Warlock of War: My Ares System

Chapter 196 Fallen Leader

"Bye, bye,"

As we all split up throughout the day, I monitored the army of mages which were as kind and as gentle to the regular warriors as I had expected.

Most people come out a saint when they enter the world tower, but the others who don't are either dead or extremely injured, broken from the pressure of being a student in such a prestigious place.

Though, that's only if they have the rank to actually step out of the magic tower.

"How is the head? Has his illness finally died down?" I asked the butler so loyal to the bedridden man in front of me that I'm sure he wouldn't have hesitated in sucking out the poison from his blood.

"He is… still very sick. We've checked for signs of poison, and though there is some, it could be mistaken for another illness,"

"No, he was definitely poisoned. I don't think you were there when we had to get rid of at least a fourth of the servant as there were some traitors mixed amongst them,"

"A-Are you sure? W-Why would they ever do that?"

"They were either tipped off or under some kind of mind control, but I am more inclined to believe the former instead of the latter as Luna couldn't detect anything,"

"How horrible… th-then we should call over a B-rank healer. They should be able to fix him right up," The butler said, and my eyes went a bit cold as I circled around him.

"There is no need for that. Don't you think this is beneficial for the head? It seems he's never done any kind of poison resistance training before, so this would be amazing for him if he makes it through,"

"B-But the position. Th-the other families will attack,"

"They already have but don't worry. Bella is more than proficient enough, and the other kids from the Wony family are setting up their own plots on the outskirts of this place. We trust them, and they trust us,"

"What are they doing there?"

"They are setting up to raid all the outskirts and slowly close their way in. They're not only gathering the warehouse people to their side but also collecting some guilds that could possibly help them on the way there,"

"A-Are you sure this will work? Wouldn't the other families step in to stop this growth?" The butler asked.

"We're sending some mages there from the world tower, so don't worry… Anyway, I wish you the best of luck with the head's recovery, and make sure to take care of yourself. Don't want you fainting on the job," I chuckled, and the butler laughed with me.

"Take care as well, Sir Orion,"

"Thank you," I bowed before exiting the room, and as soon as I closed the door behind me, I crouched down, placed my hands over my face, and tried to suppress the wide smile trying to claw its way onto my face.

It's too easy… such kind people are too easy to manipulate… I almost feel bad for him.

I was the one who obviously poisoned him, and the only one who knows about this is Luna, who obviously won't snitch on me… for now… for now, of course.

Mostly everything had been planned from the beginning, especially Bella taking over.

First, I had to gain his trust while also helping out my friends to grow stronger, and the more battles we fought and completed, the more he would warm up to me as the "leader."

There wasn't really a leader amongst us, but as the one who was calling the shots about where we would go, the head began to trust me the most.

And… that was his downfall… letting me into his office unsupervised… he didn't even have any security measures.

"I feel so bad for him," I muttered before walking to my room.

I was exhausted from putting on an act for so long, and I and Luna's improv towards the end was the perfect selling point.

It was the golden goose that basically set us up for a smooth ride considering our relationship with them.

Tump

As I flopped onto my bed, my body bounced with the springs, soothing and massaging each muscle in my body.

Once I felt totally relaxed, I took out my spear from my storage ring and held it above me, looking dead into it as I felt something emitting from it.

"Third eye… Why did I call it my third eye again?" I muttered to myself, but no matter how much I racked my brain, nothing came up.

It was a natural flow of words that just escaped my mouth, and I had no reason to say it… but they just came out for some reason.

"Ugh… my throat hurts… I'm just gonna get some sleep…."

…

When I opened my eyes, all I saw was a rose, slowly blooming with beautiful blood-red petals, blossoming into a seemingly untouchable flower.

But, at the very end of it were its roots.

Its roots were made from vines so thorny that just touching it would cause your entire hand to bleed, possibly even killing you depending on how hard you grabbed it.

It was beautiful up top but sickening below.

As I watched the flower, seemingly in a trance, the vines slowly crawled towards me, eventually climbing around me and sinking their barbed teeth into my skin.

As they dragged along my skin, large lacerations opened up, causing blood to pour straight out of these wounds.

[Conditions Fullfilled]

[Conditions to fuse runes have been Fulfilled]

…

"*gasp*... Huff… Huff… Huff… What… What the hell," I muttered, and as I lifted my head from my sweaty pillow, I noticed the ring on my finger had disappeared, including the tattoo.

Fuse runes? What do you mean fuse runes?

I ran to the bathroom and immediately took off my shirt, seeing the runes still carved into my spine, but a new one carved into the back of my neck.

[You have unlocked the Rune Path: Blossoms of Rage]