A Katana? Where did he get one?" Aeron soliloquized.
Setpiece continued, "I hesitated, then asked him why he was heading straight for Athena's...
"Without even looking back at me, he sheathed the freaking sword and dropped down from the top of the pillar without breaking a sweat...
"He put on his undershirt, picked up his belongings, and started walking away from here... I yelled his name... and he stopped." Setpiece let out frost from his nose before continuing.
"I asked him why he was being so cold to me and if our friendship meant nothing. He stopped and... laughed."
"Laughed?" Aeron repeated.
"He f***king laughed!" Setpiece yelled, clenching his fist, his eyes becoming watery, and his eyebrows furrowed.
Aeron looked at his face. "He's actually angry," he soliloquized.
"Why did it have to be when I said something serious for once?! After all the jokes and gags I threw at him; he had to laugh when I said something serious..."
"Bastard... he never took me seriously." Setpiece added, his watery eyes trembling under his furrowed eyebrows.
Flick!
Setpiece raised his left forearm and clenched his fist, a knife swiftly appearing out of the vambrace beneath his unbuttoned sleeve.
"A retractable blade..." Aeron widened his eyes a bit.
"To cut the long story short, we battled each other... and I ended up getting stuck in that hole for two nights. And then, you found me." Setpiece put his hand down and swallowed saliva.
Aeron observed Setpiece's unhealed wounds and remarked, "Your wounds haven't healed in two days?"
"Don't you know? The RHF can't function without proper nutrients, which I lacked," Setpiece explained.
Oh, that's true. I forgot.. Aeron soliloquized.
Setpiece slowly turned his head towards Aeron, looking at him directly in the eye. Chills immediately ran down Aeron's spine, and he looked away for a split second.
"W-What?" Aeron asked, blinking multiple times.
Setpiece turned his head towards the hole he was in. "What do you think created that hole over there?"
"Possibly dynamite. Why?" Aeron answered.
"Wrong... do you really think something as old-fashioned as a dynamite was one of the tools used in creating that scale of dent?" Setpiece said.
"Who kn-"
"Everything in this school was built using new-gen tech, and in the aspect of detonators, dynamites were replaced with a new tech called Deterix..." Setpiece interrupted Aeron.
"Smaller in size but far more capable. The mysterious law executives at the entrance have it in their inventory. It's a small demon of destruction..."
"Why is he telling me this?" Aeron thought to himself.
Setpiece paused and looked at Aeron again. "There are three more buried under this land we are in, sitting dormant in the crust." His expression had fully transformed into that of a serious one.
On hearing this, Aeron's eyes widened slowly, imagining what that could mean.
"I dug them up and reactivated their timers, setting each of them to detonate at the same time, and then I buried them."
Setpiece's speaking pace gradually increased.
"What?" Aeron's heart rate and temperature spiked. He kept on looking at Setpiece directly in the eyes to see if he was really serious.
"When the time is up, the radius of the blast would stretch all the way to Gaia's Hall. Athena's isn't free either. Everyone and everything in the vicinity will be levelled..." Setpiece added.
Aeron started to hyperventilate, sweat rolling down the side of his head as he kept looking at Setpiece with a side-eye, hoping he'd call it a joke.
Setpiece looked at the sky and let out a mild ominous laugh.
"Pray, panic, sweat, cry, beg, despair!" He dipped his hand in his sleeve's pocket and brought out a watch. "It goes off in 5...."
Aeron stood up from his seat and grabbed Setpiece by his collar. "Tell me this is a joke."
"4... 3... 2... 1..." He continued the countdown.
"No! Nooooo!" Saliva from his screams, tears running down his eyes, Aeron quickly left him and curled up on his seat.
"Boom!" Setpiece yelled.
"Ra!" Aeron exclaimed.
"Hahahaha-hahahaha, ah my stomach, it worked! You almost shit yourself!" Setpiece held his abdomen as he laughed uncontrollably.
Aeron slowly sat up when he realized nothing happened. "You bastard." His eyes and nose soaked with tears.
"Your reaction was priceless." Setpiece continued laughing until tears broke out.
"If not for your pitiful state, you'd be receiving a handful of beating from me right now." Aeron cleaned his face.
"How was my performance?" Setpiece asked, his laugh fading.
Aeron stood up angrily, facing opposite Setpiece. He was fed up.
Setpiece held his hand quickly. "Ok, wait, I'm sorry, I won't do it again," he said, this time, seriously.
"Get your hand off me." Aeron warned.
"I haven't told you everything." Aeron stopped resisting and looked at Setpiece.
"That old friend of mine, he's a serious threat, even more dangerous than Sleavetry. He exceeds him in both skill and potential. He told me he was going to put every student in this boarding world to good use. I'm not so stupid as to not know what that means...
"We have to stop him before he grows even stronger, and I can't do it alone." His expression reflected his distressed state of mind and body as he looked at Aeron.
Aeron looked away slowly and said, "Sorry, I can't help you. I also have my own battles." He walked down the steps of the shed slowly.
Setpiece hit his head and fist on his seat slightly. He closed his eyes and let out a frost breath from his mouth.
"Hey," on hearing Aeron's call, Setpiece opened his eyes and saw Aeron throw canned food and a bottle of water at him. "This is all I have."
"Ah, thanks!" Setpiece exclaimed.
"The part about the Deterix is true!" He added.
Aeron stopped without looking back.
"They intended to build a skating ground here, but three out of four Deterix failed to detonate. They're still in the ground as I speak. Perhaps, one day, they could be of good use to you." Setpiece said, holding the canned food and bottle of water.
"Thank you for the information, and I wish you victory." Aeron resumed walking out of the skating ground, having a new experience and information of a new threat.