Leo walked through the silent administrative lobby of the academy, his footsteps weightless on the polished floorboards.
Beside him, Tessa kept her chin tucked into her collar, clutching her new research datapad against her chest with white knuckles.
The soaring atrium of the executive tower looked out over the spotless plazas of District 7, far above the industrial haze.
Dozens of wealthy parents stood in queue near the reception desks, paying their invoices with gold cards while administrative assistants smiled politely.
To the corporate elites who ran this school, the slums of District 9 were just a distant, soot-stained stain on the southern horizon.
Leo guided his sister toward the private elevators, bypassing the scanning portals with his visitor pass as they ascended toward the executive wing.
At the end of the high corridor, the doors of the primary boardroom stood open, where an administrative proctor gestured them inside.
The proctor adjusted a gold-rimmed monocle, checking Leo’s plain jacket with clear distaste before pulling the brass latch open.
Inside, the room was vast and quiet, smelling faintly of expensive tobacco and ozone from the humming server arrays behind the wall.
A polished table dominated the center of the room, reflecting the blue corporate emblems of Apex Bio-Tech that rotated slowly above the desk.
Behind the table sat Board Director Marcus Gruber, his tailored charcoal suit and silver signet ring radiating corporate arrogance.
Two attorneys sat beside him with glowing tablets, flanked by two cybernetic bodyguards whose ocular implants pulsed with low crimson light.
At the head of the table sat Headmaster Sterling, an elderly educator with sharp grey eyes who observed the proceedings in silence.
"So this is the slum barbarian who dared lay hands on my son," Director Gruber spoke, his voice dripping with venom.
"You broke Julian’s collarbone and humiliated my family name in front of the entire student body."
"Your son attacked my sister with an electrified weapon," Leo replied, his voice even and unyielding.
"He got off easy with a bruised shoulder."
"Silence!" the first attorney barked, tapping a digital tablet on the table with aggressive force.
"You are an unranked vagrant from District 9, and we have prepared an expulsion order alongside a twenty-year detention warrant for aggravated assault."
The lawyer slid a glowing transfer document across the table, tapping the digital signature line with a manicured finger.
"Sign the admission of guilt and waive your sister’s enrollment rights right now," the second attorney demanded.
"Do it immediately, or our private security units will process your arrest."
The attorneys sneered, adjusting their gold cufflinks with practiced disdain as they looked down at Leo’s plain clothes.
"District 9 laborers have zero legal standing in administrative tribunals," the second attorney stated coldly.
"Apex Bio-Tech supplies forty percent of this academy’s research budget, which means our decisions are absolute."
"Your corporate donations don’t give your son the right to assault innocent students," Leo said, taking an unhurried step forward.
"In this district, money creates the law," Director Gruber scoffed, leaning back in his chair with a smug smile.
Tessa trembled beside him, her chest tensing as her breath hitched in rising panic.
He didn’t flinch, raise his voice, or argue with the corporate lawyers.
Instead, he released a fraction of the sealed pressure surrounding his Level 5 core.
A wave of invisible ether pressure erupted from his frame and swept across the boardroom with a sudden chill.
The temperature plummeted twenty degrees in a single second, frosting the polished table and causing the overhead lamps to flicker.
The digital styluses and gold pens on the table froze solid, crusting with white rime as vapor spilled over the furniture.
The walls seemed to bend inward as the oppressive force thickened the air into a suffocating weight.
The two cybernetic bodyguards leaped to their feet, reaching for their plasma sidearms, but the crushing pressure pinned them back into their seats.
Invisible pressure locked around the guards’ wrists, trapping their weapons in their holsters as their ocular implants short-circuited with static.
Director Gruber struggled for air, his face turning pale purple as the force crushed him against his high-backed chair.
The two attorneys dropped their tablets, clawing at their throats as their knees knocked together beneath the table.
Leo took three slow, deliberate steps forward, stopping inches from the director’s trembling face, his gaze burning with grim resolve.
"Check the courtyard surveillance feeds, Director Gruber," he whispered, his voice vibrating with lethal authority.
"Your son initiated the assault with an illegal weapon on full broadcast."
"We have the receipt, and her tuition is paid in full," Leo added, leaning down until his shadow swallowed the man’s view.
"If I see her with a single scratch, or if you attempt to touch her enrollment again, I will come back."
"And next time, I won’t limit myself to a warning," he said, his voice dropping into a low, terrifying vibration.
Director Gruber couldn’t answer, his chest tensing as he clawed at his collar while trying to draw a single breath.
Leo turned on his heel, his coat snapping around his calves as he walked toward the exit doors.
Behind him, the crushing pressure snapped shut, the swirling mist dissolving as the room temperature returned to normal.
The corporate lawyers collapsed against the table, drawing ragged, shallow breaths while rubbing their bruised throats in terror.
Headmaster Sterling remained seated at the end of the table, relaxed and unaffected by the crushing umbral gravity.
The elderly educator set down a delicate cup, watching Leo’s departing silhouette with a faint, amused smile.
’An unawakened slum boy wielding ancient progenitor ether,’ the old man thought, his keen eyes gleaming.
’How incredibly interesting.’
Leo escorted Tessa back to her dormitory entrance, making sure her new security lock was active and verified.
"Study hard, kiddo," he said, ruffling her hair with a warm smile. "Leave the directors to me."
"I will, Leo," she promised, clutching her books with firm determination. "Be careful in the lower sectors."
He walked back to the District 7 mag-lev station, boarding the evening train back toward the southern slums.
As the train accelerated, the view through the windows shifted from spotless high-rises to sprawling factories and crowded streets.
The fresh atmosphere of the academy sector faded into the familiar, sulfur-scented smog of his home district.
The rattling of the train car hummed in sync with his pulse, a constant reminder of the grit and friction he had left behind in the warehouse that morning.
He adjusted his collar as the mag-lev hummed beneath his feet, the speed of his travel matching his rising eagerness to return to his own streets.
He watched the sun sink behind the dirty smokestacks, feeling the steady circulation of power beneath his ribs.
The All-Spark pulsed with a steady warmth against his sternum, its energetic gate pathways feeling open and optimized since his battle with Kincaid.
He let out a slow breath, his fingers checking the inner pocket where his cash and core sat out of sight.
No corporate executive or corrupt lawyer was going to take away his sister’s future while his core possessed such strength.
He had paid her tuition, secured her enrollment, and delivered a warning that Gruber would never forget.
As the train sped across the canal bridge, a piercing red alert chimed across his field of vision.
[ Urgent Distress Signal Detected ]
[ Target: Luna (Heroine Slot 1) ]
[ Location: District 9 Charity Clinic Ruins ]
[ Threat Assessment: Syndicate Enforcer Raid In Progress | Target In Mortal Danger ]
[ Duo-Quest Activated: Protect The Healer ]
[ Combat Reward: +3,000 EXP | Trait Extraction: Material Absorption | Cosmic Shop Online ]
[ Cosmic Pathways: 0% / 100% ]
Leo’s gaze hardened with dangerous resolve as he vaulted the station barrier, sprinting along the flat roofs.
Ribbons of deep ether curled around his shins and heels, propelling him forward in fifty-foot bounding leaps.
Every leap landed without a sound as the wind whipped his fabric hood, carrying him closer to the smoke billowing over Seventh Avenue.