Everyone's gaze immediately turned towards the source of the voice. There, in the corner of the room, stood a woman in all-black tight clothes wearing a red mask with white stripes on it. Looking at the woman, everyone knew who she was.
But currently, all of them were in a very awkward situation. The current situation was Emery and Klea on top of the bed, together. Meanwhile, the three boys were staring at them with weird gazes.
Realizing the atmosphere, Emery quickly got up from the bed and said to the woman, "Ahh! It's you! Why do you like to sneak in like this? Can't you just knock on the door?"
When he finished his sentence, Emery realized he said something that could be interpreted wrong. Glancing towards his friends, Emery saw them staring at him, weirdly.
The masked woman, on the other hand, didn't seem to care and just said, "You shouldn't make my master wait any longer. Let us go now."
"Y-Yea...Yeah! Sure!" Turning around and shifting his gaze towards his friends, Emery immediately flashed a smile, awkward one while saying, "Let's go, everyone! Yes...?"
Seeing Emery's attempt to dissolve the situation, all of them could only nod their heads and leave the room, preparing to go. A few minutes later, the four boys were seen waiting outside the residence while Klea was nowhere to be seen. It looked like she still needed some time to prepare herself.
When the four of them were waiting for Klea, Emery felt the gazes from all three of his friends, as they were still staring at him. When he turned around and looked at them, Emery saw something in their eyes, something different. Emery decided to break the silence, when he couldn't stand their glances anymore. "Uhm… Guys? Why are you like this?"
"I can't believe it!" Thrax exclaimed. He approached Emery and embraced his shoulders, "My boy Emery is a man now! HAHAHA!" he laughed loudly. "My man! This is great news!"
Before Emery could say anything, Julian beat him to it. "Yeah, me too! You act faster than I thought!" he said, while his expression still showed a shocked look. "From all the secret spells, the transformation, and then this! Wow... Emery. I really don't know you anymore." Julian said with a smile. Meanwhile, Emery could see Chumo vigorously nodding his head in agreement.
Emery was dumbfounded when he heard his friends' reactions. He then immediately tried to think of a way to clear this misunderstanding. Raising his hands in front of him, Emery said, "I-I.. Guys! There's nothing happening between us. I just slept."
Upon hearing that, their expression immediately showed skepticism, including Chumo.
"Don't deny it, Emery. I don't believe you at all!" Julian said. "There's no way nothing happened when you sleep next to such a gorgeous girl. It's either you are doing it or you didn't sleep. And you are saying that you just 'sleep'? I don't believe it!"
"I-I…" Emery tried to say anything but couldn't. Thankfully, Thrax said something that helped him.
"Actually, Roman. same things happened a lot to me when I was drunk."
Seeing that Thrax was helping him, Emery felt much better as he quickly supported the claim. "Yes! Exactly! We are all drunk! it's not possible"
But, Thrax wasn't done yet. "Even though most of the times I fell asleep, my manhood still did the deed, if you know what I mean.?" Thrax smirk towards Emery
"NO! No!! That's not what happened!" Emery screamed. "Alright, can we stop talking about this and focus on what is in front of us?" Emery said, as he tried to divert the topic. But, Thrax couldn't let him do that easily.
"But… we are just standing here, waiting. So, tell us about what you did last night."
"Nothing! Absolutely nothing!" Emery said. "Can we just not talk about this anymore? Please?"
"Alright..."
However, even though they already decided to not talk about it anymore, Emery could still see Thrax smiling continuously, Julian still puzzled and Chumo still staring at him weirdly. Fortunately, Klea finally came out of the residence and joined the group.
"I'm sorry, guys! I took a longer shower today... After what happened last night." Klea said while her face was blushing.
All eyes immediately returned to Emery, who just stood there speechless, wondering what was wrong with his life. But then, Klea suddenly laughed.
"Hahaha! You're so funny, Emery! And you guys too! So hilarious!" Klea said, receiving the confused gazes from the three boys, "I'm fine guys, really!"
She then looked at Emery and said with a smile, "I don't mind at all."
"!!!"
'But I didn't do anything!' Emery thought in his mind.
When another round of questioning was about to be held, a sudden voice interrupted them, "Ehem!"
They immediately turned around and saw the masked woman.
"So, are you all ready yet?" she asked.
"Yes, yes, we are ready," Emery answered quickly, as if his life was depending on it.
The masked woman immediately walked out of the courtyard, while the group followed behind. They kept walking until they saw a portal and entered it.
Moments later, the group could see a sight in front of them. Seeing the familiar grey bricks that were painted on the walls of most of the buildings here with their scarlet and azure blue rooftops, and combined with the imposing sight of the tall towers, Emery could tell where they were right now. The crowds and the alleys here told them they were currently at the portal just outside the combat institution.
Emery thought the masked woman would lead them to the arena. But this time, they didn't head towards the arena, instead they were guided into a special area with a grand and majestic entrance gate filled with guards cladded in golden armor. Just from the distance, Emery could see at the first glance that those armors were extraordinary artifacts.
When the guards saw the approaching masked woman, they immediately ordered the entrance gate to be opened. A while later, a rumbling resounded, as the gate was slowly opened. When they arrived at the gate, it was already fully opened and the group immediately entered it.
When they passed the gate, Emery and his friends were welcomed with a sight of a vast courtyard, lush grasses and abundant trees filled its surroundings. In the middle of the courtyard, one could see five statues of magus, each of them sculpted in different postures.
When Emery observed the statues closely, he could feel the statues were giving a unique ambience to its surroundings. The ambience was so strong it could also be felt by others.
When Thrax noticed the face of the statues, he became energetic. He then explained who those statues were.
"Those 5 statues were modeled after the former combat magus champions, who were currently the 5 guardians of the combat institute. They are all amazing fighters." He then turned his attention to the woman walking in front. "Is your master one of them?" Thrax asked.
Alas, the masked woman chose to ignore him and kept walking forward. She didn't even bother to turn her head around.
After passing through the courtyard, the large path they were on split into five. They proceeded to walk on one of the paths until they finally saw a small palace in the shape of a building that took Klea by surprise. The building architecture looked similar to the ancient buildings that could be found in Egypt.
They arrived at the bottom of the building and saw hundreds of stairs they needed to conquer, in order to reach their destination. After taking a deep breath, the group immediately climbed the staircase. When they reached the end of the stairs, they found a giant gate that was half opened.
When they peeked inside, they saw a magnificent giant hall. Its floor was made of polished sandstone blocks, while one could see towering, glistening pillars supported the ceiling. Inside the cathedral-like hall, stood a giant podium, where one could see a middle-aged man with a short beard. He was dressed in gleaming gold armor and sat on top of a giant throne.
The man was looking straight at them before they even went into the hall. When they realized the man was gazing at them, they felt the man's gaze emanated a formless aura that suppressed the five of them.
When they finally entered the hall and could clearly see the man, Emery flinched as he recognized the man. This man was one of the men who stared at him in combat stadium last year.
The masked woman, who was in front of them, knelt in front of the throne and said, "Master, I have brought the 5 acolytes as you requested."
"Yes, you may leave now. Yuria."
"Yes, Master."