I am the Only Son of Nyx

It was as expected.

Layra was in this situation because of him.

Being branded the title Lesser Angel was already hard enough, as it would take twice or more the required work and require enduring the massive disadvantages in every part of the academy to simply keep on living.

But it didn’t stop there.

A Lesser Angel was akin to a passable disease, and it infected the people around.

Anyone who gets too close would also be sick.

And the sickness would only get worse the closer one gets.

Upon returning to the academy and going through the Culling of Nonentity Ceremony—the academy life resumed normally for Layra and Team Hyperion. Many of her classmates began talking about what happened in their Blood Rite.

Some took it seriously as if it was a competition on who had it the hardest.

Aaran talked about how Team Coeus almost dominated them until one student changed it all.

The Lesser Angel.

He was swayed by the atmosphere and forgot that there are classes in the sky.

Being saved by a Lesser Angel and carried to victory on his back wasn’t a boast Aaran thought it was, no matter how desperate and intense the situation had been. And soon—word spread through the student body like fire through dry grass.

The Lesser Angel won all three titles.

The Lesser Angel forcibly took over Team Hyperion.

Layra was the leader of Aurelian Academy’s group in Ixos.

And before anyone could contain it, everything suddenly went downhill really fast.

Students began to mock and ridicule Team Hyperion. Poke at them at every passing chance. Isolate them in every class activity. And even going so much as to bully them for being a big embarrassment for the academy through something as petty as flipping their food trays—to a big deal such as demanding or stealing their mined mana ores.

No matter what Team Hyperion said, the other freshmen wouldn’t listen.

Even now, the students from Team Hyperion were groupless.

Always at the mercy of another group that was backed by the biggest group of the academy.

And Layra, being the leader of said team, got the worst of it.

One day, her patience ran thin, and she snapped, beating up seven students at once when they mocked her for getting desperate and asking help from the Lesser Angel. She went feral—and was only stopped when the grey-masked Angels stumbled across the commotion.

Her outburst sent the other students into a frenzy.

Eventually, the academy was forced to put its hands down and mediate the situation.

As Layra is a High Angel with the bloodline of an Olympian God, the academy couldn’t really punish her severely, as that would be a waste. Someone like her is too precious for the academy to throw away.

She would be a great asset in the Second Sky.

Instead of punishing her severely, the academy decided to take one of her eyes.

Supernals of Apollo relied heavily on their eyes. Marksmen without any equal; their innately sharp eyesight granted them aim so impeccable they could lock onto a target from over a mile away and snipe it with pinpoint accuracy.

And the stronger ones could snipe even further.

One instance even showed that a Demigod of Apollo could snipe a target for a hundred miles away, which was incredible, especially within a higher-rank Sky Gate where the dimension in it could be as big as the world.

And that meant a Supernal of Apollo could take out a Noble Star Beast from a safe distance.

So, in order to give a punishment that would satisfy the freshmen’s demands—without really punishing her too badly and making her life harder in the First Sky, the academy poured a hot, special liquid into her right eye.

It turned her sclera black, making her partially blind.

She can see normally if she focused mana into that impaired eye, allowing her to still retain her combat ability for a brief moment, but it would be mana-draining and painful. Most of the students didn’t know about that.

But that’s the leeway that Layra got as a High Angel.

Kai looked at Layra’s right eye and wiped the blood-tear with his thumb.

"Are you using it right now?"

"Yes... I want to see you clearly. It felt like years since I’ve seen you."

A small smile tugged his lips as he brushed her cheek with the back of his fingers.

Given what Angels endured on a daily basis, time had a way of tightening around them. When death knocked almost every other day, every moment sharpened—each breath, each glance, each heartbeat felt with terrible clarity.

And thus, it could easily feel like a lot of time had passed when it really hadn’t.

It was normal for Layra to feel like it had been years when it had only been months.

"Stop using it. You’ll have more chances to do it in the future."

"Are you sure? Are you sure you’re really fine back in your academy?"

Kai didn’t answer.

He only gave a faint smile that hid a million secrets and changed the topic.

"Do you want me to help you?"

"Help me? How?"

Layra tilted her head a little and stared at Kai’s dark eyes in confusion. But in those voids, she could see a deeper darkness that wasn’t hostile or suffocating. But a reliable one. Like a friend that had always been there when she was at her lowest.

For some reason, Kai felt stronger now.

Not only in the raw strength sense, but in every metric of his being.

’Of course—he’s a lot stronger now. He’s a Lesser Angel and even with that debilitating title, he’s still alive. Even the requirements needed to fulfil as a normal Angel are hard. I cannot even begin to imagine what he needed to do to keep on living.’

Layra snapped out of her thoughts when Kai spoke again.

"I asked you do you want me to help? The how is for me to think about."

"I... I’m really fine right now since I’m used to it. But if you’re offering to help, then I wouldn’t deny it. Even so, how would you do th—"

"Then the Demonlings who did this will pay."

A frown formed on Layra’s face.

Her mouth opened, but no words came out as she didn’t understand what Kai meant.

Before she could even ask, Kai already turned around—and walked back into the treeline. She felt a sense of loss when their hands parted, but she quickly snapped out of her daze and ran after him, fearing that he would do something bad.

No matter how she interpreted it, Kai’s words sounded ominous.

And she felt uneasy because of it.

Along the way, Kai came upon Aaran and Namira1still rooted where they had been earlier, silent witnesses to the reunion. He slowed, then stopped before turning to face Aaran. "Have you tried anything to fix this mess you made?"

It was Aaran who started all of this.

He was the one who got the big mouth and started this nightmare.

Kai assumed that he must’ve done something to fix this.

Instead of an answer, Aaran simply looked away.

A frown formed on Kai’s face—as this reaction was answer enough already. This mess started because of him, and yet he was passive. "You hadn’t tried to do anything even after Layra was punished? Am I right to assume that?"

"It’s more complicated than that," Namira defended. "What can we even do to fix this?"

Kai’s gaze shifted to Namira.

"You’re defending him?"

"No, it’s not that I defended him, but most of the freshmen went against us, and they all voted to punish Layra when she went feral. There’s nothing we can do to stop it."

"And where were you when this happened?"

"I... I was..."

"We weren’t on good terms back then already," Layra answered as she approached from behind. "We were arguing about what we should do, and some of us were blaming Aaran—including me since he started it—but the students from Team Hyperion were all there when it happened."

"I see..." Kai turned to face Namira. "Your boyfriend was cornered. To spare him from being blamed, from being pushed even further into isolation, you only watched as Layra lashed out and let her take the brunt of it. And once she was punished, the others let it go."

He paused and smirked coldly. "I must say... That’s a good plan."

Even after the Blood Rite ended, Layra retained her command over Team Hyperion.

She retained even more when the other students turned their backs on the team. With Aaran in the crosshairs, blamed by everyone, including Layra, Namira saw—the writing on the wall. She knew that things were only going to get worse for him.

So, when Layra was being harassed by the other students, she didn’t do anything.

Namira waited and hoped that Layra would lash out.

That way, the attention was pulled away from Aaran and placed on Layra.

And when she did, as expected, Aaran was quickly forgotten.

Layra’s eyes widened when she heard what Kai said.

She slowly turned to Namira in disbelief, "Is that true? You didn’t try to stop me because you want me to be the center of attention so that Aaran would be let off the hook."

"What else do you want me to do?!" Namira gritted her teeth. "Everyone was going against him! Even you were going against him and didn’t see that you’re pushing him into more and more trouble!"

"Then you should’ve talked to me, not do this..."

"Keugh...!"

Namira clenched both of her fists until her knuckles turned white and threw her face away.

She had no other choice, as she couldn’t let Aaran drown.

It was the only thing she could do at the moment.

"I came here to meet some friends and assess the situation," Kai said as he pivoted away. "But it seemed the friends I remembered no longer exist. The Namira and Aaran I know are not like this. They would not sacrifice friends."

"Layra nearly sacrificed me! In the Blood Rite, she almost killed all of us for Lion just to save herself." Namira’s voice cracked with outrage. "Why is she blameless in your eyes—while I’m the villain for doing exactly what she did? If you hadn’t shown up that night, she would have killed us all!"

"I already apologized for it," Layra looked away. "You said you already forgave me."

As much as she was angry at what Namira did, she knew that she was also wrong back then.

It was natural for Namira to be angry, as she was the one dragged by her hair.

Kai’s eyes turned colder.

"Maybe you’re right. I am biased. But for me, the difference is that she’s desperate and couldn’t think straight after losing her own twin sister. Seeing how she broke down instantly and how she regretted even thinking of doing it after the fact, I doubt she can go through with the killings.

"As for you, you don’t seem like you regret it. You don’t seem like you were sorry. You knew what you did was wrong and made a conscious decision to do it. Now, you’re even acting like the victim when Layra never did. Unfair or not, let’s not consider us friends anymore.

"And if you go against Layra again after this, I will kill you. Just know that."