Chapter 51: Chapter 51: The Butterfly and the Heist

Chapter 51: The Butterfly and the Heist

The morning sun filtered through the reinforced glass of the Academy dorms, casting long shadows across Draven’s desk.

It was the day after the Vanguard Rally, and the atmosphere in the city had profoundly shifted.

Before stepping out of his room, Draven opened his interface.

[Ding! Daily Sign-in Available!]

[Consecutive Sign-in Record: Day 45]

[Would you like to Sign-in? Yes / No]

’Yes,’ Draven thought.

[Sign-in Successful!]

[Reward: C-Rank Item: Elixir of Clarity (Mana Potion)]

[Effect: A meticulously brewed alchemical potion. Instantly restores 500 Mana upon consumption. Secondary Effect: Expands the user’s mana veins, temporarily increasing passive Mana Regeneration by 20% for two hours. Contains zero impurities, ensuring no backlash to the core.]

’A C-Rank item, but the secondary option is highly tactical,’ Draven analyzed, storing the vial in his spatial ring.

’Zero impurities mean I can chug this in the middle of a prolonged fight without destroying my internal mana pathways. A solid emergency reserve.’

---

Thirty minutes later, Draven and Estella were walking through the commercial district of Bastion Seven.

The contrast in the city was jarring. On the main thoroughfares, the propaganda machine was working at maximum efficiency.

"That guy looks handsome." said Draven while looking at a poster on the streets.

Cleanup crews were already sweeping away the ash. Giant holographic screens and freshly printed newspapers plastered on walls displayed Aegon’s face.

The citizens were visibly relieved, chatting about the Academy’s new Hero.

"That Boy really saved my son out there! Thank God!"

"Yes! The other students also said that they were following his lead! Such a good fella!"

"Yes! The previous fellow looked good but he didn’t really do anything for us!"

"Forget about him! We have a lot of work to do!"

They continued on chatting, while doing their chores.

However, just a few streets away, the reality of the aftermath set in. The back alleys and slum borders were heavily ruined.

"We just changed the area and the whole atmosphere changed. Reminds me of the time when I lived in the slums." said Draven.

Estella just listened as she walked alongside him.

The area was tense and swarming with heavily armored Vanguard Knights, who were now aggressively patrolling the streets to save face after their cowardice the previous day.

"They didn’t even move that day and now they are guarding the city. Very useful Knights we got here!" whispered Estella.

Draven and Estella took a shortcut through a damaged merchant alley to bypass a massive crowd of Aegon’s new fans.

Suddenly, three men stepped out from behind a collapsed brick wall, blocking the narrow path.

They held rusted pipes and a jagged hunting knife. They did not look like hardened criminals.

Their clothes were covered in soot, their hands were shaking, and their eyes were sunken with profound hunger.

"Hand over the spatial rings," the leader demanded, his voice cracking. "And the girl’s staff. Do it now, Academy brats, or we’ll-"

There was absolutely no forced drama. Estella did not scream or hide behind Draven.

She was a Hunter in training and a wielder of Star Magic, these three starving nobodies could not even scratch her aura barrier.

She simply looked at them with a mild, unbothered expression, treating them like a nuisance rather than a threat.

Draven did not waste his breath on a villainous monologue. He was a highly dangerous, pragmatic man, not a charity worker.

’No need waste my words on these people.’

He didn’t even take his hands out of his pockets. Draven simply locked onto their kinetic vectors.

With a micro-shift of his mana, he reversed the friction under their boots and amplified the gravity on their shoulders.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

All three men instantly collapsed, their faces slamming into the concrete as an invisible weight pinned them to the floor. The rusted pipes clattered uselessly away.

Draven stepped over them effortlessly. A Vanguard Knight patrol, hearing the metallic clatter, came jogging around the corner.

"What’s happening here?! Who are you?!" the knights shouted.

"They tried to mug us," Draven told the Knights calmly, pointing at the pinned men.

"Take them away. We are from the Academy. Do a better job at handling these people!"

As the Knights rushed forward to put the men in mana-restricting cuffs, Draven and Estella continued walking down the alley as if nothing had happened.

"Why do you think they are stealing and robbing people?" Estella asked quietly, glancing back at the arrested men.

"Because they lost their jobs and their homes in the Cult’s fires," Draven answered as he looked around the area searching for something.

"To live, they have to do these things. They are starving. The Bastion is filled with corrupted people. The funds are going into the pockets of these people in charge and there’s just no saving them." explained Draven.

"You didn’t go easy on them. Why did you not help them?" she asked him.

"Because they did not ask for help. They tried to mug us. They should have gone to the Academy relief camps until the city’s economy stabilized," Draven replied coldly.

"Hunger is a reason, but it is not an excuse to threaten my people. I will not tolerate violence."

Estella wondered and asked, "If they had asked for help, would you have done them the charity to help them?"

"Nope. It’s not my job to help them. If I start helping one person people like them will gather around me like ants, asking for help. In times of Emergencies, I will save their lives. That is my job. But it is the job of the city help it’s people. It is the Job of Commander to ensure their survivability. They are barking at the wrong tree." explained Draven.

Estella nodded, understanding his ruthless logic. She looked up at the sky, her vibrant eyes clouded with a rare, philosophical melancholy.

"Will this happen again?" she asked softly.

"If a real Beast Wave strikes the outer walls... do we even have the power to stop them? How can we fight monsters if we cannot even control or work together as Humans?"

"Who knows?" Draven replied, shrugging his shoulders.

Estella stepped directly in front of him, stopping his advance. She looked up at him with absolute certainty.

"You know. Your Prophetic Dreams tell you in you, right? Did you see anything? " 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

Draven looked down at her. He could lie, but he chose not to. He nodded slowly.

"It does," Draven admitted.

"But it cannot be relevant at all times for us anymore."

Estella tilted her head. "Why not?"

"Because the future changes the second I intervene," Draven explained, his voice taking on the tone of a seasoned commander.

"A butterfly effect is created. Me being here, Aegon becoming a hero, you not being locked in a basement, whatever I saw in my ’dreams’ just becomes nothing but a rough draft. The old timeline is dead. We cannot rely on prophecies. We need to get stronger than this."

A soft, genuine smile blossomed on Estella’s face. The idea that he was breaking fate just by standing next to her made her feel an incredible sense of safety.

"So, tell me," Estella said, playfully spinning her wooden staff.

"If we are supposed to be getting stronger, where exactly are we going? I thought we were shopping for a mana core."

Draven’s lips curled into a dangerous, predatory smirk. He reached into his spatial ring and pulled out two sleek, blank black masks. He tossed one to Estella.

"We aren’t going shopping," Draven stated, his eyes glowing with cold anticipation.

"The Vanguard Knights and the Hennessey Clan are too busy taking credit for the surface victories. The Cult’s primary underground hideout in this sector is currently completely exposed."

Estella caught the mask. Her eyes widened in realization.

"We are going to rob the Cult Hideout?"

"Exactly," Draven nodded, slipping his mask over his face.

"They caused a lot of trouble for my plans yesterday. We need to send them our regards... and take absolutely everything they own."