The Mech Lord

A meeting was currently being held in the Academy. All the Instructors had gathered here with the Dean heading the meeting. The topic of discussion was obviously the murder incident.

"Sir, we can't keep the classes close like this. This is hurting our reputation, and people are losing their confidence in us." One of the Instructor's raised this point, and everyone's face turned a bit ugly.

An Academy who couldn't even protect their students was about to raise people to protect the Nation? If that wasn't a joke, no one one knew what was..

They were turning into a joke by other Academies.

"How could you say that?!" A familiar voice retorted, and it belonged to Vanessa. "The murderer hasn't been caught as of yet. And, just because we want to protect our reputation, you ask us to risk our students' lives."

This was indeed a valid argument.

"Miss Vanessa is correct. If we allow the classes to be held at full capacity, things might become worse. At that time, we would lose much more than just some confidence or reputation,." Professor Benard spoked up in Vanessa's favor.

And, he was correct. If a mass murder occurred at the Academy, then it would smear Gloria's name and that wouldn't be the end. The Academy might start to die with students turning away towards other Academies.

"I haven't called you people here to discuss whether to conduct classes or not." Dean Valen's strong and robust voice rang out in the room. And, it instantly shut everyone's mouth.

"This is the recorded footage of the attack which happened two days ago.." A projection screen popped in the air, right in the middle of the round table, and everyone could see it clearly from their perspectives.

This thing definitely came as a surprise as it hadn't been mentioned until now.

"What's wrong with this footage.." One of the Instructors asked with a frown. And, everyone's smile vanished as well.

The footage actually showed the attacker with his back on. And, that person seemed to be wearing a loose hoodie. The face wasn't visible at all. Another thing was that, there wasn't a single of scene of the murderer attacking. That part of the footage seemed to have been cut out from the video.

"Why is it missing?" Vanessa asked as she turned her head towards the Dean

"It seems that the student has the ability to affect devices," The Dean said with a calm voice. He had to actually removed the parts of the recording. The news about Zests had to be prevented from leaking out after all. "Whenever he used his ability to attack, the recording was cut off."

People couldn't do anything if it was a case like that. After all, it wouldn't be the first time if someone was born with an ability like this.

"Still, I think you people can gather some hints from this." The Dean added as he scanned everyone. They could make a few obvious things from the footage. Firstly, the person was a female. She was clearly wearing a skirt. And, her legs were a lot visible.

Her skin was fair. And, then there was a tail.

That should help them to further shrink their area of search.

Soon, these points were listed up by everyone.

"How many Demin-Humans are there in the Academy?" The Dean suddenly asked, but no one had the exact numbers. But, an estimation could definitely be made into more than a thousand for sure.

"I want a list of all of them, and their back history as well. Divide yourself in four teams, and take this task as first priority. I want the culprit to be caught by tomorrow at max. If not, be ready for the consequences." He suddenly turned his head towards the corner.

There were two people sitting there. One was the Head of Security in the Academy. He sure was responsible for this and was under a lot of pressure. People too obviously thought that it was directed to him, but beside him was the librarian of the Academy.

Jack was calmly sitting there, but he knew that the warning was towards him. He would definitely be kicked out if he didn't do as the Dean Instructed.

"Should we let this information out, and ask the students to be careful?" One of the Instructors suddenly asked, breaking the ice.

"No, that would create fears and prejudice towards Demi-Humans. I don't want that." The Dean shook his head. He definitely didn't want that to happen. After all, Glorian looked down on Denim-Humans to begin with and discriminated against them.

To him, it was due to differences in culture. Glorian's had the tradition of keeping a pet companion. And, this might be the reason that they inherently thought of Demi-Humans as inferior creatures as it showed that they were a variation resulting from evolution from Animals.

But, this people sure didn't realize that every intelligent creature's evolution could be traced back to some insignificant dumb animal or microorganism.

"If there is nothing else to ask, we shall end it here." The Dean looked around, but no one said anything.

With that, the meeting came to an end.

….

Academy's Dorm.

"Stop it!!' Runeko struggled to control her arm as that greyish matter began to leak out once again. She had begun to lose more control over her body. Normally, she could have forcibly taken control of her entire body, but it was not possible anymore.

"Eat…that..strong…girl.." The Zest spoke in an eerily manner.

Even though normal people might not be able to understand, Runeko sure did. It might be due to the fact that it had taken her as its host.

It wanted to consume Amelia. It was because she was a High Rank Skill user. One that could provide it with purer energy. Something that could help it in recovering its strength.

The moment Runeko thought about it, her face changed. She didn't want to kill anyone. But, if she refused, she would be killed instead.

'They bullied me…they..' She muttered inwardly. It was as if she was trying to convince herself that it was alright. But suddenly, the scene from before flashed before her eyes.

Amelia had come to apologize to her. There was a genuine look on her face. It was the same person who would always turn her head away and pretend nothing was wrong.

Yet she had changed today.

Something which Runeko always dreamed of doing herself.

She hated the fact that she couldn't do the same.

In the end, she slowly gritted her teeth and shouted, "No!! I won't do it!"

The moment she said it, the greyish matter burst forth and slowly began to spread over her body. She tried to resist, but there was nothing much she could do except for slowing it down by a bit.

It was slowly taking over her. At this rate, it wouldn't be long before she was completely in its control.

'No..I can't let this continue. If it completely takes over me, I will end up killing more people. If that is what is going to happen, I might as well..' Runeko gritted her teeth as she finally made a decision.

She slowly got up onto her feet, and took a step towards the door. She was going to expose herself. If this could stop her from taking life, then so be it.

"Whoosh!"

But, the Zest didn't seem to have plans to let her do as she wished. Her hand suddenly moved, and she punched herself right into the face. That was very unexpected, after all, no one would be normally prepared to guard themselves against a punch from their very own hand.

"Bang!"

'No...' Runeko suddenly felt her vision blur, and she collapsed onto the floor.

…

Leo had returned back to the club with Spike, and the rest of the members had arrived by now as well.

"How did it go?" Nora asked with a worried look on her face.

Leo smiled at her, and then told her everything that happened.

"Really?" Yuji asked in surprise. He too thought that it was a bit of a sudden change on Runeko's side.

"Well, it's a relief. I don't care what changed her mood. But, as long as it is better, that is what I wish and care for her." Nora smiled. She really acted like a big sister.

Suddenly, a message came onto Leo's smart link. As soon as he opened it, his face turned serious. He couldn't help, but slowly turned his head towards Harry and saw him staring at his smart link with a dark face as well.

It seemed he had received that message as well.

The message was from Jack. He had informed them of what had happened in the meeting. Basically, he had provided them data on the culprit and asked them if they had any ideas. And, even if they didn't, they could stay on the lookout and notify him if they came across a suspicious figure.

Max once again looked at the image that was sent to him by jack.. And, a frown slowly crept up on his face.

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