In just a few hours, the whole world was shaken by the news.
Judges had declared war against the seven kings.
General Alexandria had stopped the witch from going on a rampage.
There was no mention of Aria's interference, with no words from Jade's location after the incident.
Alexanderia sighed from the amount of talking that she had to do in the meeting; an emergency meeting had been placed between all of the generals to decide their next move. Some spies said that the seven kings had their own meeting too.
One thing was for sure: the judges were now the number one enemy of both the surface and the underground.
"How the hell did he pull it off?" She knew the whole truth, yet this outcome was to her benefit too, so she decided to stay silent for now. Her supply of death crystals had just increased from one to two, and her points got closer to reaching number nine in the ranking of generals.
A message was delivered to her system: "He can talk now; I healed most of his injuries."
"I will be there in a second." She replied and dismissed all of her assistants, "I will take the rest of the day off."
All of them said at the same time, "At your command."
In just a few seconds, she teleported herself into Marian's bedroom. Ray was still on her bed, taking heavy breaths, with Marian scrolling her phone next to him.
"Sorry for troubling you."
"No big deal, he's my apprentice too." Marian read the new article named "General Alexanderia," and it was the person we lacked for ages.
If the Witch really went on a rampage, a few cities will be the least loss possible.
"How is his condition?" She observed his naked body on the bed; ten hours had passed, and his legs had grown up once more, yet they didn't fit his body yet.
Marian pointed at his head: "Just the fact that he is sane is crazy on its own. I hadn't seen so much mind damage in my entire life; his body will be good by tomorrow."
"Understandable... So did he tell you anything?"
"We awaited your arrival too."
Ray slowly opened his eyes; the only feeling in his body was immense pain to such a degree that talking seemed an impossible task. He said with a weak voice, "I needed some supplies; before I knew it, things got out of hand. I don't know how the hell Witch came to be there too."
"Cut the bullshit." Marian narrowed her eyes: "That person you killed was a Cardinal. Can you tell me why you didn't tell the military about your affinity?"
Ray wanted to answer, but before he could speak, Marian silenced him. "And your disguise as a judge was too perfect, in my belief; it's not a plan you could have pulled off in a few days. The only reasonable answer is you knew judges would attack your tower."
"To your first question, why would I care about military protection? Second, yes. My target was Viper all along, yet the only way I had to not get myself in the middle of a battlefield was to use Judge's name." Ray said with no hesitation.
Alexanderia's sword moved on his throat. "My sword will kill you if you lie or try to deceive us. What is your real goal?"
"Power. Power behind a human's belief."
"What do you want to do with this so-called power?"
The answer came from the depths of his heart: "You are one of the strongest humans on earth, yet today when facing an Immortal, you were like a cockroach to her. I hate it. I hate this world and how it works. You are either the cockroach or the human that's about to crush it under his feet. I want to be the human."
Both of them felt the meaning of his words; they had encountered similar situations in their lives.
Marian was the first to break the silence. "Did you know about the attack on the tower?"
Ray's plans all broke all at once; the sword was still on his throat. If he said that he was aware beforehand, he could be a spy, and they would kill him on the spot. If he lied, the result would be the same.
"No one told me anything about the attack before it happened."
"What about any notes or any way of sending a message?" Marian felt his phrasing felt awkward, like he wanted to hide something.
"No outer source in any shape told me anything about the Judges; I'm not a part of the Judges either." Ray tried to act calm; reshaping the truth to some extent was his only choice.
"You are clear ... for now at least." With her sign, Alexanderia took back her sword. Marian continued with her eyes inspecting his body condition. "You spent all of your coins on your mind?"
Ray nodded; the pain still persisted in his body.
"Alexanderia told me about your crafting talents. The time between your crafting—how long did it decrease?"
"I wouldn't risk doing it in less time than six months." Ray actually reached a point where he could do it in four months.
"Good." To his surprise, she wasn't mad at him. "Both of you should stay low for the time being until this story is buried in the sands of time."
To his surprise, Alexanderia listened carefully to each of her words. He agreed too; his powers still had a long way to go to get used to his body; only training could increase his efficiency with his magic.
"That was my plan too; for the next few months all I want to do is train my magic." Ray said with a genuine tone.
"Actually, in the upcoming year, there is not much to do; in a year there will be the tournament for the military, and in four months there will be some dungeons appearing." Alexanderia explained her schedule to both of them.
"Can I join you in dungeon raiding?"
Marian jumped between their discussion, "You will go nowhere until I approve it. Double the security around your tower too."
"As you command..." Ray sighed; his life was going to be boring for some time, yet in six months, his biggest opportunity would happen.
"Good, don't forget your training times; you shall be good by night, and then you can leave." She took a glance at her other apprentice: "We must talk."
Ray could only watch as they left him alone to rest; he had no other choice, so he just decided to let his body enjoy the rest that it needed.
After making sure that they were far enough, Marian raised her head to stare into Alexanderia's eyes: "Have you fallen for him?"
"What? No..."
"Do you remember what I told you about wild cards?"
Her words were still fresh in her mind: "The most dangerous card is a wild card."
Marian closed the distance between them with her hands on her shoulders. "I can sense your emotions toward him. For now, use him as much as you want, just know that when the time comes, what will be the right decision."
Marian took a deep breath and continued, "In short, be ready to kill him when he tries to do anything against you."