CHAPTER 18: WHAT SHE CARES THE MOST

THIRD PERSON POV

"you seems like you are hesitating, human?" rohan stop thinking when he heard darius spoke at him, so he just close his eyes as he started to write his name on the contract.. 'However, if this is the only means of gaining strength to drive out the murderers of Crystalle's parents, then so be it. I must put my own humanity on the line, I only hope hell is as lovely as the holy city.' but then rohan just chuckled inwardly. 'how silly. If it were genuinely the case, demons wouldn't need to wage a full-scale conflict with angels.' he added, before glance at darius.

"I'm not, I'm just thinking if hell is as beautiful as the holy city that they were talking about." he replied in half-truth, darius just burst into laugh.

"hahaha! if that's really the case, then demons wouldn't have to launch an all-out war against angels, is it not?"

"indeed. that's what I'm thinking."

"but I can assure you that the holy city is as rotten as hell." he smirk meaningfully but rohan sighed.

"that's just how demons views the holy city, all humans believe that god's creation can classify as beauty and perfection."

"the heavenly realms are broader than you think, you wouldn't understand, human." darius then replied with a grin, but after that, he change their topics as he take the contract, dip his hands on the plate before signing it.

"now then, should we move to our last steps?" rohan let out a sigh as he stand up and take his plate that has a blood on it, so darius also did the same. "after this, you will be bound to me from now on, and so am I." For some reason, Rohan becomes uneasy as he gets closer to Darius. It's also the first time he's seen his face up close, and all he can say at the moment is, He's extremely handsome like an angel!

"you're so tall, I can't reach you, damn it! why is this even necessary?!" he complained that makes darius lips twitched. 'Why is this person always complaining? doesn't he even understand what fear feels like? I would have eaten him if it weren't for his growing soul. The fact that we shall be together appears to mean that I must put up with his characteristics damn it!' he thought to himself, in the end he didn't answer him instead he just sat on the chair again.

"this should be enough right?"His eyes widened as Rohan placed his knee in the middle of the chair where Darius was seated, lifted the plate in front of Darius' lips, and then drew closer to him until his face was only 12 inches away from Darius, allowing him to smell Rohan's sweet-smelling blood before he added, "hurry up, this is too awkward."

another smirk formed from darius, as he also lift up his plate Infront of rohan, he just bite his lips and awkwardness, but since rohan don't have any choice, he just started drinking the blood on darius plate slowly. meanwhile, darius eyes turned red as as his lips gradually touches the edge of rohan's plate and drink the blood on it, by time he taste his blood, it as if like he almost lose control of himself especially when he tasted the familiar sweet aroma that he's been finding since then. like a warm, lazy days of summer, and it's raspberry flavor gushing through his mouth down to his throat. due to this, he didn't realize that he's already holding onto rohan's hands and while darius savoring every last of bit of it's blood, rohan opened his eyes couldn't help but to burn up while looking at darius.

'heck, how come this blood is as sweet as raspberries? it didn't taste like iron at all! and what the hell is this warmth feeling..?!' rohan thought after finishing drinking it's blood, then rohan notice the blood from the corner of darius lips, rohan's cheeks flush a little as he uses his thumb to wipe the blood on the corner of darius lips that makes him gasp and look at him.

that's when he saw his flushing face, and as he finished drinking the blood, a yellow chains suddenly appear between them as it coil into rohan's hand and onto darius, the contract started to float above as a golden light covers the scroll so rohan just cover his eyes with a hint of confusion on his face, until the scroll gradually turned into a golden fox symbol with a wings on his back as it engrave at the back of rohan's palm, a few seconds later it already gone, for some reason, he started to feel a strong connection towards darius and as he was about to speak, he got surprised as soon as he saw him, kneeling down Infront with his hands is on his chest before giving him a small smirk.

"please take care of me from now on, my.. new master."

When the place began to collapse and convert into the cave where rohan originally met darius, darius slowly slid to the ground and transformed into a newborn white fennec fox, making rohan gasp. He then carried darius and covered him with his jacket so that he could rest comfortably.

he then sneer at him as well before give him a pat on his head while replying, "I will."

however.. neither of them know what their true intentions are for each other, that's why all they have to do is to ask themselves; what is his true intention?

nevertheless, From this point on, Darius and Rohan are only aware of two options: becoming a prey or a predator. The curtains have been raised, who will be the winner of this never-ending pursuit? that is of course..

Whoever is devoured first will be the winner.

few minutes have passed, as soon as rohan finished covering rohan with his jacket, he already went back at the entrance of the caves, and there he encountered his twin who just got back, when rheyne notice that he's carrying something, he approaches him, and his eyes widened when he saw rohan holding a baby fennec fox on his jacket.

"a fennec fox?! and it's pure white! where did you find him?!"

"uh, yeah.. when you said that there is a rumor about the demon who keeps howling every night to take someone soul, I got curious and it turns out that the demons that the students getting afraid of was actually this little guy." he reasoned while caressing it's head and smiling as though he's having fun with it, when rheyne notice his expression he couldn't help but gasp.

'he's smiling..?rohan..?' he said out of surprise, well, he never seen rohan smile again ever since the tragedy that happen on crystalle, and yet.. look at him now, he's actually smiling, however.. it's not a genuine smile that you often sees out there but.. it is a smile that is similar of a child who found something he took liking of. it is a smile that shows desire of wanting someone!

Rheyne, however, experienced unease rather than happiness. He is familiar with how Rohan thinks because they are twins, and as a result, he is aware of what would happen if Rohan smiled like that. To achieve his goals, he would undoubtedly use any and all means necessary.

'I started to feel bad about this unfortunate fennec fox that befalls upon his hands.' he thought while sighing.

"well, a white pure fennec fox is very rare in the beginning, and there's only 3 to 5 white fennec fox like him, what if his family tried to find him?" rheyne stop talking when he felt a chilling aura coming from rohan so he just smile at him awkwardly. "I-I'm just asking.. don't get mad haha.." the corner of his lips just twitched while trying to avoid his gaze on him.

"he doesn't have a family I can assure you, he has been abandoned 2 months ago, good thing that this little guy manage to survive and besides.. even if he have a family, there's no way I would bring him back.. he's already mine, after all." rohan chuckles sweetly while tapping it's black nose, so rheyne just shake his head again and added to himself. 'aaahh!! why did I even become a psychopath's twin?! this is all father's fault!'

"then how would you sneak him up inside of the academy without the guards noticing it?" rohan give his twin a quick glance before smirk to him, seeing rohan giving him that expression he rheyne already know what will he do.

"do something about it."

"fuck, I knew it."

♥•♠•♥

In the western section of Jaded Forest, you can find Caitlyn and her two goons strolling about and chatting. It is almost 2:00 am, and there were only two hours remaining before the game ended.

"hey, hey, don't you think we should go with aria?! walking in middle part of western woods is quite boring you know, and these traps were so easy to find and avoid!" said the girl with brown hair, and thick make up, while holding the arrows that was pierce on the trees.

"yeah, yeah, we can use her as our shield! haha!" the other girl added while laughing, but caitlyn just ignore them while observing her environment, although caitlyn is kinda a bitch-type person, she haven't yet forget what was the most important thing to do when you are out in wilderness, and that is, to watch your surroundings.

but.. The main danger here wasn't the traps; rather, it was the hunters themselves, which were the ITs who remained hidden at night. Additionally, 50 meters away from them, a man with yellow-blonde hair was perched on top of the trees holding a double sword made of rubber while squeezing red paintballs into it and wiping them on its blade before standing up.he then whispered to himself, "now then, It's time to hunt some girls."

by the time he whispered those words, a smirk suddenly formed from his lips as he jumped to another trees without making any choice just like a ninja, on the one hand, while they were chatting leisurely, caitlyn's intuition triggered when she felt a dark aura coming from the above.

"Guys! watch out!" Her minions all attempted to defend themselves when they heard her warning, but it was too late when Chauncey, the hunter, appeared at their back as though a god had arrived upon this earth, he swung his double-sword and struck their back, causing their uniforms to be soiled with red paint balls then they heard headmistress voice from the speaker that was beneath the trees.

"Dianna McDuffle has been eliminated!"

"Isabelle Garrison has been eliminated!"

caitlyn just click his tongue as soon as the headmistress said their name, When Caitlyn saw Chauncey helping them stand up, she took advantage of the opportunity to flee. When Chauncey saw her running, he simply shook his head.

"seriously~ she ran so fast, guess I have no choice but to chase her then." but when chauncey was about to go after him, he immediately look at the girls and give them a threatening smile that makes them tremble.

"considered this as a warning from me, ladies.. once I heard you badmouthing damion's little sister, don't expect that you will live." there's a hint of coldness on chauncey's eyes before left the girls dumbfounded and chase caitlyn.

on the other hand, You can find Elyze in the middle of the jaded woods, standing in front of the huge mountains' entrance as she began to maintain her poker face. The reason Elyze chose to go in the middle of the forest is because it has many mountain peaks and various caves that are almost like a maze, which makes the center part the perfect place for her to hide.

"not bad." she said and was about to walk when she heard a rustling coming from the bush, she look on the bush with a serious face, and was supposed to run when she stop as soon as she notice a familiar person with light-brown hair and eyeglasses, it was actually damion!

when damion glance at elyze, he gasps, " elyze? you were also here?

she then replied, "well, the center part of the jaded woods is a perfect hiding place for me, so I went straight here, but I didn't expect that Mr. president would be also here."

damion walk towards him and smile, "then, how about let's join in together?"

a few minutes, elyze replied and nods "sure."

Together, they began to make their way within the mountains as a congested trail exposed them due to the thick grasses and massive cedar trees on either side. For Elyze, traveling with Damion is not a bad thing; in fact, she would benefit more from it because she understood that Damion is an excellent strategist and that, if they combined their strengths, they could survive with ease.

"please be careful these place are full of loaded traps." he remind damion, so he nods again.

"I know, that is why I choose this place." he added while looking around.

"I see, so we have a same plan then, let's familiarize ourselves first in this mountains, don't worry, no IT's will going to enter here neither TAG's, this is mountain after all, there's a lot of possible danger that lurking around, only an idiot who doesn't fear death will go here."

"so you're saying we are idiot?"

"yeah, indeed~ fufufu~" Elyze laugh at him while covering her mouth, but then, her intuition just triggered when she sensed a familiar aura approaching them. She then turned around as the moon illuminated a mysterious shadow with black silk hair who appeared to be flying above the sky and was holding a gun and a rubber dagger in his left hand. When he was about to strike them, Elyze grabbed Damion's hands and pulled away. surprisingly, it was the man she was expecting to meet, devian xenon.

"I told you, only an idiot who don't fear death will go here, and one of them was him." elyze replied to damion, suddenly devian just laugh.

"Just as I expected, you will going to center part of the forest which is why I followed you all the way here but to think.. you're with someone, and much less it is Mr. president, you're hurting my feelings you know." devian give elyze a smirk while looking to the both of them but elyze just keep wearing his poker face and didn't speak as he started to analyze her surroundings secretly.

'darn, I had already anticipated that devian will find me first, but to think it would be this fast..' she thought.

"are you some kind of her stalker that you even know where she is?" damion asked sarcastically to him.

"and are you some kind of a dog that you keep following her?" this time, it was devian who speak sarcastically while there's a hint of annoyance on his words even though he's smiling.

"Who knows.. we just happened to meet here."

"oh yeah? that's quite a coincidence, was it?"

"indeed, it's very.. unbelievable.."

"the god probably wants you two to be with together, right?"

"I thank him for his support later."

Even though they appear to be extremely close, as if they were buddies or brothers, they are actually threatening one other at the moment. Elyze just keeps looking at them while maintaining a poker face seeing them laughing and smiling at each other as if there is an imaginary lightning bolt between them.

so, elyze have no choice but to click his tongue, he grabbed damion's hands again and run straight ahead, when devian saw this, he just shrugged his shoulder and smirk before chased them.

on the one hand, They simply keep moving around as quickly as they can in an effort to avoid Devian. They run straight, turn left, run straight again, and so on. But no matter how they tried to escape, Devian just kept finding them, which led Elyze to find Devian annoying—or rather, he's been annoying ever since! Even though Devian has been with Elyze since her parents passed away, his true background is still unknown to her. Elyze didn't even know that Devian had a half-brother; she only knows that he is a demon who only knows how to go berserk and seek pleasure, or drink blood and eat souls outside.

"damn, this is no end, tsk." elyze commented while looking on her back, They simply keep leaping from the trees like ninjas but halt when they come across a ravine. Elyze simply clicked her tongue once again, especially when she heard the sound of someone slowly approaching them.

"now it's dead end." she heard devian speak as he emerge from the bush with a smile on his face. "why don't you just let me shoot you, elyze? you have nothing to lose anyway since this is just an ordinary mock battle." devian added, still wearing his sneer, she just bite his lips and started to think some escape plan while looking secretly around.

'seriously, there's no opening at all! if only the TAGs were allowed to attack the IT's but all I can just do right now is to run and run! how should we escape from this..' elyze thought to herself again, however in the middle of her thinking, she heard damion let out a sigh that makes her frowned.

"I have a plan, although it's quite risky, so can you trust me..?" he whispered to elyze, and she simply nods firmly to Damion since she has no other option and then turns to gaze at Devian, who is simply crossing his arms and grinning.

"it appears that you're done talking, then can I take elyze from you now? don't worry.. she's the only one I wanted to shoot, it doesn't matter if you were to run or not, rather.. It would be my pleasure if you runaway right now and leave elyze here."

"oh.. thank you for your consideration, however.." Damion carried Elyze in bridal fashion, making Devian gasp as he gave her a provocative smile. He then turned to Devian once more, who was struggling to maintain his composure owing to the surprises, and said, "I still have to take her away from you."

Devian watched in disbelief as Damion and Elyze instantaneously leaped off the cliff, and a short while later, he noticed them riding a blue hoverboard. "Huuh?! seriously?! he's actually using a hoverboard?!" he exclaimed, while furrowing his brows and messing up his hair. Meanwhile, even Elyze couldn't believe what had just happened as she glanced in his direction and said,

"we actually got away from him.." elyze just commented but when she remembers how did he carries her and jump from the cliff out of nowhere, the corner of her lips just twitched and started to sighed, 'I didn't expect that we will jump off.. that really surprised me!' she said inwardly.

"indeed, it's quite frustrating tho, the center part is the best place to hide."

"now that you mention it.. why did you help me? you can just runaway if you wanted to." elyze frowned as she sat on the back of it's hoverboard. 'even so, to think damion was actually using a hoverboard, I thought he's just nerdy guy.' she lampooned to herself.

"no reason, I just want to tease devian, he's been getting on my nerves since he came here."

"sigh. I'm sorry about that, he's a trash but when it comes to leading someone, you could always count on him."

"is that so..? that's quite unexpected for him, his grades are not that high though."

elyze just laugh at him while avoiding her gaze, 'he will surely be surprise and felt infuriates at the same time if I said that devian's real grades is just similar to his.' she then lampooned again. In reality, given how conceited Devian is, he could ace the test if he desired. Elyze is aware that Devian merely intended for his grades to be average as they currently are for some unexplainable reason.

"he can be so unpredictable sometimes, you wouldn't understand what's going on to his mind."

as soon as damion notice elyze expression sighing as though there's a difficult problems that she's facing head on, he couldn't help but to felt curious so he asked him. "do you.. really care at him so much?"

those questions did struck on elyze mind, it takes a few minutes before she answer damion's question, by the time damion saw her beautiful sweet smile, his eyes just widened in shock. "I do.. he's the only person who stayed with me, after all."

Since Devian was the only person who helped her the most after her parents died, there is no way he wouldn't feel affection towards him. Devian may be a demon, but for Elyze, he was her hope even though he holds her freedom. She may seem cold on the outside when it comes to him, but subconsciously she cares for him so much.

at the same time, she also resents him. She despises the fact that she still can't force herself to care less about Devian, even though, he was the main reason she could not obtain her freedom.

"however.. that doesn't mean that I'm inlove with him, I only care for him, and that's already enough." she then smile to damion, so he couldn't help but to shook his head.

"I see.. means, I still have a chance, right?" damion replied half-jokingly.

"pfft, I'm not easily to be tamed tho."

"if that's the case, our little game would be much more interesting, don't you think?"

when damion notice that they already far at devian's direction, they immediately went down as he held his hands Infront of elyze with a smirk on his face that makes her gasp, but not long after, elyze also replied to her with a half-joking manner as well and accept his hands.

"you also have a trashy personality like devian, you know.. fufufu~"

....

...

..

.

In the meantime, at the cave where Rohan and Rheyne had gone to rest for a while, Jotaro entered to see the depth of the caves, but his eyes widened when he saw a broken shackle on the ground, so he just held it. Next, he noticed a black feather with blood on it, so he just took the feather gravely.

"Looks like I'm already too late.. who would have thought that, the sins of greed would make a pact with a human..

"this has been getting out of hand.. what a pain."

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