From Mikah's perspective, Ryatt was a real battle maniac, and he was super strong too! Mikah might not be anywhere near Ryatt’s level now, but he was only a bit weaker than Axel as a student-athlete. These pirates weren’t so tough, and Mikah wanted to fight too! Mikah told himself that he would allow his friends to have more energy to deal with their Power Hunter foe by helping. He never realized that comparing Ryatt’s fighting prowess wasn’t a good way for Mikah to gauge these pirates’ formidable strength.

Oblivious to the flaw in his thought process, Mikah turned to the left and became even more pleased and surprised.

Axel was struggling, but to the pleasant surprise of both Micayle and Mikah, it looked like their friend was handling three pirates on his own and not falling back at all.

How could they know Axel’s swordplay felt useless against these opponents whom he couldn’t hurt very easily? The youth was struggling to tie them down.

"Yeah!" Mikah hollered as the blood rushed from his heart, pumping adrenaline throughout his body. He inhaled sharply and decided to go for it, "Go, go go!"

"Mikey, no! Don’t move, go back!" Mikah heard Ryatt’s voice, but it was too late as he had already made a move.

Mikah swiftly pulled out a shining bronze disc that looked a little like a boomerang. He dropped a couple of meters to the left and launched it at one of Axel’s opponents.

The bronze disc collided directly in the center of the pirate’s forehead, sending him reeling back temporarily.

Seeing this, Axel didn't hesitate or stop. He took the chance to deliver a horizontal slash to the goon’s temple. The goon’s neck snapped back as his body spun 180 degrees before falling heavily. His mouth foamed a bit, clearly taking him out of the fight, but the goon was still alive. Thankfully, the pressure on Axel reduced instantly, allowing him to regain control of the fight's pace.

.

.

.

. Right before Mikah made his move, I watched the weapons pointing at them and Luciano, who had moved a bit closer to Mikah and the girls at some point.

‘Mana weapons and a human weapon. Fack. When did he move? He was so fast and silent?’ I suddenly felt a hint of dread when I laid eyes on Luciano.

What did the latter aim to accomplish by approaching the non-combatants?

Did Luciano want to use the girls to threaten us?

Mikah might not be powerful, but he was still a student-athlete. Disposing of him wouldn’t be so easy.

Still, I didn’t want to take too many chances.

"What’s wrong, Pussiano? Didn’t you want to cripple me? I’m right here. Come, come and cripple me. Or did you plan to shoot me down to hide your shame?" I shouted at Luciano, hoping to distract him. "Tell me, pirates, is it fun to get beat up by a ten-year-old for this cowardly brat?"

As I spoke, I dropkicked a pirate who was climbing off the ground laboriously. My feet crashed square into the jaw of the goon, who was immediately knocked back, coughing up shattered teeth and blood. I dashed up and grabbed that pirate’s leg before the latter hit the ground. Turning sharply on my pivot, I swung the pirate by his legs into the last standing goon.

Thud!

The impact sent both pirates rolling away helplessly.

Only seven pirates remained standing. These were the two Axel clashed against fiercely, Luciano and the four pointing those guns. They had already cut their enemy's forces in half. However, that feeling of impending crisis suddenly grew incredibly intense in Ryatt’s heart, prompting me to turn and see Mikah leaving his position to assist Axel.

"Mikey, no! Don’t move, go back!"

I shouted frantically, my expression shocking Haan, who had been watching me this entire time. She was truly stunned to the core, as the Ryatt she knew had never shown such a terrified expression. How could she know that my intuition was screaming danger right now?

Micayle also heard Ryatt shout. Her eyes that were already looking at her brother instantly flashed with an understanding light. She recalled Ryatt's instructions and that he very specifically told Mikah to stay with them. Why had he done so? Micayle previously believed Ryatt was looking down on Mikah’s strength. She was slightly disgruntled about that, but in this situation, it couldn’t be helped.

However, she now noticed that this wasn’t the case. She realized Ryatt wasn't ever looking down on Mikah. Rather he really wanted Mikah to protect them.

They were destined to find out why I had given those instructions to Mikah now that the latter ran off.

Micayle bit her lip.

Micayle's foster father had given her a treasure that could help her and only her escape a crisis or calamity. But could she leave her friends? Usually, the answer would be yes. Her brother would probably be okay once Micayle herself was safe. Mikah wouldn’t do anything rash or stupid if Micayle weren’t in danger. After all, Ryatt and Axel were both here.

But what about Haan? Haan didn’t have any family in Micayle’s memory, and Micayle was her only close friend. Haan barely knew Axel, and she had only met Ryatt a week ago. Haan’s grandmother was bedridden and sickly, and no one could protect her from Luciano.

Upon who, then, could Haan depend?

As Micayle looked at her best friend, a determined look flashed across her eyes, "We have to escape together. I have to save Haan! Ryatt told me not to be rash, but I absolutely can’t leave my friend behind."

If Haan weren’t here, Micayle wouldn't hesitate to crush that treasure and escape.

After all, she knew Ryatt and Axel would only applaud her for this. However, since Haan was here, Micayle absolutely wouldn’t crush that treasure. If the three boys knew that none of them were as important as a single Haan to Micayle, who knows how they would feel. Nonetheless, Micayle couldn’t bring herself to leave her friend behind.

"Do it, now!" Luciano suddenly shouted as he finally made his move. He dashed toward Mikah and kicked the unsuspecting youth in the chest.

"Ack!" with a heavy thud, Mikah was knocked rolling back by ten meters. His countenance was horrible, and his breathing was labored. However, Mikah climbed to his feet, clutching his chest.

"Fire!" shouted the lead goon as he pulled the trigger of his glowing gun.

"Go!" the other snipers also fired at this moment.

The weapons started to shine with scintillating light, and the surrounding youths were temporarily blinded. The pirates were no exception.

Feeling impending crisis, I instantly withdrew two sparkling crystals, one white and the other black. I focused my sight on the ground and dropped the crystals opposed to each other. I also dropped a paper seal in between them. A circle of light formed, with the perimeter ending where the crystals were. Standing inside the circle of light, the formation erected a pale barrier of energy around me. Although I had the reoccurring feeling that the danger wasn’t targeting me at all, I currently stood directly in front of all of those snipers whose weapons were hissing and glowing.

Target or not, I knew I couldn't be careless! Mana guns were able to fire highly concentrated beams of energy. Wouldn’t I be obliterated if I got hit by all of those beams?

I knew perfectly well how frail I was in the face of real power, especially the natural elemental energy produced from ancient crystal formations. The elemental beam of a fully charged mana gun would definitely split the atoms in his body and trigger an explosion.

Hence, he could only take emergency precautions.

Too bad I only confirmed too late that I wasn’t the target of this attack. The danger I feared had finally reared its ugly head, a calamity befalling my friends. Actually, even if I was somehow able to tell young Ryatt who the target was in advance, I still couldn’t stop what happened next. I watched helplessly as four nearly transparent pink beams of light curved and swiveled right past me, shooting directly at the watching Haan.

It was as if a Ryatt Drakel hadn’t even been in the way.

"I recognize that energy control method. The V8 Hero Rifle!" I despaired as I confirmed the prototype weapon these youths were recklessly employing. The new hero rifle had trajectory settings. Shooting past an obstacle was fairly easy. Three of the beams didn’t even come close to my energy barrier. Luckily, the barrier forcefully impeded two of them.

These two beams became far thinner, but they also shot off past me!

"Such marksmanship and force…wait, no. No…why would…Haan!" I was speechless and tongue-tied watching the beams zoom past, but I knew things were bad when I followed their trajectory.

I may not have talked to Haan that much in the two years she lived in New Origin City, but Haan was Micayle’s best friend. Even if we had only officially met a few days back, I didn’t want anything to happen to Haan. In my impression, she was cute and witty, a brilliant and peaceful girl. I didn’t want her to suffer.

Especially not obliteration!

'What kind of maniac gave children such killer weapons?' I hated that I wasn’t the one guarding the girls instead of Mikah, but there was no point in dwelling on this. Mikah wouldn’t have been able to hold off all the goons on this side on his own, so this was something only I could do. I had already done my best. Unfortunately, I dwelled.

I lost my composure, and I had never felt more like a ten-year-old boy. I couldn’t comprehend what had just happened. My youthful mind never thought our enemies would fire those prototype weapons over such a small-scale conflict. ‘Aren’t we all students? What is Luciano plotting? After all, powering such a device had to be very expensive. Why would he be willing to bear such costs just for a personal grudge? They actually shot at non-combatants with such horrible weapons.’

"You cowardly animals shot at an innocent school girl?" I roared through gnashing teeth. I almost couldn’t bear to watch those beams shoot forward, but I forced myself to do so.

However, a figure suddenly jumped in front of Haan at this moment. This figure was…

"No!!! Micayle, don’t!" I screamed in horror, that feeling of impending crisis blaring as loud as an alarm in my subconsciousness. Except for this time, everything seemed too slow in my mind. I could clearly see ethereal images of Micayle being pierced by four beams of light, moving far faster than the actual beams in my line of sight.

'W-what is this?' I felt totally baffled.

What was I seeing?

I had the strangest sensation that this event was difficult to prevent no matter how I tried. I finally understood why I experienced such a feeling earlier. I had always had a sixth sense, a sense that allowed me to discover both fortune and misfortune. However, this mysterious foresight seemed to evolve at this moment.

Unfortunately, I couldn't focus on these changes at the moment.

Mikah and Micayle were my oldest friends! They were members of a merchant house and didn’t even have surnames. Their lives were tough, but they managed to stay so positive and resourceful. Both had helped me out a lot in primary school. Now, Micayle was in peril, and there was nothing I could do about it at all. Such a thing made me feel small and insignificant.

"Damn this crystal formation!" I cursed.

I wasn’t a profounder or profound life-form. I didn’t possess any magic treasures or superpowers. It was the power of my ancient crystals that activated the formation and energy shield. Because of that, the formation I was in had to run out of energy to stop. It wouldn’t stop on its own for two more breaths at least. I let out a pained breath, "I can foresee the trajectory of the attack, and she can’t dodge at all! It’s going to hit…damn it, push each other away, dodge. They don't have time to do either! It will hit without fail. Nothing can stop it."

Thanks to my awakening ability, I knew the truth. No, I could see the truth. By the time the energy barrier vanished, those beams of light would impale Micayle! I knew this very well. Even if I had blocked the rays of light with my own body, with how swift they were moving, I could’ve blocked two at most. Just because I could see the trajectory didn’t mean my body could intercept attacks from a V8 Hero Rifle. My body couldn’t keep up with my mind.

Although my mind was moving extremely fast, these events transpired in less than a breath.

Those beams of pink light seemed to be moving in slow motion. Yet, my body was moving even slower than that! I had never felt so helpless. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, the barrier vanishing immediately after I exhaled. I was stunned as the barrier disappeared a few breaths earlier than it should. I reacted quick enough.

"So, I managed to block some of the attacks. The energy of the barrier was depleted. Hmph. Black Tyrants, I swear I’ll destroy you!" A youthful voice suddenly roared with anger, turning around to rush not in Micayle and Haan’s direction. It was the opposite.

I was angrier than I had ever been in my short life. I couldn’t stop what would happen. That mysterious foresight made me sure of this fact. Instead, I directly charged toward the four snipers wielding those familiar mana guns. My momentum made it seem like a freight train barreling over to those villains.

Seeing the charging youth, the four snipers initially felt schadenfreude due to young Ryatt’s small stature. However, when they felt the frightening momentum behind the youth’s rapid steps, they all frowned. Ryatt’s momentum carried a pressure comparable to their young master’s level of power. How was that possible? They immediately felt fear.

"Is this brat a hero or not? …AHH!" before the squad leader was able to get his words out, my forehead collided savagely against the bridge of the former’s nose, crushing it completely.

"ARRRAGH, YOU LITTLE SON OF A BITCH!"

The squad leader’s skull was 90% crushed, making him scream in agony. Blood flew, and bone chips fell from my forehead, but I didn’t even glance at the squad leader or pay attention to the blood. I reached out and grabbed two more pirates by their throats. My little hands were moving quicker than those goons could react to, and they looked too small to be threatening. That is until I started exerting enough strength in my hands to crush their necks.

‘Who the hell is this kid? He’s small but so strong!’ The pirates couldn’t help but think this, horrified by this kid's raw strength.

Unfortunately, they would already be choking on blood if they weren’t protected right now. The pirates found this to be incredulous. After all, they were several years older than their young master Luciano. Although Luciano could similarly overpower them, that was only after he formed a power base! This child, Drakel, had no power base of which to speak. They panicked in their hearts, ‘Without a power base, how could this brat possibly be so strong? Luckily, we have the Black Tyrant Flags protection, otherwise…’