Chapter 21 : Pride is Free

Chapter 21: Pride is Free

"Hi Cynthia." I waved at her.

"Hi Luciel, did Volo come by?" Cynthia entered the room and looked curiously at the person kneeling on the floor.

I hunched my head to the side before turning back to look at Lance. "Did Volo enter here?"

As I cannot trust Volo, I cannot trust myself to have not seen him, so I need confirmation.

Lance looked completely stupefied at my question, to the point that he almost dropped his pokeball out of confusion. "You were in the same room as me…are you an idiot?"

'I guess that means no...and he is the stupid one for not even being able to answer with a yes.' I thought before ignoring Lance to face Cynthia again.

"No, he didn't come by."

"Then why is everyone kneeling on the ground?"

I pointed toward Lance. "Because he thinks it can teach them humility."

Cynthia looked confused and leaned to the side to look at Lance up and down.

By the time she started to look at him, Lance was able to restore his calm and stood straight in front of Cynthia. "Kn…

"I see, do you think he would like ice cream?" Cynthia interrupted him.

I looked back at Lance. "Do you like ice cream?"

"I can hear her you know."

"Oh, is that a yes?"

"... it's a no."

"He doesn't like ice cream." I turned back to say it to Cynthia.

"Then he doesn't deserve to be my friend then." Cynthia said before licking her ice cream once more. "Well, I brung a whole can of ice cream, so I'm sure I can find other people who respect themselves."

"You did?"

"Of course I did, we are supposed to make friends, so I bring an offering to make people become my friends! Ice scream!" Cynthia said in a grandious manner and presented her Gible who had a huge white jar in its hand.

"Gible!"

"Silence!" Lance screamed, making Cynthia look annoyingly at him. "And who's this rude guy?"

"Oh, it's Lance, apparently he is an Archon like me."

"So he is not irrelevant, what is his title?"

"…I think he said something about being the Ancestral Archon." The moment I said that I immediately took a step back, as an immense amount of fear possessed me.

But I wasn't the one afraid…it was Pandora, and his fear transferred right through me.

"Well, that's certainly interesting…very interesting." Cynthia said with a wicked smile, one that was comparable to Volo.

I took out Pandora from my shoulder and held him tight with my free hand.

It wasn't the only thing, her gaze was identical to the one he had when he found me, one filled with malice and desire to set the world into ruin.

Even Lance shuddered when he saw her like this, but contrary to me, he didn't step back and challenged her gaze with his own.

"Little, little dragon, what are you doing so far out of your golden nest?" Cynthia suddenly started to speak in an almost melodic tone.

Lance frowned before also answering in a similar tone. "My treasure shined too brightly, I could not find an opportunity to rest."

"Then why go out in the sky? Don't you know it hates when you fly?"

"The sky can cry, for my might make me blind from this ugly sight."

The moment the lullaby ended, Cynthia was already right in front of Lance fixing him with contempt with Lance looking at her with utmost disgust. L

Lance was the first to break the standoff. "Cynthia Heaven, the Unwanted proof of the Goldwin clan, the cause of a lot of our elder headaches, and also, the most delusional person in the world. "

Cynthia shook her head. "First little dragon, my name is Cynthia Goldwin, not Heaven, secondly, I'm not delusional, it's just the rest of the world who is beneath my standard."

"You might not carry his name, but you do carry his filth and his foolishness."

"Oh don't worry, he still has his hands full with the blood of your brethren, I didn't take this, I wouldn't want me to be soiled by their filthy blood."

…what is happening?

Why is Cynthia acting like that? Did she know Lance from somewhere else?

But the strangest thing is why she suddenly made me think of Volo…I should follow Joy advice and try to stop her from becoming like Volo, it near terminal now.

"Well you know what dragon boy, even though you deserve to be hated, I shall still give you the highest honour you could ever receive for someone as outstanding as me, you are now my rival, you're allowed to cry from joy." She patted him on his shoulder before walking away from him with a smile.

But this time, Lance didn't let her go. "Kneel."

Instantly, Cynthia's entire body trembled as her knees slowly lowered themselves while grinding her teeth and turning her head toward him. "Is that all you got dragon boy?!"

"Hmm, still not kneeling? I suppose their a reason why our elders have so many headaches about you, you simply lack any form of respect for anybody, but contrary to him, you do not have the power to be as free.

But do not worry, I am not disappointed by you, you are beneath my fury after all, now kneel."

"I…I refu…refuse…" Cynthia said the best of her capacity, but her actions couldn't reflect her words as her knee flinched more and more.

…but she doesn't want to kneel…didn't he hear her?

…Why is he even making her kneel in the first place, didn't he say he only wanted to do this to create a hierarchy among the esper, but he also just said that Cynthia wasn't an esper? Isn't this just contradictory?

Or maybe like Cynthia, he only hates her for no reason…as it seems it is the only reason why someone can hate another.

Well, I also like her for no reason…so maybe…I should help her?

…I think that is what friends are supposed to do…don't they?

But that would mean I go against the point Lance, that would make him wrong, which means he would never like me…

…

…

Maybe I should just let her kneel.

I thought before looking once more at Cynthia's face…her desperate face…full of agony…

…

She's alone…she already knows I won't help her…or she just didn't expect it…

…like me…

I raised my hand toward my throat.

Lance noticed my movement "Hmm? Right, I almost forgot---" No more words left Lance's mouth.

He started to look confused, but soon, he fell on his own knee without understanding why.

"Lance?! Are you okay?" Aaron screamed in worry as he lowered himself to look at Lance's face just to notice how pale it suddenly became. "Lance why aren't you breathing?" Aaron asked in stupefaction, but Lance didn't respond to him. "…Lance! You need to breathe right now!!!"

But Lance didn't hear anything, I made sure he couldn't hear a single thing.

Soon, Lance fell on his own face with his last expression being one of utter confusion.

The other student suddenly could stand up again, but most didn't as they just saw the one who declared himself as their new leader fall after a single motion of my hand.

"Luciel…I…I…I think…he has enough."

I heard a voice behind me and associated it with the one of Allister.

…mmmh…

I looked toward Cynthia, and saw that she was free from his control.

Well then, I can release him now.

"KYU!!! (LUCIEL!!!)

Without warning, Pandora deployed his tendril right in front of me, just in time for me to notice that Korina was right in front of me and prepared to hit me with her fist.

I tried to raise up my arm, but she hit me right into my chest with an orange aura pulverizing my chest.

I barely had the chance to see her face turn into horror before I was sent flying into the air.

I almost collided with Allister, but a purple hue suddenly enveloped his body before being thrown away. The same purple hue also seemed to try to envelop me, but the moment it entered contact with my skin, but at least the orange aura also dissipated after being in contact with the purple hue.

But right after, Olympia fell unconscious.

But I couldn't rejoice, as I was rapidly approaching a pillar. I tried to put my arm behind my head to at least protect my brain, but I realized that both of my arms were completely shattered after her punch, and the same was for my torso, so I couldn't even roll up to protect my spine.

"KYU!!!" But my concerns were unnecessary as Pandora jumped out of my shoulder to cuss my impact with his dark hand.

*Bam*

"Gruck!" A weird noise left my mouth, probably a result of all the oxygen I stocked into my lungs escaping.

I tried to take another breath, but the moment I opened my mouth, only blood left my mouth.

…why…why does it hurt… it's just my arm that was broken…it shouldn't be that painful…maybe…maybe it's my chest.

"KYU!!! (DON'T LOOK!!!)"

But before I could analyze my chest, Pandora severed our link, making me blind.

…alright…I won't look…please Pandora…I don't like the dark…

"LUCIEL!!!"

I heard someone scream at me…or maybe they murmured it…I don't know…my ears are ringing…

"I'm sorry Luciel! I'm sorry Luciel, please wake up! Please, I beg you, wake up!"

…I'm feeling tired…

"Luciel!"

…I think I'm going to sleep a little Pandora…

…I just hope Cynthia doesn't feel alone now.

***

The room fell into silence, and the only noise left was my blood falling on the ground.

"Wait…that…I didn't…he…he…" Korrina said in panic after seeing Luciel's body limply falling on the ground. "I…I didn't want to…kill him…no…no…no…I just wanted to help Lance…it, not my fault…he…he was too fragile… too much…"

"Cough, cough…what happened." Lance stood up with difficulty while taking deep breaths and looking around the scene, just to see Luciel face down on the floor with blood slowly leaking out. "Is…is he dead?"

"Sadly for him, he is not," Arcerola said disappointed while approaching his body with curiosity, and kicking it to see the other side, just to see a huge gasp inside his chest. "…why won't you die? You don't feel pain when you're dead."

"Kyu!" Pandora screamed toward Arcerola to complain about her kicking his friend.

"Oh hello little cutie."

"Kyu!?"

"…really? He is still alive?" Korrina ignored the interaction as she said with hope in her eyes, before standing up with renewed confidence. "Quick! Somebody call a doctor!"

But Lance disagreed with her. "No, we should kill him now."

His comment made most students look at him with shock.

"You all saw how he almost killed me with absolutely no difficulty despite me being an Archon, we must not allow such an obvious threat inside this academy."

"Lance, I agree to follow you, but if you're about to do something as drastic as killing someone else, then I might very well consider you as the real threat here."

"He try to kill me."

"And if you're not even able to endure this, then you do not deserve the right to fight for peace."

Lance stood in silence, looking deeply at Aaron's eye, before shaking his head. "You're right, how could I forget that killing a threat before he can harm others isn't considered a moral way to protect someone, you just have to call me when he finally kills someone, and then I would be able to protect the leftover." Lance waved his hand and retreaded away from the hall.

"…I hope I made the right decision." Aaron said in the void before looking at the lying body of Luciel with worry, then he looked at Natural with a pleading gaze. "Hey…do you think you can help us out?"

Natural didn't even move his head to face Aaron, but he still responded. "I will gladly help Olympia." He then moved toward our teacher before enveloping her with a green hue, making all of her injuries disappear as if they never existed in the first place.

"Oh that's great, maybe we will suffer less punishment now…but could you also treat the Gloom archon…please?" Aaron pleaded, but Natural didn't even seem to have heard him.

That was until Yellow approached behind him. "Please Natural, could you please heal him? He must suffer a lot right now."

Natural finally looked at someone else, before looking at Luciel, whom a lot of students had already started to surround him trying to cauterize his wound under the guidance of Korrina. "It's useless, he's already dead."

"WHAT!?" Aaron screamed, making some people look at him with worry.

'It's nothing, do not worry about him.' Suddenly, a voice traversed among everyone's heads, but they recognized it from Sabrina, which made them focus back on the current situation.

'Do not tell them anything yet, this person is very weird. And the fact that his pokemon still isn't going berserk is an indication that it may not be as it seems.' This time, the signal was transmitted only toward Aaron's brain, which made him extremely hesitant, but he finally agreed to not speak about it.

"That…that horrible…even if he was a bad person…he could still have been redeemed." Yellow said in sadness, not having learn what Sabrina just told to Aaron. "No, I'm sure we can still save him!" Without waiting for any other indication, Yellow ran toward Luciel to try to heal him.

Natural looked expressionless at her before turning back.

But before he could make one more step…

"…do you think it's going to be fine? I mean…someone almost died before even the first day…and it was Korrina who almost killed him…even if they consider it as an accident, the other student will still blame her first, and we are associate by default in their eye. It also doesn't help that she's from Kalos, her reputation is already in the ground, and no one would believe her if she say she's innocent. And the worst is that in the eyes of people here, the Gloom Archon was only punishing someone who all made them kneel because of his own ego, and then she punched him."

Natural nodded to his comment. "Indeed, for now, people are listening to her because they are still under the shock of what happened, but when they finally calm down, they will start to hate on her and Lance, and quite possibly both of us."

"Tch, I agree with the ideal of Lance, but he should have found another way, now we probably put every student against us, and soon even the teacher will be against us."

"My reputation has no importance, as long as it doesn't stop me from helping other people, then it has no importance."

"…reputation can help you save more people you know?"

Natural looked honestly surprised about this. "Seriously?"

"…yes…you're the King of Unova…how could you not know about that?"

Natural didn't know the answer, but Anthea responded instead. "Lord Ghetsis was the one who took charge of his reputation, as he didn't wish for the young lord to trouble himself on such foolery when he had his childhood to enjoy."

"Oh…and who is lord Ghetsis?"

"A wonderful person, and the only one who has the right to be called father by me." Natural responded with a true smile on his face.

"Indeed, despite being only his uncle, lord Ghetsis made sure that Natural had the best life he could offer despite the war."

"Seem like a great dude…well, I guess you wouldn't want to disappoint him, do you?"

"There no way for me to disappoint him."

"Then let's make him proud."

Natural fixed at Aaron for a long moment before looking at Luciel.

"Very well, I accept your demand for my help."

Aaron smiled before putting his hand on the shoulder of Natural, making him look intensively toward Aaron. But Concordia forcibly removed his hand before the situation could go worst and shook her head to a confused Aaron, before scratching his hand. "Well thanks then…so what about we start with creating a better reputa…

"WHAT GOING ON HERE!!?"

Every student turned back to look at who screamed, before their skin paled in horror as they saw who arrived.

Geeta looked around the room, and saw Olympia laying on the floor. She wanted to approach her first, but then she changed her target when she saw a huge gathering of student around a spot.

"WHO IS HURT?! LET ME SEE!"

With the sound of her leather boot hitting the floor in a hurry, Geeta approached Luciel's body, and the student stood out of her way the moment she approached.

She kept her cold façade during her hurry, but the moment she saw Luciel's bloody body, she paled even more than the student who saw her.

"Everyone in their dorm, now!" She said with so much authority, that no one here dared to refute her as they all ran away in their dorm.

The only exception was Cynthia, who still looked at Luciel body in silence, but she was dragged aways without any resistance by Clair.

Seeing them all leave, Geeta pushed a deep sigh before tapping on her wrist, and the Meltan attached to it formed a phone.

But before Geeta could proceed, a voice reached her head.

'I already informed Nurse Joy of the accident, and she's currently coming here as we speak.'

Geeta looked unsurprisingly to her side and saw Sabrina still standing there with her head lowered.

"Why are you still here? I asked everyone to leave the room." She responded calmly, without any authority behind that statement.

'You already know it.'

"I suppose I do, so tell me Sabrina, what happened here?"

***

*Tok*

*Tok*

*Tok*

The whole room was in an uncomfortable silence.

All of the board members were gathering in the same room as before, including Rose, a man with dark skin and an extremely tin black bear covering his square jaw. He was wearing a grey tuxedo that presented a slight curve around his belly, betraying that despite being the richest man in the world, he still could resist the allure of a good meal.

Currently, he was wearing a worried expression as he looked toward Geeta regularly hitting the desk with her finger.

The only one who seemed to not care at all about her frustration was Volo, who as usual showed no sign of decorum.

The same could be said about Olympia who looked like she could fall asleep at any moment, but the other members didn't judge her as they also learned what happened to her, and are instead glad that they are here.

The situation continued for ten interminable minutes, where no one dared to speak the first world until Geeta herself started. "I'm sorry to have gathered all of you again for an emergency meeting despite having one yesterday, however, this is something that necessities everyone's opinion on the matter. But first, I suppose an explanation of what happened is in order."

"Today, we planned to make the students meet up with each other so they could learn to know each other and possibly develop friendships. But an accident happened on the esper side and Luciel Solarium, the King of Danu was greatly injured by Korrina Evolution, the War Archon after a conflict produced by Lance Redron, the Ancestral Archon. Olympia was able to prevent more injured, and even a death, so at least the situation isn't as bad as it could have been."

"Now not only the planned festivity had to be cancelled because the students are too shocked to properly enjoy them, we also now have a division among the students."

Everyone in the council listened silently to Geeta's explanation, but some of them couldn't stop themselves from throwing discreet glances at Volo.

But they weren't subtle enough, as Volo saw right through them. "I didn't do it this time." Volo said calmly, but the gaze of everyone surrounding him told him that they didn't trust him. "Listen, if I was involved in this situation, someone would have been dead."

"Well someone did die, didn't he." Stone added with furrowed eyebrows.

Volo looked in shock at Stone before exploding with laughter. "Hahaha, he thinks I would stop at one! Oh, that's hilarious! You've heard that Spiritomb?" Volo at his shadow and waited for a moment, before his smile turned into a frown. "Right…you bunch of no fun punished him for his little mistake, you can carry on, my mood is already ruined." Volo casually waved his hand to the council who could only ignore his attitude.

"…so, about this kid that died…how is he doing?" Rose asked, trying to change the subject awkwardly.

"…Luciel is a stillbirth…but for reasons I can only attribute to his identity as an archon, he is able to remain conscious and act as a living being."

"Oh, he is the Ethereal Archon then, I see, then when the report saying he is dead is just a matter of fact, not a report of a casualty." Rose said with a smile, but he soon noticed the other member in the room didn't share his enthusiasm.

"No, Luciel Solarium is not the Ethereal Archon, this title is attributed to Arcerola Ukufa." Colress responded coldly.

"…then…how?" Rose asked in worry.

"It doesn't matter right now, you need to know that Luciel will be fine." Geeta dismissed their worry.

Colress looked at Geeta in confusion, but in the end, he said nothing and simply swiped the current medical file on his screen.

"Then if I may miss Geeta, what even caused this situation in the first place, you stipulate it was caused by Lance Redron, but could you give us more details about what was the action that caused all of this trouble?"

"…It something I feared could happen…but very well, Lance made a show of force among his classmates in order to control them better, or in his own words, create a hierarchy between the Archon and the other regular esper to protect those he deem powerless. As of right now, he was able to recruit three other archons, but none seem loyal as of now toward him, so we can afford to break his plan before he breaks our school."

"But why did he create such a movement, was it out of pride?" Vicky asked.

Surprisingly, Volo was the one to answer this question. "Archons are mentally influenced by the type they represent, and dragons are known for being prideful, so It is the most obvious reason why he would proceed like this."

"But it is not." Everyone looked at Geeta in surprise, including Volo.

But he quickly recovered his calm, to the point it would have been practically impossible to tell he lost it in the first place. "Well, you can't blame me, you were the one who asked me to tell no one about this super important sec…oops, silly me, I shouldn't have said that either."

The council members were looking more intensively at Geeta this time, with a slight trace of doubt in their gaze.

But if this affected Geeta, she didn't show it. "Lance clearly said during his speech that the principal reason why he did this was because he needed to fulfill his duty he received since birth. And it just happened that I recently asked Volo about it recently, and he told me that it was normal for Archon to have an innate duty, but it also happened that he told me that they weren't aware of it. Yet today I learn that not only one of them was aware of their mission, but they are also ready to subjugate everyone to make it happen."

"Well how was I supposed to know about that, I have no idea what the plan of the great slaver is, he must simply have changed his formula since then." Volo tried to defend himself, but it was clear that no one believed him.

"Now, here's come the problem, I know very well that Volo is not to be trusted, if stabbing us in the back brings him any kind of benefit, he would do it gladly."

"…exactly, so how could I…

"So what benefit could you have possibly gained from lying to me."

"…Because I thought it could be fun to see all of you confused by..."

"Please Volo, you can tell a better lie than this."

Volo lost his carefree demeanour, and suddenly a chill enveloped the whole room, rending everyone but Geeta silent toward Volo. "…indeed, but it doesn't matter, whatever benefit I gained from this little lie is not an information I will give you." Volo slowly stood up from his seat and looked menacingly at Volo. "So please, do not mistake my laziness to disrespecting your order for my compliance. You might have been selected by another greedy little mortal about your right over a piece of land, but this gives you absolutely no power over me. Am I clear, hope of the fallen?"

Despite the chilling gaze, Volo used against her, Geeta didn't break her eye contact toward him. "Then if we are speaking of request, let me give you one of my own."

"…what?"

"Please do not insult my intelligence, Volo Heaven. I know exactly that you are nothing more than a thorn into my plan, and I will seek any opportunity to get rid of you from this academy, and ideally, from the world of mortal."

"…dully noted." Volo sat back on his chair, making the oppressive air calm down in the room. "Then, I suppose I don't have to tell you my sell speech, do I?"

Geeta looked silently at Volo, before reaching beside her for a pretty small folder and slid it toward Volo.

However, the other members of the board were still able to read the cover of the folder.

'Temporal Impact on the Great Crater of Paldea, Professor Sada and Professor Turo.'

Volo took hold of it and slowly opened it to look at its content, his expression didn't change at all during all of his reading.

He read the folder for four whole minutes, during this time the council member could only look at him silently.

Then, he placed the folder on the table and looked toward Geeta with a cold gaze. "Where the rest?"

"What could you possibly mean?" Geeta answered as if she truly didn't understand what he meant by that.

"You know very well what I mean, where the rest of the report, it was clearly cut off right in the middle,

"Oh that, sorry, I didn't understand something so simply, I hope you will have the heart to forgive me."

"…Alright, I understand, you're just getting petty."

"Me, petty? How could you use such an insulting compliment on me."

Volo sighed before looking at Geeta who smiled mockingly at him, something that also brought joy to the other council member. "Let's see…you have the right to height questions."

"Give me every information pertinent about the Archon present in our academy, that it is their backstory that was hidden by their local government or clan, their duty, their power, and most importantly, a way to keep them in check."

Volo seemed lost in thought for an instant before shaking his head toward Geeta. "...very well, that counts as seven questions, you may still ask one more question."

"… there's a lot I would want to ask you, but respond to my questions first."

"…very well, well let's start by the reason why I was forced to sit on this boring meeting, Lance Redron."