"That's better. Luna, you can go back to your class now," Icarus said to Luna.

Luna nodded and went back to her classroom.

Icarus turned and headed back up the stairs. The students who were gathered around them dispersed as well.

Emily glared at Icarus' back, gritting her teeth in anger.

She had never been threatened in this way before, especially not in front of such a big crowd. Icarus had made her out to be some kind of shrew, humiliating her.

If she had a knife with her right now, she would've stabbed Icarus.

"I won't let this go easily!" she said, clenching her teeth so hard they creaked.

When Icarus returned to the classroom, Hank had already arrived.

Emily's friends surrounded him, chattering non-stop as they pointed at Icarus.

Donovan scampered up to Icarus when he saw him. "You're in huge trouble now, Icarus."

"How so?" Icarus asked.

"Emily's quite popular, plus Leon'

Hank glanced at Icarus, then at Emily. He snorted.

"Both of you, behave yourselves!" With that, he left the classroom unhappily.

Emily was angry to see him leave just like that. Her expression was livid.

Her face still hurt, which made her simmer with anger.

However, she couldn't do anything to Icarus.

Icarus glanced at the students gathered around him and smirked.

It was too easy to deal with these kids who only had a little more than a decade of wisdom.

Icarus went up to Emily. "We can call it quits now. I hope you're not thinking of getting revenge on Luna. If you do, I'll make sure you end up like Leon."

Emily shuddered inwardly when she saw the cold look Icarus was leveling her. Her malicious retort died on her tongue.

Icarus went back to his seat. Ruth looked curious. "How did you do it, Icarus? You did…"

"If you really want to know, I don't mind giving you a demonstratio

Icarus went home and grabbed a bottle of homemade medicine. Then, he came back and applied some on Luna's bruised face.

Very soon, the bruise faded.

"You should go home," he said. "Your mom is worried about you."

"I will. Thanks, Russ." Luna touched her face, which didn't hurt anymore, and smiled.

Icarus patted her on the head. "I'll get that student to apologize to you tomorrow."

"Huh?" Luna looked up at him, perplexed. 

"She slapped you. She should apologize," Icarus said.

"But…" Luna said hesitatingly. She didn't want Icarus to get into trouble for her sake.

"No buts," Icarus said lightly.

…

Back at home, Luna managed to get out of trouble by lying that she'd been out shopping with some of her friends, though not without a severe scolding from Irene.

Icarus went back to the second floor, still thinking about the demon beasts' inner cores.

He'd asked Damien to scour Dalsoria for inner cores, intending to buy one no matter how much it cost, but he knew that the Johansons were limited in power. Even if they could find the inner cores he needed, it wouldn't be much, and it wouldn't be enough for him.

He needed to get more people to help him.

He could also ask the Talbots.

Before, Icarus had thought about getting the common families to help him find demon beasts and harvest their inner cores. But back then, he could find high-tier demon beasts easily, so he never really cared about the low-tier beasts that the common families were only able to get.

However, in the past one hundred years, demon beasts had been dying off in masses as they couldn't adapt to the decay of spiritual energy. Now, Icarus could barely find low-tiered beasts, much less the high-tiered ones.

He needed to accept reality. Low-tiered inner cores were fine. He would just need to consume more of them to get the same effect as a high-tiered inner core.

Icarus suddenly thought of someone. "That dude has gotten pretty successful now. I can get his help."

He took out his phone and dialed a number.

It was almost 15 seconds before the call was answered.

A weathered voice answered. "Hello?" 

"Quinn," Icarus said.

The old man, Andrew Quinn, was quiet for a moment. "You finally called me."

Icarus laughed. "Well, you know me. I'm not good at socializing."

"So, you're calling me because you need my help?" Andrew said.

"I need you to help me find demon beasts' inner cores," Icarus said. "However many you can find."

"Demon beasts' inner cores? I have plenty at home."

Delighted, Icarus said quickly, "Give them all to me, and go find some more."

"I'll get my granddaughter to send them to you. I was just planning to send her down to Riverton for an inspection so that she could learn on the job.

"If you can, do keep an eye on her for me," Andrew added after a pause."

"No problem. Which granddaughter is this? I remember attending one of your granddaughters' first birthday party," Icarus said.

"That's the one. She's 25 years old now. It's been 24 years since we last met," Andrew sighed.

"You could always visit me if you want to see me," Icarus said.

"I'm in my 80s now. I'm not as active as I used to be. You'll have to come visit me instead," Andrew said, coughing.

"Sure. I'll go visit you before you kick the bucket," Icarus said with a smile.

"I look forward to it," Andrew said before hanging up.

After ending the call, Icarus went to the window and gazed out into the night, his gaze unfathomable.

Far away in Centrone, in the study of a large mansion, Andrew put down his phone as well. His hair and beard were all white.

"It's been 24 years…" he muttered to himself.

Then, he picked up his phone again and dialed another number. "Tell Yvonne to meet me in the study."

…

Icarus arrived at the classroom the next morning.

Ruth was here earlier today. As soon as Icarus sat down, she said excitedly, "Icarus, my dad was delighted when I brought home the medicinal herbs that you gave me. He said he has to thank you, so he's invited you to dinner at our house tonight. Are you… Are you free?"

She gave him a tentative look.

"Sure. I love free food," Icarus said.

He was planning to drop by the Talbot residence to ask Michael to help him find demon beasts' inner cores. This dinner invitation was a pleasant coincidence.

Ruth beamed at his answer.

Icarus was staring at the seats in front of him.

Emily wasn't here yet.

Three minutes later, Emily and Shania entered the classroom, conversing happily with each other.

Icarus stood up immediately and approached them.

Ruth looked at him in confusion.

"Emily, come out to the corridor with me. I need to talk to you," Icarus said.

Emily's expression fell when she saw Icarus. She turned to Shania and said, "How unlucky. My eyes have been sullied by this giant toad."

Icarus remained stoic. "The corridor. Now."

His imperious manner angered Emily. "Why do I have to do what you tell me to?" she demanded shrilly. "I have nothing to say to you!"

Her voice attracted everyone's attention.

Ruth was still confused. She didn't know why Icarus was harassing Emily all of a sudden.

"We can talk here if that's what you prefer." Icarus smiled and took a step forward. "Did you slap a freshman at the rehearsal yesterday?"

Emily's expression changed. "What has that got to do with you?" she shrieked. "You're just a spineless toad. Are you trying to stand up for her now?"

"So you did?" Icarus asked calmly.

"So what if I did?" Emily straightened with a defiant look.

She knew that Icarus had the upper hand when it came to being physical. Leon and Tom were still in the hospital, after all. However, she was sure that he wouldn't do anything to her in front of so many people, especially since she was a woman. He wouldn't dare to hit her.

Even if he did, she wouldn't let him get away with it easily. She would use this incident and get him expelled!

If he beat up his classmates twice in the same week, not even Ruth would be able to protect him.

Emily glared at Icarus fiercely, stepping forward as well. "Are you going to hit me? Everyone's watching. Do it!"

A loud slap sounded.

Emily stumbled from the force of Icarus' slap.

Icarus hadn't put much force into the slap. He didn't want to render Emily unconscious, after all, as she still needed to apologize to Luna.

"How dare you hit me?" Emily clutched her cheek as she glared venomously at Icarus.

"You all heard her. She told me to hit her," Icarus said to the quiet crowd.

No one dared to say anything.

Shania, on the other hand, glared at Icarus as well and said, "Icarus! We all saw you hitting Emily! I'm going to get the homeroom teacher now. No one will be able to get you out of this!"

With that, she rushed out of the classroom.

Emily was popular amongst their peers. Several of her classmates surrounded her quickly.

"Icarus, you've gone too far this time. How can you hit a woman? Do you really think you're above the rules?"

"If the school doesn't punish you, we'll speak to the headmaster directly!"

"Don't worry, Emmy, we're on your side."

Icarus took a step forward. "Stand aside."

Their faces went white. "What do you want?" 

"I said, stand aside," Icarus said coldly.

The women shuddered when they saw the look in his eyes. They stood aside quickly.

Icarus was a madman. They didn't want to get slapped like Emily had.

"Come with me to the freshmen's homeroom and apologize to that student," Icarus said.

Still holding a hand to her face, Emily said shrilly, "Apologize? You're the one who should apologize to me! Just you wait, Icarus Frye! You'll regret this when the teacher arrives!"

"If you don't go and apologize, I'll make you regret this right now," Icarus said. He grabbed her by the hair.

"What the hell are you doing?" Shocked, Emily screamed.

Icarus lifted her off her feet by her hair.

The pain in her scalp made her scream. The more she struggled, the more it hurt.

"I'm asking you one last time. Are you going to apologize?" Icarus said impassively.

His expressionless demeanor sent chills down everyone's backs.

Even Ruth found him a little scary.

"I will! I'll apologize!" Emily screamed. "Let me down!"

Icarus let her down.

"Come downstairs with me right now," he said.

Rubbing her scalp, Emily looked at Icarus hatefully.

However, she didn't want him to hurt her again, so she had to do as he ordered until the homeroom teacher came.

As ordered, she followed Icarus down to the freshmen's classroom.

Some of their nosier classmates followed them down as well, curious as to what Icarus was going to make Emily do.

Icarus led Emily to Class 1 and asked for Luna.

"Luna, she slapped you last night, didn't she?" Icarus asked.

Luna glanced at Emily, who looked murderous, and nodded timidly.

"She's going to apologize to you now," Icarus said, looking at Emily.

Emily didn't want to do it, but she had no choice. "Where's Shania? Why isn't she here with the teacher yet?"

"Hurry up," Icarus said impatiently.

"I'm sorry," Emily apologized through gritted teeth.

"It's… It's alright. Russ, you should go back to class," Luna said softly.
 
"No. She's not sincere," Icarus said.

Emily was livid. She almost cursed out Icarus, but the memory of the pain he'd inflicted on her stopped her.

Once the teacher arrived, Icarus would pay for this. She just needed to endure the humiliation for a little while longer.

"I'm sorry," she said again, this time softening her voice.

"Still not enough. Maybe you should bow," Icarus said.

"You!" Emily glared at Icarus, trembling in anger.

Icarus stared back at her, stoic.

Suppressing her anger, Emily took a deep breath and inclined her head. "I'm sorry."

"That's better. Luna, you can go back to your class now," Icarus said to Luna.

Luna nodded and went back to her classroom.

Icarus turned and headed back up the stairs. The students who were gathered around them dispersed as well.

Emily glared at Icarus' back, gritting her teeth in anger.

She had never been threatened in this way before, especially not in front of such a big crowd. Icarus had made her out to be some kind of shrew, humiliating her.

If she had a knife with her right now, she would've stabbed Icarus.

"I won't let this go easily!" she said, clenching her teeth so hard they creaked.

When Icarus returned to the classroom, Hank had already arrived.

Emily's friends surrounded him, chattering non-stop as they pointed at Icarus.

Donovan scampered up to Icarus when he saw him. "You're in huge trouble now, Icarus."

"How so?" Icarus asked.

"Emily's quite popular, plus Leon's minions are still raring to get revenge on you. Now both groups will be working together to go aga

Chapter 19