It was a peaceful day in llow City.
Inside the Ritchie Family Estate, Thomas Ritchie, the patriarch of the family, sat at the head of a long table while discussing family matters with several elders.
Suddenly, the eting room door burst open, and a guard ran inside with a panicking expression.
"Patriarch, I have urgent news!"
Thomas frowned.
"You’d better have one. If this isn’t important enough to interrupt a family eting, be prepared for the consequences."
"Y-Yes, Patriarch." The guard swallowed nervously. "There is a woman outside who wishes to speak with you."
"What?" Thomas’s younger brother imdiately stood up. "You interrupted our eting for that?"
"That’s not all." The guard took a deep breath and said, "She said her visit concerns the survival of the Ritchie family."
The entire room fell silent. "What?" Thomas’s brother slamd the table. "So crazy woman cos to our front gate making threats, and you bring that nonsense directly to us?"
"Just apprehend her! Let see who is so bold after the eting."
"Sir, we tried." The guard’s face turned pale. "But she overpowered all of us without even lifting a finger."
"And... Several guards also reported seeing her flying here by herself."
The atmosphere instantly changed.
Thomas looked at the guard and asked, "Are you sure she flew all by herself?"
"Yes sir, there was no equipnt or any aircraft."
This alone made all of them nervous, because only extrely powerful variants, such as S-rankers and above, could accomplish such a thing. And nobody in the Ritchie Family possessed that level of strength.
"Bring her in," Thomas finally spoke.
The guard imdiately left, and a few monts later, the doors opened once again.
A woman with a graceful, elegant, and dominating presence entered the hall like she owned the place. With every step she took, her presence burned like a wildfire in a winter night.
The mont Thomas saw her, he imdiately stood up in fear. "Miss Armani?"
A smile appeared on her face. "Oh? It seems I’m still famous."
Thomas forced a smile. "Of course. Who doesn’t know the great Armani Wild?"
The rest of the family mbers also beca nervous, even they had heard stories of her absurd strength and reckless personality.
"If you had inford us beforehand, I would’ve personally welcod you."
"What a gentleman." Armani smiled. "But don’t worry. I won’t be staying long. I’m only here to give a small warning."
The word "warning" imdiately put everyone on edge.
"Please." Thomas gestured toward his seat. "You may sit here."
Armani glanced at the patriarch’s throne. She then wrinkled her nose. "I don’t like slly things." The next mont, a throne made entirely of golden mana materialized in the air.
It floated several feet above the ground. Armani sat down elegantly with one leg crossed over the other. Looking down on everyone.
If the citizens of llow City saw the mighty Ritchie Family standing nervously before a single woman, nobody would believe it.
"I heard your family, especially your son, has been causing quite a bit of trouble for one of my students."
"Miss, I don’t understand what you’re referring to," Thomas replied cautiously. "My family would never knowingly do anything to offend you. And if soone did, I would personally see to their punishnt."
"Is that so?" Armani asked. "Do you know the one who ranked first in this year’s entrance examination?"
Only now did Thomas realize who she was talking about.
Even before this, he had found the boy suspicious. Especially after discovering that both his personal history and family records had been sealed away by the Association.
But even still, the possibility that one of the strongest people in the world would personally speak on behalf of a seemingly naless boy had never even crossed his mind.
"Miss Armani, I..."
"Relax." She waved her hand dismissively. "I’m not accusing you of anything. A father who has lost his son would naturally grieve. Wanting revenge is only human."
She paused before continuing. "But from what I’ve heard, your son was the one who started everything. Isn’t that correct?"
Thomas forced himself to remain calm. After a long silence, he finally spoke.
"I cannot simply ignore what happened."
"I won’t pretend Peter was innocent. He had many faults. But he was still my son." Thomas t her gaze directly. "And he killed him. One way or another... I will have my revenge."
The mont those words left his mouth, Armani’s aura erupted.
A terrifying pressure descended upon the entire mansion like divine judgnt from the heavens.
Cracks spread across the furniture, with windows shattering.
Most of the family mbers collapsed unconscious on the spot, while the rest dropped to their knees, unable to withstand the overwhelming force.
For a brief mont, it felt as though Death itself had entered the mansion and placed its hand upon their shoulders.
But then suddenly the pressure completely vanished.
Those who had already accepted that this would be the last day of their lives slowly looked up in confusion, gasping for breath.
Armani’s cold gaze settled on Thomas. "Listen carefully."
"If it were up to , you, your son, your family, this mansion... everything would already be gone. The only reason any of you are still alive is because that stupid boy made promise not to interfere in his affairs."
She crossed her arms. "And I’m soone who keeps her word. Well, not all the ti. But I do hate people who break their promises."
"So I’ll only say this once. Do whatever you want with the boy. It’s not like you’re powerful enough for to worry about it."
Her voice turned colder. "But do not involve his family, friends, or anyone around him. This will only be between your family and him."
Thomas imdiately lowered his head. "I understand."
"Good." Armani rose from her throne, and it instantly dissolved into countless particles of light. "I hope you don’t break your word."
The next mont, her figure dispersed into smoke and vanished without a trace.
***
Outside the estate, several hundred ters away, Lima stood behind a tree, silently watching the mansion in the distance.
"Why is Ms. Armani here?" she wondered. No matter how much she thought about it, she couldn’t co up with a reason for soone of Armani’s status to personally visit the Ritchie family.
Before she could continue her train of thought, a voice suddenly sounded behind her.
"It’s not polite to spy on people, little girl." Lima instantly spun around and found Armani standing there with a faint smile on her face.
"Ms. Armani, I didn’t an to..."
"Stop." Armani raised a hand. "Don’t bother making up an excuse. Just tell why you’re here."
Lima hesitated at first, but thinking of who was standing before her, she chose to answer honestly. "I heard the Ritchie family was causing trouble for Zac. So I ca to convince the patriarch to let the matter go."
Armani’s smile widened. "Hmm. Are you doing that because you’re the chief of the association in his city? Or is there sothing more?"
Lima imdiately felt heat rise to her face. Fortunately, years of self-control saved her expression. "Of course not. There is nothing between us."
Armani blinked. "I never said there was."
("...")
Lima imdiately regretted speaking, but Armani looked thoroughly entertained.
"Let ask you sothing. You gave him the dicine that cured his mother. You saved him during the beast attack and for the past two weeks..." Armani leaned forward slightly. "Why exactly was he visiting you every single day?"
Lima becos flustered. "He was just...asking questions."
"And what kind of questions require daily visits for two weeks straight?"
"About awakening and Central City, you know the usual stuff.
"Wasn’t the Variant Network enough for that? And even if he wanted information from you directly, I don’t think it would take two weeks."
Lima knew she wasn’t being believed, and she does not know how to make it passable for Armani to believe.
But before she could co up with a better idea, Armani turned around.
"Fine. But rember this, little girl. It’s perfectly fine if there is nothing between you two."
"But if there is... Then you’re in for a very long ride. One that won’t be paved with roses."
Saying that she disappeared, leaving the already confused Lima even more confused.
***
At the very center of the central city stood a massive dieval-looking building that looked completely out of place among the modern skyscrapers around it.
The entire structure was made of white stone and covered in countless carvings. Even with all the luxury buildings surrounding it, the place stood out like a king among commoners.
If it had existed before the apocalypse, it would have probably been considered one of the wonders of the world.
Inside the building, in a luxurious office on the top floor, an old man sat comfortably in his chair, sipping his evening coffee.
A young woman opened the door and walked inside the room, carrying several docunts. The old man’s eyes imdiately lit up. "Isn’t this my favorite granddaughter, Lizzy?"
Lizzy let out a sigh and sat down across from him. "Grandpa, I’m your assistant right now."
The old man chuckled. "Fine, fine. So, how was your day?"
"Nothing special." She placed the docunt on his desk. "What about you?"
The old man snorted. "Don’t act like you don’t already know. Sa thing as always."
She passed the docunt towards him. "I ca to give today’s report."
"Go ahead."
"The new and returning students have started arriving at the academies. Because of that, small fights are breaking out all over the city."
The man nodded. "That just happens every year. What else?"
"The Eastern Alliance has almost finished rebuilding the cities that were destroyed during the last month’s attack."
"That’s good news. Next."
"Seeing what happened to the Eastern Alliance country, the other countries are becoming more vigilant and planning to start a purging process to clean their countries of cultists."
"Hmm...Next."
Lizzy looked at the next page. "It seems Ms. Armani blew up another building."
"Oh? Which one this ti?"
"The Harbor Prison."
He sighed. "She really doesn’t know how to stay quiet, does she? Tell one of the Twelve Pillars to investigate."
"I tried." Lizzy rolled her eyes. "Just like always, every single one of them suddenly beca busy."
The old man chuckled. "They all found excuses?"
"Every single one."
He stroked his long beard. "Did anyone get seriously hurt?"
"No."
"Did she break any fundantal laws?"
"No."
"Then leave it as it is."
"Fine, this is not the first ti this happened anyway. But there’s sothing strange about this one."
"It’s always strange when it cos to her. Last week she destroyed a restaurant because they didn’t serve her tea."
"That’s true, but no, this is different."
The old man raised an eyebrow. "How so?"
"Normally, she blows things up because soone insulted her, annoyed her, or simply caught her on a bad day."
"But this ti she destroyed a prison to rescue two teenagers."
"Oh?"
"They’re apparently new recruits of New Dawn Academy."
The old man’s fingers paused. "Anything else?"
"She personally traveled to llow City to recruit them."
"Now that’s not sothing she usually does, is it?"
"Yeah. After the incident where she nearly killed a new recruit for asking too many questions, the academy stopped sending her on recruitnts."
"And now you successfully piqued my interest. Just who are these two that the vice principal herself had to recruit?"
Lizzy looked at her notes. "The first is Marty Williams. A-rank potential with a shield-bearer class and has a clean background."
"Hmmm, he seems ordinary. What about the next one?"
Lizzy frowned.
"This is where things get strange. The boy’s na is Zac. He currently lives with his mother and younger sister. His father was a variant, disappeared eight years ago on an unknown mission."
"And more importantly, according to official records, he only possesses E-rank potential. So I tried digging deeper."
"The records were blocked by the association authority. So I used my own authority but still couldn’t access most of it."
"The only additional thing I managed to obtain was his surna."
Lizzy looked directly at him. "His na is Zac Godson."
For a mont the old man’s eyes widened slightly in surprise, but the next mont it returned to normal.
He then started laughing aloud.
Lizzy looked completely confused. "Grandpa... This isn’t funny. We should inform the others."
"No. "The old man waved his hand. "Leave it exactly as it is."
His smile beca even wider. "The Central City is going to beco very interesting over the next few years."
"You old people are impossible." The old man laughed again. "Maybe."
With a shake of her head, Lizzy left the office, and the room beca quiet once more. The old man leaned back in his chair and picked up the photograph she had brought him.
The picture showed a young man with black hair. The old man’s gaze softened slightly with a faint smile appearing on his face.
"It seems little Zac has grown into a man, Eldric."
He placed the picture on the table. Then looked out the window toward the vast Central City.
"Let’s see what kind of storm you bring to this world."
"After all... It’s been a very long ti since things were interesting."
End of Volu I
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