A few hours later

  As the Hospital got more hectic, Leonardo who heard the news was quickly aware as he then followed along to help with the soldiers. Karma dragged him to help. Though he was reluctant as he wasn’t good at these things, he was forced to. Fortunately he finally had the opportunity to observe Karma, which was his main job. However, it seemed to switch as Karma was observing him.

  “Hey what are you doing? Apply pressure!! We need to stop the bleeding!!” Karma yelled.

  “I’m trying to do my best!! I don’t know if I'm killing him.”

  “Well you're killing him if you don’t do what I say!! So do it!!” Karma said.

  “I’m sorry..” Leonardo said faintly. “You really are one person I can’t deal with at all…” Leonardo whispered as he was still thinking back when they were in college. Though he was popular and the best, he always found it weird that he never could go against her for some reason.

  “Good. He is stable. Let's go help others.” Karma said as she then dragged Leonardo without his approval.

  “Wa...wait!!!!!” Leonardo was trying to fight back as he was realizing that for some reason he couldn’t struggle off. She was really strong. Has he been lacking in his workout he wondered.

  After hours of madness, it seemed like things had stabilized somewhat. Leonardo watched as Karma was helping one person after another. Same with Leonora, who, despite never having the best health, was doing her best as well. Seeing them, Leonardo wondered what the order could be thinking to watch her. She posed no threat. Other than being physically stronger for some reason but still….what was it? From his point of view, she was a woman that really wanted to help the country.

  “Hey…” Leonora said as she slouched on the bench next to her brother. “I’m so tired….Can I go to sleep now?”

  “Well, look at Karma. How is it that she is ok while you can’t?”

  “Please, don’t compare me to her. Last year, she benched more than most of the guys, and she ran so fast she would have been in the Olympics.”

  “Really, I haven’t seen her that long and now she is this strong,” Leonardo said in shock. He recalled the time he had known her years before she wasn’t that physically strong. In fact, she was probably like Leonora now.

  “Yep..and one time she stayed up 36 hours just to study for the test and did the test before even sleeping the next day,” Leonora added.

  “She is insane….”

  “I told you. Anyways I have more work to do. You should go and check on Joseph, when you have the time.”

  “What do you mean? What is wrong with him?” Leonora then looked at Leonardo in confusion.

  “Didn’t you know? He got injured during the operation and is in the hospital.” Hearing that, he immediately rushed to confirm the truth. But Leonora then questioned. “He does know where his room is, right?”

  Running out Leonardo was in disbelief as he didn’t realise that would ever happen. Joseph, the person he looked up to, was injured. Never has that happened. Even the last time they had fought resulted in Joseph winning without a scratch. Even when he and the other top students faced him he wasn’t tired at all. It was amazing to hear him injured. He looked everywhere even though he could have asked a nurse. But hey whatever works for him.

  “Well, it seems like he should be fine. Keep monitoring him, please.” He heard Leonardo immediately stop and instantly go inside the room. Opening the door if luck had it, it was Joseph safe and sound.

  “How is he??!!!?” He tried to see Joseph up close, but the nurses stopped him.

  “Please stop. He is fine, but you aren’t allowed inside.” Faust, who was checking Joseph’s health then look at Leonardo. As soon as Faust saw Leonardo, his expression changed. Just when he thought it couldn’t get more annoying, another diviner shows up. Worse, it was the one that has been snooping around the hospital constantly.

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  “Let me see him!! Please!!” Leonardo begged, but he then saw Faust, who was looking at him.

  “Leonardo was it?? Please understand that guests aren’t allowed.”

  “But…”

  “If you are a doctor, then please come in. If you can make him better, then please assist.” Hearing that, Leonardo stopped as he knew that he had no experience with it..

  “I’m sorry I overreacted. I was just baffled as to what happened.”

  “Well he got injured and he is bedridden.” Faust simply said. “Now please leave.” Nodding, Leonardo left the room as he sat on a bench. He couldn’t believe it, his master ended up like this. How was this even possible? Resting his eyes, he was hoping that this was all a bad dream.

  “Hey...hello!!” A female voice said. Grabbing his pistol out Leonardo then panicked. “Woah woah.. Stop!! Its me, Karma.”

  “...sorry...I just…”

  “I heard….but Fausto is taking care of him, so don’t worry about it.”

  “Yeah...he really is an amazing doctor. While I..just sitting here hoping that everything was okay.”

  “Yeah...same with me...When I overreacted, I realised how inferior I was to him…” Both of them then sighed as they were really disappointed in themselves. “Anyways, I wanna go out and eat. I’m hungry.” Hearing that, Leonardo then opened his eyes.

  “Wha...what...what do you mean by that?” Leonardo with his imagination, was thinking of something that was more different than a simple lunch. This was the first time he had heard it. Was she asking him out on a date?

  “I mean, we go out and eat??” Karma simply said to make it straight. Wondering if she didn’t explicitly make Leonardo not understand. “Like we need to go now. I want to eat, then go to sleep.”

  “Bu..but..I mean….you…”

  “I have time off so hurry!!!” Dragging Leonardo, Karma pulled him out of the hospital. This caught the notice of Faust, who was rather irritated. He was just going to ask her to go eat with him. Now she was taken by…..that….guy. Feeling a sense of regret because he felt like he should have killed Leonardo before.

  “Uhm sir what is the status of the patient?” A nurse was saying as he was asking about one patient that seemed to be struggling to live. But Faust couldn't care less about him.

  “He's dead,” Faust said as he had already left without looking at the patient.

  “Wait, sir you can’t be saying that in the hospital. I mean you could..” Beeepppppp was the sign as it said he was dead. “Dang, he is good.” Little did she know that Faust had just killed him just now with small light attack that no one would find out about. But that was his secret. “Wait, you still have more patients!!!”

  “I have prior engagements for now.” Already planning to leave, he could care less about these patients. Some of these guys were also on the list that Gilius told him to get rid of. Whether he wanted to save them or not was based on his mood. But it seems like his mood wasn’t merciful.

  “Fausto, I’m on break!!! Would you like to…” Faust didn’t have time to listen to Leonora and just grabbed her to go.

  “Shut up and go with me. We are going out to eat.” Leonora was confused as she didn’t realize that Faust was that good. How did he know that was what she wanted? Following along, she didn’t say anything as she enjoyed being dragged away. She thought maybe he is interested in her!! Must be the perfume, she thought as she smelled herself. Yet she doubted it as she smelled like sweat.

  Back at the Capitol building, Arthur was watching the fight between Joseph and Menace. He didn’t realize that this Menace would be a worthy adversary. Watching Joseph fight, he noticed Menace was more than just a common Diviner. His skills were far better than he had thought. He wondered if he would need to take stronger measures. Heading inside his chambers was Samuel of Ector, who appeared as he bowed in apology.

  “Our Family has brought nothing but shame. We will use all of our family to go and capture this Menace. This is to redeem our family’s honor as well as the order.” However, Arthur brushed it off.

  “No…..”

  “No?.... but if we let him be...we will..” Looking at the news and videos things are getting quite problematic with the protestors.

  “Let it be…after all, he is just a mercenary… we will have to release the paladin equipment,” Arthur said as he seemed to figure something out. Though he was wanting to deal with Menace rather fast, he seemed like it was a bait that he didn’t want to pull. To be safe, he thought it was good to use more firepower to deal with it.

  “But..sir those things are experimental. We haven’t been able to test it out in real combat. What if there are side effects?”

  “Then give it to Joseph.”

  “Joseph?”

  “Yes, tell him to use it. He did fail. Let him test it as a form of redemption.”

  “But what if he dies?” Samuel was being a bit personal as this was his uncle after all. Though he knew the order came first, it still wasn’t the way he wanted his uncle to die.

  “He was already about to die. What does that matter? Besides, he was already not caring about retiring. Let him die on the battlefield.” Being merciless with his words, Arthur actually was being kind as he knew Joseph would rather have it that way. Instead of letting him die in failure, it was best to give him a mission he was willing to risk his life for.

  “.....Very well, I will see to it.”

  “Wait?”

  “Yes?” Planning to leave, Arthur soon stopped him as there was one other thing.

  “Those anti-light devices that we were testing with the cleansers….Return them to the research facility and destroy all records of the project.” Recalling what he saw, it wasn't wise to use it. “Although it won’t affect those who are older. The younger generation can face some serious trouble. Not to mention we don’t need to give research to enemies if they somehow got our hands on it.” Saying this for the safety of the order, Arthur realised the dangers of the project and thought it was better to destroy it.

  “....As you wish,” Samuel said as he bowed before leaving. This then left Arthur by himself. After a few minutes, a shadow appeared to move within Arthur’s shadow. He didn’t move out of the shadows as he signalled he was listening.

  “Do a background check on all the families. In the last two hundred years. We need to find out who this person is and which family created him.” The shadow then came out of his shadow, instantly leaving the room. Arthur then looked at more documents as he went to continue his work.