The two continued to fight their way out of the bullies, albeit getting beaten up every single time.

Isabelle showed the fastest growth she ever had as the practice of martial arts finally paid off. She gradually fought back and beat them up.

Unfortunately, Evan wasn't as fast as her. He tried to train martial arts as well, but he couldn't reach Isabelle's level.

It continued for several months until they got visited by an organization from the Government. It was when they had fought against the bullies again and laid down, watching the blue sky on the roof.

"Huft… I still can't beat them." Isabelle let out a long sigh.

"Are you seriously saying that? Because of your progress, they have brought more and more people to us recently. And you say you can't beat them when you have defeated twelve of them."

"They can't use their magic, so I have the advantage. You should step up your game soon since you can only beat four of them. We need to defeat the other fours before we claim our victory." Isabelle panted while smiling.

"They will just get more people here. How many people do you think bullied you in the past?"

"Ehm… I don't know?"

"There are thirty-five people, or you can say seven groups."

"Wow?! Well, I need to be more shameless then." She laughed.

"…" Evan was speechless.

*Creak!*

The sound of the door opening rang in their ears as they immediately turned around. Normally, the teachers wouldn't bother with them, so they were pretty confused as to why someone actually came here.

Contrary to their expectation, the ones coming were two people, a male and a female, wearing a black and white formal suit. They also wore black sunglasses as they walked toward them.

Evan and Isabelle immediately rose from the floor, ignoring the tiredness of their body.

"Who are you?!" Isabelle shouted.

They were surely not guests invited by the school, considering their clothing and aura.

"We are from the Government. I am Blint, and the one beside me is Rei. We have a proposal to you guys regarding the project we are working on."

"Rather than asking useless people like us, it's better to discuss it with our family instead." Evan narrowed his eyes. The fact that they came to them instead of their fathers was already beyond ridiculous.

Isabelle nodded in agreement as she slowly came closer to Evan, trying to protect him if the two before them were spies or killers. At the very least, they needed to get away from this unfavorable situation first.

"We have come to your respective family and discussed this project with them. Because of the risk, they are slightly inclined to reject the proposal, but they have agreed to let both of you choose. If you are not convinced, you can call them first. We will wait."

Isabelle and Evan exchanged looks before nodding their heads at the same time. Since they couldn't trust these two people yet, they would call their parents one at a time, starting with Evan.

"Do you need anything from me, Evan? It's rare for you to call me in a situation like this."

"Father… I would like to ask you something," said Evan while staring at the two people.

"Hmm?! Is this concerning Isabelle? What? You want me to discuss your marriage."

"Can you get serious a little bit?"

"Fine, fine. What do you want to ask?"

"There are two people coming to us right now, inviting us to join this project of theirs…"

"Alright. They are real. I have been informed by the president himself."

"The president? He is the one leading this project?"

"Do you know Ria Ross?"

"Of course. She is recognized as the strongest person in this base after killing an S rank magical beast."

"But do you know that Ria Ross was originally a scientist?"

"So, I have heard," Evan acknowledged.

"She had a breakthrough in the way of medicine, and the Government took over the project. As for the specific reason, you need to ask them yourself."

"I understand." Evan nodded and put down his device, glancing at Isabelle.

Although his father had given the confirmation, he wanted to get another one from Isabelle's father before trusting them. And it turned out they were correct. Both fathers told them about the project coming from the highest command.

"Before you give us your answer, we need to inform you that everything we need to explain will be military secrets, so you need to consider whether you wish to know it or not."

"What can we expect from this?"

"I believe you two should follow us first, so you can learn it directly from the head of this project."

Isabelle and Evan thought for a moment and nodded.

Four of them went toward a building where they met an elder that seemed to be the leader. They didn't know his identity, but they were certain of one thing. He was a higher up even in the Government.

"I am Greg, the one in charge of this progress. I have been informed by my subordinate earlier, so I won't beat around the bush. What you can expect from this is strength… You might get strength beyond your imagination, but if you can't endure it, you will die." The old man narrowed his eyes.

"What do you want us to do?" Isabelle asked.

"You are going to fuse with magical beast blood."

"What?!" Both of them were stunned, rising from their seats.

"The one who has discovered this already succeeded once. There won't be any physical defects, at least in your appearance, so no one will know about you having magical beast blood flowing in your body.

"At the same time, you will be granted powerful strength according to the blood. And even I won't know about it. Although Professor Ria Ross has succeeded once with a hundred percent success rate, this is still a high-risk operation, so I want to consider this carefully.

"In case you reject, we will still let you live the way you are as long as you don't say anything about this. After all, the moment we heard you spreading this information, you and your family will pay the price." The director explained.

Evan thought for a moment and asked, "Why us? I mean, you should have no problem in getting experimental subjects, right? And we are just useless kids."

"Because you have experienced more pains than anyone else. And the way you keep coming back up has convinced me."

Evan slightly furrowed his eyebrows before glancing at Isabelle.

"To be honest, in terms of the requirements, no one is as strong as both of you. I have seen their talents, but that is all. The most important requirement is your heart. You want to get stronger no matter how hard you are beaten to the ground, and this is what I want from both of you."

"There are other people as well? How many?"

"Actually, this is not our first time doing this. There is also another one that has succeeded, but I can't talk much about it unless you are participating in this project."

"Suppose I were to join, what should I do?"

"You need to stay in a place for a few months so we can observe your condition and so on. After that, you can do whatever you want with the power as long as you don't break the law. You can continue your school life without our interference."

"Since you have succeeded once, I want to ask the last question."

"Go on."

"What is the fatality rate?"

"Because we are carefully choosing the people, we don't really test it to too many people. The success rate is one in a hundred."

"I see." Evan nodded and leaned back, allowing Isabelle to ask her questions.

"Are you going to join?" Isabelle asked this question to Evan instead of the director.

"…" Evan fell silent. "I think you shouldn't ask this. How about we do this? Get two papers with Yes and No written on them. We choose our own answer without looking at each other."

Isabelle contemplated before nodding. They ignored the director and chose their own path. And to their surprise, both of them decided to join this program.

And just like that, they looked at the director and said at the same time. "Please take care of us."

"…" The director was speechless, didn't know if it was due to their synergy or how easy they chose their own path. Nonetheless, they were the favored candidates, so it was good news to him. The director then started explaining everything regarding the Zodiac Project.

…

"That was the story… And You already know the part after that." Evan smiled, looking at Isabelle's face. He somehow ended up laying down with his head on her lap as the latter told him it was a reward.

"There are many things that I want to say, but I am glad that you are not treating me like the previous time. I mean, it's frustrating to have you ignore me and act nonchalantly as if there was nothing between us, you know."

"I am sorry for that."

"Well, I can understand your point of view right now, so I don't really mind about it." Isabelle smiled from ear to ear before saying. "Still, to think that you have loved me since that time…"

Evan knew she was talking about their childhood. Although it wasn't really love at first sight, his feeling got reinforced little by little by watching her training. In the depth of his heart, he thought, 'Ah, this is the girl. I really want to support her… Maybe, she can really change her fate unlike me, who has given up in that aspect.'

And when she said it again right in front of his face, he was slightly embarrassed. He looked away with a tinge red on his face while murmuring. "Is that a problem?"

"No…" Isabelle said with a long tone.

Evan found that the sky was darkened, but he was wrong. It was Isabelle bending her body and lowering her head. He smiled.

They kissed.

Isabelle then rose again and smiled.

"I love you too."