They jumped across the rooftops of buildings until they reached the city center, a busy place where cars pass from side to side at a large intersection, heading who knows where.
Soon they found themselves in front of a small building on the corner of the sidewalk made of red bricks. Vines stretched between the bricks, and flowering bushes colored the corners.
There were only two floors in that small building. It was as if nature itself had reclaimed its place on the bricks, painting it the color that saved humanity from extinction.
In fact, almost all the buildings looked similar. It was like seeing a city conquered by nature. Huge trees reached up to the sky, green and healthy. There were many bushes here and there. Birds of all kinds sang among the branches, and small rodents inhabited the tree trunks.
In this era, humans took care not to make the same mistake as humanity in the past. They gave nature free rein to make its way into the city.
Anyone would think it a bad idea to let vines and plants consume entire buildings, but in this era, the materials used to construct buildings are much more resistant to the erosion of time than on ancient Earth.
Then, they approached the small establishment's double black wooden door, and it opened by itself.
No one was surprised except Miyu, who almost choked on her fish-shaped bread, something Nova had bought for her earlier. Although the door opening by itself was something everyone expected, she always jumped every time it happened.
Suddenly, a small, plump, flying reptilian-looking animal flew out of the building and landed on Nova's head.
Its scales were red like a burning flame, with a pale hazelnut-colored belly and a fat little tail that looked a bit heavy.
The little reptile smiled with its sharp teeth. Its ears, shaped like articulated fins, moved happily. It was an extremely adorable creature.
"Hi, Poki. Where's Doc?" asked Nova, completely ignoring the fact that this adorable creature had taken possession of his head.
Poki let out a sharp roar and took flight again. It flew into the building with difficulty, as if its whole body was very heavy. By doing this, Poki wanted them to follow it.
Clearing her throat so as not to look ridiculous for being scared earlier, Miyu said:
"We have to hurry. We have to celebrate!"
Before anyone could say anything, she followed Poki.
'She's too excited today. Did the bread have too much sugar in it?'
There was no way to know. Nova looked at Elara, and she shrugged. They both looked at the door and moved forward.
The interior of the building was filled with boxes containing lots of papers. There was a desk at the back and two sofas on either side. The whole place smelled of old paper and writing ink. It also had a strangely cold air that made Nova's skin crawl.
On the far right was the old, creaky staircase leading to the second floor. Sitting on that staircase was a thin young boy with messy brown hair. His eyes were black, and judging by his clothes, he was a student from a nearby school.
The boy had a communicator in his hand. He looked very distracted by whatever he was watching.
"Miyu?" Elara asked.
The boy pointed his finger upward without taking his eyes off the communicator. Nova followed his finger with her gaze to the top of the stairs.
'You're so fast.'
That meant Miyu had gone up to the second floor, following Poki.
"Thanks, Loki. See you later."
Elara said goodbye. Nova nodded his head so that Loki would understand that he was saying goodbye, and Loki raised his hand without saying anything, saying goodbye too.
They climbed the stairs and arrived at a more open area. Since the building was small, there was only room for two rooms on the second floor.
In the first room, there was a stretcher with white sheets and other basic nursing tools, cabinets with medicines, boxes with various other items, and that sort of thing.
There was a more metallic smell in this place. You could also discern a slight aroma of medicine.
It was like a doctor's office.
As Elara continued on to the next room, Nova left Rober on the stretcher.
He stared at Rober for a few seconds and then sighed.
'How reckless you are. My empowerment does not make your body more resistant.'
Exploding next to an Aberration wasn't the best idea, but Rober seemed to like exploding things, and exploding next to those things.
He took the sheets and covered Rober. Since this guy is very short, he doesn't fill the whole bed. He even looks like a child with ears and a tail. Well, you could say he is a child. He's the youngest on the team.
'Look at you. You're so helpless.'
He smiled slightly, sarcastically.
'And that calls for revenge.'
A very humiliating memory from a few weeks ago came to mind, so he decided to take a little revenge. He took a marker out of one of the drawers in Doc's desk and scribbled all over Rober's face.
'That'll teach you.'
Now Rober's dark skin was covered in black scribbles. There was even a drawing of Poki on the side of his face.
After humiliating his friend in this way, Nova put the marker back in its place and went to the next room.
As he passed through the room, the door was open. He entered and found Miyu and Elara sitting on a sofa in front of a desk and a chair facing the window.
Miyu was hugging Poki with all her might, and Poki was having a hard time because of her. Elara, on the other hand, had left her shield and sword by the doorframe. Now she had her eyes closed as she rested next to Miyu.
'Hm...'
Relaxed, he sat down between Miyu and Elara. Elara opened her eyes and looked at Nova for a second. Then she looked at the chair. Miyu did the same.
'Let's see what you have for us, uncle.'
The chair turned around and revealed a handsome, tall man with brown hair and white skin, very similar to the boy downstairs, but this one wore a white shirt with a tie and elegant black pants. His brown shoes were very shiny, and his silver eyes even more so.
The man was about forty years old, but he looked a little younger than his age.
'There was no need to do the old chair-turning entrance...'
It was something this eccentric man always did. There was no way to stop him.
'That's four times this week.'
"Welcome back, kids. You did an excellent job on the other side of town. I guess you've already checked your communicators and are as eager to leave here as I am."
The man's gaze was perceptive, but amused. He was so relaxed that no one would take him seriously.
The gestures of his elbows on the table and his hands in front of his face, moving expressively, showed him to be a rather expressive person.
"And you're in luck today. As the Master of the Blood Crystal Faction, other renowned Factions called me for an emergency in Lightflower and need me there. So you kids, even though you won't have any free time, will be exempt from side missions for the rest of the week. Of course, if a Dimensional Portal appears, you know what to do."
Miyu's eyes lit up. Elara celebrated with a victorious smile. Nova sighed and relaxed in his seat.
"Awesome! You're the best, Viktor!" Miyu said, giving her a thumbs up.
"Exactly. I am the best."
'And there go those two with their funny theater.'
There was a lot of sarcasm in those thoughts.
"But now is not the time to praise my greatness."
Viktor looked at the girl in armor.
"Elara. Your little sister came by a few minutes before school and told me not to let you come home too late. And if you are going to be late, to let your father know."
Elara raised her eyebrows.
"I see. I'll let him know later. But what I don't understand is why he keeps sending her to deliver these messages. I have a communicator..."
"Please. You're a Seventh Level Empath. It's obvious your father will be worried about you. He cares so much that he sends your little sister to see if you're still here. As for Miyu..."
The man looked at Miyu, who was waiting for the Master's words with Poki crushed in her arms. This hyperactive and flirtatious girl was like water, flowing wherever there was chaos. Nova had a big job controlling both her and Rober.
"Do whatever you want. I don't even know why I bother telling you."
"Oh... Okay... For some reason, I felt like that was kind of an insult," she whispered, her little ears drooping in depression.
Taking advantage of that weakness, Poki managed to free itself from Miyu's grasp. When she tried to hug it again, the little flying reptile dodged her and laughed at her.
"Nova."
'Now it's my turn, right?'
He crossed his arms and waited for whatever this man was going to say.
"Take care of my sister while I'm gone."
Yes. That was it, after all. Nova's face became a little thoughtful at those words. It was as if a heavy shadow crept into his ear and whispered incomprehensible words to him.
Nova sighed, resigning himself to silence this feeling that suddenly attacked him.
"She's fine and she'll always be fine, with or without you. You can be sure of that."
Although that sounded a little harsh, there was no hostility in his words. Nor was there any reason to be hostile. However, his bored voice at that moment and the expressions he made made his words sound a little cruel.
Viktor smiled bitterly.
"Yes. I know."
Nova and Viktor had become very serious all of a sudden.
Miyu and Elara looked at each other, not understanding what was going on. Elara shrugged her shoulders, confirming Miyu's doubts.
Before everything turned into an awkward silence, Viktor clapped his hands once and stood up from his chair.
"All right. It's time to say goodbye. See you, Team Asmodai! Stay as strong and united as ever."
'United, huh.'
The word itself sounded mysterious, but welcoming. Nova took those words to heart and saved them for later.
Viktor, then, instead of walking out the door like a normal person, disappeared enveloped in a strange cloud of black smoke that vanished very quickly, leaving the sound of a small explosion.
Nova felt less tense knowing that his uncle was gone. That man is quite a character, so it's often overwhelming to have him around.
'That should be enough, right?'
He looked down at the floor, his eyes turning dull, but suddenly he felt a light tap on his shoulder. His eyes regained their usual sparkle when he looked to his right. There was Elara, looking cool and smiling brightly.
"I'm going to drop my stuff off at home. See you at Lux Valley as usual? If we want to celebrate, we should go for the most delicious drinks, right?"
Nova sighed. For a moment, he was disconnected from the world, but he managed to come back thanks to this girl.
He nodded in approval of Elara's idea.
Miyu suddenly put her hands on his shoulders and leaned on him to get a closer look at Elara. In that cheerful voice, she said:
"See you there, Ellie! Make sure to bring cute clothes!"
"You know perfectly well that my closet is full of cute clothes."
'Maybe they forgot I was here...'
Knowing that Miyu used him as if he were an armrest, he was no longer surprised that these girls had forgotten about him. It was normal.
"Okay. See you then. I'll send you a message in the chat if anything comes up."
Elara took the shield and sword and carried them on her back. She walked through the door, leaving a slight metallic sound of her armor creaking with each step, until she finally disappeared from the room.
Nova stared at the door, and Miyu realized she was crushing this boy. She took her hands off Nova's shoulders and sat down again.
"So..."
Trying to keep the room from falling silent, Miyu played with the tip of her tail while looking out the window.
'Yeah, right. You're never going to shut up, are you?'
It wasn't something that bothered her, really. If everything was silent, it would be extremely boring. Besides, Miyu is an expert at breaking the ice.
"Do you have anything to do right now?"
This time she wasn't as loud. When everyone left, Miyu's tone of voice dropped considerably. Even so, she still looked cheerful.
"Not much. I have to drop Poki off at home. After that, I guess I'll take a bath and change my clothes. Will you be doing the same?"
"Now that you mention it, yes. I have to do that," she nodded as if those words had enlightened her.
With that in mind, Miyu got up from the sofa.
"In any case, I have to go too."
"Oh. Sure. Uh—?"
With a quick movement, she placed her hand on Nova's head, who was still sitting, and shook his hair roughly. Nova didn't know what to do. His body stiffened as his hair passed through Miyu's slender fingers.
"See you, Nova!"
And as strange as her own actions, she left through the door as if she were a tornado.