Chapter 256: Sleeping Beauty [II]

A few minutes earlier...

Vince Cleverly was walking on a narrow ledge along the escarpment, arms stretched out like some drunk tightrope walker.

Ahead of him walked Ray, Michael, and Samael.

Behind him trailed Juliana, Lily, and Kang, who was hauling the still-unconscious Alexia.

Vince’s impression of this ragtag caravan was... complicated.

He already knew Samael, so at least he knew what to expect there.

Samael, according to him, was a narcissistic drama queen who was much smarter than he let on.

Michael, on the other hand, seemed way too perfect in every way — except when it came to basic self-preservation.

Just last night he’d gone out hunting alone to catch dinner.

And while the food he brought back was disgusting — barely qualified as

food

at all — he hadn’t asked for anything in return!

So he was either a fool... or the kind of person even saints would look at and mutter,

’Tone it down, man, you’re making the rest of us look bad!’

And Ray? Ray was... well, Vince hadn’t decided yet if he was comic relief goofball or an omen of disaster. Probably both.

...Definitely both.

Lily, much like her boyfriend, also seemed too nice for this world. Which meant this world was probably planning to eat her alive. And if the situation were different, Vince would’ve done so himself.

...What?

Taking advantage of

nice

people was his calling! Besides, he was doing them a favor by toughening them up for the cruel, cruel world.

As for Kang, well, he barely talked — unless it was to sling curses so obscene they could make even a sailor blush.

So he was a quiet guy with a bad temper, but

obsessively

devoted to his mistress.

His mistress was Alexia Von Zynx.

Vince didn’t know much about her aside from the obvious. She was blind, terrifyingly strong, and ranked among the top ten Cadets at the Apex like him.

He’d seen her at the academy a few times, but never spoken to her... or to most nobles unless it was at a gambling table. Samael being the sole exception.

But despite being a Southerner, even

he

knew that the Zynx bloodline carried enough weight to buy them instant respect anywhere they went in the world.

Sure, they were not as rich and strong as the Theosbanes, and also not as old and established as the Valkryns.

But their status was nothing to scoff at.

They were easily the third most influential family in the world — not counting the royals, obviously.

However, what Vince couldn’t wrap his head around was how someone blind could be

so

ferocious that people often forgot she couldn’t even see them.

He had witnessed her fight during the Evaluation Exam, and that was a sight he would never forget.

She was

definitely

terrifying.

...But even more terrifying than her was Samael’s

Shadow

— Juliana Vox Blade.

Vince had crossed paths with her once before, and he could say with confidence she was a

certified lunatic

.

She struck him as the kind of woman who would watch you choke on food and, instead of helping, critique your table manners while you died.

He was ninety percent sure she’d killed a man or two before.

...Not that Vince hadn’t killed people himself. But still. He wanted to be as far away from her as possible.

He sighed, wobbling slightly on the ledge.

No seriously, what the hell was he even doing here? Trapped in a nightmarish jungle, stuck between do-gooders, nobles, maniacs, and actual psychopaths?!

"Careful," Ray warned from behind as Vince edged a little too close to the edge. Coming from him, it sounded like an insult.

Vince glanced back, squinting as if he was personally offended.

"What do you mean,

careful

? I’m fine! Look — steady as a rock." He tapped his foot twice for emphasis.

Thud—

One particularly loose stone shifted under his boot.

"—Oh shit!"

And just like that, Vince was gone.

—Fwooooph!

He pinwheeled off the ledge, arms flailing, screaming like a man with only seconds left to regret every life choice he’d ever made.

Juliana, right behind him, didn’t even flinch.

She just tilted her head, met his eye mid-fall... and then looked away with the bored disinterest of a woman watching something unfold that was

not

her problem.

"Hey!" Michael roared. Then — without hesitation, without thought, without even an ounce of common sense — he jumped after him.

Yes. He

jumped

after him.

"Wait—

What?!

" Samael shouted, watching his

’reliable’

companion — the supposed hero who’d save this world, the protagonist himself — swan-dive straight into the chasm. "Michael, you don’t have wings, you fucking moron!"

Yeah. That was something Michael remembered only

after

jumping.

And sure enough, now there were two idiots freefalling side by side instead of one.

Vince was screaming, Michael was flailing to grab him, and together they spun mid-fall like a pair of human shish kebabs.

Lily yelped, caught somewhere between utterly horrified and confused the fuck out of her mind.

"Oh my god," Ray breathed, clutching his head. "It’s contagious! Stupidity is airborne!"

"Shut up!" Samael barked, already slamming his palm against the cliff wall. His Essence surged and forced matter itself to bend to his will.

A massive flat platform jutted out from the rock face beneath the two falling idiots.

—THWOOM!

They landed on the platform with a bone-rattling

THUD

. Vince hit face-first, Michael on top of him.

The echo of impact rolled up the escarpment like thunder.

Samael leaned over the ledge, glaring down. "Would you two care to explain how all this escalated in under

ten

fucking seconds?"

Vince let out a broken sob, muffled against the stone. "I blame Ray."

"What?!" Ray shouted. "You fell because you can’t walk! Don’t drag me into your gravity issues!"

Michael, sprawled across Vince like he was a mattress, simply gave a thumbs-up.

Meanwhile Juliana... was casually inspecting her nails and whistling a tune, as if she hadn’t

just

let her fellow Cadet fall to his doom.

•••

The ledge groaned again under our boots as we climbed down to the stone slab where our two geniuses had crash-landed.

Lily darted forward the second Michael stirred.

"Michael! Are you alright?" She crouched beside him, scrutinizing him for any injury.

Michael sat up and rolled his shoulders. "I’m fine."

Meanwhile Vince was groaning into the platform, sounding suspiciously like he was crying.

"Up you come, champ," Ray said, hauling him up under the arm.

"Ughhh... my knee," Vince wailed, clutching his scraped leg. "And my wrist is sprained! Damn it, this is why I hate nature!"

"Yeah, too late for that," Ray quipped.

Once the initial chaos settled, Michael finally turned — predictably and righteously — to Juliana.

His voice hardened. "You could’ve grabbed him. I saw you looking. You had enough time to react. Why didn’t you? He could’ve died because of your inaction."

Juliana raised an eyebrow. Her lips twitched into the faintest ghost of a smile.

And I already knew exactly what was about to leave her mouth. Something along the lines of

’Taking care of a grown-ass man isn’t my responsibility.’

So before she could drop that landmine and spark a fight, I cut in smoothly, stepping right between them. "It was my fault. I was lost in thought and didn’t reinforce the ledge properly. That’s on me."

Juliana’s eyes narrowed slightly, caught off guard.

And then Lily piped up too. "No, no. It was my slip up. I should’ve been using my foresight to look for danger, but I wasn’t. I was trying to save Essence."

Vince flapped a hand, swaying slightly on his feet. "Guys, it’s fine. I’m fine. No one’s to blame. I should’ve been more careful. I’m just not good with, you know... trekking, climbing... existing."

Michael looked between us all, his frown softening into a reluctant sigh. "...Fine. But maybe we should take a short break. It’s a long climb down. No point forcing it if we all aren’t mentally ready."

I nodded and pressed my palm to the wall.

The rock parted under my will and a hollow cavern as big as a spacious room was carved out into the cliff face.

One by one, everyone filed in.

In passing, my gaze flicked to Juliana.

It might’ve only been my imagination, but for the briefest moment, she looked... unsettled.

Like she hadn’t expected the blame to be redirected so easily. She wasn’t used to that. Of course she wasn’t.

But what she didn’t know was that I’d already warned Lily before we started the climb.

I told her Juliana was prickly and volatile, so if she looked ready to bite someone’s head off, we’d need to diffuse the situation before it got messy.

I sighed. This was going to be a very long journey.

Once everyone was inside and settling down, I finally turned to Michael, who was stretching his shoulders like nothing had happened.

I blinked at him. "So. Quick question."

He glanced over. "Hm?"

"Why the fuck did

you

jump? What was the big idea?!"

Michael froze mid-stretch. "...I was trying to save him."

"How?! By increasing the number of falling idiots from one to two?" I snapped.

Ray choked on laughter from the corner. "He’s right! You just doubled the problem!"

Vince, still rubbing his knee, raised a hand. "He didn’t even save me! If anything, he used

me

to cushion

his

fall!"

Michael muttered, low. "I... was going to use my Spiderweb Card."

Lily whined from somewhere inside. "Oh god! Not the Spiderweb Card! You still have that? I begged you to get rid of it!"

Michael threw his arms up. "I can’t waste a Card, Lily! I’m not rich like you!"

I arched a brow. "The what Card? What are you guys talking about?"

He looked at me, unblinking. "You don’t remember?"

I scowled. "Remember what?"

He studied me for a moment, then shook his head and walked into the cavern. "Nevermind then."