Actually, Lucy and Arthur were pretty deep in the ghost island, but they did not reach the deepest part and to be honest, Arthur was quite interested in it, but for the time being, he gave up on the idea of exploring it, but one must know that he met an adult dragon in here, so what if he went a little deeper?
Even though they are quite far, it should not be a problem as his traveling speed is incredible. Actually, they didn't travel slowly, nor did they use the cloud, instead, Arthur held Lucy and transformed into lightning, then he ran towards the academy's location.
With his speed, not one monster could stop him, heck! even those who were too close to the lightning became dust and instantly died, it's a pity, but they could only curse their own luck.
In a short time, they reached the teleportation array, and to be honest, Arthur was proud and surprised by his speed. Seeing himself be this fast, he could not help but feel a bit excited, even Lucy complimented him.
Surprisingly, the array was not destroyed, it looked fine, there was nothing suspicious about it, so after some pondering, Arthur guessed that since the principal fired at him with 'judgment' then she might have thought that he was killed and didn't even have any suspicions of him being alive.
he took a breath a fresh air before stepping on the array with Lucy, then he teleported himself along with Lucy.
In fact, he was perplexed as to why the principal would do that, after all, he didn't anything to oppose her, in any case, his thoughts of revenge never subdued and he couldn't wait for the moment he kills her or whoever did that, but he was almost sure she was the one, as only the principal have the right to use that weapon.
.......
Once they appeared on the array located in the Academy ground, Arthur looked around to observe his surroundings, but to his surprise, there was no one there.
One must know, the teleportation array was in the heart of the academy, so normally, there would be a dozen or so students either practicing or just relaxing, but this time, there was no one, even with his good eyesight, he couldn't sense any student.
What astonished him, even more, was that the nearby buildings seemed a bit off, some of them were half destroyed and some others were fine.
Seeing this, Arthur grew suspicious, nonetheless, he didn't dare be careless even with his godlike strength.
He retrieved a green talisman from his storage, and he threw it to the ground, and in a matter of seconds, the talisman lit up and the strange runes on it formed a symbol, then a notification appeared to Arthur.
The space sealing talisman has been used, any kind of teleportation is impossible within a radius of 400 kilometers.
Arthur didn't pass the week just playing around, instead, he read many books that Lucy showed him, and he became quite skilled in making sealing spells or talismans, though it required some time, they were absolutely useful, especially this one, so he made a dozen or so of them just in case.
Actually, he too can't teleport now, but that didn't matter as his speed in lightning form is akin to teleportation, so that's why he used it, plus what if the opponents use teleportations to get away, just like that old man from the church once did, that would really be troublesome for Arthur so using this was the best way stop them from fleeing.
After he used that, he held Lucy again and dashed to the principal's office, he didn't know what happened, but most of the academy was destroyed and there were no signs of life.
Just as he approached the main building which was where Sonia's office was, he saw a few soldiers who looked like the holy church's soldiers.
Arthur couldn't help but frown and wonder what the hell actually happened here.
He didn't waste time-fighting them, and he passed them quickly, the lightning was enough to annihilate them and to be honest, he didn't feel guilt or anything of the sort, they were from the church so they were enemies, kind or evil, that didn't matter, because when the church hunts demon, they don't care if these demons are kind or not, they just slaughter and blindly follow orders, so why would he show mercy.
In just seconds, he was already in her office, and every soldier he met was killed without even knowing how he died. Once he reached her office, he noticed that there were 3 people.
One was someone Arthur definitely know, as for the other 2 he didn't know them, it was Mary, the female beastman, and two people apparently from the church, Arthur was able to guess that one of them was a bishop as the other was a cardinal, since in the past he already met a cardinal and a bishop and Lucy told him that every rank has a specific robe, he was able to distinguish their identity rather quickly.
Mary was tied by a white rope which seemed special, her hands and feet were tied, and she was sitting in a chair, as for the other two, who was a woman and an old man, they were chatting about something not too far away from Mary.
Arthur's arrival did attract their attention, after all when he is in lightning form, one would hear the 'bzzt' whenever he moved.
He didn't rush in and kill right away, instead he transformed back to his original form with Lucy, then he stood there assessing the situation, one would be lying to say that his blood was not boiling and he wasn't holding back his anger and rage, he really wanted to kill the female beastman right away but he didn't, he first wanted to know what happened, then decide what to do, but he was sure if it was him of the past, then he would have killed them all right away, no questions asked.
While Mary was dumbstruck seeing Arthur and Lucy, the woman and old man from the church were first surprised then alert.
Mozu : LVL 227
Lara Singlore : LVL 138
Arthur appraised them both, and with the soul link, Lucy could see the appraisal too, she could only feel grateful to have this ability as it was very useful.
The first one who spoke was Lara, the woman, she was a cardinal and her looks was decent enough to be considered a small beauty, but in front of Lucy, she was straight trash, but of course one should not judge a person by his appearance.
"You! Who are you! and how did you manage to come here"
Lara was really frustrated, this duo appearance out of nowhere, and not even she could sense them.
As for Mozu, the old man, he stayed silent for a moment, gazing at Lucy as thinking about something, and after a couple of seconds, he spoke
"You....You are Lucy!! We knew you weren't dead, the war was not futile after all, ah! the pope will be joyful to hear this"
Lucy didn't seem surprised that he knew her, even though her appearance changed but not that much, and she knew higher ups knew her exact appearance, as for the soldiers only knew they must capture every silver-haired female demon they encounter.
Arthur remained silent and refrained from speaking for some reason, as for Lucy, she decided to speak, normally it would be the opposite, but she changed the course or this one year and she had the power to stand up for herself, even though Arthur would still protect her, she wanted to be strong enough to not burden him.
"I am indeed Lucy, care to tell me what that 'war' was about?"
Hearing her confirming her identity, the old man chuckled then replied
"hahaha, so the cause of the war don't know anything about it? hahaha, then this old man will tell you. As you know, we the holy church are searching for you, and when the Academy rejected our offer to hand you over, the pope personally came here to retrieve you, but the principal told him that you died fighting a dragon....so the pope became so angry that he declared war on the academy. There was bloody fights, especially the fight between our pope and the principal and with that weapon of theirs they managed to hurt us pretty badly, but hehe, the pope finally came victorious but he couldn't kill the damned headmaster as she somehow fled, after that the academy became the church's propriety, hehe so how about that? now you know how much suffering you caused to the people around you, how about you peacefully go with this old man, I don't like to bully little girls, especially beautiful ones.."
To be honest, Arthur was astonished, he really didn't think a war would break out just because of Lucy, is she that important to the church that they would be so reckless and attack the academy, they even won somehow, but Arthur knew the pope must have been injured or else how could Sonia escape, it's true she's strong but definitely not as strong as him, and that's because a bishop was LVL237 so the pope might be in the 300 if not 400, and it's impossible for her to escape from his grasp.
As for Lucy, she didn't seem affected by what Mozu said, blaming her and telling her she causes suffering, for her only what Arthur says matters, and if she caused calamities or wars, that still had nothing to do with her, plus the Academy got what's coming for it and totally deserved what happened to it.
"What happened to the other council members?"
Finally, Arthur spoke, his revenge was not only to Sonia but to whoever plotted to kill him, including those people, so he wanted to know where they are, as for Sonia, he would surely chase her down until he died or else his heart cannot be at ease knowing that a cunning person like her is still alive and well, but at least her Academy got destroyed, that counted as some payback, right?
Mozu, who was still heartily laughing, shifted his gaze to Arthur, who was standing next to Lucy, he stared at him for a second before speaking again
"Ohhh! You must be Arthur, right? the pope told us you managed to kill Arnold, I must really congratulate you, you do have some skills, but do not think I'm like Arnold, this old man is more experienced than that brat, plus I really want to know how you survived against that dragon, even our pope won't come back alive fighting it so...it's quite intriguing"
This old man seemed quite talkative, but in the end, he still didn't reply to Arthur's question, which irritated him quite a bit but he kept calm and said
"Sigh...I asked you a question, so why are you babbling about useless things"
This time, it was Lara's turn to become more enraged, she retrieved a silver long whip from her waist and shouted
"Who do you think you are to be bossy like that, haha?? Even though you somehow killed Lord. Arnold, it's a whole matter to be able to fight Lord. Mozu and me!"
Arthur thought it's useless to ask further questions, this duo didn't seem willing to answer more questions so he would question Mary after dealing with that trash, but just before he was going to kill them with [lone sword], he was stopped by Lucy, she tapped his sleeve and said in a somehow excited tone:
"Le.Let me fight that old man, I wanna see how I do! you deal with that woman, but don't do anything perverted! I'm watching you! hmph!"
It seemed Lucy really wanted to test her current strength and see how she does against a bishop, but that last sentence is like throwing a bucket of cold water at him, it seems even in a situation like this, her teasing never ceased.
Arthur nodded his head and murmured quietly so no one could hear him "Let's see how I punish you tonight..." Even though no one heard that that didn't include Lucy who was next to him, and had extraordinary senses, nevertheless, she didn't react and only giggled and turned her head to look at the old man.
Seeing them not engaging first, Lucy didn't stay still, with unimaginable speed and explosive strength, she appeared right in front of Mozu in lightning speed, and landed a kick on his abdomen.
The poor old man, could not even react in time, he was sent flying until he hit a nearby wall, and a huge crater was formed on the wall and he was still laying there, not moving.
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In a panic, the woman who only saw Mozu being attacked and sent flying, she stretched her whip and mumbled something with fast speed then attacked with her long whip, blue flames appeared on the whip and its speed was pretty fast.
Without transforming into lightning, Arthur appeared in front of the attacking whip, with his great speed it was a piece of cake, in fact using his max speed, he could see the whip slowly move, it's almost as if time stopped.
After appearing in front of the incoming flaming whip, he stretched his hand and held the whip with it, just like that, it couldn't be more simple, an attack of this caliber can not even scratch him, the blue fire on the whip disappeared, he easily absorbed, then he exerted enough amount of strength to firmly hold the whip and not crush it.
The woman who attacked in panic, and expected her attack to land on Lucy didn't expect this black clothed man to appear out of nowhere and easily block her attack, but once she saw that, she knew that she is screwed.
Lara is an old member of the church, and can judge a situation rather quickly, just by seeing Mozu defeated with one kick and her attack blocked, she guessed that those two are not as the pope mentioned, they are way stronger, especially that Lucy, I mean to defeat a bishop with just a kick, who can do that? plus rumors said that he is stronger than Lucy, she rubbed the cold sweat from her forehead and felt her body shivering, right, she was experiencing fear, the situation is unfavorable, and most likely she would die if she can't think of something.
After some hesitation, Lara retrieved her teleportation crystal, actually, every cardinal or above, did possess one like those, and can only be used in emergency situations, but how could this not be an emergency?
As for Arthur, seeing her take out the familiar crystal, he only shake his head as if mocking her, and he waited for her to finish the long chant and see her reaction when the crystal won't work, of course that was due to his talisman, and damn was it a great idea to use it.
"Oops, hubby~, It seems I still can't control my strength, I overdid it again...is he already dead?"
Lucy walked slowly towards Mozu who was stuck at the wall. Once she was close enough, she reached her hand and pulled him out, she then threw him to the ground and said
"oh! He is still alive but seriously injured, I just simply kicked him, it's so boring like this......"
Arthur could only shake his head, this woman still doesn't know how strong she is, her strength is a whopping 300k, of course, she would crush him with just a kick, hell! if she used all her strength then the poor guy would be crushed to death.
Also, he felt quite amused, first because she called him hubby in front of people, and it made him feel quite proud, though when they were in the cave, he told her to call him 'hubby'and not by his name, but she strongly objected, nonetheless, she started calling him that since then, and she even did it now, plus her attitude really changed, in the past she would not talk in public, even when fighting, but now, she seemed extremely relaxed and carefree, and he really thought she looked cute.
Even though she seemed like a new person, her coldness remained a bit, but that only added to her beauty, but do not be mistaken, she had a hint of coldness when dealing with this old man, and even though she was happily talking right now, that deep inside her, she was feeling delighted to finally begin her revenge towards the church with her own hands.
To be honest, the miserable appearance of the old man was really pitiable, he was coughing blood non-stop, almost choking from it, his ribs were all broken, and his internal organs were crushed into dust, even with a specially divine armor from the pope, it still couldn't hold and he knew his death is nearing, he could only stare at Lucy with fear as he seriously did not expect her to be this strong, one must know that she was very weak just a year ago, and even a cardinal can take care of her, but now, with one kick, she defeated him, a bishop, he felt he had to tell the pope of this this, but unfortunately he can't..
The woman who was mumbling the incantation for some time, finally finished, and a grin soon appeared on her face, she breathed a sigh of relief, and prepared herself for the teleportation..but it never happened, first she thought she did something wrong or made a mistake in the incantation, but that was impossible, so the only reason is that...there is something obstructing the teleportation..
She lifted her head and saw the grinning Arthur as if he was a harbinger of death, she knew she was done for, so her legs grew weak and she almost fell down.
"So you finally understand that there is no way out, how about you take a seat and calm down a little"
Arthur spoke in a mocking tone while waving her hand nonchalantly, a near chair was moved to Lara, since her legs grew weak and she was barely standing, when the chair came out, she unconsciously sat on it, then dark blue chains appeared out of nowhere and bound her legs and hands.
The telekinesis was really useful thing, and even though Arthur could not use it in fights, it still was good to have it, he trained with it for some time, and he managed to even lift a boulder which was quite big, he became quite skilled in it, but it still was useless in fights, maybe it'll be helpful in house labor, if he ever had a house..
As for Lucy who was still looking at Mozu, she pondered for a moment before slowly extending her petite hands and taking off Mozu's storage ring with a 'hehe', no matter how rich she and Arthur were, if a storage ring which was probably full of treasure was thrown in front of them, of course, they will take it.
Mozu saw her actions, but he could only gaze at her grudgingly and curse her in his mind. As for her, she injected her mana, and inspected the storage, and to her surprise, there was some books, items and even enchanted weapon, plus there were gold coins, but the amount had in his storage ring was just unbelievable, he even gave her more than 1 billion gold coins, but the mountain of gold still didn't diminish.
She put the ring in her own storage ring then walked near Arthur, she knew the old man was going to die anyway, so why waste her time with him.
Since things were done now, Arthur headed to Mary, who was still silent, her eyes showed astonishment and fear. She really was beyond surprised when she saw how much both of them improved in terms of strength, especially Lucy, heck! if she received that kick then she would surely have died, that's for sure.
To be honest, she never was willing to kill Arthur and Lucy, it's true, she hated Arthur in the beginning, but later on she felt neutral, she neither liked him nor hated him, and the decision of her big sister seemed rushed, even though she tried to persuade Sonia to not proceed with plan, her efforts were futile, and she had to follow the orders of her big sister.
She felt guilty towards this duo, they didn't deserve to die yet they were ruthlessly killed by the cannon, she really couldn't accept that but what was done is done and no one can change the past.
But not that she saw them alive and kicking, plus they became even more strong, she felt complicated, she felt a tinge of happiness to see them both alive, but at the same time ashamed to face them, after all, she plotted behind their backs, so how could they not hate her, she even knew they come back today for revenge, or else why would they come back?
She saw a Bishop, who only her big sister can defeat, easily killed by Lucy, with just one kick, and how helpless Lara was against Arthur, so she knew they became extremely strong, but if it was anybody else she would be saved, but these two would surely not let her live, nonetheless, she wanted to die peacefully and not feel guilty.
"I-I'm sorry, even though I know it's too late, but I'm sorry for what we did, I-I really tried to persuade them not to do it, but alas...."
Arthur and Lucy walked up in front of the tied female beastman and coldly looked at her.
"Do you think apologizing now would change anything? If you really feel guilty, then tell us where is the rest of the council members and SONIA!" (Arthur)
Even though she expected this kind of harsh treatment, Mary still felt sad and guilty at the same time, nevertheless, she mustered her courage, breathed some fresh air and replied to Arthur
"I-In the war, a lot of people died, and only 4 council members remained, me, Mach, Veronica, and Zephir, as for their locations. I really don't know, we dispersed in the war, and each went fighting, I was captured 3 months ago, as for them I don't know if they are even still alive or not but last time I have seen them in 3 months ago"
Even though Arthur hated her guts, he still felt some sincerity in her tone, and she didn't seem to be lying.
"Fine! then how about Sonia!"(Arthur)
"B-Big sister is......Arthur, you must know! big sister really didn't have a choice, you know..she is part of a clan, the Ma Clan, and very few know of it, even I only visited a few times, It's really secretive but have a lot of experts, and basically, the clan controls the Academy through big sister, really!! she only obeyed orders, she can't oppose them! please believe me! it's not her fault!"
The identity of Sonia known to all council members, but Mary was Sonia's little sister, they grew together so she obviously knew of her circumstances, that's why she followed her here to the academy and stayed with her, when she went begging Sonia to not kill Arthur as he was an innocent bystander and didn't do anything wrong, Sonia could only shake her head and tell Mary that she received direct orders to kill Arthur and Lucy no matter the cost.
Arthur was a bit shocked to hear this and pondered for a bit
'A clan why would they want my death? I don't remember messing with any clan whatsoever, there is only one way to resolve this, it's to pay them a LITTLE VISIT!'
"hmm, and where is this clan? since it's very secretive, it'll be quite a pain to search for it, so since you visited it a few times, how about you tell me where it is"(Arthur)
"I..I cannot do that!" (Mary)
She seemed quite stubborn in this matter, she shook her head continuously and seemed unwilling to say the location.
Arthur just smiled at said
"Huh? And why is that?.."(Arthur)
"Obviously because I know you want to kill big sister, how could I tell you her location! She wasn't at fault! I'm not saying, just take my life instead and consider it the end of your revenge."
"Either you tell me or not, that doesn't matter, sooner or later, I will find the clan's location!"
As he said that, he lifted his hand, and white sword energy formed on his hand, he used the unique skill of his title to make a sword out of his hand, he planned on beheading the female beast-man, but for some reason, he felt unease.
He didn't know why but mayhap these 12 months really did change him? Did he become soft or did he feel pity for this woman? How could he feel that! that's absurd! look at what they have done to him, they tried to kill him and Lucy, and were almost successful, so why would he feel sympathy for someone who plotted behind his back, didn't that make him weak? he came here for revenge and not to save lives!
His hand was lifted for a couple of seconds, and even Mary who already prepared herself for her death was confused why it never happened, but finally, Arthur's hand twitched and was about to cut the female beastman when Lucy interrupted him and said
"Hubby~ how about you forgive her? she indeed plotted against us, but she admitted her wronging, and it's not like she did it willingly, I feel she didn't lie to us and really tried to save us"
Arthur was really surprised by what he heard, for Lucy to say that out of nowhere made him dumbfounded, he didn't think she would say that or even defend Mary, thanks for the soul link, he kind of grasped what she felt so just a couple of words from her were enough to make him understand what she was trying to say.
In fact, his hesitation a moment ago was a proof that he didn't want to kill her, it's true he came to extract revenge and pay back what was done to him, but this woman seemed sincere and really apologized, she even closed her eyes and accepted her fate.
It's true he hated her, but to hate someone doesn't mean you have to kill him, heck! if it's the previous him, he would have killed her if not tortured her more then killed her, but now he changed, it may be a good or a bad change, but he nonetheless changed and since even Lucy spoke up, he had to think this through and make a wise decision.
As for Mary, hearing what Lucy said, she was dumbstruck, but she didn't dare anything, as it was not her place to do so, she just stayed still and closed her eyes, awaiting her fate, in fact, she wouldn't blame him even if he killed her, as she deserved that.
Arthur's lifted hand, soon descended at lightning speed, and even Lucy was a little bit panicked, because to be honest, she really pitied Mary and knew she had to do that due to her circumstances, she was forced to, nonetheless she apologized and even accepted her death, so why not forgive her? but seeing Arthur's hand descend, she couldn't do anything.
It's true she wanted the female beast to be forgiven by Arthur, but even if she wasn't forgiven, it doesn't matter, because no matter his decisions she would always support him, if he decided to spare her then it's good if he killed her then so be it.
The hand descended at lightning speed and even Mary felt as if a sword descended on her, but even after some seconds passed, she was still breathing, she also noticed that the white rope tied her legs and hands were now cut, it took her quite some time to realise what just happened before she lifted her head to look at him.
"Hmpf! Consider yourself lucky! if not for Lucy then you would be already dead! since she forgave you then I'll make an exception and let the matter go.... but only you and not the others!"
Mary didn't know what to say, she still couldn't believe he spared her after what she had done, 'he really is kind' was what she thought, it seems she was on point, and even though he doesn't want to show it, he indeed is kind-hearted, she also noticed his attitude slightly change from back then.
"Th-Thank you...."(Mary)
"You should be thanking Lucy, not me!"
Mary hastily turned to look at Lucy and then bowed her head saying
"R-really thank you, you forgave me even though I did all those things... thank you"(Mary)
Lucy only nodded without saying anything, she felt her attitude changed, she forgave someone who tried to kill her, that may be stupid to others, but for her, it was her own choice, and it seems even Arthur respected that choice and supported her, he let go of his revenge and urge to kill just because of her.
Lucy then turned around to look Lara who was still shaking from fear and looking at her and Arthur, afraid of dying, but this time she didn't feel any sympathy nor pity for this woman, a sharp dagger was soon created, it was made from the violet fire, the most powerful type of flames, the dagger went for Lara's heart with extreme speed
'poof'
In less than a second, the Cardinal woman was stabbed exactly at her heart, the dagger melted her heart along with other organs and she died instantly, as for her storage ring, it flew towards Lucy, Arthur used telekinesis and made the ring fly toward Lucy who was looking at it with expectant eyes, he couldn't help but think 'This chick really does love stealing others rings, hehe'
....
Since there was nothing else to do, both of them didn't bother with Mary anymore and were about to leave the office which was pretty much destroyed, but all of the sudden, Mary who was silent for sometime spoke again, with a hesitant voice.
"I-If you want..I can take you to the clan, but on one condition!"
Arthur who was about to leave heard that and turned his head to look at Mary, who was clenching her fists and looking back at him.
"Speak, what's the condition"(Arthur)
To be honest, he was quite interested, if she can take him there, that would save him a lot of trouble to look for Sonia"
"Y-You must promise me to not kill b-big sister, if you want to punish someone then punish the clan"(Mary)
"Not kill her? Well, if you take me there, I'll think about it"(Arthur)
"No! You must promise me, and a man cannot go back on his promise!"
This woman was pretty persistent, deep inside, she knew he would find the clan someday, and her big sister would surely die at his hands, if she can make him spare her too by guiding him there, then it was worth it, as for the clan? Mary didn't care, pretty much all the people there are selfish and arrogant, except a few people, just because they are strong, they think they are gods among humans.
This time, Arthur did not talk, instead, Lucy was the one who spoke
"Fine, I promise you that we will not touch Sonia unless we investigate this further, but if she really is guilty, then don't blame us for breaking the promise"(Lucy)
Mary was hesitant for a second before nodding her head and responding
"Since that's the case, then I will take you there..."