The Messenger of Death

Chapter 197: the investigation

Seated in a debriefing room were Jojo and several other females. They were all workers from the Bull's Coven.

And facing these girls were some of the staff that was assigned to investigate the murder case that happened last night. Leading this investigation was Vincent. He sat down comfortably, glaring at the girls and scaring them.

"The Bull's Coven, such a despicable place in the academy. Now, I know that you girls aren't the ones that run the coven, it is very clear, what I want to know is about the guy that murdered the four boys" He looked at Jojo saw how frightened she was. "Or in this case should I say, girl?" He leaned back on his chair.

"The people running the coven might be able to get out of this unharmed because it seems like they have some people backing them. I for one, don't understand why the principal did nothing about the coven even when he knows about it." Vincent added.

"Speak," He commanded. Referring to Jojo.

"I don't know anything about him except his features. That's all I know, I've been saying this all night already. He first came to the coven 3 days ago, he came to have a bath. I was asked to take care of him since it was his first time in the coven.

But when I wanted to prep him for the hot spring, he rejected me, we all thought that he was a shy guy. Even when he was in the hot spring, he refused my advances and dragged me into the water.

Later on, he was the one that started making advances towards me, it was like his attitude switched. He began flirting, and he was a good one at that. In the coven that is not a new thing, so it wasn't suspicious or anything of the sort to me, before he left, he said that he was going to be back 2 days later." Jojo repeated herself for the umpteenth time.

"And was any of the dead victims in the coven that day too?" Vincent asked.

"Y-Yes, the one called Rayne was present that day." The girl that was attending to Rayne the first day that Alex went into the Bull's coven, spoke up.

"Around what time?" Vincent questioned.

"The same time that the bald guy was present. He caused a scene in hot spring by dragging Jojo into the water, and because of that many people can remember his features." The girl answered.

"From what I heard, if any of the customers cause a scene, there are guards there to settle everything. When he dragged you into the water, was he taken away? And if he was, tell me who the person is." Vincent demanded.

"No he wasn't taken away, Jojo was alright with what he did so they had no reason to take him away." The girl responded.

"Oh, you were alright with it? Are you always that generous to other customers?" Vincent, since the beginning had been very suspicious of Jojo, to him she is an associate of the murderer.

"No, I'm not always that generous with other customers," Jojo responded. 

"But you happened to be okay with him doing that." Vincent pointed out, making it obvious that she was his prime suspect in the room.

Jojo picked up on this and started to shake her head, feeling wronged by his suspicion. "I swear I do not know who John really is. It was all a coincidence, I am not affiliated with that murderer in any way, I swear." The innocence and sadness could be heard in Jojo's tone and the way she spoke. She was on the verge of tears now.

"Hmmm, from what you are saying, it seems like our killer had been tailing his targets for a while." 

"Okay, let's say that it's a coincidence then. Let us go back to what happened last night. Go ahead and explain that one to me." Vincent said to Jojo.

Tears began dripping from her eyes as she sniffed in the air. She raised her head and looked at Vincent.

"Last night, I was busy doing my normal duties in the coven when Hansel, she's sort of our gatekeeper of the coven, came to tell me that John was looking for me.

Although I did know that he was going to be coming, I wasn't sure he was going to look for me. So when Hansel came to call that he was there and was asking for me, I was thrilled to hear that. I mean who wouldn't? He's an attractive guy.

After we met and greeted ourselves, he said that we should go somewhere private and I was wasn't against that. Later on, in the room that he rented, before we even had the chance to do anything, he fed me grapes.

Don't get me wrong, if he was the one that brought the grapes to the room I wouldn't have eaten them, but when I entered the room, they were already there.

Meaning that it was the coven that placed them there.

And that's the last thing I can remember, eating grapes and making out a bit with him.

The next thing I knew, I woke up and found out that people had been killed in the academy." She finished with her explanation.

"Hmm, we are dealing with an experienced assassin. You said that he was wearing a blue uniform, right?" Vincent asked again to reconfirm.

"Yes," Jojo answered.

Vincent snapped his fingers and one of the men that was standing behind came forward. "Pass the word out, we will be inspecting every blue badge student in the school," Vincent ordered.

"Yes sir." The man answered and vanished from the room.

"You girls are free to go, you won't be charged with murder, but something else. You all worked for an illegal group in the school and stayed silent about it. That is the crime that you girls committed. You are dismissed." Vincent stated and left the debriefing room. 

***************

"Behind you," The plump guy warned Naomi.

Immediately she heard his warning, she jumped and flipped in the air. In the process of flipping, she tossed a kick at Xander.

Xander ducked and dodged her kick. Before she could land, he used the sheath to hit her legs causing her to land on her back.

"You don't attack your opponent willy-nilly. You have to think, if possible, think a step or several ahead of your opponent." Xander lectured her again. "Get up and try again." He added.

This made some people smile, even from amongst those that bet in favor of Naomi. They had respect for Xander now. This wasn't a fight anymore, but rather it was a training session for Naomi. One that she didn't ask for nor does she want.

What humiliation hasn't she suffered in the hands of her opponent? 'All I wanted was to be friends with him, yet he insulted me. He keeps on humiliating me and not even leaving me a chance to save my face.'

Naomi thought as she began to feel helpless and tears gushed out of her eyes.

"Get up," Xander ordered.

Naomi did as he ordered, tears were flowing down her face but she still had the urge to hit Xander, even if it was once.

Because of her emotions, her common sense got clouded and it affected her decisions greatly. When she attacked she didn't think, she just did. With every attack she made, her actions got sloppier than the previous one.

Despite this, Xander did not pity her, he kept on sending her to the ground time after time. Even her ankles had started to swell.

'Where did he get this sheath from? It should be the sheath for that sword that he brought out. Did Nana give it to him? This kind of weapon shouldn't be in the lower plain realm.' Tsukishima thought.

At this point of the fight, the crowd was tired of spectating. It was now obvious who the victor was and Naomi's resilience was starting to annoy them. Xander had dominated the fight, more so, this didn't look like a fight to them anymore, but rather, a student discipline another student.

"Why did I bet on this hopeless girl? Ahh, my energy crystals." One of the people that placed a bet in Naomi's favor, grieved.

"Don't let it get to you too much, most of us judged the book by its cover." Another person consoled.

Finally, Naomi was tired of this, it was pointless for her to continue. She didn't want to go against him anymore. She stood up once again, but this time with the intention of giving up.

"Forget it, I give-"

-Thud!!

Naomi fell to the ground again.

Xander had used the tip of the sheath, to jab her forehead. "I do remember telling you that I might not be merciful enough to let you give up." He said.

Naomi was stunned to see this happen. She started to regret her decisions. She had never faced anyone as cold-blooded as Xander.

"What? He's not going to let her give up?" A girl amid the crowd exclaimed. "Can't you see that she's a girl? Where is your manly pride? How can you do this to a girl?" The girl added. She was speaking to Xander.

Xander turned his attention to the person that was speaking to him.

"I don't know what pride you think that I have, but I am sure that my pride doesn't align with the nonsense that you just said. She was the one that challenged me, and she was quite eager and stubborn about it. Now that reality has chosen to hit her in her face you want me to let her go, so easily at that" Xander paused.

"If that's what you want, then I will agree to it if you take her place and fight against me." He added.

This made the girl shut her mouth. She was also a blue badge student, in the same rank as Xander. However, she knew that she wasn't a match for him.

"Ahhh!!"

Naomi started weeping, shouting out to express the emotions that she wasn't able to let out while fighting Xander.

"There's a price to pay when you choose to duel against me. My time is precious if you waste it I waste you." Xander uttered. This statement scared everyone that was there.

Xander was basically telling them not to challenge him.

"Get up, let us continue." He stated.

"Ahhh!!" Naomi continued to weep. Every person there couldn't help but pity her.

"That's enough, I have better things to do. Alexander wins this fight. Everybody disperse in 10 seconds." Tsukishima interjected and ended the fight.

Knowing that Tsukishima was a 'no-nonsense' type of man, everybody quickly scurried away. Naomi was one of the first to leave, her friends came to get her.

While everyone was running away, Xander stood where he was and located Gustavo. He glared at him for a while and only looked elsewhere when he felt that someone was looking at him too.

He turned and found out that it was Tsukishima. They locked their gazes for a few seconds before Xander's eyes were enveloped in rose gold lightning.

-Zznn!

-Whoosh!

Xander left the area