[center][h3][color=a187be]-Acerbus Invictus : Infinitum-[/color][/h3]

As he besieged the crowd with a careful gaze, Acerbus found no culprit fleeing the scene; no shifting of the masses, no error or anomaly... which lead to a frown from the young observer with an obvious conclusion. Documenting the spiel within the confines of his mind, he began to tap his lips, gazing at the floor as if it held within them the mysteries to solving the conundrum involving the retaliation, along with determining the perpetrator identity. Of course, in due time his head returned forward, however his eyes traversed around as swiftly as it could, distinguishing the others feelings out of nothing more than an abnormal curiosity for their reactions to the appalling threat against the Imperator... in the form of... an unidentified flying object.

It was truly obnoxious to him to scan and procure knowledge on what the soaring item might be.

First was Asgard who appeared to be unaffected; not at all disgruntled... but then again, he pondered [i][color=a187be]"Why would Miss Asgard be?... An affirmative glare and stalwart stance which I can decipher as her identifying that there is no threat... logically why would anyone be; there's an implacable amount of safeguards due to the terrorists endangering not only the Imperator, but the citizens themselves..."[/color][/i] Acerbus' finished his analysis, finding nothing more to scrutinize about her in mere seconds... other than the fact that there was still some longevity in her, along with physical terms, the apple did not fall far from the tree for Lady Asgards daughter... she seemed like a lovely person to spend time with.

Speaking of her daughter... Acerbus glanced at Fei who was approached by her equally beautiful mother. The woman seemed to garner some emotion for her kin as she displayed an apology with a request for the impassioned girl to enjoy the evening. While he could care less about Fei, he felt slightly guilty, especially now that he accidentally sabotaged bonding time between parent and child. From what he could discern with her next actions cemented some lingering dejection. Acerbus held the belief that Lady Asgard put forth raw, unbridled love into such a simple grasp.

Acerbus avoided eye contact, keeping a neutral aura about him as his lips and eyes remained unmoved. However, he felt a pang of envy; the facet that the most horrible, the most haughty, the most infuriating person in the Academy shared a deeper bond than Acerbus did with his own parents. It was... completely awry to him. The perturbed boy pondered on how things seemingly went right between them as Fei began her metamorphosis into a flame that displayed passion that was tender, yet left those tainted a mere crisp.

Sloughing away the laborious assessment, Acerbus found that this touching moment left jealousy, causing him to discard former thoughts about the woman being sad and alone... the more he contemplated on his choice of words, the more he found himself a hypocrite. It made him ponder though on one possible idea that was converging with a comparison to a suicide mission. Gulping lightly, he possibly shackled himself to such an endeavor just through an unfortunate interaction regardless... but it did allow him to identify another side that emanated from Fei. The teen found it to be more along the lines of pure curiosity if he undertook the arduous task of quelling the flames; to see the type of person she could truly be...

For science... and of course, causing the imminent peril to vanish immediately...

[color=a187be][i]"... I rue this minuscule era, but I do need to satiate this wonder. People that live and breathe within the realm have finicky or extensive mindsets. It is definitely wise to undergo it due to the other implications..."[/i][/color] Acerbus found himself looking at the girl for an elongated amount of time. This was a slight breach with dual edges, however, he could dismantle and dismiss the information later that Mariette would assert to all entities within the academy. He then stared at the floor, on the verge of choosing one of his diverse amount of options. The teen weighed such choices before staring at the Imperator once more...

... to find the mysterious object devoid of all action in midair before plummeting down to the hardy streets with either a crack or splat. Interestingly enough, that wasn't unexpected to him with each of his previous thoughts. Dissipating his frown, his eyes widened as the woman continued onward with the grand finale of her commendable announcement. It wasn't that he was dazed by the prospect, but antsy about such measures. Sure, while there was nothing to fear, the mere facet that she mention those items meant that the dread among the general populace would increase.

As much as Acerbus trusted her, he couldn't help but find such a command to be an alluring ruse. Upholding his position, he let out a brief sigh as he dove once more into the grey within. Unmoving, it was as if the boy was transformed from flesh to stone in an instant as she left the center stage. [color=a187be][i]"People are effortlessly enamored and galvanized by the prospect of coin... I don't condemn them however, the more I analyze it, the more afraid I become. I don't wish to doubt the Imperator, but there has to be some hidden plot, and I dare not say it be a machination. However, if she is commanding us to obtain such breathtaking items in such a marvelous endeavor... what are we exactly preparing for?"[/i][/color]

...

Eventually, he was aroused from his trance by the hyperactive (and possibly delusional) Mariette, who sought to speak without fear. As he glanced over at the girl, there was a glint of weakness - a terror that one could only scarce glance at if given the hours to grasp at his mindset. With one simple blink, he was back to normal, his jawlines still within the shop. What she said was possibly going to result in myriads of students renting or outright buying books over the relics and heroes, along with their "reported" locales.

Of course, Acerbus did not want to deal with such trifling matters. He internally wanted to release the information and perform other worthwhile actions... however, such an implication could be identified as possible treason. There was no reason to revel in what was to come, or disclose his thoughts, as it could come in due time... maybe he could attempt to pull some strings which garnered him the ability to traverse with a group in search of the items, relying on the sheer aptitude of fortune to guide him to the Imperators intentions. Eventually, she returned a simple and pure gaze to Acerbus and Fei, which he found slightly unsettling. Maybe in the eyes of other, they could be compared to red balloons, but no, this was what he identified the uncanny girl with.

[color=a187be][i]"Sometimes, I feel you're feigning as a ditz, Maritte,"[/i][/color] he thought to himself as he listened to her go on about the Jester, stalwart and mute as usual. Acerbus shut his eyes that were robbed of their piercing ambiance from earlier, as if he were to prevent any more ridiculousness from appearing. Of course, the sound still resonated, and he immediately parted his lids to see the world in its grandeur state.

Eventually, she said her adieu, much to the displeasure of the bespectacled young man. The younger girl skipped away, before glancing once more at the duo, teasing them with the aspect that their "love life" was compromised. Eventually, she completely departed the shop, leaving the sight of the sweets and students who were now victim to surprised pairings. Acerbus wish he could of delayed the inevitable by suspending her from leaving with swiftly placed words, but the opportunity could no longer be procured by a handful of words.

Returning his shadowy gaze, he looked at Asgard, before realizing he had not performed the proper ritual... of telling another who their identity was for future reference. Adjusting his glasses, he broke the silence surrounding him, and decided to hold the candied peach within his book hand. [color=a187be]"Apologies for the delay, but I never properly introduced myself... even though others slightly performed the task for me..."[/color] Stopping briefly, the boy cleared his throat before traversing on with his introduction to Asgard.

[color=a187be]"My name is Acerbus Invictus; it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance Miss Asgard. Apologies for such formalities, as I found it rather abrupt and discourteous to not perform such a simple task."[/color]

Eventually, Fei began to depart, imparting some aura of determination with her body language. To keep looks up and begin his endeavor to assist the school by cooling down the fiery rage that was Fei, he opted to excuse himself from the shop too. [color=a187be]"It was a pleasure meeting you Miss Asgard; I aspire to have more delightful conversations in the future with you, as well as your daughter. Have a wonderful evening; adieu."[/color]

And with that, he sped out the door, walking quickly to catch up with Fei, who he was lagging behind as the girl traversed to an unknown location. As he dashed after her, there was a burst of explosions which deafened the air around. Acerbus skid to a close as he focused on where the sound emanated from. His eyes widened, his jaw descended as he was befuddled by the scene before him - a tower ablaze. As he stared upwards, he noticed a pair of Legion going in the direction of the destruction, while four others traversed towards... the academy.

[color=a187be][i]"I dislike breaking the laws, but this might be an opportunity to identify a possibly suspect... that and I lost Fei."[/i][/color] As he silently thought to himself, he ran to the nearest area which was engulfed in the most darkness. Using what he could, the boy felt as the shades wrapped around his foot. As horrifying as the devastation was, the panicking crowd would most likely become more disgruntled at the sight of someone sinking into the shadows, turning into a mere black blob. In mere seconds, he was engulfed.

Utilizing his skills, he briskly shot up the building, averting bumping into light, before concluding he was on the rooftops. Moving as fast as he could, he began to quickly travel up and down with each building. At the rapid speed he was traveling at, he would be exhausted, if not for the shadows. As he continued, he heard a shout emanating a couple of buildings away from him. Slightly emerging from the shadows, the boy appeared deformed, half of his face appearing normal and the other a black glob, struggling to keep whatever structure it was in.

What he noticed was... peculiar. A blonde girl was alone on the rooftops (with a horrified expression on her face)... which was illegal, of course. Quickly, he sunk back into the structure, moving one more building to get close enough where he could decipher what might transpire next... why he was doing this was to discover the possible culprit behind those fires out of more than sheer adrenaline... but swiftly discerned that it wasn't the woman... maybe...

Now he was pondering about tonight - why was he taking such peculiar actions which were unnecessarily risk taking? Seriously, the Legion could of handled this situation quite well, with or without the bespectacled boy. Maybe it was the aura of the crowd? Or maybe it was the need to impress?[/center]