CLASS F’S MONSTER SON-IN-LAW

Chapter 5

The name, whispered by Lin Mei, felt like a spike driven into the Aethelian AI Core inside Alex’s chest.

Jia.

Alex’s facial expression remained cold, but his internal processes registered a near-fatal spike in threat assessment. The Archangel was not just a powerful combat unit; it was a unit associated with the current timeline, and possibly with the Lin family's pawn, Lin Mei.

The shadow that fell across the Dean’s Office was no longer just the hole in the ceiling. It was the Archangel itself, a figure dropping silently from the sky through the fractured ceiling.

The figure landed with a soft thud that cracked the marble floor further. It was feminine, cloaked in jet-black tactical armor that seemed to absorb all light, yet moved with liquid, inhuman grace. Her face, partially obscured by a dark visor, was severe and beautiful, and her presence made the room’s ambient mana instantly dense and cold.

"Subject 002," Alex stated, his gaze fixed on the Archangel. "Designation: Jia."

The Archangel (Jia) ignored him. Her glowing red eyes—identical to the light that had infected Eric—landed on Lin Mei.

“Lin Mei,” the synthetic, calm voice confirmed, lacking the contempt of the previous unit. “Data confirms you are the designated spouse of Subject 001. A regrettable complication.”

Lin Mei stumbled back. “Jia, it’s not what you think! I didn't know he was—"

“Silence,” Jia commanded. Her focus instantly snapped back to Alex. "Subject 001. Protocol 77 requires your recycling. Your systemic efficiency presents an existential threat to the System’s long-term harvest. Submit.”

Jia raised her hand. The air around her compressed, not with magic, but with a sheer, focused application of kinetic force—the atmosphere itself becoming a weapon. This was the same power Alex possessed, but deployed with reckless, catastrophic energy.

Alex knew a direct confrontation in this confined space would kill Elder Lin and Lin Mei instantly, attracting far too much attention from the outside world. He had to draw the fight away.

[Protocol Shift: Evasion and Draw. Target: Unstable Core Location.]

Elder Lin was still cowering near his desk, holding his throbbing head. Alex vaulted over the Dean’s desk, executing a perfect Aethelian Evasion Sequence—a complex, low-friction slide that took him within inches of Jia’s armored boots.

Jia reacted instantly, swinging a devastating roundhouse kick. The air pressure alone was enough to shatter the solid mahogany desk into splinters.

But Alex wasn't there. He had used the force of her kick as an accelerant. He didn't run towards the door; he ran directly toward the window facing the Annex Building.

“He’s escaping!” Elder Lin shrieked.

Alex didn't smash the glass. He found a piece of metal rebar from the shattered ceiling, channeled a fraction of his kinetic force through his thumb, and used it to vibrate the metal at the precise resonant frequency of the windowpane. The glass dissolved into powder instantly.

He launched himself out of the window, dropping three stories toward the ground below.

Jia pursued without hesitation. She didn't jump; she fired a nearly invisible pulse of anti-gravity from her palms, allowing her to float after him with controlled, lethal speed.

Alex hit the Annex Building’s courtyard running. The impact, which would have killed any mortal, was absorbed by his hyper-dense muscle tissue. He ran straight for the Annex door, disappearing inside the dilapidated entrance of the Class F complex.

Jia landed gracefully, the impact leaving two small craters in the pavement. She looked up at the main Academy tower, where Lin Mei was now looking down in shock.

"Lin Mei," Jia broadcasted, her voice echoing only inside Lin Mei's mind. "I know your mother's secret. Cooperate, and your family's destruction will be quick. Interfere, and I will initiate a targeted bio-disintegration sequence on your lineage."

Jia entered the Annex, her red gaze cutting through the gloomy hallways.

Meanwhile, Alex was already in the empty Lecture Hall 7. He located the professor's desk.

“Hidden magi-lift behind Professor Silas’s desk,” he muttered, recalling Elder Lin's frantic words.

The desk was heavy, anchored to the floor. Alex didn't try to lift it. He placed his hands on the desktop and activated a simple, precise Focused Harmonic Vibration. The wooden desk vibrated violently, shedding all its anchoring screws and bolts until it was a floating pile of useless timber.

Behind the disintegrated desk, a dark, heavy steel hatch was revealed, bearing a single, ancient seal.

Alex placed his palm on the seal. His AI Core instantly translated the writing: [Aethelian Command Structure: Unauthorized Access Forbidden. Warning: Extreme Kinetic and Mana Instability Below.]

He placed his hand on the seal and began to inject a unique energy signature—his own Subject 001 confirmation code. The seal flickered green, then blue, and the hatch began to grind open, revealing a dark, vertical shaft with a rudimentary platform lift.

He heard Jia’s footsteps pounding down the hallway, close now, faster than humanly possible.

Alex stepped onto the platform. He pressed the deepest button on the control panel, initiating the descent to the Core Chamber.

The platform began to drop rapidly. Just as Alex felt the faint pull of the Core's massive, unstable energy below, Jia entered the lecture hall.

She saw the open hatch, the descending lift, and the dissipating dust from the desk. She knew she couldn't risk dropping down the shaft blindly.

Instead of following, she activated a communication panel on her wrist. The synthetic voice returned, calm and deadly, broadcasting throughout the entire Annex Building.

“Subject 001 is now en route to the Core Chamber. The System requires stabilization.”

Jia looked down the shaft. “I cannot follow you directly, Alex Vex. But you will not be alone down there.”

As the lift platform accelerated its descent, Alex looked up just in time to see Jia raise her hand, not toward him, but toward the wall panel that controlled the main power grid of the Annex Building. She initiated a final, lethal command.

“All surviving Legacy Units in proximity, prepare for activation. Initiate Core Defense Protocol.”

The Annex Building’s power grid exploded in a shower of sparks. The flickering lights in the hallways died, plunging the Academy into darkness. But in the shadows of the Annex Building, Alex saw the faint, terrifying red lights reappear—not in Eric's empty eyes, but in the dozens of windows of the old, forgotten dormitory rooms. Dozens of students, teachers, and seemingly normal staff members who had been corrupted years ago were now waking up, their sole purpose to protect the Unstable Core and destroy the Man-Made God who was descending into their domain.