10 minutes ago….

Max looked at the scene in the distance with a frown. The fluctuation in mana which he felt during the blast was enough to know that it wasn't some kind of accident.

Max could hear the class breaking into a chatter.

"Something happened again?"

"Was it an accident?"

"How much time has it been since the last incident?"

"Calm down students….lets not do anything and wait for orders….the Academy is a safe place so you don't need to worry." The instructor immediately stepped up to calm the students down.

Max had a bad feeling as he looked at the cloud of fire. He opened his screen and messaged Lear.

«Are you seeing it?"

"..."

The lack of reply made Max frown a bit. Lear shouldn't be that busy, the second class had just started a few minutes ago. It wasn't like he couldn't even give a reply.

Max checked Lear's name in his follower's list and found that the mark beside his name was dim. It could only mean that the «Ruler's Blessing» was in passive mode. Lear wasn't in a radius of 300m from him.

"Instructor, I need to go to the washroom." Max suddenly broke the tense atmosphere and everyone looked at him with a strange gaze.

The instructor too looked at him for a few seconds before nodding, "Go ahead…"

Max calmly walked out of the class under everyone's gaze. Tyler kept staring at Max feeling something was up with the guy.

As soon as Max was out of the class, his steps quickened and he took out his phone looking at the routine, since Lear had received his ID card right in front of Max, Max remembered which section he was in.

After confirming the room number in which Lear's class should be taking place, Max quickly moved.

'Where the heck is the guy? Don't tell me he got into trouble?' Max couldn't help his thoughts. The fact that Lear had taken Aria to the hospital was what made Max more worried.

The frown on Max's face deepened at his thought and he began to rush.

Within a few minutes, Max had reached the classroom. He immediately pulled the door open and barged into the class.

This class was one of the combined classes and it included more than one section as it was an optional course. Hence there were students from more than one section present.

The students were looking through the window into the distance very obvious that they were intrigued by the situation.

As soon as the door slid with a loud noise, everyone's eyes along with those of the Instructor landed on Max.

Max scanned the classroom and failed to find Lear. Instead, his gaze met with two familiar figure seating in the very first bench right near the door.

Janet and Elly looked at Max. Their eyes were still unable to make out what was happening as they had just witnessed the huge explosion.

Max turned around to leave when the Instructor finally spoke, "You there...what are you doing?"

"Sorry, came the wrong way.." Max closed the door before the Instructor could speak another word.

Now there was only one thing to do, he needed to check it out for himself.

'It isn't possible…..the Achilles won't do that unless they have gone insane…' Max thought as he began to move towards the Academy gates.

Max was confident that Achilles wouldn't do anything to Lear that was the reason he allowed Lear to take Aria to hospital.

Barnes were a neutral force, Achilles supported the Association. They wouldn't want the neutral force to turn into an enemy and lean towards the other side.

"Hmmn?" Suddenly, Max's steps slowed down as he noticed a familiar figure standing at the gate looking at the smoke rising in the distance.

It was Lora, she had been a bit late for the class as the restaurant was busier in the morning hours. But she was adamant on eating and ended up getting late. Just as she reached the gate, the explosion occurred in the distance.

As Max approached her, Lora seemed to have noticed him too.

"It's you.." She recognised Max on first glance.

"You don't have a class?" Max asked casually.

"I do, am running a bit late…" Lora replied as she crossed Max in a hurry.

"Wait a sec, have you seen Lear, that guy with me the other day…" Max spoke, he didn't even know whether she remembered him or not. He hoped that she did.

Since she was coming from outside, it was possible that Lora might have seen Lear and hence Max asked her.

Lora's face immediately turned nasty on Max's question.

"I don't know...he must be in the class…" Lora replied with indifference.

"He isn't... it's fine anyway, thanks…" Max replied as he turned around to leave.

"Wait!" Lora's voice stopped Max in his tracks and he turned his head to look at her in confusion.

"You are sure he isn't in the class?" Lora asked with a troubled look as she looked at the rising smoke from the corner of her eyes.

"Yes, why do you ask?" Max suddenly felt odd looking at her expression.

"Actually…" Lora explained to Max what had happened and Max's face turned dark. As soon as he heard that the guy refused a free meal, Max knew that Lear was in trouble. There was no other way for him to make sense of the situation.

Max immediately turned around and broke into a dash, as he rushed toward the sight where the smoke was rising from.

Lora looked at Max and hesitated a bit before following behind.

Max noticed her following behind him, but he didn't stop her.

….

Current time….

Lear stood face to face with the man who was holding a lady as a hostage.

The lady in a black dress looked quite beautiful, she looked very young but Lear could tell that she must be in her late 20's at least.

"Leave her...it's all over, the Mages have arrived…" Lear spoke as he ignored the blood seeping from the wounds all over his body.

"Hahaha...so what? I can still take her with me….will it changes anything if I leave her?" The man replied.

Lear couldn't help but frown. He didn't want innocent people to get hurt. It would leave a bad test in the mouth.

"If you want to protect her so badly, fine... let's trade. Her life for yours," the man said with an evil smile.

The other people inside the restaurant felt a chill climbing up their spine as they observed the situation.

The lady looked at Lear, there was not much change in expression on her face. It seemed that fear had taken over her and she was completely frozen.

Lear gritted his teeth as he hesitated.

"Hurry up! Or do you want me to spill her guts out!!" The man shouted as he brought his dagger closer to her skin.

"I will!!" Lear said and the man stopped. Even Lear couldn't understand why he did that. He slowly took a step forward before whispering to Mark, "Stay out of this…."

Lear couldn't take control of the dagger, he wasn't any stronger than him in terms of purity of mana. There was no way to break through the layer of mana covering the dagger.

As Lear took another step, he suddenly felt a little surge in his strength. This feeling, he knew it very well.

The next instant, a message flashed in front of his eyes. This time, Lear opened it.

«Don't hesitate»

Max was here. This gave Lear enough reassurance, if Max had said it, there must be some thinking behind it.

Lear trusted Max and took another step forward, this time there was a confidence in his voice and his demeanor had turned heroic, "Leave her….you can take my life…"

The people around felt Lear too bright to look at, he was a hero. A person who was willing to sacrifice his life for a stranger.

"Mom!!"

Suddenly, a scream entered Lear's ear. The voice seemed very familiar to him and he turned around to see Lora on the street looking towards them with wide eyes.

'Mom?' Lear frowned.

"Ara...is this over so soon?" The lady who was being held hostage spoke for the very first time. There was a gentle smile on her face as she looked towards Lear.

The next instant, Lear felt an intense surge in mana as if the heavens had gone to wreck chaos. He was very grateful that the terrifying aura was not directed towards him.

"Bang!"

The paving under the lady's feet caved in like sand forming a deep tunnel like crater and the man who had been holding her disappearance with a poof.

Lear looked at the lady with a terrified face as she walked towards him.

"Aren't you quite a hero?" The lady revealed a sweet smile as she gently touched Lear's face.