July 24th
10:30PM
Fraumeni Residence
Backyard
Disappointment is never a good feeling. This is especially true when someone you trust with a very important task fails it. Hailey was standing in her backward, looking down at a rotating magic circle at her feet. She had a dark look on her face. After a few seconds, the form of a kneeling young man materialized on top of it.
"... You've summoned me?" the male asked quietly, gazing upwards at Hailey.
"Yes." Hailey nodded, "I trust that you've recovered from your battle?"
"...Somewhat." he replied. A sadistic smirk appeared on Hailey's face and she kicked him hard in the stomach, causing him to double over in pain.
"Second... No. Ethan... I hate being disappointed. I hope you know that~" Hailey hissed.
"Y-Yes..." Ethan groaned. Hailey pulled him up by his hair then held his face in her hands.
"Such a cute face but wasted potential... It's such a shame. You need to try harder. I don't need weaklings on my side. This is a time where only the strongest will survive. If you don't want to get eaten alive, get rid of that wimpiness~" Hailey stated, looking into his eyes.
"I-I understand... Mistress." Ethan replied shakily. Hailey let go of him and pushed him to the ground.
"Out of the other potential candidates that I found, you're the weakest so far. You're the only boy too... That's just depressing. Don't you want to represent your gender by becoming the strongest man in the world? Well... you are far from that level. You either need to get better or go and get rid of yourself so everything won't be plagued by your existence." she folded her arms across her chest. Hailey had no sympathy for the helpless. A frown crossed Ethan's face and he slowly got to his feet.
"What do you know? You don't know about my life... I had to go through a lot! Don't act like you know everything!" Ethan yelled. Hailey tsked and Nemesis appeared in her hand.
"Don't raise your voice at me you little pest!" Hailey whacked Ethan across the face with Nemesis, one of its sharp edges leaving a small cut under his eye. Ethan grunted as he fell onto his side, covering his face with his hand. "Quit writhing. Get up. Repent for your misconduct." Hailey prodded his arm with her foot.
Ethan sat up after a few seconds and took a deep breath. "...I'm sorry for yelling." he mumbled.
"Good. Now get out of my sight. I'm done with you for today." Hailey huffed as she turned her back to him. Ethan got to his feet and silently flew away into the night, still fuming because of what he was told. After he left, Hailey let out a soft sigh and headed into the house after returning Nemesis to its undeployed form. Before she could reach the stairs, Nemesis spoke to her.
"Master."
"Hm? What do you want Nemesis?" Hailey questioned.
"There has been a trace a foreign magical energy reading on your person for the past few days that has not faded." Nemesis replied.
"Why did you not alert me of this before?" Hailey asked.
"I did not believe it to be a potential threat at the time. I believe it is a tracking signal."
"...Get rid of it as soon as possible. We need no hindrances that will cause this operation to be eliminated." Hailey stated with a serious tone.
"Yes Master." Nemesis responded. It quickly purged Hailey's body of the foreign reading and flashed once it finished. "It is done."
"Thank you." Hailey nodded, heading up to her room. She immediately sat down on the bed and slipped off her silver bracelet. "Time to see what my two other candidates are up to." A section of the bracelet disappeared and an image of Ayase, Miyu, and another girl appeared inside the bracelet's center. She had no idea who the third girl was, but she just shrugged the thought off. Hailey listened in as they told stories of their pasts, which Hailey found rather intriguing. She listened to their conversation until they all headed up to bed. The segment of her bracelet returned soon afterward.
"So we have a Sylphian orphan, a hotheaded girl that's secretly in love with Ethan, and a teenage idol... That's certainly an interesting trio." Hailey stated with a smirk. "Tomorrow will mark the beginning of my new plan. I must pretend to befriend those girls."
