The academy infirmary smelled like strong medicine and sterile alcohol. Zen sat on the edge of a bed while an older nurse carefully rubbed a glowing green Vitality gel over his bruised ribs.
Valeria stood next to him. She had a tight grip on his left hand and glared at the nurse the entire time.
"Be careful," Valeria warned. Her voice dropped into a dark tone. "You're pressing too hard."
The nurse swallowed hard and nodded quickly. She quickly wrapped a bandage around Zen's chest, then stepped back. "He will be fine. He just needs some rest."
Valeria's expression instantly changed back to a sweet smile as she looked at Zen. "See? I told you I would take care of you."
She let go of his hand, then picked up her bag. "I need to use the restroom, Zen. I will be back in five minutes. Don't move."
Once she walked out the door, the older nurse immediately let out a sigh of relief. She quickly unclipped Zen's chart from the bed.
"Alright, Arclight, you are discharged," the nurse said, rushing him along. "We have three students from the B-Rank practical coming in with severe burns. I need this bed empty right now. Go rest in your dorm."
Zen didn't argue. He grabbed his canvas bag. He double-checked that the Mid E-Rank Heart-Stone was still hidden inside. He slipped out the side door of the infirmary before Valeria even made it back from the restroom.
He walked back to the Scrap Dorms alone. He just wanted to lie down on his mattress and sleep.
But as soon as he stepped into his hallway, he smelled heavy smoke.
The fire alarms were turned off, but a thick layer of black soot covered the walls. A few students were standing around in the hallway whispering to each other.
Zen walked past them and stopped dead in his tracks.
His room was… gone.
The heavy metal door was completely melted off its hinges. Inside everything was turned to ash. His bed, his terminal, his clothes. All of it was a burnt blackened mess.
The dorm manager, an old man was standing in the hallway shaking his head.
"What happened?" Zen asked.
"Electrical magical fire," the manager grunted. "A bad wire behind the wall. It fried the whole room in minutes. It was so hot it even melted the steel frame. Good thing you weren't inside, kid."
Zen clenched his fists. "Kaelen," he thought. The Mid B-Rank student had probably made another attempt and failed, so he sent his goons to burn his room down as a message.
Zen walked closer, looking at the melted edges of the steel door. Something didn't add up.
"System," Zen thought. "Analyze the burn pattern. What's the probability that a Mid B-Rank student like Kaelen can produce this kind of heat?"
[Probability is less than 10%. The melting point of this military-grade steel is over 1500 degrees Celsius. Target: Kaelen Thorne's B-Rank output is insufficient. The thermal residue perfectly matches a concentrated micro-burst of S-Rank golden Aegis mana.]
Zen froze.
It wasn't Kaelen.
"Can I get another room?" Zen asked.
"Sadly no," the manager said flatly. "We are completely booked. There are no empty rooms left in the whole academy. You'll have to squat with Jax or another friend until the end of the semester."
"Zen!" a familiar panicked voice echoed down the hallway.
Val ran up to him. She pushed through the crowd of students. She looked absolutely horrified. She covered her mouth with both hands as she looked at the burnt room.
"Oh my gods!" Valeria gasped. "I went back to the infirmary and they said you left! Then I heard people talking about a fire in the dorms! Your room... It's completely destroyed!"
Zen stared at her. She was a good actress. He remembered her leaving the infirmary for exactly five minutes to "use the restroom." That was more than time for a Goddess of War to blink over to the dorms, vaporize his room and blink back without anyone catching her.
"I don't have to sleep," Zen said calmly, playing along. "The manager said I have to squat with someone."
Valeria's eyes flashed with a dark intensity at the idea of him living with someone else. But she quickly hid it behind a mask of fake sympathy. She reached out and grabbed his hands.
"You can't sleep on someone's floor Zen! You are injured," she said sweetly. "My family just rented a townhouse for me off-campus. It is very secure.. It has a spare bedroom."
Zen looked at her. Her red eyes were shining with that obsessive possession behind her fake glasses.
"You can stay with me," Val whispered. She stepped closer so only he could hear. "Just until you get back on your feet. I want to keep you safe."
"Val, I can't," Zen replied. "Ares is a military academy. F-Ranks aren't allowed to live off-campus. If I leave the dorms without admin approval, Dean Alaric will expel me and send me straight to the front lines."
Valeria's sweet smile remained on her lips. She reached into her skirt pocket and pulled out a silver datapad. She tapped the screen once and showed it to Zen.
It was an official Off-Campus Housing Exemption. It had Zen's full name on it, and at the bottom was Dean Alaric's personal digital signature.
"Don't worry about the Dean," Valeria said happily. "I had a very long talk with him while you were in the infirmary. I told him how traumatized you were by the dungeon malfunction. He completely agreed that you needed a quiet, secure environment to recover. He signed the pass himself."
Zen stared at the digital signature. The Dean hadn't agreed to anything. Valeria had probably walked into his office, threatened to vaporize him and the entire school, and forced him to sign it.
She had manipulated the entire situation perfectly. She burned his room down, blocked off the other dorms, and blackmailed the head of the academy, all so Zen would have absolutely no choice but to go home with her.
Zen knew it was a trap. She was locking him in her golden cage.
But as he looked at her, he remembered what the System had told him yesterday. He couldn't forcefully extract his soul fragment from her because of her overwhelming power.
The only way to siphon his 'Body' fragment back was through intense, prolonged intimacy and proximity.
He needed to get close to her. He needed to make her drop her guard, all while keeping his identity as the Emperor a total secret. Living with her was playing with fire, but it was the most efficient way to steal his power back.
Plus, he needed a highly secure place to absorb the boss core tonight.
"Okay, Val," Zen sighed, letting his shoulders drop in fake defeat. "Thank you. I'll stay with you."
Valeria beamed. It was a happy, victorious smile. She hooked her arm through his, completely ignoring the burnt ashes of his life behind them.
"Let's go home, partner," she said.