A small, injured Saul was on his knees over several thorns because he was being punished for losing a fight. He had to stay like that for forty minutes, and every ten minutes he would receive some blows on his back with the metal part of his father's belt.
'How long until this punishment ends? Let me see… I think maybe three minutes are left… Damn it, I lost count.'
His eyes were empty since he was used to it, because this had happened before whenever he failed to steal anything at the beginning of his father's orders.
'Well, either way, I just have to win next time.'
This was his first defeat, and it would be the last he would ever lose. And surely next time he wouldn't pity the boy who cried when he was being defeated by a surprise attack after trying to calm him down.
'Just like he had no mercy, next time I'll finish him—I'll make sure of it.'
It was a promise he fulfilled a few days later, because that was who he was when he was fully determined to win—and that was exactly what he would do against Jago next time.
'Looks like I had another dream.'
Opening his eyes, Enrico had the same empty stare his younger Saul once had. He truly didn't understand why he was having these past dreams if he had abandoned all of that a long time ago.
'Hey system, are you the one doing this to my memories? Tell me the truth, or I'll get seriously irritated.'
[…we can say the constellations wanted to see what you were like, so… I'm sorry.]
'At least you're being honest, so I'll let it pass, because I don't care about those memories.'
[You're very strong.]
'Of course I am—if I weren't, I'd have died a long time ago.'
Getting up from the bed, he saw he was back at Astrong Academy, where important students stayed when they were injured. He stretched a little and winced in pain as he felt his body aching. Looking at his arm, he saw it was bandaged—definitely broken. Actually, most of his body was bandaged except for his head and face.
[You should rest after what you did.]
'I can rest later. First, I need to pay my respects and visit everyone who died in this damned attack.'
[…Just don't overdo it. Your body really needs rest—it's starting to fail from your constant training.]
'That's a good sign, because it means I'm about to enter a limit-break state again.'
[You're simply impossible, you know that?]
Sending his clone out the window, Enrico waited a second until his clone reached the correct location. Since Caelan and Grark came from the territory of Sanos, at least Caelan would be in the cemetery. As for Grark, he would have to visit the orc tribe to pay him proper respect.
'I'll also visit Vesparello to offer my respect later.'
Vesparello was now destroyed, but it wouldn't take long to be rebuilt—better than before. The other kingdoms would help with reconstruction. As he vanished from the room, Enrico's friends entered to check on him and were surprised not to see anyone. Liam stepped forward to look around, even checking the bathroom.
"Kai, are you sure this is the right room?"
"We visited him yesterday, so it should be here."
"Shit, where did he go? He's in terrible condition—let's tell the others."
Kai and Liam left the room, meeting an exhausted-looking Elian with dark circles under his eyes. After telling him, the three hurried to the teacher's office, where the girls had also been called back after caring for Enrico in his room. Running through the corridor, they reached a large door and opened it carefully.
"Professor, Enrico has disappeared."
"What?"
Virelle was holding some training papers specially made for her students. She called the girls first because they had come before the others—Valença, Yumeha, Rina, Aoi, Serenya, Seraphina, and Grakka. All had serious expressions, wanting to get stronger, but upon hearing that Enrico had disappeared, they immediately grew worried because his body was a wreck.
"Professor, can we talk later?"
"Of course. I'll look for him too because it's very likely he went to train—or maybe to the cemetery. And honestly, I hope he's not doing anything reckless."
Before heading to the cemetery, Enrico decided to visit the place where he had his first fight in this world, against Chalés. Arriving at the spot, he bowed before the grave he had made for Chalés.
"It would be good if you were alive… maybe then my worries about the future would be a little lighter."
Chalés was a character he really liked because he developed so well and had great potential—but apparently, it would have been impossible without one of them dying.
'You know, I kind of took his place in terms of character development.'
[What do you mean?]
'At first I was "evil" and gradually changed, like him, but with different goals—and his attitude with others was better, except toward the Solcren Ferreira.'
On his way back, he reached the cemetery where Tolen and now Caelan rested. Standing before their graves, Enrico bowed and prayed for both.
"I hope the place where you are now is better, because you deserve it."
He stayed still for what felt like minutes, engraving their memory firmly for the day he met Jago for the last time.
'I'm going to kill him no matter what when we meet again—even if I have to sacrifice a pact to never lose track of him.'
Turning around, he began to walk away, one of his eyes flickering like burning fire that slowly faded… until he saw one of the things he hated most in this world.
'What is that damn cult doing here?'
A hooded man with a deer symbol was walking straight toward Astrong Academy, giving Enrico a very bad feeling.
[Enrico, this is bad. It seems the Hell Academy arc is being moved up, because it's appearing to me that it will begin in ten minutes.]
'So it was them.'
As he had said, the original story never revealed who put the barrier around Astrong Academy. He didn't understand why the author didn't reveal it, but he could think about that later—something else mattered now. Enrico immediately switched places with his clone that he'd left near Astrong Academy.
'I won't let this happen.'
Crouching in place, Enrico looked upward—today was the day he would have to stop it, and it would be easy, because only he would have a bad moment.
"System, activate pact."