Among the corpses piled in the arena, a hooded figure scanned the scene carefully.

"I get it." Elina mumbled, glancing at Michael, who was still comforting Ava.

"The reason that Grandmasters tried to spy on the family of a simple Expert. He has been freed from the Emperor's influence… Or perhaps he had never been affected by it."

When it came to war against the aliens, one of the most important factors was the common soldiers. It would be a disaster if humans weren't following the orders from the higher-ups.

Rationality meant questioning orders, and disobeying pawns was worthless and often punished before being quickly discarded.

Now, Elina was sure that Michael had gone against the norm and angered someone higher than him.

"This person doesn't seem to hesitate to take action even without alerting the higher authorities. It would be understandable if he had been taught by an influential faction, but there weren't any records of that…"

Normally a person wouldn't dare question if the Emperor's order was incorrect unless they reached a certain point of power or came from influence. Yet in Elina's eyes, Michael, who wasn't even in the Master realm, didn't seem to be held back by the leash most were.

Even more bizarre, a person that breaks free from the norm would often take advantage of others, not help the less fortunate.

"He reminds me of the King in a way. I can see why Victoria follows him." Elina sighed before disappearing. She judged her observation had concluded; she had gotten the answer as to why this Expert was so special.

With the order fulfilled, she made her way to deliver her report before joining the forces on Earth.

Back at the arena, Ava calmed down a few minutes later.

"I'll try to do better." She said, yet she didn't look as determined before.

Paw!

Without hesitation, Michael flicked her forehead.

"I don't want you to become emotionless. Just don't assume everything you know is true." He shook his head.

"You meanie~" Ava complained, massaging the stuck spot. "Is this how you treat a damsel in distress?"

Seeing that she was back in her usual playful personality, Michael heaved a sigh of relief.

After Ava took a deep breath, she peeked at the slaughter. Just as expected, there were more than a hundred corpses piled on each other.

"Are we really done?" She muttered. The city was big, and despite not wanting to admit it, these people couldn't have kept the whole region in their grasp just by themselves.

Michael shrugged. "We have cut off the head of the snake. I made sure to leave a few alive to spread the news of what will happen to any upcoming gang that would try to take their spots."

Before returning to the center of the city, Michael went towards the stashes of the former gangs.

"To think they were hoarding so much food." Ava felt sick in the stomach. By now she had lost count of how many malnourished children she saw on the street, yet these gangs had held onto enough food to feed everybody for at least a few weeks.

"They keep the supply low and demand high. That way the civilians would pay absurd prices for the food, and the unfortunate would be forced to follow the orders of the gangs if they wanted to get fed." Michael explained to her the gist of the whole ordeal.

After making sure that the food was distributed to the starving, they began to make their way back.

"Thank you for the food!" A few children gathered to wave them off with genuine smiles on their faces.

Ava waved back with a faint smile. "I wonder if we will get in trouble."

Michael chuckled. "Of course we will, but the military is too pressed for personnel to punish us severely. And let's not forget that Alice's report must have been positive; at most we will get a slap on the wrist."

Just as he predicted, the two were called in by the Lord.

When questioned, Ava was the one that did most of the talking. Unwilling to ever cower in fear again, she met the Lord's aura with fearsome determination.

Unsurprisingly, the Lord wasn't bothered much about the slaughter. Since the gangs didn't have anyone above the Adept realm, they weren't that valuable to begin with.

As punishment, both Ava and Michael got a week in isolation, where they weren't permitted to speak with the outside world.

The members of the Indomitable Alliance faction instantly swarmed Alice with questions.

"Why am I not surprised?" Bryce chuckled. The more he learned about the young man, the more he felt like he wanted to pair him up with his granddaughter.

"I would have liked to go too." Victoria sighed in displeasure.

Ironically, the week of solitude turned out to be beneficial to the two rule breakers.

Ava finally comprehended the Rare cybernetic that Michael had given her, adding a new technique to her arsenal. Now she was able to conduct explosions at the points where her weapon struck.

Meanwhile, Michael, who had nothing to do, spent the whole time cultivating. Even in a place without dense spiritual energy, he was bound to have a breakthrough as long as enough time passed.

[You have achieved a breakthrough!]

[Early Expert → Middle Expert]

Achieving the next stage of the realm awarded him with 220 points to his basic stats. With a smile he inspected his current status.

Name: Michael

Soul Realm: Middle Expert

Cybernetics: Indomitable System, Berserker, Dash, Perfect Vision, Spirit Surge, Blink, Bypasser, Parallel Sight

• Strength: 1,100

• Agility: 1,060

• Stamina: 1,195

• Spirit: 75,000

• Mind: 15,000

Skill Points: 1,000

Finally all of his basic attributes had reached the four-digit number without the assistance of Berserker. Not to mention that he still had 1,000 skill points in case of emergencies.

With his solitude time done, Michael gathered with his group.

"FUCK!" Enzo instantly complained. "Just when I was ready to boast about how much I have grown, you have achieved another breakthrough!"

Apparently learning about how Michael had ventured to help the less fortunate had made everybody train even harder than before. This wasn't a consequence Michael foresaw happening, but he welcomed it nonetheless.

Unfortunately for them, they didn't get a lot of time to catch up. They, as well as every soldier in Azure, received direct orders from the Lord.

The city was about to be invaded.

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