Xero woke up about four hours later. By then his daily quest had been completed. He rubbed his eyes lightly as he sat up and glanced around the room to see Lora sitting beside him.
But she wasn’t the only person in the ward, Genos Dan sat at the opposite end. His black hair did the magic of concealing a part of his face.
"You are up?" Lora said as she looked at him.
Xero nodded lightly and rubbed his hand against his hair then he turned to Genos Dan. He hadn’t had the opportunity to thank him for coming to his rescue earlier.
"Uhm. Genos thanks for earlier. I am in your debt." Xero said but Genos didn’t respond.
"It wasn’t really about saving you. It was about the cult itself. I saved you not out of mercy but because I need to know how you operate. Definitely you survived the entrance exam by strength and not luck. No amount of luck could have gotten you that far." Genos said and wriggled his fingers.
"I don’t know myself. I managed to hang in. Nothing much." Xero said and smiled but Lora looked at him.
"But you held your own against a level 8. Definitely I witnessed your raw strength. You have something up your sleeve and I’m to hang around until I figure out exactly what you are."
"You make it sound like I’m cool or something. I got seriously knocked out by him. I’m here because of him remember?" Xero said.
"Yes I know. Which brings my question. Why didn’t you die back there? Not like I wanted your death but you were completely out. Zero HP."
"I’ve been wanting to ask you that too. It’s strange." Lora added.
"To be serious I don’t know anything you guys are talking of. I should probably ask General Bryan if my watch is broken or something." He said but they both knew he was hiding something.
In order not to take the argument further, they decided to let the matter slide. The room remained silent for about 5 minutes before Lora spoke up.
"The school is enforcing a quarantine on all Year Ones and Year Twos." She said and both Genos and Xero looked at her in surprise.
"How? When did that happen?" Xero asked.
"The order came in this morning and will be taking effect today. Surely you two will be discharged today to partake in the quarantine."
"Why a quarantine? What happened?" Xero asked lightly as he rubbed his temple.
"Probably has to do with the refectory incident." Genos said.
"What happened in there? Why would the school suddenly order a quarantine immediately after the incident? Do they want to find the culprit?" Lora asked.
"No. This school is too strict to bother about who tortured some weak ones. They don’t care about all that." Xero said as he tried to process the information.
"Probably there is a link between this incident and the one that happened in the forest. They probably want to find the person who killed the guards." He suggested.
"No. We were attacked by the Dutch. A ruthless cult but quite unheard of. They are very ruthless. One of them approached me. I turned down the offer." Genos said and stared at the ceiling.
"Wait you were approached by one of the Dutch?" Lora asked and he nodded.
"Turns out that every cult group scouts for freshers like us. Once you meet up to their standard, they begin to scout for you. And us who came out top in the exam, we are potential candidates to them." Genos said.
This drew Xero’s attention back to what happened at the forest. If that was indeed true then Wang was an agent for a cult group. This proved that his earlier hunch was correct. He needed to find out which cult wanted him before he would be thrown off balance again.
"Well I found out that their cult leader is a dreaded one. The blood of the ancient stories flows through his veins." Genos said and both listeners stared at him with anxiety.
"He is a vampire. And if the school found that out then they want to fish him out." Genos said and stood up from his seat.
"Well what will they do to him if they find him? Will they kill him or what?" Lora asked.
"I don’t know but we all have to watch and see. I just want to get to fight a demon. That’s why I’m here." Genos said as his eyes glinted sharply.
"You said the leader of this cult is a vampire right?" Xero said and Genos nodded lightly.
"If the stories are correct then he should be able to blood other humans right?" He said they both looked at him.
"Then what exactly had they done at the refectory? Don’t you think they blooded the ones they tied up?" Xero asked and they both paused to think.
Obviously they was no exact point with the five year twos tormenting the year ones. The only explanation was that there was an ulterior motive in mind. And with what Genos had said it was obvious that they had come to blood them.
The realization hit both Genos and Lora. Xero stared at them thinking of only one person.
Tenny! He was among the weak ones placed on the pole. Xero couldn’t bring himself to think that he had been blooded into a vampire.
Xero sprang up from the bed and quickly stood on his feet. Both Lora and Genos stared at him in confusion.
"What happened?" Lora asked but Xero went for the door.
"I have to find him. I have to have find Tenny." He said and opened the door.
"But you haven’t —" She was still speaking when the door clicked behind him.
"—been discharged." She managed to complete her sentence.
Genos stared at her. Then he walked towards the door. Then he paused and looked at her.
"Thanks for getting General Bryan back there." He said before leaving.
Lora stared at the door as they both left the room. She rolled her eyes before leaving the room too.