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The end of the school year came by so fast, that Cermin felt like a kid that went on a rollercoaster ride wishing that it was over when he started…..

But ended up wishing it never ended once it really was over.

He was graduating.

His last year had been really stressful, with all school activities, his jealousy over the his former harem girls’ happiness, and the the strife with Ronin upon learning his ‘hidden truth’.

So at first, he was wishing it was over, but now…

Now he doesn’t want to leave the Academy at all.

Graduating means returning to Scirocco. Graduating means being crowned prince, and forced to attend parties and royal duties, not to mention to look for his bride. And most of all…..

Graduating means separating from Ronin.

“Hic…. Sob….. I don’t want to graduate anymore… I will miss you, Ronin…”

Ronin gave him the 5th napkin in a row that he used to sob and wipe all his snot on with a tired face after he received his 6th and last star on his vest.

Ronin himself had earned his 5th star, and next year would be graduating too. So it’s really not that big of a deal if Cermin graduates now, it will only be a year for them to meet again.

“Stop crying, Your Highness. I will send you letters if my time allows it.”

Cermin sniffled. “Really? Send me a lot, alright? Ah, you should stay with me this summer vacation too!”

“No, thank you.” Ronin said, as he had other plans this summer.

Namely to look for a certain man with a burned head.

The dreams and headache begun the moment Espinella appeared before him during the Astral Ball.

Ronin would wake up feeling like his head was being torn apart, like someone was hammering and hammering at it. But not to go inside his brain…

But to go out.

Trying to tear apart his skull from the inside.

He knows that this had something to do with what Espibella looked like. That black, boiled brain resting like a slimy eel on his broken head.

And why exactly was he tormenting Ronin this way? Well…

He was showing him what had truly happened after he ran away from the Academy.

——————————-

After writing his letter, Mephisto Espinella looked at his shaky hands.

He always had this condition. Shakiness. His hand bones were infused with Flame that’s why he can heat metals, but that also made them unstable and brittle.

Morpho mages had been able to get over it since they were children. They were also shaky like him, stuttering and meek kids that could simply not speak properly.

But most get over it as early as the age of 10. Mephisto somehow never did.

“I-It’s all in your head…” He told himself.

But even when he repeat the words the physicians told him, it never works. The shakiness wouldn’t go away.

If only he didn’t have this shakiness….. If only he was sturdier, had more resolve, firmly standing on his own two feet…

Would Cindra have not died? Would he had been able to save her from those filthy bastards that threw their clothes at her to wash day and night, while she could only diligently do so until her hands became scarred and bleeding from overwork….

And eventually….

He saw it again, the image of her carrying a basin of clothes to the river. Then…..

The river current swallowed her, and her beautiful head got cracked open once it hit a rock.

He told her again and again that now that their married, she shouldn’t wash those nobles’ clothes again. That since he was now an Apprentice Professor, they will have enough money to suffice their growing family that time.

A family of five. Two adults, three lovely daughters.

But the older the girls get, not to mention their sickness from being part Commoner like their mother, their expenses rose up.

Cindra insisted on helping Mephisto out. That was how it happened.

“If only the children weren’t so weak in constitution….. If only Cindra wasn’t raised thinking that she could only be ever good at doing people’s laundry…”

She would not have died.

And he only ever told all these thoughts and worries to one person other than Ronin.

“You hold on to the ‘what if’s’ too much.” Vyrill would tell him.

He and Vyrill could not really be called as friends, much like he and Ronin could not be called as friends.

Those two were of the same breed. Quiet, reclusive, always bearing this subtle anger to the world around them. Extremely antisocial.

And yet, this somehow also made them good people to vent feelings too. Like how Cermin was drawn to Ronin’s reserved quality to listen to his troubles…..

So too was Mephisto to Vyrill.

But the greatest quality Vyrill had for him was his unrestrained honesty. He can trust everything he says as Vyrill was never one to lie, not even exaggerate.

That was why he trusted him when he said in his letter:

[I found it. Had we found it before, it would not have been too late for your wife. But it is not too late for your children….. And you.

Come with me if you want to start anew.]

And so Mephisto packed his things, and wrote that spiteful farewell letter to Ronin.

He rode his Griffon, lost in his thoughts. Vyrill sent him letters on what to bring in order to survive the treacherous place they plan to travel.

They Abyssal Realm has many monsters after all despite most of the powerful daemons and Abyssal gods going extinct.

Monsters that lurk at every corner, strange and unpredictable. Hard to study as well. The plants and animals that remains there were not to be trusted.

After taking all necessary precautions with him in a bag that carries more than it looks like it could, about 25 kilograms despite feeling like 5 kilos in his back…..

Mephisto led his Griffon to the Edge, watching that Abyss that looked like a single eye for a while.

He breathed deeply. “I trust you in my judgement of you, Vyrill.”

He was a man of science and never really prayed to the gods, despite knowing they were real. Especially when Cindra died, and his children kept going sick.

Gods play favorites. They were just as hypocritical as the humans below them.

And so, he will pray to his own judgement, to his own intellect, to be correct.

The Griffon dove straight down, down, down.

Soon, it reach the Edge of the Abyss, that steepest side that dips and curves as it goes all the way down that center.

He dismounted from the large bird’s back, and narrowed his eyes.

“Vyrill! Are you there!?” He called out.

The soil of the Abyss was never like the soft brown and greens of the Celestus realm. Here is was blood red and pitch black, more rocky and felt hotter on his feet.

There was a heaviness in the air, and dark clouds of fumes made it hard to breathe a bit.

“Cough! Cough! Vyrill!” Mephisto took out his potion prepared for this.

Once he drank this potion he felt better. But he had to save this up, as the effects do not last permanently…

And Vyrill told him that the air just gets worse the deeper one goes.

He soon heard a sound from the strange thorny branches that grew around him.

These thorny branches were as large as trees, while the leaves that cover them were only as small as needles. The leaves were unnaturally blue, and the thorny spikes were large enough to impale a person.

Those were the plants here in the Abyss, deadly and poisonous. If the plants were this bad…..

What more would the animals and creatures that lurks in them?

Mephisto’s hands shook with fear again. He felt like he was being watched by a thousand eyes, small pinpricks of light hidden in that dark fog and those large thorny vines.

He mumbled again and again. “It’s all in your head….. It’s all in your head…..”

Then, called out even more desperately. “Vyrill! Vyrill, where are you!???”

He suddenly heard footsteps behind him, and turned around in relief…..

Only to see an animal-like creature standing in two feet, pretending to be a human. It had burgundy matted fur that extended like pins and needles in its body in patches, while its real skin was like that of an old, saggy bald cat.

It had one tusk in the middle of its face instead of a nose, and as it opened it’s mouth…..

It opens all the way to its ears, as if smiling wide.

“AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!” Mephisto screamed, as this creature walked with that crazed grin towards him, very quickly—-

Swisssh!

An arrow made of beryl crystal went straight for the creature’s ear, seemingly its weak spot, going all the way to the other one.

“You shouldn’t be fooled by Redbears next time.”

Mephisto pressed his hand on his chest, trying to calm his rattled heart. “That was a bear!? That looked nothing like it!!!”

“That was their common name. Most Abyssal scientists called them Raourbjorn.” Vyrill explained, lowering his bow and walking towards him.

“They love walking like humans and luring people from the Elemental and Mecha realm that lives close to the Abyssal Edge to get here.”

“I-I see… That gave me a fright.” Mephisto said, still huffing on the floor.

Vyrill went towards him and offered his hand.

Mephisto expected him to ask if he was alright. But instead, he said:

“You’re late.”