"Because of me?"

Mika sounded stern and yet dumbfounded at the same time.

"Don’t you dare ignore me!" Loram yelled.

He was fighting against the fire creatures in the air. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

But as he was about to launch wind slashes at those creatures, his slashes were negated by black water slashes.

"Don’t worry, my eyes are only on you!" Sara mocked him as she jumped high.

She swung her sword, throwing another black water slash at Loram. However, he dodged that attack frantically as he knew about the risk of getting a single cut from her sword.

Meanwhile, Lily was still talking with Mika.

"You would always come to save us. Be it back then when we were children, when we were attacked by a demon in our first mission, when Gerard and his group were kidnapped, when your class was facing its downfall, when demons invaded Loogam, when we faced..."

Lily kept going through all the events they experienced.

"What I am trying to say is that you would always move because you wanted to save your friends." Lily stated, smiling warmly at him.

But the warmth of her smile could not melt the cold expression of Mika.

"So please let us all repay our- No. We want to show you how much we trust you so let us help you."

She tucked on his uniform.

It was just like she said. Mika saved his friends countless times because he wanted to protect his friends. And because of that, they knew that they could trust Mika blindly even in this situation as he was not someone who would fight without a reason.

"You were trying to protect us from the aftermath, am I right?" Lily wondered softly.

Mika’s opponent was Lucio, the ruler of Loogam, Malnor and Stakew. In other words, Mika was the enemy of three out of five nations.

He did not want to involve Lily and the others in that fight because they still had the option to live a life outside of that war. He wanted them to live peacefully and safely.

"You’re wrong." Mika replied.

His tone was sharp but simultaneously, it sounded like he was starting to waver.

"You all are still not at the level where I wanted you to be after two years. I thought that you grew strong enough to be at least not deadweight to us but I was wrong."

"..."

Lily still smiled as she listened to his bitter-sounding voice.

"The only way to help me is for you all to get away from her as soon as possible."

He lied and tried to justify his words as much as possible.

However, Lily saw right through him.

"Trust us, Mika. We’re fully capable of supporting you now." Lily replied gently.

She went for a hug and caressed his back lightly.

"..."

Mika just stood there and did not even return the hug, making it seem as if Lily was consoling him like a mother.

"Don’t fight..." Mika muttered.

"Everything I want is for you to stay far away from any conflicts. Just let me deal with them on my own..."

"You know very well that I can’t sit back and do that." Lily chuckled.

"Can’t you just trust us?" she asked with her smile intact.

"..."

Mika wanted to clench his fists but did not do it.

His biggest regret flashed in his mind.

"I left you on your own devices two years ago."

Lily narrowed her eyes empathetically.

"I was too late to save my parents and my village and because of my actions Sylvia and many others died...!"

Revenge and regret.

These two things plagued his mind every single day without a break.

It was his thirst for revenge that made his body keep moving and it was the regret of letting the others encounter Leviathan on their own that held him back from pursuing happiness and joy again.

"Mika."

Lily pushed herself off him and looked at him seriously.

"It was always difficult getting through that thick skull of yours so I guess we will have to find out on our own how to help you." she sighed.

And when Mika was about to argue back Lily cut him off.

"Stop blaming yourself for the past. Instead of living every day with regret, learn from it and do your best to prevent that from ever happening again."

"That’s why I’m telling you to stay away fro-"

"So keep us close at your side so that you can never look away from us." Lily said.

Her smile radiated with firmness and confidence.

"Even if you get tired of us, we won’t leave you alone anymore."

Then, she let go of Mika and slowly turned her back to him.

"But I assume that you will only feel better after seeing us in action." she suggested with a smug smirk.

"..."

Reflexively, Mika grabbed her wrist when she was about to go.

Lily exhaled deeply when she turned her face to him.

She raised her hand and held out her pinky.

"I won’t die. At least not before you."

"..."

Agape, Mika stared at her.

She, in turn, grabbed with her other hand his hand and intertwined their pinkies.

"I promise you that." she declared determinedly.

Following that, she rushed over to her friends who were fighting against demons.

During the conversation with her, Mika completely forgot about the current situation. It was only when he looked around and saw the destruction caused by demons that he could clear his head.

"What am I doing...?" he sighed disappointedly, palming his own face.

"Hey, leader! Did you finally get your act together?" Sara teased him with her body facing Loram.

"..."

Mika immersed himself in the battlefield again.

"Yeah."

He focused on counting the presence of demons and gauging out how strong they were. But among them was not Dreyar, Mika’s current main target. But that was the least of his problems right now.

From afar, he already sensed another wave of demons approaching Loogam.

Then, his gaze turned in the direction where Lucio was sent flying.

"Sara."

"Yes?"

"Listen..."

Mika whispered into her ear while she was looking at Loram.

"Now?! Why so soon?! she shouted confusedly.

Sara turned around but Mika was nowhere to be seen.

He teleported himself in the center of the white class.

"M-Mika?" Lisa stuttered.

"You want to help me, right?"

Mika glanced at Lily who just regrouped with the others.

Above them, demons were flying leisurely.

"Did you change your mind-"

"Don’t misunderstand me. This is purely a test. If you can do the following task, then I’ll consider letting you stay by my side."

"A test? What is he talking about?" Harik asked Belian who just shrugged his shoulders.

"What do you want us to do?" Rachel asked, ready to fulfill any of his requests.

Everyone looked anticipatingly at Mika.

"Gather those, who oppose Lucio, and escape from here."

"?!"

"Our meeting point will be the royal castle in Fuera."

Mika relayed his command and prepared to leave.

"H-hold on! What do you mean by ’escape from here’?" Lily asked baffledly.

"We don’t even know what the situation is? Is Lucio Graymen really the bad guy here?" Lisa wondered nervously.

"And why are here so many demons?" Harik asked taken aback as he looked around himself.

They bombarded Mika with questions but he had no time to answer them.

"Guys, let’s trust him for now. We have enough time to talk later." Belian chimed in calmly.

"..."

Mika glanced at Belian.

"Our real intention was to take the people from here away." Mika explained shortly.

On the surface, they proclaimed to defeat Lucio here and now but it was clear that that would be a risky move as they missed some crucial information about Lucio’s fighting abilities and the real size of his hidden and demonic army.

Instead, they wanted to rescue the people, who did not share Lucio’s ideology, before Lucio kept them imprisoned in his nations.

"Anyways, I will buy some time for you so hurry up." Mika said.

"U-understood...!"

Thus, Lily and the others scattered in pairs and searched for people like Mika ordered them to.

"Can we help, too?"

This time, Gerard appeared.

After the white class was away, he and his class could make their appearance. And despite being scared, they were determined to help out as much as they could.

"..."

Mika stared at them for a moment until he made a decision.

"Follow Sara to the east gate and escape from here with the others."

"Got it!"

Mika teleported back to Sara who was in the middle of the fight.

"Your time is up. Lead that group away from here. I will take over for you." he stated.

Sara showed some disappointment at first but still obeyed Mika’s words.

"Hey, don’t run from m-"

Mika used teleportation again and appeared in front of the flying Loram.

"Hnng!"

After grabbing his whole face with one hand, Mika threw Loram to another few individuals who were fighting.

"Hm? What was that?" Ophelia wondered.

Loram was thrown to the ground right near Ophelia.

"Loram? What are you doing?" Eliza asked with a frown.

She was currently fighting against Lereon and Ophelia.

"Deal with him as well. I will go after Lucio!" Mika shouted from above as he spread his white wings.