Rise of the Crusader

An- A disappointing world cup final, but it is what it is.

.....

Jake's death was of less concern to Raphael, and after he heard what he was most interested in, he soon placed his hand into Jake's left pocket.

Knitting his brows, as the left pocket was empty.

Raphael quickly moved to the right pocket, and as soon as he made contact with the object there, his eyes twitched.

It was a miniature book.

As the book was brought out of Jake's pocket, Raphael glanced at it for about five seconds before putting it into his pocket.

He notified the academy of the completed task, and as a response was given to him, he took away the boxes that were on the table and stepped out of the mansion.

"Honey, when will they be here… He is already, do something quickly." Lizzie blurted, as she saw Raphael, who was heading towards the gate.

"Honey!"

The look on Barnett's face as he heard his wife was simply priceless.

It was almost as if he were wondering if she was hit in the head or something.

Lizzie remained oblivious to the expression on Barnett's face, and it was only she turned towards him that she saw the look he had on.

"Really, Barnett!" Lizzie folded her hand across her chest. "You're just going to allow him to step out of here, without doing anything."

"Shameless!"

The relationship between Barnett and Lizzie was still new, but at this point, Barnett vividly remembered the words his mother always said to him.

'Women are very dangerous species… If you see a snake on this side, and a woman on the other, it best you run towards the snake.'

Barnett was still in trance when Lizzie walked out on him.

Her sudden action prompted him to recover from the state he was in, however, instead of chasing after her like he usually does, he moved his gaze to the window.

"Wheww… He's gone." Barnett couldn't help but be relieved as Raphael was out of the mansion, and perhaps even out of the city.

For some reason, the hero academy failing to arrive didn't bring him down, he was, in fact, a bit jubilant with how it turned out.

Apart from those three guards, no other person related to him died, and most especially, he was able to save himself from an investment with Jake that would cost him a fortune.

Barnett had just taken a deep breath when two figures suddenly walked into the room he was in.

Quickly, Barnett turned around, and as he saw the duo that just came into the room, his face lit up.

"We received your words, Mr Barnett, and we arrived as soon as we could… How may we help you, sir?"

A tan-skinned, bearded man wearing a navy blue long-sleeve coverall, black protective vest, shin guards as well as black sneakers stood in front of Barnett.

Accompanied by the shiny black protective vest was a gold cape behind him.

Barnett's eyes twitched, and if the appearance of the man referred to as the vulture wasn't astounding enough, as he laid eyes on the person beside him, Barnett gasped heavily.

"Moon shadow."

Barnett lowered his head a second, after which he uttered those names.

And even though the person in front of him was old enough to be his daughter, there wasn't a bit of dishonoring on his face, instead, there was only respect and adoration written all over his face.

The black trench coat, black pants, combat boot, and ghoulish mask.

There was only one figure in holy savior academy that wore that outfit, and it was none other than the number one student in the first year.

"Alicia Gosling, otherwise known as moon shadow."

Alicia nodded her head, responding to Barnett's earlier greetings.

As for Hart, he was used to seeing this sort of expression from those who had heard of Alicia, and after a few seconds, he moved towards Barnett.

"What is it Barnett, we have other missions to tend to, this was the one closest to us, which was why we chose to come here first." Said Hart.

Hart was the man wearing a navy blue long-sleeve coverall, also known as the vulture.

Barnett slowly raised his head, and after heaving a deep breath, he spoke.

"The city was under attack."

…

At the bridge that separated Portland city from Vine city, Raphael slowly made his way to the three in front.

Lucien, Atticus, and Almond.

There was a smile on Lucien, and Atticus's faces as they stared at Raphael, approaching them.

It wasn't a blissful smile that came from the fact that even though they were merely glancing at him, they could already tell that he had improved massively since the last time they met.

Raphael arrived in front of the three of them and was about to hand out the book when Atticus pulled him into a hug.

"Y-"

The expression on Raphael's face changed very quickly.

He was about to pull out of the hug when Atticus took a step backward. The smile, however, remained on his face.

Raphael brought out the miniature book, "Good day." He said.

Turning around, it took only a few minutes, and Raphael was out of Atticus, Lucien, and Almond's view.

"He really is a monster," Almond exclaimed.

There was a nod of acknowledgment from Atticus and Lucien after Almond spoke.

Raphael was simply wondrous…

Coming from an E-rank metahuman to an A-rank metahuman within a few months, and to make it all outrageous, he was yet to become an enhanced metahuman.

"Even though he's at the prime age, the kid still makes it look like we were fooling around when we were his age," Lucien said and then shook his head.

Another nod of the head came from the duo beside Lucien.

Meanwhile, the youth who was being praised was on his way back to Dale city.

Raphael assumed taking the rage out on Jake would have made him a little settled about what transpired, but it didn't. In fact, it made him even more pissed about it.

It wasn't sleeping with Aurora that was the main reason for his rage, but it was how he was easily toyed with.

What if it hadn't been the extremely horny Aurora that was with him, and it was someone with ill intent towards him?

Those were the question that circulated Raphael's thoughts as he moved to Dale city.

"There won't be the next time." Said Raphael with his hands balled into a fist.

…

A few days passed since Raphael completed the mission assigned to him, and on the fifth day, Raphael left for the academy.