The entire room fell silent. Everyone stared at the headless body lying on the polished floor as blood slowly spread beneath it. The bright reception hall, which had been filled with conversations and footsteps only moments earlier, now felt like a cemetery. Several people stood completely still, afraid to even breathe too loudly, while others stared at Lucius with barely concealed terror.
Sergeant Skull shuddered, his hand instinctively moving to his neck. He could not help remembering the argument he had just had with Lucius inside the SUV. He had openly defended the system that kept Dregs beneath everyone else, challenged Lucius’s beliefs, and refused to back down.
If the boy had lost control of his anger back then and decided to strike him instead, Skull probably would not have a head anymore. The thought sent another chill through him.
’Note to self... Never fuck with a Guardian no matter how young. They are all freaks!’ He swallowed hard and slowly lowered his hand.
Lia, on the other hand, slowly moved behind Lucius and used his body as cover from the gruesome sight. She did not want to look at the corpse, but there was no escaping the metallic smell of blood that had already reached her nose. She kept her gaze lowered, her fingers nervously clutching the back of Lucius’s clothing as though staying close to him was the only thing keeping her calm.
Lucius remained standing in the same position. The darkness covering his eyes slowly began to recede, and his breathing gradually became steadier. Only then did he finally realize what he had done. His gaze dropped to his hand, and his eyes narrowed at the sight of blood covering his palm.
For several seconds, Lucius simply stared at it without moving. His expression slowly became blank as the reality of what had just happened began settling into his mind.
"I... I did this?" he mumbled, his voice carrying a faint disbelief.
He slowly looked toward the body. He had killed someone without even realizing it. There had been no conscious decision, no deliberate thought telling him to attack. His body had simply moved, and the woman’s head had been destroyed before he even understood what he was doing.
Before Lucius could properly process the implications of that realization, several people dressed in corporate attire similar to the woman he had killed hurried forward. To his complete surprise, they immediately bowed before him.
"We are deeply sorry for the inconvenience our colleague caused you!" the lead man cried, his voice trembling despite his attempt to remain composed. "We sincerely apologize for her behavior!"
Everyone behind him lowered their heads as well, and Lucius blinked in confusion.
Didn’t he just kill someone?
Why the hell was everyone apologizing to him?
He turned toward Sergeant Skull just as the man approached and placed a hand on his shoulder.
"You don’t have to worry about this," Skull said, forcing a reassuring smile onto his face. "When worthless people like that forget their place and step out of line, it is within your right to discipline them as you see fit."
Lucius slowly turned his head toward him, and the moment their eyes met, Skull immediately pulled his hand away and took a step back.
Lucius’s blank stare slowly transformed into a sadistic grin, sending shivers down the spine of everyone who saw it.
"You mean... I can kill worthless people like this who cross me and it won’t be considered a crime?"
His question hung heavily in the reception hall. Everyone present swallowed hard, suddenly terrified of giving him the answer he wanted. Something about the smile on Lucius’s face made it impossible for them to simply say yes.
They knew that if they did, they would be opening a Pandora’s box that could eventually come back to haunt them as well. When no one answered, Lucius was about to ask why his question was being ignored when approaching footsteps echoed through the reception hall.
The crowd gathered around the corpse immediately moved aside, creating a path through the center of the reception hall. Someone stepped forward. The man wore a white lab coat that reached below his knees, while his long white hair fell to his shoulders, giving him the appearance of an elderly scholar.
However, his face looked far younger than Lucius expected, almost youthful enough to make the contrast with his hair seem strange. A tablet rested in one hand, and the screen displayed a recording. The man replayed the recording several times, and just from the audio, Lucius guessed it had to be footage of his confrontation with the soldiers in the mine.
"You were right to call me directly, Sergeant," he said without looking up from the tablet. "You have brought quite an interesting individual."
His eyes briefly left the screen and landed on the headless body lying nearby. He stared at it for a second, then simply looked away as though the corpse were nothing more than an inconvenience. Immediately, everyone around them stepped aside and lowered their faces.
"Dr. Ainsworth!" Sergeant Skull hurried around the corpse and approached the man respectfully.
He extended his hand for a handshake while lowering his head, but the man merely glanced at the raised hand. Instead of shaking it, he casually ruffled Skull’s hair.
"I was right to pick you out of those slums," Bruce Ainsworth said. "You haven’t failed to meet my expectations."
"Thank you, Master."
Bruce finally turned toward Lucius. His gaze moved slowly from Lucius’s face to his feet, carefully studying every visible detail. He examined the boy’s healthy complexion, his muscular body, and the strange lack of physical characteristics normally associated with Dregs.
His eyes then stopped on the X shaped scar across Lucius’s chest. His expression did not change, but Lucius noticed that he stared at the scar longer than anything else.
Bruce’s attention eventually shifted past Lucius, where Lia was still standing behind him. Her body immediately tensed when their eyes briefly met. She instinctively moved closer to Lucius, but Bruce simply nodded before turning away.
"Come with me." He turned around and began walking away, and Sergeant Skull immediately moved toward Lucius.
"Come quickly, It’s time for your Talent evaluation," he whispered, motioning for Lucius to follow.
Lucius looked around the room one more time. Dozens of faces immediately avoided his gaze. Nobody looked at the corpse. Nobody called for medical personnel. Nobody even expressed anger over what had happened. Nobody seemed to care.
’I’m really going to enjoy this life.’ His grin widened slightly, but before he could take another step, Lia spoke quietly from behind him.
"Let’s go." Lucius glanced over his shoulder.
She looked uncomfortable beneath the attention of so many people, her shoulders tense as she tried to avoid the eyes following them. Only then did his crazed smile vanish.
He sighed and reached for her hand with his clean hand, gently leading her around the body. Together, they followed Skull toward an elevator located at the far end of the reception hall.
The elevator doors opened, and they entered. Once the doors closed behind them, the elevator began moving downward.
Bruce’s attention never left the tablet in his hand. He repeatedly replayed the footage of Lucius absorbing the Aether beams. Sometimes he slowed the footage down, carefully examining the moment the energy disappeared into Lucius’s hands. Other times, he rewound it and watched the same sequence again. Lucius watched him from the corner of his eye, wondering what exactly the man was looking for.
"So, what do you think, Sir?" Skull eventually asked.
Bruce rubbed his chin as he continued staring at the recording. "Absorbing aether alone makes him a potentially capable Specialist. What I’m more interested in discovering is the limit of his Talent and how it translates into his absurd physical strength that allows him to destroy a person’s head with one slap.
"For now, I would evaluate his Talent at A Rank at worst."
Skull almost grinned when he heard that assessment, but he quickly caught himself and forced his expression back into something resembling professionalism.
The elevator eventually stopped, and the doors opened. They stepped into a corridor with reinforced walls. The metallic surfaces were thick enough that Lucius could see the heavy bolts holding several sections together.
There was one large door at the far end of the corridor, while another reinforced door stood along the side. Bruce stopped between them and pointed toward the door at the far end.
"You will enter this room," he explained calmly. "A quick scan and test will be run on your body first. Only after that can we proceed to testing your Talent."
Lucius glanced toward the second door, but Lia appeared reluctant to leave him. Her fingers tightened around his hand for a moment, almost as if she were afraid of what might happen once he entered alone.
"You’ll be fine. Wait here," Lucius said quietly.
Lia nodded, and Lucius gave her a kiss on the forehead before gently pulling his hand away from hers.
The first door released several streams of white vapor before slowly sliding open. Lucius stepped inside without hesitation, and the door closed behind him.
He soon found himself inside a padded white room containing a hospital bed and several pieces of medical equipment. However, what immediately caught his attention was the massive scanning equipment positioned at the far end of the room.
His attention soon shifted toward the one way glass wall covering an entire section of the room. He could not see through it, but he knew Bruce and the others were probably standing behind it. Several cameras were positioned around the room, covering almost every possible angle.
Lucius nodded obediently. He wanted to get this over with and have some time to collect himself and truly understand his new life, so he decided not to make a fuss. He casually strolled over to the bed and laid down.
"Good," Bruce’s voice continued. "Doctors... Do your thing."
A loud hiss filled the room as white fumes poured out while a portion of the padded wall slid open. Several men dressed in biohazard suits covering their entire bodies walked into the room and surrounded Lucius within seconds.
One began attaching cords from the machine to his chest, veins, and head while another prepared a syringe. The third fastened the restraints around the bed to hold Lucius down.
"Vitals are normal," the first doctor declared after staring at the machine screens. "But his heartbeat... It’s unusually strong."
The other doctors stared at the readings, their eyes widening beneath their protective suits. They had never seen such a powerful heartbeat before.
"It’s like he has the heart of a horse," the second doctor muttered.
The third doctor pulled out a stethoscope, placed it over his ears, and pressed it against Lucius’s chest. His face twisted into an ugly frown beneath the mask before he instinctively jerked back.
"It sounds like a sledgehammer pounding against a wall... No... It sounds like an engine capable of powering a vehicle!"
The doctors exchanged stunned looks before turning their attention back toward Lucius, who remained lying on the bed as though none of this concerned him. This was the first time any of them had experienced something like this.
"Take a sample of his blood and proceed with the scanning," Bruce instructed.
"Understood!" they chorused immediately.
One doctor approached with a tray containing several syringes and scalpels. They wasted no time attempting to draw blood, but the moment the doctor stabbed the needle into Lucius’s vein, the needle broke. Everyone drew a sharp breath.
"An Enhancer?" one of the doctors muttered.
"Very likely." The other two nodded firmly.
This time, however, they did not seem nearly as stunned. They had apparently experienced similar situations a few times before. The doctor quickly switched to a larger syringe made mostly of metal. This one managed to pierce Lucius’s skin, allowing them to extract enough blood for the tests.
The third doctor had already begun operating the huge scanning machine. He powered it on and then pulled it open like a lid, revealing a human shaped space where someone was expected to lie down.
After the restraints were unbuckled, Lucius was led toward the scanning machine. He stared at it for several seconds before frowning.
"You want me to get into that thing? Really?" Lucius complained.
"I apologize for the inconvenience. But it will only take a moment."
Lucius let out a tired sigh. If he did not want to leave this place as soon as possible, he probably would have refused to get into the strange machine.
Reluctantly, he climbed inside, and the doctors shut it tightly. Rainbow colored lights began to shine within the machine as the scanning process started. Meanwhile, on the other side of the room, Bruce stood beside Skull, both of their eyes widening at the images appearing on the monitors before them.
"His bones... I have never seen bones that thick," Skull mumbled in shock.
Bruce shook his head, a strange expression appearing on his face as he studied the scan. Lucius’s heart was so large that it filled a massive section of his ribcage, and every powerful beat caused it to press against the surrounding bones.
"His heart beats only five times a minute but pumps thrice as much blood as the normal human body," Bruce said, his brows narrowing as he continued studying the results.
His gaze shifted toward Lucius’s arm, where the scanning equipment revealed another unusual phenomenon. The cells within his arm were moving in a way Bruce had never seen in an ordinary human body. He stared at the readings for several seconds before his expression finally changed.
"Regeneration? Just how many Talents does this kid have?" Bruce was taken aback.