Chapter 583: An Order of Separation
Chapter 583: An Order of Separation
I stood in that corridor for what felt like an hour but was probably thirty seconds.
My father. Project Prometheus. Artificial Aspect induction.
The pieces clicked together in ways I didn’t want them to.
Nel. The System. The way I can absorb abilities and grow without natural limits. Is that connected to this project?
Unknown. The System’s origin remains classified beyond my access level. However, the correlation between your father’s research and your current capabilities is statistically significant.
Statistically significant. Thanks for the comfort.
I am not designed for comfort. I am designed for information and optimization.
Fair enough.
I walked back toward Onyx House with my head full of conspiracies and my stomach full of expensive breakfast. The morning sun felt different now. Less warm. More like a spotlight tracking my movements.
Someone was digging into my past. Someone with the resources, skills, and clearance to breach VHC security protocols that should have been ironclad. Someone who had drawn a direct line connecting my tournament performance—a Zero’s impossibly rapid ascension—to classified research that predated my birth by years.
The obvious suspects lined up in my mind like criminals in a lineup, each with their own damning motive.
Julian’s family. The Valerius dynasty had both the motive and the money to fund a deep investigation. Their golden boy had been publicly humiliated by a nobody, and powerful families didn’t take that kind of insult lightly. They’d want to know how a supposedly powerless street rat had managed to embarrass their heir. But Julian himself seemed more interested in settling scores with his fists than with an investigation. Too emotional. Too focused on immediate revenge rather than long-term intelligence gathering. It didn’t quite fit.
Veronica Cabana. The radiant Guild Master had admitted, with that disarming smile of hers, to knowing things she absolutely shouldn’t. She’d warned me about surveillance, about being watched by people who wanted to understand what made me tick. But why would she warn me about being monitored while simultaneously conducting her own surveillance operation? Was it misdirection? A test to see how I’d react? Or was she genuinely trying to help while someone else pulled the strings? The woman was brilliant, but her motives remained frustratingly opaque.
Then there was the big one. The VHC itself. Seraphina Vance and her infamous Insight Division. The woman whose Aspect literally allowed her to perceive the threads of causality, to see connections that shouldn’t exist. If anyone in this godforsaken world possessed both the capability and the insight to connect my impossible growth trajectory to my father’s equally impossible research into artificial Aspect induction, it would be her. She had the resources of the entire Commission at her disposal. She had spies embedded everywhere. And she had a documented history of treating anomalies not as miracles to celebrate, but as threats to neutralize.
Or something else entirely. Something I hadn’t considered.
The paranoia was useful. It kept me sharp. But it was also exhausting.
Onyx House appeared through the trees. The building looked different in morning light. Less like a home and more like a fortress. Our fortress. The Hounds’ den.
Inside, the common room buzzed with post-tournament energy. Marco had somehow acquired even more protein shakes overnight. Jaime was doing pushups in the corner while Juan slept on top of him like a human blanket. Hikari swung from the chandelier again, apparently her natural habitat.
Natalia found me before I could sit down.
Her purple hair caught the light from the windows. The white streaks seemed brighter than yesterday. Our bond hummed with her emotions. Concern. Curiosity. A possessive edge that never fully faded.
"How was breakfast with the empress?"
"Expensive. Informative. Complicated."
"Everything with you is complicated." She pulled me toward the stairs, her fingers wrapped around my wrist. The touch carried a deliberate possessiveness that anyone watching would notice. Good. "Come. I need to tell you something."
We reached her room. She closed the door behind us with an emphatic click and leaned against it, blocking my exit. Her purple eyes studied my face with an intensity that suggested bad news was coming.
"Cel received orders this morning. From the Academy administration."
I waited. Watched her jaw tighten.
"What kind of orders?"
"The top performers from the tournament are being transferred to the mainland for guild internship placements. Two weeks of hands-on experience with professional Hunter organizations." She paused. "It’s supposed to be an honor."
My brain processed this information at approximately half its normal speed. Mainland. Two weeks. Away from the island.
Away from Natalia.
"Transferred. To the mainland."
"Starting tomorrow." She watched my face for a reaction. "The list includes you. Reyna. Isabelle. Julian. Cel. And about fifteen others."
"Julian’s going?"
"His father made arrangements. Despite his poor performance." A note of contempt entered her voice. "Money opens doors that talent can’t."
"Of course he did." I sat on the edge of her bed. The mattress dipped under my weight. "What about you?"
"I’m not on the list." Her voice carried something I rarely heard from Natalia. Vulnerability. Raw and unguarded. "My ranking wasn’t high enough. I need to stay on the island for additional training."
The words hit harder than any punch from the tournament.
Two weeks. On the mainland. Without Natalia.
"There has to be a way to appeal. Your Aspect is A-Rank potential. You scored in the top twenty."
"Top twenty-three. The cutoff was top fifteen." She crossed her arms. "Don’t look at me like that. I’m not fragile."
"I know you’re not fragile. You could freeze the blood in my veins if you wanted."
"I could. I won’t. Probably." A small smile cracked her expression. "This is an opportunity, Satori. For you. Don’t waste it feeling guilty about leaving me behind."
I stood. Crossed the room. Pulled her against my chest.
The Covenant bond pulsed between us. Her emotions flooded through the connection. Fear that she was trying to hide. Pride that she couldn’t suppress. Love that terrified her.
"Two weeks isn’t forever."
"It’s fourteen days. Three hundred and thirty-six hours. Twenty thousand one hundred and sixty minutes." She pressed her face against my shoulder. "I may have done the math."
"You definitely did the math."
"I’m thorough."
Her hands found my back. Gripped the fabric of my shirt. Pulled me closer.
"Promise me something."
"Anything."
"Don’t fall in love with anyone else while you’re gone."
"Nat..."
"I know how you are. Women gravitate toward you like you’re generating your own magnetic field. And you’ll be alone. Surrounded by powerful women. Without me there to remind them that you’re mine."
"I’m not going to forget who I belong to."
"Prove it." She looked up. Her purple eyes burned with something fierce. "When you come back, I want you to still be mine. Completely. Without reservation."
"I’ve been yours since the day I carried you out of that Gate."
"Then prove it."
She kissed me. Hard. Demanding. Her tongue pushed past my lips and claimed territory that already belonged to her.
When she finally pulled back, we were both breathing hard.
"I have something for you." She walked to her desk. Opened a drawer. Produced a small velvet box.
"If this is a ring, I should warn you that I’m not great at commitment."
"Shut up and open it."