

He glanced at the paper that lay in front of him and even took one. "Who is that? A kid that passed the exam?"

Geeta glanced at the paper Volo held before frowning. "This is Yellow, a student from Kanto. And to answer your question, she technically didn't pass as she fainted during the test, but as this was caused by a mistake on our part, I decided to let her enter."

"Ah right, I remember her now, too bad it had to happen to a girl like her."

Geeta raised an eyebrow at Volo's comment. 'Is he actually feeling sorry for someone for once?'

"If only the beam could have connected with her face, we wouldn't have to let a weakling in our rank."

'This is more like it.' Geeta thought as she grabbed Yellow file to put it back on her desk.

"So what do you need from me?"

"I need to know everything you know about Luciel."

"Tch, why are you all assuming I know anything about him? I know of his reputation, but I think it's pretty clear that everything these stupid fanatics said had no merit."

Geeta silently looked at Volo, trying to see if he said any lie. But in the end, she couldn't detect a thing, so she gave up on that. "Could you at least give us intel on what type of esper he is?"

Volo was surprised at her question. "What do you mean, he's clearly a dark type esper, wasn't it clear with his halo?"

"So he is a dark type esper, what is their usual power?" Geeta asked Volo.

But instead of answering, Volo only looked at her dumbfounded. 

"Is there a problem?"

"What do you mean you've never heard of the dark type esper?"

"…I didn't mean anything more than what I said."

"Seriously? Even you don't know?" Volo said in deep concern as he didn't even look at Geeta anymore. 

"An issue?" Geeta asked in concern, she's not used to seeing Volo in panic, in fact, it was only the second time she had seen him in that state. 

But he immediately calmed himself before looking at Geeta. "Listen, I started to get used to entire species of Esper dying, but that their culture also dies is a heavy blow on my mind."

Geeta frowned, but Volo only raised his hand. "Don't bother, you're far from being able to read me. It's nothing you should get worried about that because you couldn't even understand the meaning behind it."

"I probably would if you explained to me."

"Ah, just don't bother, alright? If you don't want to be as mentally healthy as me, then don't try to know more."

"…Then can you answer this question instead…Luciel is dead."

"WHAT?! HOW?!" Volo screamed in surprise.

"He was always dead apparently…his heart only beaten because he forced it to do so."

"…Oh, oh that makes sense, right, I get it." Volo nodded as he relaxed on his chair.

"Do you have any idea how to turn him back alive?"

"Let me guess, the process to keep himself alive makes him suffer a lot? Well sadly, there is only one way to resolve this case, and it is sadly something beyond my power." Volo casually smiled, but Geeta knew he was lying. And she also knew that the only reason she noticed that was because he let her notice that.

"…fine, just tell me more on the dark esper."

"Sure, first of all, their ability is based on the sense of humans, so the five senses we know all so much, sight, touch, taste, hearing, and smell. They can stop this sense on others or can augment their own. But the truly strong dark esper can also affect the sense of instinct. This is how the Bringer of Eclipse halo works, everyone who stands near him has their survival instinct in panic as they feel like death is just near them."

"I see, is there a way to turn it off?"

"Usually the esper ask themselves more how to turn it on."

"…in other words, he made the conscious decision of keeping it on."

"Probably, maybe it's different from the Gloom Archon."

"…So you knew he was an Archon, and you didn't think of warning me first?"

"I know a lot of things, so don't act surprised for every single time you see you realize you are inferior to me, or else it will get tiring for both of us."

Geeta just massaged her eyes, too tired to try to argue with a madman.

"Then if your superior intellect could help me answer one question, why are there so many Archons who were able to join our academy?"

"Well that's a strange question, evidently that an Archon could easily pass this test, I would be more worried that an Archon is that pathetic."

Geeta dismissed his claim with a wave of her hand. "That's not what I mean, I wanted to ask why is there so many Archons in the same generation. As far as I know, the birth of an Archon is a very rare occurrence, there are rarely two born in the same century…yet I suddenly find 7 of them!"

"Oh, that's because the previous Archon died," Volo responded as if it was a matter of fact.

"…my pardon?"

"Oh right, I guess this isn't common knowledge, but for a new Archon to be born, the previous one has to die."

"Then how come in all of our history, we know the existence of only two Archon, you, the Sky Archon, and Azoloth, the Silence Archon?"

"Because the great Slaver judged that humanity didn't deserve this power anymore, you must know that the only reason why there are even two Archons is because I'm still not dead, or else only the Morning Archon would be here," Volo responded casually.

"…are you saying he thinks we deserve it now?"

"Hahahahahahaha!" Volo couldn't hold his laughter at her remark, he even looked at her as if she was the biggest fool in the world. "Please, after we did, you really think we deserve anything more than his scorn?! Hahahaha!"

Geeta sighed, but she wasn't even angry at Volo's mockery, as even she agreed that her remark was stupid. And stupidness needs to be met with ridicule, always…

Volo kept going until he suddenly stopped to look straight at Geeta. "We didn't get them because we deserved them, but because we needed them."

Geeta fixed Volo back with a cold gaze. "…how so?"

"How prideful of you to think humans are the only beings He cares about. He cares for everything, every single pokemon, every single tree, every single drop of water in the ocean, and every single grain of sand in the desert, but He knows we don't. This is way he allowed Archon to be born, so someone could represent them again, and he gave them the strength to be listened."

"…do they have any free wills then? Or are they controlled by Him to fulfill his will?"

"They are as free as He allows them to be," Volo said coldly before looking around as if he wanted to see if anyone was listening. Whatever the answer to that question was, caused Volo to murmur in Geeta's ear. "…but to answer your question…they are born with instinct, a natural duty if you prefer that will make them fill this will." 

"Do you think it would cause any problem…to the other children…or even themselves?"

"If it does, we can't do anything about it."

Geeta's mood suddenly got worse after hearing this and even started to tighten her tie before calming herself. "How many know about this?" 

Volo put his hand on his chin to think. "The depends if Azoloth said it to anyone else, but I doubt anyone wants to even look at him currently. So only you and me. Why, want me to tell it to the other council member?"

"No, instead I want no one to know about it."

Volo raised an eyebrow, before hunching his shoulder. "I guess I can understand, some people would prefer that we kill them so they don't have to worry about people stopping their business or just their megalomania."

"This is the worst-case scenario, the most likely is that they force them to drop out because they don't want them to become stronger."

"Does it matter?"

"Yes, also, don't tell the Archon to, it is better if they believe they have control over their action, I wouldn't want one of them to think they're cursed or that their own will was stolen from them. They are too young and immature for that."

"…I think it should be fine, but if it not…then I will take the appropriate measures. But I don't He would want to harm any children, he's not that cruel…I hope."

"Thanks Volo." Geeta said sincerely, which made Volo extremely confused.

"…What?!"

"I said thanks, I greatly appreciate your help."

Volo stood frozen, trying to compute what was just said to him.

Geeta didn't mind it and started to stack the files against each other and finished writing something in her notebook.

"Volo, as you are here, could you help me with another thing."

"What...euh…sure yeah…yeah you…" Volo said absent-mindedly before he finally regained his mind. "I don't have just that to do...also don't be thankful to me, it's weird"

She ignored his comment and gave him her notebook.

"What is this?"

In front of Volo was a description of each student with multiple details including their personality or their friend. Volo flipped to the other page which was filled with multiple combinations of students with a justification right beside it for each one of them.

"This is my idea for which student should occupy which dorm together. But as I want them to create new friendships, I wish to make sure none of them will hate each other. This is why I watched every single recording of the children's ascension to see with whom they will create better relationships."

"…I can see you already separate the esper from the none esper, don't you think it would cause a feeling of discrimination for both sides?"

"It's a necessary sacrifice, some still don't control their power and could hurt other students, and others already have strong opinions about the other side which would be detrimental to their relationship."

"Then just make those unable to control their power together, and those who do with the other. As for the judgemental freak, let's just force them to live together so they learn that they are both stupid and wrong."

"I thought of that, but I fear some students would feel unsafe in our Academy, and after what just happened during the test," She threw a look at Volo who proceeded to ignore it," I think it more important that they feel safe. And it would take only one child getting hurt by an esper by accident for their whole trust to crumble."

"Fair enough, as long as you make them interact during class, adults will be there to supervise them after all."

"Already planned it, but I'm still graci…"

"I just said it, none of that!" Volo interrupted her before she could finish her sentence.

"Right, my apologies."

"If you really want to apologize, do me a small favour."

Geeta immediately frowned at Volo, but he raised his arm to calm her down. "Nothing big, don't worry, I only want to ask you to make Cynthia go into the esper side."

Geeta's brow eased, but she still looked at Volo with a questioning gaze. "Why? She's not an esper as far as I know. Maybe you know more?"

"Oh no, she's definitely not an esper, but she would throw a fit if she's not allowed there."

"Why?"

"I have sincerely no idea, I would have said it because her new and only friend is there, but she always acted that way before."

"…How can I be sure it is not a scheming from you to put her into trouble, I've heard that the Goldwin clan hates her, and you are also from that clan if I'm not wrong."

"Just go ask her if you want, she should still be awake as of now."

"… It's 3 am…isn't a child supposed to be sleeping right now?"

"Go tell her that, It is no longer my responsibility now."

"…fine, if there's any problem, I will simply put her somewhere else…also, she's friends with who?"

"Luciel is her friend."

Geeta didn't react much and only scribbled on a blank file. "I see, then I might as well put her in the same dorm if it's not a problem with you."

"…wait…you're putting both genders in the same room?" Volo said shocked.

"Of course, I saw it from a recent research of Colress, apparently, putting both genders in the same room will augment the maturity of its occupant, while putting all of those of the same gender will only increase their immaturity. As their all children that will be without any adult supervision, I thought this would at least make them act wiser and cause fewer problems." Geeta explained rationally, but Volo still looked shocked at her.

'She…she can't be serious…does…does she not know…no, she must know, maybe she's planning to do this to augment the bonding…but they are children…' 

'I should congratulate Colress later for his research, we will avoid a lot of problems with this.' Was what Geeta innocently thought, not even realizing the real problem this arrangement would cause.

"So, do you have any objection Volo?"

'I…well, if she was the one who planned this, she must have a deeper reason…'

"No, it's alright, you can put her with him."

'Cynthia mature enough to avoid it anyways…that sounds wrong somehow.'

"Good, we will now discuss the composition of the first dorm. so I was thinking…