OmniX System: Return of the Scorned Son-in-law

#6

Commander Vane didn’t walk into the Wensley drawing room; he was carried. His tactical armor was scorched and warped, and his face was a mask of dried blood and terror.

He collapsed onto the plush white rug, coughing up a mouthful of crimson that stained the expensive fabric.

Vanessa stood by the window, her frost-aura flaring in agitation as she looked down at the broken man. Meredith Wensley sat in her high-backed chair, her eyes narrowing as she gripped the arms of her seat. The air in the room was thick with the scent of ozone and the heavy weight of failure.

"Report!" Meredith commanded, her voice like the snap of a whip. "Why are you in this state, Vane? And why is the boy’s corpse not in the incinerator?"

Vane shuddered, his voice coming out in a thin, ragged whistle. "Seraphina... Seraphina Valerius. She was there. She claimed him as her servant."

"Seraphina?" Meredith gasped, her face turning a ghostly white as she stood up abruptly. "That’s impossible. She died in the Great Fire with the rest of those Valerius dogs. We made sure there were no loose ends!"

"What could happen with a hollow-blood and a ghost?!" Vanessa snapped, though her hands trembled as she stepped closer. "He has no mana, and she should be a corpse. You are a mid-tier Fire Mage, Vane. How did you let them escape?"

"It wasn't just her," Vane wheezed, his eyes wide with a lingering fear. "There was a pulsation. A black, crushing weight. It swallowed my fire like it was nothing and hammered me into the ground. It felt like... like gravity itself had turned into a weapon."

The room went silent. Vanessa’s eyes darted to Damon Sharpe, who was standing in the shadows, his hands folded behind his back. Damon’s eyes gleamed with a predatory light, his mind already spinning through the possibilities of what Vane had described.

"A black pulsation?" Meredith whispered, her greed finally overriding her confusion. "Gravity? There is only one thing rumored in the city’s records that can bypass mana-laws and manipulate the weight of the world."

"The Forbidden Soul-Engine," Vanessa breathed, her heart hammering with a sudden, sharp envy. "You’ve always suspected Olivia was hiding something. She didn't just design our runs; she was searching for the ancient artifact."

Vanessa’s face twisted into a mask of pure, bitter resentment. She couldn't believe that her "useless" husband was holding the rumored ancient artifact. That kind of treasure belonged to her—to someone with the talent and bloodline to wield it properly.

Damon stepped forward, a smug smirk playing on his lips as he looked at the trembling Commander on the floor. He realized that if the Wensleys acquired such a weapon, his own value to them might start to fade. He needed to be the one to secure it.

"It’s obvious," Damon said, his voice smooth and manipulative. "Olivia didn't give the boy magic. She gave him a sacred artifact. A Soul-Engine that mimics the power of a god. He’s just a child holding a loaded gun he doesn't understand."

"We need that artifact," Meredith said, her voice trembling with hunger. "If we have the Soul-Engine, the High Council will never be able to touch us again. We won't just be merchants; we will be the masters of the city."

Damon leaned in, his eyes locking onto Vanessa’s. "Then we lure him back. He’s emotional, weak, and still obsessed with his mother. We offer him a path back into the family, a 'reconciliation' he’s too desperate to refuse. Once he’s inside our walls, we take the engine and erase him."

Meanwhile…

While the vultures plotted, a silver Phantom tore through the rainy streets, its tires screaming as it banked around corners. Inside, Evan gripped the door handle so hard the leather began to crack under his fingers. He could still hear that flatline in his head, a constant, high-pitched scream.

"Faster!" Evan urged, his voice resonating with a dual-toned power that made the car's interior lights flicker. "Seraphina, if she’s gone... if I’m too late..."

"Hold your focus, Evan," Seraphina said, her eyes fixed on the road ahead. "The Jade I used is ancient. It doesn't fail easily. But your mother is a Runic Architect; her soul is more complex than most. We are fighting the laws of nature now."

They arrived at the hospital in a spray of muddy water. Evan didn't wait for the car to stop. He burst through the emergency room doors, his presence like a dark storm cloud that made the nearby nurses stumble back in fear.

He reached the ICU and skidded to a halt in front of his mother’s room. The glass door was slide shut, and a group of doctors stood around the stasis pod with their heads bowed. The silence in the room was more terrifying than any scream.

"Out of the way!" Evan roared, shoving past the head doctor. He didn't care about their charts or their pitying looks. He saw his mother lying there, her skin the color of marble, her chest perfectly still.

"Mr. Evan, please," the head doctor said softly, reaching out to stop him. "The stasis pod has gone dark. The power source was depleted. There is no brain activity. She is... she is gone."

"She is not gone!" Evan screamed, his violet eyes flaring with a terrifying intensity. He slammed his palm onto the glass of the pod, and for a moment, the Void within him seemed to scream in unison with his grief.

The [Void-Mana] surged out of his hand, a dark, liquid shadow that bled into the stasis pod’s circuitry. It didn't belong there, but it found the traces of the Soul-Anchoring Jade Seraphina had used. The two powers collided, creating a violent spark of silver and black light.

A faint, golden pulse flickered in the center of Olivia’s chest. It was weak, like the ghost of a heartbeat, but it was there. The medical monitors suddenly jumped, a single, jagged line appearing on the screen before falling back into a low, rhythmic hum.

"She’s alive..." Evan whispered, his legs nearly giving out. He pressed his forehead against the cold glass, his stinging tears blurring the sight of his mother’s face. "She’s still here."

Seraphina stepped into the room, her silver hair shimmering in the dim light. She looked at the monitors, her expression turning grave. "Evan, listen to me. This isn't a recovery. She is 'Soul-Fractured.' Your power is keeping her body alive, but her spirit is breaking apart."

"What do I do?" Evan asked, turning to her with a look of pure desperation. "Tell me what I have to do to fix this. I'll bring the whole city down if I have to."

"You need a Divine-Grade Life-Core," Seraphina said, her voice a sharp whisper. "It is the only thing powerful enough to knit a fractured soul back together. It was a treasure stolen from my clan’s ruins during the Great Fire. Rumor has it, the Wensleys hide it in their vault."

Evan’s eyes turned toward the window, looking out toward the mansion on the hill. "The vault," he muttered. "They have her life locked away in a box of gold and blood."

"The Wensley vault is guarded by an Ancient Soul-Seal," Seraphina warned, her hand resting on his shoulder. "Even I cannot bypass it without triggering a global alert. To get in, you have to be invited. You have to be inside the inner sanctum."

The sound of footsteps in the hospital corridor broke the tension. A young man in a white Wensley livery approached, holding a letter sealed with a thick, purple wax crest. He looked terrified as he handed the envelope to Evan, scurrying away before Evan could even speak.

Evan tore the envelope open. The paper smelled of expensive roses and Vanessa’s favorite perfume. He recognized her elegant, looping handwriting immediately. The tone was sickeningly sweet, filled with words like "regret," "misunderstanding," and "family."

"To my dear husband," Evan read aloud, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "I was overwhelmed by grief and the stress of the party. My mother and I have realized our mistakes. We wish to apologize publicly and welcome you back where you belong."

"It’s a Reconciliation Banquet," Evan continued, a cold, jagged laugh escaping his throat. "She wants me to come home. She wants to celebrate our 'unity' in front of the city’s elite tomorrow night."

Seraphina took the letter, her eyes narrowing as she scanned the manipulative lines. "It’s a clumsy trap, Evan. They don't want you; they want the 'Soul-Engine' they think you’re carrying. If you step foot in that house, they will try to strip it from your body."

"I know," Evan said, his violet eyes turning a deep, lethal shade of purple. He looked at his mother, whose life was being held together by a thread of his own dark mana. "They think they are the hunters. They think I’m still the dog they can kick and call back with a whistle."

He stood up, the [God-Level Gravity Suppression] beginning to ripple the air around his feet. The hospital floor groaned under the weight of his resolve. He felt no pity for the woman who had written that letter, and no love for the family that had destroyed his life.

"They want a show?" Evan whispered, his voice resonating with a dual-toned power that made the room's glass partitions vibrate. "I’ll give them a performance they’ll never forget. I'll walk into their house, and I'll walk out with her soul."

Seraphina looked at him, realizing that the man she was standing next to was no longer a gardener or a servant. He was the Sovereign of the Void, and the Wensleys had just invited their own destruction through the front door.

"Then prepare yourself," Seraphina said, a dangerous glint in her eyes. "Tomorrow night, the banquet begins. And the city will finally see who the real masters are."

Evan stared at the Wensley crest on the fallen letter, his foot coming down and crushing the purple wax into the dirt. The countdown to the reckoning had officially begun.