The Messenger of Death

After inspecting the room, Xander found nothing to be out of place. It did look like Gustavo spends most of his time down here in the bunker.

"Do you have a partner?" Xander asked.

"No, I work alone-"

"Don't lie to me." Xander tightened his grip on Gustavo's head and his tone got colder, making Gustavo shiver in fear.

"I have no partner, I have always been alone from the beginning. No one wants to associate their selves with me."

['And I wonder why that is, freaking weirdo.'] Al mocked.

['Ahh, the pot calling the kettle black, oh the irony.'] Alex uttered playfully.

['Hey at least I don't stalk people, even if I did stalk others, I would stalk beautiful females. Not a handsome guy like us, although I have to admit, even I will fall for me. That face of ours is Irresistible.']

['An obnoxious prick that you are.']

['Quit it guys,'] Xander interrupted their battering.

"If you don't have any other partner, then is there anyone that you have told about what you saw and what you know about that night?"

"N-no, no. I swear I haven't told anyone anything about that night."

"Good, you do have a little common sense. Tell me exactly what you saw on that night." Xander demanded. What concerned him the most, was if Gustavo saw Lex using his spatial ability.

"First let me start with this. On that night, I wasn't following you, nor did I know that you were going to be there neither.

If you noticed, that part of the forest is not that far from where the hole to this bunker is located. I heard the loud commotion that your lightning, caused, and then I came out.

Next thing I know I saw a silhouette covered in rose gold light shoot down from the sky and crashing in the forest, so of course, I had to check it out.

Upon arrival at the sight of the crash, I saw Miss. Hinata pleading with you to put something in her mouth. The next thing I know, I saw you, brutalizing her." Gustavo explained.

"After that, I was too scared to do anything or make any sound last night. If you had noticed me, then you would have ended my life last night." He added.

"I do wish that I noticed your presence last night, my mind was… occupied. And I am regretting it now." Xander mentioned.

['It is a good thing that he didn't see Lex use his ability. Having people know that we can use 3 elements, 2 of which are rare, and amongst the rare, there's one that is even rarer than the other. If a lot of people know, undoubtedly it will bring troubles. The spatial ability should be one of the reasons why Nana forced us to be her student.'] Al uttered.

['Lex's ability has to remain a secret that only a few know of, not even Camron should know about this ability.'] Xander mentioned. That last part was directed at Alex.

['What? I can't use the spatial ability so don't say it like I will be the one to spill the beans, sheesh.'] Alex felt a bit offended.

Gustavo noticed that Xander was in his thoughts now, the idea of trying to escape reached his mind but he decided against it. He was just a rank-9 nascent realm cultivator while Xander is a rank-1 disaster realm cultivator.

The chances of his escape being successful were close to being a negative number.

"Why have you been following me around? Who do you work for?" Xander snapped out of his conversation with the personalities in his head and returned to throwing questions at Gustavo.

"Believe me, I am not a stalker. I have my reasons for following you around, no one put me up to this. I chose to do it on my own." At this point, Gustavo's fear alleviated.

"And why did you decide to start stalking me?" Xander insisted on getting an explanation from him.

"Because I need something from you," Gustavo revealed.

"You need something from me?" He arched one of his brows. "You need something from me and yet you follow me around, spying on me so that you can find some blackmailing materials to use against me. If you say anything that contradicts your actions again, I will kill you." Xander threatened.

"N-no, I swear I'm not lying to you, that's the real reason why I started stalk—I mean watching you. It's the reason why I was praising you some days back, in class. But that Naomi girl ruined everything for me with her challenge.

I followed you around that other day because I wanted to ask you for a favor, I was gathering my confidence right until you turned and noticed me. The next thing I know, you went missing from my sight." Gustavo insisted on this.

['What do we have that he wants?'] Alex thought.

['Energy crystals, lots of energy crystals.'] Al snarled.

"And what is it that you want from me?" Xander decided to ask.

"I would like to join your team," Gustavo replied truthfully.

Xander wasn't expecting that kind of answer, but he wasn't surprised, after all, his team is one of the most sorted out teams in the academy for now. Many people believe that he is a treasure seeker, and they want to be around him so that they can benefit from his findings.

['What!? Another leech!! Wanting to benefit from us. Hell no!!'] Al quickly rejected that notion as soon as he heard it. He still wasn't okay with the nonchalance attitude that Alex has been showing to people that just want to benefit from him.

['There are already 4 leeches in our team, it would have been 5 if Camron didn't come from a wealthy family.'] Al fumed.

['It's not leeching if I don't see any problem with it.'] Alex argued.

['Wait, let me correct myself. There are already 5 leeches in the team, you being one of them Alex, you are leeching off our hard work!!'] Al stated. He was starting to get pissed at Alex.

['The two of you, stop it.'] Xander interjected.

"Why do you want to join my team? What about your current team?" Xander asked.

"As I stated previously, no one wants to associate themselves with me. I'm an outcast, I've been alone for a long time and I have no team.

When the academy placed in the new rule that we have to be in a team before we can take missions, my life in this academy plunged into the gutter.

No one wanted to accept me into their group. Just because I have been in this school for 5 years and I still haven't moved from the ninth rank of the nascent realm. You are deemed the treasure seeker, but you do not know what I'm called. Before you came to this academy, I used to be known as the bearer of bad luck."

['Something we have in common then, bad luck. But don't let it tickle you, our bad luck is worse than yours. We have the universe against us.'] Al stated proudly, it sounded like he was trying to boast with it. If he was in control, he really would have said that out loud to Gustavo.

['Everything just has to be a competition to some people.'] Alex muttered.

['The burden of a genius.'] Al stated in response to Alex's comment.

"Some ill-fated people blamed their misfortune on me. That they were only stuck in the cultivation rank that they were in, all because we hung out a few times. Since then, no one paid attention to me. The little that I had was gone." Gustavo finished.

"Maybe they were right, you are a bearer of bad luck. Why else would you be so foolish enough to let me know that you were present when I was killing a staff in the academy?"

"I might have bad luck, but not the one that is transmittable. The only reason I am stuck in this rank is because of the special body constitution that I have. I need a lot of QI and some other special materials to be able to break through a major and minor cultivation realm. Once I have made it into another cultivation realm, breaking through the ranks is as easy as snapping a twig.

From the first rank of the nascent realm to the ninth rank, where I currently am, it only took me a week to get here after I broke through. And that was without any energy crystals or pills, no external support.

If I can do that without external help, imagine how I'll do when I join your team." Gustavo revealed why he wanted to be in the seraphim team.

"External help? If your constitution is that special, why don't you go to a power-house organization and let them take care of you?" Xander harbored doubts about his claim.

"Because if I do that, I will be killed. I am only safe if I join this academy… I cannot talk about that but I am not lying about my body's special constitution."

"And you think that alone is enough to let you join my team? You know something that no one else in my team knows about." Xander snapped him out of his wishy-washy thoughts.

"I don't know yet, but I have a feeling that your team is the only one that can help me carry my weight and put me back on my feet. Now, I know that nothing in this world is free, and I am ready and willing to earn my keep. That's why I want to make a deal with you.

Although I have a lot of bad luck, the universe helped me last night, I witnessed your crime, and I have evidence-"

The sword on Gustavo's throat inched deeper into his neck.

"Ahhh!! Ahh!! Wait, wait, wait, let me finish. I might be dumb sometimes but I am smart enough to have a back-up plan. If you kill me now, in a day, the evidence of your crime will surface and you will be targeted by the authorities of the academy. But if you let me join your team, I will stay silent and promise to never use this to threaten you again." Gustavo spoke quickly.

He didn't want his life to end before he could have his chance to do something about it.

Xander's hands tensed a bit.

"That is the deal I want to make with you," Gustavo added.

"There are a few things that I like, and a great many things that I dislike. But the one thing that I hate, is being threatened.

-Thud!!

"Arghh!!" Gustavo cried out as he fell to the floor.

Xander had used the hilt of the sword to hit the side of his head, hard…

"Never threaten me," Xander uttered coldly.