The Novel's Professor

At the outskirts of the village, the place was in ruin, and the air smelled like blood. The ground beneath was destroyed, split apart by the battle that took place. Above the land, a black haired man with a battered and ragged face lay, his eyes closed.

At that moment, the man's eyes opened. Ciel groaned, his body feeling an aching pain while his eyes were filled with confusion, and then a realization hit him. He raised his hands, staring at it in wonder as he muttered, "I'm...alive..."

"Took you long enough to wake up," A voice suddenly resounded behind him. The voice was calm, frigid and cold. Indifference of anything.

Ciel hurriedly turned his back, his eyes widening in awe. It was the blond haired man that accompanied him to the village, John. Without wasting a moment, he asked, "...Did you win?"

Rio didn't reply, choosing to stay silent as his eyes stared at a distance. His gaze fell to a deflated, bleeding body on the ground. The body, in simple words, was in a horrid state. The arms and legs of the man were malformed and distorted.

"Damn..." Ciel commented, his eyes averting in disgust. He dropped himself to the ground, feeling assured. They've won. Oh, how much that brought him joy. He shifted his eyes to Rio, he spoke with sincerity "...Thank you, John."

However, instead of replying, the blonde haired man stared at him silently. His eyes stayed on Ciel for a long moment. Ciel thought he had done something wrong from how intense and long the stare was.

However, he was quickly proven wrong when Rio immediately fell to the ground. A loud thud resounded, Ciel's eyes stared at the body in shock, he muttered, "W—what...?"

"H-hey..! Are you alright?" Ciel asked, his hands immediately checking over Rio's body. Beating heart, check. He sighed in relief. The man was alright, just unconsciouss from exhaustion. He muttered, "Thank god..."

Unknown to Ciel, beside the blonde haired man, a transparent body hovered around both of them. Faust frowned, his eyes staring at Rio intensely, 'Even...I was mildly terrified by that.'

—

A while ago...

"Damn it..." Rio muttered as he felt the grasp of the dark skinned man tightened. He was going to die if he gets hit by that powered up arm. He still had one card up of his sleeve, a trump card that in case everything had gone wrong.

Suddenly, the pressure around him intensified. His eyes stared at the man's raised arm. It was shining bright white, luminous and eye catching like a star.

"—Burst»!" Dallas shouted, his voice loudly resounding in the area. His powered up arm, shining like a bright star, instantly swung down without pause.

At that moment, just as the arm was about to hit Rio's body, he suddenly pulled his body backwards by hitting himself from the stomach. Dallas hands immediately lost grasp of Rio's shoulders. In that instant, Rio's lips curled up forming into a smirk.

Boom—!

A bright light engulfed the area, blinding every being on it's path. The ground shook as it split apart for the sheer force. The wind blew harshly from the impact, blowing everything in it's path.

"Ha...ha...ha...!" Dallas panted, his wicked grin instantly vanishing as he looking at the vanishing smoke infront of him. Damn it...! No! NO! He couldn't accept this! He couldn't..! However, regardless of what he thought, his body deflated, returning back to normal as immense aching pain erupted within his body.

Rip—!

"ARGGHHHH!!!!!!" Dallas screamed in pain, his voice mixed with unwillingness and desperation. The agony was too much. All his muscles were suddenly ripped apart, unable to be used any longer unless a miracle occurs. Blood bursted out his veins, covering his body with dark red liquid.

Far from him, a blonde haired man stood still. His serene black eyes coldly staring at the screaming man with callous indifference.

On his hand was a plain and normal card, one that was used for poker. Flipping it upside down, the card revealed it's symbol. The symbol was a smirking man, wearing a clown outfit.

It was the Joker.

"One can never be too prepared," Rio muttered as he held the joker card lightly. That was right. Before the fight had even started, he had already dropped a card somewhere, and so when an unexpected event happened, he could escape at the last moment using «Substitution».

It worked, so well infact he wanted to laugh on how familiar the situation was.

It was a blessing that the man's skill was slowly losing effectiveness. If not, then he would've most likely left Ciel alone. If there were zero chances of winning, he would've fled to save his own self.

That thought made him chuckle. He was here, being a busy body savior to a stranger he had just met, and then he planned to leave the man alone if something wrong happens. Worst thing? He doesn't feel anything about it. Or maybe, it was the best thing about it.

"Hahahahaha..." Rio laughed, his eyes closing. How absurd. His mind seems to be at two different places at once. One was humane and normal. The other was rationale and immoral.

'Huh? What are you laughing at?' Faust asked, his eyes narrowing in confusion.

'It was nothing,' Rio dismissed casually as he walked towards the screaming man at the distance. Now, it was time for the finale.

Dallas choked, blood filling up his eyes and mouth as his muscles exploded one after another. It was pure agony incarnate. It was a gruesome and tortorous sight to witness.

Rio face contorted into a scowl. This was...disgusting. Blood was all over the place. He felt his insides go up, making him want to vomit. However he held it in.

Suddenly, Dallas eyes opened, despite agonizing pain flowing all around his body, he still had sensed Rio. He opened his mouth, albeit with great difficulty, "You...y— hgrakh!"

Rio tilted his head slightly, staring at the screaming man on the ground. He supposed that it was reasonable that the man was angry. He had thought of the man as the type who had pride over his head.

"N-n..!" Dallas shouted, his eyes widening. As if sensing that he was going to die, his body struggled vehemently, however that proved to be for naught as the veins over his body exploded again.

"Sigh..." Rio sighed, shaking his head. He couldn't take this gruesome sight anymore. Another one more explosion, and he himself would vomit to the ground. He put his hand inside his pocket, taking out a cold metal firearm.

Dallas choked, his body trembling after seeing the gun. No...! He couldn't die yet...!

Despite this, Rio continued. He took a few bullets from his clothes, loading it to the revolver as the gun made a clicking sound from reloading.

Click—!

He held the gun lightly, pointing it directly at the forehead of the dark skinned man. Dallas tried to shake his head, however his body was no longer functioning; it was crippled in a sense.

"You know? I just thought of something," Rio spoke, his serene black eyes staring directly at the dark skinned man's eyes. On his face was an angelic smile, as if telling an interesting story, "Before all of this, I met a man similar to you..."

"His name was Mo Zhu," Rio said, a calm angelic smile bloomed on his face, "However, unlike you...Mo Zhu is a servant,"

Dallas struggled as he felt the cold gloss of metal touched his skin, his eyes staring directly at the barell that seemed to have no ends on his sight.

Something as insignificant as a gun, an insignificant piece of equipment barely anyone uses, something he could easily defend against, it was now threatening life. He despised this situation. He hated this powerlessness.

"Still, when I look at you....you reminded me of him," Rio continued, "I don't much about the man...but, I knew that he had something he wished for,"

Dallas trembled, his eyes shifting to the man behind the gun. At that moment, a wave of terror overtook his body. The man's smile was so ange—no, it was devilish at it's core. However, beyond that, it felt familiar.

It was familiar. Everything about that man was familiar. The empty, black eyes devoid of any desires and dreams. The smile so angelic and devilish, capable of doing anything without morals. The man felt like a monster.

"You two are similar in that regard," Rio continued, his fingers closing in to the trigger, "I'm sure that you have dreams and aspirations as well, afterall you want to live so badly,"

"So...rr..—Arghk!" Dallas spoke, his eyes filled with terror. He now knew what was familiar about the man. He now realized why he was so utterly terrified.

"...I'm getting off-topic," Rio shook his head, "My point is, even though you and Mo Zhu are severely different...both of you are the same,"

"Then again, so what if both of you are the same?" Rio sighed, his eyes calmly staring at Dallas, "It's not like any of you lived to see another day."

Dallas, trembled. His body shaking in fear.

"Though, isn't it unfair?" Rio inquired, his eyes closing in to the man's eyes, "Both of you probably had lives, dreams to fulfill and succeed,"

"But out of nowhere, someone like me appeared and destroyed all of that," Rio continued, "And the worst thing about it? I don't feel anything about it."

"Isn't that just miserable and pitiful?" Rio asked, the calm smile on his face never wiping away, "You have so much to live for...but I arrived, and stepped on everything you had like ants and bugs on my path,"

"...What am I saying?" Rio sighed as he shook his head, "Forgive me. I got ahead of myself. I figured it was best to let out what's on my mind to a dead man. I took too much time, now you're in further agony."

Dallas, screamed. However, no voice came out of his mouth. Even death seemed insignificant at the sudden realization that dawned on him. The man resembled...

Click—!

A loud click resounded, Rio's fingers pushed the trigger as the barell fired.

Bang—!

A loud gunshot resounded, the round bullet exploding at the dark skinned man's face.

"Oh, did I ever get his name...?" Rio wondered, his eyes staring at the blood dripping out from the man's forehead, "Well, no matter. You were just a stronger Mo Zhu afterall."

Before Dallas fell to his death, he struggled to get ahold of his consciousness as he stared at the back of the blonde haired man with terror in his eyes. The man resembled him of his client.

The mad cultist leader, Aza.

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