It was Kai’s first-time hearing about making an oath.

He asked Matilda more about it, and according to her, this oath, which involved Zeus, is called the Soul Oath. Anyone who spoke an oath involving Zeus aloud would have their souls bound to that oath.

Breaking the oath would mean retribution.

And when it comes to Zeus, it would be death by lightning.

People, especially those on the surface, thought that death by Zeus’ lightning would be quick.

But it wasn’t entirely the case.

As the King of Gods, he has a reputation to maintain. His divine lightning would char every single nerve ending inside the person’s body, and the process was quick to the eyes, but felt like an eternity for the punished person.

It was easily one of the most painful ways to die.

Kai also asked whether the oath could be made to other Olympian Gods, and Matilda’s answer was yes. A Soul Oath can be directed to other Olympian Gods. Zeus was broadly used due to his standing, and also the well-known fact that he accepted all Soul Oaths.

Other Olympian Gods might ignore some Soul Oaths, but the King of Gods never did.

Something that he kept in mind.

"So, what’s your name?" Kai glanced over his shoulder.

The guy from earlier was following behind them, and his face was incredibly sour.

Soured out of spite that it had to be Kai who passed by while he was in that situation.

"Bryan," He answered with a click of his tongue. "For you, call me Daddy Bryan."

"More like Chicken Brian," Matilda commented, laughing at what happened.

"You know what? Fuck both of you."

"Huh, I bet you’ll get along well with Dorian."

Moments later, Kai, Matilda, and Chicken Bryan went to fetch the stashed mana ores and shoved them all into their leather sacks. Fortunately, Bryan also has one, so they could bring all three thousand plus mana ores with them, no problem.

"Dear Olympus..." Bryan stared at the sparkling mana ores inside—the hollow tree. "How in the world did you two can amass this much mana ore? Is this even possible? No, it’s not, you guys must be cheating!"

"Cheating?" Kai scoffed. "Me? A Lesser Angel? Cheating?"

"You’re a hidden High Angel! Tell me the truth," Bryan pointed at him. "No other explanation for your monstrous strength and this!"

"Are you always this loud?" Matilda picked her ears, finding Bryan’s high-pitched voice to be really annoying to hear. "Shut up—and carry two of the leather sacks. As the newest member of our group, you’ll do the rough work."

"What even is the name of this group?" Bryan asked while hauling the two bulging sacks.

"Ambrosia Pact," Kai answered; that was Bree’s suggestion. "But it’s not decided yet."

"Huh? Not decided? How?"

"It hasn’t been registered yet."

"..."

Sunlight seeped through the cracks of the swamp’s canopy.

It was already the next day, and the three of them were completely exhausted. Kai and Matilda were wounded and battered—while Bryan was mentally exhausted from even being near the Lesser Angel.

Before returning, they decided to rest a little on the very edge of the cloud.

Matilda was the one roasting the boar meat that she had sliced and kept from the steel-tusked boars that were bullying Bryan. Normally, it was Kai doing this, but since he was in a far worse condition than she, she volunteered.

She didn’t trust Bryan, so he was out of the count.

"You’re not going to ask why a High Angel is helping a Lesser Angel?" Kai asked, turning his face slightly to look at Bryan as he sat down and leaned his back against a tree. A light groan escaped his mouth as he did that. "You must have some questions." 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

"Don’t really care," Bryan shrugged. "Minding my own business helped me survive, and I’m planning to keep doing that."

"Minding your own business? You took my mana ores."

"I didn’t take anything. It fucking fell onto my lap."

"But you tried absorbing one."

"I mind my own business, but if Tyche, the Goddess of Fortune, decided to smile at me, then I won’t decline it. Besides, I had been living a shitty academy life, so excuse me for wanting a single good thing to happen to me without trouble."

Kai’s face twitched at the answer, as that meant he wasn’t minding his own business.

If he truly is the advocate of what he said, then he wouldn’t touch the mana ores, knowing that it’s most likely to come from a troublesome place. One that would put him in a potentially dangerous situation.

"Your arm looked weird," Bryan gestured toward Kai’s arm. "Mutation?"

"It’s broken, you piece of shit," Kai cursed, as it was clearly a mockery.

"Oh, it’s broken? Want me to get some Zier Herbs for you? I saw some along the way."

"This guy..."

Kai’s face twitched even harder, straining a smile as Zier Herbs only heal superficial wounds outside the body, not a broken bone. He exhaled roughly through his nose, calming his nerves, and then gestured toward Bryan’s fingers, "Your fingers looked weird."

"Fuck you," Bryan cursed. "You’re the one who broke them!"

"You did?" Matilda was pleasantly surprised.

"Guess who I learned that from?" Kai smirked at Bryan, nudging his head toward Matilda.

"Both of you are psychopaths! Psychos!" Bryan slurred, throwing cursed words at them as he was triggered to see his fingers curling backward like a shrimp. And the worst part was that it wasn’t really him who stole the mana ores.

Once the food was ready, the three of them ate without exchanging a word.

Matilda spared some to feed Iris, the white cat that surprisingly loves roasted boar meat.

It had been grumpy the entire way since Perion had trapped it inside the tree, sealing the hole with a stone that refused to budge without force. But now, the scent of roasted meat drifted through the air, and the grumpiness melted away like butter in a hot pan.

"So," Matilda glanced at Kai when she had had her fill. "Care to share who they are?"

Kai bit into the bone and stopped.

He glanced at Byran and saw him pretending to focus on his food—but his ear was practically swelling, clearly more interested in the topic than he wanted to show. Perhaps he wanted to know who the person was who set him up.

Making Kai think he was the thief, but Kai didn’t want him to hear.

"Go get some Zier Herbs, will you?" Kai nudged Bryan’s boot—with his own. "I think I need them after all."

Just tell me to scream if you don’t want me hearing it, jackass," Bryan sneered and then walked away, not forgetting to snatch another slab of roasted meat, shoving it into his mouth before scurrying away. "I’ll be back!"

"You sure it’s fine letting him go?" Matilda stared at Bryan’s back. "What if he snitched us to Chester?"

"He won’t," Kai shook his head. "He hates Chester. I heard him cursing Chester with every single curse word known to mankind. But either way, it was the seniors from Lion’s academy. Lion is backed by a Demigod, I don’t know who, and that Demigod wanted me dead."

"Tell me if they came again."

"Why would I do that? You’ve got nothing to do with this."

"I threw the blade. I’m basically the one who killed Lion."

"But they didn’t seem to blame you for it." Kai shook his head, leaning back his body to the tree to rest a little bit more. "Don’t remind them about what you did. Just stay away from this mess. Think about your family."

"It’s too late anyway," Matilda shrugged. "I already killed one of them."

Since she already killed the woman, she’s already involved in this mess.

Nobody saw what happened, and the evidence was fed to the House of Night, leaving behind nothing that could trace those seniors’ deaths to them. But considering information always goes around, he was quite sure someone would find out about this soon enough.

A Demigod might even have an imprint that’ll recount what happened anyway. Someone will know.

"I guess we have something in common, now," Matilda chuckled weakly.

"Something in common?" Kai raised a brow, confused.

"Yes, you have this Demigod after you, and I have this assassin organization after me."

"Right... I forgot about that. Find anything?"

"Nothing. My hands are tied in the academy, anyway, so investigating them is impossible."

"Strangely enough, that also gave us a common goal." Kai looked skyward, at the bright sky, wincing as the blue sunlight stung his eyes. The Blue Void eclipsed the sun around this time, and it lasted a few hours, so the world is tinted in shades of azure. "Both of us need a shield. And that shield is fame. Do you understand?"

Powerful people are after them.

Demigods and an assassin organization.

Going against them with strength would be suicide for both of them, so the only way for them to survive is through being well-known. Angels’ living conditions are kept a secret from the people on the surface.

And that’s the weakness of the class system that they need to exploit.

Matilda, especially, has more to lose.

Nothing is stopping the assassin organization from chasing after her to kill her family.

If that organization could slip two new Angels into the Blood Rite undetected, then reaching the Angels’ family living space and killing Matilda’s family was entirely within their power. And that should terrify her.

Keeping her balanced on the edge, never knowing whether her family is still alive or not.

Following Kai’s steps would also be to her benefit.

Forming a group and working hard to qualify and prepare for the upcoming tournament to make a name for themselves, that was the right move. A helpless little laugh escaped her lips. "I made the right decision, then. Asking for your forgiveness... sticking close to you. It was the right thing to do."

"Don’t celebrate yet," Kai shook his head weakly. "We still have a long way to go."

Rumble—!

Both of their eyes widened completely when the ground underneath them began to quake.

Kai instinctively grabbed his scimitar and rose to his feet despite the pain.

It was the same for Matilda, ready with her shield in hand.

Both of them scanned their surroundings—expecting to be a scourge of Awakened Monsters or worse, a wandering Star Beast had woken up—and drawn by their scent. The scent carried by something alive.

But the swamp remained still.

No movement. No sound. Nothing.

Just an unsettling, watchful silence and the violent shaking of the ground.

A figure emerged from behind the tree, running frantically at them.

"Yoo—!" Bryan waved his arm at them, trying to warn them about something, as his eyes were wide in panic and fear. "Get down!"