Seeing the kneeling Mikah, Luciano sneered complacently. Did he even have to move to suppress a humble student-athlete? The answer was no.

"Axel, we have to do something," Haan said in a panicked whisper. "Mikah can’t last long under such pressure. As soon as he runs out of stamina, he’ll be crushed like a bug."

However, the tall boy next to her didn’t respond. This caused Haan to grow frustrated and puzzled as she nudged him and whispered more aggressively, "AXEL!"

Axel just stared ahead with terrible focus, gripping his katana tightly. Haan could feel him building momentum as if getting ready to make a move. She followed his gaze silently and saw Ryatt step over the collapsed bodies of a couple of pirates before dashing over furiously. Ryatt’s previously small stature seemed a size larger now that he was exerting himself, and his body’s muscles seemed more defined than before. It was very noticeable even from a distance.

Noticing this, Haan couldn't help but feel surprised. She momentarily forgot about everything around her as she watched the enraged boy charge over. She couldn't help but muse to herself, "Could Ryatt be an outsider? Or perhaps a fey?" Haan couldn't figure it out just by looking, but she noticed many peculiarities about this boy wonder.

Oblivious to the actions of these lessers, Luciano glanced coldly at the girl behind him. He quickly thought to himself with a dark and nasty look on his face, "To formulate my father’s secret voodoo refining technique, I have to play with two virgins once I reach age 13. For me to perfectly achieve the Earth Extreme, they must have the highest quality virgin yin essence.

Luciano pulled out a small device with a blank screen, pointing it at Micayle. The screen lit up with lavender light, displaying many characters of information. This device was able to gauge the vital force in an individual. He had spent weeks secretly investigating the girls at his school with this device. He had to make the most calculated decision, as it directly related to his future villainous career.

"Woah! Charm value of 12 as a humble human? She's surprisingly only a few points off from Haan. Excellent. After this merchant brat, I only need to improve my collection by one. It’s best if they have high-quality serenity. Shit, who knew what this merchant bitch’s talent was like, could this be why the Giovonci purchased her? That girl, Haan, also has shockingly pure serene energy. By comparison, however, this little dove isn’t quite as pretty. She might have decent serene energy as well, but it's definitely inferior to Haan. This merchant girl can easily help me train in the first track, but Haan's vital yin should help me train to the second track of my father's voodoo record, at least. By then, I don’t believe I’ll have trouble grabbing that Haan girl."

"Fetch, my pet." satiated, for now, Luciano looked down at the dazed girl in front of him and spoke in an ancient tongue.

"Arf, arf! Daddy!" The dog collar tattoo around Micayle’s neck lit up, and Micayle looked at Luciano with love in her eyes as she barked and called out in the same ancient tongue.

Among those observing, only Haan's face changed upon hearing Micky's foreign words.

"I’m going to let you play ten times. Okay, puppy?" Luciano continued to speak in that strange language, albeit roughly.

"Woof, deal!" Micayle barked sweetly, her dazed expression suddenly turning completely playful and naive.

Axel and Mikah couldn’t understand what was being said. They only saw Micayle’s tongue fall out of her mouth like a dog’s tongue after she barked. Mikah was completely appalled.

Micayle hobbled over to Luciano’s feet on all fours, nuzzling his clothed leg affectionately. She looked up expectantly and asked in that foreign language, "Arf! Daddy, can we play right now?"

"Hahaha, making others willingly lick my feet and beg for my service. This even better than playing house with my little sisters and maids. Yes, this is something I could get used to!" Luciano laughed happily, ignoring the children around him. In his mind, he already had the upper hand. Even though he got the wrong slave, he still had his second slave! None of these brats could do anything to him. In fact, he only ever feared Ryatt Drakel, never the others. This Graves Family scion didn’t even bother to check on Ryatt Drakel after the latter ran towards the long-range captain, as there was no way one kid could survive all those pirates. Not even Luciano could do so in short order, and he naturally believed Ryatt to be inferior to his current self. "Unfortunately, I wasted those prototypes for the ProSlaver Burner. Mother only purchased ten in total, now four are burned out. A pity. I'll have to make sure father hears of this first or I'll be flayed."

"I…I’ll…Kill…you," Mikah’s eyes had become entirely bloodshot at this point. The pressure on his shoulders was far too taxing.

Mikah was down on one knee and then both knees. His blood vessels looked as if they were going to burst from his body as he struggled to rise back to one knee before falling once more. As Mikah’s anger and resentment reached a peak, his gaze suddenly went blank. The air around Mikah felt incredibly stiff to the youth all of a sudden. When he focused a bit more, he felt like he could see some sort of particles floating motionlessly. This wasn't actual sight, but a certain level of awareness awakening.

(News flash: This event was slightly different from my own timeline. Although I was only a spectator of this timeline, I felt astounded by the change in Mikah. Could my soul be influencing this timeline silently? I couldn't help but think that without my presence that this would not be the moment my good friend awakened. Actually, in my timeline, it was Haan that got hit Micayle got injured in the fight to recover Haan. In my memory, the complete helplessness Mikah felt on this day led to his awakening the next. However, this timeline was already changed. Although this was different, I didn't presume that the entire course of history would change because of this. I could feel that the events I came back to prevent were still on my path of destiny in this timeline. In retrospect, not only is Mikah quite the genius, Luciano played a crucial role in our lives.)

'What...are these?' Mikah seemed to temporarily forget about everything happening around him, diving into these sensations. After two breaths, he suddenly sat on the spot and crossed his legs.

Luciano glanced at Mikah disdainfully, as if he were looking at a small bug who had learned its place. Gesturing at one of the injured pirates who had gotten up, Luciano turned his attention back to the merchant girl Micayle. That goon came over and lifted Micayle into his arms at Luciano’s behest. The latter already had the intention to abscond with Micayle right away now that he didn’t have to focus so much on suppressing the younger brother. The Haan situation could be addressed later.

"Retreat. One of you come clean up the brother. He can’t live, but we can’t kill him…here?" Luciano’s words were suddenly cut short by a sudden bout of curse words.

"Lucci, you disgusting rat bastard! Shameless pig! Dirty grave-digging rodent! Maggot-filled filth!"

A clearly rage-filled and high-pitched shout echoed in the surroundings. Hearing such a youthful voice spout such obscenities was strange to the ears.

"Don’t. Fucking. TOUCH HER!" A high voice bellowed out as a small fist came flying forward like a stone launched from a catapult.

Argh!" Luciano was talking to his subordinate when he suddenly felt a sense of danger approaching him. He immediately drew the saber sheathed on his waist and blocked across his chest.

Clank!

-------

The sound of a brick colliding with a metal shield rang out as Luciano fell back over ten steps and his saber flew out of his hands. With a metallic clang, the blade landed 60 meters away in someone’s yard. My left hand was quickly swelling from the impact, and there was a crimson line of blood slowly appearing. However, I didn’t stop at all. I grabbed Luciano’s fallen saber sheath and threw it at the fleeing pirate’s feet. The pirate holding Micayle in his arms stumbled and dropped her on her butt.

"OW!"

-------

"Let’s go!" Axel bent down, and Haan quickly climbed onto his back without being told. Upon moving earlier, she discovered that she injured her ankle, so Axel had to carry her now. Axel secured the girl on his back and ran at top speed. As he passed by the seemingly meditating Mikah, he said, "What are you doing, stupid? Run!"

"Huh? Oh, ah! Okay!" Mikah's eyes snapped open at these words. He had gotten so lost in the previous sensation that he even temporarily forgot about Micayle's distress.

Heart racked with guilt, he glanced around, processing the changes. Actually, there were so many changes in such a short time that Mikah had trouble settling his emotions. But, since his sister was currently in arms reach of Ryatt, that was a good thing. For now, Mikah knew he should run as hard as he could! However, the insight he just gained felt like something he should grasp before anything else happened.

"Not so fast!" Luciano’s kick suddenly came swooping down from above like a bird of prey, catching Mikah off guard.

"AH!" Mikah was horrified as he had already experienced this boy’s strength first hand. In his panic, he was suppressed to notice the air particles around him almost push him when his emotions spiked.

Luciano was someone who could critically injure him with a single attack! With help from the air itself, Mikah barely fell back and rolled to the side desperately. He gasped, barely dodging Luciano’s kick that easily cracked in the pavement with a heavy thud! forming a pothole and his follow-up leg sweep.

Seeing the brat get lucky and dodge clumsily, Luciano dove for his blade. Wielding it and swinging it savagely, he narrowly missed Mikah’s now incredibly pale neck.

"Guys, help me! He’s trying to kill me! He wants to kill me!" Mikah called out.

However, in Mikah's heart, he was surprised. That insight he was trying to grasp was suddenly clearer to him. This seemed to be due to the threat of losing his little life, he suddenly felt like the air particles were responding to his inner feelings.

"Die, swine!" Luciano barked menacingly, attacking with great strength.

Luciano still couldn’t believe that a ten-year-old humble punk had knocked him back in a frontal collision and even knocked his saber away. This was gym class all over again. Ryatt Drakel had humiliated him for the last time!

"I was merely flustered," Luciano consoled himself in this way. "If I were calmer, I definitely wouldn’t have been at a disadvantage!"

Even though he spoke like this, Luciano’s hands were both throbbing and trembled slightly. He knew very well how heavy was the physical force that punches from Drakel delivered. Luciano looked to where his subordinate was taking the girl but saw Drakel about to strike him down. He knew the pirate was no match for Drakel, as perhaps not even Luciano was the former’s match. Luciano was a very narrow-minded individual. Naturally, subordinates more powerful than Luciano weren’t recruited by himself. In the youth's mind, how could he remain the decision-maker if someone more powerful than him was in his squad? He wouldn't accept anyone undermining his authority as his petty pride couldn't handle it.

"To think I rejected martial uncle’s proposal to accompany us due to my arrogant desire to prove myself. It ended up being a mistake not to bring a backer." Luciano was truly enraged now, and he was trying to kill this little green-haired punk to vent his frustration. He swung his blade madly, yet he still hadn’t hit Mikah even once. The thought was inconceivable, and pure rage blinded Luciano’s thoughts. He no longer held back his power base, a wave of pressure rolling out to cover a three-meter radius. "Kill, kill, kill! Why won’t you die, die, die! How can you dodge like this? I should have just killed all these brats immediately! After all, then I could have easily taken both girls. I will correct my earlier mistake by killing you, brat, now! Those are your sworn-brothers, right? Let’s see if they continue to flee once you die."

Luciano could already see four figures running off in the distance.

-------

After I threw the saber sheath, the goon carrying Micayle tripped.

"OW! Hey, ouchie, hehe," falling to the ground, Micayle exclaimed cutely. Unfortunately, she still spoke in that ancient language. Micayle stood up and rubbed her bottom, but she seemed to become engrossed in doing so as if she were on drugs.

"Come here now, lassie. We ain’t go through all this for noth…" Before the pirated could reach his hand out to touch Micayle again, he caught a sudden dropkick to the face. The force of the kick was the most dreadful pain the pirate had ever experienced.

The strength of my feet shattered the opponent’s teeth and jaw on contact, sending him reeling and sliding painfully across the pavement.

"We’re leaving!" I swiftly took Micayle in my little arms with ease and started running at top speed without hesitation.

Micayle’s current state was too strange to be left alone. The others would have to escape on their own. I knew I had to get her back to the merchant association immediately.

"Grrr! Woof, woof! No, let me go! Daddy is still here, and I need to stay with daddy! Grrr..." Micayle protested as she struggled in my arms when she felt me running further and further away from Luciano.

AlthoughI hadn’t realized it, Micayle was no longer speaking in our native tongue. However, I was able to understand and even reply with ease.

"Hey, stop it, stay still, Mick," I struggled to flee while holding this flailing girl. I spoke in that ancient tongue effortlessly. It was to the extent that it was accidental and I had yet to notice the change in my own speech.

The young me knew nothing about matters between men and women, so I ultimately didn’t understand the implications of Micayle’s current state even though I understood her words. However, I knew I absolutely couldn’t allow her to be captured in this state no matter what. I didn’t want to see her licking or nuzzling Luciano’s anything anymore.

-------

"Lucky!" Axel did his best in catching up with the rapidly fleeing Ryatt, and Haan called out to him from behind.

"I hope it’s important," Ryatt grumbled as he adjusted his speed to talk to Axel and Haan, struggling to hold Micayle still the entire time.

"Daddy help! They’re taking me! I still have to play ten more times, and you said you would let me! Please, please, please!" Micayle was starting to sob tears pathetically as she begged, reaching out her arms behind Ryatt frantically, leaving Haan endlessly worried. "Woof, woof!