Chapter 416: Awake

The assistant nodded. "His name is Jayden Starrk," she said. "He recently graduated from Eleanora High. He lives with a surrogate family of four and reportedly survived a lightning accident several months ago,"

Xander continued examining the photograph.

The assistant sighed. "We’ve actually reviewed the footage several weeks ago, following the incident. But... at the time, we put the matter aside because of the vigilante’s emergence."

Xander let out a soft sigh. Scorched was no ordinary fighter, and the circumstances surrounding his death had raised questions. But the appearance of a masked vigilante operating against the syndicate had demanded more immediate investigation.

Xander had decided to prioritize the vigilante. Jayden Starrk had subsequently slipped to the back of his mind.

"Perhaps I shouldn’t have dismissed the matter so quickly," he murmured.

He looked up from the tablet and toward the arena.

"What is he doing all the way out here on Zeta? That’s a long way from home."

He paused for a moment, his mind racing.

Then his expression changed.

"Wait a minute," he turned to his assistant. "What abilities did the boy display that night during his fight with Scorched?"

The assistant didn’t need to search for long. She had already begun compiling the relevant information.

"After reviewing the footage of the entire incident, from the initial break-in to the rescue, we identified several abilities including, Invisibility, super strength, size manipulation, fire manipulation, super speed, telekinesis, matter absorption, and poison secretion."

She shook her head, still sounding incredulous.

"That’s... eight abilities in total. I can’t believe one teenage boy could possess so many."

Xander didn’t respond. He was staring at the screen.

Eight abilities.

He thought back to the arena. The speed. The poison. The claws.

Then he thought about the masked vigilante who had been tearing through the syndicate’s operations.

Slowly, the corner of his mouth lifted.

A moment later, he burst into laughter. It was a sudden, genuine laugh, so unlike his usual measured amusement that his assistant stared at him in surprise.

"Is everything okay?"

Xander looked toward the arena again.

"How did I not see it before?" he muttered.

His assistant raised a brow.

"See what?"

Xander turned to her, his eyes gleaming.

"Tell me something. What abilities has the Hunter displayed so far?" he asked.

She immediately understood that he was testing a theory.

"Well, based on the reports, the Hunter has demonstrated telekinesis, invisibility, intangibility, super strength, super speed, fire manipulation, claw protraction, and... poison secretion..."

She paused. Her eyes widened in realization.

"Wait... you don’t think..." She looked at Jayden in disbelief.

Xander smiled, thoroughly satisfied by her realization.

"It seems our little vigilante has been standing right in front of us this entire time."

His assistant didn’t look entirely convinced. "But... the Hunter’s signature ability is intangibility. Jayden Starrk has never been observed using intangibility before."

Xander chuckled. "Just because a person hasn’t been seen using an ability doesn’t mean they don’t possess it."

He gestured toward the arena.

"Consider what we know. Both possess super strength, super speed, invisibility, telekinesis, fire manipulation, claw protraction, and poison secretion. That’s seven identical abilities."

He held up a finger.

"Not one. Not two. Seven."

His assistant fell silent, considering the logic.

"If the EVA had access to this information," Xander continued, "they would identify Jayden Starrk as Hunter without a second thought. They would investigate him, compare the evidence, and draw precisely the same conclusion."

He glanced at the tablet again.

"Besides, we already know that the boy is capable of hiding his abilities. Perhaps he’s simply been more careful about revealing some of them than others."

"Perhaps," she conceded. "But how do we confirm it?"

Xander’s smile widened. He placed the tablet on the armrest. "Easy. We make him use intangibility. If he displays that final ability, there won’t be any reason for doubt."

His assistant nodded. "I suppose that would be the case. But how do you intend on going about it?"

Xander’s gaze drifted toward the arena, where Jayden was receiving the prize.

For a few seconds, he said nothing.

Then he smiled.

"Call Rick. Tell him I have a small assignment for him. We’re going to find out just how much of our little theory is true."

.......

Down on the podium, Jayden accepted the case containing the Energy Converter and began walking back to his seat.

As he walked, everyone stared at him. People who had been shouting over bids only minutes earlier now watched him pass in silence. Some whispered among themselves. Others deliberately avoided meeting his eyes.

He could hardly blame them. He had made himself a rather memorable spectacle.

Still, something bothered him.

Why didn’t anyone challenge me?

He had expected at least one person to be stubborn enough to try. After all, these were the same people who had watched Polly rip out an SS-Rank pioneer’s heart and still believed they could take her on.

But looking back, he noticed that the circumstances had been different.

Polly had worn a blindfold. That had given her opponents a reason to underestimate her. Some had probably assumed she couldn’t see, while others had believed that overwhelming her with numbers would compensate for whatever skill she possessed.

They had been wrong. And the consequences had been impossible to ignore.

And perhaps, that was the reason they didn’t challenge him. They had no idea whether he possessed other abilities, whether his poison was the only way he could kill them, or whether he could move even faster.

After Polly, that uncertainty was enough. The audience had learned what happened when they underestimated an apparently harmless teenager.

They didn’t want to make the same mistake twice.

Jayden reached the steps leading to the seating area.

Kyle was already waiting in the aisle. The enormous man looked as though he had just witnessed the greatest sporting event of his life.

Jayden held out the case. "Here."

Kyle accepted it and immediately slipped it into his storage ring.

Then he looked at Jayden again, shaking his head in disbelief.

"Damn, kid. Big T told me you were strong, but that was insane! Nobody even dared to challenge you! Did you see their faces? I thought someone would try, but the entire place went quiet!"

Jayden chuckled. "I guess they figured the artifact wasn’t worth dying for."

Kyle laughed. "You’re unbelievable, kid! Big T is going to be thrilled."

"Yeah. Can we go now?"

Kyle nodded. "Of course. Of course! We’ve got what we came for."

"Good," Jayden started walking toward the exit. "I have things to do back home."

Kyle followed, still smiling. "Then let’s not keep you waiting."

They continued through the amphitheater’s exit, leaving behind the noise of the auction and the lingering whispers about the mysterious teenager who had ended the shortest match in Grand Exchange history.

Meanwhile....

On Earth,

The sun had set over Emerald City, casting a deep crimson glow across the quiet suburban neighborhood.

Jessica and Tasha stepped through the front door of their house, stretching their aching muscles. They had just returned from an intensive, six-hour training session with Cassandra and Aileen at Cassandra’s house.

"I swear, Cassandra is trying to kill us," Jessica groaned, dropping her gym bag onto the floor. "My arms hurt like hell."

"Complaining won’t make the pain go away, Jessica," Tasha chuckled behind her. Then she looked toward the staircase and paused.

Something felt wrong.

She couldn’t immediately explain what had caught her attention. The house wasn’t particularly noisy to begin with, and the silence itself wasn’t unusual.

But there was a faint chill in the air.

And not the pleasant coolness of an air-conditioned room. This was different.

Jessica rubbed her arms. "Is it just me, or is it cold in here?"

"Yeah. I feel it too," Tasha stepped past her and looked around.

"Maybe it’s the AC?"

"The air conditioning isn’t on," Tasha said. She knew that because she’d switched it off before leaving.

She began climbing the staircase, and Jessica followed after her.

"What’s going on?" Jessica asked.

"I don’t know," Tasha replied. "But we need to check the attic and make sure the Winter Wolf is still—"

She stopped mid-sentence.

Jessica froze beside her, her eyes widening in shock.

At the end of the hallway, the wooden door leading up to the attic was wide open. Frosty, white mist rolled down the wooden stairs, spilling over the steps like liquid ice.

The girls exchanged a look of pure terror.

"Oh no..." Tasha whispered, her heart hammering against her ribs.

Without a second thought, both girls sprinted up the stairs and hurried into the attic.

The place was in disarray.

Several storage boxes had been pushed aside, and a thick layer of frost coated the floor. Cold mist drifted through the room, curling around the furniture and disappearing beneath the rafters.

But the thing that immediately drew their attention was the center of the room.

The ice cocoon was empty.

It had been shattered into thousands of sparkling crystalline shards. The ice was already rapidly melting into puddles on the floorboards.

Tasha’s eyes widened.

The Winter Wolf was missing.

"Oh, no..." Jessica gasped, her eyes scanning the empty room. "Oh no, no, no... where is she?!"

"AAAAAAHHHHHH!"

A blood-curdling, high-pitched scream suddenly echoed from down the hallway on the main floor.

"Mom!" Tasha yelled.

Both girls spun around and bolted back down the stairs, their heart rates skyrocketing. They rounded the corner into master bedroom and skidded to a halt in the doorway.

Standing in the center of the room, looking utterly petrified, was Harleen. She was clutching a laundry basket like a shield, her eyes wide as saucers, staring at the corner near her wardrobe.

Standing in the shadow of the wardrobe was a girl. She looked no older than eighteen, with flawless, porcelain skin and long, sweeping hair as white as fresh snow. Cold steam rolled off her bare shoulders, and her eyes were a radiant icy-blue.

She was totally naked, looking around the room with the wide, terrified, and utterly bewildered expression of a lost child who didn’t understand where she was—or what she was.

Harleen slowly turned her trembling head toward her daughters.

"J-Jessica... Tasha... who... who is this?! How did she get into the house? Is she one of your friends?"

Jessica and Tasha stared at the white-haired girl. They looked at the frost forming beneath her feet. They looked at the cold radiating from her skin.

The realization hit them like a freight train.

Tasha slowly covered her mouth with both hands, her eyes wide.

"You don’t think..."

"It’s her," Jessica whispered, a mixture of sheer disbelief and hysterical amusement washing over her face. "It’s the Winter Wolf..."

The white-haired girl blinked, staring at them. She seemed to be trying to mimic their stance before giving a soft, confused tilt of her head, almost like a curious puppy.

Jessica couldn’t hold it in anymore. She threw her head back and let out a loud, breathless laugh.

"Oh, man. I can’t wait to see the look on Jayden’s face when he gets back and sees this."