[Alex…]

Looking at Alex, reminded of his past, clenching his fists, Sophie couldn’t help but feel sad as well. She just couldn’t see Alex down, even more so in situations like this where she couldn’t even say anything.

She wasn’t there with Alex during his struggle period. She became his girlfriend when he was already part of the higher ranks in the gang—a position where not many dared to provoke Alex, much less threaten.

She knew that Alex hated it when someone threatened him, but she didn’t know to what extent until today.

‘Hah…’

Alex, feeling Sophie’s emotions, sighed. He doesn’t lose control of his emotions like this, but there are some things that he can’t digest no matter what, and Kaira did just that, resulting in her death.

‘Don’t worry… I’m fine.’ Alex reassured Sophie that he wasn’t as agitated as before, and he really was calming down, regretting a bit as he really didn’t want to kill Kaira.

She could’ve led him to one of the highest-tier inheritances in this world, but, oh well, there was nothing he could do now.

The issue wasn’t even that big that Alex would go so far as killing a heroine, but she had to go ahead and threaten him.

What did she even know? Just the fact that Alex had manipulated the votes of the audience?

He did it, so what? He had the whole colosseum in the palm of his hand from the start, but again, so what?

Was this something so big that Alex would get scared? Was that how weak people saw him as? Would people even believe it without proof?

‘Hah…’

Alex just didn’t get why she was thinking she had the upper hand. No matter what she did, she couldn’t undermine Alex’s image; not just anyone could do that.

Even if someone was able to do it, Alex would just say that it was more entertaining—he wanted the audience to feel the thrill that they felt. Only Alex had ever been able to do it, no matter what he did for that.

Alex had two simple goals from the competition; one was to make Mira’s start in the academy comfortable, and the other was to test the limits of the protagonists.

He had planned three to four possible outcomes and handed them all to Thorin, as that guy had the final control in his hands. No matter what the audience voted for, everything was preplanned and predicted by Alex.

The first five matches were very simple. Alex matched up Mira with Brisk as it would be a tough competition, but because of her speed, Alex knew Mira would win, just like she did.

Keryu and Ben, as protagonists, were supposed to win no matter what or who they were against; from the remaining two matches, Alex let one be the same as the plot—which Margaret won like she was supposed to.

The last wasn’t something Alex even focused on, as the winner was supposed to lose the next match.

Then it was the match between the protagonists; it was a bit of a risky move as Alex didn’t know what the result would be, but in the end, everything turned out for the better.

He achieved the goal he was hoping for from the competition, and that was all he cared about.

The only reason he wanted to kill the one who heard his talk with Thorin was because he didn’t want things to get annoying. If all of this were to get leaked, then his amiable image in the academy’s eyes would be destroyed.

People would still not cause trouble for him as the fear would still be there, but the respect and awe he commanded wouldn’t be there anymore.

He started to look around, hoping to find the artifact that he had been cautious of a while ago—the reason why he hadn’t attacked her before until he had her cornered.

Clatter-Shuffle-Clang

Alex went through the broken things, looking for a particular dagger, but much to his frustration, no matter how much he couldn’t find it.

‘Fuck. Where is it?!’

He roared inwardly. It had been 10 minutes since the girl had died, and although she lived in a secluded corner, if someone were to pass by and see the situation of the surroundings, they would, of course, notice the strangeness.

It would be fine if it were some students, as Alex was confident enough to defeat them, but not the teachers—Alex still wasn’t strong enough to be able to defeat all the teachers.

Murder wasn’t allowed on Originveil City, much less the Academy, but even if you did commit a murder, getting caught was a no-no—it was forbidden to get caught.

Just as Alex was thinking about this, his gaze paused at Kaira’s body.

‘Of course! Why would I not search her body first!’ Alex facepalmed himself as he again missed one of the basic points.

‘Fuck this backlash!’ With a growl of annoyance, he bent down, his hand moving toward the bloody and battered body of Kaira, but before he could touch it, a voice was heard.

“It is not very polite to touch the body of a girl without asking for permission, especially when you killed her without mercy. Someone might mistake you with someone who has some weird fetish, Mister Alex.”

Alex froze in his spot, his body tensed before he jumped away from the body, his sword appearing in his hand as he hurriedly used his gravity magic to lighten his body, making it possible for him to move faster, but as his eyes turned at the source of the voice, his expression darkened.

“A clone…” He gritted his teeth, closing his eyes, trying to think about his next move calmly.

“Oh, this? Yes, it was supposed to be a clone, and thank you for cutting its neck; now I can speak comfortably.”

The one who was speaking was no one other than Kaira; the only problem was that it was the head of Kaira, which was already severed, speaking calmly as if it were normal. All because the body that Alex had killed was actually just a clone—a clone that could move even after it died.

Of course, it wouldn’t be able to do it for long as it would soon become just an empty husk, but with this, Alex now knew that the real Kaira was actually alive.

Alex, after a while, opened his eyes, as calm as a lake, and spoke, “Hm, I was wondering when you were going to reveal it.”

The way he said those words made the fake Kaira squint her bloody eyes, staring at Alex with some suspicion in her eyes.

From Alex’s words, it seemed like he was already aware of the fact that it was a clone—which of course he wasn’t.

Alex was trying to bluff, hoping that Kaira would buy it as he added, “But again…”

Deliberately stopping mid-sentence, Alex slowly walked toward Kaira’s head, standing right in front of her, staring down into her bloodied eyes. “…I don’t want to talk with a fake, so please talk to me when you have your real body. And do not try to threaten me with your real body.”

He paused, pointing the tip of his sword at her forehead, making her look at him with interest as he completed his words, “I do not wish to kill the real you.”

Pierce!

With that, he had killed the clone completely. No matter how high-leveled a clone it was, it won’t survive after its head is pierced after all.

‘Sigh…’

Another sigh, but this time it was one filled with relief.

Alex really didn’t know what to do for a second, but just as he thought that everything was over…

Shine!

The tattoos on Kaira’s body, which Alex had ignored before thinking of them as nothing important, suddenly started to shine with a dangerous light, making Alex grumble in frustration.

“Oh, come one! A self-destruction-type clone? Seriously—”

BOOM!

But before his words could even finish, the body of the clone exploded with a loud boom, making the entire area tremble.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep