Incident 27 (2 page)

“I’ve
got a few ideas I’m feeling out. It won’t be much longer before I have it
pinned down,” he said.

“So,
what is everyone doing for Lorntz Break?” Sahara said.

“I’m
going to Ev’s house to meet his mother,” Maya replied.

CiCi
got excited. “So it’s finally happening. You two are officially a couple now.”

Maya’s
race turned positively red. “Stop it, CiCi. You know I get embarrassed when you
say such things.”

Grinning,
Ev said, “If I didn’t know any better, I’d swear you were embarrassed of
me
.”

She
turned even redder. “You know that’s not true, Ev. You’re the most important
man in the world to me. You saved me from slavery. In fact…” Her face achieved
maximum redness. “I-I have to go!”

She
ran off down the hall. “Is she always like that?” Deep asked.

Ev
laughed. “She’s still not used to having a boyfriend. In fact, for a good chunk
of her life, she didn’t have
any
friends. This is still new to her. When
I first got here, she was just Belial’s puppet. She had trouble
expressing—hell,
understanding
—her emotions. But after some more time
passes, I think she’ll have everything under control.”

“Assuming
the Asshole Three leave her alone,” Deep clarified.

Ev
sighed. “If they don’t, I’ll have to
make
them.”

CiCi’s
face took on a look of concern. “If you plan on fighting them, you’ll need
help. For all their haughtiness, they’re both experienced and talented
students. Just say the word, and I’ll be there to back you up.”

“Me,
too,” Deep said.

Sahara
nodded. “And me as
well. I still don’t know Maya well, but CiCi and the others saved us in
Stiftung. I owe her my life, and her battles are my battles.”

“Thanks,
guys,” Ev said. “But hopefully that won’t be necessary. Maybe we can find a way
to avoid a fight with the Asshole Three.”

Or
so he told himself. But he knew deep down that the way things were going, a
physical confrontation with those upperclassmen was only a matter of time.
Still, some time away from them would do everyone a world of good (Maya
especially), and Lorntz Break provided just the escape they needed.

* * *

Ev
returned to his dorm room to wait for the next class. His copper-skinned,
vest-wearing roommate (and future god of money) from Chrichton, Jaysin Marx,
greeted him as he entered. “How’d it go t’day?” he asked in his Chrichton
accent. That particular continent lay far to the east, isolated from the rest
of the world by an extremely long mountain chain which ran the length of
Narska.

Ev
threw up his hands in an exaggerated display of exasperation. “Just great.” He
told Jaysin about watching Freya figuratively pull the plug on the old woman,
and about their latest run-in with the Asshole Three.

“A
sorry lot, those three,” Jaysin said.

Ev
decided to voice his concerns to his friend. “The way they keep harassing Maya,
I may have to do something, and soon.”

Jaysin
cautioned, “Better be careful around them, Ev. They’re the highest ranked—and
therefore most dangerous—students here. Not that you didn’t handle yourself
well in Stiftung, but those guys are in a class by themselves. They’ve mastered
just about everything in the textbooks.”

Ev
rolled his eyes. “Thanks for the vote of confidence. In case you’ve forgotten,
I went up against a full-fledged god in the Tower of Babel.”

“Yeah,
and he immediately put a smoking hole in your chest. You were helpless, and
Professor Strong had to stop Belial. That about sum things up?”

“Look,
whatever. Strong said himself that if me and Maya hadn’t shown up when we did,
Belial would have finished him off. The point is, I survived and we saved the
day. Oh, and you left one thing out: Belial had a ridiculously powerful hammer
with which he put said hole in my chest. It wasn’t a fair fight by a long shot,
but I’m still here.” The hammer in question was
Mjölnir,
one of the Artifacts stored in the Tower of Babel from the previous universe.

“You’re only still here because Maya was able to perform
healing on you in time. Otherwise, you’d be a corpse, mate,” Jaysin reminded
him. Just to show he wasn’t doing it out of spite, he gave Ev a wide grin.

Shaking his head, Ev said, “There’s just no winning with you
today.”

“I’m only looking out for my friend. If you
do
decide
to take on the Arsehole Three, give me a call first.”

“We live in the same room. I don’t have to call you.”

“Enough with the semantics, mate. Just let me know, and I’ll
have your back.”

Ev chuckled. “You and everyone else around here. The line to
kick their asses is getting very long.”

* * *

Quandisa
rummaged through the ancient trunk in the castle’s cellar. She had to move quickly
before Zero Grade found her. On this occasion she wore a dark cloak instead of
her usual skimpy attire.

Not
too long ago, she had been a proud member of the organization. However, during
the Stiftung Crisis she had fled following the deaths of her comrades at the
hands of the brutish Nephilim. She didn’t want to end up cooked alive like
Shinigami, or stomped into chunks of ice like Hera. She’d be lying if she said
she felt any real kinship with them; they were simply (former) associates of
hers. Still, their deaths had thoroughly demoralized her and she ran for it.
Desertion was a capital offense within Zero Grade, looked down on even worse
than outright betrayal as Belial had committed. She knew as soon as she ran
that her life was forfeit.

She
had spent the past several months moving from place to place in an attempt to
avoid being caught. She made sure to keep a low profile, not getting involved
in any incidents that might occur.

But
sentimentality had finally gotten the best of her. She returned to Zero Grade’s
castle in the Murnau Islands to retrieve a few keepsakes she had brought with
her from the previous universe. Fortunately, the place had only been used by
her, Belial, Shinigami and Hera. With the rest of them dead, this was her
opportunity to get in and out unnoticed. Still, it was better not to dawdle.

“What
are you doing here?”

She
whirled around to see a figure at the top of the staircase, standing in the
doorway. Despite the low lighting provided by the torches on the walls, she
instinctively knew who it was. She would never forget him as long as she lived.
“Arcturus!”

The
stunningly handsome young man, with his short dark hair which reached down to
the nape of his neck, and chiseled body, descended the staircase. He wore an expensive
cherry-red shirt, stylish black jacket and matching pants. She immediately ran
and embraced him. They exchanged passionate kisses for a full minute before he
got to the business at hand. “You shouldn’t have come back here.”

She
remembered her cowardice and looked away, ashamed. “I-I’m sorry. I just wanted
to get a few things.”

Arcturus
said, “Everyone in the organization has standing orders to either kill you on
sight or drag you before the Flawless Few so they can do it themselves.”

“I
know,” she said sadly. “But I’m so glad it was you who found me. You would
never turn me over to them. Wait…why are you here? We were the only ones who
ever used this place.”

Still
holding her, he explained, “After the rest of your team died, I decided to help
myself to the castle.”

She
looked around the empty basement. “Yes, I suppose we won’t be needing it
anymore.” An urgent thought suddenly occurred to her. “Come with me. We don’t
need Zero Grade. We can have the life we’ve always wanted.”

He
shook his head. “I can’t. My work with the organization isn’t done yet. I need
to stick with them for a little bit longer.”

She
grasped onto the hope that was being offered. “So, then…soon? We can be
together then?”

He
reached in and kissed her deeply. Because of this, she didn’t notice the
strange sensation in her chest at first. When he pulled back, however, she saw
the blade piercing her body. Arcturus had conjured a sword right through her
heart. She tried to cry out,
Why?
but only blood emerged from her mouth.

He
looked at her with intense sadness. “I told you, you shouldn’t have come here.
They’re watching the place. If I let you leave here, they’ll kill me as well.”

* * *

Arcturus
watched as Quandisa dropped to the floor. He had known his best hope of killing
her would be destroying her heart, the most vulnerable part of a god’s body.
And even though she was a woman, she was still a full-fledged god. She would
have put up quite the fight if he hadn’t struck quickly.

She
stared up at him eyes full of shock. Under normal circumstances, he would
rather have been the one to die. However, with such a vital undertaking ahead
of him, he couldn’t afford to take any chances. Zero Grade had to be appeased
for the time being.

Soon,
though, they wouldn’t matter anymore. Once he got what he wanted, everything
would be made right again. “Don’t worry,” he said to the lifeless corpse of his
lover. “I’ll bring you back soon. Once I have
that
…”

* * *

Ev
arrived at his least-favorite class—Conjuring—dreading what would soon take
place. That was because he sucked at the skill. Everyone else around him could
create kick-ass weapons. Ev, however couldn’t. The only reason he had gotten
this far was because his conjuring skill technically existed. He could create
ashtrays, cups and crude utensils. That had carried him to this point.
Unfortunately, if he didn’t create a functional weapon or defensive item by the
time of the final exam, he would flunk the class. Some god he would make then.

He
took his seat in the middle of the room. The professor soon entered. Brandon
Strong had been the one to save Ev from attacks by Zero Grade when this all
began and invited him to enroll at the Academy, acknowledging his latent
god-potential. Nevertheless, he, too, was probably dreading Ev’s performance
today.

Brandon
sat behind his desk.
“As you all know, today is midterms. Those who pass receive a qualifying grade
and don’t have to take the class any further. Those who fail…well, I’ll have
the dubious honor of teaching you again after the break.” Ev’s friends had all
taken this class last year and passed with relative ease. Ev himself had held
off on taking it, realizing his own lack of talent. Now, however, he couldn’t avoid
it any longer.

Brandon
continued. “I will
now call you up to the front of the class in alphabetical order.”

The
first two students called up managed to conjure impressive-looking weapons that
functioned perfectly. Unfortunately, being a Bannen, it wasn’t long before he
got called up. He cursed his last name for coming so soon in the alphabet. Not
that it mattered, though; he knew his chances for pulling this off were slim.

“All
right, Ev,” Brandon said. “I trust you’ve been practicing?”

“Yes,
sir.” He neglected to mention the fact his practice hadn’t amounted to much.

“Well,
then, let’s see what you can do.”

Ev
held out his hands. He closed his eyes and visualized a sharp sword
materializing in his hands. At first nothing happened, and it looked like it
would be another failure. Gradually, though, something began to appear in his
grip. There was a handle at first, followed by a guard and then a blade
appeared.

He
rejoiced. “Yes! I did it! I…”

His
revelry was cut short, however, when he noticed the blade was warped and
wobbly. Somehow he had made it out of a rubber-like material. He just stared at
it in disbelief. Another failure, after all.