Chapter 459: Meeting With Friends [2]
Moon spotted them walking away from Platform 39, side by side, chatting happily. Selene was gesturing with her hands as she spoke, and Yara was laughing at something she said.
Neither of them sensed him.
Moon suppressed his aura entirely. Every trace of mana, spiritual energy, and presence vanished inward until he was invisible to their senses. He closed the distance from behind, weaving through the thinning crowd, his footsteps silent against the stone ground.
"BAH!" Moon’s hands landed gently on both their shoulders from behind.
What happened next took less than a heartbeat.
Selene spun. Her hand moving before her eyes caught up, mana and spiritual energy condensing into a razor-thin wind blade that materialized inches from Moon’s face. The sharp blade contained enough force to take an Evolver’s head clean off.
Yara spun the opposite direction. She grabbed the bow from her back, an arrow nocked and drawn in a single motion, the tip glowing with mana, aimed directly between his eyes.
Both attacks arrived at the same time.
Moon’s right hand caught Selene’s wrist. His fingers closed around it gently but firmly, stopping the wind blade centimeters from his throat.
The violent yet controlled air tickled his skin.
His left hand moved simultaneously, two fingers pinching the shaft of Yara’s arrow just behind the tip, holding it in place before it could release.
The three of them stood frozen for a single second. Selene’s wind blade at Moon’s face. Yara’s charged arrow locked between his fingers. Both women staring at him with wide eyes, their combat reflexes still screaming at them to finish the attack.
Then they realised who it was...
"Moon?!" Both of them said at the same time.
Their expressions shifted from fight or flight to disbelief in the span of a heartbeat. The wind blade dissolved. The arrow’s glow faded. Their weapons lowered.
Moon smiled, gently releasing his grip. "You want to kill me so ba—"
He didn’t get to finish when both girls crashed into him at once. Selene from the left, Yara from the right, their arms wrapping around him in a hug tight enough to crack ribs. Moon almost stumbled over from the impact, but his physical strength made him steady.
He stood there for a moment, two girls clinging to him in the middle of a crowded tournament ground, most spectators continued walking past with curious glances. Whilst others stopped to watch the surprising reunion, they had almost thought a fight was going to break out, but that proved wrong quickly.
Seeing that, Moon smiled and wrapped his arms around both of them, joining the group hug.
They stayed like that for several seconds. Nobody spoke despite the chaos and ruckus caused by thousands of spectators and Evolvers.
When they finally separated, Selene’s eyes were glistening. Yara was smiling so wide it looked like it hurt.
"Excuse me, young lady. Is everything alright?"
A guard approached them, his hand resting casually on the weapon at his hip. His aura marked him as a Second Star Evolver, one of the many stationed throughout the grounds to keep the peace. His eyes moved between the two girls and the young man standing between them, assessing the situation.
Selene and Yara both shook their heads quickly.
"We’re fine. Just a misunderstanding with a friend." Selene said, her composure returning in an instant.
The guard looked at her. Then at Yara. Then at Moon, who stood there with his hands in his pockets and a calm smile on his face, as if he hadn’t just had a wind blade and a charged arrow pointed at his skull two seconds ago.
The guard studied him for a moment longer than necessary. Then he nodded and stepped back. "If anything is wrong, don’t hesitate to let us know. We take the safety of everyone within these grounds seriously."
"Of course." Selene said politely.
The guard turned and walked away, glancing over his shoulder once before disappearing into the crowd.
The moment he was gone, Selene grabbed Moon and Yara’s hands.
"Let’s go!"
She pulled them both into the crowd, and the three of them disappeared among the thousands of spectators filling the tournament grounds.
Selene didn’t waste a single second. The moment they found a quiet corner near one of the food courts, the questions came pouring out.
Where had he been? Had he registered for the tournament?
Moon answered them all, not hiding anything. He was no longer the same person he had been months ago, afraid of every little heartbreak that could come his way.
During this time, he had grown, a-lot.
When he mentioned the direct entry pass, Selene stopped mid-sentence.
"You’re telling me you received a direct pass?!" She let out a long sigh, pressing her hand against her forehead. "Moon, you got me so worried that you would miss this entirely."
"I was this close to giving up on your participation." She held up her thumb and forefinger with barely a gap between them.
"Even if you don’t win, it’s still valuable experience for the next time you participate. You can’t just—"
She suddenly paused, her mouth closing as something she had noticed moments ago but pushed aside in the excitement of their reunion resurfaced.
"Wait." Her eyes narrowed slightly, focusing on him. "A moment ago, when you stopped our attacks. I felt your aura."
Moon said nothing.
"That was at least early Third Star." Selene said slowly. "Moon, you’ve been an Evolver for less than a month. What exactly did you go through in there?"
Moon simply smiled and tilted his head. "I can say the same about you."
Selene blinked for a moment, the way Moon was looking at her made her heart skip a beat. Color rose in her cheeks, spreading from her neck to the tips of her ears. She looked away quickly, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.
"That’s... I mean, I just trained. Nothing special." She mumbled, her voice losing all the confidence it had carried a second ago.
Yara watched the exchange from the side, a small knowing smile on her lips.
"Your face is red." Yara observed helpfully.
"It’s the sun." Selene said firmly, still not looking at either of them.
"We’re standing in the shade."
"Yara."
"Yes?"
"Quiet."
