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n*BOOM!*

nAn explosion occurred underneath a black lavish car and launched it into the air. Since the car was moving, the momentum carried it forward, and the car was flipping in the air before landing upside down on the ground.

nIt slid a bit forward after landing on the ground due to the remaining momentum of the car and finally came to a stop after covering several meters.

nImmediately, two cars pulled up near the crashed car and surrounded it from the front and back. The doors opened and out came 6 men from each car wearing different pieces of armor and each had an emblem of a green skull and bones.

nThe twelve men quickly surrounded the car and approached it with extreme caution. Some of them had Power weapons as well and were gripping them very tightly.

nSuddenly, one of the back doors of the crashed car blasted off the car with such force that it traveled close to 200 meters before landing on the ground. The men who were facing that door started firing different abilities but they all changed trajectory and completely missed the car. ．𝗻𝐞𝘁

nA man jumped out of the car and he was wearing a rather lavish yet simple black suit. His facial expression screamed with anger as just by his glare alone, the 12 men started feeling uncomfortable and afraid.

n“You picked the wrong time to mess with me!” The man said as in a blink of a second he had reached one of the guys that were closest to him.

n“GET HIM!” one of the men shouted as all the remaining men started shooting different abilities at the man who was busy super punching the guy he had run up to.

nThe man quickly finished beating his first target and quickly turned around and could see several abilities being projected toward him.

nThe man stood still and suddenly extremely strong winds started blowing with the man being the source. The air within the wind was so condensed that it became visible and now a white wall of wind had appeared in front of him to block all the incoming projectiles.

nAs soon as the wall of wind dropped, two men lunged at him each having swords in their hands. The man quickly dodged the first one and taking a hidden blade out of his sleeve, he countered the second one head-on. The two engaged him in a sword fight while some of them continued throwing projectiles at him using their abilities.

nWhile he was busy fighting all of them, two of the men tried to approach the car but were instantly reflected back by an invisible force.

n“Damn it, he put a barrier around the car!” One of them said in frustration.

n“Don’t worry, all we have to do is hit him once with any of our weapons. He can’t use his ability on us because if he does, the car will become unprotected. Once he is hit, he will come to realize the power that our Leader possesses.” The other replied.

nThese two men didn’t take part in the fight against that guy who was currently battling all the remaining men by himself. They just observed from afar and waited for the correct opportunity.

nIt was clear that the guy fighting all of them was strong but even he was having a hard time against all these men who were also decent fighters. The problem was that he couldn’t fight with his whole strength as one of his strongest abilities was currently occupied with protecting the car.

nThe guys with swords saw an opening and tried to attack him from both sides using a horizontal slice. However, the man jumped up into the air dodging both sword strikes, and while in midair, he spun his legs to create large blades of wind.

nAn extremely strong move which able to hit all of them since the blades were at the height of their heads. The men had moved back in order to dodge the incoming blades and this gave the man some room, or so he thought.

nThe reverse wind blades were one of his signature moves and the men were waiting for a predictable move so that they could finally inflict some damage.

nOne of the men had already ducked down as the guy was about to create the wind blades and wasn’t affected by them at all. As all his teammates had moved back and dodged the wind blades, he advanced further.

nAs the guy landed back on his feet expecting that he had a second or two of breathing time, a sharp pain started to emanate from his back. The man staggered a bit as the pain overwhelmed him for a second. He touched his back and noticed that he was bleeding.

nBehind the man, the guy who was advancing toward him was standing straight with a bloody combat knife in his hands.

nHe had done it! He had successfully injured Paul Czolgosz.

n“DAD!!!”

n*************

nLeon’s eyes suddenly burst open as he finally awakened. His breathing was heaving and he was sweating a lot. It took him a couple of seconds to realize where he was and what was going on.

n“Man, what a total nightmare,” Leon said.

n“You too, huh?” Bill replied.

nLeon was so shaken up from his dream that he hadn’t even noticed that Bill was laying right beside him. Both boys were leaning against a smooth boulder inside the same cave as before.

n“Where’s Mako?” Leon asked.

n“I don’t know, when I woke up, he wasn’t here. His backpack is also gone which means that he probably went outside to gather more supplies or food.” Bill replied.

n“How do you know he didn’t just ditch you?” Leon asked.

nThis caused Bill to crack up a smile as he couldn’t help but chuckle at Leon’s question. Leon was a bit confused as to why he was giggling because he had asked a legitimate question.

n“I know he will never ditch me. If he wanted to, he could have just let me die after I showed up on his doorstep very close to death. I wouldn’t even blame him if he did after everything that I did to him, but he took me in and healed me. He saved my life and even forgave me for all the things that I had done to him on the spot.” Bill narrated.

n“He was the first person that made me realize that there are still some people with humanity in the world. We became friends ever since, and I would be ready to give my life in a heartbeat if it means protecting him and I know he will do the same.” Bill explained his reason for giggling at Leon’s question.

nLeon looked back at the events that had taken place after he had entered the cave. What Bill was saying was completely true as Mako himself admitted that he didn’t try to counterattack because he was too close to Bill and was afraid that he won’t be able to handle a single crossfire given his condition.

n‘I guess these two really are quite close.’ Leon thought as Bill narrated how he got poisoned and Mako was most probably able to find an anti-venom to cure him.

n“What I didn’t understand is when did you come here? And who hurt your leg?” Bill asked Leon this time.

nLeon looked down and could see that the ice was completely gone and the wound was bandaged up nicely. He still couldn’t move because it wasn’t healed yet and Bill also couldn’t move because he was also quite weak from the damage that the poison had done to him.

nThere were a couple of seconds of awkward silence between them, where Leon just kept feeling the bandage on his leg. Bill nudged him a bit to try and get him to answer and Leon just scratched his head while nervously laughing.

nHe slowly started to explain what had happened and tried to tell the complete truth but still left out some details which were too embarrassing for him to tell.

n*************

n“Good job, Cadet!” The patrolling officer congratulated Mako while three more patrolling officers were carrying the bruised-up bodies of the three cadets in the background.

nMako had made quick work of the cadets that tried to ambush him and simply resumed his fishing again. Soon the officers came on the scene to remove the defeated cadets which Mako didn’t even bother to acknowledge.

nThat was until one of the officers approached him and extended his hand toward him for a handshake. Mako accepted the handshake and the officer said his praise.

n“The higher-ups have been impressed with your knowledge so far, and they were pleased to see that you were able to cure your friend as well.” The officer added.

nMako accepted the praise with a small nod and got back to his fishing, allowing the patrolling officer to get back to his work as well.

nSoon the cadets were removed from the premises. Mako also asked the officer to take their items as well because he knew that they would be extra salty for failing the test and losing their Power weapons, plus Mako had no need for it anyway.

nSoon Mako was able to catch enough fish and decided to knock out today’s daily quests before returning back to the cave.

n*************

nIt was around midday when Mako returned back to the cave, only to hear noises from the inside. The noises were muffled so he couldn’t hear what was being said, but he knew that both Bill and Leon were awake, and from the sound of it angry.

nHe quickly made his way inside the cave to see that both of them were still laying down against the smooth boulder with Bill shouting at Leon.

n“Seriously! I was going to die, and all you thought about was yourself!” Bill exclaimed.

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