"Don't make a noise…" Max said as he looked at Kevin.

A few meters from them were a group of students from Vienna Academy. Max could hear them talking about some raid with Zealand Academy.

Max didn't know what kind of stance they would have towards Arcane right now. Hence, he didn't cane in front of them. He wanted to avoid a fight with them because it definitely wasn't worth it.

Orca, Trinity, West Gale were probably already out there searching for them...and might have even created an Anti Arcane alliance if circumstances provided...

If Max ended up kicking these Vienna students out, then they would probably go mad and join the fray as well while taking full advantage of this situation...this was the worst thing that could happen to them right now….

After a few minutes, the group left the area and Max came out from the hiding and once again began to move after picking Kevin up.

…..

A while ago, before the announcement….

Lisa led Mr. Cool and Tia to Venice who was still lying on the sleeping bag.

Tia was astonished from the start. She had been keeping an eye on her surroundings and saw a lot of stuff which one wouldn't expect to see here under such circumstances…

They didn't have any storage devices, that meant they could only use other methods to carry things...but how could any method compare to a storage device…

These guys were clearly fooling around, did they think they were on a picnic?

"Venice…" Mr. Cool stooped onto his knees and grasped her hand, he could only sigh looking at her exhausted face.

But the next moment Tia kicked him aside with a snort and held Venice's hand.

"Are you fine?" She asked in concern as she hugged her.

"I am fine, Tia.." Venice replied with a smile and patted her back.

"How can you two leave your handsome man out?" Mr. Cool spread his arms planning to join but was once again kicked away by Tia.

"Did you keep an eye on him?" Venice asked in a weak voice.

"I met him on the second day. We met three girls from different Academies and he flirted with two of them even using a few lines which he had used on us before..'' Tia replied.

Mr. Cool's face turned dark when he heard it.

"And he said something which had only been told to me it seems…'' Tia said with a smile as she looked at Mr. Cool.

"Oh…" Venice glanced at Mr. Cool with raised brows.

Mr. Cool began to sweat.

Lisa was looking at the scene dumbfounded. She wasn't a fool...she understood what was happening here…

She could understand Mr. Cool being a pervert but what was wrong with these two beautiful looking girls..

At this moment, the announcement suddenly rang out saving Mr. Cool.

Everyone's head immediately turned towards Lisa since she was the only one here from Arcane.

Mr. Cool suddenly frowned and turned his head towards Venice, "You knew about it?''

He knew that Venice had informed everyone to not engage any Academy before the fourth day at all cost.

They definitely shouldn't be the one to make the first move….

Venice nodded, "Orca informed us of it ahead telling that it was out of goodwill and a prospective alliance if situation allowed…''

That was bullish*t…

Ethera was the strongest after Orca and they were rivals for first place. An alliance between them wasn't possible…

It was obvious that something was fishy. Venice obviously didn't believe them but there was no harm in taking precautions….

And it seemed that she indeed did the right thing….

"It seems they had deliberately targeted you guys…." Venice said after thinking a bit.

If they even warned their top rivals, that definitely meant that they already had a target set….and it was clear from the announcement that it was Arcane.

"I will go and keep an eye out for you until the rest of your teammates return…" Mr. Cool said to Lisa before disappearing.

Lisa looked at Tia and Venice. Even though she didn't want to interfere in other people's private matters, the look in her eyes completely betrayed her….

Venice smiled after noticing Lisa's curious gaze and asked, "It's odd right?"

Lisa hurriedly shook her head.

"Your face is telling something else…" Tia said with a wry laugh.

Lisa was embarrassed for being seen through so easily, but she couldn't help it.

These three people weren't familiar with each other but still shared a connection.

The two girls had become Mr. Cool's followers who had recently unlocked his system. Hence, Venice saw Lisa as a friend on the same boat and was comfortable around her.

"Well, it wasn't like this recently...until the truth came out…'' Venice said as she looked at her wanting to share the burden in her heart.

Venice and Tia were childhood friends and belonged to Noble families allied to Achilles House.

Mr. Cool didn't seem to have an idea about it back then, and tried to pick both of the flowers and got caught. This led to a bad start between them...

But being one of the allied families and studying in the same Academy, there were a lot of opportunities for interaction…

Mr. Cool had his own protagonist's halo and his own adventures…

He was rich, handsome, strong, and mysterious...having all qualities to make ladies curious and interested in him....as long as he kept his mouth shut….

Anyway, things slowly changed for them …...from bad to neutral to good...

After years of interaction, it was obvious to the two that he was a nice person and had good feelings towards him but the guy had two major problems….

First, he was a narcissist…

Second, his mouth became as smooth as butter as soon as he saw any girl…

That's the reason, the two never took him seriously and ignored him….

That is until he disappeared from Ethera, no one knew where he was gone. Unlike his previous disappearances which lasted a few days...this had gone for too long…

People realise the importance of things when they don't actually have them anymore. So, was the case with the two…

When the two talked it out with each other and realised what was in their hearts, they reached a decision….a fair and square battle to win the guy's heart….no hard feelings and the loser backs down and moves on...

When the two finally arrived in Capital and met with bandaged half-dead Mr. Cool, things took a turn.

Mr. Cool trusted the bond of friendship formed over the years and decided to make the two his followers.

Obviously, Venice's peculiar energy was another important factor in his decision.

He told the two about everything, the threat of demons lingering above them, the Ancient families and how some people have been trying their best to stop the threats….

When asked about his severe injuries, he blamed it all on the huge incident that occurred in the Auction House….

But that wasn't the case, his injuries from that time were healed by Elly. He was just too embarrassed to admit that a kid had beaten him half to death while helping him unlock his system...

This seemed to have done wonders for Mr. Cool. He could see tears forming in their eyes…

He had no idea what had happened but the two girls seemingly had started to respond to his flirting for some reason…

He was happy but sad as well as the two didn't allow him to go near any other girl and placed heavy restrictions on him and started noting his words and lines...

"Why?" Lisa asked in confusion.

"Well, with how things are….we don't know what's stored in the future. So we decided for a truce…." Venice said helplessly.

"There was no way for one of us to give up knowing what was about to come…just thinking that there might be no tomorrow is terrifying. It's enough for us to spend the rest of time by his side…at least we wouldn't regret it later on if things went downhill.."

Their thoughts were exactly opposite of Max in a sense…..

Mr. Cool smiled hearing them. He was on the roof, even though his hearing wasn't as good as Max, it was still better than average. Coupled with his domain, he was clear on the situation inside…

To be honest, he hadn't expected it to be like this. He literally thought his charm had worked finally, but it didn't seem to be the case…