Seducing the Guideverse With My System — Raising an Anomaly [BL]

Chapter 191: _The Lies Just Kept Stacking Up

After hesitating for a few more minutes—and sensing neither Devon nor Viktor were going to leave his suite soon—Ambrose crept out of his bedroom.

He’d made sure to change into some new clothes after realising the other ones he had on were marred with dust and blood.

"Uhm..." he managed to raise his head when he saw the two S-Ranks standing close to the kitchen. "Hey, guys."

Devon jerked while Viktor’s brows furrowed. They both snapped their necks in time to see the awkward smile curving his lips.

"I... Hope I didn’t get you guys worried." He said despite sensing how stressed out they were via the permanent links. "I had to handle something really quick and—"

"Handle something?" Devon’s eyes slid from his head to his toes like he was talking to a ghost speaking Japanese. "Rose, I’ve been searching for you for over two hours! What... what the fuck do you mean you hope we aren’t worried?"

Viktor chimed. "We should’ve gone ahead with that idea of putting a tracker on him." The snark in his voice could cause another ice age. "Ambrose, where were you? We looked everywhere in this suite and you definitely couldn’t have snuck out with those guards out there."

Ambrose stood petrified like a mannequin.

Maybe if he stayed still long enough they’d move on from this interrogation. Sadly, that wasn’t the case.

"I even tried calling your phone," Devon added. "And just like the other times you’ve vanished to ’handle something’ it either failed to connect or went straight to voicemail. No answers to my texts either. I was THIS close to alerting Guild security—"

"I’m sorry." Ambrose rushed out the words, raising his hands for good measure. "I–I know I messed up. I didn’t mean to scare you and honestly? It... just kinda happened."

"What did?"

There was no way he’d tell them about the system or the black mask and key. So—he told a lie that was surely going to backfire on him.

The first plausible and most realistic excuse.

"V–Valentine," he forced his expression to stay plain as he continued. "Yeah, he... came to the suite through one of Gabriel’s portals. He wanted to make further adjustments to the Necrotic Mark he placed on me."

Devon’s brows knitted. "Valentine?" When Ambrose nodded, the Esper’s face twisted further. "And where was Gabriel in all this?"

"He didn’t linger around and let us do our thing." The way the lies just kept stacking up made Ambrose want to escape to Mars.

It was Viktor’s turn to be puzzled. "Wait—aren’t SS-Ranks supposed to be occupied right now after the Void Entity’s latest attack?" It sounded more like an observation. "My mom gave me a ping. She’s supposed to be in a meeting or something."

’Curse you, Irina.’ Ambrose thought while maintaining his smile. "Yeah, but you know Valentine. Always the outlier when it comes to Hunter business."

The Espers exchanged a look that told him they either didn’t buy it or were trying hard to. Hopefully, it turned out to be the latter.

"Anyway," he stretched his arms lazily, brushing past them. "Anything new happen while I was out?"

When he had his back facing the boys, he split his attention to the system as well.

[REWARDS: +4000 EP and +5 points to every physical stats. Host also acquired a new System Title. Death Racer.]

His eyes lit up as he kept on reading.

[Death Racer: Once activated, the host’s speed and reflexes each get a three-times buff. Host’s thinking skills also multiply in a way that increases your chances of escaping life-threatening situations.]

[NOTE: Host still has access to the previous system title, ’Cataclysm breaker’.]

"No." Devon finally answered his question just then. "I guess now the next course of action is waiting for the Guild master’s return so he can clear you of whatever ridiculous accusation he made."

"And by the way, we’ve still got that video from Orion’s academy to review. Well... you do." The pause that came after that snagged Ambrose’s attention back to reality.

He dispelled the system screens, glancing over his shoulder at Devon. "You... watched it already?"

"I did." The Esper confirmed. "I couldn’t just let myself get restless over you for nothing."

Ambrose spun around so he could get a better angle of his face. "Well? Just tell me what happened in the video. Did you get to see the face of the bastard who set that bomb?"

The confusion on Viktor’s face made it painfully obvious that he wasn’t in the loop yet.

"Whoever it was... had a hoodie on." Devon broke the distance between them as he pulled out his phone. He swiped the video and handed it over to him. "Here."

Careful as though he just got handed something priceless, Ambrose grabbed the phone and locked his gaze on the screen.

[ALERT: Host’s EP has reached requirements for crossing over to the next rank. A-Rank.]

His breath hitched halfway through the clip. Wait—

[Due to your body taking its time to process the spike in aether, the levelling up process hasn’t begun yet.]

Memories of how it felt when he got to B-Rank raced through his head. ’How long do I have before it begins?’ Simultaneously, the clip fast-forwarded to an interesting part.

Outside Blue Diamond Academy, someone strode past like an everyday civilian. He couldn’t guess accurately but if he were to... he’d say they were male.

The man slipped a hand out of his hoodie pocket. A seemingly harmless movement at first glance—until he paused and zoomed in.

His eyes widened.

Right there between his fingers was a black box device. The tiny red light at its edge was even visible upon closer inspection.

The man merely dropped the bomb and like a magnet, it made its way beneath Devon’s car.

[Host has approximately ten seconds before the levelling process begins. I advise you to isolate... before things get ugly.]

Not giving himself time to process what he just watched, he passed the phone back to Devon.

"So? Did you see the—Rose?" The red-haired S-Rank frowned as Ambrose rushed past him and toward his bedroom door. "What are you doing?!"

Without looking back, Ambrose got into the room and slammed the door behind himself. He clicked all the locks shut, resting the back of his head against the doorframe.

It was happening.

He could sense the buildup of aether swirling violently through his chest. His eyes blinked rapidly as a blue light flickered past them.

Then—he doubled over, gasping as the process began like a storm in him. Aether flooded out of him in a wild burst before streaming back into him, forcefully strengthening muscles and bones.

Like he was being reborn.

"Ambrose?" Viktor knocked at the other end but halted.

The hairs across his arms stood on end.

’... Since when does a Guide have aether like this?’