"Meaning, your descendants mustn't die if you don't want other families to step over yours..."
Hearing this, the crowd inside the auditorium burst into a discussion as they were caught off guard by the harsh treatment from the UWO.
"What is the meaning of this?!", one of the heads of the family stands up angrily.
The UWO official glance at the head of the family, he then shrugs his shoulders, "Surely the descendants from the Luc Family has no problem with this, it's for the better of humanity after all"
Upon hearing this, the head of the Luc Family, Evelyn's father grinds his teeth in anger.
"Think of this as a competition, official competition from the UWO for the great 25 Families", the UWO official added showing a nasty grin on his face.
This also makes many of the head family's faces darkened,
After saying that, all of the 25 Families' head was forced to shut their mouths reluctantly.
Seeing that the head of the family was silent, the UWO official then finally said, "Since the mission will start as soon as possible, you all can leave to prepare your descendants on this competitive mission"
"I hope you all the best of luck", he added while bowing slightly.
Right after the UWO official said that all of the 25 Families left the auditorium.
But although some of the head family complain about the mission, some of them have a smile on their faces thinking that this is an opportunity.
A golden opportunity in fact,
If any descendants die then the related family will be burdened heavily,
Of course, this might end badly because of the bad blood some of the families had, but it's a direct order from President Sebrof so not one of them can refute this.
"You both also need to be careful", the UWO official said.
Hearing this, both Rex and Gerrard frowns as they look at the UWO official in confusion, "Both of you will be the leader, and the leader must bear the consequences of anything that happened"
Rex has a bad feeling upon hearing this, he just knows the consequences will be bad.
"For every descendant that die under your lead, you will also bear the same consequences as the related family", the UWO official explained.
But then, his eyes landed on Rex, "And for you"
"Each descendant will add one year of service under the UWO", he added making Rex widen his eyes.
One year is not a short amount of time,
Even the time Rex went through when he left the military and started to attend the university, the time gap hasn't even reached one year yet and now the UWO official said that each descendant that dies will put a one-year shackle on him to work for the UWO.
<Sudden Quest!>
<Leading the Descendants>
The user has just been given a mission that can't be refused by the UWO, UWO has given a mission to eradicate the remaining Undead near Eqosa City to prevent them from joining forces with the Werewolves reinforcement. Lead and Protect the descendants of the 25 Golden Crest Families to make sure none of them dies during this mission.
Quest Reward: 500,000,000 Exp, Warden of the Sky Core, 15 Skill Upgrade, Insight Rune.
Reading this, Rex was quite surprised since it's rare to get a sudden quest if he's in the Ratmawati City territory unlike when he's doing missions.
'This is not going to be easy', Rex thought to himself.
Just from the quest reward alone, he knows that the mission difficulty was very hard, maybe even the hardest mission that he needs to go through if he doesn't want to be bound by Sebrof.
500 million exp is also a quarter for him to level up, it's a ridiculous amount and Rex wants it.
Rex tries to remain calm as he asks, "Isn't that too much of a consequence?"
"It's what President Sebrof has ordered. Don't be mad at me, I'm just following orders", the UWO official replied shrugging his shoulders.
This makes Rex go silent, 'So this is how he's going to play huh?', he thought.
After the UWO official said that, Rex and Gerrard got dismissed as they head towards the exit.
But Rex saw that Gerrard's expression is not worried unlike him, it's as if he's confident to keep the other descendants alive, 'He's from the Maurice Family, I never heard of them'
Just like what Linda said, Maurice Family sits near the Burton Family.
So Rex conclude that the Maurice Family should be the first ranking or the second, but Rex didn't know because he never heard of the Maurice Family.
Considering they're the top three families, they should have many that talked about them.
The weird thing is that Rex has never seen them or even heard them, it's like they're not a part of the 25 Golden Crest Families since they're not famous.
"Gerrard isn't it?", Rex asks lightly.
Hearing his name was called, Gerrard stop in his tracks and glance at Rex calmly.
He then added, "Since we're the leaders of the mission, I hope we can work together to avoid bearing the consequences if any descendants die"
"I too hope we work together, but since there are two leaders we should split the team", Gerrard replied with a slight smile.
Rex also nodded his head since what Gerrard said had a point,
"I know the descendants don't want to be led by you, so I'm going to take 7 of the top ten families while the remaining will be split in two, how about it?", Gerrard proposed.
What he said is true, it's clear that not many of them wanted to be led by Rex.
If they're given a choice to pick, they will definitely pick Gerrard, "Why do you need to take seven of the top ten? Is there a reason for that?"
"Since I'm a seventh rank and you're not, I'll take on the seventh rank undead", Gerrard replied.
After hearing his reasoning, Rex nodded his head.
There's no point in arguing to fight the seventh rank Awakened, he also knows that fighting a seventh rank Undead was not something easy.
It will need to be night, and if Rex wanted to kill them easier.
The Full Moon is needed to make him stronger, but that won't happen since the Lunar Eclipse has just passed and the next full moon will be a month from now.
'But still, how much exp will I get from killing a seventh rank Undead?', Rex thought.
There's an evil thought of taking the last blow but he will need to assess the situation first, if the undead turns out to be a mid or even peak seventh rank then he will have no chance.
Rex scan Gerrard and find that he's an early seventh rank,
Since he rarely saw seventh rank Awakened's stats, Rex can't tell if Gerrard is nearing the mid-rank or not but based on Ana Delarosa's stats. He should contend with Ana Delarosa well,
"How are you going to convince the descendants to join me?", Rex asks.
Many of them will surely be angry to be paired with Rex, not that Rex care but since there are consequences he has to care about this as a leader.
While rubbing his chin, Gerrard then replied, "Leave that to me"
After talking briefly, Rex left the auditorium since the 25 Families has also left.
Rex walks outside and suddenly finds Evelyn and her family is talking with each other, their eyes then landed on Rex which makes him confused.
Rex doesn't mind, he got things to do so he intends to leave.
Then suddenly, Evelyn and Kevin look at their father before both of them approach Rex.
"Rex, Can we talk to you for a moment?", Evelyn stopped him and asks.
Hearing this, Rex looks at Evelyn before his eyes land on her father and mother who is also looking at him from the back.
Rex then replied nonchalantly, "I'm busy"
'They surely wanted to ask something since I'm also a leader', he thought.
Evelyn grabs Rex's arm as he was about to leave, Rex glanced at her and found Evelyn is giving him puppy eyes, "Pretty Please...", she said pleadingly.
"Fine...", Rex sighed as he got pulled by Evelyn to her parents.
Although Rex didn't want to, this is the least he can do since Evelyn even decided to keep his identity as a Werewolf a secret which he feels very grateful for.
Reaching their parents, Rex stands idly with a stoic expression.
"Rex Silverstar, I heard my children are close to you since you're also a Faraday University student", a man said which is definitely the head of the Luc Family.
Without much thought, Rex replied, "Mr. Luc, I have things to do so can you cut to the chase?"
Hearing this, Evelyn looks at her father with a wry look.
Rex is very blunt and direct disregarding the man's position as one of the heads of the 25 Golden Families, but he didn't care though since he even dare to face Wesley Atkins.
The head of a higher rank family than the Luc Family,
Clearing his throat, the man then said, "About the mission, there will be teams right?"
"Since there are two leaders that President Sebrof picked, I'm sure you and Gerrard are deciding to split the descendants into two teams. There's no reason for a team to have two leaders"
"Your point?", Rex asks raising one of his eyebrows.
With a bit of anger seeing Rex's smug behavior, the man then added, "Your team will not deal with the seventh rank Undead, am I right?"
"Yes, Gerrard will be responsible for the seventh rank Undead", Rex replied.
It's clear that Evelyn's father is trying to get assurance from Rex by asking this, he wanted Kevin and Evelyn to be on the less dangerous mission.
Nodding his head, the man then said, "Then I want to ask you to-"
"Don't worry father, Rex will definitely keep us safe. Right?", Evelyn intervenes before looking at Rex with a sweet smile wrapping her arms around Rex's.
This makes Evelyn's father looks at Evelyn in surprise to see her behavior.
"Just stick close to me, it's not going to be an easy mission", Rex said lightly, he doesn't mind putting Evelyn on his team since she's the most trustable out of the other descendants.
Rex already got a rough idea of Evelyn's personality, so he doesn't mind.
In the afternoon that day,
Rex arrived at a mall that spans a couple of hectares, many people are here but they're mostly composed of normal humans with no Awakened around.
"He should be here huh?", Rex mutters silently.
After the briefing in the UWO main office and talking to the Luc Family, Rex left the office after Evelyn gave him the information of Edward's whereabouts.
She said that Edward is in this mall with two other people,
Adhara on the other hand is just like Rex instructed is following Duncan Platchi, she should be okay since Duncan Platchi feared Rex.
It's clearly seen from how he brings his son away hurriedly in front of Rex.
While walking in the mall passing people who converse with each other happily as if they have no burdens, Rex finally caught Edward's scent as he started to follow the scent.
After turning on a corner, Rex finally spotted Edward.
Edward is sitting in a restaurant with two other people, one looks to be a girl younger than him while the other is a somewhat old man.
Seeing this, Rex frowns since he felt the old man is unfamiliar.
'That's not Edward's father, he's different from the man that visited us during our scarce military break', Rex thought with a frown.
But when his eyes landed on the young girl, Rex squints his eyes as he found the girl familiar.
Rex thinks for a moment briefly before he decided to call Edward,
In front of him, Rex saw Edward saw his phone ringing, and notice that Rex is calling him.
Edward raises his gaze and looks around trying to find Rex, and when he turns his eyes to the right he saw Rex leaning on the wall not far from him.
After excusing himself from the girl and the old man, Edward approach Rex.
"What are you calling me, you should've just come to me", Edward said in confusion.
Hearing this, Rex signals for them to go somewhere quieter before they both went to the emergency exit near them.
Both of them walks into the emergency exit stairs,
Rex turns his body towards Edward before he asks, "You saw him turn didn't you?"
He decided to ask Edward directly since Rex noticed a couple of injuries on Edward's body, he even smell the scent of blood from Edward which means there is a nasty injury hidden underneath his clothes.
Silence covered both of them as only a faint sound from the crowd outside can be heard.
Edward is standing in front of Rex with an unreadable expression as he maintains eye contact, his silence makes the atmosphere start to become uncomfortable and a little bit tense.
He closed his eyes while taking a deep breath before he opens his eyes, "Why?", he asks.
Upon hearing this, Rex studies Edward's expression in confusion.
Edward's eyes suddenly turn cold and serious, he looks at Rex with an unreadable expression and said, "Just answer me this, Why did you turn him?"
"You mean Kyran?", Rex mumbles lightly.
He then continues, "It's not that I have a choice, it was-"
Before he can even answer, Edward suddenly gritted his teeth in anger before suddenly,
BANG!
Edward pushes Rex's body towards the wall roughly as he glare at Rex's eyes, his eyes are opened wide with pure hostility but there's also a flavor uncertainness in them.
"That's bullshit! There's always a choice!", Edward said angrily.
Rex looks at Edward back before he said, "It's beneficial for him, and I can control him"
"I saw his eyes that night, and there is no sign of Kyran that I know in that eyes. That's what you mean by you can control him, is that it?", Edward intervenes sharply.
But when Rex was about to answer again,
BAM!
"HE'S JUST A KID!", Edward shouted angrily punching the wall beside Rex's head.