Early in the morning, Lady Aina, the dormitory supervisor, informed Rood that a new professor wanted to meet him and gave him a note, instructing where the meeting location was. Sky tilted her head, curious about the new professor who wanted to meet Rood. Rood looked at her and sighed. "Sky. Just go to class with Lidusis. I will join the both of you later."

"Fine then. Let's go, Lidusis!." Sky grabbed Lidusis' hand and ran off to class with him.

Rood sighed and walked out of the dormitory as he followed the instructions on the note and walked into a room, where a man with light blue hair and golden eyes was waiting for him. Rood blinked as he recognized the man sitting in front of him. His name was Lispen and he was one of the Duchess Artian's attendants. Rood met Lispen once when the Duchess came to Opion, to discuss details regarding his mission to help Lidusis.

"... Please sit down." Lispen instructed.

Rood nodded and sat opposite of him. "So... What happened? You're a professor now?"

"Because of what happened in Ishuella. An investigation team was formed with several magicians outside of Helios. I was one of them, recommended by Duchess Artian... Also, the duchess has requested for the young master's extended stay. He seemed... very happy after you came."

"I see... That's good, isn't it?" When Rood first met Lispen, he was well aware that Lispen was a rather stoic man and he rarely has any expressions on his face.

"It is... How old are you?" Lispen questioned as Rood tilted his head confusedly. Why would he want to know my age?

"Erm... 16."

"16... huh... How incredible it is. For such a young man to have that kind of power." Lispen was staring at Rood intently as he spoke. On the other hand, Rood's palms were starting to sweat.

"I... don't know what you're talking about." What is he saying... I'll pretend I'm clueless.

After listening to Rood's reply, Lispen promptly stood up and grabbed his coat from the back of his chair, draping it over his arm. He walked past Rood and placed a hand on his shoulder firmly. "If you do not want to talk about it, I won't ask further. But you have to be careful since there are more high ranking magicians in Helios now. So unless you want to be found out, keep a low profile. Also... don't worry. I'm not much of a gossiper, black magician."

With his final words lingering in Rood's mind, Lispen left the room leaving Rood alone. Rood wiped off the sweat on his palms against his trousers as he tried to absorb all of Lispen's words. Realizing that Lispen knew his secret identity, Rood's thoughts run wild. What the heck?! How does he know?! Did the Master tell him?! He's never met me in my Blow form before! Did he see me in Ishuella? Was he the one who saved Dio?!....... WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?!?!?!

Sighing, Rood figured that it might be better to discuss with Sky rather than thinking alone. He quickly left the room and went to his classroom. Luckily, class has not started yet and Sky was talking with Dio and Lidusis. From the corner of her eyes, Sky saw Rood and walked up to him grinning. "Yo! So how did the talk go with the new professor?"

"It went well but now... I need to speak with you. Privately." Rood spoke out with a serious expression.

Sky blinked and nodded. "Erm... sure. Storage room???"

Rood nodded and the duo began to walk towards the storage room. On their way there, they saw Chevel and he stared back at them, before bolting off.

"STAY AWAY FROM ME!!!!!!!!" Chevel shouted out as he ran off.

Thinking that Chevel would start to ramble on their secret identities, the duo chased after him and ran into the backyard. Chevel panted heavily as he tried to catch his breath. Sky walked up to his side and leaned close to his ear as she whispered softly. "Boo."

"AH!!!!!!!! @#^*$^*T$@@$$" Chevel screamed and cursed at her as he jumped away from her. Chevel turned around, preparing to run away again but Rood was behind him. He was trapped between both of them. "I didn't tell anyone about the both of you! I swear!!!!!!!!!!" Chevel shouted frantically.

Sky nodded and tried to calm him down. "Firstly, Chevel. Calm down. We are not going to do anything to you. Relax! Right, Rood?" Sky looked up at Rood, expecting a reply. But Rood was looking in a different direction. Sky turned her head and saw two Heresis surrounding another Heresis, who was sitting under a tree with his arms folded. Are they... harassing that fellow?

~ • ~ • ~

After shaking off Professor Kan, Shicmuon walked to the backyard and sat under a tree. He cursed himself for being tricked by Lanoste. And now, he had no choice but to stay in Helios and complete the mission. That fucker...

Just as he was trying to clear his head, two Heresis students, Bedel and Argo, walked into the backyard and saw him sitting there. "Heh. It looks like the rumors were true. A new face. And he is wearing a Heresis uniform." Bedel snorted out.

"Should we tell the others that we found him?" Argo asked.

"Nah... It's embarrassing if so many people crowd around one person." Smiling, Bedel walked up to Shicmuon. "Excuse me. I'm sorry to say this when we've just met but I just want to be sure, ya know?"

He extended his hand and grabbed onto Shicmuon's collar tightly. "That you really deserved to wear this uniform."

Looking down at the hand that was grabbing onto his collar, Shicmuon looked up as he silently glared at Bedel. As Shicmuon lifted his head, Bedel saw his facial features and jumped back in shock, letting him go. "!!! ..... This guy... is quite handsome!!"

"So? What about it?" Argo questioned as he did not understand his friend's dramatic reaction.

"So?! Look at him! How he narrowed his eyes! He must have a nasty temper! He is totally Karina's type. We can't let her meet him!" Bedel exclaimed. He had a crush on Karina for a long time and he was not going to give her up easily to Shicmuon.

Shicmuon, however, couldn't care less about the two Heresis as they began discussing how to deal with him. He tried to hold his temper in and warned them coldly. "Piss off. You're irritating. So stop yapping and go away." Although his words sounded harsh, only those who knew Shicmuon would understand that he is simply giving them the chance to leave before they truly get hurt. Yet, the duo felt that he was being rude and offensive to them.

"W- What the hell did you say to me?!" Bedel was furious at Shicmuon's attitude and was prepared to fight as he took out a mana stone. Unbeknownst to the two Heresis, there were professors watching them from the rooftop. The two professors were the two Tower magicians assigned to Helios, Orphell and Deon.

The two professors disliked Shicmuon coming to Helios from the very start. Now, it was a perfect opportunity to chase Shicmuon out of Helios. Worried about the two students, Deon asked questionably. "H- He wouldn't kill them, would he?"

"... We can intervene before it happens. Now... We just need to wait for him to make a move and prove to everyone. That the Association's Shicmuon is not fit to participate in the investigation." Orphell explained as he watched Shicmuon silently, anticipating him to make a move.

Shicmuon knew that the two Tower magicians had been watching him but he couldn't care less if he would be kicked out of Helios. It was not surprising for him either that the two Tower magicians would risk the students getting hurt, just to produce a valid reason to make him leave Helios. Finally, he had enough of Bedel's taunts and stood up as he glanced at him coldly. "Fine then... I'll play with you. But... I'm not responsible for the result."

Bedel felt humiliated. He had worked hard to get promoted to Heresis and yet, Shicmuon was accepted into Helios as a Heresis. "How dare you?! Treating me like a moron! Ruunan! Kruger!"

Orphell silently smirked, knowing that Shicmuon would not be able to tolerate any longer. Bedel activated the mana ring on his wrist and fired an attack spell at him. Seeing this, Rood rushed over dispelling the spell with Chevel following him. He wanted to stop his Heresis' friends from causing trouble.

Bedel's eyes widened when he saw Chevel and he thought that it was Chevel who blocked out the spell. Seeing Shicmuon's face, Rood switched places with Chevel, afraid that he would recognize him. When Rood switched places with Chevel, Bedel tilted his head confusedly at the Idun that was standing behind Chevel and facing them.

Before Rood could warn Sky that Shicmuon was here, she rushed over, glaring at the two Heresis. "What's up with you two Heresis huh?! Bullying another student?! Do you have any shame?!"

She snorted and looked at Shicmuon as his back was facing her. She tapped his shoulder and asked worriedly. "Hey. Are you okay??? Are you hurt??"

Shicmuon turned around and faced her. At that moment their eyes locked, it almost seemed like there was nothing that mattered except the two of them and time had frozen still. Their mouths parted slightly as their eyes fixed on each other. Sky's heart skipped a beat as she stared at the man standing before her. Even though the man was not in his awakening state and had auburn brown hair and blue eyes, she recognized him as Shicmuon, the crimson 1st rank magician from the auction. But a familiar feeling started to rise up in her chest. A feeling she couldn't understand.

Shicmuon, on the other hand, his eyes slowly grew wide as he took in her features. Long silky green hair and eyes that are as blue as the sky. At that moment, an old memory flashed through his mind.

A young girl close to his age sulked as she stared at her friend, whose eyes were fixated on a book that he was reading. She had been bugging him to play with her for half an hour but the boy did not budge. "Is the book that interesting?" The girl asked.

"Not really." The boy replied without looking up.

"That's the old folk story, isn't it? The story of the Kansiol King saving the world from the demon world. Do you think it is true?"

"... Maybe not." The boy could not explain but he had doubts about the credibility of the story.

"Then why are you still reading it if you think it isn't true?" The girl asked again.

Facing his friend's question, he slowly looked down at the green glowing mark on the back of his hand. The mark of contract. This mark was the power that the god in the story had given to the Kansiol King. Although the story claimed that it was a god that bestowed the power, the boy had doubts as he felt something else beyond the mark. He understood the importance of the mark and the power it possesses, but he was not happy that he had it. To him, it was not only a symbol of power but a chain that restricted his freedom.

The boy mumbled to himself. "... I hate it. This mark." The girl's eyes slowly grew wide, surprised at her friend's confession. But slowly, she understood the meaning behind his words. After a moment of silence, she reached out and covered the mark with her hand.

The boy raised an eyebrow as he glanced up at his friend, "What are you doing?" The girl smiled warmly at him and explained "If you hate it, then I will block it out so that you wouldn't look at it!" Looking at the warm smile on the girl's face, the boy felt a sense of comfort and stared down at her hand covering the mark. "... Thank you."

As the memory ended, Shicmuon was overcome with emotions as the stoic expression on his face was replaced with one of surprise. He reached out and placed his hand gently on her cheek. Sky's face began to flush as she continued to stare at him, not knowing what to say. Shicmuon thought he would never see her again. He remembered everything about her and thought he would never see her again after her departure. Seeing her again, it felt like she had never walked out of his life before.

"... Skylar?"

Note: When they first met at the auction, they were both in their awakened magician states and appearances were different so the both of them did not recognize each other.

~ Also, I wish everyone a Merry Christmas!!!^-^