The Messenger of Death

['2 green LD-ECs!? Over my dead body!! This thieving witch. Alex, give her 2 blue LD-ECs'] Al bellowed, infuriated by the price Xiao En called.

"Alright," Alex uttered without altering the neutral expression on his face.

['Good!']

"Good." Both Al and Xiao En said at the same time.

['Wait! Were you responding to her or me?'] Al asked in fear.

Without giving Al an answer, Alex proceeded to bring out 2 green LD-ECs from his storage ring and kept them on his palm.

['Alex please, negotiate, please. I beg of you, in fact, I'll do anything you ask me to.'] Al began pleading.

['Really? You'll do anything I ask you to if I negotiate with Xiao En?'] Alex asked to confirm.

After hearing Alex repeat what he said, Al wasn't so sure of himself anymore. Al suddenly thought that something ominous would happen to him if he agreed to that, so he stayed quiet and refused to answer Alex.

Seeing that Al was refusing to speak, Alex pushed his palm forward and was about to pass the energy crystals to Xiao En.

['Wait, wait!! Okay, yes I'll do whatever you ask me to do if you negotiate with Xiao En.'] Al quickly spoke up, but that didn't stop Alex's hand.

['Alexander!!'] Al screamed like a pregnant woman that is in labor.

Suddenly one of the green energy crystals was returned to his storage ring.

['Well if it makes you scream like a bitch, who am I to refuse your request? Negotiation it is.'] Alex mentioned as a wide smile appeared on his face.

He wanted to laugh at Al, but Xiao En is seated in front of him and that would have made him look crazy in front of her.

['Lex and Xander are my witnesses, just as long as I negotiate with Xiao En, Al has to do as I say with no questions asked.'] Alex stated.

['Not just negotiate, you also have to-']

"What is the meaning of this?" Xiao En asked when she saw Alex return one of the energy crystals to his storage ring.

As soon as she spoke, Alex zoned Al out and ignored what he was saying.

"Negotiation, that's what this is. If the information you give me is worth 2 green LD-ECs, then I will hand the other one to you, and if it doesn't then I'll leave you with 1 green LD-EC."

['No, no!! Give her less!! Give her less!! This isn't how to negotiate, ahh!! My poor pockets.'] Al started making sobbing sounds.

['You scammed and cheated lots of merchants these past few weeks that you've been in control and you are still shameless enough to cry about the money that we both own?'] Alex said.

['Shut up rabbit! What would you know?']

['Suit yourself mutt.']

"Okay, let's do it like that. Where should begin? Hmmm… Well, that barrier isn't to keep people out but to keep people and monsters in." Xiao En started.

"Wait there are people inside the barrier?" Alex blurted out.

"Yeah, heinous criminals that were captured by the academy were imprisoned there with monsters. And also students that go against certain rules of the academy, but they chose that punishment.

Now to answer your question, there are many ways to enter the barrier safely. The first and easiest is to know the password, but unfortunately, even I don't know what the password is. If I did, I would have sold it to you for quite the price, and I can't find out cause my grandfather made it that way." Xiao En smirked at the way her response made his face twist.

"Tell me another way in," Alex requested.

"You can try to be a better runemaster than the one that placed the barrier there," Xiao En added.

"Not possible in a short while, tell me something else." Alex didn't even consider that option, the moment he heard it, he waved it off.

Xiao En knew what Alex wanted to hear, but she felt like messing with him a little, so she continued as she pleased. "You can use brute force to get in."

"And how do I do that?"

"Hit the barrier with a force that will be too heavy for it to withstand, that way it won't even have the chance to return your attack."

"Stop messing with me and tell me how to get past the barrier!" Alex was getting impatient and knew that she messing with him.

Xiao En chuckled at his reaction to her taunt. "If you can't do any of those, then just a break a law in the academy. Commit a serious crime and choose to walk through the nightmare… that's what they call the place inside the barrier."

Alex raised his eyebrows at this. ['That shouldn't be hard to do, I just need to know the type of crime to commit.'] He thought.

"But then again, your master is Nana. I don't think they would dare to place there. Hold that thought, not everyone knows who Nana is so that option is still on the table." Xiao En placed her slim slender fingers under her chin as she spoke.

"What crime should I commit?"

"Easy, kill anyone that you feel like killing. Someone that annoys you, someone that is fucking the girl that you like, an innocent person, a cripple, an ugly person. It doesn't matter who you kill, just do it on the school's territory and make sure that there are many witnesses." An evil smile surfaced on Xiao En's lips. She picked her cup up and took a long sip of the tea in it.

The first person that came to Alex's mind was Duna. ['I don't need to think about who I'm going to kill, I already know.']

"However, I wouldn't advise you to kill anyone now. The continental competition is starting in 2 days."

"I don't think I can wait that long." Alex realized that the competition was just 2 days ago. He didn't want to disappoint his teammates, Camron most especially.

Camron had been making it known just how much he was excited about their participation in the competition.

['The competition is important to the team, but this is important to us. They should be able to cope without us, besides, we're like a cheat code in this competition.'] Al said to soften the mode.

['I know… I just feel like it's wrong to be this selfish. Before heading into the barrier, I'll have to apologize to them and hope they'll understand.'] Alex thought.

"Well, it's your choice. Now, the rest of my payment?" Xiao En stretched her hand out and placed it in front of Alex's face.

Alex removed a blue HD-EC and handed it to her. "Thanks." He then got up and left the area quickly.

"You're lucky Nana is your master, if not, I would have dealt with you for pulling this nonsense on me." Xiao En muttered as she stared at the blue energy crystal with disdain….

Not long after leaving the guest inn, Alex found the rest of his teammates in the underground bunker and they were all training there, including Camron.

"Alex!" Camron called as soon as he sensed his presence.

"Hey, guys." Alex greeted.

He was looking a bit nervous with the eyes of his teammates on him.

"Alex, what's got you looking like this?" Drake questioned.

"You're looking tense," Adrian added.

"I'm here to apologize to all of you." Alex started.

"Apologize for what? You haven't done anything wrong to me, and even if you did do something wrong I'm not angry at you." Emma stated.

"Yeah, if it's about the continuous flirts that you threw our way these past few weeks, we took no offense from it," Katherine mentioned.

['You stupid pervert,'] Alex insulted Al as he resisted the urge to facepalm himself.

['Heh, I knew that they were enjoying it.'] Al cackled mischievously.

"No, it's not about that. Well, I am sorry about that, but that's not what I'm here to apologize for."

"Then what is it about," Camron asked. Since he and Alex became friends, he couldn't remember Alex looking this nervous because of an apology, he couldn't even remember his friend ever making a proper apology.

The only time Camron heard Alex apologize was on the first day they met and Lex took over. He was acting shy and meek…

Alex sighed, "I'm not going to be able to join you guys for the competition, you'll have to complete without me." He revealed.

"Why not!?" Katherine and Drake blurted out immediately.

"Did something happen?" Camron asked.

"Yeah, something came up."

"What is it, maybe we can help you with it." Camron offered.

"No, this is something that I have to do myself. I don't you guys getting caught up in the aftermath of the whole situation." Alex refused.

"Then at least tell us what it is that is going to keep you from participating in the competition with us." Camron insisted.

"I'm going to murder Duna…"

['I can't possibly say that I'm going to search for Midas petal, can I?']