"How is this possible?" Chairman Welt slumped back into his chair, a completely baffled look plastered across his face.

He could not believe what he was seeing on the live broadcast. It was simply absurd. Caelus took his advice about getting stronger a bit too seriously!

He quickly snapped out of his daze and turned to Mr. Brown. "Restrict this news immediately. Do not let this broadcast leak outside of Fortis City for now."

Mr. Brown nodded hastily and rushed out of the office.

It would not be long before the central intelligence networks lumped Caelus together with Player 555. Currently, it was extremely unsafe to reveal such a massive secret to the outside world, especially after the incident with the Royal Family and Black Lightning Guild. This matter had to be suppressed until Caelus officially reached the Gold rank!

"What is the meaning of this?" Leonard muttered, completely stunned beyond words.

Silver rank. Sylvia’s supposedly weak blood-bond was actually a Silver rank calamity?

"You called him a mere butler," Sylvia said, her red eyes locking onto her brother with a cold glint of anger. "But my blood-bond managed to reach a Silver level combat score in just three weeks. Compared to him, can anyone in this entire world even remotely match his potential?"

Leonard was completely tongue-tied.

"And you might have forgotten it, Brother, but he is the one who saved my life. The one who pulled me out of that hellhole," Sylvia stated firmly. "Without him, your little sister would not be standing in this world right now. You should put some respect on his name."

"It is him?" Leonard’s expression shifted into profound shock.

He fell entirely silent, finally realizing the severity of the matter. It all made perfect sense now. Why his brilliant little sister chose to bond with someone who supposedly had an E-Rank affinity.

He now understood why she was so fiercely protective of him.

Because of the tragic events surrounding their mother’s death, Sylvia had taken things to the extreme when she was young. But a boy had stepped in and saved her from the brink.

"It is him," Leonard repeated, his posture stiffening.

He felt a chaotic storm of mixed emotions. His arrogant worldview had just been violently shattered.

"Is it too late to apologize?" Leonard finally asked, letting out a self-deprecating chuckle.

---

Caelus walked calmly out of the ruined Parker Estate.

’Roland Parker. He used to bully the previous owner of this body for hours on end, along with Lena and the others. Whenever he saw me, he leaked genuine killing intent.’

Caelus’s mind churned with lingering thoughts. He had never fully understood how the previous Caelus had actually died. He initially believed it was due to extreme malnutrition, as the Ashborn family intentionally withheld money to starve him. But given Roland’s extreme actions today, that did not seem to be the full truth.

"Is it related to that abandoned warehouse...?" Caelus murmured to himself.

----

Fortis-01 High. Classes had ended early due to the city-wide emergency broadcast. Everyone was hurrying home in a panic.

Ivy and Brad walked down the sidewalk, their heads tucked down, their faces deathly pale.

However, halfway through their route, they froze in their tracks.

"C-Caelus," Brad’s eyes widened in sheer terror.

He observed the tall, imposing figure leaning casually against the brick wall of an alleyway. Caelus might have looked drastically different, his features sharper and his aura suffocating, but having bullied that face for years, Brad recognized him instantly.

"Let’s talk," Caelus said, glancing at them meaningfully.

Ivy and Brad gulped loudly. They had no choice. The terrifying broadcast of Caelus crushing a Silver rank Patriarch was fresh in their minds.

They obediently followed Caelus’s silent instructions. Soon, they found themselves standing inside a dilapidated, abandoned warehouse on the outskirts of the district.

Ivy and Brad became visibly restless the moment they stepped inside. Brad’s face lost all remaining color.

"Why do you both look so terrified after seeing this place?" Caelus asked, walking slowly ahead with his hands loosely tucked in his pockets. "Did this place remind you of something?"

Brad and Ivy flinched violently.

"It is funny, because in my fragmented memories, I keenly remember this place as well," Caelus smiled.

"W-What do you want with us, Caelus?" Brad asked, his expression turning bloodshot from the rising panic.

"I want answers."

Caelus turned around and casually snapped his fingers.

SHADOW HAND!

Two massive, pitch-black hands erupted from the ground, violently clutching onto Ivy and Brad, lifting them into the air.

"Y-You! Caelus, what are your intentions?!" Brad screamed, struggling uselessly against the crushing grip. "You better let me go! My father is the Chief of the Law Enforcement Bureau!"

"Law?" Caelus laughed softly. "There is no law in this world, Brad. Everything is dictated by strength."

"The Law Enforcement officers you speak of... they were swarming the Parker Estate just an hour ago. Did they do anything to stop me? No," Caelus smiled, his eyes glowing with chaotic red light. "You might ask why? Because the Law Enforcement Bureau is not above me in terms of power."

Both of them trembled violently, tears streaming down their faces.

"Now, tell me. Say everything that happened in this warehouse clearly. And tell me exactly how it is related to my death. I’m sure both of you are related."

Ivy and Brad looked at Caelus while trembling. 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

"It was not me, Caelus! You have to understand!" Ivy sobbed, her voice shaking uncontrollably. "It was Roland! He is the one who ordered the hit on you!"

"Explain it from the beginning," Caelus demanded with indifference. "I want all the details."

Brad stared blankly at the floor as Ivy broke down and began frantically recounting everything.

"Cedrick, huh?" Caelus fell entirely silent after Ivy finished her frantic confession.

There was a very specific reason they both panicked upon entering this warehouse. It was because this was the exact location where they had murdered Cedrick.

Caelus remembered him well. Cedrick was just like the previous Caelus, a quiet student cursed with an E-Rank affinity. The laughingstock of the class like him. Caelus keenly remembered the fragmented memories of being bullied alongside him.

"And you murdered that poor guy just because he refused to do what Roland told him to do?" Caelus’s voice dropped to a freezing temperature.

Roland had acquired a illegal drug, rumored to forcefully awaken a new talent with 100% certainty before the servers even opened. He had purchased it directly from a Null Player. When Cedrick refused to be their lab rat, Roland forcefully injected the experimental serum into him. The violent reaction mutated Cedrick into a disfigured, bone-like monster, ultimately killing him. It was a forced Hollowification.

To cover up the horrific murder, Roland eliminated Cedrick’s entire family along with him.

"Because you accidentally witnessed Cedrick dying, and the matter was too severe to leak, Roland went crazy. He decided to eliminate you too," Ivy cried out, hyperventilating. "That is why I invited you to my room that night! I slipped poison into your water and sent you home, pretending I was feeling unwell. You should have died peacefully in your sleep... but you woke up the next day!"

"In the end, the task of eliminating you fell into Lena’s hands. She promised Roland she would send professional assassins your way... but that clearly didn’t work either."

Caelus remained dead silent.

Their methods did work. From what he now understood, the previous Caelus had indeed been swayed by Ivy’s deceptive invitation. He was just a lonely teenager, after all. He drank the poisoned water and died. That was the exact moment the current Caelus had crossed over and inhabited the body.

"Please... l-let me go, Caelus!" Ivy begged, her face stained with tears and ruined makeup. "I will listen to all your words from now on! I will do anything! I just want to live!"

"Did you think the exact same thing when you helped Roland murder Cedrick and slaughter his innocent family?"

People could be incredibly cruel, but to think high school students would go to such sickening extremes. This was no longer just a case of teenagers being stupid bullies. They were accomplices to mass murder.

"What do you have to say for yourself, Brad?" Caelus asked quietly.

Brad quivered violently. Finally, with bloodshot eyes, he broke down and started bawling, unable to form a single coherent word.

"I am sure both of you have a loving family to go back to as well," Caelus said, his expression completely devoid of mercy. "But so did Cedrick."

"P-Please, Caelus! Do not do this!"

"I swear on my life that I will never do anything bad again!" Ivy screamed, trembling uncontrollably.

"I am sorry," Caelus replied, slowly closing his eyes. "But you have to pay the price for what you did."

---

A few minutes later, Caelus stood silently on the edge of a tall building, not far from the abandoned warehouse. He looked down at the flashing red and blue lights as multiple ambulances and law enforcement cruisers swarmed the abandoned area.

"I have taken revenge for you, old body," Caelus whispered to the cold night wind. The lingering resentment buried deep within his soul for Ivy and Brad dissipated.

"Was it the right decision?" a dignified voice suddenly asked from behind.

Caelus slowly turned his head. Leonard Reign stood a few paces away, his expensive coat fluttering in the wind.

"They paid for what they had done," Caelus replied, glancing back at the flashing sirens.

"I roughly overheard the conversation before you acted," Leonard said, crossing his arms over his chest. "What you did was right. I want you to know that. In this world, weeds must be pulled out by the roots."

"I take it that you are Leonard Reign. Sylvia’s brother," Caelus inquired, his glowing red eyes meeting Leonard’s gaze.