GLASS || The Catalysts Series, #1

XLV || The Inevitable

"Bel, Bella. You let those rats scurry away."

The woman clicks her tongue in annoyance. "They are not our target." She senses the chill before the glare—even under the hood, the man's piercing gaze can be enough to kill. They haven't known each other for very long, and she suspects that they will not get along either even if they had. Besides, their group is not about close ties. They only ever focus on the task they believe in, keeping relationships and even communication at a bare minimum. She keeps her cool as she affirms, "Those are but unnecessary hinderances."

"This operation was supposed to be completed without leaving a trace. What do we do now?"

"It doesn't matter. The kids can't do anything. According to the source, the duel's still going on and the professors are still in that called for emergency meeting. What we didn't expect is the students being all over the place just because of that goddamned duel. Still, he'd be somewhere alone—the dose should give him severe side effects about now."

The man begins to walk but after two steps he pauses, and silence befalls the both of them for a moment. Seconds later, as if receiving a command in his mind, he dips his head in a near invisible nod, a sly curl forming over the corner of his lips.

Without turning to his partner and trusting she has equivalently received the message, he says monotonously, "Shall we finish this up, then?"

The woman falls into step with the man. "That is without a doubt."

*****

Roen has a hard time navigating through the corridors now that the duel is going on, along with the fact that they are being pressured by the strangers. He never once bothered to fathom the possibility of intruders within Arcane Academy, because that's exactly how Arcana maintains the prestigious school for future Catalysts. Now that it's been breached, he has a hard time processing the situation.

The girl Neesha instructed Roen to take with him, Sumiye, is quiet and extremely shy. Roen has met all kinds of girls: the ones that swoon over him, talk loudly and a lot just to get his attention, and those who are shy and silent only because they are flustered around him. Sumiye isn't flustered, he knows for sure by looking at her. She is merely timid and nervous, but whether it's because of the unexpected turn of events or that she's always been like that, Roen isn't too sure.

Roen is not the thinking type. He has many friends who does that, especially the ones he hangs out with, so that leaves him with the other role. He does things with intuition and feeling, and right now, he trusts Neesha enough to believe that getting to Caelus is the smart choice since he's powerful enough to fend off the mysterious intruders while Neesha and Clarice find the rest of the professors.

There are many students pouring out of the classrooms and into the courtyard, trying to witness the spectacular duel. Once Roen and Sumiye have cleared out of the centre of the building where the medical wing is, they steer toward the edges of the labyrinth of this academy, where all the classrooms make up the sides. Unfortunately, they begin to bump into many students, and as much as Roen feels secure now that they are hidden amidst other students, he also seems uneasy and unsettled.

From time to time, he looks back as if the intruders are now their pursuers. It's silly, but Roen still believes there is pressure pressing down on them even though he is sure they won't attack them before a large crowd. It doesn't take an idiot to figure out their operation is secretive, or they would've launched a full-scale attack on the Academy's barrier already, completely disrupting the duel in the first place.