After an awkward fifteen minutes of Ian and his guests munching on the delicious snacks that the head chef specially made, George, William and the other two who came to make fun of Ian left after failing their mission, miserably.
"Good riddance..."
Ian sighed and leaned back on his chair, getting rid of the perfect noble facade that he was putting up even moments ago. Rianne was still there, but she wasn't a presence that Ian had to pretend in front.
The change in his attitude had such a gap that it made the other's in the room question whether they were the same person.
"Was that too hard?"
Albert asked with a concerned expression. He was, unlike the others, unfamiliar with Ian's cruel or vicious side. And even if he ever came to know it, he'd just shrug it off as Ian doing things in self defence.
"......."
Ian do
"This is unbelievable...""But it's the truth."Reynold tried to deny the truth and Ian simply shrugged his shoulder."I.. I need some time to process all this..""Sure. Just make sure not to tell anyone what you saw that day.""At least give me an explanation... You also know what kind of disaster you're storing inside that little mansion of yours."Reynold said as he massaged his temple. He was having a pretty bad headache at the moment."I can't tell you the details.But I swear on my name, not even one person inside that mansion will hurt the kingdom in any way.""...How are you so sure?""Because they're my people.""What an absurd logic. Afterall, you're the most suspicious!"Reynold said a
"Should we do it today?""Mm.. I can't hold it in much longer either..""Are you ready?""Yes! We mustn't let him escape this time!""At all cost!"Ash and the maze was having a secret conversation under Ian's blanket, not realising Ian had come inside a long time ago and was listening to everything while leaning on the door frame."But are you sure the both of us will be enough?"Asked the maze with a little bit of tension in his voice."I wanted to ask the others for help but he'll figure it out that way..."Ash said as he shook his head to the side, sighing in regret.Swoop!"!!!""!!!""What are you guys talking about?"Ian asked, removing the blanket from their figure. The two kids looked
Seven days ago, when Ian fell unconscious after using his attribute, he was actually having flashbacks of his past once again.He knew it was a backlash from using his attribute of darkness. As hundreds of memory panels covered his eyes, a bright light flashed and blinded his view.'Here we go again...'He sighed as he tried to stay as calm as possible. Since he knew what was coming, it wasn't as shocking or unexpected as the first time.He thought he could handle it pretty well this time. Or so he believed."Ah... Noah! Get a grip!"Someone started shaking his shoulders violently, making him frown. He opened his eyes wondering what kind of tragedy he was going to face next but-"Hurry! We need to run!"El was standing in front of him, grabbing him by the shoulder and shaking him awake.
'They're real.'Noah thought as he looked at the struggling people in front of him."Are they done yet?!"Asked one of the frontliners, frustration and worry filling his voice."The last batch is being dispatched! Just a bit more and we'll be done!"'Heh.. As if that's possible..'Noah shrugged his shoulder as he heard their conversation full of hope. It was one of the major incidents in his life, of course it won't come to an end so easily.The zombies were already covering the building from almost every corner and their numbers kept increasing with each passing second. Just being able to get out of the building would need them to sacrifice a huge number of people.'It'd probably decrease their number by half?'That was the assumption of a veteran who fought and survived in this
"Let's get out of here, shall we?"Noah said as he smiled, making others focus back on what was actually important at that moment."He's right. We shouldn't be doing this now.""Hell yeah. Ain't no way I'm giving up after all this.""We need to survive at all cost and return back to our family, alright?""But... How do we get out?"Noah nodded his head in agreement with all of their comments. He was feeling proud looking at the 'kids' in front of him focus and discuss so seriously. It gave him a fatherly feeling."Right.. Do you have any idea, Noah?"One of them turned to Noah and asked unconsciously. As he asked, the others also looked towards Noah one by one and waited for his answer.Weirdly enough, no one was questioning his eligibility or making fun of the one who asked for his su
"Let's move forward."Said El as he blocked everything disgusting from coming into Noah's view and guided the team. Since he was the strongest and oldest(or so he thought) among the six, he felt like it was his duty to guide them.'He's so overprotective..haha'Noah went along with him since he was actually enjoying the attention he was receiving from El. And it was also a good chance for El to learn to take the lead."This way."He said as he guided them towards the point where they were supposed to go. It was an abandoned building, a factory to be precise."But why a garments factory?"Asked El as he checked their surrounding for any undead or zombies."Well.. The more we manage to hunt, the better right?""...hunt? Wasn't the plan just to attract their attention?" 
As Noah and the others ran away from the burning building, they could hear the screams and shouts of the zombies inside. They were attracting all the other zombies in the aeea towards them. "They should've managed to get out by now." Noah said looking at his watch. If things went according to his plan, then the frontliners stuck inside the shelter should've escaped by now. Noah and the other's were on their way right now to go meet up with them in their next hiding spot. "I hope they're okay.." El mumbled under his breath as he carried Noah on his back. Noah wanted to get down after they came out of the building, but El said he'd slow down the groups overall pace if he walked on his own. 'What an obvious excuse..' Noah didn't mind though. He didn't exactly like overworking himself or working at all an
Ian always looked forward to Arthur's every move with great anticipation. Although he had already read and re-read the novel a couple of times already, seeing everything in real life was a completely different thing.When Arthur asked for permission to go interrogate the prisoner, Ian already knew what he was planning.Since the prisoner hadn't opened his mouth to reveal anything about his organisation yet, Arthur decided that he had to take action and take things on his own hand, since, naturally, he was the protagonist.When Ian acted as a prophet, he had already told Arthur and Albert many important information about their enemy, including many of their weaknesses.But Ian also knew that with only the two of them, they weren't going to be able to do much with those information.As he was giving them those informations in secret as Noah, he also be
Ian returned. After wondering the continent for half a year, he came back with a 'Bang!'. Right when the nobles all around the country gathered to 'show the hero his place', Ian returned. Crazy hypothesises such that Ian being a Devil worshipper, betraying the country and being on the run or that he's actually a demon etc etc all came to an end as he openly took Arthur's side and threatened the other nobles.Of course, most of those rumours weren't too far off the mark. Ian did prefer villains over heroes, demons over angels, he had no love for their country and lastly, he was a darkness ability user with a twisted moral sense. And! To top it all off, he also preferred these rumours over ones that would hail him as a hero. he'd rather be on the run after being called a demon rather than be called a hero and worshipped. Again, twisted morality. But he couldn't do that this time. There were too many people using his name so he couldn't just let it be as those people got treated bad
"It's been a week since young master lost consciousness."Rob wrote in his diary as he sighed. There was a heavy atmosphere surrounding the duchy ever since the day Adrian fell down from the roof and went into a coma. How or why it happened was still a mystery around the duchy but speculations about an attempted suicide was slowly spreading around. Rob didn't believe them though. The Adrian he knew was too selfish and arrogant to do something like that. Yet, even when he was so sure, a small part of his mind kept lingering over that quiet and motionless room where Adrian was."Ah.. It's been a while."With that, Rob went to take another look at the sleeping Adrian for the 36th time that day. Although he was telling himself that Adrian's situation wasn't that serious, that he'd wake up soon, as he tried to remember all the bad things Ian did in his short lifetime just to mask his worry, he didn't even realise that he was unconsciously heading towards Ian's room again. After worryin
Things Ian did(Unintentionally or intentionally) that influenced the future of Arthur's world: First of all, although the effect wasn't that eye-catching at the moment, Ian was going to be known as the figure that erased racial discrimination. Due to him giving shelter to people of all age and race, and the humans around him having constant changes in their views and perspective, it was going to be the seed that erased all future discrimination and racial profiling. Secondly, he was going to be known as the bridge between Humans and the Demons. The Queen of the Demons, Ash's mother who had gone back to the demon world to deal with some 'internal affairs' would soon return with an actual offer of friendship between the demons and the humans. It was Bela's way of showing gratitude to the people who had taken care of her son in his times of need. Ian's love for Ash was plain as day and the care and gentleness he showed when dealing with him was no different from what a parent woul
"What..?""That's absurd!""Is that sorcery? Does he think he can fool us so easily?!"There were looks of disbelief, shock and confusion on everyone's faces as they looked at Ash. But no matter how tough they acted or how oblivious they tried to be, the bone chilling aura coming from Ash that slowly filled the room was undeniable. It was an aura that was impossible for any human to manifest, dark and scary."It doesn't matter whether you believe me or not.""I'm not the one behind bars looking at lifetime imprisonment and possible death sentence."Ian shrugged his shoulders in a casual manner as he signaled for Ash to stop. He was only here to give these people a chance. A chance at repentance. If they refuse to grab it, he didn't care less whether they died or lived inside a cage forever. 'Human resources are valuable after all.'That was one of the other reasons why Ian was here. He wanted to bind all these people under contract and have them serve the country. It didn't sit right
"You're gonna let them go?" Arthur asked, conflicted, as he looked at Ian. They were currently in an underground prison, the biggest prison that was made on Ian's request under the Duchy. The war criminals, the cult members, were being held here. Seven days had already passed since Ian's soul returned to his body. He was forced to have complete bedrest this whole time by his parents and the kids. They finally let him go after he managed to manipulate them emotionally with everything he had. It was a difficult job indeed. But nothing was impossible for Ian. "Let them go? NO?" Ian asked back in utter shock instead. But it wasn't Arthur's fault that he misunderstood. Ian did indeed say something that could be easily misinterpreted. "But you just said 'It's time to go out.'..?" That's what he said. To the criminals. Not that he meant it literally. "To the hall. TO.THE.HALL." Ian repeated himself twice, once for the criminals and once for Arthur. Everyone captured already had
Ian's time with the kids were cut short as the Dicarious couple arrived in a haste. A part of Ian was happy to see them again after so long. But a part of him was also wondering if they really were there for Ian. What if they were expecting their son to come back? What if the person they expected to see coming to his senses was Adrian and not him? How disappointed they would be. With a mixture of these various emotions coursing through his mind, he failed to make any type of expression when faced with those two people. Neither could he smile wholeheartedly nor apologize and cry. The kids were guided outside by Arthur and Albert, giving Ian and his parents the room to themselves. Ash was reluctant to leave seeing Ian's expression, but the atmosphere was too heavy for him to interfere. So while everyone else went to another room, he stayed, waiting while standing outside Ian's room. The others also didn't force him to leave since they didn't know which was better. "Are you
"YOU!"Smack!"THOUGHTLESS!"SMACK!"BAS-! JER-!! PERSON!"Ian had to wake up from his peaceful sleep with the sound of someone's shout along with the obnoxiously loud yet not so painful smacking of the pillows."Ow ow ow.. what the hell...?""Huh?""I'm back?"Ian woke up rubbing the back of his head that was the victim of continuous battering and looked around. The changed bedroom and the familiar faces made him aware of the fact that he had indeed come back. "What?""What are you talking about, young master? You didn't go anywhere."Both Albert and Arthur looked concerned as they checked Ian's status for any abnormalities. Only after multiple checking did they finally sigh in relief. "Ah no.. ""Hey guys.. Long time no see?"Ian greeted the kids and the Prince and the Knight all together while leaning back on his bed. The one responsible for the ruthless battering from before still had a massive pout on their face as they silently glared at Ian. "Are you angry? I'm sorry. How lo
Ian enjoyed the tea from hell while having a long and informative conversation with death, or at least that's who he assumed the other person was. He learned about the past that he had locked away and the people he had forgotten. But it all felt distant, like he was viewing the life of somebody else. "Why did I do that? Lock my memories?"Ian was curious. Just by watching the memories of Noah's future, he could tell that he lived a pretty okay life. The daughter he adopted also turned out to be great. She became his family. These were precious memories. So he couldn't understand why he'd lock them up like this. "After I presented you with my request, this is what you told me."Death continued showing Ian another set of completely different memories. An old man, wrinkly hand, white hair, hazy eyes. The room looked similar to the one he was in right now, and so was the person in front of them. "The me right now cannot save a world.""The blade has already lost it's edge.""I've grow
"What do you mean by welcome back?"Ian asked, confused. As far as he could remember, never before in his life did he see this man or these scenes. And these weren't circumstances that he'd forget 'by chance' either. "After your first death, you came here.""First death.. Ah.. When I jumped down the bridge?"Ian remembered his last moments as Noah. The music that played, the scenery he watched on top of that bridge, they were all very memorable. Yet, he had no memory of coming to this place.But unlike Ian's thoughts, the guy in front of him shook his head in denial. Not understanding exactly which part he was denying, Ian tilted his head to the side slightly."What death are you talking about then?""You didn't die back then."The guy sat down on the bed, facing Ian and the endless hell behind him as he spoke. "When you were at the verge of losing consciousness, you heard a childs cry.""A child?""Yes. It was the final monster outbreak." Ian wondered what this guy was talking abo