132 Infiltration 19

Zero's team ran away from their positions in fear of the sudden wave of ghosts attacking them. The three split from each other.

While Lia chased after Zero, she told Timo, "Go after those two!"

Timo didn't suspect anything and seeing how Zero ran in a complete direction, Timo left him to Lia.

Zero had the bad fate of all ghosts chasing after him. Lia quickly caught up to him and reached into his pockets to inauspiciously take out the talisman and rip it to pieces.

Then she, while Zero didn't notice and just ran at full speed, pulled him into an embrace turning him to the left, "Careful!" she shouted.

"Miss Kim!" Zero widened his eyes when he realised that Lia was shielding him from a ghost.

"I'm fine," Lia painted, making the situation more dramatic than it was. The ghost only barely scratched her before it sensed her talisman and retreated.

Zero had tears in his eyes as he pushed Lia to the ground and hovered over her as if she was about to die.

"I'm not a corpse…yet," Lia added for dramatic purposes. She made sure that her breathing was short and that her voice was losing its strength.

"No!" Zero's tears fell on Lia's face. This was slightly uncomfortable.

"You didn't have to sacrifice yourself for me!" Zero actually was wailing. Lia couldn't beleive that he bought it so easily...

Lia wanted to tell him she lured him here on purpose and all of this was just an act but of course, she couldn't really tell him.

"It's fine, just heal me," Lia casually thought that since she had no actual wounds, Zero could heal her soul.

"I felt something inside my body break," Lia lied. She had to admit she felt a bit embarrassed having to say this out loud while she lied on the ground unmoved with Zero loudly sobbing. This situation was really... too much.

Zero didn't need to hear any more and quickly did his work. Since he was crying, he didn't even realise what he was doing. He only felt that he was repairing but Lia could physically sense he was healing her soul.

It actually worked. This was quite the shock to her as she didn't imagine it'd go this smoothly. Lia, secretly amused at Zero's honest form, stroked Zero's head, "Thank you, you'll become an amazing exorcist."

This made Zero cry harder and he had to calm himself down. Then he painfully tried to choke out, "I….actually… don't, don't want to. I don't want… to train with Timo. I-" he hiccuped, Lia had to suppress a laugh, "I actually want to help you with your work..."

This confession melted Lia's heart. Zero was truly adorable.

"I see but you still need to train. You can come to me for anything."

"You …have to…k-keep it," Zero wiped his tears away.

"Ok, ok," although the harsh truth was that Lia wouldn't be long at the academy. This thought made Lia's heart ache a bit. She didn't want to leave Zero alone. However, hr objective was now reached, so there was no reason for her to stay here.

Afterwards, they walked back to the others. Seeing Zero's red eyes, everyone eyed him curiously. However, Timo had no sympathy to spare and scolded the three of them for not obeying his instructions and running away like that.

Lia comforted the three and Timo called the trip off. On their way back, Lia put the blame on Timo, "If you didn't put pressure on them by making this a test, they wouldn't have reacted this way.

"I know," surprisingly Timo agreed, "But you seem close to all students."

Lia thought he wanted to ask her for advice, so his next sentence threw her off.

"You seem particularly close to Nana."

Nana mentioned that Timo was suspicious of her. Lia should've asked how Nana foudnd out the password from Timo. Nana couldn't have possibly revealed anything but Timo was sharp and Nana was still a beginner when it came to interacting with others.

"She's a real sweetheart, always a pleasure to talk to her during the sessions."

Lia's words were very clear. She liked Nana because she was a nice person to converse with during their private sessions. Lia hinted that she only had a teacher-student relationship with Nana and had nothing to do with her outside school matters.

"Is that so?" Timo didn't pursue the matter further but it was obvious he didn't truly believe her.

Lia could only finally escape his presence when they arrived at the academy.

Both of Lia's goals were completed, there was no point staying here anymore. Zero pulled on Lia's clothes and said, "I…. I'll see you tomorrow." Then he dashed away.

Lia couldn't break his trust, so she thought about asking how the others were doing and if they'd thought of a plan. There was still time and Lia also had to improve her powers before fighting Min. She could do that while staying in the academy.

Back in her room, Lia pulled out the ring again. Now that her soul was healed, could she use her life force? With anticipation, Lia focused on her life force but-

in the end, the result was the same. She couldn't do anything with the ring.

She was still powerless. In the worst case, she could use her soul again and have Zero heal it but she knew she couldn't always rely on that.

Even if the ring wasn't helping her, Lia had to find a way to use her life force. The next day came and Lia worked until late afternoon. Zero popped by a few times.

As Nana couldn't leave the academy without the permission of the headteacher during the week, Lia once again headed home on her own.

Back home, she was greeted enthusiastically by everyone.

"Missed us again?" Noel laid on the sofa and stared at her as she approached him. His hair fell over his face.

"My soul's one again."

"Really?" Lily was excited. Everyone was astonished at the news.

"And I've got this but I'm not sure if it's the real one since I can do anything with it," Lia held up her hand. The ring was now on her finger.

"The Immortal King's?" Xavi came closer and inspected it.

"Let Susa check it," Mika briefly suggested.

"Oh, right," Susa touched the ring. The room went quiet in anticipation of what she was going to say. The silence was drawn out for a while longer until-

"I see nothing."

These words hung heavy in the air.

"Could it be it's not the Immortal King's ring?" Xavi's conclusion hammered in everyone's mind.

The knowledge that Min used her birthday as the password resurfaced. But no matter how she looked at it, this was neither their engagement ring nor has she ever seen a ring like this before.

"Or maybe it just needs some time? I mean it's literally 1000s of years old," Noel raised another possibility.

"Could be," Mika agreed, "Let's put this aside for now tho."

"What's going on?"

Everyone turned serious. Lia could sense they were about to tell her something crucial.

"We have started to plan and also informed our families. The troops of my and Mika's family are on standby."

"You mean," Lia stared at Xavi, "We are about to-"

"Yes, engage in a fight with the Ghost King. However, we can only do that once your power is ready. It's best for you and Nana to pull out of the academy."

This was something Lia didn't want to. She couldn't leave Zero behind and most of all, with this move, Timo was going to be even more suspicious. He already suspected Lia and Nana to have a deeper relationship. Now they both were going to leave the academy, this would only alarm Timo more and confirm his suspicions.

"What is your plan?''

On top of that, Lia didn't think Xavi and the others already were at a point where they had their own army mobilised.