Sylvia’s piercing red eyes settled directly on Adrian.
Her expression was calm, but the tension in her gaze was unmistakable.
"Finally regretting your decision, huh?"
Adrian t her gaze without hesitation.
His face remained cold and composed.
"Not even a little."
"I stand by what I said before."
His voice carried absolute certainty.
"He was a failure."
He paused briefly before continuing.
"And maybe he still is."
"That’s exactly why I’m keeping an eye on him."
Sylvia’s brows knit slightly.
"Then why don’t you just leave him alone?"
Her voice softened, though the frustration beneath it was clear.
"Up until now he has already suffered enough because of us."
She took a step forward.
"Why don’t you let him live his life the way he wants now?"
"We don’t own him anymore."
Her voice dropped slightly.
"We lost that right the mont he walked outside those gates."
"The mont we abandoned him and left him to fend for himself."
"Whether he lived or died it doesn’t concern us anymore."
Adrian remained silent for a mont.
Then he spoke calmly.
"I wish I could do that."
His gaze hardened slightly.
"But even as a failure... he still carries my blood in his veins."
He crossed his arms.
"I cannot allow the Imperius bloodline to be passed down on the streets."
His voice turned colder.
"I will not allow my descendants to grow up as commoners..."
"Receiving diocre education..."
"And living diocre lives."
He looked directly at Sylvia.
"So I will do what must be done."
"To preserve the Imperius lineage."
Sylvia let out a quiet sigh.
"Have you ever considered..."
Her voice grew softer.
"That this very mindset might have been the reason he could never grow?"
She glanced away briefly.
"And now that he’s free..."
"He’s finally starting to change."
Adrian frowned slightly.
"Preposterous."
His voice carried sharp dismissal.
"We gave him everything."
"Everything a person needs to reach the top."
"And yet he still failed."
His gaze sharpened as it fell on Sylvia.
"And don’t try to act innocent now."
His voice grew colder.
"Don’t try to make look like the villain here."
"You treated him far worse than I ever did."
Sylvia’s expression stiffened.
Adrian continued rcilessly.
"On the training grounds..."
"You allowed the other children to beat him."
"Until his bones cracked."
"Until he coughed blood."
"And you stood there."
"You watched."
"You said nothing."
His voice beca quiet.
"So don’t stand here pretending to care now."
"I’m certain he hates even more than he hates ."
Sylvia opened her mouth to respond.
But no words ca out.
Because deep down—
She knew every word Adrian had spoken was true.
She had failed him.
As a mother.
She had never shown him the warmth or affection he deserved.
She lowered her gaze slightly.
And said nothing.
Seeing her silence, Adrian turned away.
He began walking down the hallway again.
His footsteps echoed softly.
Then Sylvia spoke again.
Her voice carried hesitation this ti.
"Are you really going to do it?"
Adrian stopped.
But he didn’t turn around.
"If he doesn’t follow your orders..."
"Will you really kill him?"
Adrian resud walking.
His voice remained calm.
"I will do whatever is required of ."
"And it will not matter who stands in front of ."
His tone hardened.
"Family or not."
He paused briefly.
"But the chances of that happening are almost nonexistent."
"I still see nothing special in him."
"So you can rest easy."
"He will remain a diocre existence."
"I’m certain of that."
With those final words, Adrian continued walking.
His figure slowly disappeared down the hallway.
Sylvia remained standing there.
Her eyes fixed on the place where he had vanished.
The silence stretched for a long mont.
Then she murmured quietly under her breath.
"I just hope you’re right..."
Her expression turned distant.
"Because the Arthur I saw the last ti he ca here..."
She hesitated.
"He felt different."
Her voice softened.
"It looked like Arthur."
"But at the sa ti..."
"He felt like soone completely different."
--------------
anwhile, back at the hospital...
The hospital room was silent.
Only the faint rhythmic beeping of the monitoring machine echoed through the dim white chamber.
Arthur lay half-reclined against the pillow. The sterile scent of antiseptic filled the air, and pale afternoon sunlight filtered through the window blinds, casting long bars of light across the floor.
But Arthur’s attention wasn’t on the room.
It was entirely fixed on the glowing blue windows hovering before him.
His eyes narrowed slightly.
Then he spoke again.
"System."
A soft pulse ran through the interface.
[ Yes, Host. ]
Arthur’s gaze settled on the final section of the screen.
SYSTEMS CONQUERED
Absolute Choice System — DEVOURED
Status: Fully Integrated
Authority: Suppressed & Subjugated
Arthur’s lips curved faintly.
Jordan Zane.
The boy who had hunted him.
The boy who had tried to kill him under the orders of that strange system.
Arthur slowly exhaled.
"Remove the Absolute Choice System from suppression."
For a mont—
The room beca completely silent.
Nothing happened.
Then suddenly—
A cascade of system windows exploded across Arthur’s vision.
[ Command Received. ]
[ Releasing suppression lock on subjugated system... ]
[ Accessing system mory... ]
[ Authority override confird. ]
[ Host command recognized as supre directive. ]
Arthur watched coldly as countless lines of code-like symbols stread through the interface like rushing water.
Then a new window appeared.
[ Scanning archived quests... ]
[ Retrieving final directive issued to previous host... ]
[ mory fragnt located. ]
A glowing screen slowly opened.
───────────────────────────
Choice A: The Path of Predatory Supremacy
Objective: Kill the player standing before you within 24 hours.
Threat Level: Low
Reward:
Unknown Progenitor Bloodline
Classification: Unrecorded
Origin: Unknown Era
Potential: ?????
Failure Penalty:
Total Reversal
Upon failure, the reward will be transferred to the target.
Death will be prolonged and excruciating.
───────────────────────────
Choice B: The Path of Cowardly Retreat
Objective: Withdraw from the target’s vicinity imdiately and avoid all interaction.
Reward: None
Failure Penalty: None
───────────────────────────
Arthur stared silently at the screen.
Another prompt appeared.
[ Decision Logged. ]
[ Previous Host: Jordan Zane ]
[ Choice Selected: Choice A — Path of Predatory Supremacy ]
Arthur’s gaze remained calm.
Then the system continued.
[ Quest Status Analysis... ]
[ Previous Host Condition: Deceased ]
[ Quest Outco: FAILURE ]
The screen flickered briefly.
Then—
A new ssage appeared.
[ Failure Penalty Triggered. ]
Arthur’s pupils shrank slightly.
[ Reward Transfer Protocol Activated. ]
[ Reward Recipient: Current System Host — Arthur ]
[ Reward: Unknown Progenitor Bloodline ]
[ Initiating Bloodline Transfer... ]
Arthur suddenly felt it.
A heat.
A terrifying, overwhelming heat.
His body jolted violently against the hospital bed.
"...!"
His vision blurred instantly.
It felt as if molten tal had been poured directly into his veins.
[ Bloodline Awakening Initiated. ]
Arthur’s hands gripped the bedsheets tightly.
The pain exploded through his entire body.
Every bone felt like it was cracking apart.
Every nerve scread in agony.
His muscles convulsed violently.
"Ghh...!"
His body burned.
No—
It felt like he was being lted alive.
Arthur’s breathing beca ragged.
[ Bloodline Assimilation Process Beginning. ]
His entire body trembled as the heat intensified.
He clenched his teeth so hard they nearly cracked.
But the pain kept rising.
His vision turned white.
"...damn it..."
Arthur grabbed the pillow beneath his head and shoved it between his teeth.
He bit down hard.
Hard enough to muffle the scream threatening to tear out of his throat.
CRUNCH.
His body arched violently.
It felt as if sothing was ripping through him from the inside.
Like sothing ancient was forcing its way into existence within his body.
[ Assimilation Progress: 0% ]
Arthur’s nails dug into the mattress.
His muscles spasd uncontrollably.
Seconds crawled by.
Then—
[ Assimilation Progress: 7% ]
The heat intensified further.
His skin flushed deep red.
Veins bulged along his arms.
Arthur’s mind swam dangerously.
"...stay... conscious..."
[ Assimilation Progress: 15% ]
His bones creaked loudly.
His heartbeat pounded like war drums inside his chest.
[ Assimilation Progress: 26% ]
The pain continued climbing.
Arthur’s fingers trembled violently.
[ Assimilation Progress: 39% ]
His body felt like it was tearing itself apart.
[ Assimilation Progress: 51% ]
Arthur’s vision flickered in and out.
He could feel sothing ancient spreading through his blood.
Sothing powerful.
Sothing primal.
[ Assimilation Progress: 63% ]
Arthur bit harder into the pillow.
His jaw trembled violently.
[ Assimilation Progress: 74% ]
The heat began reaching its peak.
His body felt as if it would collapse at any mont.
Arthur’s consciousness swayed dangerously.
"...not... now..."
[ Assimilation Progress: 86% ]
His body shuddered violently.
The pain began to change.
From destruction...
Into transformation.
[ Assimilation Progress: 94% ]
Arthur’s breathing slowed slightly.
The burning sensation began fading.
[ Assimilation Progress: 100% ]
Silence.
The burning heat slowly drained away from his body.
Arthur collapsed back against the hospital bed, completely drenched in sweat.
His chest rose and fell heavily.
The pain had faded.
But sothing else remained.
A presence.
A power.
Sothing foreign.
Sothing ancient flowing through his blood.
Arthur slowly opened his eyes.
A final system window appeared before him.
Bright.
Majestic.
Unmistakable.
[ Bloodline Awakening Complete. ]
[ Bloodline Assimilation Successful. ]
[ Classification Confird. ]
[ Congratulations Host. ]
[ You have successfully beco the progenitor of a new bloodline. ]
[ The Origin King ]
The final words slowly appeared across the screen.
" The Origin King "
Arthur stared silently at the ssage.
And deep within his veins—
Sothing ancient and powerful had awakened.
----------
A/N:
So how was the Chapter? Tell in the comnts!
Thanks for the golden tickets:
CountSeven, Ramom, Avarice_Angel, Lykana, AsherJ, Hype_Scentrix, DaoistS8ZKg8
I really appreciate the support guy it ans a lot. 🤗
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