"Is that true?" The queen said, creating some distance.

"It wasn't me! Please believe me! I swore to Argos that I would never betray you, your majesty, please believe me!" Lenard pleaded with tears and snot. It was an unsightly appearance for any royal official.

"YOU DARE LIE!!! Do you think I am unaware of your secret meetings with my brother? Lenard, I believed you to be better than this." He sighed.

"Alas, it was my responsibility as king to keep my subordinates in check." Saying that, he stood up. In his right hand was a bastard sword with a greenish metallic luster.

"For this, I have no one to blame but myself." He brought the sword down and shortly after, the floor boards were dyed red.

I didn't know what to feel. Death... Was it a sufficient punishment?

As a person who had experienced "death" once before, I realized I had either matured, or lost what made me "innocent" in the first place. Was it the fear of death? No, even today, I am still afraid of death.

What I lost, was naivety. Life was a man eat man world. Had I not have been here, the king would have been "eaten" by Lenard. Lenard was now the one "eaten" by the king.

Was this the reason I could accept it so easily? Death was death, that's all there was to it. Death could be a punishment like what I saw right now, or it could have been freedom; like how I was freed from my past life.

"Bzzz! Everyone please evacuate the stadium! There is a dangerous intruder. Remain calm, the staff will lead everyone out." I knew it was something serious when it wasn't Crankenstein's voice.

Stepping out of the room, I looked at the sky. The entirety of the stadium—no; the entirety of the academy campus was covered by the dark clouds. No amount of sunlight penetrated the mass of thunderstorm clouds.

Looking around, there were barely any people in the seats. They were all crowded at the exit and leaving quickly. It seemed like the change in weather gave them quite a scare. 

'I should probably leave.' It wouldn't be good if I stayed any longer. I would probably get caught up in their situation. Either way, I had done what I wanted to do.

Remembering that I had wings now, I thought I could just fly off into the horizon but considering the current situation, it wouldn't be wise. What if the people who didn't watch the tournament thought I was the intruder since I had a hood over my head? It would only complicate the matter further.

I never thought I would think this but... I had to get to the nearest bathroom as fast as possible. Getting out of this hoodie was the only way I was going to feel safe.

I jumped down to the stage and ran through the giant hallway that led to the Waiting Room. Opening the non-squeaky set of doors revealed the dark Waiting Room. The lights were completely off and no one was here so I decided to do it here.

Navigating myself to a corner, I thought, 'unequip,' and the dark hoodie was put back into the inventory. I made my way to the entrance of the Waiting Room where the squeaky double doors that had caused me many problems were.

Squeak.

I opened the left door and went through the small hallway that led to the backdoor of the stadium. It was dimly lit with lights here and there.

It was filled with silence... or so it should have. When I was about half way there, I had an ominous thought.

'If this were a horror movie, wouldn't a ghost pop out of nowhere to prevent me from leaving?' 

As I made my way past the door labeled, "Control Room," I heard the clicking sound of a door unlocking.

Reacting immediately, I took out the Seventh Star Sword from my inventory and turned around facing the Control Room door.

The door opened and I lunged the sword straight toward the chest area of the man that came out.

I didn't care if he was innocent or not, but if anyone saw me in this hallway, it would complicate matters. Even though I wasn't dressed as "Hiro," a student like me being here at this timing would definitely be suspicious. Luckily for me, cameras did not exist according to my knowledge.

With how sharp the sword was, it easily slipped in between his rib cage and through an organ. I wasn't sure if what I pierced was a heart or a lung, it didn't matter.

"Y-y-you... W-who *cough*" He coughed out a mouthful of blood on the floor.

"H-how? How did you know? *cough*" He coughed out yet another batch of blood.

"Whoops! My hand slipped." I winked as I pulled the bloodstained sword out of him.

Judging from his dialogue, he was probably the intruder.

Either way, it didn't concern me. I put the sword back in the inventory and walked through the hallway as if nothing happened.

[Statistics: 1 boss defeated]

[Received: 1000 Merit Points]

'Yup. He was definitely the intruder.' I thought, as I walked happily down the hall.

Opening the doors, I looked around. No one seemed to be at the backdoor so I quickly closed it and ran off.

—Crankenstein's PoV—

'Just how did they know I was the mole?' I thought, unable to say it out loud. The blood loss was pretty severe.

Just where did they find an assassin as skilled and as young as him?

'Sh*t, with me down, the operation will fail.'

He walked away without doing any cleanup. Was his organization going to clean up for him? That was only something an expert assassin did.

Sh*t. With my heart pierced, it was hard to cast magic. I couldn't even cast a Restore to save my life.

Was this how a True Sage like me went down? Damn it. If only I took my physique training seriously. 

'Maybe it was best to die by an assassin...'

If I survived this, that devil would make me go through something even worse. F*ck!

How did his royal highness, Mathew get corrupted by the Demon King?

I could feel my body going cold now.

'Just when did it fall apart?' I thought.

I could feel my consciousness getting weaker and weaker. Looking down, it was a bit blurry, but I could see a pool of blood.

'My blood...' I thought as I closed my eyes. At least I could be at peace in death. Was this what my wife meant? Indeed, death was liberating. It was true freedom.

'I'll be seeing you soon, honey.'

'If only I had cherished what I had...'

...

"Say, where did the benefactor go?" Said a bearded elder.

Hearing that, Melissa looked around the VIP room but the person dressed in black was nowhere to be seen.

"This... Where's Heero?" She said loud enough for the king to hear.

"That kid, was it he who saved me?"

"Yes, if it weren't for him..." The other two bearded elders replied in unison.

"Then it's settled, mobilize all forces to find him at once! I must personally reward him. Ah yes, that's right. What happened to the Magic Tournament's first place prize?"