Bloodline Evolution: I Can Choose Opposing Paths-Chapter 95: The Echoes Afterward (1)

Aren blinked once as the green glow around him faded.

He was somehow standing in his own living room. For a brief second, everything was quiet before—

"What the hell?!"

Luna shot up from the couch, nearly knocking a stack of books onto the floor. Her eyes darted rapidly between the group that had suddenly appeared in the middle of the apartment.

"Professor Voss, Principal Virel, Senior Daniel and..." she started. "Okay, it looks like I missed out on something important."

She said as her gaze went to the old man casually carrying an unconscious idol in his arms.

That was when her gaze found Aren, in all his battered and injured form. Her expression changed instantly as she rushed forward without hesitation, grabbing his shoulder and looking him over.

"Aren! What happened to you?!" she demanded, already turning his arm to inspect the wounds. "Are you hurt? And why is Miu like that?"

"Long story," Aren muttered.

Though the more he thought about it, the more he realized he should be completely out cold right now from all the wounds he’d received.

Meanwhile, Principal Arden Virel walked calmly into the apartment and set Miu down on the couch, then proceeded to stroll into the kitchen and grabbed a soda as if he lived there for years.

He glanced around the room with mild interest before sitting down comfortably on the nearest chair.

He leaned back in the chair and casually gestured between Aren and Luna.

"I must say though... this is quite amusing."

Luna finally turned around, still half-supporting Aren.

"...What is?"

"The top two freshmen of the academy," he said lightly. "Sharing the same house."

"Speaking of," Aren said calmly. "Why my apartment?!"

The principal didn’t answer immediately.

Instead, Ardent Virel studied Aren for a moment, his relaxed expression slowly fading into something more serious.

"You should be more careful," he said at last. "Professor Voss was kind enough to inform me about your... situation."

Aren immediately understood what he meant as he looked down toward his chest. The Fertile Core.

"Removing that dampener tonight was not a good decision."

Aren’s jaw tightened slightly.

"I didn’t exactly have many options."

"No," the principal admitted easily. "You didn’t."

He leaned forward slightly in his chair.

"But that doesn’t change the fact that the moment you took it off..." his eyes narrowed faintly. "All eyes had shifted toward the source."

"They’ll be looking closely at the incident now, and it won’t be too long before they pin you down as the owner."

Daniel slowly folded his arms.

"...Are we talking about the nuclear reactor inside him?"

Virel nodded slightly and let out a soft sigh. "Fortunately, Miss Emily contacted your professors quickly enough."

"By the time the Mystic Law arrived, Professor Sterling and Voss were already on their way," the principal continued. "Which meant I could arrive shortly after."

Aren frowned.

"...And if you hadn’t?"

The Principal let the question linger for a bit before he answered. "Even while we were leaving the stadium..." he murmured.

"...I could already feel them."

Luna blinked. "Feel who?"

"Observers."

The principal tapped his finger against the armrest.

"Powerful ones," he continued. "Lurking around like vultures, waiting to see what would happen."

"Which is precisely why you should avoid doing it again," Virel added lightly.

Daniel folded his arms. "...Right. So basically half the sharks in the ocean smelled blood."

"An inelegant metaphor," Virel replied. "...But not inaccurate."

"For now, the official report will state that the incident was the result of bio-terrorists triggering the idol Miu Harmonia’s Bloodline, causing it to manifest without her control."

"Which, fortunately for us," the principal leaned forwards once more, "is not entirely incorrect."

Aren rubbed the back of his neck.

"...So the situation’s contained?"

"For the moment," Voss said.

"But curiosity," the professor added quietly, "is a powerful motivator."

Daniel glanced toward Aren.

"...Meaning?"

"Meaning," Virel finished for him, "that the people who were watching tonight will begin asking questions."

His eyes narrowed slightly.

"And eventually..."

"...some of them may decide to look for the answer themselves."

The room fell quiet again for a moment before Aren finally spoke.

"...Great."

For a moment, no one spoke.

His eyes slowly drifted across the apartment until they settled on the couch across the room.

Miu lay there unconscious, her breathing finally steady. Someone, probably Luna, had draped a blanket over her shoulders. In the quiet of the apartment, she almost looked like any other exhausted girl who had simply fallen asleep after a long day.

Except Aren, who knew exactly what had happened on that stage. Coincidentally, the person who he wanted to ask these questions to was already in the room.

"Professor Voss..." Aren started. "How can a person’s Bloodline be a magical creature that already exists in the world?"

"Yeah," Daniel added, nodding in agreement. "I was wondering the same thing."

"And how come she went absolutely wild like that?"

"That first question," the professor said slowly as she leaned into the wall, "is actually easier to answer than you might think."

Aren raised an eyebrow.

"Bloodlines are inherited lineages," she continued. "Everyone alive today—Mystic or civilian—carries fragments of the power their ancestors gained during the Great Awakening."

She adjusted her glasses lightly.

"In many cases, those ancestors formed bonds with magical creatures that already existed in the world."

Daniel tilted his head. "So you’re saying...?"

Voss nodded faintly.

"It is entirely possible that Miu’s Bloodline and the magical beast known as the Siren share the same Original Ancestor."

The room went quiet for a moment.

Luna blinked. "...So they’re related?"

"In a sense, yes," Voss replied calmly. "Think of it like a family tree. Over generations, the power passed down through humans becomes diluted and reshaped into what we call a Bloodline."

"But occasionally," she added, glancing toward Miu again, "that lineage remains unusually close to its origin."

Aren slowly processed the explanation.

"So her Bloodline isn’t copying a Siren..."

"It descends from the same source," Voss finished.

Daniel scratched the back of his head.

"...Huh. That’s actually kinda terrifying when you put it that way."

"But that still doesn’t answer the second part," Aren said.

Voss’s expression tightened slightly.

"...That," she admitted after a moment, "is much harder to explain."

Everyone looked at her.

"Normally, even an untrained Mystic retains instinctive control over their Bloodline," she continued. "Loss of control on that scale is impossible unless the Bloodline itself becomes—"

"Demonic..." Aren muttered, unintentionally cutting her off. "But Miu shows no signs of that."

Luna glanced back and forth before asking the question everyone’s been having on their mind.

"...Then what caused it?"

For the first time since the discussion began, Voss didn’t have an immediate answer. She slowly pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose.

"I...don’t know."