2026-05-29 21:07:57
Previous Chapter
Latest Chapter
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
The four boys circled Theon, boots scraping against stone in a slow, tightening ring. One of them bent down, helped Niko up, and pulled him back. With a soft pat on the back, he offered Niko his silent reassurance, eyes saying ‘we’ve got this’. Niko inhaled deeply a few times, as if trying to calm himself down. His chest still rose and fell too fast. Blood dried at the corner of his mouth. “How dare you assault a fellow student? Have you no respect for the academy’s law?” Theon barked out a spurt of laughter. The sound cut through the tension like a blade. The hypocrisy was literally blazing. Respect for the law. Meanwhile, they were still circling him like vultures over a carcass, yet they had the mouth to talk about right and wrong. “I think you all are the ones who think the academy is a joke,” Theon said, and the smile on his face evaporated. His eyes narrowed to slits, cold and flat. “Today is a very important day, yet you dare block my path? If you don’t want to limp int
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
His words stunned everyone in the court. Talking back at Niko was one thing, but being so rude and even dragging his mother into the conversation was a whole new level of rough plays. The kind that didn’t just cut, but twisted the blade. Niko’s face went white. In the distance, someone chuckled, low and amused. He then knew for certain that people were secretly mocking him. Memories of his time back in his clan played before his eyes in flashes. Cold halls. Disturbing whispers. His mother’s voice, sharp as glass. “Be better than them. You're the reason people look down on us. If only you're not so useless. Why can't you be like your cousins bringing honor to their mother? You're the reason I'm suffering now.” “It’s pathetic, really,” Theon sucked his teeth and sighed, voice lazy like he was commenting on the weather. “Even I, an orphan, am better than you. At least I know my mom died to protect me. How about you? Can your mom do the same?” Niko’s nose flared, his lips trembled.
CHAPTER FORTY
Theon’s eyes gleamed with wicked satisfaction. Good. It was time to hunt. “There’s an abundance of people with malicious intentions around this place,” the system said. “You must ensure you make at least four of them bleed. If you’re able to break a bone, a secret reward will be added. You must absolutely not fail this.” “Four people?” Theon’s lip twitched. The system sure knew how to play rough. Fine. Since he’d been sent, who was he to say no? If the system wanted to watch a good show, who was he to refuse? He let the thought settle in his chest like cold steel. His gaze moved through the crowd gathered like a pack of dogs frothing at the mouth. Some of them stood aside, watching without saying anything. There were varying degrees of expressions on their faces. Some had pity, the soft kind that meant nothing. Some had disdain, sharp and open. Others merely shook their head wryly, thinking it was such a shame that the son of a legend had descended to this deplorable state.
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
Theon collapsed against his door, heart pounding erratically, breathing heavy and uneven. Sweat ran down his temple and dripped off his jaw. “Phew,” he exhaled, the sound shaky. He unlocked his room and sneaked back in, moving on the balls of his feet despite his exhaustion. “Thankfully, I know the back lands forest like the palm of my hand. Otherwise I would have been in a lot of trouble.” Patrols capturing him at such an ungodly hour was a shame Theon was unwilling to bear. Who knew what kind of crimes would get slapped on him? Trespassing, unauthorized cultivation, consorting with resentful auras. They could invent charges and he’d have no way to fight back. He shuddered. Now, it seemed like he hadn’t merely imagined someone keeping an eye on him at first. “It was my miscalculation,” he muttered. He’d been careless, too focused on the technique, too desperate for a clean bath to ease the itch on his skin. Theon peeled off the half-dried clothes from his body and hung them
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
Theon continued walking faster and faster, his pace tightening with each step. At a point, he circled back toward his building, weaving through trees and broken walls until even he felt dizzy from his own patterns. Leaves crunched under his boots. The forest seemed to watch. He sat down under a tree, back pressed to rough bark, and waited. If whatever it was didn’t want to leave, he would wait right here for it to strike. Better to meet it on his terms than run until his lungs gave out. Theon waited for thirty minutes. Whoever or whatever it was trailing in his shadows didn’t come closer. It hovered just beyond sight, patient, like a hunter waiting for the prey to break first. At this point, Theon had begun to doubt if it was a human coming after him. It could be some hovering spirit or a beast that had escaped entrapment formations. Hopefully it would be the former. If it was a beast that escaped entrapment formations, then it would be a whole different case altogether. The m
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
Theon’s heart was pounding erratically. Memories of the night before, when he ignored his body’s warning signs and suffered bitterly for it, flitted through his mind in sharp, unwelcome flashes. The taste of blood, the sting of overdrawn meridians. He wasn’t about to repeat that mistake. He bit down on his tongue and inhaled deeply, not letting himself get distracted. The pain was small, but it anchored him. Hopefully, before they breached the entrance and came upstairs, he would have finished watching the twelfth move. Theon did his best to regulate his breathing and continued to watch the scenes playing out behind his eyes. By now, he could hear the pitter-patter of footsteps tiptoeing around the building, cautious and deliberate, trying to find which window was open, which latch had failed. The twelfth move was very complicated, and it didn’t seem to play fast enough. His head was ringing from trying to focus on the information while parts of his attention kept drifting to
You may also like
His Biggest Secret
ijay17.5K viewsA Dream Harem Life Built With Superior Firepower
Runaway_Cactuar21.4K viewsHero In The Cultivator World
Shin Novel 80.0K viewsTales of the Slime Tamer
Rapture Tales63.7K viewsLegend of the North
MadRevenant146 viewsKing Of Hell's Reincarnation
Vibrant 253 viewsIncarnation Of The Overlord
Jajajuba3.9K viewsZero to Trillionaire: The Scholar’s God-Tier System
Elizabeth_reads168 views