Back to the election after both parties were finally satisfied, the competition between Cain and Lizzy was quite a sight to see.
Owen was always avoiding Cain like the plague, but Cain still managed to successfully promote him. As expected of a competent individual. He used merchandise, advertisements, newspapers and magazines, and hosted many events in Owen's name.
On the other hand, in addition to those gimmicks, Lizzy got herself associated with many different social groups within the academy. She had the advantage of being there in person to promote herself. The students would be more likely to vote for someone they knew rather than a person they only heard about but never actually met.
Ultimately, the re-election was like a side job for both of them and they eventually agreed to just let it run its course. They were more concerned about the completion of the main mission. While there were many solutions, they wanted to make sure their plans didn't end up clashing.
Thus, they gathered in the student council clubroom; Lizzy, Cain, Owen, and Daniel.
The flaw of the original graduation system was that they simply monitored the students' class performance and lifestyles rather than the technicalities of their prospective occupations. While the camera system allowed future employers to look at each individual student's accomplishments it was not very organized, and many students would be neglected. It was a given that most often than not, they would only take a glimpse at the top few students and ignore the bottom rung. Also, even though their futures were on the line, the more antisocial of the bunch would often shy away from opportunities.
In order to make their year unprecedented, they had to make sure even those at the bottom had successful careers after graduation.
Before they could brainstorm any major ideas, Evan waltzed into the room claiming he was pregnant. He had the pregnancy test to prove it but the world being an ABO world everyone in the room could smell his scent and tell that he wasn't lying even without the test.
Lizzy and Daniel stood to the side as if watching a show. They never involved themselves with that omega aside from the occasional interaction as acquaintances.
On the other hand, Owen snorted and also sat on the sidelines. He had been in this world since the moment he first saved Evan as tasked. Even if the chance of conceiving a child during estrus was at its highest, he was a host at the time and it was impossible for the child to have been his. Cain, however...
The child was obviously Cain's.
Lizzy hid a smile behind her hand as Daniel shook his head. Daniel knew his host. He would definitely not let that child come into the world.
"Kill it."
Moments after those words were spoken the room fell deathly silent. Evan paled and looked towards Cain who spoke with incredulity. Then he turned to Owen pleading with his eyes as he felt that Owen must have been the father because of the timing of their bonding.
But Owen never even looked his way. For some reason, Owen's sight never left the bandages around Lizzy's neck. That was, until he turned to Cain with an unfathomable gaze shortly after.
Evan finally remembered that even after he formed a pair with Owen he was treated like a dirty rag. Even though the mark had to be constantly renewed, it varied from alpha to alpha how often the renewal had to be done. It just so turned out that Owen was particularly powerful, and his mark could remain imprinted for a little over half a year. Evan only barged into the room and revealed his pregnancy because he started to panic when he realized Owen's scent was slowly disappearing from him. There would be nothing left by the time the election came.
Unwilling to get rid of his only handle over the two alpha males, Evan asked, "Why?"
Why did Owen not care about their child?
Why did Cain abandon him?
Cain burst into a cruel laughter, "I never cared about you from the start. You were my temporary relief, since my fiancée never even glanced my way."
To his unexpected reveal, everyone turned his direction with questioning eyes.
Cain turned towards Lizzy, "We were planning to announce it after you graduate."
Lizzy, "We?" She really had no idea what he was talking about. It wasn't in the script ah!
He lazily smirked, "Your father and I."
Lizzy tilted her head in contemplation, 'System, explain.' Why was this not mentioned in her bio.
[Uh...Maybe it was because the original soul was so knocked up on drugs that anything after that was clouded over? Please note that Lizzy was a mess months before her graduation.] 001 speculated. He was feeling pretty useless lately. He never helped his host and almost always only asked her questions! It's about time he helped her think things through!
"Why would you want to impeach her then?!" Evan was indignant.
Cain's chuckle was low, seductive, and full of suggestion, "Wouldn't she finally acknowledge me only when she no longer has to direct all of her attention onto insignificant others?"
The corner of Lizzy's lips twitched imperceptibly. Daniel was nodding furiously since Cain was very similar to his host in many ways. His things could only focus on him and no one else or it would be no fun!
Evan fell to the floor. He always thought that he was the one in control, but it turned out that he was the one running around on the palm of this man's hand the entire time. Then he suddenly laughed a sad and defeated laughter as his head lowered and a menacing and ruthless light flashed through his eyes that didn't go unnoticed by his three companions.
When Cain mentioned that Lizzy was his fiancée, Owen had frowned. After Evan's outburst, Owen stared at his uncle, "You."
"I can help you get rid of it if you hand her over to me."
Raising a brow, Lizzy inwardly mused. She was being passed around like a trophy.
[Host, you are very popular among the men ah.] 001 casually remarked.
Lizzy could understand Cain, but Owen was lost to her. Maybe the psychopath still wanted to kill her or something.
"Lizzy is mine," Cain's eyes were a dark pool of obsession and possessiveness as he threateningly glowered at Owen.
The atmosphere was tense as neither party wanted to back down.
Finally, Owen smiled a smile full of madness and took back his deal. He cackled maniacally and then abruptly stopped as his face turned grim.
"Fine. But she will be mine soon."
Then he left the room, and Cain was obviously annoyed by his parting declaration as he never retracted his glare from the direction in which Owen had departed.
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A few days after that incident and less than 3 days before the election, Cain, Lizzy, and Daniel were left alone to deal with how to complete the mission. It didn't take them long to find out a reasonable solution.
For now, to maintain their image as righteous people we shall skip over the solution and come back to it later in this chapter.
As for Evan, he went strangely silent after his confrontation. Lizzy had 001 monitor his actions and found out that he still planned to drug her! Also, he was going to release news about Cain and her scandalous affair in the record room--even at the cost of his own reputation since he was finally made aware that his reputation had gone to shit.
How was he going to reveal it? When they first started their illicit relationship, Cain had told him about the cameras. So, he was going to head to the chairman to ask for the film.
Lizzy didn't worry about that little tidbit as it also involved the current Cain, so she knew he would have tampered with everything already.
As for the drugging... she wanted to see just what he could do on the day of the election. Apparently, there was a drug that put alphas in a rut and omegas in heat. It was especially strong and even had permanent effects. The most daunting part was that it only took one little prick of a needle to work.
Just as she was about to call 001 back, she saw that Cain had intruded upon Evan in his room. Being the delusional child that he was, Evan was extremely excited and filled with no suspicion whatsoever when he accepted the boxed lunch that was given to him along with a few coaxing words from the older man. When Cain left, Evan immediately dove right in and not even five minutes later did he curl up into a fetus position clenching his stomach in pain. A large patch of blood was forming on his pants and it was not hard to guess what transpired.
Evan obviously figured out what happened and seemingly went insane as he threw his entire room into chaos; ripping his blankets and pillows, throwing the glass vases, chucking the clock out of the window. The lights were busted, and the room became dark.
Suddenly, the door opened once more, and light flowed in like a river. Cain was leaning against the doorframe bathed in that light like a god, yet his presence equaled that of a demon or a bringer of death as he'd just killed his own child in the womb. Evan ran up to him in a frenzy ready to attack him, but Cain simply pulled something out from his sleeve and swiftly swiped it across the bare skin of Evan's extended palms; then he bent to the side to dodge the incoming figure as it fell to the floor next to the larger man's black shoes.
He called in some alphas to Evan's room shortly after. Since the omega wanted to climb up the social ladder by seducing powerful alphas, he would gladly send him some very powerful alphas. Then he walked out of the room, not forgetting to shut the door behind him. The soundproofing in the building was truly high-class ah.
As if he noticed her across 001's display, Cain looked at Lizzy straight in the eyes through the screen and flashed her a smug smirk before she called her system back.
Truthfully, Cain thought that such a drug would probably be very satisfying, but at the same time he did not like the thought of Lizzy's eyes losing their luster that he found to be the most attractive characteristic of hers.
Also, even if she were to take that drug, only he could feed it to her--he was the only one who was allowed to defeat Lizzy. He should be the only one to defile her, to make her cry, and to make her angry. Also to make her smile, laugh, and express any sort of emotion for that matter.
Cain still had yet to unravel all of her, and he was looking forward to it.
After all, only Lizzy could make him feel anything other than boredom, so he wanted to be the only one for her too, or he would feel like he was defeated by her again.
So, he could not forgive Evan for trying to steal what was his. That was why he did what he did.
Daniel was nearby and had asked him mentally why he didn't take the drug to complete his side task, [Side Task 3: Use the drug to break Lizzy and make her submit. Reward: 200 points]. His host had never given up the opportunity to maximize his profits before.
Cain simply chuckled dangerously in response, "What's the fun in breaking the new toy that I have yet to tire of?"
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In the end, the election was very anticlimactic. It made Lizzy very happy that she did not invest too much thought and effort into it.
While her speech was pretty run-of-the-mill and showcased her qualities and even some imperfections to make her seem more down-to-earth rather than an unreachable Ice Goddess, Owen had outright declared that if they dared to vote for him he would kill them all. His bloodthirst told the crowd that he was not kidding, so very few if any ended up voting for him in the end for fear of ending their lives.
The poor idiots that did vote for him? They claimed that the votes were anonymous but somehow Owen's nose was even sharper than a dog's by an exponential amount and let's just say that some students were never heard from ever again. There was no evidence, however so no charges could be filed against him and even if there were he was a Williams. His status alone practically allowed him murder with no repercussions.
Cain had already expected such an outcome. In fact, after seeing the two interact, Lizzy concluded that they were both acquainted with one another. As in, they were aware of their identities outside of this world.
It was already mentioned before, but Owen truly avoided Cain like he was dog shit. In contrast to his interactions with Cain, Owen had softened his temperament somewhat when he was around Lizzy. Sometimes, he would leave her taken aback when he'd go up to sniff her and mumble something like, "...really good" or he'd just hum in gratification then walk away.
As for Daniel, at first Lizzy thought he was another host who actually befriended Cain, but Owen viewed him as if he were a dead or inanimate object so she quickly adjusted her outlook and came to a frightening deduction; he was Cain's system. This would mean that Cain was more than just a veteran. He was a previous winner.
Disregarding human relations, things flowed quite smoothly after the election. As Lizzy had predicted, appointing Owen as the leader of the disciplinary committee was very effective especially after the students found out that those who had voted for him had been spirited away. Furthermore, Cain's lessons from hell offered to all seniors were extremely helpful in earning everyone top grades. No other year prior to theirs had ever had such a high ratio of perfect scores. This year, over eighty-percent of the graduating students had perfect scores. The top ratios from previous years never even came close to sixty-percent!
Even as a teacher, Cain proved himself to be a formidable host.
Lizzy didn't really have to do much aside from chairing the meetings between the leaders of all of the committees and groups within Central. She was also responsible for inviting the various big shots of the countries and leading industries to recruit the graduates.
Also, going back to how exactly they could guarantee that each and every senior would be in a top position upon graduation, Cain left that to her as well since she happened to be the most laidback and free out of the two.
Yes, two. Because Owen was literally just a sitting ice block throughout the entire mission. His presence was all they needed and neither Lizzy or Cain felt that it was worth it to bother the psycho into doing anything more than that.
Their solution: hacking.
To ensure every student and committee had the funds to continue and exceed in their projects, Lizzy had hacked countless national treasuries from countries all over the world. And to hide her traces, she transferred the money into the accounts of every senior according to a merit system. She explained to them that they were donations and scholarships--free money--and that they should accept it and use it to ensure their futures. This way, the students were not only extremely affluent, they also displayed the extents of their abilities to the fullest while enrolled on the academy.
Most importantly, these seniors would in turn become the richest investors in the world, so the other countries would actually NEED to recruit them. After all, there was a sudden massive drop in the economy worldwide and all of the money ended up in the hands of the graduates. In order to set the world back in order these seniors were simply a godsend.
[How shameful ah!] 001 denounced.
'Shut up. It works, doesn't it?'