F-Rank Sold, Married to an S- Rank-Chapter 30: The Fifth signal
The footsteps echoed through the tunnel.
Slow.
Measured.
Whoever was approaching was not in a hurry.
The sound carried through the underground passage like a deliberate announcement.
Lyra tilted her head slightly and sighed.
"Well... that’s definitely not subtle."
Kaelith’s hand rested on the hilt of her blade.
"Council agents rarely care about subtlety." 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺
Adrian kept his focus on the System notification hovering in his mind.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Bond Network System
Anchor Candidate Approaching
Distance: 150 meters
Compatibility: High
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
The signal was growing stronger.
Not like the others.
When Seraphine had become the primary anchor, the system had reacted with calm stability. When Aria joined as the overflow anchor, the network surged with power.
But this signal felt... different.
Sharper.
Almost electric.
Seraphine stepped closer to Adrian, her presence immediately reinforcing the bond network.
Primary anchor: stable.
"What does the system say?" she asked quietly.
"A fifth anchor candidate is approaching."
Lyra blinked.
"Already?"
Kaelith frowned.
"From the tunnel?"
Adrian nodded.
"Yes."
Aria looked between them nervously.
"But the Council is coming from that direction."
"Exactly," Lyra said.
"That means either the system has terrible judgment..."
She paused.
"...or someone in the Council just became very interesting."
The footsteps stopped at the entrance to the chamber.
A moment later, a figure stepped into the light.
The first thing Adrian noticed was the uniform.
Black coat.
Silver insignia.
Council authority.
But the person wearing it was not what he expected.
She looked younger than most Council agents.
Maybe mid-twenties.
Tall.
Short dark hair.
Her eyes scanned the chamber in a single calm sweep, taking in the unconscious scavengers, the damaged equipment, and the glowing barrier behind Adrian.
Then her gaze stopped on him.
For a moment, neither of them spoke.
And the system exploded with activity.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Bond Network System
Anchor Candidate Confirmed
Compatibility: 87%
Anchor Type: Unknown
Network Resonance Detected
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Adrian felt the network react instantly.
The four anchors connected to him pulsed at once.
Seraphine’s calm strength.
Lyra’s adaptive energy.
Kaelith’s precise control.
Aria’s amplification.
All four reacted to the presence of the newcomer.
The woman seemed to feel it too.
Her expression shifted slightly.
Not fear.
Recognition.
"You’re Adrian Vale," she said.
Her voice was calm, though there was a hint of curiosity beneath it.
"Yes."
She stepped further into the chamber.
Behind her, two other Council operatives appeared in the tunnel.
Both stopped when they saw the situation.
One of them muttered,
"The scavengers again."
The woman raised a hand slightly.
"Secure them."
The two operatives immediately moved to restrain the unconscious scavengers.
Meanwhile, her attention never left Adrian.
"You interfered with the barrier."
Adrian shook his head.
"I stabilized it."
Her eyes flicked briefly toward the glowing metal door behind him.
The barrier’s mana seal was indeed stabilizing.
Slowly.
Carefully.
The woman studied it for several seconds.
Then she looked back at Adrian.
"That should not be possible."
Lyra smirked.
"Welcome to the last three days of our lives."
The woman ignored the comment.
Instead, she stepped closer.
The bond network reacted violently.
The fifth slot pulsed.
Adrian felt it like a magnetic pull in his chest.
The System activated again.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Bond Network System
Anchor Synchronization Attempt
Warning: High Energy Fluctuation
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Seraphine felt it immediately.
"Adrian."
"I know."
The woman stopped two meters away from him.
Her eyes narrowed slightly.
"You feel that too."
It wasn’t a question.
Adrian nodded.
"Yes."
Kaelith spoke quietly from the side.
"What’s happening?"
Lyra answered before Adrian could.
"The system just found its fifth anchor."
The woman raised an eyebrow.
"Anchor?"
Adrian hesitated for a moment.
Then he spoke.
"You’re affecting my ability."
She crossed her arms.
"That’s interesting."
"And you’re not surprised."
"Council training includes many strange situations."
Lyra laughed.
"Oh, you have no idea."
The system pulsed again.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Bond Network System
Anchor Integration Possible
Estimated Success Rate: 63%
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Adrian exhaled slowly.
He wasn’t planning to recruit another anchor tonight.
But the system clearly had other ideas.
Seraphine stepped beside him.
"You don’t have to decide now."
"I know."
The Council woman watched the exchange carefully.
"Perhaps someone should explain what is happening."
Lyra grinned.
"That’s going to take a while."
Instead, Adrian asked a different question.
"What’s your name?"
The woman hesitated.
Just for a second.
"Commander Elara."
The moment she said it, the system reacted again.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Bond Network System
Anchor Candidate Identified
Name: Elara
Anchor Potential: High
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Aria whispered,
"It really is her..."
Kaelith frowned.
"You know her?"
Aria nodded nervously.
"She’s one of the Council’s youngest commanders."
Lyra whistled softly.
"Well... that explains the attitude."
Elara ignored the comment.
Her attention remained fixed on Adrian.
"You stabilized the barrier," she said.
"Yes."
"Without Council authorization."
"Yes."
She studied him for a long moment.
Then, unexpectedly—
She smiled.
Just slightly.
"If you hadn’t done that..."
She glanced toward the massive steel door behind him.
"...this city would already be in trouble."
Lyra blinked.
"Wait."
"You’re not angry?"
Elara shook her head.
"No."
Her gaze returned to Adrian.
"I’m interested."
The system pulsed once more.
The fifth slot burned brighter.
Not complete yet.
But closer.
Very close.
Adrian looked at her carefully.
Something about her presence felt...
Balanced.
Like a missing piece.
Seraphine noticed it too.
And surprisingly—
She didn’t look concerned.
Only thoughtful.
The bond network stabilized again.
Four anchors connected.
One slot waiting.
Elara finally spoke again.
"You should come with us."
Lyra groaned.
"Oh great."
"A Council interrogation."
Elara shook her head.
"Not interrogation."
Her eyes met Adrian’s.
"Discussion."
The system pulsed again.
And for the first time since the breach creature awakened beneath the city—
Adrian felt something unexpected.
Hope.
Because if the fifth anchor truly belonged to the Council...
Then the balance of power in the city was about to change completely.
A/N:
If you enjoyed the Chapter, don’t forget to support the story with Power Stones! The next Chapter will reveal what the Council truly knows about the breach creature—and whether Elara becomes the fifth anchor.
Thank you for reading! The story is entering a new phase where the hidden truths behind the Council and the breach creatures will start to unfold. Your support helps the story grow!
