Warlock of War: My Ares System

"Yeah… thanks," I muttered before taking his hand and shooting straight up before walking beside him as we exited the grand throne room.

It was a bit akward between us as we walked down the hall towards another room that I felt a strange sense of familiarity with.

"Geez… you all look like shit," I heard a voice chuckle, and as soon as we turned the corner, I saw a light smirk staring down at us.

Bella hadn't changed much physically nor mentally… well, it was pretty much the same for everybody else in the room.

Findir, Bella, Aisa, and Luna were all pretty much the same, while it was only Cy who had changed this much… which caused everybody else to drop their jaws.

"Damn… when did you get so hot?" Bella asked before running up to him and laughing, slapping his back as per usual.

"Alright, edgelord, let's get something to eat. I'm absolutely starving," Aisa sighed, and as we all left the small meeting room and continued down the palace, both Cy and I glanced backward at our two teachers, who smiled lightly.

And, just like that, they disappeared in the blink of an eye.

We all sat down in the dining room that had actually prepared decent food for us and began to talk about all our hardships.

"Yeah, so basically, I was fighting monsters for about two years straight. I nearly lost my mind because even when I did die, I was instantly revived," Luna muttered.

"Only two years? I had to go through that for ten years!" Findir exclaimed.

"Yeah, mine was ten years as well," Luna muttered, with Aisa nodding her head up and down for confirmation.

They all then turned their heads towards Cy, who looked as if he had gone through hell for millennia straight.

"A century," He replied gloomily before sticking his fork into the piece of steak and shoving the entire thing down his throat.

Everybody's jaws dropped as they stared at Cy before Bella quickly got up from her seat and circled around the table, hugging Cy's head as she slowly brushed his long black hair.

"You poor thing… It must've been hard," Bella muttered, and Cy froze in place as he felt the warmth of Bella wrap around his upper torso.

He scanned the rest of the table and saw their worried expressions… causing him to bite down on his lower lip as he attempted to choke back tears.

But, it was too late as it began to flow and flow and flow and flow until his robes were drenched, and he could no longer even lift up his fork to eat.

It was an ugly cry that everybody helped comfort him through, and as I didn't want to be such a heartless person, I placed my hand on his shoulder ever so lightly.

Once the crying session had ended, everybody returned to their seats, and Cy looked as if a weight had been lifted off his shoulder.

He had been keeping a cold front to try and suppress the longing he had felt, and that had built up over the century he was tortured.

"Did you do anything special?" I asked since he must've been training with Beelzebub.

"I don't think you guys want to know," Cy muttered under his breath, but everybody was still able to read his lips, and as their worried, intrigued expressions penetrated through his skull, he eventually gave in with a sigh. "It was horrible. Absolutely horrible,"

"You gonna expand on that or what?" I asked, and everybody shot me a glare, forcing me to shut up as Cy continued with his explanation.

"I trained with Beezlebub himself over the century I was away. He forced me to get used to death over the first five years, and that was absolute hell. He slaughtered me over and over, and I nearly lost my mind, but he used some kind of skill that forced me to retain even the slightest bit of sanity. And once that was done, I had to fight with monstrous and disgusting beings that I nearly puked every time I saw, fought, or even touched them. They were not only ridden with a deadly plague, but they were insanely physically strong. Then, I had to eat them to survive once I killed them… and that lasted for the rest of the century. Well, I was occasionally taught some skills by Beezlebub himself, but that just reinforced my ability to consume those disgusting monsters… I never want to do that again," Cy shivered as he thought back to his previous horrific experiences.

As everybody let the information soak in, they only felt more sorry for him as he was such a bright and cheery kid, and such an event probably scarred him for life.

They all took small glances at me before Luna finally said the thing that everybody was thinking.

"You have to take responsibility for that. It was your idea to find Beezlebub, and even though you obtained what you wanted, and Cy might be stronger than before, you still can't undo the mental scars you've caused him,"

"Uh huh… Well, I've already taken responsibility," I muttered coldly, and everybody present at the table shook with anger.

"ARE YOU SERIOUS?! IS THAT ALL YOU HAVE TO SAY!? NOT ONLY DID CY GO THROUGH THAT! But! BUT! BUT WE HAD TO GO THROUGH THAT SHITTY EXPERIENCE AS WELL! THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT! AND HOW DID YOU EVEN TAKE RESPONSIBILITY?! BY BEATING HIS ASS IN FRONT OF BEEZLEBUB?!" Bella shouted, clearly passionate about kicking my ass.

As she heaved heavy breaths, I slowly tapped on the marble table, seeing the vibrations travel through my glass of water.

"I told you I've already taken responsibility. I've done more than enough as punishment for the things I've done to you," I muttered through gritted teeth.

Explaining that I went through so much worse than Cy in about three thousand years would just invalidate his experiences.

It's better to just keep my mouth shut.

"What do you mean by that?" Bella asked, clearly confused but also distraught at how cold I could be.

As I knew I would eventually let it slip, I slowly got up from my chair and began to exit the room, though just as I was about to leave, a blast of sparkling white aura nearly ripped my head off.

But, all I had to do was take a step to the side and slowly back at the assailant: Luna.

"Hey… How many years did you through?" She asked, and I wasn't surprised that she had already figured it out.

"*sigh*... Cy, I'm sorry for what I put you through… but that century of suffering was nothing compared to what I went through," I muttered, and my bloodlust exploded from me, taking a demonic form that loomed over the entire dining room.

"WHAT IS IT?!" Luna shouted.

"Thirty centuries. Two thousand and eight hundred over those years were spent getting slowly torn limb from limb, experiencing the pain of even getting your head torn off. Not two years, not five years, not even ten years. Close to three thousand years of getting killed every single minute,"

As the bloodlust was sucked back into my body, a cloud of red smoke escaped from my mouth as I instantly suppressed my anger and annoyance and made sure to take my leave for real this time.

"Geez… you're quite the dramatic figure," The snarky voice of a woman permeated through the air, and when I turned towards her, a string of panels appeared.

"They'll get over it by tomorrow. But, we'll probably rest a bit more for about a week. We need time to rekindle the friendship that's probably been lost over the years,"

"Despite how cold you were towards them, you actually care for them quite a lot. Just make sure that part isn't exploited otherwise, you'll fall further than a demon," Cerberus muttered.

.

[You have completed the Teacher Quest: Unlock More Runes]

[Rewards have been granted]

.

"Oh wait… that's right. The objective was to unlock more runes, but I ended up not even unlocking one," I muttered as another leathery book appeared in the center of my hand.

"Oh, that's entirely my fault. I kind of lost track and became obsessed with the training you… plus, I don't think your body will be able to handle another rune, unlike your black-haired friend over there. By consuming the flesh of those monsters, his constitution has essentially become on par with a full demon while also holding the consciousness of a sane human… that's the magic of Beezlebub right there," Cerberus chuckled.

A silence befell us both as we stared at each other.

"I have to go,"

"I know… Thank you so much for everything. Despite you killing me so many times and putting me through so much stress, you still helped me grow into a stronger person… and I know the answers I've been wanting will not be given by you… But still, I would like to thank you from the bottom of my heart," I announced while bowing deeply towards my master.