As if a switch was flicked inside Olivia, she turned from being stern to being excited. She looked at Mika like he was prey for her.

Her smirk widened and her whole body tensed up.

"Everyone, get out!" Zhen warned.

The other people inside the room rushed out while Mika and Olivia’s legs were still clashing.

"Y-your Highness!"

Zack was about to get himself involved as it was his primary duty to support his leader, however, Wendy gestured with her head to get away, too, although she was his colleague.

After everyone was away, Mika and Olivia jumped away from each other.

"What kind of training did you undergo to achieve such strength in such a short time?" Olivia wondered while still smirking.

"Instead of training, I would rather call it a sacrifice." Mika replied.

He pulled out the Holy Spear.

The two simultaneously charged at each other. While Mika swung the spear, Olivia met it with her fist.

"..."

To his surprise, Olivia did not budge from her spot. None of them did.

However, he also noticed the same strange energy he sensed in Ophelia and Olivia whenever they fought seriously.

In reaction to that, Mika frowned a little.

"!"

Olivia fell towards Mika after he let the spear disappear. Her weight was shifted towards Mika.

Mika, in turn, leaned back and attempted to strike her from below with a fist but she evaded just in time.

She charged her hand with lightning magic and discharged it at Mika.

The whole room was engulfed in a bright light afterward.

"Keh...!"

With slight burn marks on his body, Mika teleported himself next to her and launched a kick which she managed to block with her arms. However, she was still pushed back by the kick’s force.

"What’s the secret to your strength?" Mika asked in a slightly menacing tone.

"So you’ve noticed, huh...?"

Her smirk did not vanish yet.

But the pressure she was emitting got heavier.

"But I’m currently occupied with beating the shit out of you." she declared mockingly as she leaped to him with her fist retracted.

This time, she got a clean hit on his face but Mika did not stumble from that. Instead, he took the punch and launched a counterattack instantly.

"!"

Mika grabbed her arm and punched her face with a light-infused fist.

But he did not stop there. He pulled her up to him and grabbed her face, slamming her to the floor brutally.

On the ground, Olivia held her palm towards Mika.

"..."

Mika quickly jumped away as Olivia tried to shock him with lightning.

But that was just her strategy to free herself from him. She followed right after him and launched a rotating kick midair.

Mika had to use both forearms to block her kick. Still, he was lifted from the ground as he shortly flew back from her kick.

"Is that all? It seems to me like you’re still holding back!" Olivia mocked him further as she launched a barrage of punches at the guarding Mika.

"..."

Mika peeked through his defense at her.

He crouched down and attempted to sweep her feet from the ground.

In reaction to that, Olivia jumped up.

"?!"

However, Mika teleported himself in that position right to her head and landed a kick to her temple. And because she was in a jumping motion, she was easily sent flying.

Another hole was created in the room’s wall as Olivia crashed through it, too.

"..."

Mika remained in the room.

The others, who evacuated previously, vigilantly took a peek into the room.

"You can’t be serious..."

"Even the captain...?!"

Of course, it was the candidates who could not keep quiet.

"!"

They jumped away frantically as they sensed a large energy coming their way.

A thick lightning beam penetrated the room and completely destroyed it from outside.

"I’m not done yet...!" Olivia stated from below the building.

Her legs were wobbling a little after falling down from such a height but her confident grin remained on her face.

"..."

Mika, who used his teleportation ability to get away, looked down on Olivia as he slowly descended with his wings spread in the air.

"Let’s finish this then."

After landing, he drew his silver sword and enhanced it with both light and lightning.

Meanwhile, Olivia retracted her right arm and gathered lightning there.

"I was called the strongest human alive but today I had to rethink that title for the first time." Olivia stated amusedly.

"I could care less about that title." Mika replied.

"Oh, is that so?" she huffed.

For a long time, Olivia was the number one among the humans but today she realized that Mika was more worthy of that title after facing the strongest group in the world on his own and fighting her head-on all while being almost unscratched.

"You know? I wouldn’t mind handing over my position to you now. You can be the leader of the Grand Order."

Mika heaved a small sigh.

"Sorry, but I’m not interested. Furthermore, the thing I’m visualizing is something completely different from the Grand Order."

"It was worth trying, I guess." Olivia muttered satisfiedly.

The two turned back to the fight. 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

"Enough chitchatting now." she declared with a smile.

"Yeah."

Mika used his ability to manipulate time.

This time, the world appeared slower than back then.

"..."

Mika still charged at Olivia quickly, preparing to cut her down for good.

However, even though everything was slowed down, Olivia’s arm moved on instinct.

Mika was already in his swinging motion and could not dodge the fist. The fist hit his face, whereas his blade cut Olivia across her upper body.

Time flowed normally again.

Mika was sent flying to the side.

"Gah!"

Blood splattered from Olivia’s body after Mika left a cut on it. It was not deep enough to threaten her life. After all, this was not a fight to the death.

"Hngh...!"

Falling to one knee, Olivia grasped her wound while sweating heavily.

In her life, she experienced many wounds, including cut wounds, however, this one ached far more than those from the past despite it being shallow.

"..."

Mika quickly recovered and casually walked over to her.

"Demon."

Olivia flinched at that word.

"?!"

She hurriedly lifted her face and looked at Mika who raised Excalibur. She tried to defend herself but the pain intensified.

Mika swung the sword down.

"..."

But he stopped.

A part of him told him to stop but he mostly stopped because everyone from the Grand Order appeared, holding Mika down.

"That’s enough now!" Zhen declared.

"Stop the fighting already!" Sara begged.

Excalibur dispersed from Mika’s hand.

"Sorry, I wasn’t thinking." he stated apathetically.

They let him go.

"Mika, go and find Zack or Wendy, those two will assign you to a guestroom."

Olivia, too, got on her feet again.

"We will resume the meeting once everyone’s recovered. Until then, you’re all dismissed for today." she stated calmly before she walked away.

Thus, the Grand Order members each walked their own way.

However, Mika was not having it.

"Where are you going?" he asked Olivia sternly.

"Are you blind? I’m going to treat myself first." she sighed in response.

He went after her.

"You still haven’t answered me."

"Answer? You talked so much today that I couldn’t remember every single one of them." she huffed.

There was the topic concerning Mika’s proposal of creating an own group to hunt down enemies and then there was his question concerning Olivia’s as well as Ophelia’s secret power source.

"Let’s meet up at night. I will come get you so be patient until then, okay?" she added tiredly.

Mika clenched his fists for a moment before he calmed down.

Following that, he went and searched for Zack and Wendy who would supposedly give him a room for the time being.

It was also the first time in a while that he could finally get some rest.

"..."

And while he walked away, Sara and Ophelia stared at his back.

They did not have the chance yet to properly talk to him and they honestly did not even know what or how to talk with him now.

Not only did he appear more different than usual, a lot happened to him. They did not know if it was a good idea and timing to tell him about the incident involving Leviathan and the death of Sylvia.

Based on what they had seen from him today, it would not sound ridiculous if he wanted to take his revenge on Leviathan now.

"Let’s go back, too, shall we?" Ophelia suggested softly.

"Yeah..." Sara replied quietly with a saddened smile.

That was the best idea they could think of.

It was true that Mika had a lot on his shoulders now, however, the two had the faint feeling that it would be dangerous to approach Mika as he was now.

He was broken and the only thing that kept him moving was his thirst for revenge.

Mika had no time or energy for his companions.