Rebirth: The Shadow Of Greed

...Walking into the dining hall, he felt a look of disgust landing on him. 

Waldorf Nuebus was sitting at the dining room with Soli, he had come today specifically to bid farewell to Soli, as he knew she was leaving the city and heading back to the academy. 

"Soli, it has just been a couple of days since you've been back and you're going back to the academy already, we haven't even had the time to properly stay for a chat." 

"Aren't you also supposed to go back to your own academy? Why are you even here?" 

Soli replied, with indifference, purely wondering why he was here again. 

"Oh Soli, It's a gentleman's job to see you off, my studies won't be affected so what's the difference if I stay a few more days?" 

"I'm sure young master Waldorf has plenty of other things to do. I don't want to hold up too much of your time…"

"Oh none at all, nothing is more important to me than you."

Waldorf said greasily, making Soli's eyes roll back so far she could even see her brains. 

Waldorf turned his attention towards Z. 

"Ah, brother Zero, I want to formally apologize for that night at the banquet, I wasn't myself at all. My two subordinates have also been reprimanded, I would sincerely wish for no hard feelings between us."

Waldorf extended his hand towards Z, smiling from ear to ear, as his eyes betrayed his smile and were twitching away. Naturally, he would have apologized it didn't boil down to his elders telling him to do so. 

Z stared at his hand and simply smiled. He looked towards Waldorf and spoke. 

"Sure, it's all water under the bridge now." 

Z turned around disregarding Waldorf's hand as he left him hanging. Waldorf face contorted as he pulled his hand back and went back for a seat. 

Odrunn walked into the room and was surprised by Waldorf's presence here, but the surprise was soon washed down with a cup of coffee and the spread of food on the table. 

Odrunn once again stuffed his face, competing with an invisible enemy on who can eat the food in the shortest amount of time. 

Soon, the time passed and it was time for them to head back to the academy. At the main door of the estate, Soli's family came out to bid them farewell, including her sister and stepmother. Needless to say, no matter what Soli tried to swat Waldorf away he insisted on staying. 

"Zero, there will be an inter-city contest in 2 years, we would be eligible to join by then. Seeing as how strong you are, you should have no issues joining the contest. Let's use the contest to settle our differences."

Waldorf whispered to Z as he put his arms behind his back and looked at Z with indifference. 

"Sounds like a hassle… Didn't we already bury the hatchet though?"

Waldorf simply smiled as he continued speaking. 

"What we will be fighting for is the heart of a maiden. It is our honor to be participating in that stage and so I expect to see you there."

"Er… I'm not interested in Soli and whatever contest so…"

Z tried his best to steer clear of such a troublesome situation. He didn't want to get involved with something that might hinder his original plan. 

"I'll just see you there."

Waldorf insisted and took a step back. 

At the side, Soli's family were bidding her goodbye, her dad and sister hugged her as the two girls both had a slight bit of tearing up from the separation. 

"Goodbye Sis, this time your disappearance was like a blessing in disguise. It was good to see you again."

Soli nodded her head, as she gave Soleil one final hug before stepping back getting ready to go into the car. 

"Soli, stay out of trouble would you, you've made your dad worried about you for way too much his hair turned white because of the stress. You should be a more filial daughter and stay out of trouble."

Soli's stepmother folded her arms and spoke in a gentle manner, but the words she had said were far from gentle. 

Soli smiled and nodded, she didn't get angry, she didn't make a scene. Because this was her choice, something that she could control. She didn't want to spoil the atmosphere there so she chose to disengage from her opponent. Making her stepmother clench her fist tightly. 

Z and Odrunn stepped into the back of the transport artefact and got ready to leave, they were already decked out in their new uniform as principal davenport decided to send them new uniforms ahead of time. 

"Goodbye Soli! I'll see you again when I come back. Let's time our breaks at the same time so I can come back to visit you! And Zero, I'll just see you at the inter City contest."

Soli rolled her eyes once more as the transport artefact started to move. 

En route to the academy, everyone was silent and just resting in the transport artefact, the academy was a school after all and the journey to school was somewhat dreary. 

"Zero, you should work hard and join the inter City competition."

Soli said, excitedly. 

"What for? What is this competition even about."

Soli looked at Z blankly and opened her mouth wide. 

"it's only the biggest competition that happens once every 3 years. The different academies will send our representatives to fight in 5v5 battles. 

Every year there will be different strategies and super huge prizes. 

So 3 years ago, my dad got an invite and he brought me along, the fights they had were superb. I think D City academy and Windsor academy, a privately owned academy were competing in the finals. 

Windsor was a dark horse in the entire competition no one knew how strong they were. But their tactics were really simple, their entire lineup was filled with offense. So everyone just literally bypassed the vanguard and circled around to oust the support. The offense team on the other side was stunned and they didn't know what to do."