76th chapter : Another story of people .

After that sudden talk and fighting over such a simple word, Marco just didn’t care to return to his body while he continued to inspect the mask and what’s inside, but in the end these faintest cursed euro particles weren’t enough of a thread to give him a way to the kabuki guy.

Friday 21st October 19xx , 10am in the morning ,

“Seems like Layla chan won’t be coming today?”.

Fabia said out of the blue as Marco was eating his breakfast late.

Marco calmly continued eating without replying to what she said until Fabia put a bottle in front of him to get his attention, he looked up to see her a bit frowned by his expressionless reaction this time.

“Why did you fight with her? she’s a lovely girl”.

Fabia was straight to the point as Marco sighed after hearing her, he looked aside and drank a sip of his coffee.

“She tried to join the red mermaid”.

Marco simply responded, clearly looking like he doesn’t want to speak a lot about the matter.

“And you said no of course, to be honest Alex had told me that you fought and addressed her as a filthy royalty and a spoiled princess”.

Fabia exhaled her breaths for a moment then stepped next to Marco, who was waiting for any hit that was coming to his side, however, he was surprised by Fabia patting him on the head instead of hitting him. Her serene smile had him quite startled somehow.

“Listen, I know that you didn’t mean that, even herself didn’t mean what she said about you being an orphan and the other things too, you see you already got a big good family, she just wants to be part of that family too”.

Fabia’s words were logical as Marco knew that she got a point about what she was speaking.

Caught in the moment, another person seems to have been asleep for a long time. Emilis entered the room so suddenly, walking half asleep as he sat down to the table.

“What are you two talking about, the first thing in the morning? Man my head’s killing me”, Emilis asked as it was for Fabia to explain things.

Emilis drank his coffee silently then he put the cup down on the table as he looked at Marco with a cold glare, he calmly took a deep breath before trying to hit Marco who avoided the hit on the spur of the moment.

“Are you that dumb of an idiot!?! The fourth rank was going to join us!! And you just told her that it wasn’t accepted!! When did you take my place as a guild master!?! Goddamn it!! I really can’t!! Dude!!”.

Emilis exclaimed as he was scolding Marco for a reason.

Hearing him yell, Fabia had to calm him down with a punch straight to his head. Marco stayed silent as he stepped up to wash his dishes really quick, he did wait for Emilis to calm down though.

“What are you talking about now? Are we in need of more people since we’re merely on top of all the guilds?”.

Marco asked, sitting away from Emilis, who was eating the rest of his breakfast, the two glared at each other for a second.

“Idiot, your girl, Layla chan possess a special title and a witchcraft too,” He gulped everything down before continuing his talk “She can force anyone to release their serments, also seal them, but that depends on how strong minded she is against the enemy, the ten ranked holders within the council all possesses a special witchcraft that the council wants to use in order to gain the upper hand here and there.”

Emilis sighed after fully explaining the ordeal.

“You’re saying that but you’re already happy that I’m here instead of the council’s ranks. Listen, master Emilis, I respect you and I love all the other senpais and my family too, however, Layla joining us would be just destroying what she believed in until now. That’s just by joining us and seeing the other side of the council that hates us, learning that I’m eternally cursed and same goes for my siblings would drive her to insanity”.

Marco said, addressing both Fabia and Emilis at one time, his argument was also logical, but it wasn’t backed with solid proof.

“You won’t know until you try you know”.

Hana said as she arrived alongside Sam, holding bags of groceries on them, she put down the bags in Marco’s face while nagging him about it.

“It’s not like she wasn't strong minded until now. Back then we only met during meetings, but y’know she is really different from the other ten ranks, She’s a total honed warrior amidst the battle with a mental fortitude that would shamble a mountain on its own. I guess that kabuki guy wouldn’t stand a chance against her, that’s why he attacked her team and didn’t come for her personally instead. It was to destroy her sanity I suppose?”.

Sam stated his opinion as Marco sighed at that. He fully understood their reasoning, but it bothered him that they’d back her request instead of his.

“One way or another! Be the gentleman and apologize to her, you’re good at acting anyway”. Hana flicked him on the back of his head after that as they headed out.

Three hours later , the hanging gardens time ,

“Huh? what do you mean by -master is going to change the thing into a floating stand-”.

Marco found himself without his original task as Carla told him that Rebecca and Tanya suggested they change the design. Carla was fixing her apron while speaking as Marco saw her averting her gaze away from him.

“And so that’s what they said, if you don’t have anything to do just go check on Sophie or Arthur, we have plenty of helping hands here anyway” Carla was cold towards Marco.

“Is this your way of making me regret my words now? sighsss, I’ll wander around for a while” Marco muttered then he went out from the backdoor.

Seeing Arthur and Sophie playing with Lara, who came to hang out with them, had Marco feeling a bit exasperated let alone noticing that Rachel was keeping them company.

“Seriously, is this just because I pointed things out from the past?” Marco addressed Cedric who had a smug face on him.

“Yup, we know that beating the shit out of you isn’t really a good thing at this point, so I told Alex about what happened, though she laughed out loud quite a lot before telling the rest. I told you, just apologize and things are clear” Cedric explained their side briefly.

In that order, Marco ignored him in the given situation. On his way to pass time, he took his wallet and went to check other stalls. Marco looked around to find the highest place around as he saw a clock tower high enough with no one to disturb his peace. He took his leave, entering normally by the front door, then he used his full speed to vanish from the sights whilst staying inside the mechanical part of the clock. Marco took one of the books with him, passing time by reading calmly as he swept through the pages whilst keeping an eye on the time. Few hours passed as the sun went down, he closed the book saying to himself,

“The light’s going down. I guess it’s time to return home, I’ll check things again later.”

Marco spoke, calmly leaping down the clock tower from the windows of the roof. As he started walking home, he felt the weak presence that was observing him from afar for the whole day he was reading, growing closer. He looked east, sighed then passed by a fast food restaurant as he was lucky, finding it slightly crowded.

He entered to look straight at the one who was inspecting him.

Upon seeing who was observing him, Marco noticed that the stalker was a woman in her mid twenties, wearing dark sunglasses and covering her face with a face mask. The young woman flustered the second that he entered the place, Marco saw her trying to finish quickly what she ordered but couldn’t as he instantly took a seat at her table.

“So, any reason for you to follow me with your serment all day?”.

He asked, narrowing his gaze at her. The young woman gulped her drink full before swaying right and left as if she was trying to run for it.

“W-Well!! I don’t want problems! Let’s go somewhere else!! To the beach? Maybe!?!”.

She was bursting red, still trying to run for it as Marco exhaled coldly because of that. He put his glasses down on the table, the young woman looked at the glasses for a second then saw him tapping on the table afterwards.

“Seal your serment first then we can talk”.

Marco said as he asked for the waitress to order food for himself.

The young woman or in other words Lise, was cornered by Marco’s acts so far as he made her order again, let alone removing her disguise and sealing her serment. Marco recognized her face as soon as she removed the mask whereas he twitched a brow at her.

“So you’re Lu’s subordinate huh? If I remember your name was Lise” Marco said as he was drinking his iced tea.

Lise looked at him then exhaled a deep breath at how his face was totally blank out of emotions or reactions.

“Yeah, I’m Lise Granbell. Layla sama’s subordinate and the second survivor of the incident” Lise responded as she was wary about his gazes that kept going around every small gesture she made. “Layla sama told me what you said to her and I think this is inappropriate…Hiii?!!”.

As Lise mustered some strength and said her words, Marco smacked his cup onto the table harshly, heaving a growl out of his chest.

“Again with this thing? Listen, I don’t wanna make any trouble and I’m sure that if I apologize now she’ll just ghost me in the face”.

Marco’s words showed to Lise that his face was the only thing expressionless about him as it picked her interest to understand his reasoning.

“So you do wanna apologize to her?” She asked.

“Of course I would, besides my family, she represents the hope in my life, I love her alright, just I don’t want her to join the red mermaid for her own sake” Marco responded bluntly.

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Lise heard him perfectly fine as she blushed, totally in red because of how blunt he was with his words. It took her a bit of seconds to calm down and reorganize her thoughts afterwards.

Before Lise would reply back to his statement, a sudden window viewer appeared in front of Marco interrupting their conversation.

The window viewer showed Dalian with a bright yet a grim grin, looking down at the cameras.

“Ladies and gentlemen!! As we used to say!! Surprises are most welcomed as that would lighten one’s heart. And so today’s game will be! Can the rat run from the cat?! To simplify the rules, the ones with king card games on their register, will be pinned down as rats, and everyone who has lost in the second royal battle is the cat. Hunt the rat to gain a card and a pass to the next games!! Have fun!!”.

Marco’s window viewer closed then reopened the second that Dalian finished his talk in front of the cameras as the second one wasn’t broadcasted to the world.

“Oh and this is for you Marco kun, as a punishment from me to what you said to my little princess, have fun in being targeted as the highest rat on the game” Dalian had a smile on his face a serene one that’s making him look completely friendly, however his words showed the exact opposite of that smile.

Lise grinned awkwardly at Marco knowing that she was the reason for this thing, given that he instantly titled his head to the side glaring down at her with a cold gaze. He calmed down after that split second before watching the notice show up atop his head.

“Sighsss, we’ll continue our talk later”.

Marco said as he took out his phone to call Carla on spot. His groan didn’t help after finding out that all of them are home besides him, Marco figured out that Dalian sold him out for them as a punishment. And so just a second later a holder came standing in front of him with a cheeky smile.

“You’re one of the red mermaid’s rats huh?! An easy target!! What a lucky day!!”.

The guy roared, releasing his serment hastily, however the next thing people saw was a big explosion coming from the place.

“Place owner, I’ll make master Emilis pay for repairs , what I ate and what she ate too”.

Marco said, dispelling his chains from protecting Lise and the rest of the workers. Lise was stunned to see how quick his chains were as she saw the people around her unharmed.

“What are you going to do now?” Lise asked him.

“I’m gonna kick some thugs’ asses before heading back to the mansion, I’m pretty pissed off right now” Marco went outside cracking his neck whilst answering her question.

Seeing that little reaction from him made Lise a little worried because a huge number of holders gathered around Marco as soon as he got out. Mostly due to the explosion a few seconds ago, but the holders who arrived were thinking that Marco was exhausted.

“You’re putting things on my head for nothing, come at me all together!”. Marco announced.

A cold bloodlust made everyone shiver before they would get scattered around by his attacks as Marco furiously released his serment and started slashing them down one by one until he reached an unexpected person on his way.

“Ruby?”.

Marco muttered so suddenly as both were about to hit each other.

“ I thought only I wasn't wary about today’s game!”.

Ruby responded in a rush, slashing her way alongside Marco in synchronization for a second there.

“Did the masters drop the game’s title today? I thought they didn’t have any access to that”.

Marco was surprised to hear that. He continued fighting until he would block a blazing fire that was heading in their direction with his chains. Ruby was surprised by the sudden materialization of the chains at first, but got used to them as she felt relieved that he barricaded the flames, eventually noticing who had thrown that at their side.

“What the hell are you doing outside too Ryu san!?”.

Ruby said, roaring fiercely as she noticed that he saw them too. Ryu looked a bit flustered as Marco realized that he had seen them after throwing that fire punch.

“Ah!! Marco kun and Ruby chan!! you two also missed the notice?” he responded, acting carefreely.

Ryu grinned awkwardly as they didn’t let him off the hook, however the scolding was annulled by the arrival of lots of holders after a few seconds of peace.

“a notice, I didn’t know about it in the first place , tsk… These damn bastards will pay for this, step behind me”.

Marco said, taking a stance as he held his sword close to chest level, charging enough of strength through thermal kinetic energy, Marco used a full strengthened wind thrust that erased all of the holders in his way.

“Highest rat my ass, I’m heading home”.

Marco muttered, walking on his own while the chains were guarding any attack that would come his way by the remaining survivors. He was as mad as any other person whose family would ditch him for a simple word’s play he said.

“So the rumors about you meddling with Layla chan’s temper were true?”.

Ryu spoke so suddenly, taking Marco’s attention as they walked behind him.

As he heard what Ryu had said, Marco turned around, restraining almost every holder in his range with chains.

“What rumors?” Marco asked as he got closer.

“Ah! I heard them too!! Layla chan was in a bad temper today and most of the people weren’t pleased by that, I don’t know who spread the rumor but it says that the one who was with her in the festival is the reason for that” Ruby responded.

Marco took a deep breath then looked at Yuna who had an awkward grin before disappearing on him.

“These bastards have really taken it to the next level just because I called Lu a spoiled princess?”.

Marco asked himself while eliminating the rest with wind thrusts, easily earning more points which made the others mad at some point.

“Fine I'll apologize alright! but at this point there’s no reason in doing it if the rumors are just going to spread more”.

Marco sealed his serment and went on his way as no holder dared to touch him after that sudden infinite combo he did. He vanished from sight after that, leaving Ruby and Ryu on their own to fight what’s left.

Marco’s mind was fully focused on thinking about a proper apology as he saw that the red mermaid members did this for their own sake, however it still angered him enough to have him think of their punishment on the way back.

“I’m back!” he said, roaring at the moment of entry.

“Oh! You’re ba!!!”.

Xavier said, greeting him, however before he could finish his words, Marco smacked him to the wall with a wind thrust.

“What tha!?” exclaimed everyone.

Carla saw that Marco was having that calm scary smile on him, just like he used to do when he’s angry at them.

“Now which one of you bastards has spread the rumor? I couldn’t return home properly just because I said to my girlfriend she’s a spoiled princess!!”.

Marco restrained any one of them who tried to escape with chains, then used his curse to erase any attempts of releasing their serments.

“W-well, take it easy! It was because you did her wrong!! Layla chan is a good girl and she’ll accept anything she finds within us”

Alice said as she was trying to get free by brute force. Marco did tighten his grip after that.

“And that was also Carla’s and Alex’s idea!!” Hana sold them out.

“Oh, is that so?” Marco said, watching them glaring deathly daggers at Hana, “I’ll apologize so stop this kind of mess and let me clean my problems on my own. I know that I’ve been meddling in everyone’s affairs but this isn’t something you guys should just step inside. Thank you for your concern”.

Marco let them go then dodged an instant arrow from Xavier as soon as everyone felt their connection to their serments return.

“Let’s not start a fight now. Everyone should return to their room given we’ve concluded this mess, we avoided a loss in this game and so there’s still four left, you guys should also apologize to Marco for what we did today” Emilis said as he smiled at Marco.

Marco narrowed his gaze at Emilis for a split second before getting enticed by his words too whereas Emilis basically sold himself out too. Scheming was out of the plan at this point so Marco just went with the flow of events as he fortunately had done something beforehand.

“Ah right, here you go master. I paid for some repairs with your credit card so I hope you don’t mind, have a good night” said Marco.

Marco put down the card on the table then went upstairs calmly. Emilis stood there speechless until Zack felt the need to say something.

“You know what they say karma is...”

Before Zack would finish, Arthur interjected.

“Need something?”.

The answer had everyone look at Arthur who smiled at Zack knowing what he was about to say, eventually the situation got weird, so everyone stood there silent for a minute before heading to their rooms.

The next day ,

“I totally messed up the timing, my luck couldn’t be any worse”

Marco said as he was standing in front of her office. It was empty.

“Ah, sorry for coming late!! I wasn’t expecting that you got my number! Although I’m not sure how you got that?!”. Lise arrived a little late.

The two stood at the front of the closed office as Lise felt awkward to start a conversation.

“Where is she?” Marco asked.

“Hmm, it’s confidential but it’s not for you I guess. Layla sama was sent outside the island for a quest job, basically to inspect the kabuki guy’s appearance. The council finally found leads to the mysterious man and the ten rankers have moved to subjugate the roots of this”.

Lise explained shortly as she heard Marco groan again. He turned around to check on her location through his sensory witchcrafts whereas Marco thought it’s better to do so for the meantime.

“I’ll check something….Else…”

Marco muttered, only to stop talking as he suddenly sensed Layla’s signal fading out for a brief moment. He noticed that what he sensed was her serment’s fading signal.

“Is there something wrong?”.

Lise saw that Marco was acting strange.

“The ten rankers all have special witchcrafts, right?” Marco asked out of the blue.

“Yeah, basically…” Lise responded as she didn’t get his idea by that question.

“The ritual touches astral bodies. The astral bodies are the essential key for using euro particles through the serments. In other words, every authority that is assigned to the holder is within the astral body, right? One way or another, taking the heart that has the materialized crystal means earning an opening for the astral body”.

Lise watched Marco talking to himself, though Cedric was the one responding to the speculations he was having.

“I’m not following up on the conversation, what are you..!?”. She asked, filled with curiosity by now, but got shocked by Marco grabbing her on the shoulders, looking quite restless at that moment.

“It’s a trap. The ten rankers are going to die! In order to finish the ritual! He! I need to! Tsk!! Lu is in danger!!”.

Marco yelled at Lise before letting her go. He opened his phone to call Emilis but there was no response. Lise saw a dreadful expression on his face for the first time.

Earlier at night, on Layla’s side.

“Sighsss, I should’ve seen that Carla chan and the others would stand on my side, why did I say that!?!”.

Layla crawled in her bed, scolding herself out of petty. whilst flipping around the bed, holding the pillow in a frantic manner, Layla got a notice from the council.

“Layla Leigh. You’ve been called over to the council in order to discuss some urgent matter. We’ve found leads to the kabuki guy’s groups and as it seems, they weren’t working on their own after all”.

By the moment the live notice started broadcasting, Layla instantly fixed herself up, jumping out of bed at full speed to escape the thought of getting ashamed by what she had been doing. An elder said as he was giving Layla other documents through the window viewer.

“The operation starts at midday and the meeting will be at 9am so take your time to arrive at Hq. We’ve already notified other rankers along with the retired ranked councilor, Samuel Lockhart for this mission. If you please could bring him with you then I’ll gladly be thankful”.

The elder seemed a little calm about the whole ordeal whereas Layla smiled calmly then bowed.

“I will for sure, thank you for the quick notice, I will do my best to be there as soon as possible.”

Layla said, closing the window viewer after that as she instantly melted down onto the ground, she inhaled a deep breath then exhaled it all at once before clapping her cheeks for a second.

“I’ll put Maru out of my mind for now, I’m sure he’s worried about me but with this I’ll show him that I’m not a joke in front of others”.

As Layla spoke to herself, making her resolve up, she went to sleep soundly. By the next morning, Layla asked Alex to make her a portal item straight to the council’s Hq. She managed to drag Sam, who was going to work in the restaurant, by convincing him on spot, saying that it’s urgent and it is just one last time for the old days.

“You know that I’m a red mermaid member now and Hana is going to get mad if I just disappear the way that Marco does every time”.

Sam explained himself. The two were arguing over it although they were already inside the Hq building.

“I know!! But please do me a favor just this time, you’ll be the argument that would make Maru shut his mouth and don’t object when I join the red mermaid too!! So Please!!” Layla was forcing her way in.

“Sigh, I will, cause I want him to shut it for now, after what he had done yesterday too. As I suppose we should attend this meeting for now huh, one last time”.

Sam said, mumbling the last words to himself as he met with the other ten ranked councilors. Their reactions weren’t helping either as Sam scoffed at the feelings of animosity and hatred he had been sensing for a while now.

Layla looked at Sam’s faint grin, feeling a sense of mockery within that, therefore she couldn’t help but to slip past these feelings and take her seat just like the others, calmly waiting for the elder to arrive.

And so on, the elder who had called for them, started the meeting for this last mission.

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