The operation gave little time for Luck and the others to recover from the multiple attacks received by the enemy, the sin of envy alone managed to heavily damage Gnomon and also drive Luck to extreme circumstances just so he can make it out alive but one thing bothered Luck
'My father wanted to tell me something but he never showed up to do so, instead he showed up after the fight to just tell me about my power, I guess Abet was only lying so he could attack me or something, I genuinely don't know what is going on with them' Luck thought as he fought Gnomon
"Your fighting is off, is something bothering you?" Gnomon asked Luck, he also stopped the hand-to-hand training
"Nothing I just spaced out! How about we use our elements now? I want to test them on you!"
Gnomon laughed at Luck's words
"You are fired up after you fought Abet and I respect that but you have to master the basics first! Pure training will make you achieve that, the elements will come in later..."
"How much later? Our time is running low and I'm the weakest one out of all of you and the worst part is that I'm supposed to be a divine!"
Luck was feeling very guilty falling behind everyone while they continued to improve
"You realize that your powers aren't very good at this point, the best sign of obscure power you have shown to us is your destructive and celestial element and recently your SMZs, so I'm trying to at least make you excel at something you can fully utilize" Gnomon explained it to Luck but Luck was kind of offended by that comment
"My other powers are good as well, don't underestimate my power just because I don't shoot fire out of my leg or create flying spears! My powers can be equally powerful as theirs!"
Luck thought as he used the element of destruction to create electricity all over his body
"Luck relax and let's continue our training, I have trained countless people and I can assure you that by fighting you right now with the power of our elements you won't improve, you can't simply improve at everything as fast as you would improve if you focused on a single thing!"
Gnomon's words were the reality Luck thought as well but he couldn't stop himself from at least trying
Luck charged at Gnomon while creating a sword on his way, Gnomon, on the other hand, started launching these purple bullets at Luck but thanks to Luck's slowed-down vision he was able to dodge and deflect some bullets
The moment Luck got close to Gnomon he tried to slash him with the sword but Gnomon easily dodged the attack and also kicked Luck in the stomach sending him away from him
"You can't win Luck! Your role is to support others by fighting the weaker enemies and there is nothing wrong with that Luck, your powers are very overwhelming to learn"
Luck didn't say a word, he just kept on looking at the ground while trying to catch his breath
He then attacked again but this time by creating a gun that took mana bullets (Mana bullets are essentially mana that is being shot at something)
Gnomon simply created a time circle and slowed the bullets to a point where they were not a threat and then created another time circle, in this circle he make his purple bullets pass through it making them super fast, they went at a speed that Luck couldn't react so he simply took them all head on
Luck's body was launched near the wall of the training room, his body emitted a fog and he was damaged, Gnomon's bullet did all that to him
"Do you understand now Luck? You can't win against someone that has mastered their power, you started way too late to do that!"
"SHUT UP! Don't act like you know what I'm capable of! The others started at the same time as me but they are way too strong for me to even touch them and you think that's okay? NO IS NOT! I don't want to watch from the sidelines while everyone else is fighting! I want to be there! I want to be the lead! I don't care if that is selfish, I will become strong and face the enemy head-on! Even if that means death!"
Luck said as he started to slowly run toward Gnomon
"SO FIGHT ME!" Luck screamed as he picked up the pace
"I'm sorry" Gnomon said as he launched another set of purple bullets at Luck "What?" was his response to seeing that happened
Luck simply tanked the bullets and continued running toward him at an even faster rate
"I won't give up!" Luck screamed as he punched Gnomon with a fist that had lighting running all over it, but an interesting thing happened after the punch, a green-like snake aura bit Gnomon at the place of the attack
'What the hell? I feel kind of dizzy, was it because of this snake attack?' Gnomon thought as he focused on Luck's movements
"I'm not done yet!" Luck screamed as he was about to attack again but his attack was quickly interrupted by a quick combo by Gnomon
Luck was unconscious
"Damn this kid! Why won't you listen one time? Is your pride really that big?"
Gnomon asked the unconscious Luck as he pulled him up
Suddenly Caroline entered the training room
"I assume you watched the fight, right?" Gnomon asked
"All of it, Luck is pretty stubborn huh? You sure have a bad time teaching him by the way he acts" Caroline asked with a smile on her face
"Not really, I understand his feeling and I try to respond accordingly which is something I don't quite like since Luck almost always ends up like this" Gnomon explained as he pointed at Luck
"Just tell him he is not useless, that's all he wants to hear"
Caroline said before taking the unconscious body of Luck back to Luck's house
…
'How can I be sure he isn't a masochist, he always ends up like that after every fight... Maybe fighting isn't fit for him...' Caroline thought as he looked at the damaged face of Luck
Suddenly there was a knock on the door, Caroline quickly ran to open the door, it was Destiny
"Is Luck alright? I heard that he got hurt while training" Destiny said with a worried look on her face
"I mean he is kind of hurt but it's not serious, wanna take a look?"
"It's okay! If you say he is fine then he must be"
An awkward pause then followed with Destiny and Caroline looking at each other
"Do you want something else?" Caroline asked with an annoyed attitude
"Uhm... Want to go for a walk?"
'She just came up with that, right?' Caroline wondered to herself before closing the door and going outside with Destiny
"Don't you feel anxious?" Destiny asked
"Why should I? I mean I'm sort of worried about you three but I'm not anxious" Caroline replied
"That must be nice... to be so strong that you don't have to be scared..." Destiny said as she looked at the ground
"You are strong Destiny, you should start trusting your power and yourself more, this world isn't quite clear about who is strong and who is weak, those that conquer are those that are confident and stubborn, people that trust their power more than anything, and think smart to win unwinnable fights, that's how I made it"
Destiny seemed very surprised by Caroline's response, she felt that Caroline sort of matured, or wasn't herself
"So you were weak once too?"
"Of course not, I just wasn't as strong as now" Caroline replied with a smile on her face
The girls continued to walk peacefully the narrow streets of Biol, stopping at any stray cat they saw to pet it
It was a peaceful moment considering what was about to come not long after but after Caroline saw Destiny in such a state decided to help her brighten up a little but their walk wasn't enough
"Caroline, do you think is worth it to fight alongside UMP? I don't have anything to gain by helping them aside from money, but I risk my life every day, I have to fight even if I don't want to fight, I can't live with the stress that I could be attacked at any moment by a cat, a person, or even a loved one disguised as the sin of envy or any other bad guy"
Caroline was surprised by the nature of the question but she didn't hesitate to reply honestly
"It's too late to quit Destiny, they know your face and it's not hard to figure out where you live, only your face is enough information to hurt you or your loved ones, do you understand me, Destiny? You are bounded to continue if you want to defend those who you love or give up everything and run away, these are the only good options you have" Caroline replied with a serious look on her face
A silence followed once again, Destiny thought hard about the situation she was in and Caroline simply was there, unable to do anything to help
"My sister would have never abandoned us for her benefit, I'm sure that she was a mana user just like us but she was always able to hide from us the pressure and her struggles of being one, so I want to be like her, even if I struggle here I will keep on smiling so I can make everyone around me feel like nothing is wrong, that's right... I will have the smile to cleanse every negative feeling our allies have, and with that smile, I will move toward the destruction that follows!" Destiny said with a bright smile on her face
"You are too strong..." Caroline whispered as she saw the mood-changing smile of Destiny
"What?" Destiny wondered
"Nothing! Race me to Luck's house!" Caroline said as she started running
"Hey, you cheated!" Destiny replied as she ran after her
…
"Attack me more intensely this time!" Floga said as he was struggling to stand straight
"You are done Floga, overdoing it won't help you in any way, brakes are as important as training if not more important" Kamira said as she relaxed after a long session of training
"But I'm not worth enough am I?" Floga said as he grabbed his knees with his hand so he can support his heavy body
"Worth enough for what?"
"You know damn well what! The Shard, you do not trust me with the Shard because I'm weak isn't that right?" Floga said as he lashed out at Kamira
"You are not trusted enough Floga, and you are not ready yet too, if I give you that shard I will destroy you"
Kamira explained to Floga before exiting the training room
"DAMN IT!" Floga yelled as he punched the ground
He was frustrated because of his weakness
'Luck got a chance to witness the power of a sin and also damage it and I on the other hand struggle to beat the errand boy of the enemy, Daniel...'
Floga then got up and left the training room too, he wanted to clear his mind so he flew back to Biol by using a company plane
It was clear that everyone was getting ready for this that would be crucial in the near future
…
"Lucifer, aren't you going to talk to your son about what we discussed about?"
An unknown voice asked Lucifer
"That was the plan but things are much tenser on the island, I can barely approach it without having to kill a UMP defender now" Lucifer replied in a playful tone
"Don't act foolishly Lucifer! Your kid isn't something you can easily handle now that the white spirit is involved and you don't have to attract attention to you either"
"Yeah that's obvious, but we have to look at it positively, Luck is the weakest vessel of the white mana spirit in history but he isn't only physically weak but mentally too! It would be quite the team if we brought him on our side, right? Aurumia and Skotos! The two mana spirits' vessels in the same team fighting for the same cause! The re-write of the universe!"
Lucifer said as he spoke to the mana spirit Skotos...