Chapter 71

Even in his slightly sickened state, Raymond looked up at me and chuckled dryly.

"You know you're still a wanted boy, right."

Guessing based on the way he said those words he wanted to implant a sense of fear and desperation within me, but I just chuckled and brushed off my black suit.

"Well, Raymond I've always believed a little bit of explaining always helps a case, don't you think?"

I then started to hear towards the large doors, but I heard Raymond call out, stopping me suddenly in my tracks.

"You're making a mistake, Apocalypse."

I turned around to face him, a small smile on my face as I stared back into his eyes with my brown ones, ones that Raymond had on just a minute ago. 

"I'm not, you made the mistake of starting this."

I then turned back towards the door and knocked a few times, before the guards on the other side opened the door and I stepped in. I saw all the council members stand up, their faces all having a trace of anger and fear as they gazed at me.

"You shall be tried, killer!"

Lorin cried out, suddenly one of the guards grabbed me by the arms and held onto it with an iron grip, another one drove their spear into my back, sending a tiny yet painful electric shock through my back, sending me to my knees. But my face remained calm and almost expressionless.

"I see you're not much of a neogenator."

I looked up at Lorin and smiled softly, who looked back down at me with disgust and anger.

"You tried to assassinate the council head, and you will pay."

"First let me see him myself."

I suddenly objected, making Lorin raise an eyebrow.

"You wish to see Anthony?"

I nodded, before staring at another door at the end of the hall, one made of iron and had a large lock on its handle.

"Yes, would you mind taking me to him?"

Lorin contemplated for a few seconds, before waving his hands, causing the blue fog to surround my body and "scan" for any true intentions. It was strange that at the Order 5 level they relied on artifacts rather than actual abilities that they possessed.

"He possesses no ill intentions, you may see him."

I smiled as I nodded my head and stood up slowly, letting out a little groan as another painful shock was administered to my back, causing me to move forward and towards the iron door.

One of the guards took out a set of keys, before inserting one into the large lock, turning it and then opening the door. I stepped in and saw the man sitting at his desk, a small pile of papers sat before his body and his eyes gave an intimidating glare.

"You wish to speak with me?"

Anthony's voice was like a large rock, unmovable and hard. I just nodded, the smile still on my face as I sat down and leaned back in the wooden chair. 

"I do, Anthony."

Anthony's eyes narrowed as his red pupils locked onto my expression, as if he could see past my smile, and read the desperation in my expression.

"You're afraid you'll die."

He noted coldy, his voice resonating in my ears. I leaned in closer to look at him, my eyes narrowing in a playful way as I looked the noble up and down.

"I don't fear death, it's inevitable, the cycle must pass."

Anthony folded his hands as he glared at me harder, it seemed like an aura was building around him as he continued to attempt to break me.

"They, why don't you welcome it, why don't you want to die?" 

My smile only widened a little as I leaned back in my chair, putting my feet onto the table, pushing a few of Anthony's papers onto the floor, which were mostly unimportant documents.

"Because I didn't take any lives, sir."

Anthony raised an eyebrow, his breath turned icy cold as he spoke in almost a whisper.

"The lack of evidence, it may not mean that you're free, but rather you've already lost."

I just chuckled, rolling my eyes.

"So Raymond just entering and telling you all this information is a good alabi? I'd say your critical thinking skills are quite rash. I'm honestly surprised you're the head of the council for someone so dumb."

Anthony slammed his hands into the table in a furious spout of rage, before his crimson pupils erupted with a similar emotion.

"I'm already grinding your gears I see, you seem like quite the emotional person."

I spoke in a voice of pure jokingness and mockery as I continued to glare at the leader with an unmoving expression, a simple smile on my face.

"Raymond left quite a few details out, however I could use some context regarding Aaron's involvement in the scene."

I raised an eyebrow, before taking the coffee off of Anthony's desk and taking a sip of the bitter black liquid, before setting the glass down.

"Aaron's involvement was stated this morning by his own old lips, he stated that he knew his plan ever since they were boys. And even before that I heard Aaron and Madame Fitzgerald speaking about their similar pasts, which could mean the claims are completely true."

"How could I have hired Isaiah to shoot Oboro if I had no involvement in the plan, I wasn't even alive when they first made up this scheme, but I do see your resonating logic on the part where he shot Oboro in the chest to cover up the plan I'm now fully aware of."

Anthony furrowed his brows as he picked up his coffee and took a sip, before speaking in a bitter tone.

"Your past relations with Oboro only seem to stem about a week's time, meaning you had very little time to know about him and his habits, before you could execute your plan and have Isaiah shoot him."

"Therefore you had to rush your informational gathering in order to implant all logical planning and logistical support. Maybe that's why the plan that you executed seems shabby and rushed, and very unconvincing."

I just continued to stare into Anthony for a few moments, unable to speak and allowing the thoughts to burrow into my mind before I could backtrack with another spout of on the spot evidence.

"Maybe irrationality makes one harder to catch, would you say? I'm in your office because I'm testifying my opinion on a false framing, but all you're doing is attempting to push me further and question the framework of a plan I didn't work to understand all that well."

"Perchance your intelligence at this moment if overshadowed by a sense of urgency, a lack of diplomacy and just raw words and emotions used to make one feel worse about testifying."

I then looked towards the papers on the desk, a large stack of them stood beside the smaller stack, and I reached to grab the top one to see why Anthony would be acting in such a way, but my body froze when I felt a chamber being pressed against my temple.

I didn't change my expression, instead I turned to look at Anthony and chuckled lightly, glaring at the gun with astonished eyes.

"Look who's acting all desperate, care to share what's on the paper?"

My voice lowered to a whisper as I looked into Anthony's eyes and smiled softly, my brown eyes glistening with a hint of malice, a strange rush of it to be exact.

"You have no right to barge into the items of a council member, maybe that'll be the evidence for your death, snooping through private files."

I stood silent and still for a few callous moments, before my hand slowly moved towards the papers again, and I took the top sheet.

"I don't care if you look, you'll have a bullet in your head in the end."

I could see Anthony smiling in the corner of my eyes as I looked at the papers contents, but my eyes remained silent upon seeing that they had nothing of actual importance.

"You provoked an emotional response from me, you're smarter than I thought."

I smiled back at Anthony with eyes that widened a little, and I could feel Anthony's hand hovering over the trigger.

"But I'd still conclude that your emotions will be your downfall."

Anthony's gut clenched as he pulled the trigger.

"Down, down, down." 

I reacted to the voices and quickly got down just in time to dodge the bullet, and I suddenly felt a large rush of adrenaline and a concerning amount of deprived joy as I leaped up from under the desk and landed a kick directly to Anthony's chest, causing him to fall back in his chair, and the gun to fall to the floor beside him.

I quickly lunged and picked up the gun, pointing it directly at Anthony's forehead, my thumb hovering millimeters over the trigger, I could sense the fear in Anthony's face as he saw the muzzle hole against his forehead, pressing a tiny dent into his wrinkly skin.

"Now, maybe you'll frame me for this."

Suddenly a voice began to surface in my mind, one that I've heard before, the voice of the chief.

"Think of the wind, how it changes during the winter and the summer, it grows bitter during the winter months, and warm and gentle during the summer. We are like the wind, forever changing and growing as the binds of fate see fit."

"Don't be discouraged by that. Personal growth and experience aren't defined by any outside forces, but it's defined by the inside..."

"It's defined by what you do to grow, you could practice fishing more, you could practice less, you could dance in the wind, whatever it takes for you to grow, you must grow, growth is essential for us."

I stood confused on any these words would suddenly surface at a time like that, like I didn't think much of it as I pulled the trigger, and I saw

Brain matter and blood coat the wall behind me in a grotesque canvas.

I looked into the hole in Anthony's head, before extracting the bullet from the wound. Upon closer inspection it was a nullifying bullet of all things.

"Maybe Anthony thought I was using magical abilities to make such claims, perhaps his intuition is flawed yet also so brilliant."

I thought to myself as I put the blood covered metal object into my coat pocket and picked up the body of Anthony, before opening the window behind his desk and tossing it down through it, before the lifeless husk landed into a dumpster below.

"It's a shame, now I'd actually consider myself a wanted man."