The hallway suddenly fell into a huge hush as the once passing by students sidelined themselves along the corridor, watching the drama between Nuel and Khaos unfold.
And then, a quiet murmuring began to escape from their lips, raising questions on who the man holding Khaos by the neck was.
Some who had sighted Khaos arrival at the Valtor's family academy with an injured Nuel a few hours ago began to spread the news, infact sharing more fabricated stories that were far from the truth.
It wasn't long the eyes of many of the students watching began to taunt Nuel. It was very obvious a huge portion of them hated him already even though they do not know a thing about him.
"I heard he's a hunter of dark magic users, but he hasn't awakened yet." A weakling boy with big glasses gossiped, pushing back the frame of his glasses to add spice to how serious he was about his tale about Nuel.
"Tell me more, Raj!" His friend asked hurriedly, suddenly invested in knowing more about what he knew about Nuel.
Raj broke into a small smile, ready to deliver the rest of what he knew as more girls rushed to his side to hear his story about Nuel.
If sourcing for information about Nuel's arrival and background could get him attention from the girls, why hold back?
Raj straightened his shoulders, pointing out his chest with confidence while his hands went straight into his pockets.
"Rumor has it that he annihilates dark magic users with magic bullets because his bloodline is not allowed to wield magic, less he dies."
"Does that not make him potentially weak?" A girl with cute bunny teeth raised a question.
"Useless!"
"Laughable!"
"But we can't deny how good looking he is." Maya, the girl standing close to the bunny girl mentioned, her face fully flushed in a tomato red blush.
"Khaos Valtor looks better!" Another girl opposed, folding her arms and rolling her eyes in disgust.
Raj quickly cleared his throat as it seemed the girl's attention was now taking a quick turn away from him.
"Why are you so impatient, girls? There's more to the story before you fall in love with a creep like Nuel."
"Don't call him that!"
Raj ignored her protest as he continued.
"Apparently, the reason for all what is happening to our world began with Nuel." Raj made a sign to them to come closer while he delivered the last bombshell in whispers.
"The world ended ten days ago because Nuel Ainsworth murdered the princess of the demon clan which shouldn't have happened according to the order of ancient druids."
"What?!"
Suddenly, out of nowhere, someone hanged their hand on Raj's shoulder from behind and before he could make a fancy turn at the one who had touched him, he had almost peed his pants.
He began to squirmer as hot sweat began to fall off his forehead, glistering and shimmering as they formed in their wake.
"Our dear Raj, would you mind telling us how you know this much about this new guy… Nuel even before I did?" The voice boomed, striking a familiar cord of fear within Raj.
"I.. I.. Ke..nji,.. I got to know all this from my uncle, Raie." Raj confessed, his skinny legs shaking like spaghetti as he couldn't bear the weight of his upper body under the boy's touch.
The boy, Kenji, carefully stroked through Raj's hair, his eyes tagged on Nuel without many emotions in them. And then with a small smile, he backed away from the gathering his mouth carved with the name:
'Nuel Ainsworth.'
A portal suddenly opened at the end of the hallway and the students began to make way for the arrival of the one who had stepped out of the portal.
A straight opening that led straight to Nuel and Khaos was created for him and as the man walked, he received a bow from every student till he got to the center.
"Father," Khaos greeted as he felt the presence of his arrival change the air in the hallway.
Nuel turned to look at the man, his hands still holding Khaos's collar without break.
"Welcome, Nuel Ainsworth, welcome to the Valtor's family academy. I apologize my son, Khaos has no control over his speech sometimes so there might be a few loose screws you will have to pardon from time to time. Accept my deepest apology."
Nuel was shocked at the sight before him. He couldn't believe the man that had just spoken could be standing well and fine without the hunches he had seen him stand in almost all his life.
All he could say was a jagged nonsense that pieced up the words;
"How is this possible? How are you here?"
The man smiled and offered a tender bow to Nuel.
"It's a pleasure to meet you again, Nuel Ainsworth. My name is Victor Valtor and I am the principal of the Valtor's family academy." Victor Valtor said with the most relaxed and warming smile ever.
Nuel was forced to let go of Khaos, still in doubt of who was standing before him.
Victor Valtor was the last man he would have thought to be alive after the tale of the world ending ten days ago had been told to him.
In fact, he had never thought about him once since he last saw him at the hospital or could have been bothered about how he would survive the dungeon attacks.
It was the old same man, the old man who had told him to give up on taking care of his foster aunt. The same old man he had seen every time he had gone to visit his aunt for the last fourteen years.
He couldn't believe it and now that Victor Valtor had appeared before him, his mind had begun to piece up different scenarios as to why Victor Valtor may have showed up at that very hospital.
As if Victor Valtor had read the possibility in Nuel's mind, he said,
"I have answers to all of your questions, but first let's go pay your aunt a visit. She's waiting." Victor smiled.