Chaos Cycle: The Eye of Genesis

|PART TWO: THE SHADOWS EMERGING|

"Brother, what are you doing?" Shin asked, knitting his brows at the figure cleaning the toilet seat.

"I'm cleaning shit," Elior said with his mind elsewhere. "And reflecting on the shit I have spread."

"That seat is already cleaned," Shin added, pointing to the clean toilet seat.

"Right," Elior said and moved to the next one. It was the last of the days of his punishment that he got after he had beaten a bunch of upperclassmen. In between this time, things had been silent in the institute, though his mind was always some place else.

His worries had no bound, and only by keeping his mind busy could he let go of those worries. But cleaning the toilet did not need much of the brain and his body was not in so much better state to practise mana revolution simultaneously, wearing the heavy customised suit as well. So he lost himself in those worries.

It had been a week since he had last seen Aanya, after he attacked her trauma so badly. All the news he got from Ileana was that she was busy. Probably Ileana knew even less than him. He was really regretting doing that to her. Perhaps there was another way, like revealing his identity to her and asking for her help. But he could not take the risk, and in the end, he broke the girl.

He hated himself for doing it. He could not even trust someone who had given away her life protecting the earth in the previous timeline.

Other than that, there was still no progress in his vigilante business. Moreover, the federation and institute association put a warrant against him to put him on trial. They even risen the security as well as the warding. The small fries affiliated with Shadow Blood turned silent for the time as well, but he knew a storm was brewing.

"Brother, what are you thinking for so many days?" Shin asked, seeing him lost in the pondering again. "Since last week you are like this, did something happen?"

"Yes," Elior said and did not continue.

"Elior," Shin said after a good minute and his voice was hesitant. "I don't think I can help you any longer if you do not explain things clearly to me."

Elior stopped with his pondering as well as in the cleaning. He looked at Shin, frowning.

"Albert Iker, Donovan Killian, Ava Ruth," Shin said a few names. "All of these people are the names that you asked me to find out. I have checked the news on them every day and among the people you told me to look for, almost half of them disappeared without a trace. Moreover, in a few of those places, there seemed to be the sign of the vigilante."

Elior sighed. "This is not a good place to discuss all this," he asked, knowing this day would come sooner or later. Even though Shin trusted him, it was far from the blind trust they had between each other in the previous timeline.

"Brother, are you really related to the vigilante?" Shin did not stop. "Are you helping him with all this?"

"I said this place is not good for discussing all these," Elior repeated the words. "Come to my room later. I will reveal a few things to you, then."

Shin nodded and kept on standing there. He seemed to have a lot on his plate. He likely wanted to believe Elior that his brother was not doing something sinful and unlawful, but with all the connections he tied up, he could not deny everything.

Moreover, after he heard their senior Aanya confronted the vigilante alone and got no news about her, his trust in Elior was shaking. He was only silent about all this because he never saw any misconduct in Elior's behaviour, and Elior did tell him a few things before asking for the information. Moreover, Elior helped him and everyone in the academy whichever way he could.

He helped anyone that came to him for advice. He shared how he became so strong, as well as his understanding of mana usage and spells. If all of this turned out to be just a play, then Shin would be more devastated than he was aware of.

As both of them were lost in their thoughts, a person in a long shirt and overcoat appeared in the toilet.

"How is the cleaning going on?" Professor Aleister asked, looking at Elior cleaning, who was in a thick mask and gloves, as well as the cleaner in his arms.

Elior stood up and said, "I will finish for the day in a few minutes."

"No need," Aleister said. "I am satisfied with your conduct in these few days, so you can take the last day off."

Elior nodded and still stood there, finding professor Aleister had something more to say.

"Have you learned anything doing this type of work? The professor asked.

"Yes," Elior said. "Teenagers shit a lot." Seeing the glare from his old mentor, he corrected, "I mean, teenagers use toilets a lot."

Aleister could not help but shake his head. "Do you know why I give you such punishment?"

"Sir, with all due respect," Elior started. "If you want to teach me humbleness or want me to act low-key, then you have failed. I won't change a single bit, if I have my way."

He was already low-key, how grounded his old mentor wanted him to be. Though his old mentor fears his arrogance would top his head and get him in trouble with the upperclassmen, he had no fear in that area.

"There was a student like you four years ago," Aleister said, sighing. "Though he was not arrogant, he was surely a gem, but unfortunately, he was too uptight in his nature, and found himself in trouble that led him to waste three whole years of his youth and something more.

"I know he was not in the wrong, and you are not entirely in the wrong as well. But you have to learn to take steps considering a lot of things. I would not like to see another of my students in such situations again."

"You have nothing to worry about," Elior said, with eye contact.

"I'm sure not getting through to you," Professor Aleister said, shaking his head. "What level are you two now?"

"23," Shin added, picking his eyebrows.

"Not high enough," Elior answered.

"Are you confident in beating the upperclassmen who are preparing for the second trial?" the teacher asked again, knowing he would not get an answer, nor could he force.

Shin did not open his lips, but looked at Elior.

"They don't stand a chance," Elior said.

Shin snickered—this was not the first time he was hearing this and surely not the last. "Sir, why do you ask?" he asked.

"After a couple of conferences with the dean and the assistant professors, we came to a decision to let the freshmen enter the next trial."

"Really?" Shin asked out loud and was about to jump in glee.

"But, there's a catch," Aleister watered Shin's glee with the next words. "The academy will hold a tournament just a week before the trial date. The students who are interested in the trial will be chosen through the tournament. This will be announced tomorrow, but since you two are in the forefront of all the complaints, I gave you two a head start."

"Can it really be called a head start?" Shin complained. "So we have to battle out with the upperclassmen to get the chance?"

"What? You are not confident?" the teacher asked Shin with a smile. "I do not need to mention, but a few of the upperclassmen have reached the second order. So if you do not want to get beaten badly, practice well."

"I will," Shin said with a confident laugh, though his face was not so good. He was surely not confident against even the elite of the second years. Surely, he was talented, but time was another important factor.

"By the way, the academy will invite your guardians as well," Aleister said on his way. "So, don't rush if you don't want your parents to see your sorry state."

Shin watched the head professor and wondered why the world was so cruel to him.

"Are you confident, Shin?" Elior asked him.

"Brother, what do you think?" Shin instead asked him. "Do I stand a chance?"

Elior looked at Shin carefully as if seeing through him. "With your special class, you might stand a chance against a few upperclassmen, but it won't take a second order appearance to defeat you. At your current state, you don't stand a chance."

"Wow," Shin said pitifully. "At least give me some false hope."

"You know I don't lie." Elior left the cleaning stuff and moved towards the washroom to clean. "But don't worry, if you really want to go into the trial seriously, I can train you for the next three weeks. But be aware, the current training you do will not hold a candle against the things I will make you do."

Shin walked along with him to the washroom. "Brother, how hard will your demonic training be?" he asked, considering. Surely, Elior already put him through enough hardship in the morning, dogging to the weight lifting, meditation as well as duelling. What was harder than all that?

"If you agree, prepare to lose sleep for the next three weeks."

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This volume will contain 150k words to 200k and it would mostly about expanding the world and characters.