Chapter 557 Did Good

Chapter 557 Did Good

Atticus's gaze narrowed, his guard raised to full throttle.

The figure standing in front of him had a black suit covering his whole body with a red shroud over his face, exactly like his exosuit.

But there was no way Atticus would mistake his own physique. It was his identical copy.

'Is it the suit's will again?'

Atticus was instantly reminded of his first battle with his exosuit in his mindscape. But this time around, there was only nothingness all around him.

'Where's my will?' Atticus pondered hard. The last time he faced it, he had the full might of his will, but now there was nothing.

Even worse, Atticus didn't feel as though he was in top condition at all. He felt weak both mentally and physically; he was drained.

Atticus's eyes were fixed straight at the figure, his back slightly bent, ready to battle despite his fatigue.

A second passed and Atticus blinked, an action that took less than half a second. However, a gleaming katana blade appeared inches away from his forehead as his eyes opened.

'Shit,'

Atticus couldn't move nor react in time. Just as he was about to be sliced into two, a blinding white light ignited as tendrils of white lightning descended from above, appearing between the blade and Atticus, stopping its descent.

The lightning wrapped around the figure, an intense screech rocking the space as it started getting electrocuted. Its form trembled and shook, its black suit and body crumbling until it turned into a formless round small mass on the floor.

Atticus focused his gaze on the orb of lightning floating in front of him, "Grandfather?" he muttered.

However, he received no answer to his question. 'It has to be him; only he could probably achieve something like this,' Atticus pondered.

There was no other explanation he thought was possible. He knew for a fact that he hadn't been responsible for what just happened, so it could only be Magnus.

The orb of lightning multiplied in numbers, each one swirling around with Atticus in the middle.

'Are they trying to protect me?'

Seeing as he wouldn't get his answer, Atticus decided to use this opportunity to regain his strength.

Sitting down cross-legged, Atticus entered a deep state of meditation, breathing in and out calmly and constantly.

Atticus affirmed himself, remembering why he was here, why he was doing everything he was doing, why he was working so hard. Atticus affirmed himself.

Some time passed, but Atticus was unaware of how long. Slowly, little by little, the space started regaining some color, a vivid crimson sky reflecting down on him.

Atticus continued this until his will was completely recovered, the space completely engulfed by an intense crimson.

His gaze snapped open, noticing that the orbs of lightning were nowhere to be found. Atticus paid them no heed, turning towards the consciousness of the exosuit lying on the ground. Atticus instantly entered a deep state of thought, his hand slightly clenched.

'It's far more dangerous than I thought,'

Back during the leaders' summit, Atticus had used up all his will when he was escaping. Then, the consciousness of the exosuit had acted on him.

Despite Magnus's revelation, Atticus didn't smile. He didn't feel even a hint of happiness. At this point, the result didn't matter. If Magnus hadn't intervened, he would have still lost— he'd be dead.

The winner would have been decided by who died first and last.

However, Magnus didn't try to comfort him. He didn't even talk about the matter at all. His gaze was fixed firmly on Atticus as he asked,

"How was the battle?"

Atticus hesitated but eventually responded, "It was ...fine."

"Be more specific," Magnus said firmly.

Atticus turned his gaze down and looked at his clenched hands, trying to remember the sensation he felt during the battle.

"I- I don't know how to describe it. It felt thrilling? It felt good. I felt like I knew what I had to do before I did it, and this wasn't just about my perception and predictions. This felt... natural."

"Good, good," a wide smile appeared on Magnus's face, "You've experienced the thrill of battle, we will expand more on that later. Now we can move on to the next step of your training."

Atticus's gaze couldn't help but twitch as he heard Magnus speak. He was lying injured and in pain on the bed! Not only that, he felt incredibly bad that he hadn't won the fight, and yet the man hadn't even broached the topic, as though it didn't matter.

Atticus sighed inwardly. 'It's not like I'm used to being babied in the first place,' he thought.

He turned to look at Magnus, listening to what he was saying.

"Your next training will be done in seclusion. Since you've already experienced the thrill of battle, now you must focus on a very important aspect of your power: your elements."

"I've seen the way you use them, especially their movements, and I must commend you for getting this far without any outside help. You've escaped the foolish notion that only one movement defines the elements, but that is far from reaching their true potential.

"Now it's time for the next step. During this step, you will train each element one by one until you can utilize them appropriately."

Magnus started walking towards the door of the room.

"I will leave you to rest for now. Recover your strength. When we reach our next destination, I shall send for you."

"Yes, Grandfather."

Magnus suddenly paused as he reached the door, his figure still facing the direction of the door.

"Atticus," he suddenly called out, "Recovering and coming back stronger from losses is what makes a great warrior. During my days, in order for me to reach my current level, I lost count of the number of battles I lost. But I stand here before you a paragon because of one thing: I never gave up. You might not have won today, but you will live to fight another day.

"Let this event fuel you. Don't waste even a second brooding. Never give up and keep on going, always."

Atticus didn't say anything, he couldn't. A smile had long since appeared on his face as he stared at Magnus's back, a certain warmth enveloping him.

"One last thing," Magnus suddenly turned and met Atticus's gaze as he continued, "You did good today."

In the next second, and before Atticus could comprehend his words, Magnus abruptly disappeared, leaving Atticus stupefied.

"Why did he walk to the door if he wasn't going to use it," Atticus muttered under his breath.