Chương 21: Kasia Petrov

Gray became a helpless spectator trapped within the cage of his own body. He stared out from behind his eyes as if peering through the bars of a prison cell. He tried to scream. To thrash. To fight back control of his own body, but his muscles refused to obey. He was paralyzed, left with nothing to do but watch. It was a total violation of his autonomy—a nightmare he wouldn't wish upon his worst enemy. Through his hijacked vision, he watched his own hand drop lifelessly to his side.

The suffocating shroud of smoke that had choked Ivan unraveling, and dissolving into thin wisps in the air. Once the objective was fulfilled, a hairline fracture of light pierced the darkness of his mental prison. It was distant, yet blinding in its intensity. Freedom. Gray surged toward that light, throwing his entire consciousness against the barrier with everything he could muster. A beat later, sensation slammed back into his physical form.

He could feel the floorboards beneath his shoes, the bitter scent of burnt coffee grounds, and the white-hot rage still burning in his chest. Ivan lay prone on the floor. His face was a bruised purple, completely drenched in a cold sweat as his chest heaved for air. Across the room, Gwan remained frozen in his chair; Hyun was still unwilling to release his hold on the man.

"Is he… dead?" Hyun's voice wavered, dropping a full octave.

"Unfortunately not. I think he's just unconscious." Gray's hands trembled. He slowly curled his fingers into tight fists and shot his brother a venomous glare.

"Hyun… how could you? How could you do that to me?" Hyun swiped a streak of blood from his nose, his chest rising as he met Gray's gaze.

"You were going to kill him! You wouldn't listen to reason. I had no choice."

"Listen to reason?" Gray closed the distance, jabbing a trembling finger inches from his brother's face.

"Just because you're older than me doesn't mean I have to obey your every command like one of your puppets!"

"You know that's not what I meant." Hyun took a slow, deliberate breath, visibly reining in his own fury.

"I stopped you from murdering a man in cold blood, Gray." A sharp, scoffing laugh tore from Gray's throat.

"That bastard doesn't deserve to live! Not after what he did to Mom and Dad! And who made you the arbiter of who lives or dies? You definitely don't get to play the moral police with a demented class like yours. Do you even realize what you put people through when you violate their minds? It's torture!" Hyun flinched. The accusation landed cleanly, carving a sudden vulnerability into his expression.

"I don't have a defense for that," Hyun admitted softly, his gaze dropping to the floorboards.

"This class is the most morbid thing I've encountered in this new world. That is exactly why I try to fight against its nature, Gray. We don't live in an eye-for-an-eye society. We are not beasts." Gray's expression twisted into a vicious scowl.

"How can you be so fucking ignorant? Look around! We aren't on Earth anymore. We're in a goddamn survival game! You've deluded yourself with this naive ideology because the System handed you an absurdly powerful class. It carried you here effortlessly, without you ever having to face genuine conflict or shed a drop of blood!" Before Hyun could formulate a defense, Gray pressed on.

"You have absolutely no idea what I had to go through just to stand here today. Did you even care about Mom and Dad? To answer your question from earlier—yes. They would want this. They'd be proud that their son avenged them!" Hyun shook his head, and let out a long, exhausted sigh.

"You still don't get it, do you? You're still that same immature boy who locked himself in his bedroom for four years, too afraid to face reality." A silence settled over the ruined cafe.

"Immature, huh?" Gray murmured, his voice low.

"Actually, I think I've matured plenty. This brutal world forced me to grow up. What's obvious to me is that you're the one too terrified to face the reality we're living in." A cruel smile tugged at the corner of Gray's mouth.

"Let's see how long you survive once you set them free. I can't wait to see what kind of torture they put you through! I hope you suffer the worst pain imaginable and drop dead with those precious morals of yours still clutched tight—all the way to the grave!"

"You don't mean any of that," Hyun snapped. He took a cautious step forward, extending an open palm to calm his brother.

"Neither of us are thinking clearly right now. Let's just calm down and—" Shroud Domain Thick smoke surged from Gray's chest, violently expanding to engulf the entire cafe in a blinding fog. Ring. Ring. Ring. Kasia Petrov—Guild Master of The Jade Lotus—observed the unfolding chaos through Ivan's senses. Everything played out in perfect clarity behind her own eyes, right up until Gray's black smoke completely blacked out Ivan and her's shared vision.

Blinking rapidly, she severed the connection, withdrawing her consciousness from her disciple. Her private chambers was alive. Thick, emerald vines slithered across the stone walls, intertwining with roots that splintered through the marble floor tiles. Instead of traditional light fixtures, massive sunflowers hung suspended from the ceiling, bathing the space in a warm, golden luminescence.

At the center of the room stood a desk carved from a single, colossal tree trunk, its polished surface buried beneath towering stacks of parchment. Behind it sat Kasia, lounging upon a throne of woven vines, jade lotuses blooming directly from the tips. She appeared to be in her early thirties. Long, verdant hair framed her striking features, streaming down her back like silk.

She wore a forest-green dress that clung elegantly to her curves, the hem unraveling into living roots that continuously crept across the floor. Footsteps echoed outside. A man approached the heavy double doors of her chambers, raising a fist to knock. Before his knuckles could graze the wood, vines shot out from the frame, wrapping around the handles and violently swinging the doors inward. The man's eyes widened slightly in surprise before he recovered, stepping into the overgrown chamber and offering a deep bow.

"Ms. Petrov, the preparations for Ivan's induction into the Kaiser Entrance Exam are finalized." If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it. Kasia broke into a melodic, chiming chuckle, waving a hand dismissively.

"Relax, darling! Call me Kasia." The man straightened, a profound wariness glinting in his eyes.

"But… the last time I addressed you by your first name, you strangled me into unconsciousness." Wagging a scolding finger, Kasia pouted playfully.

"Oh, honey, that was because we were in the presence of our business associates. You're allowed to use my name when it's just the two of us!" With a sharp clap, she spread her arms wide.

"Now, come here and give your wife a kiss." Erik Ashwynd—the first of her seven husbands—crossed the room with the rigid cadence of a subordinate approaching a queen. Careful to avoid trampling the living roots of her gown, he leaned in and pressed a brief, stiff kiss to her cheek. For Kasia, marriage was never a matter of romance. Its purpose was genetic curation. Upon reaching the pinnacle, she had decided to expand both her bloodline and the political dominance of her guild.

To achieve this, she had sifted through the Kaiser Registry, searching for the most optimal biological matches for her core. In exchange for their hand, Kasia offered the backing of The Jade Lotus, immense wealth, and political influence. Her suitors had naively consented, unaware of the cages they were stepping into for the rest of their lives. Her objective was never quantity, but perfection.

Her husbands' cores needed to perfectly synergize with hers to maximize the probability of bearing a child with a Dual-Class. These rare Hybrids inherited the classes of both parents, allowing them to utilize both skill sets independently, or even fuse them to forge entirely new abilities. The sheer rarity of this phenomenon made them invaluable, but the true advantage lay in time. A normal Astorian had to wait until their eighteenth birthday to awaken a class and access the System.

A Hybrid was born with both, effectively granting them an eighteen-year head start in cultivation. Yet, even after bearing eight children, Kasia had failed to produce a single Hybrid.

"Are there any updates on our son?" Erik asked, stepping back.

"He should've cracked the top hundred by now."

"Top ten, actually," she murmured, casually inspecting her fingernails.

"Though his current condition is… less than optimal." Erik's posture stiffened.

"Did he kill someone important? A noble guild master's child, perhaps? Do I need to patch things—""He nearly died," Kasia interrupted, her voice entirely devoid of maternal concern.

"The boy is currently unconscious after almost suffocating to death. Tell me, Erik, how exactly did you go about training your son? How does a potential heir to The Jade Lotus lose a skirmish against a boy wielding a mere cloud of smoke?" Erik's aura spiked, a rage flaring in his eyes.

"Who dares go against my son—"" Who dares go against my son!" Kasia mocked, mimicking his deep baritone voice as she threw her hands up in exaggerated exasperation.

"Honestly, you natives of Astoria are exhausting." Erik leveled a harsh glare at his wife. A fraction of a second later, a thick, thorny vine lashed upward from the marble floor, cracking sharply across Erik's cheek.

"You do not glare, Erik. I will let it slide this time," she warned, her voice dropping to a deadly pitch.

"But do not ever look at me like that again." Erik slowly raised a hand to cup his stinging, bloody cheek.

"My apologies, Ms. Petro—Kasia."

"I'm uncertain what triggered the boy'soutrage," she mused, idly tapping her nails against the tree-trunk desk.

"Granted, it is nearly impossible to pinpoint, given that Ivan manages to offend everyone around him simply by breathing. I initially thought it might be tied to our elixirs, or perhaps a lingering grudge from my business back on Earth." She shook her head, strands of green hair swaying.

"No. The recognition wasn't mutual. Ivan had no idea who he was looking at, but the boy stared at him with a passionate hatred."

"Did you manage to catch their names? Any assumptions as to who might be backing them?" Kasia's emerald eyes narrowed into dangerous slits.

"This right here is precisely why Ivan ended up unconscious on a cafe floor. He is weak and spineless, just like his father. Instead of leveraging your position to uncover these attackers to enact your revenge, how about you focus on raising your son to be somewhat capable, unlike the pathetic man who raised him, hmm?" She jabbed a hard finger into his chest. She leaned back into her throne, crossing her arms.

"I do have my suspicions, though. One of them is definitively Edward's disciple. The other… belongs to Gozen." The color rapidly drained from Erik's face.

"G… Gozen? Gozen Kotetsu? Why haven't The Astarchs executed him and his wife yet after the incident?"

"My sources tell me he avoided the executioner's block by agreeing to become their new lapdog. So, do not go offending him or his disciple. The political scale of this mess is far beyond your ability to handle." She flicked her wrist, shooing him away like a nuisance.

"Now, go fetch my tea." Erik bowed his head and trudged toward the double doors.

"Did you want me to use Aether Tree leaves, as usual?" Kasia exhaled a long sigh.

"It is my 'usual' for a reason, Erik. Did I explicitly ask you to brew it with anything else, dear?" Erik hissed softly under his breath, keeping his back turned to her.

"No. No, you didn't, darling." After the incident, Gray surged through the city streets. The cool wind whipped against his face as he ran, but it did little to cool the tears streaming down his face. He just couldn't understand Hyun's logic. Gray knew that morality wasn't some cosmic absolute, but rather a social construct. Society only functioned because the vast majority of people agreed on a fundamental baseline: do not steal, do not harm, and do not kill.

If you broke those foundational rules, you faced the judgment of the law and your peers. But what happens when the person you wanted dead had slaughtered your parents? That was where the neat, civilized lines blurred. On a strictly personal level, almost anyone would agree that killing your parents' murderer was justified. Lawfully, it was condemned because civilization couldn't survive rampant vigilantism. But what if the laws were entirely stripped away?

What if there were no courts, no police, no governing bodies left to enforce those rules? Like in this survival game? If that system didn't exist, the only thing stopping you was… you. Gray wouldn't regret killing Ivan. In his heart, the man deserved to die. However, Hyun's starkly different perspective continued to gnaw at him. Wasn't this just as personal for his brother? Gray cringed as he ran, regretting the impulsive venom he had spat in the cafe. Did you even care about Mom and Dad?

It was a cruel thing to say. Of course Hyun cared. Hyun had navigated the exact same agonizing grief after their murders. So why did he intervene? Hyun spent years working in a psychiatric ward, sitting daily with patients who had completely lost their grip on reality. He understood the fragile human mind—its violent impulses, its darkest urges—better than anyone. It was perfectly natural to crave bloody retribution against the man who orphaned you.

Yet, Hyun possessed the ironclad restraint necessary to suppress that primal urge. That was what baffled Gray. As the physical exertion of the sprint burned off the remains of his adrenaline, Gray's anger finally cooled into guilt. He needed to hear Hyun out. He needed to genuinely understand his brother's viewpoint. More importantly, he needed to apologize. Thinking back on the last few years, a sudden realization hit him. Gray had never once asked Hyun about his day, let alone his ideologies.

He even tried to recall a single instance of Hyun bringing a partner home to the apartment, or even going out for a casual night with friends. He came up completely blank. Did Hyun even have friends? Gray skidded to a halt. He wiped the lingering moisture from his eyes, turned on a heel, and began sprinting back the way he came. He was fully prepared to face the scolding, the shame, or whatever psychological lecture Hyun had prepared for him. He owed his brother that much.

The shattered windows of the cafe finally came into view. Just as Gray prepared to cross the street, a blur of glowing blue text flooded his vision, stopping him in his tracks. Rewards Granted: +4, 000 CP 50% EXP Ability Shard x2 The Third Level has Concluded! This stage was meticulously designed to demonstrate that true elites aren't forged solely by raw strength, but by strategic intellect and cooperation.

As part of the natural order, I routinely filter out participants lacking in these essential cognitive qualities. However, before the Fourth Level officially commences, we will honor the ancient tradition of The Natural Selection by transporting the top 500 ranked participants to meet their Mentors to receive a specialized boon! Note: Previously, the majority of mentors utilized this intermission period to execute their disciples.

I have personally implemented structural safeguards to prevent such heinous actions going forward. Participants who have failed to meet the ranking threshold will remain confined to the safezone until the intermission formally concludes.