Levi knew he would get caught but not this early. He did retrieve those arrows from the corpses but they would eventually trace him down. Helping Irene should have cemented the fact that he was the culprit.

Seeing how Levi didn't answer, Roman asked him further questions.

"You were an F-rank and all of the villains you killed were C-rank. It makes no sense that your arrows managed to pierce straight through their head and a clean shot at that. Did you kill twenty villains in five minutes? Do you have something that you are hiding from us? Are you a secret agent hiding their strength? and finally, do you consider the academy your enemy?"

"What if I do headmaster?"

The room started to shake. The mana in the room increased by a notch. Levi felt his body shaking and blood trickling from his nose Roman's casual demeanour changed into a killer's gaze.

"Then I will kill you here and now."

Levi stood no chance. His [Essence] was op but not at this level…..for now.

"I have no intention of harming the academy nor am I a secret agent."

Roman calmed himself and passed a tissue.

"Then how did you gain such strength?"

Levi thought about what he should say. The day he transmigrated he asked himself one question and that was.

How did the previous Levi manage to enrol in the academy? His stats were not sufficient to pass the entrance exam nor did he come from a noble family so how?

Levi came to the conclusion that he must have something up his sleeve that he couldn't often use and if he did there was a price he had to pay. That is why he had to put up with the bullying. Maybe he passed the exam because of his luck but that was G rank so it was highly unlikely that happened.

"Headmaster…..If you will keep what I am about to say a secret then I am ready to tell you everything."

"You have my word."

Levi took a deep breath and now put on the face of a liar.

"Have you heard of life source?'

"No. Never heard of it."

Excellent…cause now Levi could lie without knowing he could get caught.

"It is just you know your life expectancy of how long you will live?"

"Oh.."

…

…

Roman clocked what Levi meant and what his "powers" were.

"Don't tell me-"

"My powers are related to my life expectancy. When I use it, I gain innumerable amounts of strength, mana….everything but there is a catch and that it consumes my life source a.k.a shortens my life. Cause of this power, recently my eye color also changed."

The previous Levi had red eyes and now that Seiko had taken over his body, it was a mix of grey and red color. It was a perfect chance for him to lie and explain about how his eyes changed without having too much suspicion on him.

Roman took a step back and processed the information he just received. What Levi said made sense cause that is a power one couldn't use all the time. Curse.. it was a curse more than a power.

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"I could use this since my I….well since my childhood. At first, I never knew the drawbacks of this power. Later on, I found out about it and the last time, I used it was in my entrance exam."

Levi walked on a thin line with those lies cause there were so many holes behind them. Who were Levi's parents? How did they die or did they just leave him? Where is his hometown? A lot of questions but no one to answer.

Roman rubbed his forehead cause Levi's power was absurd. Though powerful, it cost him his life to use it.

"so do you know how many years you have lost?"

He wanted to know, the exact way how Levi measured the flaw.

"Well when I use it for a minute, I lose about 24 hours of my life. I cannot say if that is the exact one cause it depends on the intensity of power as well. I didn't use this power when killing the other villains. One of my skills matches with my archer art which is why it is powerful but this wouldn't work against that villain so I had to use it. I don't know the exact number but I "feel" that I lost 10 days of my life from that battle against that villain and in total, I have already lost 10 years of my life."

Roman's eyes widened. Losing ten years of your life was no joke. Yes, cause of mana human life expectancy has increased. Roman being an S-rank would live up to five hundred years but that couldn't be the same case for Levi.

Levi's plan was working. He wanted Roman to feel sympathy for him so he could get out of this situation but from the looks of it, his lie might have done a bit too much.

"It's fine headmaster. Losing ten years of your life isn't a big deal."

Hearing Levi say that, enraged Roman. He stood up from his chair and hit his table.

*Bang*

"Do you know what you are saying? Every hour, every minute and every second of your life is important."

Levi kept on listening as Roman lectured him.

"The worst part is that we don't know how long you actually have left to live. Let's say your original life expectancy was 30 years, you are seventeen now and already have lost your ten years that means...you have three years left to live and that is if you don't use your powers.'

Roman took a deep breath and calmed himself down. He didn't expect such an answer. It would have been better if Levi was actually a secret spy or something else. Why did he use this power to protect Irene?

"What does Irene mean to you?"

"Huh?"

"Don't huh me? She must mean something to you to use that curse of yours?"

Levi couldn't say.

"Oh. She is an important character in the world and will be the ten heroes crucial for the future so I have to protect her?"

He now again had to come up with a new lie.

"I didn't want to kill that villain. If I could stop those villains without killing them then, I would go with that method. My hands still shake when I think of that but maybe it was for the better. I won't justify myself as a hero for killing villains. My hands are stained with blood and in the future I will definitely pay for it."

" As for protecting Irene. I really didn't have a reason. Maybe saving her was my way to redeem myself for killing people."

Roman closed his eyes and thought what he should do. What Levi did was heroic. Yes, he killed but if he didn't other's would die. In his eyes, he was a hero but in Levi's eyes, he was a murderer.

"Don't worry too much about it headmaster. I regain 2 days of my life back when I sleep for eight hours."

Levi didn't want Roman to feel this much empathy so this was his way to assure that he would live for a long time.

"I see. Sleep well and do not use your powers from now on."

"Well, I can try."

Levi then stood up from his seat. He knew the talk was over and his classes would start soon.

"Be proud of what you did Levi, you saved lives."

"By taking other's life that is. I cannot be proud that...I really can't. Have a good day headmaster. "

Levi opened the door and saw a shadow running past the corridor. He didn't think much about it and headed to his class.

******

Irene wanted to ask why Levi had to stay behind but she wouldn't get her answers and left the room. Once she closed the door, she leaned her ear next to the door. She was curious about Levi, his strength, his powers and the true reason why he helped me.

'Is he a secret bodyguard sent by my father? Is he affiliated with my family? Is he doing this for money?…..or does he love- yeah no way?'

"Now Levi, tell me how did you kill all those villains?"

Irene stepped back from the door.

'What did the headmaster mean by villains and Levi killed them?'

It was big news for her, she moved her head and kept on listening, every single word, every sentence and it hurt her. To know someone lost their life to protect one makes someone happy but not when they once looked down on their saviour.

Once she heard. Levi moving ran towards the girl's bathroom and locked her in. She started taking in deep breaths trying to calm her down but she couldn't. Guilt filled her heart, and the image of Levi's injury rampaged her mind. He did the most he could to save her. She didn't deserve it, she was meant to die but he saved her at the cost of his own life. How could she repay him? Losing ten days was not a small sacrifice.

She got out of the bathroom and headed to her class with a resolution to thank Levi for what he did for her. Little did she know, this task was going to be harder than anything she had done in her whole life.