The Anomaly Beyond The System

’She’s grown much stronger than expected.’

Lucian thought, watching his mother fight against the Association staff member.

It had only been two months.

Just two months since she had begun learning how to fight properly, and yet she had already managed to reach this level.

Honestly, it wouldn’t be wrong to say that he was shocked.

He had expected her to improve, of course, given that she possessed an A Rank Talent, and with her Ice Affinity, her potential was certainly not low. But for her to gain actual combat experience in such a short amount of time...

That was admirable.

But more than anything...

Lucian was proud, especially after seeing her keep up with an E Ranker, someone who was entirely one rank above her own.

She shouldn’t have been able to fight someone like Ava on equal footing, especially with so little training.

But despite that—

She seemed to be keeping up.

Her movements weren’t exactly perfect, and there were obvious openings in her stance. But she was learning. She was adapting... slowly, steadily.

Still...

It was a bit—no, very painful to watch her getting hit by that woman, though he did his best to control himself and not interfere... even though his entire body wanted to move forward and stop them.

At the same time, he was also glancing at her status window, which hovered beside him.

[STATUS WINDOW]

Name – Seraphina Cross

Race – Human

Rank – F

Titles – The Mother Beyond Blood

Bloodline – Winter’s Grace

Affinity – Ice

Talent – A

[Attributes]

Strength: G+

Agility: F-

Endurance: G

Charisma: S

[Evaluation — A woman who survived only because she found someone to protect. Behind the quiet dignity and icy composure is a soul consumed by grief, silently clinging to the child she swore would never be taken from her again.

Tends to overthink many things, especially when it comes to her son... even though her thoughts sometimes stray a bit too far.]

[Affection: 79%... 80% (Hates secrets)]

Lucian had already seen her status window a few minutes ago, and yet he still couldn’t help but stare at it again, trying to understand a few things.

His eyes lingered on the lowest section.

’Her affection increased...’

He mused silently, thinking about the Affection stat.

When they were about to meet the Director, the number had dropped to 79% right when he had checked it outside the elevator, but now...

It seemed to have increased again, almost returning to the same place it had been before.

As for why it had decreased in the first place?

The answer was already written right there.

’Hates Secrets.’

A wry yet fond smile appeared on his face, and he internally shook his head.

’Guess I’ll have to stop keeping secrets to keep my adorable mother from getting angry.’

It wasn’t as if he could blame her, since she was right to feel angry, especially after the multiple times he had dodged answering her questions about many things.

Still, Lucian didn’t know why the number had increased once again.

Had he done something just now? Perhaps said something...?

Who knew~?

He had initially been displeased when he noticed her Affection wasn’t at 100%, wondering if something was wrong with the system—because there was no way his mother didn’t love him that much.

Yeah, he was that confident in his understanding of her emotions that he didn’t even consider being wrong, immediately assuming the System had probably glitched.

But after asking Akasha about it, he finally understood.

It wasn’t that she didn’t love him, or loved him any less. It was simply that familial affection could only naturally reach up to 80%, but couldn’t go beyond that.

And if it ever did...

Lucian didn’t even want to think about it, though he was sure that would never happen.

Hopefully.

Throughout all of this, Lucian’s attention never truly moved away from Selene, carefully watching her movements and the way she dodged and fought.

Her movements were more restrained, carrying no wildness or recklessness—the complete opposite of his own fighting style... even though he could see that her skills hadn’t been refined much yet.

’She’s gained a few skills, I see.’

He could see the skill she had used, a speed-enhancement skill perhaps, allowing her to increase her speed, and it was even strong enough to catch Ava—the Association staff member fighting her—off guard.

’Not bad, Mom.’

At first, he was simply enjoying the growth his mother was showing.

That was, until Ava punched her.

For a moment, he almost lost it.

He almost moved.

[She might get mad if you intervene.]

Akasha’s words were the only thing that stopped him.

But then...

The moment Lucian noticed the shift in the woman’s eyes—

The moment he felt the spike of killing intent leaking from Ava’s body—

Lucian’s expression changed immediately. And so did his presence.

His eyes turned cold, and a massive amount of killing intent suddenly flooded out from his body.

But unlike before—

It didn’t spread throughout the training hall, solely focusing and concentrating on a single person.

On Ava—the woman running towards his mother.

"Kaaakh—!!!"

Her body instantly crashed onto the floor as she slammed down face-first, her body trembling violently against the stone floor.

Lucian unhurriedly walked in her direction, each step strangely loud within the sudden silence.

Everyone’s eyes remained fixed on Lucian. Selene seemed confused, while the others’ expressions stiffened.

[Ding!~]

[Your skill Killing Intent has evolved into Focused Killing Intent.]

He didn’t even know how he had done that.

He had simply tried to focus his killing intent onto a single person, and somehow... it had naturally come to him.

But right now—

His mind wasn’t even on the newly evolved skill.

"What do you think... you were doing just now...?"

Standing before the face-down Ava, Lucian slowly lowered his head, his expression completely indifferent and cold.

There wasn’t even a hint of the playful or condescending smile he had worn before.

His blood-red eyes glowed beneath his dark sunglasses, staring at the woman lying on the ground before him.

The pressure around him intensified even further.

"Hik—!"

Ava’s breath caught the moment she tried to speak. Her body trembled violently against the floor, her fingers digging weakly into the hard surface as she slowly, tremblingly raised her head towards him.

"Lucian! What do you think you are doing?!"

Cedric’s heavy voice suddenly came from behind, cutting through the suffocating silence.

For a moment, Lucian remained completely still, the air around him becoming warmer—hotter by several degrees—before, slowly, he turned around.

Cedric stopped before him, a deep frown on his face as he saw the sudden change in Lucian’s demeanour.

"Dear...?"

Lucian’s gaze shifted towards Selene.

The moment he saw her approaching, his expression softened slightly. She closed the distance between them, standing perfectly fine despite the earlier attack.

Seeing that she wasn’t seriously injured, Lucian took a deep breath.

He slowly inhaled, then exhaled, trying to calm himself.

Only after doing so did the oppressive feeling around Ava lessen slightly.

Feeling the pressure reduce, Ava pulled herself up, though her movements remained shaky and unstable.

Lucian said nothing.

He lowered himself, kneeling before her until their eyes met at the same level.

"Lucia—"

Cedric tried to speak, but then—

"She tried killing Selene."

Lucian’s quiet voice echoed through the silence, and hearing his words, everyone around frowned.

"What?"

Cedric’s brows twisted in confusion.

"How are you so sure?"

Lucian didn’t answer.

His gaze remained locked onto Ava, the blankness on his face never changing.

"Why did you try to kill her?" he asked quietly, his voice reaching the trembling woman.

Ava’s eyes widened.

"Wha—! I didn’t! Sir...! I didn’t..."

Her voice trembled as she desperately pleaded.

Her expression was filled with fear, and her eyes welled up slightly as she looked between Lucian and Cedric, hoping someone would save her from the terrifying situation she had suddenly found herself in.

Cedric immediately tried to speak further, but then—

Leonardo stopped him.

He didn’t actually know if Lucian was right about his words, especially since he hadn’t sensed any killing intent from Ava.

But...

For some reason, he believed the man’s words.

Perhaps because Lucian had no actual reason to lie.

This was merely a combat examination, and even if Selene had lost the match, she would’ve still passed simply from what they had already witnessed of her movements and fighting skills.

There was no reason for Lucian to fabricate something like this.

Despite the desperation and pure fear in the woman’s words, Lucian’s expression remained blank as he continued looking at her.

"I don’t care why you did that... and even though you didn’t actually do anything yet... you shouldn’t have even thought about harming her... much less have the thought of killing her."

Ava’s breath hitched immediately.

But not because of his words.

For a brief moment...

Something strange happened.

Dark mist suddenly replaced Lucian’s face, covering his features entirely, swallowing everything beneath the darkness before slowly revealing something horrifying.

A dark, eerie image of blood-red eyes and a distorted face appeared before her, like a monstrous visage staring directly into her soul.

"KKKYAAA—!!!"

Ava’s scream tore through the training hall.

Her body trembled violently, and her face paled even further as the blood seemed to drain from her skin.

Her pupils dilated as she stared at the eerie figure before her—or at least, the remnant of it—with pure horror.

"AVA...!"

Axel shouted immediately, rushing forward and kneeling beside her, grabbing her before she could collapse.

Her body was trembling violently, almost uncontrollably.

"Th–Tha...t... mon—"

Her lips moved, but before she could even try to form the words—

Her eyes rolled back, and her body went limp.

"Ava?! Ava...?!"

Axel tried waking her, his expression filled with panic for a moment before he breathed a sigh of relief, noticing that she had simply fallen unconscious.

Slowly, Axel turned towards Lucian, who had begun to stand up.

But his expression...

A confused frown appeared on his face as he looked towards Ava, genuinely confused by what had just happened.

"What did you do to her...?"

Cedric’s heavy voice echoed through the hall, his expression having darkened considerably.

Even Leonardo slowly turned towards Lucian.

For a moment, he wondered if he should have stopped his grandfather from interfering earlier.

"..."

Lucian didn’t answer Cedric.

Instead, he walked towards Selene.

Without saying anything, he immediately grabbed her face, startling her for a moment as he carefully checked her for any injuries.

His fingers brushed against her mask.

"You aren’t hurt anywhere, right?"

He asked softly, genuine concern evident in his voice as he searched for any harm on her body, even going as far as using his Blood Sense.

Selene stood stunned, not knowing what to say.

She didn’t know what he had done to that woman just now, especially after seeing how she had suddenly reacted to him, even falling unconscious as if she had witnessed some horrifying nightmare.

No one knew what he had done.

Even Lucian himself seemed confused by the result.

But rather than feeling uneasy about his behaviour—which should’ve been completely normal behaviour from a son concerned about his mother—

She felt a warmth slowly blooming within her chest.

And hearing the concern in his voice, a small smile appeared on her face.

Meanwhile, Cedric looked at the aftermath of whatever Lucian had done to his staff member.

Ava had fallen unconscious so easily, despite being of the same rank.

A thought couldn’t help but creep into his mind.

’This man is more dangerous than I thought.’

But then again...

He was someone related to that golden-eyed woman.

So perhaps it wasn’t that surprising.

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