CHAPTER 24: SILVER MOONLIGHT

A large silence enveloped them, while Keir, who is still tied, sits next to his brother, feeling anxious because of her. He already learned his lesson earlier, just like Elyze says, this world is different from the realm he was from. Although he's as strong as his older brother and can fight well, he knows to himself that everyone has their own limit. Every story of someone's life has an end, and no one knows what kind of ending awaits them. It could be a happy ending or a sad ending. The only thing they can do is to keep going on their life until they reach the end of their storyline.

There were some ups and downs and different plot twists, which is why people will do everything in order to survive, and that goes for Keir too, because right about now, he's not an angel nor the 8th Prince of the Empyrean Kingdom, but he's only a 'human', who will do everything in-order to survive, even if he has to betray someone else's trust.

"like I said earlier, our target would be his first son, Chauncey magnus, there will be a welcoming party that will held tomorrow 6:00 pm in the evening, and the phantom's knight happens be invited as a VIP guest, uncle, did you get the invitation last week?"

when rhonoven heard her asked, he immediately replied, [.. you mean that black invitation with a butterfly stamps on it..? yes I did, but.. your aunt and I was actually in Norway right now, which is why we can't go there as a guest..]

crystalle gasp but a few minutes later, another smirk curve on her lips, [ if that's the case then, levistus and asmodeus.. you will go.]

[ that's what I like about you boss!~]

[we will sure not to fail you, lilith.]

crystalle just nods as she glance at mammon who was crossing his arms, "you still have to clean astaroth and barbatos mess, which is why you can't be part of this mission. don't worry, you will be given soon."

mammon divert his gaze and replied, [ yeah, yeah. tsk, swear I'm going to resigned in this line of works soon.]

"you better not to mammon, you'll be killed as well." she then smile to her sweetly while still clasping her hands together, so mammon didn't give her a response anymore and shut his mouth.

after that, crystalle glance on her uncle and aunt as he let out a sigh, "you said that both of you were in the norway right now if that's the case then.. there's another mission I want you do, would you mind, uncle?" even if she's ordering them, there's still a hint of respect on her words, of course, ever since her parents died, they took her in and treat her like their daughter, and crystalle was thankful because of this.

[ we wouldn't mind tho. ]

"then.. there is someone I want you to abduct."

angeline's eyes widened, [abduct..?]

seeing her reaction, crystalle nods as she swipe the three dimensional screen Infront o f her once again and there they saw the picture of a girl with blonde short hair and emerald eyes, almost similar to chauncey.

"this child was chauncey's little sister, charlotte magnus, it appears that she's important to him, which is why I wanted you to abduct this girl, we can use her against chauncey but you must not forget the rule, you can't hurt her." she instructed her uncle so she couldn't help but to laugh.

[we know so rest assured and furthermore.. it's not like your aunt can hurt an innocent child.]

crystalle just smile plainly to them "that's good to hear. nevertheless, please don't cause too much commotion, just put some 'magic show' like you often do in a way that will make the child think of her surroundings as a dreamland."

when rhonoven understand what she meant to say, he nodded solemnly to her, although he doesn't want to do this, lying to a child and deceiving them, he don't have any choice but to follow her, they were talking about the the country here after all, but of course, he also know that this is not crystalle's wanted to do, to make a better place, one must need to choose. and crystalle choose the england, thus, rhonoven decided to live up on his niece expectation because he believes that, she always had a back-up plan for him.

when Crystalle saw his uncle's reaction, she grinned sweetly to her as her face turn into serious one and glance at devian Infront of him.

"For the assassination of Chauncey, I leave it to you, Devian. When you kill him, you'd better make sure to get rid of any evidence that would point us. The assassination will occur tomorrow night and Rohan will be the first one to give the signal by the time he hack all the lights inside of the gymnasium as well as around the whole academy.

her gaze landed to rheyne. "rheyne, Place some time bombs that are set for seven o'clock p.m at the entrance and exits to the gym, and block all potential escape routes that the students might use to escape. By the time the lights dissipated, all the bombs should explode one at a time, trapping every student inside the campus halls. asmodeus and levistus, if you saw some students outside, kill them immediately."

hearing her instruction, they all nodded in unison, but angeline, her aunt couldn't help but to feel anxious, so she said.. [ will this be ok? although phantom's knight are strong and we believe that your plan will work.. chauncey magnus is still one of the ten black lambs, the inner members of black butterfly organization we've been chasing for almost a years.. he might hurt you or report everything to their leaders once he found this out..]

but crystalle cut her off by giving her a reassuring smile, " then all we just have to do is to silence him right away, right? don't worry.. everything will went according to my plan, I will assure you, auntie." when angeline sees her niece gray eyes full of confidence and malice, she didn't speak up anymore knowing that there's no way she can be stopped, in the end, angeline just accept her lost and decided to follow her.

until, she glance to keir, who was beside on his brother, listening attentively to their plan as she give him a small sneer, seeing this reaction, there are only two words that appears on his mind, 'I'm dead.' that's what he thought.

"I'll give you a chance, I won't take your life anymore if you manage to prove yourself to me, what do you think?" she put another wine on her glass and sip it elegantly while crossing her legs.

Keir obviously didn't let this opportunity pass him by because, for the time being, he needs to do whatever it takes to survive and doesn't want to rile up Crystalle without enough knowledge. He's not a dumb child after all, he knows that in times like this, he has to cooperate with them in exchange for knowing their true intention and planning to do, whether it meant betraying the organization he was in, the only thing that mattered to him the most was his life. even though his soul won't disappear, his vessel will, and if that happens, he will be forced to come back in their kingdom since that was where his true body is.

'though, once I speak out here and the black butterfly members found me out, they will kick me for sure, and It will take another decades to find a suitable organization for me where I can seek entertainment freely, what a truly waste.' he let out a sigh, however he already made a decision and he can't go back anymore. just like a child, keir only wants to have some fun with other people and played with them to entertain himself, but it is completely different to the 'play' that the other normal children do but a 'play' where your lives, including your fate is at risk, that's what keir loves the most.

[.. do you want me to tell an information about the black butterfly organization? I'll give it to you, including their codenames and real names.]

and this makes crystalle laugh so hard, so keir couldn't help but to frowned at her, at this point, he already made it clear to himself that crystalle have a psychotic personality which found him scary and creepy.

"you are willing to betray the organization who help you grow just to save your life? quite interesting, indeed. I almost got tempted but sad to say.. that's not what I want." crystalle's eyes went cold as another evil smirk formed on her pinkish lips, this makes keir cry internally, begging to the god to help him get away with this psychopath Infront of him.

"what I want is to have you to cooperate with your brother in assassinating chauncey magnus, if you manage to kill him, I will let you go however.. if not, I'll take your life instead, are we clear?"

during this time, keir gasp as soon as he heard what she wanted him to do, he thought that it would be another crazy request, but to think it would be this easy, so keir immediately agreed.

Nonetheless, he doesn't really care what happens to the students of class zero as long as it benefits him. Furthermore, he's the supreme ruler of the academy and one of the most powerful figures in the black butterfly organization. Only an idiot would dare challenge him. The only person he's interested in most was Damion, Crystal, and his brother.

[.. I understand, I'm willing to cooperate with you but.. I don't think this guy beside me will.] he pointed his brother who have a bitter reaction on his face as soon as he heard the word 'cooperate with him', as much as devian wanted to push his brother, it seems like the fate was so against with it, his plan is to avoid him as much as possible but.. keir keeps clinging on him like a leech.

"rest assured, he will, right, devian?"

[tsk.]

when crystalle heard his reply, she sip another wine before clasped her hand together, and still crossing her legs. "now that concludes our meeting for tonight! rheyne, you have to place the time bomb right now since there will be a lot of students tomorrow, and rohan, help your twin, by hacking all the security cameras inside of the dormitory so that he can leave outside."

rohan, on the other hand, just yawn when he heard crystalle's orders, and replied in lazy abd weary manner, [ that's too troublesome, can't he just sneak up outside?]

[are you planning to kill me? it's passed curfew time!] rheyne complains that makes crystalle's lips twitched so he thought, 'these two idiots!'.

"will you going to do it or not? I'm losing my patience here, rohan. " seeing crystalle smiling sweetly to him makes rohan felt threatened so he immediately answer in forcible way.

[fine, I'll do it! good night!] with that, his screen gone, and only the six of them left, soon after, rheyne speak up.

[I'll talk with him, he probably started throwing tantrums inside of his room, that would be more troublesome.] he gone as well.

until, rhonoven laugh once more to them, [ that's rohan for you, he's always throwing tantrums when there is something that didn't went on his way, and then his twin will help him, it seems like we did really spoil that child. hahaha.]

[Seriously, hyde, I told you so many times not to spoil our son~ now look at him, he's so childish even if he's already eighteen!]

[hahaha, you can't blame me! they are our first twins! therefore I really wanted to spoiled them before they turned twenty-one!]

when they realize that they were still Infront of their niece, rhonoven laugh once again, [ then, we will leave for now, it seems like your aunt wanted to have another twins, so it's my duty as his husband to fulfill her wish, right?] rhonoven smirk, that makes crystalle blushed a little so she avoided her gaze and sip another wine again.

"I-I wouldn't mind." she stuttered, meanwhile, inside of devian's room when he saw her reaction, another evil sneered formed on his lips as he watched crystalle blushing, he put his elbow on the table and leaned his cheeks against his hands, he just keep observing her, and when mammon and asmodeus notice him, they immediately say goodbye with a humorous tone on their voice.

[ I will go now as well, boss.]

[me too!~]

all of them have gone except crystalle and devian, silence re-engulfed them so crystalle just cough two times before look at him. [ go to my room right now, we have to talk about something and.. you better not let your brother follow you.] at this point, devian almost forgot that his brother was beside him so he sigh inwardly and give crystalle a smirk.

"got it~" after that, he close his metal ball and leaned against the chair while looking above the ceiling then he thought, 'those reaction of hers..'

on the one hand, when keir notice her reaction, he couldn't help but to frowned at him, this is the first time seeing his brother making that kind of reaction, so he look straight on his eyes.

".. I've never seen a relationship between two different breeds work out in the end. They always end up in tragic death, while some of them... seem to be cursed." he remind him meaningfully so devian just give his brother a cold gaze.

"what are you pointing to?"

keir didn't speak up first and he just keep staring at him then a few minutes later, he shrugged his shoulder.

"Nothing, I just wanted to remind you of your obligation; you should already be aware that it is forbidden for us, the immortals, to fall in love with a human. After all, if that occurs, you two will almost certainly become the target of fate. If you have any intention of falling in love with her, consider the potential consequences for those who may be involved with you two.

a huge silence covers them whole, devian felt speechless and doesn't know what to say, he already knew from the start that staying with crystalle would only make her life be more miserable as hell however.. that didn't matter to him. as long as they have the contract and devian hadn't heard his final order, he will keep staying with her, crystalle will still remain as his possession, and his master and besides..

'If I fell inlove with her one day and the fate target us, then I'll just have to fly all the way to the cosmos and destroy those damn gods who made us suffer.' he thought as an evil smirk formed across his face, he stand up on the chairs and started to walk towards the door, he was about to open it when keir calls him.

"Hey! let me go first!"

"just do what you want."

"hey—BAAM!" and so, devian slam the door and then after that, he let out a sigh while shaking his head.

"that foul-mouthed bastard..sigh."

...

..

.

it's passed midnight, students were already sleeping to prepare for tomorrow's welcoming party that was titled as 'dark banquet' while some of them were excited, after all, this welcoming party is a huge gathering between different organizations across the world, where they can have a chance to socialize with them and make a connection, but they didn't know.. this would be the most 'memorable' party that ever happened in the whole history of the academy.

on the one hand, In the room of Damion del Luna at the royal knights dormitory, you will find him standing in front of the large window and gazing up at the crescent moon, dressed in a black bathrobe with his chest exposed. His messy brown hair adds to his attractiveness, especially when he takes off his silver-rimmed glasses. He had just returned from checking to see whether any students were out tonight but so far, He didn't notice anybody.

a while later, He made the decision to shut his windows and the curtains as he went to the mini-kitchen in his room to drink. There is a wine cabinet at the top and a mini-fridge on the corner. He glanced above and you can see his adams apple as well as his pointed nose and flawless skin that seems quite a bit paler than usual before taking a wine glass, a bottle of red wine from the wine cabinet, and an ice tube from the mini-fridge.

He filled half of his wine glass before entering his office, placed it on the desk, and sat in the swivel chair. As he was about to drink, his vision was interrupted, and he throw a majestic glance toward the shadowy area of his office. He crossed his legs, picked up the glass of red wine, and swirled it while observing its scarlet color and fizzing like boiling water.

"alaric, what are you doing here?" suddenly, When he noticed Damion drinking, a man in his mid-twenties who had a refined demeanor, excellent posture, and a beautiful face—particularly his deep red, angular eyes and light skin—came out of the shadows and apologized.

"forgive me young master for interrupting your 'drink', but your father wants to me to check if everything was ok here? he wishes to avoid any bloodshed for tomorrow's banquet as much as possible and although he can't attend tomorrow, he still expect you that everything will turns out fine."

however, seeing damion couldn't care less and sip the wine casually as though he didn't hear anything, alaric just sigh inwardly and thought to himself, 'he is indeed his son.'

a few minutes later, when there's still no reply from him, alaric was about to take his leave when damion already speak, "hmm.. This is far too bland for my liking. Considering its scarlet hue, I assumed this would have a better taste." saying those words, it as if like he wanted to hint something, so alaric on the other hand, couldn't help but to feel anxious because of him, especially when he heard the next thing he says.

"It taste like an iron and metal." he added meaningfully with a cold gaze and place the wine glass on the table, so alaric just cough a little before talking him.

"t-then what kind of 'red wine' would you like then..? I might be able to help the young master." damion glance to alaric, bowing to him as a sign of respect as damion let out a small sneer on his reddish lips and take the wine glass and swirled it again.

"Something that smells like raspberries and strawberries with a subtle fragrance of rose petals that is highly attractive, enticing, and can make someone else's nose twitch due to its surprisingly well-balanced sweetness. yes.. Something along those lines," he said, still grinning as he stared at the wine glass. He then reclined the chair around and raised the wine glass above his head as the crescent moon had turned into a full, pale one.

The reflection of Damion was made visible in the wine glass by the moonlight. In addition to his delicate white appearance, his pupils on reflection have a little red hue that is similar of Alaric. However, he quickly returns to normal as though nothing happened. How could that be?

Then they heard wolves howling as the full moon arose, along with crows and ravens making a loud, raspy noise. "I wonder... when will I be able to drink such a freshness like that," says Damion with a thoughtful grin.

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