Legendary Architect of Apocalypse-Chapter 182: The Small Stone

The alarms rose across the Academy battleship. The staff members, initially focused on the robbery, now scrambled in panic and disbelief. The casual looting had escalated into murder and kidnapping right under their noses.

"They took a student! They killed Meyers and Chen!" someone shouted over the comms in terror.

Inside their room, Elias remained by the window, watching the pirate battleship that had started to depart, growing distant with each passing second.

He hadn't moved, and his expression remained unreadable as he finished the last of his chips.

Astralious materialized beside him again, his spiritual form flickering slightly. "They are leaving."

Elias crumpled the empty chip packet. "I told you. Not our problem. They got what they came for."

"You know, sometimes the smallest stone could create the biggest ripple in the water. I hope that child isn't one such stone," Australia mumbled.

He knew that he shouldn't be thinking too much about such an incident which had nothing to do with them, but he still couldn't put his mind at ease for some reason.

"We are swimming in the ocean which is filled with tides trying to swallow us whole. We don't have time to worry about some ripple. You are allowed to think that I'm being too cruel."

If it was in the past, he would have tried to save the stranger, just like he had saved a few people in the World of Frost. But he wasn't the same.

What was the point of even saving the world of frost, which he simply put the survivors in the path of a worse fate? Was he responsible for their misery that could have been avoided if they had faced a simpler death of freezing to death?

He didn't know. The only thing he was certain about, was that his emotions were a lot more faint ever since he returned from the world of fables. He wasn't phased by such things. His morality had grown a lot weaker, and he couldn't care less about it.

Even though he didn't go out of his way to kill others that had nothing to do with him, he wouldn't go out of his way to save people unless necessary for his own self.

A heavy knock echoed through the door, which brought Elias out of his daze.

The knock was followed by a tense voice. "Students, please remain in your rooms! We are assessing the situation."

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Elias glanced at the door, then back at Astralious. "See? The Academy is handling it. Or trying to. We just need to lay low until we reach Earth."

"Lay low?" Astralious scoffed. "Will they really continue on the trip to earth even after all this? I wouldn't be surprised if they just turn around and return to the Academy."

"This..." Elias hadn't reacted this sharply even when the pirates had invaded their ship. But when he heard about the prospects of the trip to earth being cancelled, he couldn't control his emotions.

The last thing he wanted was for this trip to earth to be cancelled. So many of his plans were relying on this trip. If they just returned, it was all for nothing.

"They can't return. They can just send the information back to the Academy, and let them deal with it. There's no need for them to cancel the test for one student, right?" he asked, but his voice gave away his nervousness.

If he knew that this was a possibility, he would've definitely tried to stop the Pirates from taking the boy. Unfortunately, it was too late now. He could only hope that they didn't turn back now.

.....

Inside the control room, Elten watched camera footage that showed pirates killing academy staff. The footage also showed the pirates carrying away a student from the academy.

On another screen, information about the student was displayed, including his rank and class.

"Why is there nothing about his family in this?" he asked, noticing a gap in the information panel.

"He's an orphan. He doesn't have any living family members that we know of," the man next to him answered.

"How did he even manage to take the Academy entrance examination? Even though we accept commoners, they also need connections to the Academy. How did this child... Who was his sponsor?"

Elten tapped on the information and looked for the name of the person who had recommended the boy for the Academy Entrance Exam.

Unlike the descendants of prominent families, commoners could only enter through recommendations, especially if they managed to attract the attention of Academy graduates spread throughout the galaxy.

He couldn't help but frown after noticing another gap in the information. "Hmm? This section is empty as well. Are you saying that no one recommended him either?"

"I'm not sure." The second in command scratched the back of his head. "We would have to talk to the Administration Department to find out how he managed to take the entrance examination. Should we turn around and return to the Academy?"

"You asked if we should return to the Academy. Why don't you ask if we should chase after the pirates to get the child back?"

"Because we can't catch up with a Ninth Grade Battleship. We also have to keep the other students safe and can't risk an attack from the pirates. And lastly, this is the Chaotic Realm. This is their home, and we might be the ones suffering if we try to go after them."

"That's right." Elten's fingers kept tapping the armrest of his chair. He closed his eyes, and frowned. "We can't go after them. Or rather, you can't go after them. But it's me..."

He opened an eye, and looked at the portrait of the kidnapped student on the screen. "But it's too much of a hassle for a nobody."

After a brief moment of silence, he came to a decision. "Make a report about everything that happened here. Send that report to the Academy, along with the recording. Tell them that we would be continuing on our journey to the test site."