But little Orion was not listening to reason. He was ten years old. He was looking at a sea of scary, dirty faces yelling at him.He remembered his father's words. “Peasants are dangerous animals. If you show them weakness, they will bite you.”Panic started to rise in the boy's chest. His breathing got faster. He felt a hot, scary feeling in his stomach. It was pure, childish terror. He thought the monsters were going to break the glass and come eat him."They are going to break my toys!" Orion screamed. Tears formed in his eyes. He backed up until he bumped into the golden throne. "I am the Lord! I am the master! They have to listen to me!"The glowing blue ring on Orion's finger reacted to his extreme panic.Because of his Bloodline Authority, the System listened to his emotions. The System did not care that he was just a scared little boy. The System only saw a Level 10 Noble who felt threatened.A massive blue holographic control panel popped up in the air right in front of Orion

The sky over District Four was a thick, dirty gray. It always looked like it was going to rain, but it only ever rained dry, black ash.Everett walked through the narrow, muddy streets. He wore his long, dark cloak. The heavy chain-sword was strapped securely to his broad back. His boots made a soft, squishing sound in the mud. Squish. Squish. Squish.He was completely alone.An hour ago, back in the dark underground bunker, Lyra had grabbed his arm. She had seen the cold, dead look in his green eyes. She knew where he was going. She knew what he was going to do."Let Silas and the Dust Runners go with you," Lyra had begged, holding him tightly. "You cannot fight a noble house alone. They have the Bloodline Guard.""No," Everett had told her gently, pulling his arm away. "Silas has a good heart. You have a good heart. If you come with me today, your hearts will break. What I am going to do... it is not for good people to see.""You are a good person, Everett," Lyra had cried."I used

The bloodline system had not created gods. It had created arrogant, foolish children who did not know the value of a human life, including their own. They were just meat shields for the rich."Stop!" the Captain of the Guard screamed.Only the Captain and one other guard were left alive. They were backing up toward the heavy wooden doors of the palace. They were shaking violently. The purple magic on the Captain's swords was flickering."My trait is Lightning Step!" the Captain yelled, panic completely taking over his mind. "My trait is Titan Skin! I am a Level 80 Noble! You cannot kill me!""Your traits are just lines of code," Everett said slowly. He walked toward the Captain. Blood dripped from Everett’s face. His dark cloak was still smoking from the fire. The chain-sword roared in his hand. "Your code does not know how to suffer. Your code does not know how to survive."The Captain screamed and used his Lightning Step.He vanished into a blur of purple light. He was incredibly fa

Rae typed a few commands, trying to look behind the message. She was trying to read the deep code of the System itself."Oh no," Rae whispered. She pushed her glasses up her nose. Her hands were shaking violently now. "Oh my god. I understand it now. I understand what the System wants.""Explain it, Rae," Everett commanded. His voice was calm, but his green eyes were dark.Rae turned her chair around. She looked at Everett with pure fear."Everett, we always thought the System was broken because bad people were using it," Rae said. Her voice was small. "But the System is just a machine. It does not have a heart. It does not know what 'good' and 'evil' mean. It does not care about justice.""Then what does it care about?" Silas asked angrily."Stability," Rae said. She pointed at the red screen. "The System was built thousands of years ago to save a dying planet. Its only goal is to keep civilization alive. It wants order. It wants rules. It wants everything in a neat, perfect little b

"They are using you," Everett said, his voice dropping to a harsh, cold whisper. "They dropped the red lasers on you at the Glass Gate like you were trash. And now, they want you to do their dirty work for them. If you kill me, they will not give you a Bloodline Upgrade. They will laugh at you. They will take your daughter, and they will make her a servant for their own super-children. They do not share power, Tobis. They only build cages."The words hit the crowd like a bucket of freezing water.The fathers and mothers looked at each other. The spell of the golden bounty began to break. They remembered the red lasers. They remembered the cruelty.Tobis looked at the rusty pipe in his hands. He looked at the blood on Everett’s clothes. He realized that Everett had spilled that blood for them.Tobis let out a loud, broken sob.He dropped the heavy iron pipe. It fell into the mud with a soft thud.Tobis fell to his knees in the dirt in front of Everett. He buried his face in his hands a