“Sigh… this is frustrating!”

On a medical bed, Kiara was lying with several bandages wrapped around her head and right hand.

She was wearing a patient dress and although she had no bruises to speak of, she was still kept under surveillance because she was unconscious for a long time.

In fact, she had only regained her consciousness not too long ago. It was 5 AM and school was about to start in a few hours. However, Kiara could not be any more irritated.

No matter how much she tried to comprehend, she couldn’t wrap her brain around the fact that she lost to Sam.

“Arghhh!”

In frustration, she could only grit her teeth and grump. Even if she was holding back her real ability, she shouldn’t have faced any problems in defeating her own sidekick!

But not only she faced problems, in the end, she was also defeated by him! Although, the thing troubling her the most was the stuff Sam said about her father.

She had known Sam all her life so she knew it was strange for him to act like it. Something must’ve happened but she couldn’t understand what.

-Slam!

In frustration, Kiara slammed her fist at the side table placed beside her bed.

“What’s up with him?!”

She generally has a high temper and the recent incidents had done nothing to help her anger issues.

-Tring Tring

In the next moment, her little outbreak was halted as the bell of her phone rang. Startled, Kiara sat herself up on the bed and picked up her phone from the side table._.

Though when her eyes fell on the name being displayed on her phone screen, she couldn’t help but gulp in shock.

The contact name “Father” was displayed on the screen. She was getting a call from her father.

Without wasting another second, Kiara quickly slid up the green icon on the phone to answer the call before the ring could end.

“H-Hello father!” Stuttering, Kiara answered with a slight nervousness in her tone.

-“You’re not calling me Papa anymore huh? Good, it’s about time for you to stop acting like a child.” Marcel replied her greeting from the other side of the phone.

Kiara, on the other hand, didn’t know how to respond to that. Her father called her for the first time in 2 years and this is what he had to say? Not even a “How have you been”?!

After a short pause, she set aside her feelings and spoke, “Why are you calling, Father?”

-“Oh? Can I not call my own daughter now?” Marcel replied with an ‘isn’t it obvious’ tone.

“You can’t if you haven’t contacted her for 2 years!” Kiara, for the first time she could remember in her life, snapped at her father.

In the past, she could’ve never even thought about raising her voice in front of her father. However, many things have changed now… she has changed now.

All her life all that she ever wanted was her father’s attention, but Kiara was never worthy enough to catch her father’s eyes.

She never wanted her father’s empire like her siblings, she never wanted her father’s wealth like her every other relative, all she wanted was his love. But Marcel denied her even something so trivial.

And today, when she was already frustrated after losing the duel to Sam, the dam that she had created to block her feelings was broken and she finally spoke up to her father.

-“Are you going through a rebellious phase, honey?”

Marcel, however, reacted indifferently to his daughter’s little outbreak which made Kiara even more irritated.

Although, before she could utter anything in reply to that question comment, Marcel spoke up.

-“Anyway, tell me oh dear daughter of mine, why didn’t you acquire the relic that I had asked you to?”

As soon as she heard that question, every bit of irritation that Kiara was feeling earlier vanished and was replaced by tension.

‘Okay, Kiara… Play dumb!’ Kiara screamed in her mind at herself and decided to play dumb.

“What relic?” She said but in the next moment facepalmed in disappointment.

‘Not that dumb you idiot!’ She screamed at herself in her head.

-“…” Now Marcel was the one who didn’t know how to reply to that.

Was her daughter playing dumb or was she really that dumb? Did she really forget the task for which she was sent to America in the first place?

-“Kiara… Daughter, did you or did you not kill White Walker?” Marcel asked in a frustratingly slow tone.

“Yes! We killed him!” Hearing her father’s annoyed tone, Kiara instantly summoned a sound barrier and replied.

-“And after that, you were supposed to get a hold of the relic that White Walker was protecting.”

“Y-Yeah! I remember it!” With a shaky voice, Kiara decided to speak. “We kinda postponed that…”

-“…You postponed what?” Marcel questioned in a ‘what the fuck’ tone.

“…We postponed acquiring that relic for now…” Kiara replied before quickly following up with an explanation. “But I have reasons!”

-“Yeah? Tell me.” Giving her a chance to justify her actions, Marcel said.

“Wh-When we killed White Walker, the security of Los Angeles was tightened so it was practically impossible for us to breach the defense and acquire the relic!” Kiara explained with beads of sweat forming on her forehead. “Thus I made a call to postpone our plans of acquiring that relic!”

Although Marcel wanted to retort he found the justification reasonable. When White Walker was killed, the security of Los Angeles was indeed tightened. They even declared code red in 3 days. They acted fast.

-“Sigh…” with nothing to say, Marcel, moved on to the next topic he wanted to discuss with her daughter. “Fine, but at least tell me you are working on your other mission.”

“What other mission?” Kiara asked mindlessly. This time she really had no clue what Marcel was talking about.

-“…Phoenix! The only reason I allowed you to enroll in the Hero Academy was so that you can kill Phoenix!”

Kiara couldn’t help but facepalm again. This time she was disappointed in herself.

She had been so busy with Academy life that she completely forgot about why her father allowed her to come here in the first place!

However, she had to report some kind of progress! She couldn’t just outright tell him that she forgot about her mission!

Gritting her teeth, she quickly began thinking of an appropriate excuse or a getaway response.

“Ye-Yes, I’m doing what I can but I didn’t make much progress till now…” she replied hesitatingly.

-“Oh? And why is that? Too busy with your trivial Academy life?”

That question did nothing but irk Kiara even more, however, she didn’t let it show in her voice.

“N-No! That’s not it,” she said, trying to stall while thinking of an excuse. In the next moment, a perfect excuse came to her mind.

If she can’t take the blame on herself, all she needs to do is push the blame on someone else!

“It’s because of Sam! He has been acting weird! I don’t know where his mind is these days! He’s holding me back, so I say you call him back to you and let me stay here alone!”

Yes, she blamed everything on Sam without even a bit of hesitation.

Her thinking was simple, with this not only she would be left alone but she would also slander Sam’s reputation in her father’s eyes.

But, Marcel didn’t act anything like how Kiara expected him to.

-“Ahh I see, so you are again blaming your incompetence on him? Didn’t I ask you to grow up?”

Marcel voiced his disappointment, to which Kiara tried to retort but Marcel just cut her off again.

“But father-“

-“Shut up Kiara,” he replied bluntly. “I expect you to assassinate Phoenix and return home before the Academy’s annual function.”

“Wait, that’s it? That’s all you have to say to your daughter after talking to her for the first time in 2 years?!” Finally deciding to confront her father with her feelings, Kiara asked.

-“Uh, yes. Bye, I have to go and meet Sam now.”

-Beep

With that short and blunt reply, Marcel hung up the call with a beep, and Kiara was left alone with her eyes staring at the screen of her phone blankly.

“Sigh, what a troublesome girl she is.”

On top of a huge skyscraper, a man with a lean-built body was standing in a formal black suit.

It was night time and he was looking down at the city lights with his phone in his hands.

He was Marcel Nickelson. And he has finally decided to make a move.

“Now then, let’s go.”

As soon as he said that, the shadow that was forming beneath his feet due to the moonlight started moving like it was alive.

At that moment, the shadow shot up from the ground and created a round pitch black portal.

Marcel, like it was the most natural thing to do in the world, stepped through the round shadow portal and disappeared into thin air.

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Information Available On:

[Shadow/Darkness Manipulation]

•The power to manipulate darkness. Variation of Absent Energy Manipulation and Elemental Manipulation. Opposite to Light Manipulation.

•Users can create, shape, and manipulate darkness and shadows. By itself, darkness is mostly used to cloud everything into total darkness, but by accessing a dimension of dark energy it can be channeled to a variety of effects, both as an absence of light and a solid substance: one can also control and manipulate the beings that exist there, create and dispel shields and areas of total darkness, create constructs and weapons, teleport one’s self through massive distances via shadows, etc.

•Distance, mass, precision, etc. depend upon the knowledge, skill, and strength of the user and their power’s natural limits.

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