Yarlyn sighed deeply with unbridled loathing burning in his eyes. After hesitating for the longest time, he said, “I need to know why you want it before giving it to you. After all, you’re still young. I know the extent of this magical core’s power, but that’s also why I can’t give it to you.”Immediately after saying that, he felt the power in his body vanish. At that point, he was unsure if he was still standing as every organ and body part felt disconnected from his conscience. His body soon fell to the ground. Then, he mustered whatever energy he had left to narrow his eyes at Darius, who held the magical core and stood aside as though nothing had happened.He frowned and shut his eyes, wanting to ignore what terrible things would come next.On the other hand, Darius did not pay the former much heed. His attention was fully on the magical core for an entirely different reason than the former believed. It was not because Darius had gotten bewitched. Instead, it was because he saw

Bridget turned to look at the barrier again. “Everyone’s life forces have different abilities,” she calmly explained, “I suggest you dig deeper into ways you can use your life force instead of copying other peoples’ abilities.”Edward’s eyes sparkled upon hearing that, and he exclaimed, “Oh! So that’s why you’re such a great martial artist!” Not a word more came from Bridget, as she did not want to confirm or deny that claim.“You genuinely are the best, most remarkable colleague I’ve ever had the pleasure of having!” Edward smiled broadly.Hearing that, Bridget turned to flash her pearly whites at Edward smugly. “Yes, you too. Not only that, but you’re also the most loyal subordinate among them all.”Edward’s smile immediately vanished when he saw her mocking grin. Likewise, he did not speak anymore and merely focused on the barrier, summoning his life force. However, he could not help but notice someone was glaring at him. Any martial artist would agree that it was unwise to igno

Pierce’s pupils constricted at Edward. His lips parted to cry out instinctively. However, his agonized scream only lasted a short second because he could no longer feel his throat.Edward watched as the former’s frightened eyes stiffened and turned dull. He then clapped his hands together, dusting them arrogantly. Edward eventually noticed Pierce was still in the same position. The latter was so stiff that his dead body slumped slightly. Raising a brow, Edward reached out to nudge the former. That was when Pierce’s body fell backward and crashed onto the ground. Pierce had not even made a sound. His eyes even remained wide open in fear.“There.” Edward wiped his hands before turning to look at Bridget. “Everything’s done and dusted. Let’s hope you stop flashing those awkward smiles again. They creep me out.”Bridget rolled her eyes and wanted to retort, but Edward interrupted her.“Something’s odd with the aura inside the barrier,” he said.Bridget immediately fell silent and shut he

Earlier, Darius was healing Yarlyn’s wounds with a golden sphere of life force. Yet, black and golden gasses suddenly appeared in Darius’ palm, indicating Darius could no longer control the life force in his body.Yarlyn was worried, but he was too weak to thank or save Darius because of the wound on his back. When he regained consciousness, all he knew was he had become a regular human being, but Darius was on the brink of death. “None of this should’ve happened!” he cried mentally. His chest aching like a thousand knives were stabbing him all at once. He could not stop the pain and wanted nothing more than to curl up and rip out his hair to distract the pain. Sadly, none of that would work; Darius’ life force kept seeping into Yarlyn’s body, healing it.In the end, the golden gas in Darius’ body lessened while the black gas grew. Yarlyn knew it was game over by then. He had tried mustering all his newly gained golden gas in hopes of taking the magic core from Darius, but he was a

When that thought appeared in Darius’ mind, he realized he could cultivate and refine the magic core’s black gas as the creature did with its enemies’ gasses. Once he absorbed most of the black gas, he gradually regained consciousness and could hear Bridget and Yarlyn’s conversation. That made his lips twitch; he had just refined all the black gas attacking his body, so he was undoubtedly too weak to absorb more gas from Yarlyn, who wanted to heal him with it now. There was no telling how long Darius would pass out should this happen. Plus, he had to consider that there was barely any gaseous life force left in Yarlyn. Frowning, Darius willed his body’s black gas to shield his body.…Yarlyn and Bridget finally arrived at a consensus. Annoyed, Bridget thundered at him, “Well? Why are you still standing around? Get to it!”A sigh came from Yarlyn, who then replied, “Jeez. Lady, you seem young, so why don’t you have any patience?“Quite your blabbering!” Bridget frowned. “If you don’t

It was a pained cry, which Bridget had never seen Darius make before. She tensed on the ground, her nose scrunching from her unbearable sorrow while tears flowed from her eyes. She had not cried in many years, but the situation now left her in a grieving stupor.Edward and Yarlyn watched from afar as Darius’ golden gas left his body with some of his torn flesh. The two froze for the longest time. That was when the Moore Group’s building collapsed, kicking up so much dust and debris that no one could see who was around them. Only after crashing into the ground did Edward snap to his senses. His brows knitted close when he heard the various screams and pained calls for help. He shut his eyes and sent out beams of his life force to communicate with everyone until everyone’s screams lessened. Instead of screaming, the people around him now exclaimed in shock, saying, “What?” Upon hearing that, Edward let out a sigh of relief and hovered in mid-air to examine the center of the building’

Yarlyn took his time pacing over before his eyes curved with joy at Darius. “Long time no see, Darius.”Edward took several steps backward before realization hit him, and his mouth rounded into a big O-shape. He pointed a trembling finger at Yarlyn, stuttering, “Y-You’re…”“Didn’t think it would take you this long to realize who I am.” Laughter rumbled from Shelvin’s throat. He placed his hands behind his back while walking toward Darius and sighing deeply. “Yarlyn Weiss sacrificed his life. He condensed his remaining black, gaseous life force and used it to heal you, Darius. However, you said you didn’t need it and stopped him. At the time, he still had a slight chance of retracting his life force to survive, but he gave it up—because he was more than ready to die when you first asked for his name. At that point, he’d decided he didn’t want to continue living in torment. Thus, when you said you didn’t need his life force, he immediately transferred it and every last drop of his stre

“Indeed, we all saw it happen, but we won’t feel sad over it.” The man gulped before carefully looking up at Darius through his lashes. He then spoke with the utmost caution, not wanting to upset Darius. “We were already upset long before today, as we knew this would happen—” His voice began to shake. “—He told us this was the likely outcome and said he would’ve ended his life with his bare hands even if you guys didn’t kill him.”His trembled so much that tears gathered in the brim of his eyes, and he quickly wiped them away. After that, he continued, “My boss said his presence would get in the way of us pledging our loyalty to you, and he couldn’t guarantee whether you’d accept all of us if he’s in the picture. Not only that, but he mentioned being alive was a painful chore anyway.”The man stopped crying at that point. He lifted his head to meet Darius’ gaze while explaining, “My boss said this is the best outcome, so we shouldn’t be angry at anyone.”With that, he turned to look

Darius placed one hand on the collar of Edward’s shirt. “So, you don’t have to be upset. Besides, many others take more than a month to learn where to place their life force before they can even float for a second.”Edward’s eyes sparkled as he raised his head to meet Darius’ eyes. It felt like the wind tickled his eyes, causing them to tear up. So, he shut his eyes and mouth. Still, his eyes kept tingling so much that he cried. Edward only realized the wind had stopped after he wiped away all his tears. That was when something clicked in his mind, and he looked ahead, his pupils dilating in shock; things had turned out as he thought. Edward stiffly turned to look at Darius and stuttered, “S-Sir, that’s incredible! We arrived here in such a short time!”Darius stopped walking, turned, and pursed his lips at Edward. “You’ve always been a cold person from the moment we met. But now? Well, it seems you’re capable of more emotions—some of which are unnecessary.”That snapped Edward to hi

The security guard responded, “We don’t need to do all of that. Many people are willing to help us defend our reputation.”Alicia’s brows narrowed with displeasure as she snapped, “What on earth do you mean? Explain yourself now!”Her frosty gaze pierced into the security guard, causing the latter’s breathing to quicken.Despite how nervous the security guard felt, he mustered the courage to show Alicia his phone while locking eyes with her. “Yes, Miss Alicia. Please look at these online posts. They’re all praising us.”On the phone were several online posts that read, “Woah! That Darius Reid guy shocks me. He looks so young, yet he took down the rotten Gillette family like it’s nothing!”“Almiron City feels safer to live in by the day. The place is a little run down, but it’s always been this way.”“I disagree. Our lives in the city are much better now that those horrible people in power are gone. Darius is cooler than any superhero out there!”“As a fellow student, Darius chose to p