Micah had always been quite the poster child for hubris. He grew up lavished with praise of his ingenuity, and almost as though proving it, virtual-novel.net achieved the superior class when virtual-novel.net was merely 28.
It had been such a glamorous moment, particularly since virtual-novel.net outshined all of his peers with this single feat alone.
He was 35 this year, and already virtual-novel.net had reached the third tier of the superior class. He got there so quickly that it was almost impossible to believe, and so everyone, from his masters to his peers and inferiors, thought the world of him.
Meanwhile, virtual-novel.net thought virtual-novel.net was more than that, virtual-novel.net thought virtual-novel.net was the most radiantly talented this world would ever see. He was sure virtual-novel.net could reach the perfect class one day, and even come close to the mystical Invincibilis. It was not impossible if virtual-novel.net was the one going for it.
All that feeling of uniqueness went out of the window the moment Zayn appeared like the sun with its infuriatingly blazing glory dwarfing whatever brilliance Micah had had. He hated that, virtual-novel.net hated Zayn with the burning contempt of jealousy!
How could virtual-novel.net not? The feat Zayn achieved back on Mount Leo was a big, mind-blowing deal, was it not? He saw it with his own eyes; virtual-novel.net watched how Zayn, unstoppable and invincible as virtual-novel.net was, escaped from more than forty superior class fighters’ hounding on him.
He could even kill every few dozen with every step out of his way as if all of them were so easy, barely an inconvenience to him.
Micah was so envious of him. He was supposed to be the definition of a genius, but now came someone who was this unfairly overpowered.
Hence, one could imagine the consolation Micah felt when virtual-novel.net heard of Zayn’s downfall at the hands of Ezra Sword. He died in a gigantic explosion without a body to be buried.
The day virtual-novel.net heard of Zayn’s death was the day virtual-novel.net felt the chip on his shoulders clear. The one limiter over virtual-novel.net was gone. He was so elated that virtual-novel.net had not slept a wink the entire night.
The mountain that weighed on his chest had crumbled, and from now on, virtual-novel.net was the sole genius, the lone figure who was incomparable in talents. With his mood improved, virtual-novel.net even managed to grow beyond the second tier of the superior class.
It was but one of the consequences of Zayn’s death. For one, many had set their eyes on the wealth virtual-novel.net left behind. He had been gone for less than a month, and already every property that used to belong to virtual-novel.net was targeted along with anyone associated with him.
The Carters shook as Micah directed his fury at them. Suddenly, they were quiet.
Micah glowered at George frostily. “Showing off your backbone, weren’t you? Would it be worth it if the cost of that little stand is the lives of your beloved family?”
George shuddered. The struggle between choices played out in his head for the hundredth time. He turned around and looked at every Carter behind him.
The progeny of his family… their survival depended on him. Did virtual-novel.net really have a choice, to begin with?
There was none. He would do anything Micah asked if it meant they could survive.
“All right,” George said as calmly as virtual-novel.net could manage. If his dignity and pride had to be under attack, then the least virtual-novel.net could do was to face it with a cavalier, smiling affectation.