Chapter 301 Volume V – Chapter 19: Revealed Identity

*(A/N: I will probably rewrite this chapter in the future because I had to write it in a hurry and I’m not happy with it. If you are not satisfied with the quality, this is why. But the content of the chapter will be the same no matter what, so if I change the chapter in the future, you won’t have to read it again, there won’t be a problem. I apologize…)*

The first thing I did in the morning when I woke up to the sound of my alarm as the sunlight hit my face and cool air filled my room through the window I had left open was to take a deep breath and yawn.

Then, when I pushed the duvet aside, sat up, and looked at the clock, my eyes widened.

It wasn’t the first time my alarm had gone off… At least that’s what the screen in front of my eyes told me. And this… was something that should never have happened, especially today.

As I was changing quickly and fixing my silver-colored hair, I kept getting angry with myself over and over again.

I was going to use the festival as a means to get closer to Adrian, and the first thing I had to do was… get to him faster than his friends. But I hadn’t woken up to the damn alarm… And if that wasn’t enough, I was running late.

I quickly adjusted everything and rushed outside somehow after standing briefly in front of the mirror to make sure there was nothing wrong with my appearance. As I quickly made my way to the buses leaving the academy, I couldn’t stop thinking about how I hadn’t woken up to a simple alarm.

Was it because I found out about our blood relation? Was I distracted? Or did I simply not wake up…?

With questions like these swirling around in my head, I finally made it to the buses, and without even bothering to look for which bus Adrian was on, I got in line for the nearest one.

However… it didn’t take me long to realize that I was on the same bus with him. After all, as soon as I looked into the bus in case I was lucky, I realized that he was looking at me through the window with widened eyes…

I ignored him, didn’t dwell on him, as if I hadn’t seen him, as if he wasn’t the person I was looking for. When I sat down calmly, I never turned around, even when I was calming myself down because I was out of breath.

The day had started with such a fiasco. But… the real fiasco was the rest of the day.

I was going to pretend to bump into Adrian and join him… but I couldn’t even do that. Not once was Adrian alone, nor strangely… when he was with his friends, I couldn’t step into their company.

I couldn’t help squinting my eyes as I followed them not too far away. I looked at the four walking side by side and I thought with a sigh.

Why…?

It was true that feelings like friendship made me feel sick. I was even disgusted by the way they laughed and laughed in each other’s presence. But why couldn’t I try to be part of this group even once, when there was almost nothing I hadn’t done in my life in the name of ‘missions’?

When Adrian, Julian, Lucia and Sue stepped into an amusement park-like area, I paused.

No… I had no problem being in the group before. I had even sung in that karaoke room on the first date… It wasn’t because they were a social group and I didn’t want to be part of that sociality that prevented me from acting.

Was I wary of Adrian himself then? Was I afraid to approach him… after confirming the truth about him?

No, not after confirming his identity… I hadn’t communicated with him once since the night I thought our father might be the same person.

Even when the group of four arrived in front of a huge lake, I was still watching them from a distance… I was still far away. Again, instead of walking up to them, I was just looking at what they were doing.

Why am I behaving like this?

This thought reappeared in my mind. Again and again, I thought about it, trying to grasp what was wrong.

Why does my body shake when I look at his hair, which is exactly the same color as mine? Why is it that every time I see his green eyes… I feel so strange, even bad?

No matter how much time passed, I couldn’t find an answer to my questions. For the first time in my life, I couldn’t find a reason for something that occupied my mind so much. And that… frustrated me even more.

But… I couldn’t keep thinking about it.

Because while Adrian and the others were standing in front of the huge lake, as if under its spell, saying nothing… suddenly, the whole world turned white.

The festival was in flames. In just a few seconds, the laughter had turned into screams. But… none of it mattered. Because even though I knew I had to secure myself in the midst of the chaos, I also noticed something strange.

People around me were strangely ignoring the place where I was. More than ignoring this place… it was like they couldn’t really see this place at all.

But I couldn’t even think too much about this strangeness even if I wanted to, because… a fight was taking place in front of my eyes that I would never, ever dare to intervene in. Adrian was being literally… beaten… by someone.

I was stunned, I literally couldn’t move a muscle, I could only watch, unable to do anything as Adrian fell to the ground covered in blood.

Even when he said something I couldn’t understand because of the distance between us and took off his necklace. Even when he was displaying a show of strength I couldn’t even imagine. Even when the moment came that would decide the outcome of the fight between the two, and a strange, comforting blue seeped into Adrian’s emerald-green eyes.

Even when Adrian made his final attack on the man and the man swung his fist at him, covered in purple flames… all I could do was close my eyes because of the blinding light.

*******

The light blocking my view slowly began to lift. There was a strange silence as the shock wave that would have sent me flying back a few meters if I hadn’t held on to the bench next to me wore off.

I could still hear the screams in the distance, the flames had not disappeared and were still everywhere… Chaos continued to dominate the festival grounds. But in our immediate surroundings, every single one of the people fleeing could do nothing but stand where they were. There was surprise on their faces as if they had seen something they had never seen before… and a little curiosity.

I quickly wiped my eyes, brushed aside the dust that had gotten in my eyes, and even though my vision was a bit blurry, I looked at the area where the last attack had taken place.

There was a considerable amount of dust in the air, making my already blurred vision even more difficult. But, even then, I still managed to see something.

First, I saw someone standing. Then another lying on the ground in front of him. As the dust continued to settle, it slowly became clear who these people were.

The person lying on the ground… was obviously the man from the terrorist organization. His eyes were closed, all his clothes were torn and covered in dust. His fist, which a few seconds ago was covered in purple flames, was… unrecognizable. It was torn to shreds. His right hand was in such a state that I could hardly call it ‘a hand’.

The other person who was standing, leaning on his spear, was Adrian. His chest was rising and falling rapidly, it was clear that he could barely stand. The strange pale blue glow that had surrounded him had disappeared. The mana in the atmosphere still felt more directed toward him, though it was much calmer than in the fight. But… the important thing was that he still looked like an elf.

And everyone around could see him. In the midst of the flames, at the center of the shockwave, and the blinding light, he stood out more than ever.

“A- an elf…?”

Someone in the crowd finally spoke up, breaking the awkward silence in the area. But he could not continue his sentence, nor could anyone else speak. Because as soon as the bloodied figure of Adrian appeared, the silence was broken.

One, no… a lot of blackness suddenly appeared in the area. The festival security which, until now, had been ignoring this area as if they couldn’t see what was happening, now suddenly appeared.

Dozens of healers and security moved toward the people in the area, trying to help them, while one of them slowly moved toward Adrian’s spot.

I remembered who he was, the man who had explained the rules just before the festival started, limiting everyone’s voices. He was wearing the same black suit, but his expression was… more serious than ever.

Adrian slowly turned his eyes toward the man as he leaned on his spear, barely able to stand. It was at this moment that the man spoke.

“Adrian Caleo… right?”

Adrian could only nod his head slightly without saying anything. After his response, the man in front of him glanced at the other man on the ground and then sighed deeply.

“You need to come with us… you understand, right?”

Adrian nodded once more in affirmation. He seemed very aware of what he had done. It was even as if… he had deliberately revealed himself and his identity. But he didn’t seem to care about this even slightly and asked the man something else in a low, forced voice that betrayed his pain.

“Is the situation… u- under control?”

The man nodded his head up and down. Then, Adrian’s face broke into a wide smile, as if he had accomplished something for the first time in his life.

“Uh… w- well… I’m not in a g- good state, you see… So…”

Before he could continue, though, he paused, his eyes widening slightly as he turned in my direction. His expression showed surprise and he just stayed where he was. But he didn’t continue to do this. He just… smiled again.

His eyes lost focus before he could say what he was trying to say. As his spear slipped through his fingers and fell to the ground, his body leaned forward as if he was going to collapse. But the man in the suit in front of him caught him in mid-air.

I had no idea what to do or what to think as several festival security guards rushed to his side and laid him on a stretcher. I could only… stand where I was, like almost everyone else in the area.

What… What exactly did I experience today?

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