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/N- Any dialogue with the * sign at the beginning and the end indicates that another laughter is being spoken)

While each and every one of the students watching gripped the handles of their chairs, their hearts pounding, Atticus and Aurora followed behind the squad silently without uttering a word.

Atticus couldn’t help but slightly praise Aurora. Throughout the whole process, she hadn’t once shaken or even flinched. He was controlling the water in her suit; he would have known the instant she did.

Atticus cleared his head of any distracting thoughts and focused on the matter at hand, his gaze landing on the massive and imposing form of the majestic gate of the city as the group walked closer to the city.

‘It’s big,’ Atticus couldn’t help but think. It was truly massive. He had seen it from afar, from the top of the hill but had totally misjudged its height. Now that he was close, it truly was tall.

Standing at a height of 18 meters was a smooth, massive, pristine white gate. It wasn’t only the gate that was white; even the walls around it were completely white and had the same height as the gates.

Atticus couldn’t help but notice the lack of soldiers on the wall. It was completely empty and devoid of anyone, which baffled him. It was as though there was no need for men to man the gates.

But Atticus didn’t need to ponder about this weird situation for long as just as they reached a few meters away from the gates, an overwhelming aura suddenly descended upon the whole area.

The figures of Atticus, Aurora, and each of the men in the group staggered forward. Atticus’s hand clenched hard, his teeth gritted as his whole body strained, trying his very best to keep each of the dead soldiers standing.

Atticus’s mind was always working fast no matter the situation; he had already assessed the situation, and upon reaching a conclusion, his heart had already skipped several beats.

The aura that had descended on the area was undoubtedly that of a master rank individual.

The speed and rapidness at which Atticus’s mind was working was hard to describe with words.

Atticus went through several different emotions all at once before deadening everything abruptly. In the next second, the logical side of his mind sprung up, summarizing the whole situation in 3 simple sentences.

A master rank individual was present.

Said master rank was sure to have awakened his

/her perception.

Said master rank would be able to tell that three out of the four soldiers in front of him weren’t breathing and in turn, dead.

Atticus’s mind had never been clearer, and his knowledge on the subjects relating to the human body had never been more important.

Atticus came up with two solutions, solutions he would need to do simultaneously. He knew well enough that he couldn’t sustain both for long; every second would take everything he had.

One second passed and abruptly, a small compartment jutted out from the top of the wall, its doors sliding open.

The imposing figure of a man stepped out of the compartment. He was clad in a white Yukata, his figure radiating the intense aura of a master rank.

With both arms clasped behind his back, the man gazed down at the group below the wall as though a king gazing down at his subjects.

His gaze scanned the group below, scrutinizing them thoroughly.

The figure of the captain suddenly stepped forward and bowed, hitting his right arm on his chest and paying his respects.

*”Hail, esteemed member of the Marrowguard,”*

At this point, Atticus’s suit was already drenched in his own sweat. His breathing was completely labored, but he tried his very best to keep it in check, lest the master rank find anything strange.

And this was because of the mind-boggling things he was currently trying his very best to sustain.

There were three ways the master rank would be able to discover that the three soldiers were dead.

First was their heartbeats, second their breathing, and lastly, their body temperatures. Atticus could still ignore the last one since they had each just died seconds ago, but for the first two, he couldn’t ignore.

This was exactly where his knowledge of the human bodies came into play. Atticus couldn’t help but thank his stars that the bone race had almost the same physiology as humans, with each of their organs having the same functions.

Firstly, the heartbeat.

Atticus had used this to kill two stones.

He had water enter the bodies of each dead soldier and directed them to gather around their hearts.

Atticus concentrated, manipulating the water to compress and release around the heart, mimicking its natural pumping motion. Atticus maintained this delicate balance of pressure continuously.

From his studies, manual compression of the heart can help pump blood temporarily around the body. This wouldn’t bring back the dead soldiers, but it would provide temporary circulation of oxygenated blood to vital organs. And that was all Atticus needed.

Soon enough, their temperatures began to rise, their hearts beating in a gentle rhythm.

Secondly, their breathing. This was by far the hardest one, which had completely strained Atticus.

He had manipulated the water molecules within their bodies’ airways and lungs directly to create the illusion of breathing.

By orchestrating the movement and pressure of these water molecules, he had mimicked the physical actions involved in breathing, such as chest expansion and contraction, without the need for actual respiratory function.

This had effectively created the appearance of each of them breathing.

It went without saying that maintaining all of these things all at once while simultaneously controlling their movements was one of the hardest things Atticus had done.

His bloodline was directly linked to his stamina, and Atticus’s stamina was running out fast.

Despite the strain, Atticus knew he had to do the same as the captain.

Aurora didn’t need to be told; she was smart enough to figure out what to do in this situation.

The forms of both of them, along with the three dead soldiers, all bowed together, hitting their right hand on their chests just as the captain had done.

But Atticus could never have expected what happened next to happen.

*”Remove your helmets,”*

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