The dust from the impact slowly drifted away, revealing Lysander standing like a dark monolith between the trembling woman and the four nobles. He didn't look at Seraphina. His gaze was locked entirely on Cedric Vance.
Cedric stepped back, his arrogance flickering for a second as he saw the red eye of Erebos staring at him. But his pride as a Noble quickly took over.
"Who do you think you are?" Cedric spat, pointing his dagger at Lysander. "Interfering in the business of the Vance family? Do you know the consequences of—"
"Shut up."
Lysander's voice cut through the air like a guillotine. It was low, distorted by the mask, and vibrated with a violence that made the leaves on the trees shiver.
"I don't want to hear it"
Lysander took a heavy step forward. The mud squelched under his boot.
"I don't care which family you belong to. I don't care if your father is a Duke, a King. In this forest, your titles are useless."
He raised Erebos slightly, the black blade humming.
"You were going to touch her?" Lysander asked, his voice dropping to a terrifying whisper. "You were going to use your dirty hands on a defenseless woman?"
He tilted his head, the black glass of his visor reflecting Cedric's pale face.
"If you dare to lay a single finger on her... I will not just kill you. I will cut your hands off while you are still breathing"
The lackeys behind Cedric gasped, taking a step back.
"I will butcher you so slowly, so painfully," Lysander continued, "that your mother will regret the day she gave birth to you"
Cedric's face twisted. He was humiliated. He was being threatened by a nobody in a mask in front of his crew and his "property"
"You... you low-born filth!" Cedric screamed, his face turning red. "You think you can scare me? I am a Rank-C Warrior! My potential is Rank-B!"
He signaled his three friends.
"Get him! He's just one man! Flank him and cut his tendons! I want his head on a stick!"
The three lackeys drew their swords. They were nervous, but they outnumbered him 4-to-1.
"He's bluffing!" one boy shouted, charging forward. "Die!"
Seraphina sat paralyzed at the base of the tree, clutching her broken sword.
She looked up at the back of the man who had fallen from the sky.
For years, Seraphina had only known contempt. Her father looked at her with disappointment. Her brother Julian looked at her with disgust. The students at the Academy looked at her as a joke—a "pretty vase" with no magic, good only for warming a bed.
But this man...
He stood like a wall of iron. He didn't know her name. He didn't know her rank. Yet, he was ready to slaughter nobles just to protect her dignity.
'Why?' Seraphina thought, tears blurring her vision. 'Why would a stranger fight for trash like me?'
She saw Cedric charge. She opened her mouth to scream a warning. "Watch out!"
Lysander didn't even turn his head.
As the first lackey swung his sword, Lysander moved. It wasn't a step; it was a blur.
CLANG.
Lysander backhanded the boy with his armored gauntlet. He didn't even use his sword. The force was so great that the boy's helmet crumpled. He flew backward ten feet, crashing into a tree and sliding down, unconscious.
Lysander looked at Cedric.
"Is that the best your 'Rank-B Potential' can offer?"
He raised Erebos high. The killing intent exploded from him, freezing the other three boys in their tracks.
"Run," Lysander commanded. "Or become fertilizer"
Terror finally broke them. Cedric looked at his fallen friend, then at the monster in the mask. He realized this wasn't a fight; it was an execution waiting to happen.
"This isn't over!" Cedric shrieked, his voice cracking. "My father will hear of this! You're dead! You hear me? Dead!"
He turned and scrambled into the bushes, abandoning his friends. The other two boys didn't hesitate; they dragged their unconscious friend and ran for their lives, disappearing into the dark woods.
Silence returned to the clearing.
Lysander stood still for a moment, letting the adrenaline fade. He sheathed Erebos, sending the massive sword back into the void.
He turned around to face Seraphina.
She was a mess. Her silver hair was matted with mud, her uniform was torn, and her face was stained with tears. But her eyes... her violet eyes were fixed on him with an intensity that burned.
"You are safe now," Lysander said, his voice returning to a neutral robotic tone. "They are gone. Go back to your camp. The Academy teachers are to the East"
He turned to leave. He had a Boss to kill.
"Wait!"
Seraphina scrambled to her feet. She winced as her bruised ankle protested, but she ignored the pain. She reached out, grabbing the edge of his Void-Weave Hoodie.
"Please... don't leave me here," she sobbed.
Lysander stopped. "I told you. Go East. Your brother and the Professors are there"
"I can't!" Seraphina cried, her voice breaking. "I can't go back to them!"
She fell to her knees in the mud, clutching his cloak like it was her only lifeline.
"If I go back... nothing changes. My family has already sold me. My father treats me like currency. My brother Julian... he will just laugh and let Cedric take me next time"
She looked up at his mask, desperate.
"At the Academy, I have no friends. The girls mock me because I have no magic. The boys only want to... to use my body. I am alone. I am Rank-E trash to them. I am nothing!"
She wiped her face, smearing mud on her cheek.
"But you... you fought for me. You are the first person in my entire life who protected me without asking for my body in return."
Lysander looked down at her. He saw the desperation. He saw the loneliness. It mirrored his own past.
"So what do you want?" Lysander asked.
Seraphina took a deep breath. She looked into the black glass of his mask with absolute resolve.
"Take me with you," she begged. "I don't care where you go. I don't care if you are a criminal or a monster. I will carry your bags. I will cook your food. I will do anything... just please, don't make me go back to that hell"
"I want to go with you, Zero"
Lysander stopped. He didn't pull his cloak away, but his body tensed. He looked down at the woman clinging to his leg in the mud.
"Zero..." Lysander repeated slowly.
He tilted his head, the black glass of his mask reflecting her tear-stained face.
"I never told you my name. I never introduced myself to you"
His voice dropped to a suspicious, dangerous low.
"How do you know who I am?"
Seraphina flinched at the sharpness of his tone, but she didn't let go. She looked up, her violet eyes swimming with a mixture of fear and awe.
"I saw you," she whispered, her voice trembling. "Earlier tonight... I was there"
She pointed a shaking finger toward the direction of the Academy camp.
"I was hiding in the thicket, away from the others because I didn't want them to see me crying. Then... I saw you walk into the clearing"
She swallowed hard, remembering the scene that had burned itself into her memory.
"I saw you confront Professor Isabella. I saw you stand up to her when everyone else was terrified. And I saw..." She paused, a bitter satisfaction crossing her face. "...I saw you bring my brother Julian to his knees without even touching him"
She tightened her grip on his cloak.
"I heard you tell the Professor your name was Zero. I heard you say you would surpass them all"
She looked at him not as a monster, but as a revolution.
"That was the moment I knew... you are the only one who doesn't fear them. You are the only one who can break the chains they put on people like us"
Lysander stared at her.
He saw the mud on her face. He saw the bruises on her arms. He saw a "Rank-E" failure who had been discarded by her family, abused by her peers, and nearly assaulted by her "suitor"
He looked at her, but he saw himself. He saw the weak boy he used to be before the System changed everything.
"You want to come with me?" Lysander asked, his voice harsh. "I am not going on a picnic, girl. I am going to hunt a Rank-B Boss. I walk through blood. I sleep in dirt. If you follow me, you might die tonight."
Seraphina stood up. She wiped the tears from her eyes. She didn't look back at the safety of the camp.
"I am already dead to them," she said softly.
"I would rather die fighting beside a monster than live as a slave to a human"
Lysander held her gaze for a long second. Then, he sighed—a heavy, metallic sound.
"Fine"
He turned around, his cape swirling.
"Get up. Don't fall behind"
As Seraphina scrambled to follow him, limping but determined, Lysander brought up his interface. He watched her struggle to keep up. She was weak. Physically, she was a burden. Magically, she was empty.
But Lysander knew that "Potential" was just a word used by the ignorant to keep the strong down.
"System," Lysander spoke internally as they moved into the deeper woods. "Scan her."
Whirrr...
[SCANNING SUBJECT: Seraphina Valerius]
[Current Rank: E](Stunted)
[Mana Core: Dormant / Atrophied]
[Physical State: Malnourished, Untrained]
"I know she is weak now," Lysander thought, his mind racing with possibilities. "But you changed me. You took a Rank-E nobody and gave me SSS-Potential"
He glanced back at Seraphina, who was gritting her teeth, forcing herself to run despite her pain.
"System... can you do the same for her?"
He narrowed his eyes behind the mask.
"Can we fix her broken foundation? Can we increase her Potential? Can we restore her bloodline to what it was meant to be?"
There was a pause. The blue screen flickered in his vision.
Ding!
[Affirmative. The subject possesses a dormant, ancient bloodline that has been suppressed by a curse or genetic defect. It is not 'Trash'; it is merely 'Sleeping']
[With sufficient System Points and rare materials (such as Dragon Heart Blood or Celestial Elixirs), you can perform a Bloodline Awakening Ritual]
[You can rebuild her. You can turn this 'Rank-E' into a Queen of Calamity]
A cold, ambitious smile formed behind Lysander's mask.
"Perfect"
He looked ahead at the red skull icon of the Boss on his map.
"Then let's go get some Points. We have a village to heal... and a Queen to awaken"