Lily then turned her gaze toward the woman standing beside Michael. The lady's presence was impossible to ignore.
"Um..." Lily began softly, tilting her head slightly. "Who is this?"
Yola answered before Michael could speak, a gentle smile touching her lips. "I'm his teacher," she said, her tone warm and polite.
Lily blinked, her eyes widening slightly in realization. Now that she looked closer, the matching robes they wore made sense. It was an unusual sight in modern society. Yet on the two of them, it didn't look out of place. If anything, it gave off a noble, almost regal air.
For a brief mont, Lily felt a quiet awe. The woman before her didn't seem like a regular instructor. There was a grace and quiet authority in her movents.
"I see..." Lily murmured, bowing her head slightly out of respect. "Thank you for coming with my brother."
Yola smiled faintly, her gaze softening. "It's no trouble," she said. "He seed worried, so it was only natural to help!"
Michael glanced at Yola with a hint of gratitude before turning back to Lily. "Stay inside, alright? We'll check things out and be back soon."
Lily nodded quickly, her worry fading a little more now that both of them were here. "Be careful. And is it fine I did not text Mom?" she said quietly.
"It's fine."
Michael gave her a reassuring nod as she closed the door.
"So what now?"
Michael, biting back the instinct to rush off on his own, turned to look back at her, uncertainty flashing in his eyes. "Instructor... can we head to another location?"
Her brows rose slightly, but there was no hesitation in her voice. "Of
course."
Michael turned his gaze back toward the skyline, closing his eyes briefly to strengthen his connection.
He raised his hand and pointed in the direction of the forest that frad the city's edge. "There," he said.
Yola gave a short nod. "Understood."
The air around them and before Michael could blink, the familiar streets of Brightgate vanished, replaced by the dark canopy of a forest stretching endlessly below.
The scent of burning wood hit him first. Then the deep, rumbling tremors underfoot.
Yola's expression turned serious as her gaze swept over the forest canopy below.
Michael narrowed his eyes and followed her gaze. From their height, he could see faint ripples of energy tearing through the air. Trees shook violently under the shockwaves.
Then he saw it.
A single figure floated in the sky above the clearing-calm yet surrounded by chaos. Below him, five other figures darted through the air, their auras fierce and violent.
*
The awakener's na was Mike.
For him, the day had begun like any other day. That was until a particular notice caught his attention: a wave of violent mana activity had been recorded just outside Brightgate City.
Normally, such incidents were handled by the city's protection division, but this one was different. The energy reading exceeded the division's safety threshold, bordering on a level they weren't qualified
to contain. As protocol dictated, the case was quickly escalated to the Supers Association for higher-level response.
Being one of the senior figures in the Association, permission to deploy had to go through him first. But instead of sending a team, Mike-out of a mix of curiosity and intuition-decided to go himself. According to the report, the danger level was estimated below Rank 3. For soone of Mike's caliber, that was the equivalent of a light workout-hardly a threat worth worrying about.
At least, that's what he thought.
When he arrived at the coordinates, the situation was far from what he expected. The forest was torn apart, mana residue still hanging thick in the air-but the battle was already over. The shock ca not from the destruction, but from a lone figure.
Mike's eyes had widened slightly. He recognized that face-or rather, he thought he did. It was similar to a young man he'd t at the Supers Association branch just a few weeks ago.
Yet, the person before him looked younger. Stranger.
Whatever the case, what he was seeing couldn't be ignored. The figure-this Jester-was using so kind of technique to control five
master-stage knights at once.
The mont Mike saw that, the mission shifted from re suppression to containnt and capture.
Still, things didn't go as smoothly as he expected.
Even with his overwhelming advantage in strength and experience, the opponent refused to crumble. The controlled knights served as perfect shields, forcing Mike to hold back to avoid harming them, while the strange youth exploited every opening.
To make matters worse, each ti he focused his mana, a sharp ntal disturbance struck his consciousness-a psychic interference that blurred thought and disrupted flow.
Mike's irritation mounted. It wasn't enough to harm him, but it was
constant.
This was no ordinary opponent.
Currently, it was a stalemate.
Just as Mike gathered his energy to press the advantage, the air
changed.
A crushing pressure rippled through the air like a tidal wave.
The mana in the air froze, every thread of energy trembling under the sheer weight of the aura that suddenly spread across the sky.
Mike's breath hitched. What-
Even Jester's expression shifted, as both he and Mike turned toward
the source almost at the sa ti.
High above, the clouds parted like curtains before a storm. Two figures hovered in the sky, their presence commanding instant silence. One radiated a calm but oppressive authority; the other carried a familiar aura.
"Its you..." Mike muttered under his breath.
Jester, on the other hand, froze in place. His gaze flicked to the young
man and though his face remained composed, there was a flicker of
recognition in his eyes.
His master.
He was the last person either of them expected to see here.
Instructor Yola's gaze swept over the scene below.
Her eyes narrowed slightly. When she spoke, her voice was calm, almost gentle, yet carried a weight that made even the air heavier. "Can this eting be paused for a mont?" she said.
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