"I wonder if Michael is better now," Annabelle mumbled quietly as she met up with the Barbaric Couple and the remaining members of the Limit Breaker Course.
She had joined the Limit Breaker Course a little bit later than everyone else, but her tireless efforts to catch up with the others paid off. Her physique was much stronger than before and she was slowly getting accustomed to using multiple weapons to ensure that she could protect herself in close-combat fights as well.
Annabelle Claire joined the Limit Breaker Course thanks to Michael. She thought that she would meet him during the training sessions and planned to thank him for his help, but Michael had suddenly disappeared for a few weeks. It took her quite a while until she learned that Michael had been heavily injured in the Origin Expanse, and that his mental state was terrible. After he had recuperated, Michael left the infirmary to enter the Origin Expanse.
Today he had returned. He had been online on starnet messenger.
"I am…not sure. Maybe he needs some more time," Kaleb answered a little bit helplessly.
He didn't really talk a lot with others, but since Annabelle mentioned Michael he felt obliged to say something. After all, only he and his sister knew exactly what was going on. The others thought that Michael had been affected by a major battle in the Origin Expanse, but that was not quite it.
Kaleb's words rang through the surroundings, just for Zeke Lavita to pull the students' attention toward him. His heterochromatic eyes glimmered lightly as his focus moved to a place farther away from the training hall.
"Michael is over there talking to the Zan Twins," Zeke pointed in the watchtower's direction before he added, "I didn't know that he was familiar with them. The Zan family is quite messy. It would be better if he avoided them."
Zeke didn't dislike Michael, but he didn't consider Michael his friend either. He only paid attention to Michael and his friends because Lincoln had a good impression of them. If not for Lincoln, Zeke wouldn't even bother being here.
After hearing Zeke, Kaleb, Annabelle, and the Barbaric Couple turned toward the watchtower. They could pinpoint the Zan Twins quite easily given their bright golden hair and attention-grabbing clothes. The young man in front of them looked plain in contrast.
"I am…pretty sure that Michael has nothing to do with them. He is way too busy with the Indiv–...." Kaleb began but stopped abruptly and shut his mouth before he finished his sentence.
"Whatever, I'll drag Michael over here. Now that he is back, I might be able to defeat him in a spar!" Frederik declared, ignoring the disapproving gazes thrown at him.
"That's really petty, you know? But I also agree with dragging Michael over here. The Zan Twins are sly bastards, just like the rest of their family," Lincoln said before he started jogging toward the watchtower.
Kaleb and the others followed Lincoln without hesitation. It didn't take long before they reached the watchtower, but they didn't join Michael and the Zan Twins immediately. They heard them talking, and froze in their tracks for a few seconds, disbelief evident in their eyes.
They were certain that they had just misheard the Zan Twins, because they couldn't believe that someone could stoop so low. But their ears weren't failing them. There was no misunderstanding. The Zan Twins had said exactly what the others heard.
"It's quite funny don't you think?" The shorter twin asked the taller twin with a wide smile plastered on his face, "First, his sister died, then his parents abandoned him, only for his brother to die miserably as well. It's hilarious!!"
The shorter twin of the Zan family began to chuckle loudly, just for the taller twin to stare deep in Michael's dark eyes.
"Looks like you're fated to die alone, and be abandoned by everyone you loved. Maybe you're just cursed, and your brother wouldn't have died if you didn't exist, in the first place."
Kaleb's lips parted when he heard this. He was the only one who had known that Michael's brother died, and that was also only because of Alice. Even Alice only knew about it because she helped Michael setting up the Lord ID's live-update with the government AI's service.
Hearing the Zan Twins' words that were overflowing with ridicule, Kaleb saw red. He might not love Michael like a brother, but he knew that Michael was a good guy, who never played foul. Michael might not be the best at socializing, and he had some flaws, but he was a genuine person. Thus, hearing someone talk about Michael and his family like this angered Kaleb.
Kaleb's anger intensified as he began to imagine what would happen if Alice was to die, and if the Zan Twins came to him mocking his dead sister and his family.
The answer was pretty simple; He would beat them to death if nobody held him back.
Rage consumed him and Kaleb activated his Soultrait.
But he was not the only one fuming in anger for the Barbaric Couple was staring at the twins with contempt as well.
"Are these bastards serious right now?!" Frederik cursed quietly, and Jaqueline curled her fists, "These bastards are asking for a beating!"
They were ready to beat the shit out of the Zan Twins. Michael was their nemesis, and nobody was allowed to make fun of him – except them, of course.
The Barbaric Couple was aware of their image, and that they were considered despicable and bad-tempered, but the Zan Twins were going too far, even for their standards. Neither Frederik nor Jaqueline hesitated. They activated their Soultraits as well to help Michael beat the shit out of these two menaces.
But before anyone could act four crescent shaped blades, silver in color, passed through the air with shocking velocity. Even Zeke, who followed the group because he was a little bored, could barely follow the trajectory of the four silver blades.
His head flicked to the Zan Twins, whose bright smile transformed into expressions of utter horror as the blades reached them. The blades drew blood that spurted around like fountains. In the next instant, four arms flung through the air, landing limply on the ground two meters away from the Zan Twins.
The Twins stared down in shock, just to scream in terror as realization struck them. The silver blades had cleanly severed both of their arms!
Meanwhile, Michael appeared in front of the Zan Twins, several crescent-shaped Sword Qi blades revolving around him. He was unable to conjure Qi Swords yet, but that didn't matter at this point. The Sword Qi blades had been more than enough to relinquish some of his anger.
But that was not enough. It was far from enough.
Michael's ice-cold eyes locked onto the Zan Twins as he strode forward. He was already in front of the Twins while they were still processing what had just happened. Their eyes widened in shock, and the twins retreated. Before they realized what happened, their legs caved in and they slumped to the ground.
"W-wait. W-w-wait for a moment!" The taller twin screamed loudly. He wanted to say something else, but Michael's leg was already in front of his head.
Michael was done hesitating. He was done holding back. If someone wanted to fight him, they should be ready to let go of the mortal realm.
His leg shot forward, and a loud thundering crack reached the small group of spectators as his foot smashed into the twin's head. The sound of something snapping rang out as well, but it was definitely not Michael's foot. The twin's head smashed into the grass behind him, causing the smaller twin to gasp in shock.
"D-Don't kill us. P-p…Please… We just did as we've been to–...." He began, only to be interrupted by a loud noise from behind the watchtower.
At last, the source of the third gaze that had been lingering on Michael the entire time exposed himself.
"Shut up, Niko!" A hoarse voice shouted angrily, cutting Niko Zan before he could finish his sentence.
Michael lifted his gaze to stare at the origin of the voice without a trace of hesitation. However, the same couldn't be said about Zeke and Lincoln, who looked at each other for a second. Then their eyes moved to Kaleb Zenovia, only to turn back to each other.
'A trap against the Zenovias,' The two descendants of Greater Nobles concluded near-instantly.
No matter how they looked at it, Michael did not deserve this ridicule and mockery right now. Michael might have great potential given that he didn't belong to a noteworthy family, but that was already it. But that made it even easier to scheme against him, and to use him as a pawn to put pressure on the Zenovia family – precisely Alice Zenovia, who could be considered Michael's official teacher.
As Michael's personal teacher, Alice officially proclaimed that she would take responsibility for Michael's actions in exchange for making sure that no teacher would try to steal him from her. Given his status, Michael should also be able to avoid trouble with most teachers and students – under normal circumstances, at least.
"Isn't that Mr. Klein, the teacher of the Soul Manifestation Course?" Annabelle asked aloud, the surprise in her voice clear.
She was not the only one surprised. The Soul Manifestation Course was a minor course, and something that was useless for most students, but it was very important for the minority whose Soultraits met the specific requirements.
Mr. Klein stared at the Zan Twins scornfully. He didn't seem to be particularly worried about their well-being either. Instead of trying to help them, or call a healer to ensure that they could get treatment as soon as possible, Mr. Klein simply stared at Michael.
A small smile formed on his lips slowly. Michael's reaction had been even better than anticipated.
Everything was going according to plan!
