Planet Deroxa, Elrod Household, 10:28 AM
"Boys! Girls! The food is ready!" Layla, also known as Mrs. Glade, shouted in an attempt to gain the attention of all the children.
However, she didn't account that she would also have to drag her husband and Noah, Lloyd's father, out of their couches to eat.
From what she had observed, they were currently watching a game on the TV, yet she did not care in the least about what they were watching, as in her eyes, the meal that she and Olivia had cooked was much more important than some silly game on the TV.
In fact, she never really understood what enjoyment there was from watching lots of men wrestle for a ball.
After a minute or so of calling everyone, they eventually all conceded. Before she knew it, the table was full, and everyone was ready to eat... Well, everyone if you exclude Lloyd's older brother, Richard, who was barely at home anyway due to him having to work all the time, and Lloyd himself.
"Where's Lloyd?" Asked Zack while stifling a yawn.
"Oh yeah, where's big brother?" Alice asked, her eyes squinting at the chair empty chair across the table.
Suddenly, a complicated expression appeared on all the adult's faces. They remembered the chat they had the night before when Lloyd had decided to leave and go to sleep.
Layla had told them all about Lloyd's emotional state when she had met him in front of the hospital, on the podium, and even right before he left to sleep upstairs.
Despite Layla being careful with her words, this only served to worry Lloyd's parents, as they were not stupid enough to take her "Careful words," as a sign of good news.
Many things happened after that, and even Ava was there to take part in the conversation, yet after Zack awoke, they quickly changed the subject into a more light-hearted matter.
Now that it was brought up again, they could not help but react weirdly, as what Layla had said the day before lingered in their minds and caused the words to echo vividly.
"He seems awfully stressed lately. I don't know why, but be more open with him and allow him to come to you for support. It was the best think you can do in situations like this."
As they thought of those words, they all let out a collective sigh before their eyes darted towards the stairs. This did not go unnoticed by the children, but they still chose to ignore it, thinking that it was just a coincidence.
However, that's when it hit...
*DOOOOOM*
All their eyes slowly widened as cold sweat covered the backs of everyone younger than Ava.
Frowns appeared on the faces of the adults as every one of them stood up with their weapons suddenly appearing in their hands.
A white hue expanded out of Rubert and enveloped the children in the room, allowing them to breathe again.
Even Zack was having a problem moving as he felt like a mountain was on his shoulders.
"Who dares!" Benjamin roared, making the wind blow around him violently.
"I believe the killing intent is coming from Lloyd's room, sir. Do not worry, though; he is the only person in the room, so he is not in danger."
"L-Lloyd? Are you suggesting that this is Lloyd's killing intent?" Olivia stuttered with disbelief.
"Hmm... I'm not sure. There are many ways to make killing intent appear in places despite not being there yourself. This doesn't feel like Lloyd's-"
Before Rubert could finish speaking, the killing intent disappeared, yet he did not continue since he could only helplessly watch Ava, Noah, Layla, Olivia, and Benjamin disappear from the room and appear in another area of the house.
***
Lloyd's eyes fluttered open before an expression filled with rage replaced his cold and stoic one.
The killing intent that he had mustered up in the fight against the wolf accidentally surged out of his body, yet he did not seem to recognize this fact as rage continued to burn within his eyes.
'I was so close! Damnit!'
He could still feel pain course through his body despite not being hurt in the least... Or, to be precise, his real body wasn't hurt in the least.
The scene of the wolf suddenly disappearing from in front of him caused him to grit his teeth, while the image of it appearing behind him and slashing at his back caused him to clench his hand into a fist.
However, after a few seconds, he finally let go and let his body relax.
Staying angry would do him no good, and while his mood might have been destroyed, something else made him feel a tinge of hope in his heart.
Looking down at his watch, a wry smirk perked up the corner of his lips while his eyes shone like violet saucers.
[Next Void Walk: 06D:23H:59M:59S]
However, the smile disappeared as fast as it came. Nothing but that wolf's death would be able to fix Lloyd's mood. The long wait for the next Void Walk only meant that Lloyd would have more time to prepare, and this time, he would not hesitate to kill that wolf the moment he saw it.
'Now that I think about it, I don't think that wolf was in the first commandment. Most likely, it was a half-step first commandment since the first commandments are much stronger than the wolf showed.' Lloyd scratched his cheek, his mood worsening after the sudden realization.
Knowing that he was beaten by a half-step hit his pride much worse than thinking he was beaten by a first commandment shadow wolf. However, despite being angry about how the fight went, he was glad that he was still alive.
Slowly, the killing intent that had unknowingly exploded out of him began to seep back into his body, and not before long, the killing intent vanished and what remained was an eerily quiet atmosphere.
Standing up, Lloyd walked to his bedroom door. A brow raised after feeling 5 presences behind it, yet he did not shy away from opening the door and taking a step out.
As he stepped out, a loud yawn left his mouth, and black circles were engraved under his eyes, indicating that he got very little sleep.
"L-Lloyd honey? Are you okay?" Olivia asked.
Looking at his mother, Lloyd raised a brow and replied. "Yeah, why?"
Seeing the nonchalant attitude, they all looked at him weirdly. They all knew what they felt, so they were surprised to see Lloyd's nonchalance.
However, even though the answer indicated Lloyd was fine, a few of them could not help but flinch when hearing his answer.
Despite his normal answer, they all heard a tinge of coldness behind it.
Seeing they had nothing to say, Lloyd shrugged and moved out of the way; however, his mouth could not help but twitch as his parents began to scan his room.
'Oh well... They can do whatever the hell they want. I don't actually care.'
Lloyd moved along and quickly entered the bathroom, and after seeing that Lloyd was nowhere to be seen, all of them slowly looked towards Layla, who was standing behind them with tightly knit brows.
"Rage..." She muttered.
"What?" Asked Olivia and Ava, almost in sync.
"His intent to kill, despite being suppressed, was extremely high. The rage behind it too..." Her frown deepened.
"So you are saying that-..." Benjamin's words halted his gaze on his wife's deep frown.
"Yes... The killing intent was his."
"What!? That's not possible." Noah shouted, but his wife held him back.
"It should be impossible, but the rage and resentment were enough to conclude my theory. It wasn't targeted at us, but it was targeted at something..." Layla rubbed the bridge of her nose.
"Maybe he had a bad dream?" Ava asked her expression the same as Layla's.
"Dream? Pfft! What he went through has to be the worst of nightmares for him to build that amount of rage. Let's not forget that there have been a lot of things about Lloyd recently that don't make much sense. Why was he at the abandoned hospital? When had he awakened? Three passive skills? The killing intent both yesterday and today. His purple eyes? You should begin questioning him because I am certain he won't tell you anything without an interrogation." Layla snorted while the rest had grim expressions on their faces.
***
"I feel much stronger, and my physique has improved again..." Lloyd muttered while looking at his shirtless upper body and flexing his muscles.
His body, while being muscular, was more on the lean side. It meant that he was both flexible and strong, which in hindsight, was the best physique for his fighting style.
'I still have no idea how my body works... Despite having read a lot about void walkers in the past, a lot of the information seems false. I don't have blood in my system, but I have muscles and organs. In fact, I wouldn't be capable of breathing if I didn't have muscles and organs, so how?'
Scratching his chin, he sighed out in frustration and promised himself that he would look further into the matter in the near future.
After a while of looking at himself in the mirror, he grabbed a lock of his wet hair and couldn't help but narrow his eyes.
Since his hair was disheveled before entering the shower, he did not see the full length of it, yet now that he was looking at it, he could not help but notice that it had grown a little.
It wasn't too tall, yet it was just enough for it to hinder his vision, or so he thought.
Despite the hair being in front of his eyes, he did not seem to have any problems seeing past it. In fact, to him, it was as if the hair wasn't even there as it did not disturb his vision in the least.
"Weird... But it still looking kind cool!" he muttered with a smirk.
After another 15 minutes, he finally left the bathroom.
*Step Step Step Step*
"Oh? You're finally awake sleep head?" Elana commented with a mocking smirk before going back to using her phone.
"Sit here. Make it quick!" Lloyd's mother waved at him; before long, he was already sitting at the table.
Eating his food in silence, Lloyd did not say a word and simply listened as the rest spoke with each other, with no signs of the previous event hindering their conversation, not that Lloyd knew what the event was in the first place.
Well, that was until-
"Lloyd! Did you feel the killing intent earlier? Even though it was scary, it was still kinda cool. I wonder who's killing intent that was."
Hearing Zack's words, Lloyd almost choked on his food.
'Killing intent? Earlier!? Oh sh*t, I think that was me!'
Coughing lightly, Lloyd tried to act as if he didn't almost choke on his food.
"Uhm... Well, of course, I felt it. Its the reason I woke up." Lloyd lied through his teeth.
"Ah, I see. You must have not felt it fully them. It was kind of amazing!" Zack exclaimed while Lloyd rubbed the bridge of his nose, something that did not go unseen by the rest of the adults in the room.
After eating all of his food, Lloyd stood and took his plate to the kitchen.
"Lloyd. Don't stand up until everyone is finished," Olivia suddenly reprimanded.
"I have something I need to do." Lloyd replied while entering the kitchen, and within seconds, he left and moved towards the coat hanger.
"Where do you think you are going so early in the morning?" Olivia asked.
"It's important. I'll come back in a few hours." Lloyd replied, traces of irritation threatening to appear in his voice.
Noah suddenly frowned, and with one movement, he was right next to Lloyd, his hand stretching to touch his shoulder.
'Danger.'
That was the only word that went through Lloyd's mind as the hand grew closer. Lloyd's mind raced, and his body moved independently.
*Swoosh*
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