It was as though they could each read Atticus's mind. Each of them felt their hearts tremble, their figures subtly shifting backwards.
They were all bounded, having been captured before they could even gather enough points to unlock any of their abilities. Many of them had at least one limb missing.
Despite the fear, not a single word could be heard.
The balls of water had enveloped each of their faces. The only reason they could currently breathe was because Atticus allowed them.
Atticus gazed coldly at the students. He was glad there was no one among his allies present.
He had made the stupid mistake of letting the student he had found when he rescued Aurora at their camp go. If he had known about the system of points and shop, Atticus would have most definitely not done something so idiotic. Those were free points!
They gave points, they were enemies, and he had no intention of letting them go.
Atticus didn't say a single word; his next actions spoke for him instead.
A blanket of water suddenly spread outwards, its form covering the space behind Atticus from the ground up to the ceiling.
The air bubbles that kept forming inside the water that engulfed their heads abruptly stopped.
Immediately, each of their gazes widened as their bodies started jerking and tossing around. They each instinctively tried to reach for their faces, but the chains that bound their limbs effortlessly stopped them.
The struggle continued for a minute, with Atticus controlling the water to actively enter through their nose and mouth. In the next second, a multitude of golden lights lit up in unison, illuminating the area, and the figures of the students abruptly disappeared from the scene. The blanket of water behind Atticus had blocked the light from reaching the room above.
The students and instructors alike watching the scene felt their blood boil. Atticus had not only killed 17 guards but had also killed close to a dozen students inside the cage.
They all couldn't see his face from under the helmet, but they each could imagine it. They had seen it multiple times before: neutral.
Not a single change in expression, and they were absolutely right.
Atticus had made his peace with killing; he had stopped trying to justify killing another living being.
The hard truth was, no one had the right to take a life, and yet for the world to move, especially in a world like this, people must die.
Just as Atticus was about to turn, he suddenly felt a cold shiver run down his back, all the hairs on his body standing straight.
Atticus's head abruptly snapped backward, releasing his hold over the blanket of water behind him.
Just below the staircase leading to the room were the figures of two individuals.
The first thing Atticus noticed was that they were both young, unlike the bone race members he had been meeting so far.
They were both clad in tight white suits that hugged their bodies like a second skin along with cloaks.
They both had all the features of the bone race, the Ossara family in particular, but Atticus didn't know that last part.
The figure on the right had a bulky physique and stood with a dignified look on his face.
While the second on the left had a more slender body, with blonde hair tied to a ponytail behind her back; she stared at Atticus with a look that not even a blind person could mistake: hatred.
A staggering amount of killing intent emanated from her, directed towards Atticus. It was as though she was looking at a long-fated enemy.
These two were undoubtedly Luther and Lucienta. Two warriors of the Ossara family who were placed under Spineus Ossara.
'She still hates humans,' Luther gave Lucienta a subtle glance, releasing an inward sigh.
This was the first time Atticus would see patterns like this on their bodies, along with the suit that they both wore. But there was one thing that Atticus was completely focused on: Advanced rank.
Both of them were in the Advanced rank, which was one rank higher than he had been battling.
'Advanced rank individuals can attack us now?' Atticus's thoughts raced. There were far too many inconsistencies about the current situation. Why were they here? Was it because of the captured students?
'Are they here to secure them?'
But as though to answer Atticus's question, one of the duo suddenly spoke, an action that shocked Atticus to the core.
"Are you the human that killed Prince Zekaron?"
Atticus's expression changed. It wasn't because he had found out the real reason they were here, it wasn't because he had no idea how they had located him; it was because of one thing: the boy had spoken in the human language. And he did it so fluently!
Atticus had obviously understood them, clearly at that, but he didn't utter a single word. He didn't even attempt to pretend or feign ignorance.
After getting over the shock of the boy speaking the human language, Atticus's gaze scrutinized both of them with intensity, assessing the situation.
'A tab,' a large tab was on the hand of the blonde girl, and anyone might have been quick to dismiss that as inconsequential, but that would be stupid.
For her to hold a tab in this situation meant that she was using it.
Except she decided to watch a drama with it, which Atticus believed was unlikely considering the amount of killing intent she was emitting. Only one thought sprung up in Atticus's mind:
'I'm being tracked.'
'But how…' Atticus didn't even need to finish that thought because out of all his current possessions, there were two things that Atticus believed could be tracked: Zekaron's space storage or that golden sigil he had found inside the space storage.
Atticus was leaning toward the second one, but the duo standing in front of him had no intention of giving him the time to figure it out.
"Don't even try to feign ignorance; you stink like a human."