Isabella rolled her eyes. "Right on schedule."
Seraphina closed her pad. The quiet click was the only response she gave.
Liliana tilted her head slightly. "They’re going to lie first."
"Always," Lilith agreed.
Far from the estate, across the city, in a private, dimly lit lounge buried under layers of security, a man sat alone. No guards. No aides. Just him.
A silver band on his wrist glowed faintly as he watched the sa footage, the sa kill, the sa pause.
He rewound.
Watched it again.
Zood in.
Leaned back into the couch. Smiled, but only slightly.
"...Interesting."
Then the screen went dark.
—
anwhile, the fallout began with silence.
Official channels stayed quiet for a few more hours. No press conferences. No ergency declarations.
Just brief written statents layered in legal phrasing. Most news anchors repeated the sa lines—environntal anomaly.
Unexpected reaction. Routine Zone disruption. Isolated event.
But the footage said otherwise.
Clips had already gone viral. Most of them were shaky and poorly lit, but that didn’t matter.
The mont that caught the world’s attention was clear enough. One bronze beast, one student, one single blow.
The forums erupted.
So threads were taken down imdiately. Others stayed up long enough to fill with comnts.
"That wasn’t just skill. That was suppression."
"I saw that technique before. In a match from six years ago. That wasn’t bronze level."
"This isn’t so prodigy. This is sothing else."
Soone posted a screenshot of the clearing—Ethan’s figure blurred but still recognizable to anyone who had t him in person.
The mods attempted to censor it, but by then, it had already spread through mirrors, private groups, and closed circles.
His na wasn’t ntioned in the official feeds. Not once. But those who knew how to look were already making connections.
Back at the estate, the air remained still.
Ethan had changed into a fresh shirt and sat alone on the back terrace, a mug of sothing warm in his hands. The night had deepened, stars faint behind drifting mist.
He didn’t say anything.
Didn’t need to.
The house behind him was quiet, but not asleep. Footsteps moved here and there. Soft voices. The usual hum of movent when everyone pretended things were normal.
Seraphina stood upstairs near a side window, scrolling through her private alerts.
Liliana moved from room to room, checking wards.
Isabella had gone silent again, her eyes fixed on a slowly rotating data stream, one pulled directly from backdoor surveillance networks.
And Lilith?
Lilith was on the phone.
Not a public call. Not even one made through regular channels.
She sat in her private lounge, one hand resting on the armrest, the other tracing a slow line down the side of her teacup.
The person on the other end didn’t interrupt her.
They wouldn’t dare.
"I don’t care what the Association wants to suppress," Lilith said, voice low, each word asured. "They don’t get to dictate the aftermath."
"...Understood."
"Good. Then listen closely. No further tampering. No false witness statents. If they ask about the boy, you tell them nothing."
"...But if they keep pushing?"
"Then remind them what it cost the last group who tried that, and also, I want you to do a secret scan through the association, as I do not believe that a cult was able to do this without the superpower association knowing."
"Do we need to tell the President about this?" the person on the other end asked.
"He already does, and do you think he has not already started doing this right after the riot started?"
"Yes, then I will have it done as fast as possible."
She then ended the call.
Outside, the mist finally began to lift fully. The city lights below flickered brighter.
Inside the mansion, Lilith walked to the tall windows and looked down at the grounds. Her eyes didn’t wander. They locked the gates.
Not because anyone was there.
But because she could feel the weight approaching.
It wouldn’t be tonight.
Maybe not tomorrow.
But soon.
And the house needed to be ready.
Back in the sitting room, Isabella’s screen pinged. She opened it without comnt.
A short ssage flashed on the top line: Crescent report complete.
She read it once. Then again.
Then whistled, low.
"Looks like the cult was more organized than we thought," she said.
Liliana walked in, a towel slung around her neck. "Remnants?"
"Worse. Planted agents. They got them into the second veil over a year ago. And one of them activated sothing during the riot."
Seraphina stepped in. "What kind of sothing?"
Isabella flipped the screen around.
It showed a single word, outlined in red: Mark.
Not a na. Not a title.
A curse.
One that could only be placed during chaos. During blood. During fear.
Seraphina’s jaw tightened. "Who?"
"It didn’t stick to most," Isabella said. "But it reached one."
She didn’t say the na.
She didn’t have to.
Lilith’s voice ca from the hallway.
"Where is it now?"
Isabella checked the screen again. "Dormant. Latent. But it’s... there."
Ethan walked back into the room.
They turned to look at him. None of them said anything right away.
He didn’t ask what they were discussing.
But he saw the look in Isabella’s eyes.
And in Seraphina’s silence.
And in Lilith’s stillness.
So he spoke first.
"Is it dangerous?"
"Yes," Lilith said.
"But it hasn’t activated yet," Seraphina added.
Ethan nodded. "Then we have ti."
"Not much," Isabella muttered.
Liliana walked past him, her hand brushing his shoulder. "We’ll figure it out."
He didn’t flinch. Didn’t tense.
Just looked at them.
And nodded again.
Lilith stepped closer, her voice softer now.
"This is only the beginning," she said. "You’re not hidden anymore."
The screens behind them continued to show the news looping. The headlines hadn’t changed.
But the ssage was clear.
Sothing had shifted.
Not just in the forest. Not just in the world.
But in him.
And the ones who were watching?
They weren’t going to stop now.
They were going to co.
Every step he took from here on would be watched. Every power he used. Every person he stood beside.
But none of that changed the fact—
He was ho.
And he wasn’t alone.
As he had people whom he could trust and would always support him.
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