"Here’s a thought," Bryan raised his hand like he was a student in class. "Where am I sitting?"

Before him, Matilda was already on the Pegasus while Kai handed Iris over—letting her settle in front of Matilda, right on the Pegasus’ crest. Kai was about to climb over, but stopped mid-track at Bryan’s question.

Almost like he had forgotten completely about Byran, Kai got down and walked away.

Both Bryan and Matilda watched as Kai went over to a banyan tree nearby and pulled out its aerial roots. He pulled a good few of them and wrapped them around his arm, loosening the roots so that they could bend more easily.

Kai returned and wasted no time wrapping the roots around Bryan’s waist.

He didn’t forget to tighten it in the end.

"Wh-What are you doing?"

"Three people won’t fit on the Pegasus’ back. It’ll hinder its flapping wings."

"And?"

"Let’s tie you to it."

"Fuck no! No!" Bryan clawed at the roots, immediately wanting to untie them. "Are you telling me that I’ll be dangling under the Pegasus like luggage?! No. Absolutely not. I’m terrified of heights, first of all. Second, how do you know these roots will even hold? I’m way bigger than you. I’m almost three hundred pounds of pure muscle!"

"Muscle my ass," Kai sneered. "If you don’t like it, then walk back—on your own. Maybe you can go back with the Ichor Legion."

Of course, Bryan couldn’t do that.

He was told to scout ahead for the group, and yet he didn’t come back to them.

Even if he used the excuse of encountering Awakened Monsters or even a Star Beast, there’s no doubt Chester would sniff his lie instantly. The man was too sharp, too perceptive. Lying to him is impossible.

And the moment Chester caught him in the lie, his life would become a nightmare.

"On second thought, I’d be happy to be luggage," Bryan said with a cheery smile.

Once everything was in place, Matilda tapped the Pegasus with her heel, and it immediately launched forward, soaring through the sky. Even with the new luggage weighing it down, it doesn’t seem to be hindered at all.

Below, Bryan was screaming at the top of his lungs.

"Woaaah! Put me down!" He held onto the root tightly with both hands. "Put me down!!"

Moments later.

"Are you sure you’re going to be fine?" Matilda looked down at Kai from the Pegasus.

They arrived at the Aerial Stable, landing in a secluded area, away from prying eyes.

Kai got down and would be making his way back to the academy alone, dragging three heavy leather sacks with him. Under normal circumstances, the weight wouldn’t have troubled him at all.

But in his current state, even Matilda doubted whether he would make it to reach the gates.

"It’s fine," Kai assured. "Get out of here before anyone notices."

"Here," Bryan, already sitting behind Matilda, tossed the roots at Kai. "Good luck."

With a neigh, the Pegasus flew away, leaving Kai alone, surrounded by nothing but clods.

Kai breathed heavily through his nose. He went down on one knee and started to tie the three sacks together using the roots, taking longer due to only having one working hand at this very moment, making everything harder to do.

Once he finished, he began his long walk, dragging the three sacks behind him.

Every step was a negotiation with the pain.

Every breath he took was a negotiation with his body to keep going.

Behind, the three leather sacks carved furrows through the cloud. His broken shoulder still sags. The cuts all over his body are still regenerating, but slower due to his exhaustion. Kai really wanted to ask Perion to carry him, but he couldn’t.

Not unless he wanted everyone to question his bloodline.

Ahead, there was nothing other than lumps of clouds that stacked like marshmallows.

And the blue tinge from the sunlight made it seem like the marshmallows were flavoured.

It took over five minutes of walking before he finally saw the academy, a distant speck on the horizon, growing larger with agonizing slowness. Kai pressed on, trying hard not to focus on the distance, but to focus on taking the next step after the next step instead.

His shoulder was sore from the rope slung over it that was tied to the three leather sacks.

"Haah... Is it always going to be like this?"

Every single time he tried to do something, he always wrestled with death first.

Recalling what had happened on the Fire Swamp, he couldn’t help but feel lucky. One wrong move back there and he’d be shoved into a body bag—written off by the academy as nothing more than another Angel crushed by the corrupted class system.

Kai would be lying if he wasn’t scared and tried.

But then again, the fact that he survived another attempt by the world meant he’s stronger.

And he took pleasure in believing that Bella would be happy to see him survive again.

"Eurgh..."

Kai stumbled on his steps and fell forward,

He lay there for a long moment—steadying his ragged breaths as pain raked across his body like claws. A tear slipped free despite his defenses—but he wiped it away before it could fall far, planted his hand against the ground, and forced himself upright.

Just as he managed to put one foot under him, he stumbled again.

But this time, something stopped him from falling.

"Let me help."

Kai paused for a second at the familiar voice, and when he lifted his gaze, he saw an angel.

Not a Supernal Angel, but a genuine Angel, smiling at him brightly.

"Bree..." He muttered the name weakly.

"You’ve forgotten all about me, but here I am—predicting that you must have done something stupid and got yourself hurt," Bree’s pale pink eyes flickered as they bore into Kai, and then, she shook her head with a deep sigh. "You should start informing me if you are going to do something, or if you have cancelled going to the Dead Range."

"Have you... Have you been waiting for me?"

"What do you think?"

"Sorry," Kai offered a sheepish smile despite the pain all over his body.

He had told Bree that he and Matilda would mind on the Dead Range with her, and yet neither of them showed their noses. Bree must’ve been searching for them the entire night out of fear that Awakened Monsters or Start Beasts had gotten to them.

In reality, they changed destination to the Fire Swamp instead.

"What happened?"

"I changed my mind at the last minute and went to the Fire Swamp."

Kai told her everything about what happened.

Starting from Professor Evie’s problem that made him change destination to the Fire Swamp, all the way to the attack from the seniors. After forgetting entirely about Bree, he felt bad about it, so he hid nothing from her.

"I found Iris, though. It ended well."

"I don’t care about that. If it’s a professor’s sponsor, there are other ways to get it. I care more about you. Thank goodness you survived. After this, you’re not going anywhere but your own room. I’ll bring back medicine and also treat your wounds."

Kai blushed a little.

Maybe she was really worried, but she was really blunt in saying those things.

"Come on," Bree said, draping Kai’s arm over her shoulders and helping him stand up.

"H-Huh?" Kai recoiled. "We’re near the academy. You can’t be seen with me."

"Relax. It’s still early in the morning. There’s barely anyone around."

"Still, let’s not take unnecessary risk."

"I’ll help you until you’re close enough, how about that? I’ll leave before the guards can see us."

"Fine..."

Reaching near the main gate took longer than it should have, given how much strength Kai needed to exert only to keep himself standing. Eventually, Bree decided to support him fully, placing an arm over his waist and helping him continue.

At least that way, he would be able to rest and work the rest of the way later on his own.

Meanwhile, in front of the main gate.

"No, fuck! We’re not counting that!"

"Quit bitching and accept it."

"You used something, didn’t you?! Nah, that doesn’t count!"

"I swear upon Meus’ name that I didn’t do anything to tamper with the coin at all!"

"Zeus! It’s fucking Zeus, you moron! I knew it! You’re cheating!"

A group of Angel guards that were already guarding the main gate from last night gathered around a game with two of them flicking a coin at a small depression in the cloud a dozen feet away, while the others watched—whoever landed it inside the pit won.

Considering the bet involved a Sky Gate, the competition was fierce.

Nobody wanted to lose.

Another one, a monkey-masked Blooded Angel, remained away, standing with a spear in hand.

He yawned; being on night shift duty is the worst, especially with his bloodline that couldn’t handle staying up late. There were already dark bags underneath his eyes. But he didn’t dare to complain lest he get into trouble.

Just suck and swallow.

No need to complicate things.

"Hmm?" His eyes narrowed as a figure emerged in the distance. His vision was blurry from pure exhaustion, and he rubbed his eyes before taking a second look. The figure was real. "I think most of the students have already come back, at least the new ones. Who’d stay out this late?"

The figure was stumbling like a zombie.

It made the monkey-masked Blooded Angel tighten his grip on his spear.

"Did a Star Beast fall down from the Second Sky?" He thought aloud, shifting the way he held the spear, preparing to throw the spear when the zombie was closer. He placed a foot forward and drew back the spear, intending to throw, but stopped. "It’s really a student."

Realizing that it wasn’t a Star Beast, the monkey-masked Blooded Angel stood down.

He remembered today was the day to submit the weekly quota.

This student must have forgotten about it and spent the entire night inside the new cultivated clouds to amass the quota he needed. But when he saw the three leather sacks completely full of mana ores, his eyes widened.

High Angels only have the responsibility of about a thousand mana ores.

Angels have a little bit over them, but not by much.

Just one leather sack alone could hold about a thousand mana ores.

For this student to bring three sacks of mana ores meant he wasn’t a High Angel, nor was he a normal Angel. "A Lesser Angel...?" the monkey-masked Blood Angel muttered. "It’s really the Lesser Angel."

Catching what he said, the other guard Angels, shifted to the horizon.

All of their eyes were fixated on the approaching figure, and they all frowned.

This... This should be impossible.