Levina was frozen in her position. Her anger fueled as she gritted her teeth.
"Who are you? How did you know my name?" She questioned.
The man from the other end collapsed in gales of mocking laughter. "Goodbye." He disconnected the call.
"Answer me—fuck!" She cursed. She glanced over her shoulder, seeing the aftermath of her attack from afar. The trees were burned along with the grass in that area.
Cautiously, she laid Kaia on the ground, leaning her back against the tree. She bent on her knees and removed the ties from her limbs and the tape from her mouth. She also noticed her bleeding forehead, making her wipe her blood, but it's still oozing out from her.
"This is bad," she murmured, removing the wireless radio from her ear and breaking it.
With a heavy sigh, she carried Kaia in her arms in bridal style as she proceeded to the place where her professor was, hoping that she could still find him there. She glanced at her earlier opponent from the tree, seeing him lying lifeless and burned on the ground.
While she was jumping on the tree branches, she heard a loud explosion from afar.
"That's the storage room. Professor!" She scowled, hastening her pace.
As she landed on the ground, she witnessed how the storage room was engulfed by a massive flame. Her eyes mechanically searched for her professor and the children around and found no one.
She cursed inside her mind and tried to search inside, but she couldn't just leave Kaia behind, and the flame was too huge for her to enter.
"L-Levina!" Professor Evans called from behind the tree. Half of his right arm was burned, and his left flank was bleeding.
"Professor! What happened?" she asked, steering closer to him. "What about the children? Are they okay? Where are they?"
Professor Evans winced as he fell on the ground. "The children are safe. I managed to send them back to the town when the reinforcement arrived. However, I went back to the storage room to investigate more, but I found another member from their organization."
Levina immediately thought about the man who managed to get away from her—the one who could utilize the teleportation magic. "So he came back," she whispered.
"We fought, and he was strong. Before I knew it, he had already spread the gasoline inside and lit it off before he left." He winced, holding his arm. "Fortunately, I managed to leave before the fire became this massive."
"But where are the other reinforcements? They should be here at any moment!"
"Don't worry, they'll be on their way. I already contacted them."
Levina was about to speak, but Kaia moaned in her arms. The latter was feeling an excruciating pain from her fight against the syndicate to protect the children.
The moment when Levina was losing her patience and was about to lash out, the reinforcement finally arrived. A van of ambulance, three firetrucks, and five police patrols.
The men from the ambulance immediately got up and helped Levina put Kaia onto the stretcher.
The firemen also got out of their transportation and started to douse the flames using powerful jets of water.
"You should've brought two more ambulances. What about professor!?" she yelled at the men and they just bowed their heads.
"Levina, I'm fine. You don't need to tell them that. I can just sit inside." He tapped her shoulder.
"But professor—"
"Levina... It's fine. We already finished the mission. You don't need to lash out." He tapped her shoulder again before hopping into the ambulance.
Frustratedly, Levina sighed, shifting her gaze to the storage room that was now slowly being freed from the flames. The policemen roamed around the place before they decided to split out and check the vicinity.
"They arrived when the fight was done. They could've arrived sooner. Just what the hell is going on with our town's force? How did they become so slow?" She punched the tree beside her, leaving a large dent on its trunk.
She heard swift footsteps from the trees, making her clutch her katana behind and shift her gaze above, only to find Nicholas.
She furrowed her brows. "What are you doing here?"
"To see the robots they stole from us," he answered, curving a smile.
'What is he smiling for?' she thought, dropping her hold on her weapon. "So the robots were stolen from your company?" she asked, jumping on the same branch as him.
"Yeah, it was somewhat connected to my mission before, which is why I couldn't participate in the semester's battle," he answered, spinning on his heels to face Levina. "I just heard from the headmaster about your mission and got contacted by Professor Evans to ask for reinforcement and he also mentioned the robots."
"Why did the professor ask you for reinforcement?"
"He was asking for our company's reinforcement, but we were halted by the police. They said they're already on their way, so we didn't have a choice, but to back down. We don't want to get in the way, but since I heard about the robots, I came here on my own."
Nexon Arms isn't just a company that creates advanced weaponry, they also have an army of sorcerers equipped with their technologies in case the town needs their help, and also to protect their own company.
"So would you tell me the exact locations of the robots?" Nicholas asked, a smile was plastered on his face again, making Levina feel annoyed.
She averted her gaze from him. "Follow me."
Nicholas chuckled and followed the woman from behind. Ever since he had known that Levina transferred to Mysthic Academy, he couldn't help but get drawn to her. Levina is somewhat taking his interest and making him want to get to know her.
They arrived at the exact spot where Levina and Professor Evans left the robots. Nicholas was the first one who jump from the branches, followed by Levina.
Nicholas knelt, scrutinizing the robot, witnessing the damage it had received from the earlier fight.
"Have you seen the speaker in its mouth?" he questioned.
"I broke it."
"How about the other one?" He stood up.
"It's still intact."
Nicholas nodded and went to the other robot. Since it plummeted from the tree, its limbs were broken and scattered on the ground. He bent down and opened its mouth, pulling the speaker.
"What are you going to do with that?" Levina questioned, gazing alternately at him and the speaker.
"I'll bring this to our company and detect the ones who connected with it." He put the speaker in his pocket.
"You said... What happened with these robots was connected to your mission before. What exactly was your mission?" Levina questioned, making the man gaze at her.
She wanted to know if he knew something about Black Void that would lead her to their hideout.
"Months before, our company hired new employees. However, those people turned out to be slaves under the Black Void organization that managed to enter our town. Those slaves stole a lot of our weapons including the robots. I managed to take some back, but I couldn't take back the others, including these," he explained, shifting his gaze to the robots.
Levina's mouth fell open. She thought that something was really going on with their town. This is the first time that a dangerous group of people has managed to enter the Everwyn.
"How did you know they were slave?" she inquired.
"One of them confessed to me after I stabbed him. That's probably the reason why they took away the children. They wanted them to be their slaves." Nicholas sighed, his face was covered with guilt and disappointment.
Levina clenched her fist, shifting her gaze down at her feet. She had thought of the possibility that if they fail to rescue the children, they would fall under the malevolent hands of those people, and they would probably show them mercy just like what they did to her clan.
"Levina," Nicholas called, but she didn't respond.
The memories of her past kept flashing in her mind like a cascading waterfall. The scream of the children. The cry of women. The anger of men. The pool of blood covered the grass and the cemented floor. The slashing of weapons. The dark element that shrouded their clan. The men in cloaks.
"Levina!" Nicholas shouted, seeing how she trembled and sweated. He placed his hands on her shoulders. "Snap out of it!"
The memories in her mind disappeared gradually as her gaze met Nicholas's, her sight slowly adjusting. She removed his hands from her shoulders, taking a few steps back.
She heaved a sigh, leaning against the tree. She clutched her arm, cursing herself for showing her weak side to him.
Confusion and concern filled Nicholas's expression as he watched Levina calm herself.
"What happened? Are you okay?" He steered closer to her, but she raised her hand, beckoning him to stop where he was.
She was about to speak, but she answered the call first from her wristwatch as the small hologram appeared above it. It was Headmaster William.
"Come here, we need to discuss something."
***