Chapter 7: Andy

Location: Atlantis Time: 9:41 PM

“Chu Ming Yang!”

Liliya almost screamed, and I bet she nearly passed out too.

But we all heard the third person’s voice. I hastily folded up that torn picture and stuffed it in my pocket. Liliya put the card back into the book, shut the entire book and crammed it into her backpack.

Our movements were so fast that even I thought it was amazing.

That loose cannon who suddenly spoke out appeared before us in practically the next second: “Yang Yang? Liliya?”

“Mr. Andy?”

After seeing the other person, we were both surprised.

Standing in front of us was the black-robed Angel.

“Mr. Andy, didn’t you go on a mission?” I looked at the Angel before us. I didn’t expect him to suddenly appear here.

Could it be that it’s time for the Black Dorm’s original residents to return to their nest these days, so everyone’s beginning to go home?

“Nn…It ended today.” Just like before, Andy still smiled amiably, “But it’s late now. Why are you guys still on campus? I remember that you two don’t have any night classes.”

“Ah, um, we were actually just talking…No! I was here to duel him!” Liliya, who very much admired black robes, suddenly stammered a little and began to hesitate.

“We just happened to meet and start talking.” I hurriedly went along with her previous sentence.

Andy looked back and forth between us and suddenly revealed a very understanding smile: “I get it now, this is a wonderful thing, something that blesses every race no matter which one…”

“It’s not!” Liliya immediately yelled and cut him off, “You misunderstood! This lady couldn’t possibly have anything ‘wonderful’ to do with this human!”

So sorry that being with me makes you feel bad.

“We really were just chatting.” Being misunderstood would be awful. I also hurriedly explained to Andy: “Because if the school festival these past few days, there’s a lot to talk about. Oh right, Andy, it was a shame you didn’t get to join. There were a lot of people at the dance.” Change the topic, change the topic. In order to avoid facing Liliya’s fury or even get slaughtered by her in the future, I vigorously changed the topic.

“That is true.” Andy smiled and agreed with me: “Then would you be willing to have some coffee or snacks with me now and talk about the dance?”

“Eh?”

I was stunned for a moment. I didn’t expect Andy to take the initiative to make plans with me at this time. I thought he would have sought someone else or gone back to the Black Dorm to talk later.

And the way he said it was a bit strange…

“What were you guys just looking at?”

Before we could even think, Andy had walked over to where Liliya put her backpack. The two of us simultaneously turned around. Liliya’s expression immediately became horrified and I began to sweat.

Because of the rush we were in, a corner of the Black History peaked out of the backpack.

Likely realizing what book this was, Andy pulled it out without hesitation, then gazed at the gilded cover for a long time.

So long that I was considering telling Liliya to run off with me right away.

He looked at the book and narrowed his eyes.

For an instant, my heart suddenly thudded.

The feeling Andy gave off…wasn’t friendly, causing me to not want to approach him at all.

And I’ve had this feeling once before.

“Someone lent me this book…” Liliya gulped and went over to explain to him.

“Liliya! He isn’t Andy!”

I remember it now. I once experienced that feeling on the cruise ship, and someone once gave me the exact same sense of foreboding.

The one standing at the door is named Ashis!

Andellar Ashis.

Andy raised his head.

Running two steps forward, I pulled back Liliya, who had stepped out, the hand on her shoulder covered in cold sweat and trembling.

I never expected this…

If this person isn’t Andy, then where is Andy?

“He’s not Mr. Andy.” Liliya glanced at me in confusion, then her expression turned solemn. She shook off my hand and placed Nine-Door Shield in her hand: “Who are you! What are your intentions in trespassing in the school and masquerading as a black robe!”

Liliya unexpectedly chose to believe me.

In that short period of time, “Andy” abruptly laughed, a familiar sound but an unfamiliar movement.

Our Andy wouldn’t laugh arrogantly like him, as if everything before him was trash not worth mentioning.

Liliya shielded me with a hand, then pushed me back a bit: “Run.”

“I’ll help…”

“Run! He’s not a normal person!” Sternly shouting at me, Liliya pushed me toward the exit with cold sweat on her cheeks: “Nine-Door Shield, attack transformation!”

I was pushed into staggering several steps back by her. With no time to respond, I could only watch as Nine-Door Shield emitted an ominous red light, a color like blood.

After he stopped laughing, “Andy” didn’t step aside at all, tossing an uninterested glance at Liliya: “So you are that little girl who rebooted the Ghost Door.”

Time seemed to stop. A second later, I heard a tremendous sound. I didn’t even see what he did. Liliya, who had charged at him, was knocked into the air, firmly crashing into the pillar next to me. The force of it was strong enough to break through the center of the pillar and create a terrifying sound.

Flung into the stone fragments, Liliya struggled to get up but couldn’t. Her entire body was covered in gravel and ash, then she spat out a big mouthful of blood, which looked ghastly staining her white clothes.

“Liliya!” I hurriedly ran over, wanting to pull her up but not daring to because she seemed to have fractures. Her left hand was completely swollen.

As if he hadn’t decided his next move yet, “Andy” just stood there staring at each and every move the two of us made.

“Leave this place…” Grabbing my sleeve hard, Liliya spat out blood again, and extremely unreassuringly, the blood was actually black.

Calm down, calm down, I know what I can do.

‘Sound of wind, the water and leaves fly and reflect together, and the injury heals once more.’ Forming a circle with my hands, I placed them on Liliya.

A slight glow dispersed over her body. I saw that Liliya seemed a bit better, but her wounds healed slowly, perhaps because I didn’t practice enough. She still couldn’t get up after a while.

“Get away! Leave here!” As if she didn’t want me wasting time, Liliya slapped away my hand during this and prevented me from helping to heal her wounds with the Hundred-Sentence Song, shouting furiously and exasperatedly.

“That will not do. If he walks off, I’ll have a lot of problems.”

Having crouched down on the other side of Liliya at some point, which was right across from me, “Andy” suddenly spoke up.

Liliya and I were stunned at the same time, completely unable to react. We didn’t even notice when he had crouched down.

In that second, I truly wanted to run.

“Just what do you want!?” With the resolve to die, I threw myself on top of Liliya, afraid that he would move again like before. Honestly, my legs are too weak for me to escape anyway, and even if I wanted to run, I wouldn’t necessarily be able to.

“Andy” stood up, his golden hair fluttering in the night air, still as beautiful as usual that it was abnormal.

For just a moment, I truly wanted to believe that he was the same as the normal Andy, but he wasn’t.

However, to mimic a person down to his aura and even enter a heavily guarded school…I shuddered. It was like I fell into a freezer and forgot to even shiver.

I knew, I’ve known it from the start, he only uses one method.

“…What did you do to Andy?”

Lowering his head to look at me, “Andy” revealed a beautiful laugh: “I ate him.”

I stared at that face. A warm drop of water abruptly fell from my cheek and quickly cooled.

Straightening himself, “Andy” folded his arms and took a step back: “Otherwise, what would I keep him for? As expected, the soul of a black robe is more valuable than an ordinary person’s.”

I looked at this person before us, who wasn’t Andy and spoke to us like this with Andy’s face.

Hardly saying anything else to him, I was like a puppet being controlled, pulling out Minas with a speed that I wasn’t even aware of and firing right at the Angel I knew so well.

Not thinking, an instinctive action, I didn’t even know what I was supposed to think about. My entire head was a roaring mess. I couldn’t remember anything.

That unknown bullet made a faint sound in the air and dropped to the ground without striking its target, falling silent after two clangs.

My movements were like that bullet, stopping with it.

What do I do next?

What can I even do?

“You seem shocked, but this shouldn’t have anything to do with you.” Picking up that bullet, “Andy” spun it around seemingly happy, then the bullet suddenly broke apart in his palm and vanished in the air: “This black robe, he wanted to enter Bishen’s palace to investigate. Except, his luck wasn’t too good, because, by chance, I had been staying there these past two days listening to Bishen’s nonsense, so I took care of him easily; then I remembered that I just so happened to lack an identity that could directly enter this place and borrowed it for the time being.”

I looked at him, not knowing what to say, or what to do at all.

In the blink of an eye, someone grabbed my hand hard. Looking down on reflex, I saw Liliya glaring at me.

“Chu Ming Yang, get away quick.” Then she let go, suddenly propping herself up using the ground, and stood up: “Nine-Door Shield, Third Liberation.”

After saying that, a piercing red glow once again came from the originally-dim weapon on her hand, and strange changes came over its shape as well.

I looked at this scene.

Not long before, there was a scene that overlapped with the one now.

[Don’t be afraid, it’s nothing…]

Who is saying that?

[This is the base of the three of us.]

One scene, three figures, a golden forest with someone running ahead, who suddenly fled to the highest point, then waved at the other two companions: [I share with my friends, the golden days of Elfi Forest; this place belongs to us.]

They were laughing, they were running in the forest, blurry figures following indistinct faces.

Time seemed to trail on all of a sudden.

Then, a flame burned on the same spot.

[This is not our place.] One of them stood there, not leaving, voice cold and indifferent as if I’ve heard it somewhere: [Time will not stay here forever. We will all head toward our own directions. When time comes, what will you say?”

Who is saying that?

So familiar yet so foreign.

[I will not be enemies with you. I will not hurt you.]

[Don’t be afraid, nothing will happen…]

In that instant, there were many scenes overlapping.

I didn’t even know what kinds of scenes I was seeing. Ones from not long ago and long, long ago were all mixed up.

And so, I heard Liliya’s scream.

All the illusions scattered. I was still standing in the same place, but the others had acted already. I had no idea what happened in that short span of time.

Liliya had been grabbed by “Andy” by the neck and lifted up. Her hands hung limply by her sides and her hair had scattered apart.

“Minas!” A strength that came out of nowhere caused me to rush forward. I seized Liliya’s raised body with my other hand, and my gun-wielding hand fired several shots successively at “Andy.”

I was trembling, and so was Liliya.

“Aih, never a chance to properly sit down and chat.” Blue eyes slowly lowered, and an icy gaze landed on me. My entire body was stiff and I couldn’t even fire a second round.

That sensation was as if something extremely heavy was weighing down on me to the point of almost kneeling, followed by a numbness from the top of my head to the tips of my fingers to my feet: an enormous inexplicable fear that weighed down until you couldn’t breathe.

The gaze that lacked any warmth or feeling stayed directly on me like this. I began to find it difficult even to breathe.

I could only watch as he loosened his hand and Liliya fell from his hold. Her neck was completely black and even her face was starting to have those strange black threads crawling upwards.

Shaking her small body and holding her neck with both hands, Liliya opened her mouth as if to shout something. Her eyes widened and tears dripped down from within. The black threads began to crawl up her eyes and she curled up completely.

“Fairies cannot handle this type of toxin. I guess I should be nice and take care of it for her.” Saying this, “Andy” revealed a gentle smile and stretched out his hand in front of me, covering Liliya’s face.

That familiar scene from that time?

“No!”

As if my entire body had suddenly relaxed, I rushed forward, but it was too late.

I saw with my own eyes that I was just about to touch his hand. Just a centimeter more and I would be able to pull him away, but I was too late.

The black thing covered Liliya’s face entirely and flicked my hand away. A large gash was instantly cut into my hand, and the blood that spurted out was all black.

Liliya didn’t even scream and simply stayed like this in front of me, unmoving.

No, she won’t die!

This is in the school. There shouldn’t be anyone dying here.

Liliya will not die!

“You really are troublesome! Not only you…” Walking over, grabbing my hand and pulling me up from the ground, “Andy” suddenly lifted his head, then sneered, “I wasted too much time.”

In that same second, a huge array appeared beneath his feet, a blood-red color that couldn’t be more familiar.

That’s the Spirit Door’s array.

After the Spirit Door formed, “Andy” jumped away with me in tow. At first, I thought he was going to let the Spirit Door open, but he had suddenly looked up and his expression became guarded.

[Highest crisis alert.] Tong Lang, who appeared directly above us at some point, was carrying Liliya and watching us from above: [Preparing to directly seal off. Three…]

“Tsk, here comes a troublesome character.” Staring at Tong Lang above, “Andy” grabbed my hand and moved back.

[Two, one!] After the countdown, Tong Lang opened his mouth and a silver ball of light the size of a baseball emerged in front of his face. In the less than half a second it took to blink, that ball of light suddenly struck down at the Spirit Door, followed by a huge explosion.

The entire ground began to shake violently. The Spirit Door was blown apart and disappeared immediately.

“West position, east position, fill them!” After the explosion, a few shadows flashed by on both sides of “Andy.” When they stopped, a closer look revealed Chen and Hou on the two sides, and Di standing right before us.

“Although your appearance and even your aura are the same as our administrative staff’s, the essence is not.” Di’s voice was deep, completely unlike the way he spoke before.

“Nn…I originally didn’t want to cause a commotion.” With a helpless smile, “Andy” pressed his empty hand to his face, then slowly moved it back. As he combed back his golden hair, the areas that his fingers combed all turned blue like the night, and his eyes also became dyed with a different strange color.

I know him, we all know him!

“First expert under Ghost King Bishen, Andellar, release our students.” Hou glared directly at the person who revealed his true self and shouted angrily.

“Is he your student?” As if he heard something funny, Andellar suddenly laughed. His expression was not quite the same as before, giving one a…weird feeling, “Just like in the past, are you sure you didn’t let him enter the school in order to monitor him?”

I froze.

Monitor?

I don’t understand what he means by this.

Di frowned, “I do not know what you are talking about.”

“If you aren’t playing dumb, then the top directors of this school must have hidden it from even you managers.” Andellar abruptly glanced at me, curving into a strange smile: “But I am certain, that Prince knows everything. You people really are leisurely. While you still have the chance, properly prepare how you are going to let the students escape.”

“Enough nonsense.” Directly interrupting their conversation, Chen abruptly kicked off on the other side, appearing behind Andellar without a sound and aiming right at the back of his neck.

Swiftly dodging aside, Andellar let go of his hand, and as soon as I was let go, there was an interval. Hou immediately seized the chance to pull me away.

Almost at the same time, several black-robed people appeared around us and thoroughly surrounded this place.

Senior was standing in front of him.

“I was just thinking that I’ve already unlocked my restrained abilities, so why haven’t the black robes arrived yet? The guards are really lax.”

Folding his arms, Andellar, who didn’t seem to think being surrounded by many black robes was an emergency, still smiled, comfortably glancing around as if determining how many people there were, or determining whether there was anyone he knew. In the end, he set his gaze on Senior: “If you arrived a bit later, I would have taken away the Junior you’re protecting without holding back.”

“Don’t even think about it.” Senior stretched his hand out, and after a ray of light pulled out of his Illusionary Weapon, it materialized directly on his palm, which he wielded: “I warned you many times to not come near us.”

Andellar shrugged and wore a helpless expression: “Of the two of you, one is someone Bishen wants, the other is someone I want. Even if I was warned, I don’t think I could not come. It’s simply such a shame to let go.”

“Less talking.” Narrowing his eyes, having already decided against talking to him further, Senior instantly appeared before the Ghost King’s expert, his icy spear arcing through what appeared to be a glimmer of light and directly slicing toward the neck of the opponent before him.

Naturally impossible to casually behead, Andellar moved quickly as well. The sharp bit of the spear stopped right before it struck across his neck. A large number of sparks suddenly formed in the air as if the spear was impeded by something. Then Senior’s spear was knocked off, and Andellar, who knocked it off, jumped back and tossed aside the long needles in his hand that had been abraded by the spear until deformed.

“Hey.” Staring at Senior, Andellar squinted his eyes, expression slightly puzzled: “There’s actually something I don’t quite understand. Both our sides had searched for him for a rather long time…” He suddenly pointed at me. Beside me, Hou stepped forward to block, fearing that the enemy would abruptly attack.

“But oddly enough, why did we notice his existence only now?”

For a brief moment, I suddenly felt the hair on my skin rise. This sentence Andellar spoke was very strange, so strange that it made me shiver. I felt as if there was a very close connection to me.

“Hou! Bring Chu away!” Just when I almost instinctively wanted to ask what he meant, Senior suddenly shouted at Hou.

“What are you trying to cover up for! Chu Ming Yang is part of the Dark Cult, how long are you going to hide this from him!”

The surroundings suddenly turned silent.

I am part of the Dark Cult?

Hearing those two words that people have always been telling me, I suddenly had an unreal feeling.

The several black robes who had surrounded Andellar were also unexpectedly frozen, as if wavering. A number of them looked over at Senior in doubt, but didn’t move half a step.

Standing in front of me, Hou turned her head back and looked at me for a long while, before trembling a bit: “You are part of the Dark Cult?” Her voice was very small, so much so that it was like a weak cry.

I don’t know what her eyes mean.

Hou suddenly took a step back, as if some biochemical bacteria had just spread all over my body. Her eyes widened like I was a complete stranger.

The atmosphere between us instantly became awkward. I didn’t know how to talk to her.

“Aih! Have you guys talked enough nonsense yet!” Breaking the silence was a voice that I couldn’t be more familiar with. The homeroom teacher standing among the black robes walked out and yawned: “I was about to fall asleep listening to that. This teacher even had to skip the evening class to come here. Ending this fight quickly won’t affect my hourly pay.”

“That’s right, this will impact the students’ work and rest.” Another smaller black robe also stood out. He snapped his fingers and many sparks suddenly leaped out around us: “The Ghost Tribe has already come to our school presumptuously. Let’s start a rare black robe banishment competition.”

“I agree.”

Directly pulling out her dual hammers and swinging down at Andellar, Nuelle revealed a cheery smile: “The last person to drag their feet will be paying the bill later.”I

Once she said that, the other black robes seemed to have just awakened from a dream, suddenly drawing weapons at the same time to deal with Andellar.

As if he didn’t want to simultaneously handle so many black robes, after lightly avoiding Nuelle’s attack, Andellar moved back a great distance, taking the borrowed Black History and raising it: “Chu Ming Yang, you know how to find me.”

I know how to find him?

“And also, I was just kidding before. That black robe Angel is someone Jing Lothian wants. For the time being, I don’t want to have Jing Lothian as an enemy.”

“Hey…” Suddenly responding, I still wanted to know more things, but Di had already come to block me. I simply couldn’t speak up again.

What did he just say?

Who did he say wants Andy?

“This is for you.” Before leaving in the end, Andellar abruptly scattered a bunch of shiny black things toward Senior, before turning and immediately vanishing into the darkness.

Swinging his weapon at once and knocking down all the black needles, Senior frowned and plucked out the only one overlooked on his left wrist.

Then, everything became quiet.