Prince Oak

Azrael bent to walk out of the class with Maddison following after him, and the murmurs in the classroom reached an even higher pitch as the students wondered what in the world was going on with the two of them.

"Those two are together? Don't tell me they're dating."

"I don't think so. Have you ever seen them together before?"

"I heard that they both got the talk from Francesca in the office earlier. One of my friends said they were caught doing that on school grounds."

"Hah!? There's no way that bastard Azrael got laid before me!"

"Two children of darkness in a relationship together? Is that even allowed?"

Jane Ashton watched curiously as Azrael and Maddison spoke together in hushed whispers, and she felt something similar to irritation surging from her chest. Jane had already heard from some of her classmates that Azrael had been with Maddison during lunch, and that was why Azrael stood her up, so she couldn't help being angry at both of them!

The voices of their classmates filtered through to both Azrael and Maddison as they walked, and Azrael tuned them out while asking Maddison if she had gotten the information he asked her to find. Maddison said that she hadn't yet, and Azrael decided to help out as well when he got back to his dorm. Since the information was just online, he could also search for it using his phone.

Azrael walked with Maddison until he got to the gate. They went down a few blocks before they got to an intersection around the back of the school. Azrael then watched as Maddison waved him goodbye and headed towards an expensive car that was parked by the road. There was a butler waiting there, holding the door open for Maddison, and Azrael hummed as he finally realized that Maddison hadn't been joking when she said she was rich.

Azrael watched as the high-end car drove away before he headed in the opposite direction to get to his dorm, but he stopped as he remembered that he hadn't done his workout for the day. So many things happened that he totally forgot to go to the gym after class. Azrael looked at the time on his phone and saw that it was still only four in the afternoon, so he turned around and headed back to school.

Azrael was going to work on improving his durability a lot more today since it was slacking behind his other stats. Azrael liked having balanced stats so that he wouldn't be a glass cannon if he ever got into a dangerous fight.

After getting to the gym, Azrael put in some music and carried out his usual routine with the weights. Today, there were too many people using the Battleground, so Azrael had to put in a reservation for the Simulation Room if he wanted to use it. There were no free spots, and Azrael decided he would just use it some other time.

Instead, Azrael took boxing gloves and worked out against a sandbag. The bag was filled with gravel and tough but ductile metals, so it didn't break easily, even though Azrael was using his full power. It helped him to improve his punch strength and also gave him a boost in his durability.

Azrael would have liked to use some of the battle droids that the gym also had, but it was only open to second and third years, so as a first-year, Azrael couldn't use them yet.

When he was done with boxing, Azrael took a blunt practice katana and practiced his movements without any opponents. The movement of the body needed to be perfect when handling a bladed weapon, so Azrael had to make sure that he learned the movements until they were ingrained into his body like an instinct. This way, it would be easier for him to use them when fighting.

When he was done, Azrael jogged home alone in the dead of night.

…

+2 Strength

+3 Durability

…

STATISTICS

Strength: 24

Stamina: 26

Agility: 20

Durability: 18

…

Mortal Rank: D Rank [70/105]

…

The next few days passed quickly for Azrael. Most of the days were spent with him looking over his shoulder and wondering if he was going to be approached by the police for another investigation, but thankfully, for the rest of that week, Azrael wasn't approached again.

Azrael and Maddison spent most of their time during lunch together, and by the time Wednesday came around, Maddison brought up a page on her phone and showed it to Azrael as they were eating lunch together again.

The page on her phone was a social media picture of Romanov. She was smiling while holding up her hands in a peace sign, and behind her, there was a large hotel building. Azrael asked Maddison if this was where Romanov was staying.

"Yeah, the hotel in the back is popular in the city, and Romanov is going there for a weekend with her fiancé."

Azrael looked at the photo closely. The address on it showed an area that was located somewhere on the eastern side of the city. If Azrael wanted to go there, then he would need to leave early in the morning so he'd get there before nightfall. But the real issue was how to get in. Azrael couldn't just waltz into the place since security would kick him out immediately. And if he was caught on camera entering the hotel and then Romanov was found dead later, it would be obvious to anyone who could connect the pieces that he was the one responsible for it.

Azrael had to sneak in somehow.

Azrael looked up at Maddison, and Maddison stopped eating when she saw Azrael's gaze fix itself on her. She furrowed her brow and asked him why he was staring.

"I need you to get me into the hotel."

It was a high-class hotel, so there was no one else Azrael knew that would be able to get him inside without him being seen. That meant that the only way for Azrael to get in was through Maddison since she was rich enough to know the people there.

Maddison shook her head.

"I don't know anyone in there. I've only been there once with my brother when he was going to a party hosted by the owner's son, and he didn't bother to introduce me to them, so I can't even contact them."

Azrael clicked his tongue while leaning back. How the hell were they going to get in then?

Azrael stared at the picture again and zoomed in on the hotel. The hotel's name was Prince Oak, and it had a luxurious and fancy-looking logo on it. But at the side of the hotel, where there were cars parked, Azrael noticed a truck that he had seen before.

The name on the side of the truck was Family Care, and it was the same truck that usually came to the government-funded facility where Azrael stayed to clean out their laundry.

Azrael immediately swiped left on the picture to go back to the homepage, and then he searched for the website of the company. If they were handling the cleaning for a hotel this large, then there was no way they wouldn't brag about it on their website. And true to his prediction, right there under the company website, on the list of prestigious customers, was the name Prince Oak Hotels.

Good, Azrael could work with this.

...

A/N: Tell me what you think in the comments!