Ascension of the Dark Seraph

Instantly, as if looking at Caldaros stung, Ciri averted her gaze.

She looked down, eyes wide, and heart pounding.

Caldaros was still talking to her, explaining the reason why he could not have her stay, but his voice was gradually going further away—muffled like he was underwater. All she could hear now was her breaths, her heartbeats, and Lucivar's voice.

Don't be fooled, Ciri… you know the reason.

It became almost painstakingly clear the reason behind Caldaros' insistence.

He was going to kill Lucivar, regardless of the lie that Lucivar asked for mercy.

Perhaps he couldn't believe Lucivar, his plea for mercy might be a fluke—but shouldn't he at least see for himself whether Lucivar was lying or not? That's the least he could do as this involved taking a life, a precious and sacred thing.

After all, as he stated, he's a good person.

Isn't giving someone a chance what a good person would do?

But that didn't cross Caldaros' mind at all.

Ciri could see it—he had already made up his mind.

In his mind, Lucivar must die, regardless of the circumstances.

'No…You're supposed to be lying, trying to manipulate me with words that aren't real, that's what you do,' Ciri thought as she reached her hands to hold her head. 'Caldaros, my niece… he's a good person! This can't be real. This can't be real life!'

Even though she was in denial, it was too hard to ignore.

Lucivar predicted every single word that would come out of his mouth, and that's too convincing.

If he knew what Caldaros was going to say, then he also knew what was inside Caldaros' mind.

Had that not been the case, there's no way he could've predicted the words.

"Aunt Ciri…?"

A voice called to her, and she snapped out of her train of thought.

She raised her gaze and saw Caldaros, looking at her with tenderness and worry.

Seeing this, she clenched her fists, 'No, I still believe in him. I won't believe that he's bad, he can't be.'

"Do you understand? I cannot have you stay here or else he'd go to you like this," Caldaros continued, a light sigh escaping his mouth. "If you're here, I won't be able to focus, and I'll lose. Can you please listen to me this time and go to the safe house?"

"Yes…" Ciri answered and forced out a smile. "I'm sorry for coming."

"It's okay, at least you're unharmed." Caldaros nodded.

Soon, the two parted ways.

Caldaros dropped Ciri at a bus station so that she could go straight to the safe house.

But as Ciri waved her hand, bidding Caldaros goodbye as he turned into sunlight again, her face turned dark. In front of her, the bus door was opened, and people began to step inside, but she didn't move from her spot.

She stayed standing motionless, seemingly deep in thought.

Until finally, she raised her gaze and turned away.

Instead of taking the bus and going to the safe house, she headed to a place in mind.

Meanwhile, Lucivar was crossing his arms while leaning against the wall.

He was watching people walking past him and the streets with cars speeding past his vision in a blur of lights, humming to himself in a good mood. Then again, as expected, he managed to take advantage of the sudden opportunity given by Leandra.

Had it not been for her, he would only have checked on Ciri to make sure she came and then left.

Not to mention, he also became more convincing now for Ciri.

Since he has no intention of killing her, as proven by Leandra, then he must be really trying to prove that he was correct regarding Caldaros and Sunna. And because of that, he was almost a hundred percent sure Ciri would watch the entire tournament.

Just then, he noticed a dark-haired woman walking out of the convenience store.

It was Ravenna.

Ravenna was looking into the plastic bag, but yelped when someone suddenly grabbed her waist.

Almost instantly, her eyes turned dark as she activated her Predator Oculus ability.

She was about to attack this stranger, but frowned when she noticed the man's eyes glowed emerald.

And from her Predator Oculus vision, this stranger was marked by her.

"Lucivar…?" She mumbled, tilting her head.

"Are you surprised?" Lucivar cackled—he was wearing another man's appearance right now, particularly the man who sneaked into his room earlier. "Did you think I was some creepy middle-aged man? I am really hurt if you did. I thought you could recognize me, no matter what."

"Just in case you forgot, my ability isn't active all the time." Ravenna rolled her eyes.

Then, she pushed Lucivar's face away.

"Let me go," She complained, trying to break away. "It's uncomfortable if you look like a stranger."

Once Lucivar let her go, she tidied her clothes before looking back at him again.

"What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be resting for tomorrow?" She asked.

"You stopped that stupid Leandra, and I'm grateful," Lucivar replied.

"Oh?" Ravenna grinned, crossing her arms proudly. "You're going to say thank you through words?"

"Of course not, who do you think I am? I've prepared a small gift!" Lucivar chuckled humorously.

As Ravenna was about to say something, a voice interrupted her.

"Who's stupid again?"

Upon hearing this, Lucivar and Ravenna froze for a brief second before turning to the side slowly.

Leandra was standing beside them—she also seemed to come out of the convenience store.

She was squinting at Lucivar, already noticing that it was him.

Realizing that Leandra was also here, Lucivar turned to Ravenna incredulously.

"Why didn't you tell me that you're with her?" He asked.

"Ah, I was too caught up in the moment," Ravenna smiled acutely. "I forgot about her."

Leandra's eyes narrowed as she watched how close the two stood, far too close than usual, far too close for comfort. They moved with an ease around each other that belied the few times she had even seen them together.

Something was going on between them.

She could feel it in an instant.

Not to mention, from inside the store earlier, it looked like they were hugging.

It could've been the angle, though, but still.

She'd assumed it was Ravenna's new boyfriend—but to her shock, it was Lucivar in disguise.

Lucivar was about to make up an excuse, but his eyes caught someone across the street.

"No time to explain. I'm going to pretend to say goodbye to you and then walk away. Pretend to walk away and then follow me," Lucivar said, putting on a smile and raising his hand, pretending to bid goodbye to the two.

Then, he crossed the street and followed the person who had given him a meaningful look earlier.

It was a man in a trench coat and a hat.

As Lucivar followed him, there were also more people following him.

'Now, let's find out who these people are, the people who wanted to know my bloodline…' He thought inside, promising to aim their champion in the tournament for daring to probe into him. 'I'm guessing these people are from the Shadow Clan.'

Soon, Lucivar realized that he was brought into a café, a public space.

He can't have that.

But there was no other place that was less crowded nearby, there are no more alleys.

Sighing to himself, he followed and entered the café.

However, instead of going to sit where the man was sitting, he smiled at the waiter and pointed up, asking whether there were any seats above. Fortunately, the staff nodded and led him up to the second floor under the man's gaze.

Noticing that the second floor was still full, he continued going up.

Lucivar settled on the rooftop, and there was only a handful of people there.

Mainly, there was a man at the corner table and a couple near the edge, viewing the street.

Deliberating his choices, he decided to sit in the left corner and ordered a cup of coffee.

"If you need anything else, press this button, and I'll come to you," The waiter said before leaving.

As the waiter went back inside, the man in a trench coat stepped outside.

His eyes met with Lucivar before he approached and took a seat across the table.

Upon sitting down, the man placed down his hat, revealing a bald-headed man with battle scars marring his face. Lucivar's eyes narrowed at the sight. 'He's not a normal civilian, that's for sure. Based on his aura, he's a Hybrid, almost a Chrysalis rank. So, I'm on the right track, this guy is working for a faction or a clan.'

"Do you want me to tell you what it was right now? It's quite shocking." Lucivar started.

"No," The man answered flatly and extended his hand. "Give me the leaf, and your job will be finished."

"Alright, I'll give it to you, but what's it for anyway? Is this guy, Lucivar, some sort of a big shot?" He continued, playing a role as he dug for information. "He's handsome and powerful, but I can't warrant anyone going after him to this extent. Which faction are you from?"

"Spill it for me," He pressed further. "Help a guy out here, I'm planning to bet on someone."

Pausing for a second, the man looked at Lucivar before he leaned back.

"You're on the side of the Angels, don't be a disgrace," The man commented.

Lucivar raised an eyebrow, "Side of the Angels? What do you mean?"

"You…" He whispered, squinting his eyes. "You're not Rirgas, who are you?!"

"Ah, cover blown," Lucivar shrugged—but then, a smirk crept to his face. "Do you fucking think I'm not going to notice? Such a slick move you did there, paying someone inside to poison me and find out about my bloodline."

Hearing this, the man tilted his head in realization.

Somehow, the 'Rirgas' who was sitting across him wasn't actually 'Rirgas'.

It was Lucivar instead!

"Tell me your employer, and I might spare your life." Lucivar continued.

"Are you crazy?!" The man laughed. "Do you think I'm going to tell you anything?"

Swish!

Just then, the man suddenly felt something weird, and his vision blurred.

Snapping out of his daze, he looked down at his hand and saw that the veins there were turning black.

Lucivar already made his move.

"W-When…?" He rasped as his body gradually turned numb.

"I scratch you a bit with this," Lucivar said, raising a pen he took from the counter earlier. "I scratched you a bit when I walked past you. Oh, I also put a tiny bit of my dark attribute there, so it must be reaching your Supernatural Ego right about… now."

Almost instantly, as Lucivar said that, the man was paralyzed and struck with excruciating pain.

He wanted to scream, to call for help, but he couldn't.

Lucivar smiled deviously as the man stared at him in horror, "I already expected you to keep your mouth sealed like a good little dog of your faction, so I will be getting what I want from your corpse. Go on, now. Close your eyes… Heaven is waiting for you."

Upon saying that, Lucivar stood up and walked around the table.

Then, he leaned down to the man's ear.

"I'm an Angel Hybrid," He whispered, and then grinned. "But in truth, I'm a Dark Angel. So Heaven for me is quite different than Heaven for you. You'll see…"