Chapter 910

"Huh? But you said—"

"I only said that you all have a lot of work to put in. I didn’t necessarily say you were weak," Grey interrupted, then sipped his tea one more time.

He took a moment to quickly glance around the room, meeting the eyes of every person at the table.

"If you were truly weak, it would have been utterly impossible to shed my blood. You all have grown immensely.

You even managed to throw me around a few times—whack me out of the air, make me bleed, and make me tumble across the dirt.

Especially you, Scarlet; your combat prowess has grown significantly, and as a unit, you all dealt quite the substantial amount of damage to me."

He paused for a moment, licking his dry lips as he considered his next words.

"If you had faced someone else who isn’t me, you guys would have won no diff. And do you know why you would have emerged victorious?"

The others glanced at each other in confusion, their brows furrowed, while Amir and Kael casually began chewing on snacks and sipping their tea, content to listen.

Seeing their bewilderment, Grey lifted his teacup up to his face and gave them a quick, analytical scan.

"... Because you work together. Just like Kael had commented earlier in the fight; you all were unable to deal any damage to me initially because you were fighting separately.

You are a squad—a good one. And a squad fights as a single entity, not as isolated parts. That was why I was forced to initiate an attack toward Vanica... I’m sorry about that."

The girl shook her head with a gentle smile, signaling that she held no grudge and was perfectly fine.

"... Seeing as you all were being stubborn, I needed to target the weakest link among you all... no offense once more, Vanica. And it worked. That was the driving force required to pull you all together so you could function as a team. In that process, you managed to land some truly impressive strikes."

Slurp—!

"Ah...." He exhaled with deep relief, the warmth of the tea finally settling his nerves.

"If we add domains to your arsenals, then you will become the strongest squad there ever was. And then, we can finally pay the Otherworlders back massively for everything they’ve done."

"..."

The room fell silent for a moment as they absorbed the information Grey was spouting.

Only now, with him laying it out so clearly, did they realize the objective truth.

They were all replaying the scenes and mental images from the battle, and truly, they functioned far better as a cohesive team than as individuals.

"I’m s...."

"You really need to stop apologizing all the time," Greg cut Scarlet off, noticing her moist eyes staring at them all with a look of deep regret.

"Yeah. It wasn’t your fault that we fell off," Jay added with a firm frown.

"If you had let go due to grief, there was nothing stopping the rest of us from pulling the group back together."

"Instead, we chose to let go because it was much easier," Raze sighed, his gaze drifting down to his plate of snacks.

"We shouldn’t have done that. We failed each other."

Arthur nodded in agreement.

"The fault is not only yours. We are all to blame, so stop with the apologies and let’s move past the past."

Fresh tears rolled down Scarlet’s cheeks at the supportive words from her squad.

Grey remained quiet, calmly sipping his tea, which was vanishing quickly with how fast he was slurping the liquid.

"Thank you, guys. Yo-you are the best squad and friends I could ever hope for," she croaked out through her sobs.

Raze, Jay, Vanica, Arthur, and Greg all stood up and walked toward her—huddling over her in a brief, supportive embrace.

"And you are the best leader we could have ever asked for."

"Pfffff.... Who made this arrogant noble the leader?!" Grey shouted in mock shock, accidentally spitting a mouthful of tea back into his cup.

Scarlet shot daggers in his direction, her eyes instantly blazing with a familiar fury that replaced her sorrow.

"Do you want me to turn you to ash?"

Grey shrank back in his seat, his hands raised in a defensive gesture.

"No, lov... uh... I mean, ma’am."

Scarlet blushed deeply as she proceeded to look away, clearly affected by the slip Grey had almost made.

Embarrassed by his own tongue, the Supreme Magus quietly drained the rest of his tea in one long go.

"Well, that was awkward," Amir chuckled loudly as he stood up with a tired sigh, stretching his limbs.

"Anyway, I got a lot of work to do. So uhm... Kael, kindly take them all under your wing and teach them how to use Domain. Not all of them will be able to awaken one, but I feel that a war is looming, so it will be better to be prepared."

Kael shrugged, his expression unreadable.

"Not the teaching type, but I can try my best."

Standing up, his chair scraped sharply against the marble flooring as he pushed it back.

"And I will be heading back to my hometown—Kiten. I need to check up on the town lord too."

"Oh. Good. Charlotte and Max already left two hours ago for Kiten, too. So you could probably meet them there," Amir nodded, offering a supportive glance.

"Sure." Grey sighed as he waved his hand, and a portal yawned open in the center of the room.

He glanced at his friends one more time before smiling warmly.

"I will be back, guys."

They all raised their thumbs in his way, their spirits visibly lifted.

"Hurry back. We need a rematch, and this time, we are all going all out," Greg sneered, though the competitive edge was tempered by a newfound respect.

Grey laughed aloud as he walked into the portal, which snapped shut with an electric buzz.

***

The portal opened up directly inside the town lord’s compound.

The guards all stood poised, their bodies tensing as they saw the ashen gateway manifest in front of them.

Then, walking out of it, was Grey.

The moment he emerged, he was met with glowing hands as all sorts of magic were activated in his direction.

"WHO ARE YOU! IDENTIFY YOURSELF!" one of the guards barked incredibly loud, his voice echoing off the stone walls.

Tak. Tak. Tak.

"Grey?" a voice called out, causing the mage to lift his head.

He saw a boy standing at the base of the steps with beautiful blue hair.

His eyes were weary, framed by heavy bags, and he looked utterly exhausted—like someone who was, who was....

...Grieving?

Grey’s eyes widened, a cold chill running down his spine.

"Who died, Max?" he demanded immediately, his heart beginning to thud painfully against his chest.

"It’s—it’s really you, rival," Max stuttered as he staggered forward.

He lost his footing and almost fell to the ground, only for Grey to blink in front of him, catching him just at the right time.

The boy slumped in his hands with a heavy, broken look on his face.

His eyes welled up with fresh tears.

"Ma—Max? Wh—what happened?"

Max landed on his backside, sitting at the base of the steps with his face buried in his palms, his shoulders shaking.

"It’s—it’s—it’s dad. He was murdered by the other town."

Grey froze, the world around him seemingly coming to a standstill as the gravity of the words settled in.