"Axel?"
Vesper felt like the time around her seemed to have frozen as she entered a state of confusion.
How is this possible?
Regardless of how it was possible, she felt a strong jolt of warmth in her heart and subconsciously heaved a sigh of relief. But she was still doubtful.
It felt like she was dreaming, like an illusion.
"Yes, it's me," Axel said to her in a calm voice. "You don't have to stain your hands dealing with him."
Now Vesper was sure that she was not dreaming.
He was truly alive, there was no way she could be mistaken about that voice and aura.
She quickly turned around to meet Axel's calm eyes and the moment their eyes met, her eyes skipped a beat.
"You're alright." She muttered weakly as the sword fell out of her hand with a clang.
The deathly aura around her immediately dissipated as she weakly crashed into Axel's embrace, all the strength in her body failing her.
"It's good that you're alright." She whimpered before slowly closing her eyes.
Her fangs had been retracted at this point, and when Axel took a closer look, he saw tears streaming down her face as she curled into his arms.
Axel felt a pang of pain in his heart before reaching down to slowly and gently clean her tears.
After that, he slowly lifted her in bridal style under the stunned gaze of most of the vampires and fairies watching from the stands.
With Vesper now in his arms, he slowly turned to the boy who was still miserably leaning against.
"You won the fight so you can have this," Axel said as he pulled out some sort of rectangular ticket made out of metal from his pocket.
He tossed it to him before turning to leave.
"Good luck being her teammate."
Those were his last words before turning around, his strides full of power and confidence as he made his way out of the arena and his cold eyes focused only on the path ahead.
Rina Sandan, who was watching everything from the stands while surrounded by those flattering her, felt her body stiffen as she watched Axel leave with Vesper in his arms, her hands slowly clenching into fists.
In a hidden corner in the stands, a certain man took in everything with a wry smile on his face.
"June, what do you think of everything that just happened?" He suddenly asked a question directed to the guard standing beside him.
June thought for a few seconds before opening his mouth to speak.
"That vampire can make everyone feel the aura of death, it's like she can manipulate…."
"Shadows." The man finished. "Her shadow step after she fell into a rage was instant without any form of lag, that's not something any vampire can achieve, not even those level nine monsters."
"My lord is wise with keen observation." June flattered with a smile.
"Is that all you noticed?" The man asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Mmm….I suppose so." June nodded, feeling a bit uncertain.
Seeing him like this the man couldn't help but chuckle.
"Don't you think there was something wrong with that fairy?"
It was at that moment that June remembered what he seemed to have forgotten.
"That's right, I clearly felt his heart stop beating, so I stopped paying attention to him. I don't even know when he got up."
He was a bit bewildered as he was now wondering how Axel was still alive.
His master wouldn't show it on his face but he was wondering exactly the same thing.
"There's also something else."
"What?" June asked, his curiosity piqued to the maximum.
"The look in his eyes has changed, and the ticket which he held dear before the fight was tossed out like that, I think I even saw disdain in his eyes when he tossed it out." The man said as his lips curled into a smile. "Those two are definitely not simple."
"Then…. should we investigate them, my lord?" June tried to suggest.
"No…let's hold off on that for now." The man said, raising his hand to stop him. "Looks like there's going to be a good show in Nelxus Academy soon."
______ ______
Despite the excruciating pain he was feeling, Axel was able to carry Vesper all the way to the infirmary.
The moment he gently laid her down on the bed, his legs gave way and he crashed down on the ground.
From the moment he stepped in to stop Vesper from making a mistake, his body had been on the verge of breaking down, but he had been used to not showing weakness in front of others, so he gritted his teeth and held it in until now.
"This guy is suicidal." He muttered under his breath as he took in deep breaths.
"Not going to act tough anymore?"
Axel turned around to see a young woman in a white coat walking toward him.
According to the memories available to him, this person should be Doctor Estelle, the Academy's chief physician.
She was considered tall among females, standing somewhere around 1.7 meters. She had long dark hair, and although she wasn't a knockout beauty, she had a soft appearance that made it easy for people to like her.
Even without the memories, Axel could tell from her aura that she was a fairy.
Axel didn't respond to her and just watched her walk past him to glance at Vesper before turning to him.
Axel was a bit stunned as he saw disdain in her eyes for a moment there but she retracted her gaze too fast for him to be sure.
"She's fine, just passed out from exhaustion. She'll be fine after some rest. You, on the other hand, need more than just rest." She said before walking toward the huge wooden cupboard by the side. "Lie down on the bed, you can do it yourself, I'm not going to help you."
Now, Axel was sure that she was antagonising him as he could sense the faint hostility in her voice.
He searched his memory but still couldn't figure out how he could have possibly offended Estelle.
Without Estelle offering any help, he managed to drag his body to the other bed beside Vesper and laid down.
It didn't take long for Estelle to appear before him with a pill in her hand.
"Here, your injuries haven't crossed the line of fatality but this will help you heal faster."
Before he could react, she had already stuffed the pill into his mouth, forcing him to swallow it.
Axel was left befuddled.
'Gentle doctor my foot, she's not gentle at all, it's all an illusion.'
Axel thought she would leave after feeding him the pill but she just stood there looking at him with an expressionless gaze.
Her gaze made him feel especially uncomfortable.
"Umm…is there something else, Dr Estelle?"
"I suppose you have it all figured out now?" She asked. There was a hint of anticipation in her eyes.
What was she anticipating?
"Huh?"
Axel was quite confused.
Seeing his expression, Estelle let out a sigh of exasperation before pointing to Vesper.
"You should learn how to treat her better and stop treating the ones who love walking all over you as gods otherwise you'll regret it when she stops caring about you."
She didn't bother waiting for his reply and just turned around to exit the room.
It took Axel a few seconds to figure out what she meant.
It couldn't be helped, this body surprisingly had a bit less computing power compared to his human body. Luckily it was just a bit less.
Thinking of what Estelle just said, his gaze slowly turned to Vesper, who was sleeping soundly on the bed, his expression unknowingly softening.
On this point, he very much agreed with Estelle. The original host was a bastard scumbag.
However, that wasn't his first impression of him. From the moment he laid eyes on Vesper and then compared her to the girl that was held dear in the original host's memories, he realized….
That idiot was especially blind.