Time didn’t wait for Noah this time; while he was conversing with Blackie, his tumble-roll had finished, and he was now pinned under Trey’s body, the other’s big frame blocking the sniper’s line of sight to Noah.

Noah’s heart thumped inside his chest as if it wanted to break out of it, time seemed to be passing excruciatingly slowly as countless thoughts flashed through his head.

Why would someone want Aris dead? Aris wasn’t dangerous, nor did he offend anyone. His city lord of a father was a beloved ruler, and Aris wasn’t even his eldest child. There was simply no reason to kill Aris; in his 18 years of life, no one had tried to kill him before, there wasn’t even a kidnapping attempt!

Noah’s eyes darted towards where he had been standing a moment before, then they glanced towards the crack in the concrete.

No…! Something wasn’t right here!

Noah’s eyes widened and fixed themselves on Trey’s chest, behind which was the point from which sniper had shot the first bullet.

In his state of heightened awareness, he noticed how Trey started to mobilize his power to retract the shield trapping the Blazer and envelop the two of them instead.

“Don’t!” Noah had no time to explain, he could only hope that his single word of complaint would be enough.

Hearing Noah’s anxious plea, Trey stiffened for a brief moment, his actions slowing down a beat. However, unlike Trey, sniper didn’t hesitate to fire another shot.

In a moment of desperation, Noah made a stupid move. With a strength he didn’t know he had, Noah pushed Trey off of him. Trey flew but refused to let go of Noah, and thus the two ended up rolling again, this time with Noah straddling Trey.

The bullet whizzed past Noah’s ear and embedded itself into the concrete next to Trey’s head.

“Shield! Doughnut shape!” Noah exclaimed between heavy gasps.

Trey’s frame shook, and his pupils widened in enlightenment. Of course! If he formed a doughnut-shaped shield, he could both keep the Blazer trapped within the hole, and prevent the bullets from entering the ring!

His power moved swiftly, in mere moments, a huge invisible doughnut twisted around them.

Not a moment too soon! Just as his power had finished forming the doughnut, another bullet clanked as it was blocked by the newly formed shield.

Noah finally let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding and slumped against Trey’s chest.

He closed his eyes, trying to calm his rapid heartbeat and heavy breathing, so he missed how Trey’s breath caught in his throat, and his ears flushed pink.

Trey’s black eyes darted about, and his arms hung awkwardly in the air, for he knew not where to put them. What to do? Wanted to place his hands on little one’s waist but felt that would be too brazen.

Trey only snapped out of his awkward daze when Noah finally gasped out an explanation. “The sniper! Target! Not me! But you!”

Trey’s eyes widened again and quickly turned to look in the direction where they were standing previously. When his eyes landed on the bullet hole, his body shook as he connected the dots. The first shot wasn’t fired at Noah’s head, but at Trey, who was standing right behind him!

Their actual target had been Trey!

But why target Trey of all people?

“The Blazer!” Trey realized.

If Trey died, the shield trapping the Blazer would disappear! Perhaps they wanted to help the Blazer escape arrest. Or if there was someone behind this incident, then they definitely wouldn’t want it to be resolved so easily! They would want to send the Blazer on a killing spree!

Either way, the Blazer needed to be released from his entrapment.

If Noah hadn’t stopped Trey from retracting his shield back then, they would have played right into the perpetrator’s hand!

“Then… you pushed me away because…” Trey’s voice came out in a hoarse, dry rasp.

“I figured that they wouldn’t want to provoke my father. So, taking my life wasn’t on their to-do list.”

And besides, Noah had faith that Blackie, although foul-tempered, would indeed ensure he kept his life. But he couldn’t really tell Trey that he had an extra life cheat, so throwing out a daddy shield would do.

Trey’s black eyes turned stormy, his voice trembling with barely suppressed anger. “You were gambling with your own life.”

Noticing with his sharp Soother senses that this conversation wasn’t going in the right direction, Noah hurried to salvage it. “I had faith in my judgment. And I was right, wasn’t I?”

“And what if you were wrong? It is my job to protect you! Not the other way around!” Trey was trying his hardest to control his tone to not be disrespectful. He truly meant no disrespect to his charge. He admired Noah from the bottom of his heart, but it was precisely because he respected him so that he couldn’t accept him gambling with his life to protect the lives of two complete strangers. Even if one of those strangers was none other than himself.

Noah finally noticed their compromising position and hurried to get off of Trey. He stumbled to his feet and awkwardly glanced back towards the Blazer that was nearly forgotten.

“Yes, you were hired to guard me. But no one expects you to guard me with your life.” Noah spoke out in an airy, lighthearted tone as if it was only natural. As if he was merely stating the obvious.

Trey, who had just gotten up from the ground, stood there, staring dazedly at his disheveled yet incomparably dazzling young master. His thoughts and emotions in such disarray that all he could hear was white noise.

Completely unaware of the sweet ballista arrow he had shot into Trey’s heart, Noah eyed the condo from which the bullet had been fired, but there was no longer any movement coming from that direction. Unable to do much about the sniper either way, he concentrated his attention back to his soothing.

While the two were rolling for their lives, Noah had never stopped his soothing efforts. By now, the Blazer’s thrashing about had considerably slowed down, and his animalistic screams dropped in frequency and volume.

As soon as the man completely stopped spewing flames, Noah expanded his range of soothing to cover the entire station.

The panicked people started to calm down and regain their wits. Their pain lessened considerably, and they began to help each other put out the flames. Many directed their worshiping gazes towards Noah, nodding their thanks with red eyes, but before they could approach to shake his hand, loud sirens were heard approaching. Moments later, a dozen specialized Magcarts slid into the station.

At that moment, Noah thought… How come the police are always late no matter the world?! Is it some kind of a cosmic law?! ⊙▃⊙

Blackie wanted to roll his eyes at the large pit that was his host’s brain, but upon further thought, had to swallow the insult down for he realized that there were indeed many worlds that had such a setting.