Julie was surprised to find that the popular short videos she was watching on the sns suddenly froze altogether before kicking her out of the video sharing platform.

This put a frown on her face as her relaxing time got hampered. She very much enjoyed watching the contents these students uploaded while being unaware of the harshness of life that awaited after graduation.

She found the internet to be still working without a problem so either there was some problem on the server or a teacher used their authority meant for dealing with emergencies pertaining to online services.

“I wonder what happened.”

She thus checked the reason behind it and found the text of teacher Nicole sent on the faculty members official online chat room about the emergency situation.

Julie got up from the bed after the part about student Blue being in trouble came up on that text. She wondered why she didn't explain anything other than that singular sentence. Doesn't this only just itch her curiosity and concern for him?

Turns out she didn't have to contact her about it as another private text directed to her and her grandfather was also sent shortly. Finally, she got to know the true situation regarding him from teacher Nicole’s summary report as well as the urgent request of her.

Julie stood up from shock as she was in disbelief after reading about such a sinister plot being hatched by two students within the academy. Her heart was filled with anxiety about his current condition.

She hurriedly did as requested from that report and also called her grandfather lest he hadn't checked the notifications like his usual habits.

“Grandpa! Something terrible happened.”

“Huh? What is it? Did an abomination slip in!?”

Her grandfather however seemed to guess something else entirely as his usual composure was broken at the mention of an abomination.

“Ugh, no! What are you on about? Check your phone and read teacher Nicole’s report!!”

“Oh. Phew! Brat, you should have properly mentioned it in the first sentence. Why be so… eh, such a thing actually happened…”

Her grandfather’s grumbling suddenly stopped as he seemed to be reading the report.

“You did good to take action without waiting for my instructions.”

“This matter obviously required swift countermeasures before things got out of hand. Please check on every student’s phone if anything related to it was saved in data. We can't take risks in this.”

“I already did as I read that report. Did you forget who taught you? Hmph!”

Julie rolled her eyes at his sudden haughtiness. She seriously wondered what would happen if this side of his was revealed to the public. After all, the Baron Auburn everyone knew was also just a grandfather who liked dotting on his family.

“I am heading there. I will inform you after the situation is handled properly.”

“Hmm, make haste then. I surprisingly didn't find any such data saved on students' phones in this manual search.”

She said goodbye before ending the call. The last part somewhat puzzled her as she wondered what those two were trying to do if they didn't even have those recordings.

“Didn't they want to defame him?”

She thought out loud as she stood on the teleportation circle to go to a place away from the crime scene. Those two's location was already known to her after she used her authority. Teacher Nicole obviously didn't have such means so she mused that she must be searching frantically.

Surprisingly, they weren't hiding somewhere but within their own place in the student quarters premises.

°°°°

Xavier woke up with a grunt after feeling some renewed vigor within the body.

When he opened his eyes he was greeted with the sight of two beauties looking at him with extremely cold expressions on their faces.

He finally snapped back to full attention after being subjected to such stare down. The last memory of being attacked by Thomas appeared in his mind. His face turned aghast as he realized that he had been caught red handed because of the betrayal.

The sight of his first crush, Nicole, and the vice principal, Julie Auburn, frightened him as their aura's pressure bore down. In front of him, they didn't bother restraining it within themselves. He felt his mouth dry up. He was inside a white room similar to what he experienced during the entrance test. His previous unconscious self was sitting on a chair in front of a square white marble table.

In front of him stood those two. His first crush was looking at him as if he was something lower than a garbage that she found revolting to look at. The vice principal had a much tamed reaction but it was still on the same level as looking at a fly who had annoyed her greatly.

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

In a word, situation wasn't looking good for him so he decided to play the victim,

“Please listen to me! I have been framed!! That Thomas manipulated me and threatened me to do these things or he would beat me up for disobeying him. He is the real culprit. I have done none of it willingly!!”

To his plea and “sincere” words those two remained unresponsive. He noticed that when he mentioned Thomas there was a strange emotion that appeared on their faces before returning to normal. He wondered the reason for it and soon he learned from Nicole,

“Thomas is dead. He had committed suicide by burning himself back in his place. It was so well hidden that not a smoke escaped to alarm the neighbors outside or the fire alarm inside. If not for Lady Auburn going there in person to investigate first then there wouldn't even be a single piece of his body left to collect.”

Xavier was shocked to his core to hear that the guy who was his best friend just yesterday and then today became his enemy by betrayal already died just like that.

Vice principal then revealed further,

“I even collected the suicide note. There he did reveal how he was the one to spread the news about student Blue to fan the flames of hatred within you and how he then manipulated you by feeding false information until finally convincing you to follow his plan.”

“...”

He didn't know how to react as it turned out that he was being played like a fool and Thomas was really the “player” to toy him around so easily.

“Hoh? What's with that look? Feeling betrayed? Unfortunately, this wouldn't even come close to how much betrayed your victims felt at that time.”

Nicole said in an extremely disdainful tone and Julie added further,

“Even though you were manipulated to do those heinous acts, the fact remains that you have Daemonic traits within you. In the future you're more likely to be corrupted by those calamities, after all, at such a young age you already know how to harm others without any regard for rules and regulations. A player who acts unbridled is also akin to a calamity.”

The more she spoke her expression seemed to turn more serious. Xavier instantly understood the grim fate that awaited him after being declared as having Daemonic traits by a noble herself. After learning in the academy for over half an year he obviously knew about Daemons from the Abyss who were always out there harming the four cosmic empires from within and outward.

There were cults and its followers, who followed Daemons orders while operating within the domain to keep harming the player civilization, known as the Daemonic Cult and cultists.

Such words from Julie was nothing but a proclamation that he was bound to become a cultist in the future. As for what happened to a cultist after being captured, that was also a general knowledge. That being said, he still had to know just one thing.

“Why?”

“Why what?”

Julie raised an eyebrow to his question.

“... Why did he do such a thing? I always considered him as my best friend. I never—”

“Enough with your nonsense. Nobody wants to hear your melodrama.”

Nicole interrupted him with utter disdain. He looked at her with unconcealed anger which only earned a snicker from her as she added,

“Hmph! He was mentally unstable. The words he said to student Blue and Luna before he knocked them out indicated that he was looking for a way to vent for being ignored among his peers for years. Later investigation did reveal how he had close to no presence within the training ground and how his peers were somewhat ambiguous about his existence. Surprisingly, even the teachers seemed to have almost no impression of him. I guess the poor guy must have gone crazy because of it over the years.”

She said such but there was no trace of pity in her tone. She revealed it to him in such a way that she seemed to see no significance about this. Xavier wondered how could she be so cruel and cold hearted and how was he so blind to have a crush on such a disgusting woman before.

“I see.”

He replied before bearing a calm expression. He also felt very tranquil right now. He closed his eyes and remained still for the eventuality.

It turned out that vice principal Julie also had no patience to continue further. He felt her hand on top of his head before experiencing excruciating pain. The pain came from somewhere not from the body but much deeper.

“Arrrrgrgh!! Arrgharfg!!!”

His screams continued as he never thought that the noblewoman would be so cruel to him at his last moments. He then felt her hand going away and the pain stopping abruptly.

“What's the result, Lady Auburn?”

“It is as expected. The plan was to wipe the memory of those eight and only retain the fact that they had the lunch before exiting and returning to their place. Those two wanted to portray that they fell asleep later from exhaustion but didn't remember much about it so they could only blame themselves for being so hardworking as a top prodigy. Of course, his concoction had such effects to cause the memory loss part. Seriously! What kind of loophole filled plan is this!? This idiot also agreed on the spot somehow. What kind of convincing power did that Thomas guy even have, I wonder.”

Julie exclaimed a bit astonished before continuing,

“Thomas and him were to do this part personally to ensure that they got home without lingering around when they got to the main part of the plan later on. Well, it didn't work out as Thomas attacked him when he wanted to rape a student among the unconscious lot. They however did plan to keep student Blue and Luna's memory intact to torment them later after the deed has been concluded. Of course, with Thomas's true plan everything derailed for him and now we have the present situation.”

Xavier couldn't understand what they said anymore. Even though he heard their words he didn't get the meaning. He also didn't recognize the two pretty ladies in front of him. Anyways, where was his mom!?

He began to cry out loud as he couldn't find her anywhere. One of the pretty ladies with black hair suddenly said in… hmm, maybe she is a bit tired? He couldn't quite figure it out and he also didn't want to. He was missing his family. Where did mom and dad go? They are surely somewhere around here playing hide and seek.

That must be it!

“Should we end this before we continue further, Lady Auburn?”

“Ugh! This is why I don't like soul search.”

That red haired lady then waved her hand towards him after saying those incomprehensible words. He also wanted to wave his hands but he then suddenly saw his body in front of him. He waved at her but he felt very odd.

“Hmm? Why isn't there a head there? Was it always like this?”

Xavier wondered before he saw darkness.