My Tribrid System: More than a Monster

Chapter 466

Since it had been three weeks since the whole invasion with the Abberants, and with the rush of trying to get everything in place and repair the damaged infrastructure, the Corps hadn’t had the time to assign the surviving Aspirants to their respective groups.

And with the whole trial coming up soon, the entire Military Corps was more than busy, sorting out countless issues here and there.

Hence, for now, the remaining Aspirant survivors were to be kept at the Aspirant Corps pending when everything had been sorted out and they were finally required to join whichever group they wished to join.

Aside from the repairs and reconstruction, the Corps was also worried about something else.

With what the Aspirants had experienced at the hands of the Abberants, the Vanguard Order would be lucky if they got five new members.

The Aspirants were shaken beyond imagination.

The incident had been more than traumatic for a bunch of sixteen- and seventeen-year-old teenagers.

They had watched their friends die.

Comrades they had trained alongside.

People they had fought with or fought beside.

Even instructors had fallen.

They had witnessed things no teenager should ever have been forced to see.

Some would no longer be willing to fight the Abberants and might simply join the Iron Corps instead. Others might choose to join the different factions across the world that didn’t require them to battle those monstrosities anymore.

And with the trial approaching, some Aspirants were constantly being called in for interrogations.

The Military Corps was pooling together witnesses and investigating whatever they could find about Ray, even going as far as calling his friends in for testimony and interrogation.

That was why the Aspirants weren’t allowed to return home yet.

They were all required to remain within the Corps until the trial was over.

Only after they had chosen whichever path they wanted to follow in life would they be allowed to return to their families.

Walking into the room Kai, Van and Ray shared were Felix, Trisha and Chloe, joining the other three after another bout of interrogations.

The group had barely stepped inside before they all crashed into the room, exhaustion written plainly across their faces.

Kai, Van and Felix sat on Kai’s bed while the girls sat on Ray’s bed, mostly because Van’s bed was filled with some ”junks.”

The room became silent.

Nobody spoke.

They simply stared at the wall, each of them lost in their own thoughts.

None of the Aspirants had been informed about what would happen to Ray yet.

They hadn’t been given a proper breakdown.

They were simply called in almost every day for interrogations.

The questions asked were mostly about how they knew the Tribrid, what he was like to them, and what they thought of him.

That was only for starters.

Eventually, the questions delved deeper, becoming more personal and uncomfortable with every passing interrogation.

It was almost as if the Military was desperately searching for something that could prove Ray was a threat.

”Sigh.... So what now?” Van finally spoke up as he rubbed his temples tiredly.

His voice sounded drained.

Not just physically.

”...Well, we wait. So far, it doesn’t seem like they want to kill him yet.” Kai uttered bleakly.

Chloe tightened her hands together across her lap as she stared at the ground.

Her fingers were clenched tightly enough for her knuckles to pale.

Trisha, on the other hand, dropped her head low.

Her eyes flashed and glistened with tears which she tried her hardest to fight back.

None of them wanted to cry.

Not again.

But the helplessness was eating away at them.

They all felt helpless.

...Helplessly weak and useless.

Their friend had been taken away from them, and it had happened right in front of them.

They couldn’t do a thing.

They couldn’t even visit him.

They couldn’t speak to him.

They couldn’t even find out what was happening to him.

All they could do was wait.

”I don’t know if it’s the same with you all here, but where I’m from,” Felix began as he turned his head towards the others.

They all looked at him.

”...If they haven’t known what to do with you yet and don’t know of your innocence, a trial is usually held to determine what is to be done with you.”

Felix paused, his expression becoming more solemn.

”If you are found guilty, you get executed on the spot in front of every single soul watching.”

”....”

Van’s hands tightened into fists as he gnashed his teeth, his frustration and guilt slowly eating away at him.

”It’s—it’s all my fault.”

Kai lifted a brow.

”Now, now, let’s not start a blame game here.”

Van snapped his head upward.

”Of course it’s my fault! If I hadn’t infiltrated the Mothership and gotten so badly beaten by that damned Abberant, Ray would never have delved into rage mode, which essentially meant him fighting that creature.”

His voice grew louder as the guilt he had been carrying finally began spilling out.

”We could have all excluded ourselves from the battle without anybody realizing. We would all be—”

”—And you claim to be his best friend?”

Trisha chimed in with a lifted brow.

Van’s words died in his throat.

Trisha looked in his direction, grinding her teeth for a moment before releasing a quiet sigh.

”Sooner or later, he would have still been forced to go all out for us.”

Her voice was calm, but there was something heavy beneath it.

”That’s the kind of person he has always been. From the Tier One Gate till the invasion, he is always throwing himself out there for us.”

She lowered her gaze.

”Whether he acts like he only cares about you or not, it doesn’t change the fact that we mean a lot to him too.”

Van’s fists slowly loosened.

Trisha paused for a second before looking toward the ceiling, her eyes carrying a sadness that none of them were accustomed to seeing from her.

”.... So it’s not just your fault. It’s all of ours.”

Her fingers curled against the fabric of her clothes.

”We are all at fault for being weak. So weak that Ray has to constantly keep throwing himself out there, over and over again, just to keep us safe.”

”....”

Her voice became quieter.

”We aren’t worthy of being with him if we keep dragging him down and forcing him to always transform to protect us.”

The room fell completely silent.

Not a single person spoke.

All eyes landed on the Ice Queen.

Was this how she truly felt?

For so many months, the cohort had never been able to guess what went on inside her head.

Trisha had always been opaque, hiding behind a wall of ice that nobody had been able to break through.

But here....

....Here she was, openly admitting that she was weak.

And the truth was, she wasn’t the only one who felt that way.

At that moment, most of them did.

Kai slowly clenched his hands into fists, his teeth grinding together.

’She—She’s right.’

His eyes hardened.

’I need more strength. The threat I’m facing is becoming greater than what I can handle.’

His fingers trembled slightly.

’I—I need more power.’

But then, his heart suddenly dropped to his stomach.

’...But then, I—I will have to return.’

His breathing became heavier.

’I—I will have to go back.’

He gulped inwardly, his heart racing as dread washed over him.

’Forget Ray. If I were to return, I won’t be allowed to leave again....alive.’

”Uh...”

Felix suddenly broke the silence, glancing around the room.

”I’m curious, where’s that annoying Legacy?”

Chloe looked at him in confusion.

”Who? Caster?”

”Yeah. That one.”

Van snapped out of his thoughts and looked around the room.

”That’s right. I haven’t seen him today, though. Where did he go?”