At the arena,


    ''What the heck is this ce?!'' Solis sneered, blinking several times before he adjusted to the dimly lit arena, slipping on some sort of armor and falling to his bottom.


    Lights flickered on automatically to the presence of a moving life force.


    They all shielded their eyes except Solis, this was the right kind of light he needed to observe his surroundings more.


    He frowned at the first thing that caught his attention–tree life.


    The forest is littered with wounded fighters, bodies, and destruction. Red, khaki, and ck are the new colors of what was once a serene, luscious forest, which has now be the stage of a terrible duel.


    He instinctively pushed back to the shocking sight. His hand touched a cold substance.


    Gulp!


    His teeth chattered, internally making up for what he could have touched. In a quick hand movement, he brought it towards his face and the crimson color that dripped from his hands propelled him to open his mouth and was about to scream when Nix''s handtched over them just in time.


    "No..." Nix shook his head in disapproval. They didn''t know for sure what was in store for them in the weird ce.


    Unable to tell if this was part of the organization, he pulled Solis up.


    The air which would normally carry the sounds of arge waterfall, small rivers, and nature''s wildlife is now thick with the stench of blood, gore, and death, enough to destroy whatever courage is left in the survivors'' thoughts.


    ''This is just a simtion.'' Nix continuously repeated in his thoughts what he was witnessing.


    He could only think of it as a simtion due to the simrities it had with the training course he had with Lumina in their room.


    ng!


    Whoosh!


    sh!


    This sound of uninterrupted battle ensued behind Nix. He noticed Solis'' eyes grew to the scene in front of him.


    Turning his back to where the sound wasing from, he facepalmed on how ballistic Lank had gone on with the collector.


    ''Not so docile I see.'' Nix observed, shaking his head and letting out a sigh.


    Shoving his hands in his pockets, he looked over at the other male who had not made any attempt to fight but rather watched their every move.


    The growling sound of Obsidian as he prepared to engage if given the right incentive as Lank.


    Mr. Zhao took a reluctant step back, wary of the collector''s calm demeanor toward their standing figures.


    "We don''t know why you were chosen to be our master''s pawn, but until you atone for your transgressions..." The collector paused, pulling down his shades to reveal the burning yellow gaze of the face behind it.


    ''The same bullshit talk about this mysterious master!'' Nix rolled his eyes at the collector''s words.


    Mr. Zhao gasped not due to fear of what the collector could do to him nor why he had let out the word ''master'' in front of the others.


    Instead, his panic stemmed from the thought of Nix recognizing the simrities this male had with Lumina.


    Nix''s body stiffened in shock at the slight resemnce this male had to Lumina.


    ''I must be seeing or imagining pretty face''s eyes even on a male now.'' He smacked his head, hoping to recover the real picture of the male in question.


    Blinking he stared again, but the more he looked, the more his suspicion grew, the only difference would be the eye and hair color.


    ''That can''t be right.'' Nix took a step back in shock and disbelief.


    He could recall Lumina actively describing her brother to him a couple of weeks ago, coupled with the fact that Lank had made mention of thest piece of information from Fae to her.


    His head whipped to Mr. Zhao whose eyes bulged, he looked more like he was trying to hide a secret with the hope of no one finding out.


    Calming his facial expression hid his emotion well from Mr. Zhao when he was stylishly observed by their teacher.


    He seemed more concerned about Nix''s expression than that of the male ring daggers at him.


    He tried to piece all of the information he had gotten, with a huge chunk of it springing from Mr. Gaviel''s shared memory.


    Pushing back his hair, he internally screamed in frustration, visibly disturbed that Mr. Zhao refused to take his gaze away from him.


    ''What''s your problem, old man? Why are you trying to gauge my expression so badly?'' Nix snapped, pretending not to be aware of such a gaze.


    [Would you like to scan for simr facial recognition?]


    Nix stared at the screen and forced a cough, turning around.


    ''What the f*ck, you can do that?!'' Nix hissed in excitement.


    This made him feel more like he was in an iron suit and talking to a supeputer that could perform a highly ssified unauthorized scan on people''s lives with just their faces.


    It was unbelievable that the system would ask him such a question, ''heck yeah I would!''


    Beep!


    [Scanning....]


    [Loading... 69%]


    [Loading... 85%... 92%... 100%]


    Ding!


    [Face identified: Ian Han]


    [Status: Dead]


    Nix stared at the user interface for a while, shocked by the name and its meaning.


    ''How the heck is this person standing here?'' His head throbbed to the frustrating information.


    How could someone who is confirmed dead by his system, walking and talking/threatening like an average living, breathing human?!!!


    This only made him feel the need to seek out Fae, she had known something that had made Ian specifically attack her.


    ''Fae was right! Ian is alive–sorta.'' He hyperventted, stiffly turning back to the said collector.


    Nix''s lips curved in a smile, he had valuable information he could use to trap Mr. Zhao when the time was right.


    All that was needed was to y his cards right and act oblivious to this new information, yet cautious of the action of someone that was the organization''s favorite and a person who Lumina had looked up to, and gotten her gift from.


    Ian raised a brow at Nix, sensing something strangeing off him.


    Whoosh!


    Dashing at top speed, he bypassed all who had taken a defensive stance against him with one aim in mind, ''terminate the threat.''