Rebirth: The Shadow Of Greed

... what if he did something unsavoury and put you somewhere dangerous... I ... your friends can't bear to see anything happen to you."

"Thanks for your concerns Soli, but there really is nothing to worry about. I don't mind if he throws me to the harshest conditions imaginable. I'm a weed, I always have been, put me anywhere and I will struggle and grow. Eventually, I'll destroy the garden."

Z smiled, watching the remainder of the festivities.

After the banquet had ended, the Aquos family had invited them into their home to stay for the next couple of nights before they went back to the institute.

Z Odrunn and Soli waited for the transport artefact arrive, it took them a while to get into it because Odrunn was excitedly looking around the transport artefact with eyes twinkling as if wanting to devour the entire transport artefact. It got to a point where Odrunn actually used his arms to lift up the transport artefact, entirely inspecting the base of it. After entering the transport Artefact, Odrunn still continuously spoke about it and how beautiful and ingenious the structure is.

It was a relatively short ride, it had to be, the driver had to speed up just to make it in time after all the time wasted from Odrunn's curiosity. Driving through the gates, Z's eyes widened as he saw the palatial estate in front of him.

He had seen big houses, but he'd never went in through the front door of one. It felt so amazing to him.

Coming out of the transport Artefact, Z admired the exterior of the house once more, while Odrunn looked like everything was normal to him.

A butler came out of the mansion and looked at the trio.

"Welcome back mistress Soli, hello master Odrunn, Zero. Master Daymas had instructed me to bring you to the guest house. Please follow me, sirs."

Odrunn and Z bade Soli farewell as they walked to the guesthouse at the side, although it was just a guesthouse, it was a huge home with 6 bedrooms and a kitchen. It was inconceivable to Z why anyone would build something like this for their guests and leave it unoccupied most of the time.

Odrunn quickly walked over to the fridge and pulled out an apple, he bit into the apple and shrugged taking out 5 more.

"Boss, you want one? It's really good"

"No thanks, you can eat it on your own."

Odrunn continued munching on the apples and they took turns to shower. They quickly occupied a room each as Odrunn started to fall asleep.

Z, however, changed into a dark outfit he had requested for earlier since he couldn't possibly wear his uniform anymore. Draping the cloak over his back he put on the number 8 mask and sneakily left through the window, avoiding all the guards on his way out of the wall.

It wasn't very difficult to enter the city because Soli's mansion is smack in the centre of the city. He found his way through the rooftops as he smiled to himself from the nostalgia.

Dropping down onto the roads below he landed softly in front of a restaurant.

"Starlight brewery & food Co."

He looked at the sign as he pushed open the door gently, a bell ringing as the door opened.

The waiter looked at the masked man in front of him,

"Good evening sir, do you have a reservation?"

"No, but I would like to make a reservation for a party of 8"

"Would you like to sit under the light or someone a little darker?"

"Darker please"

"Are you here for business or p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e?"

"it's only p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e for today"

"Sir, come this way, we'll have someone take your order soon."

The waiter brought him through a door to the back where he entered a room with a single table and he sat down quietly.

A beautiful young miss walked in next looking at the masked man as she sat in front of him.

"Hello master 8, I'm Kaylene, I'm here to take your order. What would you like to have today?"

"How's the hygiene of this room?"

"As you can see, master 8, the room is as clean as can be, with no insects around."

"Very well then, let's get down to business. I need to secure a manifest power rating from the hunter's association under this name."

Manifest power ratings were the same as the one he did in school, where they put them in front of a machine and tested their power levels and manifest. There were only three places in which they could be tested that would be used officially, in the schools with an envoy as a witness, in the holy capital and the hunter's association.

The hunter's association was Z's ideal choice because they usually test power ratings on rotation and there were many hunters who tested in a day. No one would remember if he actually tested it or not.

Z slipped a paper over to Kaylene in front of him.

"Set it to B grade, psychic manifest."

Kaylene pulled out a device from her pocket and keyed in the details and scanned Z's commswatch.

"I've set the details as you've requested and also added in your entry into the hunter association's database. Is there anything I can help you with?"

"No that will be all."

Z promptly put down 3 buttons on the table, he had looted it from 8's corpse and they served as currency on the black market. Z turned around and left, walking out of the restaurant.

As he was walking out, a woman bumped into him as she fell flat on her b.u.t.t.

"Ow! Why don't you watch where you're going? I'm injured, I demand compensation!"

Z ignored her as he continued to head towards the door, three thugs blocked the door, the one in the middle started to speak.

"You've hurt my sister pal, aren't you supposed to give me some compensation?"

Z turned his head to look at the waiter who only nodded at him.

Raising both his hands, he used his psychic to push two of the thugs aside, knocking them out instantly.

His hand quickly found its way to the thug in the middle's neck grasping onto it tight. He took out his dagger and placed the cold steel onto the cheek of the thug, making him drip cold sweat.