Chapter 60: Unknown Friends

( Lily POV )

A year ago, Lily liked to consider herself wiser than many of her peers. But that wasn't exactly the truth, not when she saw Alex casually manipulate a Goddess into doing his dirty work.

Ariel was known as the Goddess of Holy Power, Virtue… and many more things. She was the strongest God with the largest following. But the way she appeared in an Avatar in the mortal world, Alex didn't seem surprised by it, as if he already knew it would happen. He even had the best response in such a short time.

So even with all that had happened as of lately, Lily had seen many dangerous people, from Camilla, the Headmistress, some Gods… but the one she considered the most dangerous to have as an enemy is the kid next to her which was a year younger. It truly baffled her, and it ruined any chance of arrogance that she might have had.

She gave him a side glance, like always he had a calm look on his face and his eyes shone with a scheming light in them.

"So what is the plan now?" Lily asked, already knowing the fact that Alex most likely came up with a new plan already, or he probably had a hundred plans prepared for any situation. If Lily was a gambler, she would bet on the latter.

"The plan…" Alex smirked, "Oh, there are many of them, we will have to wait and see how things go first."

"Okay." Lily frowned, she didn't like it when he hides things from her but didn't mind the gesture. Because, unlike Alex, she wasn't someone who could resist if a Legendary Rank Mage wanted her secrets from her mind.

..

..

It didn't take long for them to arrive at their destination as Alex teleported them to it after getting out of the Mana range of the Goddess and Julie. 

'He really has good control on his Teleportation spell.' Analyzed Lily, because while she wasn't a Mage, she had been around many of them by now to be able to tell that Mages can't just teleport somewhere, they had rules to the spell and if it went wrong… it would be bad, really bad.

But as they teleported, Alex winced slightly as a large gash appeared to his side, it would have bisected him if not for Lily acting fast and cutting the invisible wind blade. 

Alex grimaced, clutching his side as blood gushed out. "Lily! Eyes in front!"

She reacted before even her thoughts could catch up, as a dozen or more invisible wind blades came towards them. 

Fwish!

She cut them all, even though Lily couldn't see the wind blades, she could feel the air around her shifting.

A man stood there, he wore a dark cloak and his face was unseen due to being covered by shadows even on a bright day like this. "Hello, it's nice to meet you. It seems like Julie was right, someone would come to this place today."

"I hate dealing with people like her," grumbled Alex, "They always have everything thought out. Can't my enemies be a little stupider!"

"That's why you should choose your enemies wisely," said the cloaked man in a strange enchanting voice.

Lily narrowed her eyes and sensed that the Fire Boar was still asleep. Alex kept looking at the creature with a strange look in his eyes every now and then. He then smirked, "I was under the impression that Julie didn't have any subordinates at the Legendary Rank, she had trust issues and all that."

"Oh no, I am not her subordinate," said the cloaked man mysteriously.

"Well, you could have surprised me, because you sure as hell look like her dog in my eyes," Alex tried to incite the man to act rashly, "Doing your master's dirty work and all that."

That didn't work though as the man's mood didn't change. "Well, what can I say? I have always been a sucker for beautiful women like her. Even if my enemies are people like you, who after having planned a careful sneak attack, it didn't work against you. And that's a hard hit for me since I am a Legendary Mage… though not that well known."

Lily looked around for any advantage that the field around them might give, but there wasn't anything. It was just a field of grass that seemed strangely untouched.

"Be careful," Alex warned her, "That man is dangerous. Don't let his overly talkative mouth distract you."

She nodded.

"Well, that's rude." The man in the cloak pouted, though Lily couldn't see it, she could feel that he did just that.

"You know… you talk a lot," Alex complained as he healed his wound and the blood that was spilled went back into his body as if time itself was being reversed.

The cloaked man formed a dark magic circle in his hand.

Fwish! Fwish!...

But he was interrupted by two dark shadows, and the cloaked man's arms flew in the air. Immediately a sequence activated around the mage and he sunk in his own shadow.

"Tch," Alex clicked his tongue in annoyance, "He ran away."

Lily was surprised as he didn't seem shocked at the appearance of two men with red eyes and dark hair, their skin was unnaturally pale and it seemed almost mirror-like. Their bodies and faces seemed in perfect proportions, it was off-putting how good they looked. 

"Sorry about that," apologized one of them, he had slightly longer dark hair than the other, "But Miss Camilla said that we should injure him, and we even left a trace on him so he will lead us to his lair."

Alex frowned. "What if he comes after me? I agreed with Camilla that he would be killed. I don't like letting my enemies live."

'Oh, so they are vampires under Camilla. Then that must mean that Alex and she made a deal in secret.' Lily assumed. 'Did Alex predict all of this? Before even going to get Pork?'

"Don't worry, Lady Camilla gave her word that nothing will happen to you and that she will take care of this." The vampire was insistent on this, and before Alex could refute he also added on, "Also this Mage will lead us to his treasure trove, and after Lady Camilla kills him, 50% of the Mage's possessions will be yours."

Alex wanted to refute… but Lily saw that her friend couldn't hide the smirk that appeared on his face. "Damn, Camilla knows how to make someone happy."

"If you joined her, she would have given you everything in there." Said the other Vampire, trying to entice the young talented mage to join Camilla's faction.

He was tempted, Lily noticed that, but in the end, he just shook his head. "No… I would like to make my Faction. But that doesn't mean we can't be allies."

The vampires shrugged simultaneously before disappearing and running off.

"Sheesh, those preaching bastards. They can't take no for an answer. Camilla keeps betting that I will give in to greed eventually and join her." Alex complained with a huff.

Lily smirked. "And she was right to do so. Every time I feel like your resolve is lowering. The offers are just too tempting."

"Hey~ don't tease me, I am seven years old now, so I am a big man." He joked childishly, while his eyes moved around like a hawk looking for his prey. "Do you remember where this place is?"

"We have been here before?" Lily was confused. Looking around, there didn't seem to be anything distinguishing about the place.

"Well, we are standing just above the Dream Mage's Vault, and with Julie fighting about, no one is here to stop us." Alex declared cheeringly, and the young assassin couldn't help but think that this was one of those times where the mage in front of her was truly happy.

...

 Don't forget to throw some power stones :)

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