With the gemstone removed from the Serpent, its lifeforce quickly faded until it eventually died. Naturally, the corrupted fate attached to it also began to disconnect.
As the wart-like protrusions on its body rapidly expanded and contracted, they popped, and a whirlwind of black mist burst out into the surroundings!
As the black mist tried to fly away, however, a sphere of mana ford around it, attempting to trap it within its walls, but the black mist easily broke out, flying off into the distance.
Lake sighed as he watched the black mist fly off.
Unlike last ti, he knew that the remnant of corruption was going to try and escape, so he flew over ahead of ti in an attempt to capture it.
He thought that with his authority as the Master of Fate, he could use his mana to try and interact with it, but it seed that the remnant of corruption wasn’t under the domain of fate, making Lake unable to prevent its escape.
As he watched it fly away, he pulled the now-purified Serpent’s fate towards him, giving it a casual glance.
The fate was in the shape of a snake eating its own tail while curled into an infinity symbol. Since he didn’t have to worry about it flying away, he took the chance to watch through its fate.
In it, he saw the past of the Serpent and the world it originated from.
It was a world of myths and legends, of vast land and uncontrolled wilderness, where people seemingly worshipped gods and demons. The Serpent he had just fought seed to be one of these ancient demons, surprisingly living for more than a hundred years!
The Serpent was once worshipped as a guardian deity of a certain village populated by ancient-looking humans who offered sacrifices to it every year.
Unfortunately, Lake’s vision couldn’t extend past the fate of the Serpent to the other inhabitants of this world. The Web of Fate in the Serpent’s world seed to have gone through a major upheaval, becoming impossible to read.
It was only a year ago that the Serpent found itself falling into a rift as the dinsion around it began to collapse, eventually being spat out underneath the bay when the rift inevitably collapsed. It continued to live there for a while, living off the abundant supplies of fish and sea monsters.
As Lake ca closer to the current tiline, he saw the scene of the Serpent swallowing a dark gemstone that had fallen into the bay just a day ago. The mont the Serpent swallowed the gemstone, Lake’s vision was cut off as the Serpent’s fate beca corrupted.
’So that gemstone was the source of the corruption,’ Lake’s eyes narrowed as he quickly searched through the fates of those nearby when the gem was thrown into the bay. However, no matter how hard he searched, he couldn’t find anything, leaving him sowhat perplexed. ’I guess I won’t be able to find out how the gemstone fell into the bay.’
Lake sighed as he saw the last monts of the Serpent’s life. Judging by the way the Serpent treated the humans of its past world, Lake could tell that the Serpent was far more intelligent than it appeared during the battle monts ago.
In its fate, it was capable of communication with the inhabitants of its world, and perhaps it could have communicated with him if they had t under different circumstances.
Unable to do anything more, Lake shook his head and absorbed the fate into his body before returning to the shore.
Alec had already returned by then and had cleaned up the remaining sea monsters, suppressing the majority of them with just his Mana Field alone while the students finished them off.
Since the Serpent had been slain, most of the creatures had regained their sanity and retreated back to the waters, ending the beast tide with one move.
After the battle, everyone collapsed to the ground as they panted heavily, a wave of relief washing over them. The entire battle had lasted less than an hour from start to finish, yet most students were completely spent, having burned through almost all of their mana reserves.
As Lake landed back on the shore, he saw Sylph flying around, healing any injured students and helping them recover so of their stamina. She seed quite determined to help everyone, making him smile a little.
’At least she is making my job easier.’ As Lake turned his head away from the injured students, however, he suddenly sensed a deep murderous aura, causing him to go on high alert!
The aura was coming from behind him, and Lake didn’t need to turn around to know who it was. Fixing his face, he put on an exhausted expression as he deliberately weakened his posture, turning his usual calm aura into that of a deeply exhausted one.
Lake managed to complete this transformation within a second, which would’ve thrown anyone off and made them second-guess their own vision.
Turning around with a sigh, Lake gave a weak gaze as he pretended to only now notice the towering figure behind him.
"Teach? You’re back—"
BAM!
"Cough-Urgh!"
Lake coughed up blood as he felt his body fly back and crash into a nearby tree, snapping it in half from the impact.
"C-Child abuse..." Lake weakly replied as he wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth.
Alec lowered his foot in response to Lake’s claim as he scoffed, "You’re already eighteen, so don’t try to pull the child abuse line on ."
Lake flipped over as he tried to get up but imdiately felt a suppressive aura envelop him, forcing him down to his knees.
’Mana Field!’ Lake cursed internally as he began to crawl away from the slowly approaching Alec.
"A-Assault..." Lake muttered in between breaths.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk, you almost got there, but what about it? Did you forget the Academy’s rules?" As Alec spoke, he arrived next to Lake before stomping down his feet on him, causing Lake to groan. "In the Academy rules, it was clearly stated that all instructors have the right to discipline any misbehaving students."
As Lake heard Alec’s words, he knew that there was no escape from what he was about to experience. Flipping over, he decided to face Alec in the face but was instead t with the face of a demon—no, an asura.
****
Everyone sat around a few open fires, with so fish from the previous battle being impaled on sticks and roasted over them. After the battle, everyone had gathered all the edible at and began a celebratory feast in honor of their victory.
Students were cheering and chatting away about their battle exploits with their group of friends while the hunters ate to the side and occasionally chatted with each other.
Lake’s team also sat around an open fire with a few fish being slowly roasted over it. However, unlike the other teams, Lake’s was completely silent.
"...."
"What is it? Why’s everyone so silent?" Lake spoke as he swept his dead gaze across everyone. He knew the reason why everyone didn’t speak, or at least tried not to.
"Pfft-" A small laugh almost escaped Iris’ mouth, but the mont Lake’s eyes landed on her, she imdiately stiffened up and turned away. She tried to play it cool, but her body would tremble uncontrollably from ti to ti, giving her away.
Lake’s eyes turned even colder as he saw her reaction, silently noting it down in his head. He would rember this incident in the future.
"L-Lake, do you want to heal you?" Sylph, who sat beside him, looked at him with a worried expression, making Lake feel strangely better.
Among the four other people seated around them, her reaction could be described as the most pleasing to him.
Patting her head, Lake tried to smile but imdiately felt his face sting when he did. Sylph saw this and slightly giggled as she stretched out her hand in front of Lake’s face, a light green glow enveloping them.
’I swear I’ll never piss off Alec again...’ Lake’s eyes darkened as he recalled the beating he had endured just monts ago. His skin was bruised and battered, and his bones felt like they were on the verge of turning into powder.
If it weren’t for Lake’s unfortunately strong ntal strength, he probably would’ve passed out five tis over from the pain. Instead, he now had to endure every waking mont, feeling his body scream out in agony with even the slightest movent. This was especially true for his face, which Alec had taken proper ’care’ in remodeling.
Lake didn’t even dare use healing magic throughout the whole ordeal, in fear that Alec might have taken it as a sign that he could endure more, prolonging his suffering.
Luckily, Alec couldn’t stay for long, as he left soon after to send a report to headquarters back at the Stronghold. He left a beaten and bruised Lake behind, who slowly picked himself off the ground before regrouping with the rest of his team.
’I’ll have to ask about the gemstone later.’ Lake thought to himself as he felt the pain in his face ease up. Turning to Sylph, he couldn’t help but stare at her with an appreciative gaze.
"Hm?" Sylph tilted her head when she noticed Lake’s gaze as he patted her head again.
However, despite the completely platonic nature of their relationship, everyone else couldn’t help but see this sight through a different filter.
"Cough, Sylph, I think you’ve healed him enough." Iris was the first to speak, feeling uncomfortable and even a little irritated seeing Sylph so close to Lake.
However, Lake misinterpreted her reasoning and felt his eyelids twitch. ’Does she want to see injured that badly?’
As Lake was about to say sothing, however, he noticed Kate’s strange behavior out of the corner of his eye.
Unlike her usual confident and cold self, she seed a bit fidgety. Rembering that she wanted to talk after the battle, Lake decided to finally address that matter.
"Thanks, Sylph," Lake said as he got up. Sylph’s recovery ability was quite powerful, and he was almost completely healed already.
Looking at Kate, Lake asked, "Kate, you wanted to talk after the battle?"
Kate watched Lake for a mont before slowly nodding her head.
Bramble noticed that the mood had taken a dip and quickly pulled both his sister and Sylph away, giving the two so space. Iris was pleased to get Sylph away from Lake so didn’t stop to question her brother’s actions.
Lake walked over to Kate before sitting down beside her, grabbing a roasted fish in the process.
"How did you enjoy the hunt?" Lake asked as he blew on the fish.
Kate gave Lake the side-eye before looking at the burning fire. "It was the most insane thing I’ve ever had soone convince to do."
"Hmm? Should I take that as a complint?" Lake asked as he took a bite out of the fish.
"You’re a complete psycho. You know that, right?"
Hearing Kate’s remark, Lake swallowed the at as he chuckled a little.
"Since the day I was born."
Kate sighed as she heard Lake’s nonchalant reply.
"...."
Silence montarily descended upon the two. It wasn’t until Lake finished eating that Kate finally spoke again.
"I got a call from my dad."
"Oh, and what was it about?" Lake asked as he played with the stick in his hand.
"You," Kate said as she grabbed her own fish from the fire.
Lake paused for a mont before relaxing the next, his eyes lingering above her head.
"Is that so? What did he talk about exactly?"
"Your parents."
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