The following morning, Lucius yawned as he walked toward his bedroom door, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. His entire body still ached from the previous day’s training, and the 50 kilogram ankle weights had done him no favors when he finally managed to drag himself out of bed.
He reached for the handle and pulled the door open, only to find Skull standing directly outside with a pale face and an apologetic expression. The man’s shoulders were tense, and he seemed to be struggling to find the right words to say.
The drowsiness vanished from Lucius’s eyes almost immediately. His expression turned cold as he studied Skull’s face, already suspecting that something had gone wrong.
"What’s up?" he asked, his voice carrying a dangerous calmness that made Skull hesitate.
Rather than answering, Skull silently pulled out his phone, opened Stakeout, the most popular social media app on the planet, and navigated straight to the trending news section. He tapped on a video with the title "Taming Aristocrat Scumbags" before turning the screen toward Lucius.
Lucius’s eyes widened as the video began playing. It was a CCTV recording of his confrontation with Alex from the previous night, beginning with the conversation in the living room and ending with Alex being sent flying across the room by his steel covered arm. The footage was clear enough to capture the expressions on everyone’s faces, including Silver’s disturbing smile as he watched the fight unfold. What made the situation worse was the engagement displayed beneath the video.
It had already accumulated 500 million views and 10 million likes, and the numbers continued climbing while Lucius watched. The account responsible for posting it was anonymous and had been created just last night, yet the video had already attracted enough attention to bring the account five million followers.
"Who did this?" Lucius hissed, his gaze turning colder with every passing second.
Skull swallowed nervously before taking the phone back. Instead of answering immediately, he exited Stakeout and opened his gallery, navigating through a collection of security camera recordings until he found the footage he wanted.
He played the video, revealing Ben, Emma, and Isabella sneaking into the security room while the residence was quiet. The three maids had apparently taken advantage of the sleeping guards to access the recording system, retrieve the footage of Lucius’s confrontation with Alex, and leak it to the public.
"Didn’t I ask you to get rid of them?" Lucius snapped, causing Skull to flinch.
"I did! I already filed a petition with the academy to have them replaced, but these things take time," Skull explained quickly, raising his hands as though trying to defend himself. "Between finding the specific kinds of maids requested for, arranging replacements, and figuring out where to reassign the old ones, the whole process is bound to take at least two weeks to a month!"
Lucius stepped back and rubbed his forehead, a deep frown settling over his face. His mind quickly began calculating the consequences. The fight itself had not particularly bothered him. Alex had grabbed him after he had politely declined an offer, and Lucius had responded accordingly.
However, the public release of the footage had changed the situation entirely. His private dealings with members of the Big Four were now exposed, and everyone could interpret the confrontation however they pleased. Even if the Big Four themselves chose to overlook the incident, countless students from noble families could decide to take offense on their behalf.
His neutral stance had been damaged, all because three maids had been looking for a little clout.
"Bring those fools to me!" Lucius growled.
Skull immediately straightened. "Yes, sir!" he replied before turning to carry out the order, clearly relieved that Lucius had not decided to take his frustration out on him.
___ Meanwhile, Silver’s Academy Residence ___
"THAT BASTARD! I KNEW HE WAS A CLOUT CHASER! YOU SHOULD HAVE LET ME FIGHT BACK!" Alex growled like a mad dog as he paced back and forth across the dining room, his hands clenched into fists.
His temper had been worsening ever since the video began spreading, and the sight of millions of people celebrating his humiliation had only made things worse. Every time he remembered being thrown through the glass table and sent flying into the couch, his face twisted with renewed fury. He had been raised among people who rarely dared to challenge him openly, and the idea that someone could assault him in his own social circle and become a public sensation for it was almost unbearable. This chapter is updated first at novelping dot com.
Silver sat at the dining table with his usual smile, seemingly unbothered by Alex’s outburst. Across from him, Dean and Maya wore troubled expressions as they watched the video circulating on their phones. Unlike Alex, neither appeared particularly interested in the public mockery. Their concern was directed toward the consequences of the incident and the fact that the footage had been released without their knowledge.
"We can’t let this go now, can we?" Maya asked, her frown tightening as she looked up from her phone.
Dean shifted his gaze toward Silver, waiting for him to offer his thoughts. Silver remained silent for a moment, tapping his fingers against the table as he considered the situation. Then his familiar smile widened slightly.
"We should do something about it. But to the ones actually responsible." He picked up his phone and turned the screen toward the others.
Alex, Maya, and Dean gathered around him, their attention drawn to a newly received message from Lucius. Rather than a written explanation, the message contained a video attachment. Alex tapped it impatiently, expecting perhaps another insult or some attempt by Lucius to justify his actions. Instead, the footage showed three maids sneaking into a security room and accessing the surveillance system while the rest of the residence was asleep.
Alex’s expression changed as he recognized them. He remembered seeing the three women peeping at them from a doorway the previous night, just as Silver had stopped him from going after Lucius. At the time, he had barely paid them any attention, assuming they were merely curious about the commotion. Now, the reason for their presence was obvious.
"Those wretched swines..." Alex muttered, his voice suddenly calm, cold, and vicious. The change in his tone was more unsettling than his earlier shouting, and Maya instinctively glanced at him before returning her attention to the video.
"I guess that settles it," Dean said, leaning back in his chair as he reached for a pack of cigarettes.
He pulled out a stick, placed it between his lips, and retrieved a golden lighter from his pocket. After lighting the cigarette, he took a deep drag and slowly exhaled a plume of smoke through his nose and mouth. His expression had relaxed somewhat now that they had identified the people responsible, although the incident itself remained troubling.
"Now we know who’s responsible, and Lucius’s Talents are actually pretty neat," Maya remarked, rubbing her chin as she replayed the video of the fight. Her attention was focused less on the maids and more on the way Lucius had transformed his arm before striking Alex. "He can absorb matter, including Aether, and use it to reinforce his body. That’s not something you see every day."
Dean slowly nodded in agreement as he watched the footage himself. "It’s already crazy that he has enough physical strength to pick Alex up like he weighs nothing. He also has fast regeneration, coupled with the ability to absorb matter, including Aether. He is quite overpowered."
He paused the video on the moment Lucius’s fist connected with Alex’s chest, studying the blue circuits spreading from the steel covered arm. "And that wasn’t even a proper Talent evaluation. We still don’t know the limits of what he can do."
Silver nodded, his attention remaining on the frozen image of Lucius. "He has the potential to become a monster, and with my brother acting as his academic instructor, I’m certain he will live up to expectations. That’s why we must bring him over to our side, or we may lose the chance to hold influence over a future Special Authority rated Guardian."
Buzz!
Alex’s face twisted with annoyance as he looked between them.
"Guys, what the hell?! You still want to bring him over after what he did to me?!" His voice rose in disbelief, as though the other three had somehow forgotten that Lucius had thrown him through a table and sent him crashing into a wall.
The response he received was three tired expressions.
Dean shook his head. "In his defense, you crossed the line first by threatening him and grabbing his arm after he declined your offer politely.
" He took another drag from his cigarette before continuing. "You can’t expect someone to accept an invitation after you’ve threatened them. That’s just stupid."
"And you even did it in his own home," Maya added, looking at Alex as though she couldn’t believe she had to explain something so obvious. "If I were in his position, I would have done the same. You practically asked for a fight." Follow the newest chapters on novelping.com.
Alex stared at them in disbelief, feeling as though he had somehow become the guilty party despite being the one who had suffered the humiliation. He opened his mouth to argue, but Silver raised a hand to silence him before speaking in his usual pleasant tone.
"Don’t worry. We will give you the chance to get your revenge during the Annual Academic Exams, but that won’t change our plan to pull him into the fold. Personal grudges must not come before the welfare of the state." Silver smiled as though he had just offered a perfectly reasonable compromise.
Alex was dumbfounded. For a moment, he could only stare at Silver, struggling to process what he had heard. It felt like betrayal. His friends were not only defending the man who had humiliated him, but they were also planning to recruit him into their group as though nothing had happened.
Meanwhile, Silver seemed completely satisfied with his decision, leaving Alex to wonder whether his own pride meant anything to the people he considered allies.
___ Meanwhile, Lucius’s Residence ___
Ben, Emma, and Isabella knelt in the middle of the living room, directly across from Lucius. The glass center table that had occupied the space the previous night was gone, leaving only a few faint scratches on the floor as evidence of the damage. Armed soldiers surrounded the three maids, their weapons held at the ready while the women trembled beneath their watchful gazes. Tears streamed down their faces, and their earlier confidence had vanished completely.
Whatever attention they had hoped to gain from posting the video had come at a price they had clearly never considered.
Lucius sat on the sofa with a tired expression, one hand resting against his forehead as he listened to their increasingly desperate pleas.
"Sir, it was a mistake! We weren’t thinking. Please!" Ben begged, bowing her head so low that it nearly touched the floor.
Emma and Isabella quickly joined her, their apologies overlapping as they tried to convince him that they had never intended for the situation to spiral out of control.
Lucius stared at them for several seconds before raising an eyebrow. "Let me get this straight... You snuck into the security room, extracted the footage, created an anonymous account, and posted it. All that was a mistake?" he asked, his voice deceptively calm.
The three maids nodded hastily, their eyes wide with fear as they continued pleading for forgiveness. Their cries and apologies had already begun to blend into the background for Lucius, who had become more interested in the consequences of their actions than in listening to their excuses.
He could already imagine the trouble their stupidity would cause him. Even if the Big Four members decided to let the confrontation go, other students from noble families might interpret the video as an insult to their status.
And if none of the students decided to make a move, there was still Bruce Ainsworth to consider. Silver was his younger brother, and the video had exposed a confrontation between Lucius and someone Bruce might consider an important member of his family. Lucius had no idea how the older Ainsworth would react, and he had little interest in finding out through an unpleasant surprise.
Silver...
Lucius’s eyes slowly turned cold as memories of the previous night returned to him. Silver had remained remarkably composed throughout the confrontation, even when Lucius had slammed Alex into the center table.
More tellingly, he had stood up before Alex struck the couch, dragging the furniture backward as Alex flew across the room. It had been an oddly precise movement, as though Silver had anticipated the trajectory of the attack and made sure he wouldn’t be caught in its path.
The thought unsettled Lucius more than he wanted to admit. Silver’s gaze had carried a weight similar to Bruce’s, but there was something different about it. Bruce examined him like a scientist studying an unusual specimen, while Silver seemed more like a predator observing its prey, patiently searching for a weakness it could exploit.
Lucius glanced down at his arm and noticed goosebumps spreading across his skin. He immediately shook off the thought, irritated that he was allowing another person’s behavior to occupy so much of his attention. Whatever Silver was planning, Lucius would deal with it when necessary. For now, he had more immediate problems to address.
He slowly rose from the sofa and looked down at the three trembling maids.
"Save your apology for the people whose reputations you’ve damaged. They will be here soon." His tone left no room for further discussion. Before any of them could ask what he meant, Lucius turned away and began walking toward the staircase, ignoring their renewed cries.