Chapter 17

"WHAT?!" he is now raging in fury.

"Y-Yes, sir. W-We guessed they are a bunch of wizards." the poor guard stammered, "O-One of them can even summon swords! A-Another one's turning everyone to ice, a-and there's also somebody who eats metals!"

"Call more reinforcements! Intercept those infiltrators! Stop those wizards!" Nero ordered urgently at his lackeys. He is now shaking in anger.

"Y-Yes sir!" and the last of the guards left to face the sneaking wizards.

"They can't discover it. They can't possibly know it." he thought.

He has been hiding the truth for 5 years now, and surely now is not the time for it to be revealed.

Vincent's Uncle desperately rummaged through his things in his rather enormous bedroom. Containers after containers, cabinets after cabinets and he found what he's looking for. With a cautious hand, he held the magic orb in his hands. Upon contact with human skin, the orb cackled. Black and grey colors danced around the round object.

He murmured some ancient spell and the orb shape-shifted to a dark-colored blade with the edge, glittering grey.

"If things come to worst, I should be ready." Nero grimly said as he decided to look at his windows overlooking the garden outside. He saw Vincent and a white-haired girl talking and laughing.

"Maybe now's the time, Vincent." he smiled with an evil glint.-----

"Then what happened?" Lisanna asked Vincent excitedly.

Who knows that they will end up in this unlikely situation? One minute, the take-over wizard is determined to finish Vincent, and then it led to this rather happy conversation between them.

"Well, this rare snake we found was immediately returned to the forest. What was its name again?" the blonde-haired boy told stories to Lisanna who is only happy to listen to Vincent's researches on some rare animals that she wants to do a take-over.

"Tsuchinoko." the white-haired girl only replied in astonishment.

They continued chatting that Lisanna almost forgot about their mission. But what is her mission exactly? Erza and the others only gave a vague idea of saving Lucy. But if Lucy's betrothed is here, then wouldn't she be hitting two birds with one stone? She got interested with Vincent's stories at the same time, holding down Vincent himself from stopping their undercover mission.

Lisanna can't help but smile like a weird maniac to her lucky circumstances. She's in a good mood that she didn't notice Vincent, looking at the skies and smiling sadly. With that, the gleeful smile on her face crumbled slowly.

"H-Hey, why are you sad?" she asked the guy.

"Huh? I'm not sad." Vincent said as he flashed her a smile, enough to make a fan girl die, "I'm smiling. See?"

"But you're sad. And your smiles can't always hide that." the take over wizard stated her thoughts, "Tell me what's wrong, if that's okay with you."

Vincent only stared at her, surprised. He didn't talk, she didn't utter a single word. It was rather awkward, but Vincent started to laugh.

"Why are you laughing? Are you turning insane?" Lisanna asked, obviously creeped out by Vincent's sudden laughing heartily.

"I'm not turning insane." Vincent's laughs started to fade away, "I just find it funny that the smile I used to hide everything was just nothing to you." he even wiped the tears of his laughter from the corner of his eyes.

"What are you hiding?" she asked him.

"Well, I have two." he started, "I think you're trustworthy so I'll tell you the first one." he even smiled at her.

Lisanna didn't say anything and let Vincent tell everything.

"Have you liked someone to the extent that you're just happy when they're happy?" Vincent started. "I've been doing that for so many years. And yet, I feel guilty now."

Lisanna wanted to tell him that she knows his situation too well, but decided to just let Vincent tell the worries he has.

"I am happy that she agreed to marry me." with a sad glance, he looked again at the skies. "But I don't think she loves me in the same way that I love her. I hate it. I don't want to push myself to her, perfectly knowing that her affections are not mine to begin with."

He lowered his head. The animal take over wizard asked him, "And what'll you do?"

"I don't know." Vincent uttered sadly.

Something in Lisanna's heart ached. She knows all too well what Vincent has been feeling. She knows the hurt of liking someone who won't like you back. And if there was someone who could understand Vincent right now, it's her.

Unconsciously, Lisanna draped her arm around his back, hugging him. When she realized what she's doing, she ought to pull back, but for some reason, she just can't. Blushing, she didn't utter any single word, so does he.

Everything was silent, except the mellow music coming from the party. Anyone could mistake them for a couple, except the guy is wearing a fancy suit, and the girl is wearing a daring cat costume.

Then out of nowhere, Vincent started to tremble and cough. He collapsed, leaving a shocked Lisanna. She tried to help him, by running her palms at his back to ease his coughs, but to no avail.

"That's useless!" a wicked voice was heard.

Nero held the blade in his hands, pointing it to Vincent like a staff. The blade and its handle cackled black and grey lights which almost looked like black and grey lightning. Slowly, he approached the two.

By every step of Nero, Vincent's state worsen. His coughing fits are becoming abnormal, and by the time Nero was before them, Vincent's body started to color. Greyish hues covered his entire body.

"What are you doing to him?!" in horror, she yelled at Nero with all her might.

"This is his destiny!" Nero laughed. He grinned evilly and reached his hand up to the skies.

Lisanna can't do anything. She started to attack Nero but to no avail. His blade created a bubble of defense that even she, can't break. She's totally helpless.

Staggering, Vincent slowly stood up. His eyeballs were red and his eyes were black. His body is completely grey and a blinding light from him, radiated. In a blink, a shadowy cape appeared on his back. Lisanna tried to communicate. But this person, rather this creature, is no longer Vincent but a caped entity.

The creature growled and orbs of dark magic encircled him from above. With a flick of his now long and pointy fingers, the orb flew from him in all directions with a tremendous speed. Explosions are heard everywhere and the last thing that Lisanna heard before the orb caught her is the wicked laugh of Nero.