{Law PoV-After the award ceremony}

Law sat in a corner, away from the crowd.

Law looked at the graduation certificate and frowned.

Somehow he felt he did not deserve the 4th rank position.

He knew for a fact if Ellis had chosen to carry on in the finals then it would have been him being in the 5th place, not Ellis.

His system, which was gifted by the goddess to him only had 1 simple function. Any skill he picks up is given a growth boost allowing him to train the said skill to perfection which lets him be a master at the said skill if he has spent enough time practising the said skill.

Along with that any of his skill can provide auto-correction for him if he desires. Say for example lockpicking, expert lockpickers still have to concentrate to pick locks no matter how easy or hard it is. But for him depending on his skill level and the difficulty of the lock he can allow the system to do it for him easily.

This feature is especially useful when casting spells. Spells require one to concentrate, especially when one is a high capacity magi. However, if he were to level up any spells by practising them constantly, then he can let the system do auto-correction for him when casting the spell, so he has no need to concentrate on that spell.

Using the systems help he had mastered almost all the spells he had learned to the point of wielding it like a small capacity user despite being a high capacity user.

However, after witnessing the fight between the top 5 he realised it was not enough. He was missing something that others had, that filled in for their inability to dual wield capacity like him.

After he had displayed his trump card against Ellis, every single of his opponent were prepared for him despite him using some of his other spells as well. They countered his every move and defeated him easily, without giving him a chance.

That is how he realised he lacked combat experience, despite having the advantage of a cheat.

Law sighed, before looking at the red envelope he was handed with the certificate.

He opened the red envelope and read the contents written in gold, on a white paper with a purple border.

'Dear Mr Lawson Fowler,

You are hereby kindly invited to the graduation banquet held by his highness Prince John. The function will be held at 'The Velvet Banquet Hall' tomorrow starting at 4 pm.

The schedule is as follows.

16:00 to 17:00- Registration followed by refreshments.

16:00 to 17:55-Make your way towards the reward booths where you can specify the details on the equipment you want, depending on your rank.

18:00 - Welcome Speech by his highness John Emberson

18:10 to 18:30- Opportunity to interact with each other and his highness Prince John Emberson.

18:30 to 20:00 – A 5-course meal prepared using beast ingredients by 'Luxury Meals' restaurant.

20:00 till 00:00- Music along with dance will be provided for everyone, joined by Prince John. (Reward booths will be open outside the hall for anyone still not made their specified orders.)

Please dress appropriately for the function. You are allowed to bring 1 other person with you.

To note- Drinks will be provided so please do not come drunk.

Kind Regards

Prince John Emberson'

Folding the envelope, he kept it inside his pocket.

"So, I presume you are going for it as well?" Law looked up to see Rondell standing in front of him with others.

"Yeah. What about you?" Law asked as he stood up.

Rondell nodded "I was planning to bring my sister along as my plus one. What about you?"

"No one. I doubt my family can handle the pressure of meeting high profile people of the empire." Law shook his head.

"What about others?" Law asked Rondell.

"Ian is bringing his older brother, Lewies his childhood friend, Ruby is apparently bringing her teacher, Maisy is bringing her Mom and Natas..." Rondell paused before he remembered something.

"Sorry." Rondell apologised.

"We all, still can't get over it man. Don't worry." Law comforted Rondell and patted his shoulders as they walked towards their group of friends.

-------------------------------------

{Natasha house after the award ceremony}

"So, are you going for it?" Natasha grandmother asked her after reading the contents of the letter.

Natasha shook her head silently while fiddling with the white ring on her left finger.

"Hmm, why? I was told your friends made it to the top 100 as well." Her grandmother's eyes shone.

"Please don't do this now nana. I know you are aware of everything that happened between me and them." Saying so Natasha turned around and walked out, without caring for the manners she ought to be showing.

Before she left the doorway she asked her grandmother a question she has been wanting to ask for a long time. "Nana, do you think I could have been free if I wasn't born to him?"

Before her grandmother could even reply she left the room.

Her grandmother looked at where her granddaughter last stood in pity.

"It wouldn't have mattered. You are a caged bird whether you are born to him or not. It's just that you are aware of your bindings as his daughter, unlike the ignorant masses." Natasha grandmother replied to no one in particular.

---------------------------------

{Drum and Flute Pub}

A person wearing a hood walked into a bar.

The people inside the bar ignored the emo lord after giving that person a quick glance.

The person walked up to the barkeeper who was currently serving a mercenary with scars all over his face.

Seeing the person walking towards them both the barkeeper and the mercenary froze, their eyes glowing in reverence.

The mercenary not wanting to put the hooded person in spotlight tried to act casual.

The hooded person sat in the chair and made an order. "A glass of your best."

The barkeeper nodded and started preparing the drink. At the same time, both the barkeeper and the mercenary started preparing all the relevant information about the task they have been assigned on their mind.

Soon both of them felt a gentle force invading their consciousness. They presented no resistance and let the person to their mind, allowing the person access to all the information pertaining to their task.

The hooded person nodded as the barkeeper passed the person a glass of orange drink. "Thank you."

Soon both the barkeeper and the mercenary felt the force invading their minds vanish.

The mercenary remembering about something quickly asked: "What about you brother..."

Then he lowered his voice so that only the 3 of them could hear "... your holiness?"

"It won't make a difference even if the whole commandments are there." Saying so the hooded person took a sip from the glass.

After finishing the glass of drink, the hooded person carried on. "However, it seems Lord Fake is planning to, as per his words 'Spice up the mission'."

---------------------------

{Ellis PoV-Night before the banquet}

After washing up, Ellis prepared to call it a day, as he had a feeling tomorrow is going to be a stressful and busy day.

Ellis sat on his bed and finally looked at the certificate and the red envelope he was given, properly.

This was something he had desired so long ago, but holding it now, it seemed so worthless to him.

After holding onto the certificate for a few more minutes he placed it on the desk next to his bed.

Then he looked at the red envelope.

Although he had not opened it, he knew what it was about, since he had to be aware of almost all the schedule of his highness.

After a moment of deliberation, he opened the envelope and read the letter.

'Dear Mr Ellis Wright,

You are hereby kindly invited to the graduation banquet held by his highness Prince John. The function ...'

Ellis proceeded to fold the letter and place it back into the envelope after he had read the letter. Placing the letter on the desk Ellis got ready to sleep.

As he slowly entered into his sleep, a familiar set of whispers assaulted his ears.

Panicked, Ellis quickly stood up and observed his surroundings.

He was back in the game realm.

'Why am I here? What is going on?' Ellis watched his surroundings in dread. This was something that had never happened before to him.

'I have already completed this month's mandatory mission, so why am I here?'

Suddenly a screen came in front of him.

[Regional Event Mission- The Wacky Fake and the Cuckoo Sloth]

[Mission- A mortal has piqued the eyes of the Fake One after a long time. Witness the beginning of a great relationship between them.]

[Description- The Fake One will deliver his declaration of war against who he thinks is someone worthy to entertain him. An invitation is sent out for all regional players to be present as a witness or participant during this great moment, as the apostle of the Fake One strikes Prince John Emberson down at 'The Velvet Banquet Hall'.]

[Reward- 10 Points]

[Failure- None]

---------------------------------

{Natasha PoV-Night before the award ceremony}

Natasha closed the book and placed it on the pile of books near her.

'Still no clue about Lord Fake.' Natasha sighed.

She had ordered all books related to religion and history from the imperial library delivered to her room. Even after scouring through every book, there was not a single mention of the Lord Fake.

'Why? Why is there not even a single mention or clue of him?' Natasha mused in frustration.

Although she was excited about the opportunity Lord Fake had given her, she was still wary of Lord Fake.

She wanted to know why it was her?

What made Lord Fake choose her?

Were there any future implications?

How to find more people like her?

As she got up to go to bed, she saw a book titled 'The One and Only Almighty One.'

It was a book dedicated to the Almighty One by the church worshipping the Almighty One.

It introduced the nature of the Almighty One and what the Almighty One sought out of each of their follower.

As Natasha saw the book she suddenly remembered the scene that the Lord Fake had shown her.

She had seen how Lord Fake destroyed all the deities and replaced those with new deities for annoying him/her.

'New Deities?! That is it, new deities!' Realising that she was looking at everything in the wrong angles she made an order to one of her attendants standing outside.

"Get the earliest slot of appointment with the historian Sir Marc first thing tomorrow morning!" Natasha instructed her attendant.

She was taught from a young age that the deities created the world and all in it out of their benevolence.

The deities did not care if their creations worshipped them or not. Since it did not matter to them whether someone chose to accept the truth or not.

But what they cared was that their creations should know about them and not be ignorant of them.

However, the deities found it too bothersome to make their creations aware of them, personally each time. Hence for this purpose, they chose someone whose sole reason for existence will be to make the populace aware of their deity aka an Apostle.

How they did it was not the concern of the deities themselves, as long as everyone was aware of them.

The apostles of the deities found that instead of personally going around preaching and making people aware they would instead let people come to them.

To do this the apostles of the deities started building a glorious paradise for their followers.

So due to this everyone was aware of the deities inside the empire, but no one really bothered to worship them, because it did not matter whether they did it or not.

This is because at the end of the day the deity that they worship was not the one feeding them, instead it was their own hard work and effort that made bread appear on the table.

That was not the point. What caused her to arrange the meeting with the historian scholar Sir Marc was the fact that she realised something.

'What if the New deities simply made all the creation story up?'

After not seeing their creator around and being the immortal and powerful beings they are, they must have thought that it must have been them that made everything.

'I mean what was stopping them from thinking otherwise.'

They must have convinced the new generations of people that they were the true creators simply for their own satisfaction and hope that the mastermind(Lord Fake) might come out and right them. But to their disappointment, no one must have come out and they simply must have forgotten everything.

So, if she wanted to find anything about Lord Fake, then she had to dig up the records before those deities came to existence. A time when all deities and people were aware of Lord Fake.

And who better to start with other than the historian Sir Marc.

Only that there was a slight problem, she will be heavily monitored during her meeting with Sir Marc and he will not necessarily answer all her questions due to his oath with her father.

Sir Marc is aware of the truest story of every war and feud in the past that was covered up with lies by the victors.

Due to this, in order to not lose the morale of people Sir Marc was ordered by her father to not reveal any crucial piece of history without his permission in exchange for letting him safely and freely conduct his study into the true history.

Sir Marc being the curious person he is about history naturally agreed.

'I should naturally prepare my question properly before I ask him. I cannot naturally just go up to him and ask about Lord Fake.' Natasha thought as she walked to her bed and laid down, slowly drifting to her sleep.

After a few minutes, Natasha suddenly woke up.

Her clothes were slowly getting drenched in her sweat as she remembered what she just saw in the game realm.

'Why is Lord Fake picking on John? Was her half-brother also a player of the game realm? When did an apostle arrive at the Empire? Did Lord Fake realise her investigating him? How many players are there in the capital itself?...' Questions of all sorts were being fired of rapidly through her mind.

Suddenly a certain conversation came upon her mind. A conversation she had, for what seemed like a few days ago, between her and Lord Fake:

'Ah yes, the royalty, always assuming things and wanting to use everything to their advantage. Did you know I am currently preparing a surprise gift for a special one amongst you lot?'

How had she not noticed what Lord Fake had said back then? She felt like an idiot for forgetting something so crucial.

Shaking her head Natasha got her priorities right.

She had to be at the banquet tomorrow no matter what, not only for the points but to understand more about Lord Fake and her brothers' involvement with Lord Fake. Because from what she knew about the game realm it was that it offered anything for its players as long as they had enough points.

If John who was supposed to die in a few years were a player, then everyone can burn his soulless condition as a figment of their imagination.

From what she knew, everyone is only relaxed because they know he will not live long. But what if he survives and becomes the next emperor?

She suddenly remembered her grandfathers' eyes as he came back from the meeting a few months ago, during the plague. It was the first time she had seen her grandfather so afraid.

Shaking her head Natasha cleared her head.

'First thing first, how am I going to convince nana that I want to go for the banquet without stimulating suspicion after I said I don't want to go?'

----------------

{Ellis PoV- Outside Banquet hall}

Ellis observed his surrounding carefully.

"All units, heads-up, there will be a natural heavy rain incoming soon." An alert arrived through the device in his ears.

It was crucial they were alerted to the current weather, as high ranking magi's are people who can manipulate the weather itself, let alone an award user with that specific ability. So if they see, any out of the ordinary weather then they can prepare themselves for an attack soon.

Suddenly an alleyway came to his sight.

"Alleyway South-East to the hall." Ellis whispered as he walked forward while waiting in line.

"Deploying units... Location secure." A sweet voice came through the device.

Hearing this Ellis sighed before moving forward in the queue, to the registration booth.

The person sat behind the booth smiled towards him while extending her hands.

Ellis handed her the red invitation letter.

The women read it before ticking his name on the register.

"Sir do you have a plus one?" The women asked as she handed him the letter back.

"No, I am on my own." Ellis replied as he folded and placed the letter back into the pocket of his suit.

The women nodded before saying "Please keep the invitation letter with you at all times while in the venue as it will be your access to go in or out of here." Her sweet voice was very distinct enough for anyone to realise it was the same person talking through the device in his ears just a moment ago.

Ellis nodded before walking through the entrance into the decorated welcome room, slowly filling with people.

Men dressed in suits while women showcased their flashy and beautiful evening gowns.

Ellis closely observed everyone and mentally counted each person inside the room.

"How many people students arrived so far?" Ellis quietly enquired without drawing attention.

"22 students who were given the invitation has arrived with their plus ones." Hearing a different voice this time Ellis nodded as the number of people inside the room matched the ones registered.

44 people, excluding the staff as each and every single staff in here, were agents of Lord Dexter, Titus, and Maximus.

"Ellis, relax. The security is already tight enough. If anyone could come through all our defence then it means there was no hope for me from the beginning." Prince John's voice came through the device.

Ellis wanted to retort but he had nothing to say, along with the fact that talking to air in front of the public was not the least thing to do when he is in undercover.

Ellis had been visibly stressed after seeing the message from the game realm last night.

He wanted to rush and stop his highness from attending the banquet today, but he could not necessarily explain how he had came to know about the information.

---------------------------

{Ellis PoV- Time 23:55(The night before)}

Ellis woke up Prince John very quickly.

"Ellis? What is it?" John opened his eyes reluctantly.

"Your highness we need to cancel your attendance tomorrow!" Ellis exclaimed in worry.

John sat up and looked at Ellis calmly.

"You think something might happen?" John asked Ellis in confusion.

Ellis nodded as he replied. "Your highness, remember you said there were infiltrators during the exam." John nodded.

"Did you find who they were, your highness?" Ellis inquired.

"We have picked a few candidates, who we think might have been those infiltrators. They are currently being monitored by our agents." John answered.

"Did we find their motives?" Ellis carried on.

"Only one of them, and I kind of took care of. What is it, Ellis?" John asked.

"Just one more question, your highness before I will explain. Did any of the other infiltrated candidates make it to the top 100 or get into your special ranking?" Ellis asked.

Suddenly John's eyes widened "You mean they are planning to strike during the banquet?"

Ellis nodded "Yes, otherwise why would they stay low without acting up."

"You might be right about this. Archer and I had come to a similar conclusion after the assistant of the banquet hall's owner went missing for a few hours before returning." The worry in Ellis' face grew.

Seeing his worry John dismissed it as he carried on "After enquiring her we found out that her disappearance was nothing special. She had been out to see meet with her secret lover, who she has been seeing behind her husband's back for the past few years. But still, we had taken precautions for my safety for the banquet tomorrow."

"But your highness why take the risk? They might be well prepared." Ellis tried to warn Prince John.

"You are right Ellis; they might be prepared. But if I back out of every meeting due to my security then it will affect my standing amongst the public."

Seeing that Ellis was about to argue back Prince John held up his hands "How about this? I will bring in the monitoring equipment's used in the exam, to be installed around and inside the banquet hall. Along with that, we will assign all the hired Mercenary for outer protections will ask Dexter and co to lend some of their agents to be our men inside the hall protecting me."

------------------------------

{Present moment- Ellis}

After some back and forth Prince John had convinced and made it clear to Ellis that he will be attending the banquet.

Not being satisfied, Ellis had decided to partake in the security measures as well.

The only relief to Ellis was the huge number of award users inside the hall.

Ellis walked close by and listened to each students introducing their plus one to their friends. He made a clear note to remember any suspicious individuals and kept his eyes trained on them.

"Ellis, you are creeping out all the students. We can see and hear everyone from here perfectly fine. There is no need for you to do it yourself and stress out.

We will let you know of any suspicious individuals. Just walk towards the reward booth and just casually relax." Prince John ordered through the device in his ears.

Ellis sighed as he walked towards one of the less busy reward booths. 'His highness is right. I cannot be everywhere, while they can. I should just be ready to act at any given moment.'

The person at the booth similarly extended his hand to which he handed the red envelope.

"Ellis Wright." The person looked through the list before finding his name and rank.

"Ellis Wright, rank 5. You reward includes:

10 low ranked magi stones.

1 medium ranked magi stones.

A weapon forged out of level 4 beast materials.

2 pieces of equipment forget out of level 4 beast materials.

Would you like them delivered to you or to be collected?" The agent inquired.

"Delivered at my registered address." The person wrote this down.

After that, he looked up as he asked his next question "What equipment and weapon would you like to be made out of the level 4 beast materials?"

Without taking long Ellis replied, "A longsword and a pair of boots."

"Longsword for the weapon is ok. But for the equipment what you have said is just 1 piece of equipment, please name another one as well." The owner of the booth advised.

Ellis blanked out for a moment. He had thought 2 boots will count as two pieces of equipment. "Gauntlets, do they come in pair as well?"

"Yes, they do." The man replied as he wrote his orders down.

After a few seconds of waiting the man looked up "As you live inside the capital, you will be given lesser priority than those that live outside the capital, due to them having to travel back to their own kingdoms." Ellis nodded in understanding.

"We will post a letter letting you know when your item will be delivered to you in 2 weeks' time. Please make sure to be home when the actual pieces of equipment arrive. If you are not there to personally receive them, then you will be required to collect them from the 'Luxury Meals' shop."

Ellis' along with the agent in front of him tried to hide the smile that made attempt to appear on their face hearing at what was just said.

Both he and the agent in front of him knows very well that 'Luxury Meals' is his home.

"Thank you." Ellis said as the person stamped on his letter before passing it back to him.

"Good now, just get some drinks and relax." Prince John ordered him as he left the booth.

------------------------------

{POV of Ez few minutes after Ellis left Ez- Time 00:15 (The night before) }

He is absolutely sure something is going to happen tomorrow but won't reveal why.

That means he got the information from a place he can't reveal for some reason but is absolutely sure is right.

Time to prepare for the worst.

I stood up and moved towards the storage area.

Looking through the assorted ingredients I found one that said Level 10.

Let me see what a level 10 ingredient is going to do to my body.

After 1 hour of cooking and preparing the ingredients, I took the meat pie towards the storage room.

The one place no one has placed a recording device in the whole building, due to the devices not working in the extremely low temperature, especially after the upgrade I have added to the place.

I took a remote stuck on the wall and closed the door to the storage room from the inside and vaulted myself in.

Walking towards the middle, I closed my eyes before pressing a button on the remote.

Even with my eyes closed, I could feel how intense the light shining in the storage room now was.

This should stop them from seeing what is about to happen now, even if they attempt to use magi or award.

I smiled with my eyes shut, as I quickly sat down in the freezing cold as I rapidly started to eat.

With the first bite, I felt a wave of heat radiating from my glowing body.

Each bite I took sent forth a wave of heat from my body.

After I finished the last bite the wave stopped.

Then for a few seconds, the outside was quiet while my inside was going through a massive change as the influx of massive energy entered every cell.

With the assistance of my soul, I easily guided the energy correctly to each cell, causing it to mutate in the way I intended them to.

What should be happening over generations and through the process of elimination was happening to me in a few seconds- Evolution.

In 20 minutes, the changes happening throughout my body ended.

I could feel that my control over my body and senses have reached a new point.

I can now control in the range of nano- units. Easily able to cut things at nano-level or measure out ingredients at the nano-level.

Increased efficiency of my body as well as my brain performance.

Rapid healing, but not even close to what a rank 1 award user might have.

However, my bodies energy intake requirement increased dramatically as well.

Now I need a stable amount of energy of level 10 beast ingredients or something of equal value in quantity.

I hope this decision was worth it.

Not that it matters for what I have planned for my next step.

------------------------------

{Luke POV-2 days prior to the banquet}

I held my breath as I finally got a good look at the person in front of me.

I could not quite look at him the last time because I was told to hurry by Prince John during the graduation exams.

His name did sound familiar to that person, but I cannot just confirm his identity just based on his name, as there are many with the same first name.

It is a pity that I can't remember his surname.

But there is no doubt.

It is him!

I will never forget those empty eyes, and face that killed those that I trusted, even though his face is much younger now.

The infamous serial killer... no, it should be the Noble killer, The Doll Killer.

No one ever saw him and lived to tell the tale except for me.

Even for me, it was by pure luck I found his identity, which cost me the death of most of my trusted subordinates.

But I only found out about his identity 2 weeks prior to my own death. The last I heard he completely disappeared after his image was released to the public.

He was a person that caused all nobles including the commandments and the emperor himself to hold their breath and pray it was not them or anyone close to them when his sign appeared showing he will strike again-a children's doll drawn in blood.

But why is he here?

"Ellis, I believe you have met Luke after the 2nd stage of the exam." Prince John smiled as he introduced The Doll Killer to me.

"Luke as per contract your service is required tomorrow, and the banquet prepared for the top 100 and those in the special ranking.

You are free until your services are required. Thank you." Prince John dismissed me.

I turned around without revealing much on my face, but my heart, it was beating wildly.

I tried to remember as much as I could, of what I saw on the file of the Doll Killer.

Everything given on the report was based on the extensive investigation done by the empires finest agents along with the account of one man related to him.

His name was Ellis something.

He was the only child of a woman from the slums. Father abandoned both the mother and child for another woman when he was quite young.

His mother took care of him, since then.

However, their fate changed for the better or the worse I do not know- when one day a person accidentally dropped a book he was carrying.

Ellis found the said book, and as he was looking over it, the owner of the book came back to retrieve the book.

Seeing Ellis deeply immersed, the old man waited for him to finish looking through.

As Ellis had finished reading the old man asked Ellis if he understood anything. To his surprise, Ellis replied 'No' as he couldn't read.

When asked why had then Ellis kept on looking at the book Ellis simply replied in his innocence, 'Words and pictures in the books are amazing, and being able to read was awesome.'

Feeling pity for the young boy who was thirsty for knowledge the man taught the boy how to read and write, over the course of a few days to the surprise of the man.

However, as the boy learned more about how to read, the boy slowly started asking unexpecting questions such as 'What are magi particles?'

Upon further asking Ellis about where he heard about magi particles, the man realised the boy was reading the book he had first seen from his memory after he had finally learned to read.

The man was shocked at the Ellis' capability, so the old man taught the boy about magi. To his surprise, the boy absorbed everything like a sponge.

His understanding and comprehensive ability to study magi spells was unrivalled and shocked even the headteacher of the magi academy.

Not wanting to lose a talent like him, the man (the previous vice-head of the magi academy at that time), took the boy and admitted him inside the academy despite his extremely low talent at accumulation or his lack of a unique capacity.

The boy's mother on hearing this news was beyond joyous and doubled her efforts so that he would not lack resources when studying, despite her ailing bodies condition.

As time passed, the boy despite not even being a rank 1 magi showed a clear understanding of even rank 3 spells, which astounded everyone.

However, not everyone was happy with such a talent being on someone who could not even use it properly.

Soon an heir of a lower noble family started picking on Ellis, although at that time everyone thought it was over his talents, later found it was over a girl, they both liked. The boy not wanting to bother anyone did not report his suffering to his guardian in the academy.

One day the heir had enough and had some people finish the boy off in an alley.

As Ellis went missing for a few days the boys' mother sought the help of the now-retired vice-head teacher of the magi academy.

The vice-head teacher used all his efforts to find the Ellis but soon found it pointless.

One day the vice-head teacher received a letter along with a package.

The letter warned him to stay in his place or he will share the same fate as the package.

Upon, opening the package it was revealed to be the dried head of Ellis' mother.

The retired vice-head teacher traumatised and fearing for his life decided to not investigate anymore and buried the women.

As the years passed everyone forgot about the talented boy, except for the now old retired vice-head teacher.

One day the isolated retired vice-head teacher received a guest, who he revealed as Ellis.

The boy against everyone's expectations had grown into an adult man, with a glimmer of hope, had come back for his mother.

The vice-head teacher said Ellis didn't say where he had been all this time.

However, the moment Ellis was told his mother was killed, the man saw something dying in Ellis' eyes before Ellis left never to be seen or heard from again. Until the vice-head teacher was called in for the investigation after Ellis was identified by me as The Doll Killer.

Upon asking the vice-head of his estimation on Ellis' rank he had said he did not know as he could not grasp Ellis' power. This shocked everyone as the vice-head himself is a rank 4 magi.

How a talentless boy reached rank 5 magi in a matter of few years was not the baffling or terrifying matter, instead, it was that the Ellis could fight or run away from rank 4, 5 or even rank 6 award users without any problems despite being a magi.

After the account from the vice-head teacher had been received, soon a piece of news was received: everyone in a lower noble family had been massacred.

The preparator was easily identified as the Doll Killer, due to him leaving a mutilated doll next to his victims, who would have been mutilated in the same way the doll was. This time however there was no need to look for his dolls, due to there being already a 5 meters tall Doll sitting in front of the gate with a sword through its face.

After investigating it was found to be the same family of the lower noble who had tried to kill Ellis a long time ago along with the murder of Ellis' mother.

Then few of the victims of the Doll Killer soon showed a clear pattern as to those who bullied him in the magi academy, all of them being in a noble or in a high position.

Upon further investigation, it was later revealed that the rest of them were people(some even in the ranks of high nobles or related to commandments) who assisted or aided in killing and covering up the crime done upon Ellis and his mother.

However, till his last moments, there was no news about the Doll Killer, he had simply vanished like he had when everyone thought he died.

But what is a serial killer like him working for the 3rd imperial prince?

Nothing makes sense anymore.

I cannot use the past to judge my present and future.

According to what those followers of Fake said, me being here is the work of a deity.

There was already past inconsistency even before my consciousness arrived back in time.

So that means there is someone else that arrived here way before I did, that caused to change the flow of history so much.

I have to keep that in mind from now on, and not rely much on my past memories for everything.

For now, I have to prepare myself for the banquet. I have a gut feeling Linda, is going to strike Prince John there.

----------------------------

{Luke POV-Present time (Outside banquet hall)}

I observed every person going through the entrance closely, both male and female.

I hope that she really will not strike Prince John here.

The level of security given to him here is insane.

Every staff inside that banquet hall is an award user of at least rank 2, not to mention the mercenaries and magi posted outside the hall.

'There he is.' My eyes were drawn to the Doll Killer, who stood patiently in queue observing everywhere worriedly.

"Alleyway South-East to the fall." The serial killers' voice hadn't matured to the much darker and heavy tone he spoke in back then, through the device in his ears.

"Deploying units... Location secure." A sweet voice came in response to his query soon enough.

I am sure, once Linda arrives here, then I will be labelled as a wanted man not long after from what I might do.

I found my situation quite laughable.

The most wanted criminal of the empire working to protect someone in that same empire that wanted his blood. While the greatest Lieutenant general of the empire is now trying to protect/prevent a soon to be criminal(my sister) from trying to harm a prince.

Mine and his roles in life changed quite quickly.