Zeke’s venture into the sewers revealed many things to him. First, the sinister and, as-of-yet, unknown plans of the Blood Dusk Society. Second, the Paths of Extinctions System and its unexpected reward due to the unplanned and so-called ‘Blood Infusion’. Zeke got a decent amount of Stats, including Fortitude, which was incredibly difficult to increase.

‘I still don’t know what that voice… my voice, wanted me to do. I want to know what happened in the sewers but I’m still too weak to go alone.’

Undoubtedly, if Zeke asked, Sulong would definitely go with him again. However, the bald thug, his new ability notwithstanding, was still too inexperienced to fight monstrously strong abominations. He had been injured during that brief fight and were it not for his strong physique, he would have sustained heavier wounds, at the very least.

After Zeke was done reading, he was planning to return to the dormitory to rest. It had been a long day, whether it was fighting Rodrick, suffering the dizzying visions, or delving into the disgusting and dangerous sewers.

Now that the notice was lifted, he was free to live in his apartment, but he decided against that. Although he didn’t like one of his roommates, the environment was nonetheless suitable for his daily activities.

Training in the forest under the Dean’s supervision was safer than the public parks of the Sunken Metropolis, where unknown strangers could attack him. After all, Zeke had a knack for unwittingly getting involved in highly-dangerous matters, such as Jonathan Stellar Link’s case or the Blood Dusk Society.

“Zeke Orland, yes?”

Right in front of the dormitory, a stalwart and bespectacled second-year stopped him. The upperclassmen didn’t bear any hostility, he just sized Zeke then robotically said,

“You are expected in the reception of the Administrative Bureau Building.”

The youth didn’t even wait for a response as he left thereafter, his glued to a thick notebook in his hands.

“...”

Zeke was momentarily confused but he still headed there. The reception was on the lowest floor, in a spacious and luxurious room that was frequently empty besides a young female receptionist.

Much to his surprise, Zeke spotted both of his parents standing a couple of paces away from the sliding transparent doors leading inside.

Anthony Orland and Olivia Vyrsan; The former was a tall middle-aged man with a clean-shaven face, a commanding jawline, and relatively handsome facial features. He bore a striking resemblance to Edward, especially with short hair or the constantly narrowed eyes.

As for Olivia, she was a beautiful woman with long curly dark brown hair, light make-up, and an impressive figure. Although the couple was workaholics, they paid great attention to their appearances in public, but the worse of it was their usually extreme reactions each time one of their children would cause a problem, specifically Zeke.

“There you are!”

The second he spotted his youngest son, Anthony shouted out loud and strode toward him with what could only be described as an expression of anger, frustration, and blame.

Olivia followed after him, her piercing glare-proof enough of her disapproval.

“Do you have any idea how much trouble you caused for us and the school?! You also got Black Stars!”

Anthony was much taller than Zeke, and with him being the father, he didn’t hold back as he glared at his son menacingly.

When Zeke just stood there, quiet and unresponsive, Anthony extended his head and pushed him back in anger.

“Why are you not explaining yourself?! Do you to be expelled? Because I can facilitate that.”

‘This has become so boring already. Always with the threats and abuse… it’s not like I don’t know why they’re behaving like this. They’re not even trying to hide it anymore.’

“Dear, calm down for a second.”

Olivia softly pulled her husband back and stepped forth, facing her stone-faced son. She grinned and leaned her head forward,

“I heard you had a late awakening, yes? Perhaps you can visit us at the lab so we can run a few experiments and check-ups. It would do both of us good, especially if we can learn a couple of things about late awakenings. What do you say? We’ll forget the trouble you caused in exchange.”

Olivia was the shrewd and manipulative type, rarely letting her emotions out of control. She was the opposite of her husband and, out of the two, Zeke hated her more. She wouldn’t give up an opportunity to elevate her societal status or improve her career.

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

“One would almost think you’re not my parents.” Calmly muttered Zeke as he stared back at the green-eyed woman.

However, when she heard him, her face turned ugly and her smile vanished. She unhesitantly swung her hand at him, slapping him across the face.

“Careful now, my sweet boy. You wouldn’t want people to misunderstand.”

She looked around but the reception was relatively empty. Besides them, the only people present were the busy receptionist and, unexpectedly, Azmer Lorson, who was seemingly waiting for someone.

She stretched her arm again but instead of slapping him, she held his chin and raised his head.

“You will be 18 soon. Then…” She leaned even closer and whispered into his ear, “You will be on your own.”

She shoved her hand away and stepped back, unperturbed by her words, “As if I wasn’t already.

Olivia softly chuckled and waved her hand in disinterest.

“We are your parents and you will listen to u-”

Before Anthony could finish, an extremely fast silhouette barged into the building and appeared in front of Zeke.

“Mom. Dad. What are you doing here?”

With a deep frown, Maxine Orland cautiously looked at her parents. Although her relationship with them wasn’t as bad, it also wasn’t the best. Still, due to her talents, Anthony and Olivia treasured Edward and Maxine and constantly bragged about them.

“We were just making sure Zeke was alright, sweety.”

Olivia tried to hug her daughter but Maxine stepped back while protecting Zeke. She glanced at her brother and saw his slightly reddened cheek.

“You… you hit him?”

“We were disciplining him!” Corrected Anthony with a stern expression.

“He was being so uncooperative, sweety. We had to seek the aid of many ‘associates’ to enroll him into Erys. After all, he was a Defect. Even though was a stain on the Orland family, we didn’t give up on him.”

“...”

Maxine’s expression softened but she quickly snapped out of it and sighed.

“I’ll talk to him. Please leave.”

“Alright, no need to be angry with us. If you need anything, call us, okay?”

Olivia blew a kiss to her daughter and left thereafter along with her grumpy husband.

…

A distance away, Azmer Lorson witnessed the whole thing but neither commented nor reacted. However, when he saw a group of black-suited people enter the reception, his body stiffened.

Leading this group was a towering man with bulging muscles and grizzly facial features. He was William Lorson, Azmer’s father and the head of the prestigious Lorson Family.

Accompanying William was a slim and mature young man who could only be Azmer’s older and more successful sibling.

Upon seeing them, Azmer immediately bowed his head and raised it only when his father spoke.

“I’m busy with my work yet I was personally called by the Principal. Tell me, is it true?”

Azmer didn’t know what happened, but his father’s cold eyes clearly indicated that he was very angry.

“I’m sorry.”

Azmer neither explained himself nor spouted excuses. He bowed again and sincerely apologized, but it changed nothing.

“You think an apology is going to cut it? You, a member of the Lorson family, receiving Black Stars? Quite bold of you to not tell me.”

In fact, Principal Solas had caught wind of what Azmer and Rodrick had done to Zeke. Each was given a Black Star and warned not to do it again lest they get expelled on the spot.

Of course, Azmer had been shocked by this and, after a lot of hesitation, decided not to inform his family. Who would have thought that Solas would go out of his way to inform William?

A brief bout of silence ensued, then-out of the blue- Azmer was blown to the back. William had punched him right in the face with unnecessarily a lot of force.

Yet, even after he was hit, Azmer got back to his feet and bowed again, blood flowing out of his bruised lips. He kept his head down, his teeth gritted and eyes on the ground.

“Mistakes are not tolerated, Azmer.”

William, with his huge frame, approached his youngest son and kicked him in the abdomen.

He showed no mercy or affection, acting brutally even in public.

Maxine was stupefied and tried to intervene but Zeke helped her back and solemnly shook his head. In comparison to Azmer, the slap he got from Olivia was nothing.

Zeke already knew that Azmer had a rough relationship with his father due to his lacking talent compared to his brother, but he didn’t expect William to be this unforgiving.

After he hit Azmer a couple more times, William swept and looked around, his eyes first falling on the panic-stricken receptionist.

He paid her little heed and locked gazes with Zeke.

With his subordinates and eldest son behind him, he marched toward Maxine and her brother.

“Maxine Orland, right? I’ve heard good things about you.”

Unlike his behavior with Azmer, William spoke with a soft voice and seemed to look on Maxine favorably.

The next was Zeke, who stood there, quiet and gloomy.

“And you must be Zeke. My apologies for the trouble my son had caused.”

William signaled his eldest son, who stepped forward and took out a cheque.

The long-haired and blonde young man extended the cheque with both hands to Zeke.

“I hope monetary compensation will be enough. It will not happen again.”

William barely acknowledged Zeke’s existence despite talking directly to him. He dealt with the matter as swiftly as possible then left, uncaring about Azmer’s current state.

“You alright? I’ll take you to the Infirmary.”

While Zeke stood still, Maxine was sympathetic enough to go help Azmer. He was beaten pretty badly, so much so that he didn’t have the strength to stand up. Even though he wanted to refuse her help, he couldn’t. His face was bruised and bloodied and his left arm seemed to be broken.

It was, quite literally, a public display of parental abuse. Zeke now knew why Azmer was diligently working day and night, and why the Dean’s arduous training sessions didn’t bother him.