(Irene POV)

His body rested on the bed, soundly sleeping. His chest slightly rose with every breath. I traced where the wound used to be on his bandaged chest.

That injury could have been fatal. It was dangerously close to vital organs. It even went all the way through his abdomen.

Ken almost died...

And now, he had another scar on his skin. A mark left from the sword. A reminder that I had failed to protect him once more...

The door behind me opened as Lily entered the room, closing it behind her.

"I'm here, Irene. So what did you call me for?" Lily asked.

"Please take care of Ken." I replied, bowing.

"...eh?" She voiced her confusion.

"Please watch over him and keep him safe. You're the only one who can do it discreetly." I stated. "And of course, I'll compensate you for your time."

"You mean...you want me to stalk him?" Lily wondered.

"Yes." I nodded.

"...I guess I can do that." She sighed. "Maybe I can find out why Erica likes him so much..."

"Are you still on Erica?" I wondered.

"No." Lily shook her head. "I still love her, of course I do. But Erica just isn't into girls."

"And you are?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Maybe." She replied. "Or it could just be because it's Erica."

"I see." I hummed. "I hope that you do find that someone."

"I don't know if I'll be able to love anyone else..." Lily muttered to herself.

She then shook her head. "Well, I guess I'll stay here and watch over him then."

"Thank you." I smiled.

"It's alright." Lily smiled. "I don't mind hanging out with a friend."

I nodded at her words, before exiting the room.

It's a good thing that Lily agreed to watch over him, as I need to do another important thing at the moment. If people are coming after Ken, then he needs even more protection.

I pulled out my phone, entering a group chat.

Me: It's time.

Iris: For that, right?

Yui: I won't be able to make it. Healing Ken drained me of all my energy.

Erica: Want me to come and keep you company, Yui?

Yui: It's fine, you can go ahead.

Erica: Alright.

Iris: So, what are we calling it now? The Royal Guard leaves a sour taste in my mouth after what Isaac and Father did.

Erica: What did the King do?

Iris: I forgot that you and Yui don't know. Father is the one who was behind it all.

Yui: Seriously?!

Me: Yes. Don't tell anyone else. We only found out after his death. Mother informed us that he was behind it all. She even had evidence.

Erica: How'd she get the evidence?

Iris: "From a friend" is what she said. We don't know.

Iris: Back on topic, what is the name going to be?

Me: The Cult Of Loki.

Yui: Loki?

Me: That's Ken's Arcana.

Erica: What?! I thought that it was Fenrir?!

Me: Really?

Erica: Yeah! That's what Ken said when he first got his Arcana.

Me: Strange. I took a look at his Adventurer Card and it said that his Arcana was Loki.

Iris: What Tier is he at? I think we all know that he's definitely higher than what he says.

Me: He's Tier 5.

Erica:...no way?!

Me: Yes. He's at Tier 5. It's an incredible rate of growth. Actually, more than incredible. We're only one semester through and he's reached Tier 5. The prodigy Bianca took three semesters to get to Tier 6 and just reached Tier 7 recently.

Erica: I'm at Tier 4, does that mean I also have a quick growth rate?

Iris: That's amazing!

Me: Yes. While not as impressive as Ken's, it's still quicker than Bianca's.

Yui: That's insane...Bianca is regarded as a prodigy and the strongest youth.

Me: Bianca is a prodigy. Not only is she at Tier 7 despite being a Second Year at the beginning of her second semester, but she's also incredibly skilled and strategic, which allows her to take down foes stronger than her. Not a single Third Year that has challenged her has beaten her.

Me: But if Bianca is a prodigy, then Ken is a monster.

Iris: Then who is this "Pink Death"? This bitch heavily injured Ken.

Me: Ken is a monster in terms of growth. He still needs much more training before he can be as skilled as Bianca.

Me: As for the Pink Death, I've done some researching. She's a new assassin that has appeared recently.

Me: She hasn't failed a single mission yet.

Yui: She's only new, so she can't have done too many then. That's not too impressive.

Me: She has successfully completed 27 assassinations, and she first started appearing three months ago.

Erica:...seriously?

Me: Yes. You could consider her a prodigy among Assassins. She even has the backing of the Assassin League.

Erica: What's the Assassin League?

Iris: They're one of the strongest Underground groups.

Me: They're almost as influential as the Taiyou Family. The only reason they aren't is because they hide in the shadows.

Me: So if we want to avenge Ken, then the Assassin League must go. Usually they don't protect their assassins, but with a prodigy like The Pink Death...

Yui: Then what do we do? How do we take down a whole organization?

Me: Simple. We make our own.

Yui: The Cult of Loki.

Me: Exactly.

Iris: Let's do it.

Erica: Agreed.

Yui: How do we do this?

Me: Isn't it obvious? We start with those completely loyal to us and Ken, and then we start converting.

Iris: We should meet up to plan this. When?

Erica: How about tomorrow, after school, at the WcDonalds near the school?

Yui: Sounds good to me.

Iris: Agreed.

Me: Alright. Then we'll meet then.

I placed my phone back into my pocket. We'll finally be kicking off that plan that we all had started thinking on.

First, we'll need a second-in-command, so that The Cult Of Loki can take initiative, even when none of Ken's future lovers tell them too.

Of course, this also means that this person needs to be completely loyal to us, so a situation like what happened with Cyrus doesn't happen again.

And I know just the person.

I walked to the elevator, entering it and pressing the right button. The doors closed as the elevator descended under the mansion.

It shortly opened, leaving me back on the Research Floor. If I remember correctly, she should be having tests done on her right now.

I walked into the room, causing all of the researchers to look at me surprised.

"Ms Aegis! What brings you here?" One asked.

"Where is Diane?" I asked.

"She's over there." The researcher stated, pointing over to a bench.

On the bench sat a shirt sixteen year old girl. She had short blond hair tired into two twin tails. She wore a blindfold which had a cross-like symbol in the middle.

She's one of the volunteers to have research done over her so we can learn more about Arcana's. We've been researching multiple different ranked Arcana's.

She's not the D Rank that was upgraded to C Rank. That's another volunteer. She's a B Rank who was forced to awaken her Arcana from our enemies.

We took care of them, and saved her in the process. We were going to leave her be but she begged to somehow be of use to me.

So I suggested this, not that I expected her to actually go through with it. Now she's used as the B Rank research subject.

And of course, all research is humane and morally right.

"Ms. Aegis? What are you doing here?" She sweetly asked.

"Diane, I have something to ask of you." I stated.

"What is it?" Diane wondered.

"I wish to create an organization, and I want you to be the second in command." I revealed.

"Really?!" She gasped happily. "Thank you! I won't let you down!"

A soft smile grew on my face. "Good."