The last three days were basically free class periods for the final years. All they had to do was just come to the Academy for the purpose of guiding their mentees.
Ethan had returned to his seat's position in class to meet Percival with a scowl on his face.
"Hey," Ethan said as he sat on the chair.
But Percival didn't respond.
Ethan sighed. "Come on, man. Don't be like that."
"Like what?" Percival finally said. "Like someone who just watched his best friend get asked out by the girl he's been trying to talk to for days?"
"She didn't ask me out," Ethan said. "She invited me to hang out with her and her friends. There's a difference."
"Yeah, no, I don't think so," Percival muttered.
Ethan sighed. "Look, I was going to talk to her about you. I was literally about to bring you up when she invited me."
Percival turned to look at him, his eyes
narrowed. "For real, man?"
"Yes, really," Ethan said. "And I still will. This evening."
The frown on Percival's face began fading. "You're going?"
"Yeah." Ethan said. He genuinely did fancy Isabella's company and wasn't even in any sort of self-denial that there might be a sort of connection between them.
But to be fair, Percival called dibs first and asked for his help regarding the princess. The same girl Ethan hadn't even given a shit about at the start of the week.
And you see, that was actually the problem. He didn't want it to seem like betrayal, and so he decided he was still going to mention his friend, Percival.
Percival was quiet for a moment, then let out a long breath. "Fine."
"Good. Now stop sulking," Ethan teased.
Percival shook his head as a grin slowly returned to his face.
"Oh, one more thing," Ethan said. "I'll be joining your ride home today. Eduardo won't be coming to get me."
"Alright, cool," Percival said with a shrug
Not long after, Ethan also met with Bettie and explained that he may have to cancel on their classes for today due to having some other plans.
Bettie nodded. "Okay. Will we resume the next day?"
"Definitely," Ethan said, then added, "And I'm ready to try upper-tier spells, so you should do well to come with those next time."
She nodded and said, "I know just the right one."
——
It was closing time for the Academy that same day. Of course, students of the Academy couldn't wait to leave.
Aside from the fact he would hang with Isabella later that evening, there was one more thing Ethan looked forward to.
Which was receiving feedback on the Hemilton situation.
While Eduardo had driven him to school that early morning, he'd told Ethan he had gotten a lead and would be making contact with a Hemilton today.
This was why he wouldn't be able to pick Ethan up today.
The young stark could not deny the feeling of excitement that the other part of him would finally be unsealed.
He wondered what being part dragon would feel like. Already, over the last three days, he had discovered one of his traits of being a demon.
He had a regenerative healing factor.
He discovered this in one of his failed attempts in the past few days to unlock Ragnarok's power. He had assumed that perhaps Ragnarok would activate its true power after it bonded with the blood of its owner.
A silly attempt, he thought, but was still worth the try, which prompted him to cut his palm that day with the blade.
He had intended to use the Lesser Healing spell he knew how to cast to heal himself after the supposed blood sacrifice.
But just as he discovered that his blood wouldn't do shit to awaken Ragnarok's true form, he had also discovered his extreme regenerative healing potential.
That cut on his palm was as good as gone.
Sealing up even the scars so well that Ethan was sure the Tier 5 Greater Healing spell wouldn't match.
He made his way in between the crowd of students to go wait at the gates for Percival, who for some reason was wasting way more time than usual to walk out of the final years wing.
Suddenly he got hit on the shoulder by someone who just crossed. He hadn't paid attention to who.
"C'mon!" he called out as he turned to see who that was. The moment he did, the first thing he met was the red eyes of the vampire, Wilson.
Right then, Ethan froze as the effect of Compulsion had just hit him.
"Come with me quietly," Wilson commanded.
Ethan nodded and followed behind Wilson quietly till they got into a vintage car waiting right outside.
Waiting right in the backseat of the car was Beatrice, who had an excited grin as she adjusted to the other end to let both Ethan and Wilson enter.
She pulled a syringe from her purse and stabbed it right through his neck, forcing his eyes shut.
"I told you Ethan, I'll make you regret" she said excitedly.
The door closed, and the driver zoomed off.
—
A minute or two after the car left, Percival arrived through the gates.
"Hm? I thought he'd be here already," he muttered to himself, turning around and looking in search.
He pulled out his Arcphone and tapped on Ethan's contact, calling him.
But there was no answer.
Percival frowned. "Where the hell did he go?"