“This… you…”

Vans Valort pinched his temples and sighed as he saw the unconscious bodies lying near the black van. He tried to say something to the stoic youth but eventually gave up and called his colleagues.

Of course, he made sure to handcuff all of them to eliminate any possibility of escape. It was clear that, whoever had orchestrated this, never took into account Zeke’s abilities. Maybe they had underestimated him, or simply never expected him to retaliate so fiercely.

“Every time I meet you, there’s something going on. Haaah! And I thought my son was a troublemaker…”

“Don’t feel so down, sir. Catching so many bad guys, isn’t that what police officers do?”

Vans shook his head and let out a self-deprecating laugh, “Apart from their weapons, they have nothing on them. Clearly, it wasn’t just a simple assault. I will assig-”

“There’s no need, detective Valort. I can take care of myself.”

Seeing the youth’s adamance, the man sighed again and reluctantly nodded. He already knew that Zeke had a shady relationship with the loan shark, he also knew about his strange and unpredictable behavior.

The other day, he received a tip from Sulong, who recounted his experience in the Sewers.

Obviously, Vans was surprised to hear that, however, when he went to investigate, he found the place clean. There were no corpses, no signs of a ritual, no blood.

It contrasted the vivid description provided by Sulong, which made Vans suspect that another party in play, namely the Department of Defense.

Only such a large power could hide everything in such a limited amount of time. After all, they had the manpower and resources to turn that ‘Meteor’ incident into nothing but an explosion test of one of their weaponized technology.

Even though Zeke was personally involved and Vans was certain of that, he refrained from asking anything and, on the account that he really seemed to be a good kid and he was Samuel’s friend, he turned a blind eye.

“If there’s another attack, contact me immediately.”

With that, Zeke safely returned to his apartment, which haven’t been visited by anyone since he had left it.

It was as gloomy and lonely as ever, but Zeke preferred that than to be welcomed by his parents’ anger-inducing faces every day.

‘Who would want to hurt me? They only sent normal people, which means they don’t know a lot about me. It can’t be someone from Erys… then who? The Blood Dusk Society? Highly-unlikely. They wouldn’t risk showing themselves in public and I don’t think they would simply rely on hiring thugs. Rodrick? It could be…’

After contemplating with himself for ten minutes, Zeke sat on the sofa, crossed his legs, and closed his eyes.

Very soon, his body started emitting small bursts of electricity, but that was only the beginning. Slowly but surely, the electric currents were becoming stable and less noisy as they swirled around in a periodic manner.

In addition, Zeke’s body was supplementing itself with Ambient Aether. Aether Control was active and absorbing energy, which would be split into two halves, one stored in the Rune of Life and the other within the body, flowing like a raging river.

‘It’s not enough… more.’

The increasing toll on his body notwithstanding, Zeke concentrated and tried to minimalize the Aether consumption initiated by ‘Voltage Manipulation’. It was an arduous process, one which made him sweat and convulse every now and then, yet he persevered, hoping to see a good result.

His body was subjected to a constant cycle of absorption and consumption of Aether. That in itself was taxing, so when he opened his eyes and tried using the voltage, he ended up falling to the ground and trying to puke.

Fortunately, he hadn’t eaten anything so he just knelt on the ground, mouth wide-open as he breathed heavily.

“My body can’t take it.”

After a brief respite, he noticed that his right hand was trembling ever-so-slightly. Much to his surprise, the blue veins spreading from the Rune of Life had appeared again. However, he wasn’t particularly worried now that he had the Crown.

The process would most likely repeat itself and, hopefully, end up successful.

Exhausted, Zeke bought something to eat from a nearby convenience store and then took a shower, and when he started preparing the clothes he had come here for, he saw that the blue veins, or lines, were spreading at an exponentially rapid rate, much faster than last time.

He felt no pain or dizziness, only intense trembling that was spread from his right hand to the rest of his body.

Feeling thirsty and feverish, Zeke dashed to the kitchen and emptied a small bottle of water before sitting down, his legs tapping on the ground as he felt inexplicably on edge.

Every couple of seconds, he would experience something akin to euphoria, in which his senses would become exceptionally sharp.

It was then, as he absent-mindedly looked at the street outside of the window, that he sensed something dangerous and close. His body reacted by itself as a burst of electricity exploded from his body and shot a thick lightning bolt towards a specific location in the living room.

However, it clashed with something invisible and then vanished, leaving the youth on high-alert.

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“Who’s there?”

By then, the blue veins had crept all the way to his neck and were making their way to his jaw and the rest of his face. His eyes were letting out an azure glow as countless small electric currents were seen in his pupils.

Zeke wanted to attack again but his body suddenly became stiff, rendering any movement impossible. A deafening heartbeat echoed within the apartment, momentarily canceling agent Katrina’s invisibility, which shook her to the core.

[Sensing interference with the Conduit Implementation Procedure]

[Automated Defense activated!]

[Sensing interference with the System’s functionalities]

[Protocol 3 has been suspended: Self-protection Program 21 activated]

[Sensing interference with the user’s genetic code]

[Malware Detection Program has located and eliminated the invading force.]

‘Shit!’

A headache akin to the one he suffered through when he received the System assaulted Zeke. Before he completely lost consciousness, he saw the bespectacled black-haired woman stare back at him, her pupils constricted from astonishment.

The lightning around Zeke was absorbed back into his body as it thudded to the ground. Despite all of that, the so-called Conduit Implementation Procedure continued unabated, the blue veins now covering the entirety of Zeke’s body.

The source of the veins, the Rune of Life, was pulsating with a dim blue glow.

Katrina returned invisible and stared at the unconscious youth, feeling fearful of that single heartbeat she had heard moments ago. She didn’t know what it was, but it canceled her ability and rendered her unable to use anything.

Just when she snapped out of it and was about to go check on Zeke, the door of the apartment was opened.

At first, she stood at the corner and watched, but when she saw who it was, she drifted farther away. Her surprise, which had just subsided, was reignited upon seeing the handsome blond-haired youth.

Jacob Lorson, older brother of Azmer Lorson and one of the best graduates of Erys. He was Edward’s rival and someone with an unparalleled affinity with Fire. Despite his young age, he was incredibly talented: A literal prodigy whose fame caused an uproar not only in the Nezulian Republic but across the whole world.

‘What’s he doing here?’

In addition to Jacob, Anthony Orland was also preset. Upon seeing his son unconscious, he smiled and said,

“In the case the kidnapping failed, I drugged the wate-... the hell?”

Jacob, Anthony, and a couple of men behind them looked at the sleeping youth. He was covered in strange blue wines, intersecting everywhere like a huge cobweb.

The father bent near Zeke and checked his pulse before putting his hand on his stomach while frowning,

“These are signs of Aether Imbalance. This way, I don’t even have to feel guilty hahahaha…”

Jacob didn’t seem to care about Zeke’s condition. He signaled his men, which lifted Zeke and dragged him outside. From beginning to end, he never noticed Katrina, who had witnessed everything.

She was tasked with protecting Zeke, but it was too early to take action. She was confident in killing Jacob with one strike, especially since he wasn’t on guard, but, ultimately, she would be seen and her identity as Zeke’s invisible protector would be discovered.

For now, she decided to tail them and see what they were up to, even if it meant endangering Zeke for a little bit.

Instead of recklessly attacking, she wanted to gather evidence and let Edward deal with Jacob and Anthony.

****

“Father, what’s going on? Why are you doing this?”

Azmer was tied by a rope and sitting at the back of the limousine, demanding answers from his solemn father.

William glanced at his son and coldly said,

“Stop resisting. This is for your own good.”

Unlike Zeke, William didn’t have to resort to extreme methods to bring his son to the hidden laboratory. Admittedly, Azmer was confused and slightly scared of his father, and eventually, he stopped thrashing around and quietened down.

Without any prior notice, his father appeared in Erys and dragged him along, ordering him to be obedient and listen to him.

…

A short while earlier, in a laboratory recently made just for the sake of the secret operation.

Zeke was taken to a spacious room filled with advanced equipment, some to measure his vitals and others to tightly bind him to a medical bed inclined upwards.

His wrists, waist, and ankles were restricted by metallic semi-circular bounds. He had awakened from his short slumber only to realize what situation he was in.

There were two young and unfamiliar scientists checking the equipment, paying no heed to him.

Olivia was also present and in a joyous mood as she stood in front of her ‘son’.

“What is the meaning of this, mother?”

“I told you there will be consequences. You’ve been in Erys for less than a year yet you’ve caused so much trouble. For the sake of Max and Ed, I can’t let you roam around freely.”

“You could have waited for my birthday, then.” He sarcastically retorted, but he ended up getting viciously slapped.

“Always with the retorts and nonchalance. I expected no less from a sociopath.”

“What sweet irony to hear that from you, mother. A megalomaniacal person without a shred of pity or remorse. Tell me, how many people did you sacrifice for your fruitless experiments?”

Zeke was slapped again, but he laughed it off as the blue vines in his body started shining and glowing like the Rune of Life.

“Aether Imbalance. To begin with, a freak like you has no right to wield Aether. You’ve had your moment of fame and it’s about time to end your long-lasting misery, my dear son.”

“Madam, the equipment isn’t functioning properly. There’s interference…”

The young female assistant ran to Olivia and delivered the news while peeking glances at Zeke.

“Interference?”

Olivia looked at Zeke’s bound hand and saw the Rune of Life, which was a bunch of indecipherable symbols and a circular symbol around them.

“Hmpf!”

She knew he was the cause, therefore, she walked to a nearby table and retrieved a syringe. Without any hesitation, she injected its contents into his chest but when the blue veins kept glowing, she repeated the process three more times.

[Sensing Interference with the Conduit Implementation Procedure.]

[Inteference neutralized]

As he saw the System notification, Zeke groaned and tried his best to limit the effect of the voltage coursing through his body. He made it seem as if the fluid Olivia had injected him with had worked.

After twenty minutes, Anthony arrived and started working on Zeke with his wife.

They didn’t even bother sedating him as they used scalpels to perform small and clean cuts right under his neck, then they put transparent special tubes that, as Zeke found out, were actually draining his Life Aether.

“It will take a bit of time.”

Even such a small task seemed to have tired them for some reason. They smiled at each other and left the laboratory to talk with Wiliam.

Meanwhile, the two assistants pushed a blond-haired youth tied to a wheelchair. Azmer was still conscious and as perplexed as before. When he saw Zeke, he was flabbergasted, forgetting to even breathe.