Chapter 100: It's messed up…
Chapter 100: It's messed up…
Serena had no idea what was wrong with her childhood friend today.
She was just talking to her friends after the second lecture which was extremely long and tedious. For some reason, she was not able to meet or even see Arata until that point. She primarily thought that he was absent just on the first day after vacation.
However, out of the blue, Arata appeared in front of her and asked Serena to accompany him outside since Arata wanted to have a word in isolation.
Serena didn't like being teased by her friends and also the possible rumor which might flare after this incident, but sensing the seriousness in her friend's tone, Serena didn't deny him and walked out of the academic block from the back exit.
Serena was a bit surprised and confused as soon she sensed the suppressed soul energy leaking out from Arata, which was around thrice more than what he had when they met last time.
She wanted to ask what kind of training he did in so little time to gain that much energy that even though Arata was trying, he wasn't able to conceal his energy entirely.
The reason Serena was left with not being able to ask anything and felt her mind growing numb at the moment was the sudden confession her friend came up with.
"The thing is... I love you, Serena. Not now, but I was in love with you for a long time."
While gazing at his downcast look, Serena found herself at a loss for words, regarding how she should be responding to this sudden proposal.
Truth be told, Serena was not entirely oblivious to Arata harboring more than a friend's affection toward her. She has sensed how he sometimes overreacts when it comes to her safety and tries to spend longer time with her.
There were so many hints in the past, that Serena was not able to ignore them yet she was scared to face such facts as well, since in her mind, Arata was just like a good friend to her.
If anything, Serena only felt slight familial affection toward him, like a little brother she had to look after but thinking of Arata as a potential love partner was...she never actually considered him such.
Seeing the dilemma the blond girl fell into, the raven-haired boy smiled wryly as he lifted his face and eased her tension with his following words.
"You don't have to answer since from the start, I was expecting nothing from you, Serena. I might be clueless at times, but not foolish to ignore how you take our relationship as."
Serena was taken aback by such mature words flowing out of Arata and the precise conclusion he landed upon even without her telling. However, the slight guilt was an inevitable rise in her heart when she saw the unhidden sorrowful expression clouding Arata's face.
Serena bit her lips and held herself together since saying anything which was not true here would only lead to false hope and misunderstanding.
"It's just... I love you so much that I wanted to tell you once before I separate myself completely from you."
Serena blinked in confusion before she raised her brows in slight anxiety and asked the obvious question.
"Separate yourself..? What do you mean?"
With a sigh, Arata looked at the sky for a moment, simply arranging his thoughts which were protesting him to say nothing and leave right now. But Arata has decided on this and nothing was going to stop him from hereon.
Redirecting his gaze to Serena, Arata spoke up in a relaxed tone.
"As you heard. I am cutting myself out of every relationship. Either friends or family. Acaquantace or my first love... I don't want to be attached to any of them any longer and focus on my goal."
Serena, by the point, was in utter shock and disbelief since someone like Arata who treasures his beloved and nurtures his relations, to say something like this without much hesitation was a big statement.
She was not sure what had happened to make him say something like this but for some reason, Serena knew, she would never see that old Arata again and that made her sad.
"Okay, then. Sorry for taking your time Serena and I hope after the tournament when I would leave the Academy, we can still meet at some point in life."
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Anabelle had her eyes stretched in shock and confusion as she saw her brother standing some inches away from the man who was once called Ethan but now only remained a corpse.
After Seth extracted information from Ethan's brain, something snapped inside him and suddenly he pierced the older man's chest and pulled out his heart under the awful cries of the blondie.
Seth didn't even falter for once when he slowly pulled out Ethan's heart and squashed it right in front of Ethan's face. It was terrifying to see such gore even for Anabelle who has seen a lot in the past.
But it was not something Anabelle was actually fearful about, rather...
"Get away from my sight Mayu since I don't know what I might do right now."
Anabelle's eyes clouded with tears as she heard her brother's cold voice reverberating loud enough to send shivers down her spine.
She knew why he was angry with her and there was no explanation for what she did and why she had to settle with such a resort. She could only wail in silence and leave the place since being around in such an unsightly appearance would only sour her brother's mood even more.
Sensing Anabelle's presence disappearing, Seth sighed and tried to calm down his racing heart as he took the chair from the other side.
It was not because Mayu killed him in the last life that Seth was angry about, but rather due to the secrecy, she kept from him.
Despite knowing the fact that it was Ethan who tried to look into Seth's database and that he was the one who manipulated Professor Cedric to push Seth into the death door, the girl kept silent about it.
She knew that Ethan was after Seth's life and protected Seth on various occasions but when she failed to prevent the Temple attack from Cedric, Anabelle decided to confront Ethan and get rid of him once and for all.
But it was too late and Ethan already has played his dice.
Not only Ethan took a hold of Haruka which prevented Anabelle to make any rash decision, but the blond bastard pushed Arata into his awakening as well.
Yes, Arata has awakened his second attribute which even surpasses the First Tier of Skill grade and has the potential to reach up to the Demi-god level.
And how did Ethan push Arata to his awakening?
Simple, Ethan just sent a group of assassins who tied Arata to helplessly let him see the demise of each of his family members. His brother and parents all died in front of Arata's eyes which broke the seal inside Arata and forcibly the soul merge between Arata and Keita deepened.
Yeah... Keita was transmigrated into the fucking protagonist and Anabelle knew it yet stayed silent.
And now, the boy who alongside Saito hated Seth the most in a past life had the strength to surpass every living legend on earth and crush Seth shortly whenever he wants.
And who was behind all this shit?
'You outsmarted me, Saito... '
Staring at the lifeless body of his ex-friend and short-lived professor, Seth smiled coldly before the smile shifted to loud laughter which profoundly resonated inside the room.
Yeah, it's messed up.
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A/N: - Some misunderstanding on Seth's part which would soon be resolved. Please don't hate Anabelle yet...and drop a comment~