His Arrival 2

A week later after Deus woke up in Athan's body-- While he was lying alone on the bed on Athan's room, Deus took his phone from the desk right next to him out of boredom and took a quick look at the remaining time he and Athan have left.

[ Timer left : 00M : 90D : 07H : 39M : 18S ]

His face remained expressionless as he stared at the timer, before heaving out a long deep sigh after a couple of moments.

After returning his phone back to the desk beside him, Deus lifted his hands just above his face to cover the rays of light coming from the lightbulb, that was created from Magic Stones.

Opening his mouth slightly, Deus stared at the back his hands as he silently mumbled something in a low voice, "Every pieces you and I had set up is already moving to your according... The organization's movement, Arthur's training progress, and most importantly, the Academy is about to move into act... I guess it's almost time for me to activate phase 2."

Deus remained impassive as he said those things. Soon enough, he sat up from the bed and brushed his hair upward with his hand. After that, Deus then opened up his palm and peered through at his reflection on the mirror from the gap of his fingers before continuing, "Handling the last and important part of the plan alone will be tough. If you failed to overcome yourself, both of us will be replaced..."

Standing up, Deus walked towards the mirror. When he was only a couple of meters away from it, he extended out his hands. "Just how much have you predicted, huh, Athan? And also, you using other people for the sake of their own benefit, and acting like someone who wanted to live is not something you would've done in the past... Clearly, you and 'that' guy are acting almost the same."

"No matter... I guess everything else will be up to you after you get back, Atha-- No..."

Grinning, Deus turned his back to the mirror.

"The 'LIVING ANTI'...? or perhaps, 'NECRON'? I wonder which of these two are you supposed to be in this round."

[A/N : I'm already getting too impatient about the 'IF's' chapters I'll be posting at the end of this volume. My hands are already itching after imagining what I'm about to make Athan do after he turned evil I'm that story, so I'll be revealing some of the small details.]

***

"What's going on here?"

Standing at the doorway, a black-haired youth with a deep, menacing golden eyes, cautiously looked straight at me.

Both of us remained silent as our eyes were interlocked at each other for a moment. The two of us didn't break our eye contact, only until Eleanor spoke up.

"A-Athan? What are you doing in here...?" Eleanor asked in surprised. She looked truly confused for why she saw him at the same Condominium as Lucius. 𝘋𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦? Was the only thing she could think to herself.

"Eleanor...?"

All while looking cautiously, Athan slowly turned his attention towards her and replied, "I live next to this room. I think I should be the one asking you that question..."

He continued, "So... What are you even doing to this place? Did you want to visit me? If so, why didn't you just call me, so that I could've picked you up?"

To which, Eleanor replied as she lowered her head, "Nothing much. I'm... just taking care of a friend." Her voice and expression was calm, yet I could feel some strong sense of guilt from her as she looked at the other me. I, for some reason, felt a bit uncomfortable(?) watching the two of them act like that.

It was as if some invisible hands had grabbed my heart and was slowly clenching it tightly. If she were to find out how bitchy his personality is, I wonder if she would still call him, the other me, her friend. Though, one thing for sure is that...

...It freaking hurt.

After a brief moment silent, Athan nodded his head weakly as he turned his head back to my direction.

Seeing this, I heaved out a sigh and let go of Zander's head, revealing a small crater with a pool of his own blood that came out from the gash of his forehead.

Of course, I didn't forget to give him my goodbye gift. I kicked him hard on the stomach, throwing his body to the wall. After that, I walked towards the telephone and called some people, and ordered them to throw him out.

All of this were seen by the two as they remained silent. They watched as the people wearing a white uniform, that indicates that they were workers of the building, came to pick Zander's body up and taking him out of the room.

As soon as they left, Eleanor turned her attention to me. She then asked, "Are... Are you okay?" Walking towards my direction, she checked my body if I was fine.

"I'm fine..." I replied, still secretly hurt because of her gaze towards the other me from earlier. "It's nothing serious. I didn't even got hit even once, so there's nothing to worry about." I smiled gently as I once again returned my attention to Athan.

"Who are you and what are you doing in my room?"

"Uh..." Clearing up his throat, Athan coughed and replied, "I'm Athan Lemeire. Eleanor's friend and your... neighbor, I guess? Anyway, I only came here to check up because of the loud noise I heard. Also, I see that you know Eleanor is. Do you mind if I ask who you are?"

Crossing my arms, I nodded my head weakly and said, "Fair enough. I'm Lucius Granhart. The owner of this condominium, and Eleanor's contractor and friend. Nice to meet you." I extended my hands for a handshake. But, he just stood there in complete silent.

"...You own this place?"

"Yes. Is there something wrong with that."

Blinking his eyes a couple times, Athan made a light head shake and reached to shake my hand before saying, "No... I'm just surprised that my neighbor is actually the owner of this place."

Before he could even add more, we suddenly heard a ringing sound coming from his pocket.

Athan let go of my hands hearing this. He then smiled at me and asked, "May I take this call for a couple of second?"

I nodded.

"I see... Thanks." He took his phone out of his pocket and walked towards the doorway.

Seeing this, I shook my shoulder and glanced at Eleanor's direction. She remained silent as she looked at Athan in the back with a look of guilt. She looked as if she was regretful about something. Again, I felt some unknown feeling stirring up my emotions.

I wanted to call out for her name, but I stopped myself. Why? It was because I understood why she was looking at him like that. It was already obvious to be honest.

She must've loved the past me, the Athan in this world... But, Lucius forcefully took her before she could even confess her feelings.

I placed my hands to my chest and lightly clutched my heart, feeling quite hurt at the scene.

"What?!" Athan's raised his voice. It was a mix of worry and anger. "What do you mean she's in the hospital? Did those bastard try to do something to her again?" He asked, gripping onto his phone tightly.

Upon hearing this, I returned my attention back to him. Who is he even talking about? I didn't know, but I'm starting to get worried.

"Okay... I'll go there immediately." Athan said as he hung up and looked at Eleanor's direction before shifting it to me, "I apologize. I have something important to do, so I'll be going now."

Before Eleanor could ask him about what the call was all about, Athan left without saying a word to her. She felt inflicted because of this.

"Ellie..." I called out for her, but she didn't seem to have noticed this. So, I decided to repeat it, "Ellie, is there something wrong?"

Forcing a smile, Eleanor replied after a moment of silent, "Everything is fine..."

𝘞𝘩𝘺?

Seeing Eleanor's forced smile, her face suddenly overlaps the face of my girlfriend when she was crying after we broke up back from my previous life.

I didn't know why, but my body moved on its own as I pulled her for a hug.

"L-Lucius-?!" Her face became bright red, flustered as she didn't know what to feel at the development of what was happening right now.

"Why...?"

Before she could add something to her sentence, I cut her short and continued, "I'll make things right this time. It won't be like last time..."

Hearing myself say that, I questioned myself, 𝘏𝘶𝘩... 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘦? I wasn't sure if the one currently controlling this body was me or was it the real owner of this body, the real Lucius.

For some reason, seeing Eleanor like that felt as if my heart was slowly breaking apart. Was this Lucius emotions controlling me right now...? I wasn't sure, but... It was fine.

"I already promised that everything is going to be fine. I'll never let you get hurt anymore, nor will I ever let anyone get hurt anymore. But why...?" These exact words came out from my mouth, even though I wasn't trying to speak. It may have sounded like a cliche, since what was currently happening right now is like the time were the Protagonist was about to confess their feelings. But right now, to me, it doesn't matter.

𝘞𝘩𝘺 𝘤𝘢𝘯'𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘨𝘶𝘺𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳 𝘮𝘺 𝘴𝘢𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘦𝘴? Was what I or what the real Lucius wanted to say, yet couldn't voice it out loud. The only sentence that came out from my mouth is...

"Why aren't you looking at me instead of him?"