Spirit's Ascension-Chapter 90—Unexpected Opponent

The trio got up to their feet and began their preparation for this night’s operation.

They had decided to wear their Academy uniforms that night for reasons known to themselves.

Cole and Bryan left the room to Linda while they changed their clothes in the hallway.

After everyone was done with the preparations. A step at a time, the quietly excited building under the cover of night.

Cole led them towards their destination as fast as he could while making sure to avoid crowded paths and areas.

They were moving so fast, even Linda and Bryan were shocked.

"How can he be moving so fast? Even faster than my top speed," Bryan thought.

He looked at Cole in front of him with a bit of awe and respect.

"He never ceases to amaze."

Their run wasn’t for too long, as they arrived at the first point of the plan.

"You guys keep messing around; I will be doing as planned," Cole said.

Bryan nodded resolutely before leading Linda straight ahead.

Cole watched them go ahead while he looked to the side and moved towards another direction.

"Let’s hope this works," He said.

He appeared to be heading towards another part of the slums; it was a much more rowdy path but also seemed shorter and faster than the straight route.

Keeping his head down, Cole walked down that road while also attempting to blend through the shadows.

With great skills and dexterity, he weaved through the crowd of people and continued his journey seamlessly.

The further he moved, the fewer the people around him got. The people of the slums knew what to do when it comes to things like this.

"Kid, don’t approach where you aren’t supposed to; that’s the number one rule of the slum," a man said to Cole in a half-drunken voice.

Cole didn’t respond, though; he only kept his head down and completely ignored the man.

"I have no time for you drunkards today," he muttered.

The man stared at Cole’s leaving back while his expression morphed, his drunken face completely absent.

"Someone is heading your way," he said to a device in his hand.

He waited for a response for a while, still observing Cole. Finally, the response he was waiting for arrived.

"I am aware,"

The response shocked the man slightly as he thought,

"He is aware. How?"

The man didn’t think further anymore, picking up his bottle of alcohol and taking a sip.

"That doesn’t have anything to do with me; I have done my part."

Cole had no idea what was going on behind him and that he had already been exposed.

He only continued moving stealthily and hiding his tracks. After a while, a structure appeared in front of him.

Under the faint light of the moon, Cole could see the dome-shaped structure that looked to be illuminated.

He didn’t make the newbie stand and observe for too long; he quickly found a spot to hide.

"Time to wait for Bryan’s and Linda’s distraction."

"Their preparation for an attack will be against them now, in this attack."

While still in his hiding spot, Cole observed the distant structure, but he still couldn’t figure out any details.

While lost in his extremely hyperfocused state, Cole neglected something in his surroundings.

"We meet again," Cole suddenly heard from behind him.

He didn’t waste any time and instinctively turned around to see who it was.

The person behind him locked eyes with him with extreme confidence.

Cole’s heart immediately felt squeezed extremely tightly the moment he saw who it was much more clearly.

"How is he here?" Cole thought.

He hadn’t expected to ever see this person again, but strangely the person was now standing in front of him.

"Second-year senior," Cole said slightly.

"My name is Michael, you bastard," the person screamed.

All that wasn’t Cole’s focus now; his mind was currently dominated by how he could get out of this situation as soon as possible.

"I have been awaiting your presence for quite a while now," Michael said smugly.

"My presence, how?" Cole wondered.

"The moment you arrived in the slums, I knew you were here."

Those words immediately made Cole understand. Something that had been haunting him for quite a while.

"I really am a glowing red dot to them," Cole thought.

"Why would you join such a treacherous organization?" Cole shouted at Michael.

"Quit acting like you are righteous; you did this."

"Whatever monster you think I am now, you made me that way," He said.

Cole was about to refute when he suddenly felt the ground rumble under his feet.

He immediately remembered what it was, but that was exactly what made him shocked.

"Do these people use their innate spirits too?" Cole thought.

He didn’t stop his movement while moving, though; he stepped to the side as fast as he could, dodging the earth pillar.

"You are much stronger now; your growth is really incredible, too bad it will be ending real soon."

Cole kept trying to stall and activate Lightning Coat, yet he felt the need to keep it hidden and try to stall.

Moving all around with just his physical prowess, without any augmentation against an ability, was extremely difficult, resulting in him activating the Eyes of Scrutiny.

Using the Eyes of Scrutiny, Cole could observe what was going on much better; he could even slightly predict the attack before they began.

Micheal watched Cole move all about with a slightly annoyed expression.

"You think it would be that easy,"

The ground beneath his feet suddenly shifted, moving him directly behind Cole almost instantly.

"You aren’t the only one that has made progress," he shouted while sending a full-powered punch straight at Cole’s head.

The air split violently under the force of the attack; Cole could feel the impact before it even reached him.

Having no choice, Cole wasted no time and activated his Kinetic Acceleration rushing forward and easily escaping the attack.

Before Micheal could press on or continue any of his attacks.

Boom!

An explosion suddenly rang out, not too far away from the two of them.

A frown formed on Michael’s face, while Cole, on the other hand, smiled.

"They have finally arrived."