Chapter 422: Thunderbird’s Feather
"Ah!"
Marcus couldn’t stop the gasp that escaped him.
He had known Human Rock was useful, but he never imagined it could do something like this. All he had wanted was a faster way to get to Anya’s place, yet somehow he was practically flying across the city.
Well, not really flying.
He was launching himself from rooftop to rooftop, vaulting over streets and alleyways in long, effortless arcs while the wind screamed past his ears. It felt like something out of an old martial arts movie. A little like Spider-Man, except without the webs and with a lot more brute force behind every jump.
Lately, he’d been training Human Rock nonstop, especially after all the harmonic union sessions with the girls accelerated his inner energy growth far beyond what he thought possible. His progress had been explosive, but because he’d mostly practiced in enclosed areas or while holding back, he had never realized just how terrifying the technique could become when fully unleashed.
Every leap sent him soaring high above the streets, his body light enough that the air itself seemed to carry him. For a brief moment between each landing, he genuinely felt like a bird gliding through the night sky.
Lightfoot movement and aerial mobility. The kind of thing he’d only ever seen in fantasy novels and martial arts movies..
And honestly, this alone already felt incredible enough to make all the pain and effort worthwhile.
Marcus glanced down at the streets below. The city was quiet at this hour, with only a few scattered cars and the occasional late-night pedestrian wandering home under the glow of the streetlights.
Taking advantage of the empty roads and darkness, he relaxed completely and let Human Rock flow naturally through his body. Inner energy surged through his limbs in smooth, powerful currents as he bounded across rooftops, practicing his control while getting used to moving at such ridiculous speeds.
"What was that?!"
A young couple walking home suddenly froze as a massive gray blur shot over their heads.
The girl nearly jumped out of her skin.
"Probably a really big bird," the guy said uncertainly while craning his neck upward.
But by the time he looked, the figure was already gone. He caught a glimpse of something gray disappearing across the rooftops, then nothing but darkness and concrete.
"A bird? Since when are birds that huge?"
The girl folded her arms skeptically. Honestly, it hadn’t looked like a bird at all. It looked more like a person. But whatever it was, it had moved so fast her eyes couldn’t properly follow it.
The guy scratched his cheek awkwardly before grinning.
"Fine. Maybe it was one of those parkour athletes."
"Parkour athletesr?"
That answer somehow sounded much more exciting.
"Yeah. Though if a guy’s running around rooftops this late at night, he’s probably sneaking around to spy on girls or something."
"Creep!"
The girl immediately kicked him in the leg before bursting into laughter and running off down the sidewalk. He yelped and chased after her while complaining dramatically.
A few seconds later, the strange gray figure had already vanished from their minds.
"So fast..."
Even Marcus himself was stunned.
The buildings around him blurred past one after another, yet despite moving this quickly, his vision remained perfectly clear. There was no dizziness, no disorientation, not even the slightest trace of motion sickness. Every rooftop, every streetlight, every distant window stayed sharp and distinct in his eyes.
It felt amazing. And the scary part was that he still wasn’t even going all out yet.
At his current speed, he was already moving about as fast as the cars below. Unfortunately, Anya’s apartment wasn’t very far away.
Barely three minutes later, Marcus slowed as her neighborhood came into view ahead of him.
Part of him wanted to keep testing Human Rock and see how far he could push it, but that thought vanished almost immediately. Right now, seeing Anya mattered far more.
The moment he locked onto her location with his senses, he accelerated again.
Inside Anya’s apartment, she had only just logged out of Dominion.
Her emotions were still a mess.
Lily staying beside Marcus. Serena being with him. And now even the Nance sisters suddenly appearing around him one after another...
The more she thought about it, the heavier her chest felt.
Slowly, she pulled out the letter Marcus had written her long ago, the edges already slightly worn from how many times she’d read it. At this point, she had practically memorized every word on the page, yet she still couldn’t stop herself from reading it again and again whenever she was alone.
"Marcus... did you ever really like me at all?"
Her voice came out soft and fragile.
A familiar ache spread through her chest as tears slowly gathered in her eyes. She reached for the stuffed bear sitting beside her on the bed, the same one Marcus had given her years ago, and hugged it tightly against herself.
"Seriously... you only know how to make people cry."
She wanted to ask him directly. She wanted to know what he had truly been thinking all this time.
Suddenly, the bedroom door burst open.
"Anya!"
Chloe hurried inside so quickly she almost forgot to knock, her expression unusually panicked.
Anya immediately looked up in surprise.
"Chloe? What happened?"
She had known Chloe almost her entire life, and panic simply wasn’t something Chloe showed. Even in dangerous situations, the girl always stayed calm and composed.
But now she looked genuinely shaken.
"It’s a misunderstanding," Chloe said quickly. "Everything between you and Marcus was a misunderstanding."
Anya blinked.
"A misunderstanding? What do you mean?"
"Marcus loves you."
For a moment, Anya completely froze.
Her heartbeat slammed against her chest so hard she could actually hear it.
"He... what?"
"He loves you," Chloe repeated firmly. "You never replied to his letter, so he thought you rejected him. He thought you didn’t feel the same way. That’s why things turned out like this with Serena."
As she spoke, Chloe looked at Anya and felt even more certain she was right.
The girl she had grown up beside was beautiful enough to leave almost any man breathless. Chloe simply couldn’t believe Marcus had ever stopped loving her. No normal guy could.
"He thought... I rejected him?"
Anya’s fingers tightened around the stuffed bear. Suddenly, everything started making sense.
The hesitation in Marcus’s eyes whenever he approached her. The way he clearly wanted to get closer but always seemed to stop himself at the last second.
The complicated sadness she sometimes saw hidden behind his smile whenever they were together.
It wasn’t because he didn’t care. It was because he thought she had already refused him.
Anya stepped forward quickly and grabbed Chloe’s hands.
"Chloe... are you telling me the truth?"
"Yes," Chloe answered without hesitation. "Marcus told me himself."
Anya’s eyes widened..Then all at once, tears spilled down her cheeks.
"So it was my fault..."
Her voice trembled badly.
"I should’ve written back. I should’ve answered him sooner."
The regret hit her so hard it almost hurt to breathe. All this time, she had thought Marcus moved on because he didn’t truly love her enough. But the truth was the opposite. He had loved her so much that her silence convinced him he had no chance.
"Chloe, I need to call him."
Anya wiped at her tears in a panic, almost fumbling over her words.
"I need to tell him. I need to tell him I love him too."
She couldn’t let the misunderstanding continue any longer. Not after finally learning the truth.
"Okay," Chloe said while reaching for her phone.
Then suddenly, she stopped. The atmosphere around her changed instantly.
Her expression sharpened, every trace of panic disappearing beneath pure alertness as she turned toward the apartment entrance.
"Chloe?"
Anya had never seen this look on her face before.
Cold, focused, and dangerous.
The only times Chloe had ever looked this serious were during high-level training exercises against opponents strong enough to pressure her.
"Someone’s coming."
A low crackle filled the room.
Blue lightning suddenly danced across Chloe’s skin as she activated Thunderbird’s Cry, arcs of electricity snapping violently through the air while she focused her senses outside the apartment.
"And they’re coming straight here."
Anya felt her stomach tighten.
A massive pressure was rapidly approaching from outside, so overwhelming that even she could vaguely feel it despite not being a martial artist herself.
It wasn’t just powerful, It felt endless.
More importantly, whoever it was had clearly locked onto their apartment specifically. This wasn’t some wandering expert passing through nearby.
They were the target.
"Chloe..." Anya swallowed nervously. "How strong are they?"
Chloe’s expression grew even heavier.
"Strong enough that even if I trained for another twenty years..." she said quietly, "...I still probably wouldn’t beat them."
Anya’s face immediately paled.
Although Chloe technically served as her handmaiden, everyone in their family knew she was a once-in-a-generation genius. Her martial arts talent was so absurd that even the older clan experts treated her seriously despite her age.
Especially her lightning affinity. It was almost unnatural how perfectly suited she was to it.
That was the entire reason the family trusted the two of them to live alone in the city. Chloe was supposed to be more than enough to protect her.
But if even Chloe was saying this...
"Anya, if things become dangerous, press this immediately."
Chloe pulled out the family’s emergency beacon and placed it firmly into Anya’s hands. One press of the red button would summon nearby family experts straight to their location.
Then Chloe raised her right arm.
"Thunderbird’s Feather."
Blue lightning surged violently around her wrist as Thunderbird’s Cry poured energy into the bracelet wrapped around her arm.
Shing.
The bracelet suddenly exploded outward in a storm of crackling blue light.
Electricity twisted and condensed through the air as the small metal band rapidly unfolded, lengthening and reshaping itself in an instant until it became a beautifully curved single-edged blade wrapped in violent arcs of lightning.
Thunderbird’s Feather. Elegant and deadly.
The weapon flew directly into Chloe’s waiting hand.
Lightning danced wildly around her body as she stood protectively in front of Anya, blade in hand, looking less like a young woman and more like a goddess of war descended into the mortal world.
Fierce, heroic, and absolutely breathtaking.
