10 minutes ago.

“What happened to you, Tim? Did you run into some trouble? Why were you running?” In a café near Exon’s Armory, Paul and his other crony were enjoying a cup of hot cocoa. Since Tim went to meet his sister, they were waiting for him to return.

After his initial angry outburst, Paul calmed down, and the dynamic returned. Though, the embarrassment was still there. It was clear as the day that they weren't going to that dojo anytime soon. As for the kid who had defeated their captain, they graciously called him a devil, and vowed to stay away from him.

In fact, it was taboo to even talk about him in front of Paul.

Anyway, when they saw Tim returning when not even fifteen minutes had passed, and sweating so profusely at that, they were suspicious.

“The Devil!” Tim breathed in and out heavily after the sprint. Unlike Paul, he and Casa were mortal humans who had never trained in ki and didn’t have magic in their bodies. A sprint would no doubt drain him, considering the café was a little far from the gates of the armory shop. “I saw the devil in the shop!” Tim finished as he dropped his butt on the chair.

“What!?” Casa shook like a leaf. Andel had left a horrible first impression on them. Fear towards him had sipped into their very bones. Even Paul glared at Tim. ‘It's better not be a joke.’ Although he didn’t say anything, Tim interpreted this from Paul’s look.

“I am not lying. I was talking with sis, and he suddenly popped up out of nowhere.” Tim shuddered like he was standing naked, outside, on a chilly night. “When he looked at me, I felt my legs shaking. Thank god I ran away, or else god knows what he would have done to me.”

“I am happy that you survived to see another day, Tim.” Casa was teary-eyed as he comforted the spooked Tim. Paul felt ashamed at the company of these dumb fellows, but well, since they were all childhood friends, he had to live with it.

“You two, stop-” Before he could finish the sentence, a loud explosion attracted his attention. Instantly, a large crowd gathered with everyone facing Exon’s Armory’s direction.

“Sis!” Tim ran towards the direction with worry written all over his face.

“Tim! Shit! Casa, let’s go!” Worried about his friend’s wellbeing, Paul followed Tim. It was easy for him to catch up to Tim. Holding his shirt, he dragged Tim back and subdued him.

“Let me go! My sister!” Tim struggled against Paul’s hold by flailing his hands and legs, but how can a Mortal like him win against a Warrior?

“Calm down, Tim.” Paul roared while carefully controlling Tim. “It’s just an explosion caused by someone’s ability. Look carefully, it’s only the wall that got blown.”

Whee-aw! Whee-aww!!

As the siren rang through the 4th street, two hover-vans landed on the ground. At the same time, three big armored trucks rolled in through the jammed road. Although the hover-vans look futuristic and best to chase runaways, the army had never used them for battles and confrontations. The glaring problem was the unguarded magic circle below the car. A well-aimed ki or magic attack was more than enough to turn the hover-van into junk.

[Please make way for the police and get away from the scene. There are dangerous criminals in the vicinity. Please cooperate with us.]

The two police vans broadcasted the message, urging people to vacate the obviously dangerous area. More than a sixty, armed to teeth, army personnel alighted from three trucks. They separated into various groups, with one coming towards the gathered audience to push them back to a safe distance.

“What!?” Not only Paul, even Tim and Casa widened their eyes after hearing it. Tim started to struggle even more, but he couldn’t shake off Paul’s hold.

“Calm down, Tim! Tim!? Damn it!” Paul tried to calm his friend, but he had seemingly entered into a frantic state. With no way out, he had to hit the back of Tim’s and knock him out. “Casa, take him to the café. I am going there to have a clear look.” As he was quite far from the Exon’s, he couldn’t see very clearly about the events.

Filtering through the crowd, he finally arrived at the military curfew. There he saw four fully armored men with covered faces walking out of the hole in the wall, while dragging a few people with them.

Basically, it was a hostage situation.

The situation was quite grim, and Paul’s face twisted to a frown seeing Tia being dragged by her hair by one of the masked robbers.

[You are surrounded by Uvriya kingdom's forces from all sides. Quietly follow the protocols, release the hostages, and surrender.]

The police hover-van broadcasted, but everyone, including the one who was speaking, knew it was just an empty threat. The robbers, who took the risk to raid a shop like Exon’s, weren’t dumb enough to obey just because the police were there.

As expected, one of the robbers in the front pointed his index finger towards the car and blasted out a yellow laser ray. The ray instantly melted the broadcasting device on the car and even blasted a hole through its metal body.

It was a powerful ability.

“It's magic! These people have a mage among them!?” The crowd clamored in surprise. The previously uncooperative audience suddenly became docile and ran away as far as they can from the vicinity, leaving the military some breathing space.

Yet, a few courageous people like Paul stayed behind to watch the show.

The four robbers stood fearlessly at the front of the store and even waved at the crowd. The mage who fired the laser flipped off the police. Paul felt their mockery at the kingdom's defense forces through that action alone. Knowing that they have a mage among them, Paul, who was debating about whether he should jump in and save Tia or not, stayed put.

A mage had that much deterrence.

The military, the police, everyone became careful with their actions. Since the mage’s strength level wasn’t clear, they couldn’t act recklessly. For all they know, it could be a Heaven stage mage. They were like walking time-bombs. No one would dare to mess with them without enough preparations.

The police, the robbers, and even the crowd, everyone stood in silence as if waiting for something. Well, in reality, it was the robbers who were waiting for their pickup ride. Suddenly, the mage robber pulled Tia to the front and started to mess around with her clothes. His intention was clear as the day. He wanted to humiliate her in broad daylight and with so many people watching.

After a few attempts, he already succeeded in removing her blazer. As a professional dress code, she wore a sleeveless white shirt inside, but it was a little translucent. Her red innerwear was visible through the thin garment.

The mage stopped a second and give her a thumbs-up as if expressing how he liked her style. Tia was already crying from humiliation. Fortunately, the media wasn’t there at the moment. Or else her embarrassing moment would have been broadcasted throughout the kingdom for everyone to see.

Paul could no longer hold it in. Although he didn’t know Tia personally, she was still his friend’s sister. Despite his fear of the mage, he couldn’t sit still and watch her getting played around by the shameless man.

However, someone’s even faster than him.

‘It’s him!’ Paul’s eyes widened, and his jaw dropped to the floor, seeing the small but familiar figure jumping out of somewhere and kicking the mage away. After landing on the ground, he said something to the girl. She looked hesitant but nodded and ran towards the police curfew.

One of the robbers tried to follow her, but was kicked away by him again.

The ‘hero’ who saved the girl here was none other than Andel.