"Please, touch the mana evaluator, Legion Dark. It is not that hard."
Night tried his best not to grit his teeth as it would show on his face. He reached out to the ball and as soon as his palm touched the surface, it was as if he had pushed his hand into an unactivated slime as it went through. His eyes widened and he immediately pulled his hand back.
He wasn't the only one who was surprised at what happened. Heindrik had already taken a few steps towards his direction after his head turned to them.
"What?"
Even Secretary Lowell, who showed no emotions the entire time, had his eyebrow raised and a small frown was plastered on his confused face.
In that instant, a hearty laugh echoed through the white walls. They all turned to where the sound came from and saw a man who had gray strands in his blonde hair. He was about 6'2", a height that Night couldn't even dream of having, and wore a suit which was about to burst from the muscles he was hiding underneath.
"I see that you have brought in another interesting one, Heindrik."
With a deep frown on his face, Night turned to Heindrik and saw him shaking his head sideways. Night glared at him, his eyes conveying too many words for Heindrik to understand.
'I thought you said you'd only deliver the evaluation results to him and not make him come while I am being evaluated!' Night had a strong desire to shout his thoughts to Heindrik's face but decided to swallow his desire.
He wouldn't want to face the agony of regret later on after everything was done.
"President, did you leave all the paperwork that needs your signature in your office?"
Secretary Lowell had his poker face back as he lectured District 8's Awakened Association President.
'He's the only one who has the guts to do such a thing.'
"Ah, I finished it just now. I came down because there is something that I'm curious about. Secretary Lowell, would you escort the others out? I'll need to have a talk with our Legion "Dark" right here."
The President put emphasis on Night's alias. He could feel a headache coming as he pulled his hand out of the ball, which was now slimy. Night's face naturally crumpled at the feeling of the slimy substance on his hand.
"President-"
"It's just a conversation, Heindrik."
The President looked over to Heindrik's direction with a smile on his face. Heindrik frowned in defeat and bowed to him before joining the others on their way out. As soon as the transparent door closed, the President strode towards Night.
He was already too close, but invaded Night's space more when he leaned forward until his face was right under his nose.
"Interesting. The Sage ran away as soon as you touched the mana evaluator. I wonder what made something as absolute as the system to run with its tail tucked."
Night's forefinger twitched.
"The Sage is not as absolute as you might think."
"Hoho! What a great thought you have there. Can you tell me more?"
Night took a few steps back to increase their distance. He didn't bother to hide the distaste on his face.
'This old man... he's strange in an eerie way.'
"Tell me. Are you one of them?"
Shivers ran down his spine after the smile on the President's face fell and all that was left was eyes full of suspicion and malice.
The atmosphere turned cold and the lights, which were making the room bright, flickered. The ground quaked and the glass windows and door slowly cracked.
In Night's peripheral view, he could see Heindrik trying to open the door, which wouldn't budge no matter how hard he pulled.
Meanwhile, Secretary Lee and Secretary Lowell were shooting daggers at each other, while Samuel was panicking because he couldn't stop the two of them.
"Do you really have the time to be distracted right now?!"
The President lunged forward and immediately entered Night's range. Surprised at the sudden attack, Night jumped back and widened the distance between them even more.
Sweat dripped from his forehead.
'An inch...' He thought.
If Night had moved a second slower, he wouldn't have evaded the President's attack.
Fighting Chaos Creatures, which had little to no intelligence, was easier than fighting and winning against humans who were intelligent beings and could think effectively by themselves.
The President didn't give him any time to recover as he showed his stabs using his bare fingers.
With the majority of his everything locked, Night could barely follow the President's attacks with his eyes, much less for his body.
Night felt dozens of different parts of his body getting stabbed multiple times. The President's stabs felt like they were dislocating every bone they could hit.
Night gritted his teeth and raised his arms. If he was not fast enough to dodge his attacks, then he would block them.
'Just a few more minutes.' He thought.
The ten minutes that Rafael gave him to buy time was almost up. He just needed until she comes back and unlocks all the privileges that he had before.
It was at that moment when he caught sight of the President's hand. It was clenched into a fist and mana was reinforcing his whole arm to his shoulder.
Night cursed inwardly and braced himself for the impact. But no matter how much he prepared, he was sent flying and crashed into the wall. He heard his bones crack as his back hit the wall hard.
"Ugh!"
A groan escaped his lips as he tried to push himself up. The President was walking towards him as if he was taking a walk in the park.
He felt his heart clench hard in his chest and he coughed up blood.
"I guess you are also a failed product of them. What a pity that you need to die here."
The President appeared right in front of him and grabbed him by the throat. He pushed him up against the wall while doing so. Night coughed and blood dripped out of his lips.
"L-let... go!"
He uttered through gritted teeth. But the President only tightened his grip. Night coughed up the same black blood from yesterday, but the President showed no change in reaction.
"Before I finish you off, tell me everything about them."
'This bastard! He's been talking nonsense since earlier!'
Night couldn't open his mouth anymore. His body was starting to grow limp and his eyes were blurry from the tears. He couldn't breathe much longer, but then...
[Master, what the hell happened?!]
The ten minutes were finally used up, Rafael was back. Along with her return were several announcements reflecting in his retina:
[Two-way communication with Rafael has been resumed.
Leveling system has been unlocked!
Inventory has been unlocked!
Skills have been unlocked!
Talents have been unlocked!
Unique Traits have been unlocked!
Titles have been unlocked!]
[I'm healing you! I'm currently healing you!]
Rafael shouted in haste. Night could feel the burning sensation in his throat disappearing and the power that he lost slowly returned to his body.
The President noticed that something had changed in him and pulled his fist back and was about to punch him in the stomach in an attempt to knock him out, but Night took actions fast and grabbed the President's arm with both of his hands and swung his body forward, his knees bent before he kicked the President's stomach.
The President let go of Night's neck. He didn't bother to wipe the black blood from the side of his lips as he circulated his mana in his center core. The chains which were hidden appeared in his right arm once again and glowed a golden light.
'Let's not use it here.'
Night didn't want to use his dark attribute. He couldn't let the people watching the fight learn how he could wield two opposite powers at the same time.
'Let's go with the safe option.'
People tend to feel frightened in the face of death, so releasing that side of his powers would cause more problems than what it could fix. Contrary to that, divinity is something that people always worshipped no matter the time.
Night's body emitted a golden aura, which looked majestic and holy at the same time. His powers blended too well with his current appearance that someone might mistake him for a saint.
"This is why I hate being weak! I don't like getting hurt and I hate dying! So don't you dare threaten me with death!"
For the first time, Night vocalized his real feelings.
The President flinched after seeing the holy aura surrounding Night. He faltered for a second and such a reaction did not pass by Night as he continued to charge at the President.
He pulled his right arm behind and with his full strength, he struck down at the ground near the spot where the President stood.
The ground rumbled and the lights went out for a few seconds before they returned to normal. The dust which had risen from Night's attack hindered the passerby's watchful eyes.
Heindrik, who had finally been able to open the door, tried to find his way through the dust as it slowly dissipated.
However, the sight which greeted him made him stop in his tracks.