Author Notes: The last chapter assumption that Sheele was 24 given that her age is in her mid 20s, this chapter assumes that Chelsea is at least 21 years old.
I also reveal a glimpse of how terrifyingly powerful Alba can be. Next chapter will focus on the other Prefects and an inside glimpse into their lives.
Chapter 53: Kill The Obligation Part 3
21 Years Ago
In a small village, a baby with short auburn hair was cooing at a traveling puppet show while being held by her mother with similarly colored waist length hair and a simple white dress. Her father, a sly looking fellow with a pinkish red goatee and matching medium length hair wearing a weathered down business suit sat in the corner. He took a stick and bit the tip between his teeth with an annoyed expression on his face. The children surrounding the puppet show were being a little loud for his tastes.
"Isn't it nice that you gave smoking? A lot of people were complaining about it.," said the woman holding the baby without turning her back with a smug smile.
"Yeah, yeah...aren't you getting her hopes raised too high...not heroes aren't as grandiose as the one being shown over there.," replied the man in a cynical tone as he observed the puppet show being displayed in the miniature theater set by the puppeteer who organized the production.
"I think its good that children learn about these sort of things as soon as they can. So they can face the harsh realities of the world with hope that things can always turn out for the better.," the woman replied as she continued to watch the play with an optimistic tone in her voice.
The baby while not understanding what was going was intrigued by the performance. It showcased a brave knight who slew a frightening dragon while saving the princess that he sought. Then something caught her eye in a tree a few feet away from the play. It was a particularly large bird with pale white feathers staring directly at her with large blue, circular eyes. It made the baby instinctively afraid for some reason she couldn't explain.
Then the bird did something that was very un-animal like...it took a glance at the play and then back to the baby. It shook its head and then flew away into the far off distance.
The baby subconsciously knew what that bird knew was attempting to say-
Don't believe in idealism, be a realist.
The baby's innocent stare slowly became more jaded, looking at the play with a more cynical mindset.
Chelsea was frozen stiff as Sheele lunged at Alba who effortlessly dodged her strike, as she landed where his seat used to be.
"It seems that has been a 40% decrease in punctuality of the Plant Regiment. It seems that the recent event involving the replacement of the White Faction leader has shaken the motivation of those who are questionable of his replacement's leadership.," Oedipus explained as he lowered his head, his tone more serious than normal.
"Does that mean we should set up some counseling in order to resolve their emotional turmoil?," asked a Toucan Akujin in the far back part of the room.
"Nah, give the ones who got a few minutes late detention. That will teach them to be torn up over a minor desertion.," Oedipus replied with his head turned up to reveal his usual plastered smile with his usual narcissistic tone of voice.
Negrot remained silent while the insanity ensued with he sat resolute in his seat.
"It seems just by seeing my face, you've remembered all the trauma you've suppressed since that night...Well, your memory was wiped and I swapped your neural system with this body's original one so I would be more-," Alba explained in a calm, devilish tone of voice until he noticed something odd. When he noticed Sheele turning to face him again, it became clear something was off about her expression.
Sheele was doing a very poor attempt of being angry while awkwardly yelling incoherent noises. This managed to off put Oedipus and everyone aside from Negrot due to this over the top attempt at going berserk.
"Elegant...," Alba finished with an baffled expression on his face. Sheele lunged at him again, forcing him to back slowly towards the entrance of the classroom.
It doesn't look like she remembers me at all., Alba thought as if annoyed at the silliness of his attacker.
In the middle of her incoherent noises, Sheele gave a brief glimpse of focus...as if this was part of some bigger plan.
A Few Moments Earlier
Leone, Lubbock, Chelsea and Sheele were about to enter the school when Lubbock decided to speak.
"Ok, before we do this- it's best that we come up with a plan.," Lubbock said in a determined tone as he clenched his fist. His expression softened into embarrassment as Sheele and Chelsea looked at his current attire with focused glares that made him feel nervous.
"What's with the dress? And why is Leone more catlike than normal?," Chelsea asked in a deadpan tone as she noted her colleagues' new looks. Leone and Lubbock shot her annoyed glares as they gritted their teeth.
"A lot happened, let's just say I'm technically a Teigu now and Lubbock was someone's bitch.," Leone said in a casual tone that made Lubbock depressed.
"We were in Seryu's Teigu for a long time, but Chelsea's head apparently...had a hell of time here.," Sheele responded in an airy tone that made Chelsea sulk into a melancholy state. Leone recalled how Mine told her that their comrades' remains were devoured by the monstrous dog, but the words Sheele just spoke brought forth far more disturbing implications about the Teigu than what was initially interpreted with Hekatonkheires.
"It's good to see you Sheele...it seems you've bonded with one of our newest additions. She can be troublesome, but she's got a heart.," Leone replied as she shook Sheele's hand. Sheele smiled softly while Leone gave a wide grin.
"The kettle calling the pot black. Anyway, if we go in there- we are so outclassed.," Chelsea said negatively, as she put a lollipop in her mouth. This made Leone think about Helianthus, the marlin faced man, Lanza and Shirome; at least four beings with abilities that were clearly supernatural and beyond what she had faced before.
"Leone and I just want one thing- to see a weed be pulled out- permanently And there's a bird that that weed seemed to value a great deal in there- we need to lure him out so we can force answers out of him.," Lubbock said initially with a tactical professionalism until it gave way to a gleefully, malicious tone. He wanted to get back at Helianthus in the worst way possible.
"I think we can do that. Leone loves to ambush people and you're...very enthusiastic about this.," Sheele replied with a sweat bead on her head as she nervously noted Lubbock's slightly sinister cackle.
"He's apparently an annoying bird, so it'll be easy to get him. Then we claw out every detail about the plant guy we can wrangle out of his gizzard.," Leone said with confidence as she pounded her right fist against her left hand.
"Sheele...can you act shocked, lunge at him and slowly back him into the entrance so we can ambush him...you can right?," Lubbock asked Sheele as his eye narrowed.
"Ok.," the purple haired girl replied with a nod.
"Chelsea it may be hard to ask of this- seeing that the two of you just met, but can you help her out, so we can do our part?," Leone asked as she neared the auburn haired woman.
"Alright, I got it.," Chelsea replied with a shrug, but something in the back of her mind made her unsure of the success of the plan.
Leone and Lubbock slowly edged towards the door ready to pounce on the bird that Sheele would lure out, but then they stopped when they peered through the window showcasing the room.
"Why is Chelsea acting like she's a frog in front of a snake? It shouldn't matter, Sheele seems to be doing her part and we'll be able to bag 'im.," Leone said with a cattish smirk on her face.
"Ok...here-," Lubbock said in preparation for his attack. He stopped as he saw something that truly unnerved him.
The one that he was seeking, Alba was looking directly at him- not in shock..., but in calm anticipation. He had seen somehow seen through the ploy even though it was conducted a few moments ago and without his awareness.
"Oh shit!," Lubbock shouted as he backed away in shock. Leone then felt an overwhelming evil intent causing her to backtrack as well.
"What the hell just happened?! He shouldn't have seen it coming!," the leonine girl yelled to her comrade until she saw Alba vanish from sight. The door opened slowly with Sheele looking confused at what occurred. Leone and Lubbock looked up in terror as they saw a purple haired youth in a white dress suit with wings of pure white energy on his back.
"Even if you've reincarnated into a different form, it seems you've never changed...Cross Tail bearer.," Alba said as he looked down below with an eerily calm expression, like a predator waiting to catch his prey.
"Reincarnation? That would sound ridiculous, but after seeing all of the crap in this hellhole, I'd buy it. You're the bird we're trying to catch- you're a pretty boy oh great. So what was I before this life? A dashing rogue?," Lubbock asked sarcastically while also beading sweat due to the sudden appearance of the boy in front of him.
"No, you were a little missy, the dress fits your highness.," Alba replied with cheerfully mischievous tone as he gleefully watched as Lubbock whitened with shock. Similar to how Najenda reacted to when Susanoo told her previous master was a male that was similar to her, Lubbock fell on his knees in despair.
Leone took the situation more serious as she clenched her fist in anger.
Either his senses are extremely sharp or he's bonafide genius- worst case if he's both..., but., Leone thought as her eyes narrowed in anger.
Leone became sullen as she asked in a dead tone of voice to the purple haired boy as he floated downwards a few feet away from her. The air around her was stifled and thick from her icy anger.
"Oh you're the one I lost track of that night years ago... Oh I should mention this to you. Your cunt of a mother and your pissant father's souls...were revolting to swallow...,"Alba replied as his voice dropped a full octave and uttered a demonic echo. His eyes becoming narrow purple slits as he spoke.
Leone then asked another question with a more severe tone of voice,
"Why do you look like Sheele? You smell a little like her, but I can tell you're not human...why is that?"
"Oh this is her brother's , but it's not really him on inside. Because I took over his body and ate his soul from the inside out.," Alba responded as his voice dropped deeper and his sclera turned blood red.
Leone proceeded to pounce on him...or at least attempted to until Alba did something unexpected.
"Sedecim Maximo Inferna: Arbuda...," Alba spoke in a solemn tone in his normal tone of voice. A white light emitted from his body and enveloped the hallway. Leone and Lubbock were too shocked to react, but soon the light dimmed down. They attempted to move, but the most unusual thing occurred. It wasn't like they stopped- it was as they were moving through a solid yet fluid liquid.
"It is said that the length of life in this type of hell, would be the time it would take to empty a barrel of sesame seed if one only took out a single seed every hundred years. Time is dilated for the ones I've targeted until I see there's no reason to.," Alba replied as he went back to class. Lubbock was completely paralyzed while Leone was at least able to move her mouth, head and sight at a normal, but extremely slow pace.
"Wait, this technique...it's like-," Leone said extremely slowly to Alba.
"Because I taught her the Mahāpadma technique.," Alba stated as he took a glance back at the leonine girl. He then closed the door and saw that Sheele and Chelsea were affected as well. The bird class were not affected in the slightest because he didn't decide to force the technique onto them.
"We'll talk about reminisce later on today...my little Chelsea nut...," Alba spoke to Chelsea in a sinister tone of voice that made her shiver in dread. He went back to his seat as if nothing had happened.
As the girls in the room swooned over his revealed boyish looks, Negrot looked silently at Alba and then turned his gaze to the celling.
As usual, he shines so brightly...a star that can't never be reached...while I wallow in the blackness far away from that star., he thought with dejected acceptance. Negrot recalled how Alba would always be ahead of him and no matter how much he was pressured, that he would ascend to higher levels of power while Negrot had to gradually get stronger. It was that way since he was born and it was the case even now.
Next Chapter: Kill The Obligation Part 4
