“ZELENE!!”, Edward shouted upon realizing the owner of the screaming voice.
BRAK!
The door bursts open as Edward dashes outside of the room already coated with dark flames, he immediately went downstairs to where Zelene was supposed to be.
‘Did someone manage to follow me?!’, Edward exclaimed inside his head.
He went through all that trouble just to make sure no one is following him even though he already checked that there shouldn’t be anyone following him, but it didn’t hurt to be more careful which is why he takes many side routes and crowded places.
But now hearing Zelene screams, he started to sweat fearing what might happen.
After dashing downstairs with all of his might, Edward stopped when he saw six people are already standing in the guest room wearing black uniforms.
Their faces are hidden behind a mask which shows that they have bad intentions.
Only their eyes can be seen through their masks, they all have a hostile aura, especially the one that is sitting on the sofa.
“Zelene!”, Edward called out seeing Zelene is being held by one of the people.
Zelene is struggling to break free wanting to run to Edward but she’s nothing compared to the person holding her, she’s not strong enough to make the person let go.
Edward looks at the six people and finds that they all have hidden their aura.
It’s almost as if they look just like a normal person, but Edward knows that the six people in front of him are all Awakened and a pretty strong one at that too.
Especially the one sitting on the sofa who seems to be the leader,
“Let her go, I’ll do anything you say just let her go!”, Edward said to the leader, he can see the horrified look on Zelene’s expression which pained his heart.
Hearing this, the one sitting on the sofa chuckles, “Why would I do that?”, he said.
Not long after, the old man also came downstairs and widen his eyes when he saw the six people in the guest room while holding Zelene hostage.
Edward puts his arm in front of the old man when he saw the old man was about to step forward.
“What do you want from me?”, Edward asks with a stiff expression, he was too careless since he was not attacked by anyone when bringing Rex’s and Adhara’s parents to the university.
It’s clear that the six people are targeting him, ‘They must’ve been from the 25 families’
“Several things but one of them is a payback for what he did of course”, the leader then laid back on the sofa as he replied calmly.
Edward then mutters in confusion, “Payback?”
From all, he remembered he never messed with anyone that might just bite him from the back, so he squints his eyes as he realized that the people in front of him are aiming for Rex.
Edward looks at the leader and saw the familiarity in his eyes, “Stop hiding behind your mask”
“Hans…”
Hearing this, the leader laid back on the sofa in amusement as he stretches his hand to take off his mask exposing his face which makes Edward’s expression darken.
It really is Hans from the Atkins Family, his eyes are the ones that sold off the mask.
“Aren’t you happy to see me? How’s the present I gave you, did you like it?”, Hans said with a wide grin, he spreads his arms to the side comfortably showing off his control of the situation.
But this makes Edward frown, ‘Did they follow me here?’
‘That doesn’t make sense, if they follow me here then they can just ambush me whenever but they decided to strike here. But doesn’t that mean they’re waiting for me here?!’, he thought.
While squinting his eyes as he makes eye contact with Hans,
“That is not much of a present”, Edward replied.
Edward then realizes something as he widens his eyes, “You… You’re the ones that terminated the contract”, he said in realization.
Upon hearing this, the grin on Hans’ expression went wider.
This alone is enough of an answer as Edward confirms that it is their doings, they did something that made the military terminate the contract with the old man.
It’s bait to lure him here as they lie in wait for the perfect moment like now.
‘How did they know about uncle and Zelene? They only come to the university once, and when I visit them I’m very, very careful. They shouldn’t be able to get near the university, just how did they manage to find out about this?’, Edward thought with a frown.
But his train of thought was stopped by Hans,
“You see, at first we’re aiming for Kyran since he’s usually all alone but he becomes very hard to track. But then I suddenly find out about this little family of yours, and I thought why not?”, Hans said slowly exposing his nasty grin.
The tension inside the room is at its highest as the other people are eyeing Edward from the side.
All of them have their hands on their weapons, they’re ready if Edward wanted to test them which makes Edward erase the thought of retaliating right now.
If he did something wrong, Zelene and the old man will be the ones in danger the most.
After saying that, Hans’ expression then turns serious as he asks, “Now, you’re going to answer all of my questions truthfully if you don’t want something bad happens to this cute girl over here”
“Just asks me anything, I’ll answer them all”, Edward replied with a frown.
He then added, “Let her go and take me with you, I’ll tell you everything you wanted to know”
Hearing this, Hans chuckles evilly while looking at Edward in ridicule.
“You’re in no position to make demands, just answer my questions. And do keep in mind that if you’re lying she dies, if I thought that you’re lying she dies, and if I feel like it, she also dies”
“Do you understand?”, Hans said fiercely.
Edward nodded his head firmly before Hans finally asks, “First of all, How did the people around Rex become strong faster than normal?”
“He finds a treasure trove in the Supernatural territory”, Edward replied instantly.
Upon hearing Edward’s firm answer makes Hans smiles in amusement, he then looks at Edward mockingly as he asks, “Is that lies that I hear?”
Hans then glances at the person holding Zelene,
The person nodded his head as he takes out a sword and puts it on Zelene’s neck, this made Edward widen his eyes as he shouted, “It’s the truth! I’m not lying I swear!”
“Alright, I’ll believe you, now for the second question. Which Supernatural is he working with?”
Edward widens his eyes upon hearing this, he looks at Hans in shock as he added, “Do you really think we wouldn’t know? The connection Rex has with a Supernatural?”
“A Supernatural visits him directly, and Kyran’s sudden rise in power? Do you really think we’re dumb to not connect the dots?”
“Is it the Vampire? I heard he got chased by Royal Vampires before”, he added.
The words that came out of Hans’ mouth makes Edward relieved a bit since they still assumed it wrong, but Edward kept his expression calm as he said, “I-I don’t know…”
“Oh? You don’t know?”, Hans said as he signals to the person beside him.
Zelene’s neck got cut by the sword as she screamed, “BROTHER!!”
“ALRIGHT! I’ll tell you!”, Edward shouted seeing Zelene’s neck start to bleed, the sword is so sharp that even just by touching Zelene’s neck she instantly got cut.
With an amused smile, Hans signals for Edward to continue.
“It’s not a Supernatural, he has a connection with the SCO and has the vision to make the UWO and SCO band together. But he knows that the UWO will not accept easily if they know Rex has a connection with the SCO, they will feel like Rex is tasked by the SCO if the UWO knows about this”, Edward explained with one single breath.
But the answer makes Hans’ body go stiff as he didn’t believe the answer.
Looking at Hans’ expression that went stiff, Edward then thought, ‘It’s better for Rex to be known to have connections with the SCO rather than the Supernatural, this will turns better if I play it right’
Since the 25 Golden Crest Families don’t know that Rex is the one who initiated the alliance.
This excuse is plausible since the SCO has bizarre means to make a normal human stronger, which can help explain how Rex makes the people around him stronger.
“You’re lying! I don’t believe this!”, Hans shouted in disbelief.
While gritting his teeth, Hans stands up from the sofa and walks toward Edward before he grasps Edward’s hand forcefully expecting something.
Edward looks at Hans weirdly and find a cold feeling in his hand,
He looks down at his hand that is being grasped by Hans and saw that there’s a silver thing in Hans’ hand, just from the look of it Edward knows that it’s silver.
But it won’t work on him since he’s not a Supernatural.
“But how?! Then what about the Supernatural that visits him at Faraday University? The royal vampires?!”, Hans asks again, he was still denying what Edward just said.
Now since Hans is the one that got shook, Edward smiles, “Just like you know…”
“Rex has a very terrifying talent, not even a year since he become an Awakened and now he already matches those who trained for more than ten years. Since he saved numerous cities from Supernatural, the Supernatural finds his existence-threatening and sent an assassin to kill him”, Edward explains with a mocking smile.
Edward then looks at Hans who is in disbelief and added, “He’s not as bad as you think huh?”
“SHUT UP!”, Hans shouted angrily.
After hearing what Edward said, Hans turns around and rub his face roughly as the turn of events was not what he expected from this meeting.
Thanks to Edward’s quick thinking,
It seems Hans is starting to doubt the findings that he had, the explanation of Rex having a connection with the SCO and trying to hide it makes sense.
The UWO will fear that the alliance is the SCO’s plan if they know about Rex’s connection.
This is why Rex hides the fact that he has a connection with the SCO in the hope the UWO will ally with the SCO to fight against the Supernatural, and this also explains why the people around him get stronger faster.
Edward puts all the credit to the SCO, not that Rex mind if he knew though.
As for the Supernatural, it’s just an easy answer.
Rex has made it easy for Edward to answer the questions since he’s very powerful, of course, the Supernatural sending assassin to the rising powerhouse might just happen.
It’s an undeniable fact,
Rex being an existence befitting to threaten the Supernatural, even now he’s leading the 25 Golden Crest Family’s descendants against the Undead.
It’s clear that everything they doubted was for nothing,
This makes Hans grit his teeth in anger before finally stomping the ground as he approaches Edward, his eyes then turn bloodthirsty as he said, “As I said earlier this is also a payback”
“Kill her!”, Hans suddenly said making Edward widen his eyes.
Upon hearing this, the old man shouted beside Edward as he tries to save Zelene but he got flicked by Hans sending him crashing away.
Edward glared at Hans in anger, “You?! I told you the truth and answer them honestly!”
“You’re not in the position to make a demand”
BAM!
CRACK!
“ARGHH!!”, Edward shouted as he got kicked by Hans as his left leg got bent in an unnatural way, he was caught off guard as he falls to the ground weakly.
Seeing this, Zelene screams hysterically, “BROTHER!!”
After breaking Edward’s leg, Hans started stomping at him angrily.
He was letting off his anger since the situation didn’t work as he had expected, he also bore hatred for Rex for breaking his leg in the hotel before embarrassing him.
Looking at this, the person holding Zelene then said, “What are you doing Hans?”
“This is not what we agreed on, we only agree to interrogate Edward to find out how Rex makes the others powerful!”, the person added before grabbing Hans’ shoulder.
With still rough breathing, Hans then commanded, “I told you to kill the girl!”
“No… this is not our part of our deal”, the person said as he lets Zelene go, she immediately runs to Edward who is getting stomped by Hans.
Zelene is hugging Edward’s body but this makes Hans smiles brutally,
“Me and my men are not a part of this, we’ll retreat from here”, the person that lets go of Zelene said as he signal for the two other people to leave the place.
Three people clad in black uniforms left the house silently,
Hans scoffed after he saw the three left before his eyes landed on Zelene, “Then I’ll kill her myself, don’t resent me, little girl. Just blame your brother here for messing with us”
After saying that, Hans unsheathed his sword slowly and a metallic sound can be heard.
The sound can clearly indicate the sharpness of the sword, even when Hans waves the sword Zelene can hear a whistling sound coming from it.
But when Hans was about to slash Zelene,
CRASH!
Hans jolted when a crashing sound suddenly can be heard as a shadow flew past him before crashing to the wall in front of him, he looks at the figure and realizes that it was one of the three that left before.
Seeing this, Hans looks back in confusion, “What the hell?”
CLANG!
BAM!
The sound of fighting can be heard from outside making Hans frown, he signals for the other two people to check outside but then suddenly he jumped away.
Hans felt a threatening aura that he felt from his back,
Upon looking at his back, Hans found Edward is slowly standing as his broken leg makes a cracking sound and got healed completely.
The dark fire aura around him started to become more intense giving a pressuring sensation.
Although Hans was shocked by the sudden increase in power, his eyes then landed on a blue apple in Edward’s hand that gives off intense mana.
“Blue apple?”, Hans mutters in confusion.
He looks at Edward who is slowly raising his gaze,
After both of them made eye contact, Hans widen his eyes when he saw Edward’s eyes blazing with dark fire as the surrounding mana got sucked into his body.
BOOM!
The scale of the mana makes Hans step back in surprise, “This…This is not a fifth rank Awakened power, How is this possible?!”
“He’s reaching all the way to the sixth rank realm!”