Kain removed his blanket and dropped his phone. He walked over to a computer and opened the live video through there. His fingers trembled nervously. Although he easily captured Kados’ affections when the man was acting normally, whenever he went into that ‘serious mode’ of his, the way he treated Kain shifted greatly.
His treatment was more of like a silent dismissal, allowing his existence, but not giving him the time of day. In the first few months of his mission, he got cocky and attempted to glean some information off of him. At the time, he’d already guessed that Kados was being possessed and had a feeling whatever possessed him could give him useful info.
Kados’ cold eyes watched Kain grasp his arm, begging for attention and trying to hide the glint in his eyes. Kados pinched his chin and raised Kain’s head. It was nowhere near what you’d call a gentle pinch, and Kains’ delicate skin quickly turned red as he winced.
The possessed man’s cold voice sounded, echoing in his ears and piercing his consciousness, even as he simply remembered the event.
“Your eyes. They hold none of that innocence you claim to have. Simply schemes and stupidity.”
Kain’s eyes had widened in horror at the time, fearing that this whole plan would fall to pieces.
As he was inwardly scolding his recklessness, Kados spoke again. “The only reason I allow your presence...”
Kain stopped his squirming, feeling an ominous presentiment.
“...Is for the sake of chaos.”
Kain trembled for the Nth time at this memory. It scared him every time he thought about it. His caution towards Kados sprung from this occasion. He had no idea what was possessing him, or why it didn’t just keep the body, but it’s very existence scared him. It would be difficult to take the next step of his plan with that unknown existence in the way.
He definitely could not let some random kid replace him. Not when he was so close. Kados was out on business, making connections. Most assumed Kados was just a lavish youth who liked partying, but that was what he was really doing at these places. Making connections and building relationships. He had already made himself a way out. Kain could not yet guess the man’s intentions, but he knew it must have something to do with destroying the entirety of the Striped Devils, and escaping intact as well.
No matter what Kados was planning, he could not let it interfere with his own matters, nor could he fail when he was so close to his goal.
Kain stretched back from the computer chair and grabbed his phone. He made a call and a young woman quickly picked up.
“Is there something you need, Sir Kain?”
The woman’s serious voice sounded through the phone.
“Tomorrow’s monthly examination. I would like to go as B-Cadre representative.”
The woman paused. It was clear this request would be slightly difficult to complete.
“I-in place of Ren, Sir?”
“Yes.”
“But- Well...Mr. Ren was quite adamant on going this time around. Apparently he wants to witness their new reserve in action. Could you consider maybe rescheduling-?”
Kain cut her off, “No. Get it done please, Madam Administrator.” Then he hung up.
Kain looked back to the live video. It seemed to have ended.
Using the admin authority the idiot version of Kados gave him, he quickly deleted it.
Kain took a deep breath. He couldn't allow even the slightest risk in this operation. The ordinary Kados treated him well, but it was little more than lust. It was a fragile position.
This rookie...
He’d have to nip him in the bud.
As soon as the woman heard the beep of the phone cutting off. She angrily slammed her hand on her desk.
“Fucking brat! Speaking to me as if I were stupid!” She grit her teeth in rage as she made another call. She would have normally never dared to do this, but her anger fueled her courage as she called Kados.
“Hello?”
As soon as the mechanic voice came through the phone, she felt that very courage dissipate.
...
“Uh-uhm sir!”
“Yes?”
“W-well...Ahem!”- She cleared her throat, trying to regain her composure, “Sir Kain wants to take Ren’s place as B-Cadre representative at tomorrow’s monthly exam.”
“Oh? did Ren do something to him?”
“No, actually-” The woman tried to explain. She could sense where this was going, and even though she had a feeling Kain wouldn’t be getting in trouble like she wished, she at least refused to get him any benefits. But she was cut off by Kados.
“Kain wouldn’t do anything with purely bad intentions. So Ren probably did something.”
The woman was shocked into silence at the Vice President’s blatantly biased assumption.
“Arrange it.”
The woman heard the beep of the man hanging up, but she showed no anger, simply shock.
This place... no, the entire Striped Devils... is doomed.
One might assume that the idiot version of Kados has been on the phone. That was incorrect.
‘Kados’ was always in control when it came to these kinds of dinner parties. He couldn’t trust that horny bastard to keep himself in check.
The body's actual name was Jack Crescents. He was ambitious, fickle, and relatively dumb in general. That’s how most would describe him. But to Kados, he was an opportunity. Such a weak link could easily be taken advantage of. He made him use his name as an alias, and carefully instructed him to do what he wanted.
Jack was a naive person. When a strange voice entered his head a few months before his father died and told him he could make him his father's heir, he believed what it said was true. He was also avaricious. The former Vice President was neither a good parent nor a good husband. His illegitimate children could cover the skies. Jack was simply one of those children. He longed for his father’s fortune, and hadn’t been taught much else. No one knew his name, and as he took his mother's last name, only gods could guess what that was. Once Kados actually made him the heir to his father’s fortune, he trusted him wholeheartedly.
Kados made all of his moves through this one boy.
Kados thought back to that request. As powerful and cunning as he was, Kados was not omniscient. He had not seen the video, nor Jaylin. He guessed that Kain was making one of his weekly ‘attempts to take over the B-Cadre’.
That Kain was quite suspicious, and Kados would have preferred to have removed him earlier, but Kain was useful. By using Kain as a meat shield, Kados could influence the B-Cadre quite easily, hiding all with a simple ‘I’m doing it for Kain’.
Kain seemed to have caught on to the fact that his ‘seduction’ wouldn’t work when Kados was in control, saving him the trouble of dealing with that scheming fellow personally.
Although it seemed they wanted nothing to do with each other, Kados frequently benefited from Kain’s stupid plans. Whenever Kain wanted something, it was usually detrimental to the Striped Devils as a whole. His goals probably had something to do with that missing president as he showed a keen interest in anything the president had left behind before his ‘mysterious disappearance’.
Kados had no intention of helping the man with his goals, but anything that accelerated the destruction of the Striped Devils would get a pass from him. There was always the chance of that president fellow returning. It was better to get things done before then.
Although he had set up his plans so that the poison he’d spread within the Striped Devils would remain even if he ended up leaving, he still wished to see his plans come to fruition.
Just thinking about the city of Inzoscape as it lost the only efficient smugglers in the city made him giddy with excitement. The crime syndicates would have to find some way to make their money, and the High Magicians Tower would have to find some way to deal with all of them.
Kados couldn’t suppress the mischievous snicker that escaped him as he clutched his stomach. A fist pressed to his lips in an attempt to stop the crazed laugh, Kados groaned in annoyance. He truly hated the feeling of being unable to control his own desires and inclinations, but what could he do? He was the God of Chaos after all.
With a sigh, Kados sent a message to one of his subordinates. It was simple and direct. Not that they would expect any different.
“Set him up in the B-Cadre quarters.”
A polite response was sent immediately after.
“Are you certain sir? I believe Rank 4 Amiya is already staying there.”
“Yes.”
Kados smiled. Two rankers in one place would certainly bring conflict, not to mention if they’re both rivals.
“Understood, Sir.”
Kados forgot to suppress his excitement this time.
It seemed the fun was finally beginning.
Jaylin finally escaped Ren’s grasp and made his way to Amiya’s training room. Several members tried to introduce themselves. The were all dripping with sweat and smelled strongly of garlic.
One could argue that Jaylin had a sensitive sense of smell, but considering that immortals’ olfactory senses were usually equal to mortals, it was more likely everyone just got used to smelling like shit.
Gravitating away from the smelly members, Jaylin was faced with the ‘outsiders’, who, for some reason, treated him like a little brother.
One of these creatures attempted to pat him on the head, which he avoided. The young girl looked quite awkward after somehow missing her head pat by a papers width, but she quickly moved on.
She asked if he wanted to exchange phone numbers softly, as if she would hurt his ears if she dared speak louder.
Jaylin politely declined, and by that I mean ignored her entirely, and continued onto Amiya’s training room.
Countless sets of eyes watched his as he walked, but he paid them no mind, he was somewhat busy after all. Jaylin unsealed Exilis from his scabbard once more, only to find that the sword’s hysterical laughter had yet to die down. He’d been laughing since the girl tried to pat his head, and couldn’t seem to stop for the life of him.
Jaylin sighed in annoyance as he approached Amiya’s private training room.
Some of the members by the farther end of the training grounds hadn’t heard what Jaylin said about Amiya’s invitation, and were shocked when they saw the boy calmly stroll over to the private room door and begin to enter.
“Wait! No no no, don’t do that!”
One of the members who’d been training called out to Jaylin.
Jaylin reflexively looked at the man with his hand on the door handle.
“You probably don’t want to go in there rookie, that’s the private training room.”
Removing his hand from the door, Jaylin said, “I’m aware.”
The man froze before scratching his cheek awkwardly. “Yeah, sometimes we sneak in there to see what it looks like, but you can’t go in now, Mister Amiya’s in there.”
Jaylin took a few moments to consider the best response, finally deciding to simply ignore the man and enter anyway.
“Ah?-wait, don’t-”
The man grabbed Jaylin’s wrist to stop him from opening the door.
Jaylin glanced at the panic-stricken man, his boyish face pale with the anxiety a child would feel when sneaking around past their bedtime.
Does this count as provocation-
No, Master, it does not. You can’t go around killing nice guys because they grab your wrist.
Before Jaylin could come up with a rebuttal, he felt the door handle swing out of his grasp. Amiya stood on the inside of the room, most likely here after sensing Exilis.
The boyish faced man really was quite nice, not wanting a silly rookie mistake to get the youth in trouble, the man hid Jaylin with his broad shoulders, somewhat shielding him from Amiya’s view. Jaylin’s already small presence made him basically invisible, and Amiya didn’t see him.
“That’s strange” Amiya muttered, “I could’ve swear I felt-”
Amiya looked down at the man at the door.
Well, nevermind.
“Do you need something sir?”
Amiya asked
The man froze. “N-no sir Amiya! We-we were just playing around, sorry to bother you...”
Amiya nodded, waving the matter off. As the man sighed in relief, Amiya wondered inwardly,
We?
He glanced behind the man at his door, taking a quick look at the other half of this ‘we’.
The man flinched and nearly tried to block Jaylin again, but he decided it would be rude to Mister Amiya and could only cast a glance of sympathy towards Jaylin.
Amiya however, had not acted as expected.
Amiya’s eyes widened, shocked that he hadn’t noticed him before.
“Jaylin?”
Jaylin nodded lightly, his eyes holding a hint of sarcasm. Amiya could almost hear his icy voice saying,
“Impressive. You didn’t even notice your own guest.”
Amiya put away the strange thought, how could Jaylin ever speak such a long sentence? But perhaps Amiya did have a sixth sense, because that's exactly what Jaylin was thinking.
The boyish-faced man seemed to turn into air as the two conversed.
“Ahem” Amiya cleared his throat, deciding to pretend like he knew Jaylin was there the whole time. “You got here early.”
Jaylin nodded, and stepped past Amiya into the private room.
Amiya looked stiff as Jaylin brushed past him. He coughed awkwardly and followed Jaylin into the room, bidding the boyish-faced man adieu.
The door closed, and the poor guy was left standing dumbfounded outside.
