novelraw Chapter 158: Strangers In The Shape Of Family
Chapter 158: Strangers In The Shape Of Family
The moment John finally dismissed the class, the entire hall emptied quickly, with him being the first to go, appearing to be in somewhat of a hurry. He didn’t have another class, as the bell hadn’t rung yet to announce it, making his quick departure curious.
Meanwhile, Ignotus and his people all turned their backs to the door at the exact same time.
Gaia dusted her sleeves. Lykos stretched. Ulv checked some sort of schedule. Mer pretended to check a schedule. Aur, of course, just nodded, having arrived ready.
"Alright..."
Ignotus clapped his hands.
"Let’s begin our first cohort meeting."
They gathered around him in a loose circle near the arena stands.
"First things first..."
Ignotus sat down cross-legged, elbows on his knees.
"Do any of you remember Judas? The guy I killed?"
He raised a finger, stopping them from answering his rhetorical question.
"Well, he was a Demon in disguise. Or, you know... halfway there."
A small, perfectly synchronized wave of discomfort passed through the group.
They didn’t doubt that Judas was what Ignotus said he was; they believed him fully.
Nor did they doubt the source of this information; it was just added to the list of secrets Ignotus so obviously held.
This ’discomfort’ came from the fact that Ignotus had killed someone who had yet to go... bad per se. There was nothing in between humans and Demons; you were either one or the other, and that was an undeniable fact.
So that meant that Ignotus had killed a fellow student who was perhaps in talks with a Demon, or at least someone that could make him one... Besides the gray of what happened, the implications of it were massive, making most of them frown in thought, even Mer.
"Leave one monster alive..."
Ignotus chuckled and spread his hands in response.
"And the sheep are never safe. You’ll all be good to remember that."
This was him telling them to never do things halfway. Either go all in or none at all.
"...anyways, we can’t let the Headmaster publicly know about the attack."
They all stared at him as he continued, internally noting the extra word:
"If he ’finds out,’ war breaks out. Don’t ask how I know that."
Not listening to his order, Lykos opened his mouth to ask—
"Don’t."
Only to be shut down.
"With Demons, it’s not about if but when... there will be more, a lot more. And unfortunately, that means war is inevitable. But that doesn’t mean we can’t delay it as much as possible."
Ignotus wasn’t going to explain that this was the beginning of their stratum’s fall. That it was something he all but ignored in his past life... even though it affected him so much.
It didn’t need to be said, but war was annoying, war was messy, war was—
"Bad for business."
Ignotus finished aloud, making Mer raise a hand.
"So... what’s the plan then?"
Lykos crossed his arms.
"Yeah, are we just waiting for them to get in, or...?"
"No."
Ulv shook his head.
"They’re sneaking in through the Cocytus River, aren’t they? It passes along the back wall."
Ignotus snapped his fingers at him.
"Right. After the Demon inside starts its distraction, the guards thin out, and they’ll slip in from the furthest wall of the Academy, near the entrance that opens to the Cocytus River."
Aur lifted her hand higher than Mer’s, though more politely.
"So... are we to find the Demon and kill it before it proceeds with its plan?"
"Yes."
Ignotus nodded immediately.
"Exactly."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
A heavy silence took place before suddenly—
"Ahem."
John’s voice cut in, making everyone turn towards the doorway where he stood.
"Ignotus, you need to make a speech."
Ignotus blinked at him.
Everyone else blinked at him.
The birds outside might’ve done the same as well.
John’s eye twitched, really annoyed at their reaction.
"Now."
Ignotus stood, dusted off his lap, and grinned.
"Well... it seems we’ve found our way to rat it out."
***
Rosa stood at the very edge of the courtyard, the part students used just to pass through.
She hadn’t even meant to stop; she had only paused because a ripple of murmurs had gone through the first-years, and when she looked up...
...he was floating there.
Ignotus.
Her younger brother.
Or at least, the... shape of him.
Dozens—no, hundreds—of heads craned upward toward him like he was some mystery.
Rosa swallowed hard. Even from this distance, the sight made her chest tighten.
Had the Academy really accepted him as the Stellae? Did they not know about his abysmal reputation? Sure, the Colosseum Trials had improved that greatly, but many still despised him for what he did to those poor maids, with Rosa being the first of them.
’What the Hell is he about to say?’
Lothar hovered beside him, looking deeply done with the situation.
But Ignotus didn’t look at Lothar, dismissing him entirely.
It was with reason, no doubt... a man like Lothar would definitely be on her father’s payroll; such men wouldn’t amount to much otherwise. That meant that he’d bullied Ignotus, or at least tried to, under her father’s orders.
Something that she noted but didn’t care to think more about.
Rather, she didn’t think of much at the moment, stuck staring at her little brother.
Ignotus looked at everyone else before inhaling slowly and opening his mouth:
"As you’ve all known for the past month, maybe even longer..."
The smile that formed on his face was nothing she had ever seen on him. Not in childhood, not in training, not even in those terrifying moments of the Colosseum Trial.
"I’m the Stellae..."
A wicked, perfectly confident smile.
"Saint Academy’s Star."
The courtyard erupted beneath him, though he didn’t seem to care.
Rosa, of course, already knew—everyone did—but still... hearing him declare it so openly made it final and a lot more real, prompting them to reject that claim.
"Don’t worry about the leaderboard. I’m the strongest here, and that is no misunderstanding."
Rosa frowned a little.
That tone of his... its certainty... indeed, that wasn’t how he used to speak.
Though he wasn’t a nervous wreck while growing up—far from it—he was also far from being the confident man before them... it was on the level of their father.
"But listen..."
He tapped his temple with one knuckle.
"I’m not exactly right in the head."
That had the crowd freeze up a little, though Rosa only nodded, agreeing with him.
Ignotus was never normal; she knew it since they were young.
Though that didn’t excuse the way she, or the rest, treated him, at least before the incident, it was one of the many reasons. He truly felt alien... a fact that he always rejected and hid, a fact that only made the accusations against him sound more true.
So the fact that he announced that here before them all had her stunned.
Did the stress of his Ascension truly break his mind? Or was he always like this?
They rarely talked; that one time after the Trial had them exchange more words than they did in over an entire year of living in the same house. So perhaps this change was gradual, and she simply didn’t notice...
’I can’t believe it.’
But truly? Did not a single servant notice his change?
"Please believe me, and please... don’t test me."
Ignotus’s gaze swept across the students.
"You’re all too weak for that anyway."
Rosa’s nails dug into her palms.
Yes, there was no doubt about it.
Ignotus used to study so much because he was terrified of falling behind.
He used to ask her for help and guidance... even when his requests later fell on deaf ears.
This person had no such mannerisms or doubts... he...
...wasn’t the same.
He wasn’t even close.
"Adding even more lives to my conscience isn’t a hobby I like."
Each line was a blade that dropped through the air.
Though that last one had Rosa’s thoughts spiral.
’Even more lives?’
’More?’
The way he said that implied that his kill at the Colosseum Trial back then was far from the last.
’What has he been doing?’
’What has he gone through?’
’What has he become?’
Ignotus bowed lightly towards them all and said with genuine sincerity:
"Thank you."
The crowd didn’t understand what or who that was for, but Rosa could see the handful of people near him... his cohort, most likely, stiffen up a little, almost like they were hit.
’No...’
Rosa didn’t like that look on his face.
She didn’t like how smoothly he switched between cold menace and warm sincerity.
She didn’t like how the boy she once knew seemed to have been carved out and replaced with someone else entirely.
But most of all...
She didn’t like that she recognized none of him.
Not his voice, his posture, or even the way he smiled.
’This isn’t my brother.’
How was she supposed to hate him now?
Rosa had realized it in the Colosseum Trial, and she had confirmed it in the second.
But hearing him speak now, baring his nature in front of the entire courtyard—
It forced the truth into her.
At the back of her mind, she always thought that no matter what, no matter how much abuse he received, no matter how tragic his day had gotten, Ignotus would remain alive and himself.
Making it so that one day, when he finally admitted his wrongdoings, accepting all that passed as punishment, she would finally intervene.
Now, it was too late.
Maybe she was naïve.
Or maybe it was just a convenient excuse to avoid admitting the truth.
Her inaction had led to this. Her silence, her distance, and her refusal to intervene.
The Stranger floating in the center of the courtyard...
This was the result.
Indeed, he was no longer her brother.
Just as she had never truly been his sister.
They were strangers in the shape of a family.