The two crept closer to the warehouse and in less than a minute, they arrived at the half-open entrance. Zeke looked inside and saw a pale-faced Emilia kneeling on the ground, almost about to fall unconscious.

Amy too, was frightened and tearful as she clung to her bodyguard.

Amelia wasn’t there, instead, there were eviscerated bodies and the strong and nauseating stench of blood lingering in the air.

‘She’s not here?’

Even though Amelia was nowhere to be seen, Zeke did not remain in hiding for much longer. He pushed the creaking metal doors open.

The moment the bodyguard turned around, he saw a thick bolt of lightning flying straight at him. He pushed Amy out of the way and used his thin black gloves to crush the lightning, but things didn’t proceed as smoothly as last time.

His glove was pierced by the blue lightning, but that was just the beginning as another burst struck his chest, making him stagger and let out a grunt of pain.

Julia didn’t expect Zeke to immediately attack; She saw him unleash the crackling lightning then rush at the bodyguard, teleporting in front of him once he was in range to use ‘Life Motus’.

Zeke raised his leg as if he was about to use ‘One-star Side-kick,’ but that was only a feint that made the opponent stretch his arms to the side.

After quickly lowering his half-raised leg, the rune on his left hand shone resplendently, materializing a big arrow made of lighting in Zeke’s hand.

The youth unhesitantly swung his leg hand, stabbing the arrow into the man’s chest. At first, the black suit seemingly resisted the lightning arrow, but that lasted for a second or two before the man’s chest was pierced and a fountain of blood gushed out.

Even with such an injury, the man did not panic as he horizontally swept his leg, trying to push Zeke away. Unfortunately for him, Julia did not stand idly by, her figure appearing at the bodyguard’s side like a ghost then performing a simple yet monstrously powerful punch.

Like a ragdoll, the bespectacled man was blown to the side, his body rolling on the ground and leaving a trail of blood in its wake.

With a speed no less impressive than ‘Life Motus’, Julia rushed at the bodyguard, kicking his chin then pressing her shoe against his neck, incapacitating him.

As for Zeke, he targeted the frightened Amy, catching up to her with ease and pulling her hair.

“No! Please… I didn’t do anything!”

She was in a state of shock, only recognizing Zeke when he crouched down to meet her gaze.

“It’s you!”

With a disturbing soft smile, he nodded his head, his hand still pulling back her hair.

“Yes, it’s me. The loser.”

“W-what do you want! My mother will not let you-”

Using his other hand, Zeke used all of his strength to slap her.

“Miss!”

The bodyguard thrashed around but he couldn’t overpower Julia, who was half his size.

“This is a bummer. I thought there will be strong opponents.”

She kept pressing her feet on the man and looking at Zeke.

“I don’t care about your mother or you. Where’s Amelia?”

The side of Amy’s lips was bleeding and her body was shaking intensely. She realized that Zeke wasn’t playing around and that none of her threats were going to work. Plus, he had a crazed look on his face as if he would really resort to extreme actions to get his answers.

“I d-don’t know! She was supposed to be… here.”

She glanced at the spot in which laid the mangled corpses only to vomit.

Zeke pressed his index on Amy’s chest and let out lightning, causing the girl’s body to convulse and an ear-piercing screech of pain to reverberate across the warehouse.

“Where is she?!”

“Hey, Zeke! I think this is enough.”

More blood leaked out of Amy’s hand as the lightning invaded her body and inflicted a lot of internal damage. Julia frowned and tried to interfere but he ignored her and let out more lightning.

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“You’re still not going to talk?”

Upon seeing him about to zap her once more time, Julia let go of the bodyguard and dashed at him. She did not use force to push him away, but she did try to talk some sense into him.

Amy was not in a state to respond, and her cries and sobbing were an indication that she really was ignorant of Amelia’s whereabouts.

“I know you’re angry, Zeke… but someone got here before they did. Look at those corpses.”

Julia took out her phone and tried to call someone but it didn’t work.

“Tsk tsk! There’s no signal.”

The bodyguard, after getting to hit feet, maintained a safe distance and calmly explained,

“We kept the girl here. She might have escaped on her own or gotten help. The Miss has nothing to do with this.”

“Nothing? Nothing?! You call attacking her family and killing her father nothing? All of that for what? Because your spoiled miss got what she deserved after bullying someone? Don’t make me laugh!”

“Ah! It w-was my mother! She… made me do it!”

Zeke let out a sinister laugh and looked at the frowning Julia.

“This is what you privileged students are like.”

Then, he used the rune again and manifested the lightning arrow. Before Julia could stop him, he stabbed Amy’s stomach; the lightning traveled across her body, shredding her clothes. She cried for half a second then fell unconscious, unable to bear the pain.

Solemn and cold-faced, Zeke let go of Amy and stood up. The bodyguard ran up to the girl, he had an ugly face as he tried his best to stop the bleeding.

“This is excessive, Zeke. It seems to be kidnapping and torture, so if we report thi-”

“Report? You truly are a sheltered child, Julia.”

He proceeded to ignore her as he passed by Emilia, who had fainted.

Irritated and desperate, he inspected the corpses and noticed the similarities between them and the murdered students he had accidentally stumbled upon in Kethra’s Arms.

‘It can't be.’

If it was indeed the doing of the same person, then Amelia was definitely killed. However, the killer was active specifically near Erys, so it was strange for him to appear here.

----------------------------------------

“This is such a big mess! Where’s Zeke?”

Vans pressed his hand against his aching temples as he questioned Julia.

After a bit of struggle, the girl managed to inform the authorities and stay alone in the warehouse, watching over the unconscious girls and the bodyguard. She did not want them to get away, not after what happened.

Although not everything was explained to her, she still got the gist of it. Moreover, she got to see a new side of Zeke, a frightening side. There, as he zapped Amy, Julia thought he was really going to kill her but held back at the last second.

His eyes seemed different… utterly devoid of emotions. He almost seemed like a different person altogether.

“He left a while ago.”

“...”

Vans cursed under his breath and motioned for the officers to call for more people. Four people died, a girl was missing, and three people were injured.

“You will have to come with me to the station. Sorry about this.”

Although it was his first time meeting her, Vans knew Julia, so he wasn’t worried that she would be blamed for this. She was the beloved granddaughter of one of the heroes of the Stellar War, and her father was a dangerous person that should never be crossed.

‘This must be why Zeke brought her along. That kid… what is he doing?!’

Three hours later, after Amy and Emilia were brought to the hospital, the bodyguard was in the station along with Julia and a couple more people.

“Are you even doing your job? My daughter was almost killed by a madman!”

Amy’s mother was hysterical, her unpleasant voice echoing throughout the station. She was reproaching and blaming Vans, venting all her rage at him.

“Madam, it was your fault, to begin with. I know that you kidnapped the girl from class B.

The woman glanced at Julia and frowned. “Kidnapped? Stop with your accusations. You also attacked my daughter, didn’t you? You damn-”

She was about to slap Julia but the latter caught her hand and, while snorting, pushed her to the side.

Julia turned to Vans and calmly said, “Add assault to her charges.”

“E-ehm…”

Stuck between the two, the detective stuttered and couldn’t offer a response. On one side, he did not want to offend Amy’s mother, and on the other, he was being pressured by Julia.

Before things could escalate, a squad of people wearing metallic suits of armor barged into the station. They were all expressionless and brought with them a suffocating pressure.

They paid no heed to the officers or anyone else as they approached Julia. Their leader, a bearded middle-aged man with a grizzly face and a slash mark under his right eye, walked to the mother and slapped her face.

“You are suspected of abduction, assault, arson, and bribery. Take her away.”

The woman was dumbfounded and they cuffed her hand and dragged her outside. She tried to protest but they ignored her. Her bodyguard too, was handled the same, but he seemed to be aware of the identity of the new arrivals and, instead of resisting, he willingly followed them.

“Young miss, your father is not pleased with this. Anytime you go outside, you were instructed to call me.”

“It would be boring with you around, Roland.”

“Young miss…”

The bearded man seemed troubled as he tried to convince the girl, but she harrumphed and averted her eyes.

The man resigned to his fate and shifted his attention to Detective Vans, who had yet to make sense of the situation.

The bearded man, as well as his subordinates, were part of a special task force that was directly under the Department of Defense. They would only appear in extreme cases, and this one definitely wasn’t that extreme.

‘I should’ve known it would end like this. No wonder the girl wasn’t worried.’

“The case will be handled by Prosecutor Jang Fold. Thank you for your cooperation.”

“L-likewise. What about the missing girl?”

“We will be conducting a thorough search of the area. If you find any clues, please call this number.”

Vans was handed a black card, which he glanced at before bowing to the bearded man, who dragged the reluctant Julia and left.