"Oh boy," Kou exclaimed in the kitchen, and Marcus smelled trouble. He had just packed his bag for the short excursion to Kim, but now he walked out of his room to find the source of the problem. "What is going on?" Marcus asked, when he found Kou and Achara looking over a tablet. They turned it around and showed Marcus a (very bad) picture of Azaa, somewhere on the estate. "One of the reporters must have seen her. Look at the headline 'Alien on Earth! Secret Meetings and HIDDEN Plans!!!' This is completely made up bullshit," Kou said, and shook his head in disgust.

This was a problem, Marcus knew. In no time this would spread and questions would follow. Like how… "How did Azaa actually get through the portal?" Marcus said out loud. In all the excitement of her arrival he had never thought about how she even made it here. "I walked through it. I have permission." Azaa entered the room, looking completely unfazed by the brewing trouble. "Permission?" Achara asked, she had seen what it takes to get through portals these days. "Yes, I am the official ambassador of the ginghi. I can visit Earth whenever I like," she said as if it was an obvious thing. Marcus felt instant relief. There would be no serious consequences, only the media fallout. Only.

To ensure no trouble would find Azaa, Janette negotiated with Rin and the Spacial Mage would transport her close to the portal. Rin appeared only minutes later with her trademark whisper silent teleport. "Spatial Mages are incredible, I wish we had one. Our last Spatial Mage died more than 1500 years ago," Azaa said, which caused Kou and Rin to look a lot more chipper, if that was possible with Rin's near static facial expression. Under the green trees in the courtyard Marcus embraced Azaa one last time. The sun was playing in her hair and he found it hard to let go of her. "Be mindful Marcus," she said and he knew her well enough to understand what it meant. "I will return to you," he answered and watched as Rin took her away.

"A few more levels and I can start to learn that too." Kou looked truly happy. He had been working towards the goal of teleportation for years now, Marcus knew. It was such a powerful tool, that every clan and cooperation tried to get at least one high level Spatial Mage. "We will depend on you in the future teleport-senpai," Marcus said with a grin. Kou laughed, said something in Japanese but another thunderclap swallowed his words. Gamma had arrived to take Marcus away. "Take care of things, while I go and train with the mountain hermit." Marcus said, and Kou waved after them as Gamma and Marcus vanished into thin air.

Minutes later, a soul-wrenching scream echoed through the upper levels of the Sleeping Sky HQ. Amy and Jack, who had been on the way to greet Marcus, raced from the elevator to Kim's office and threw open the door. A horrific picture revealed itself to them. Marcus stood over Kim, who was on the ground, broken, his jaw agape, his eyes unfocused. "MARCUS! What have you done to him?" Amy shouted and rushed to the fallen man.

"Ye-jun! What is going on?" She said but her clan leader wasn't right in the head, his mouth tried to form words.."5….6….1" The confused man started to laugh. Marcus smiled and said, "It really isn't a sprint." "561?" Jack looked utterly confused and Marcus turned to him ready to cause more mayhem. "That is the level of the Great Protector." And a second later two more people dropped to the floor gasping. Operation 'Break their Minds' had been a full success, Marcus was enjoying the show.

Some time later, the Sleeping Sky elite sat on the chairs and couch in the office with emergency sweets pepping them up. "It was a shock for me too. Over 800 years old and at such a high level. It makes all of us look like babies," Marcus said and everybody nodded in silence. With a deep sigh Kim said, "It really gives you a new perspective. This is not a short term disruption of human history. The monoliths are going to form human history from now on. We might live for centuries too, if not some monster bites our heads off."

After a long moment Kim turned to Marcus, "How about we work on your new ability? Trying to keep you from being eaten by a monster or killed by some horrible assassin." Marcus nodded, now somber again. "Thank you for your help. I hope we can make some progress until the main force of the enemy has been identified," he said, and saw a lot of strained faces. This covert organization had spooked even them. Until recently nobody had imagined such a powerful group could possibly be hidden in the shadows. A criminal clan with immense reach and influence.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

To get away from the depressing thoughts, Marcus and Ye-jun threw themselves into the task of finding the fourth Titan ability. Armed with enough sugar and coffee to kill an elephant they started out with some brainstorming and it became quickly clear that Marcus had no idea what it could be. "Impulse Hammer is so versatile. I don't know what could add something new, but I am absolutely certain it is an active ability." Marcus explained and Kim agreed. "Well, no way around trying all kinds of strange things. We need to find the smallest hint of the ability, from there it is easy," Ye-jun said and they changed into training gear and went into Kim's exclusive training room.

They started out with various movements and basic attacks and added more complex ideas over time. The whole thing quickly became more play than work and both of them enjoyed the silliness. Hours went by and while they had a good time they made zero progress in finding the new ability.

"What about Xeen. Can't he tell you what it is?" Ye-jun asked as they took a break from playing working hard. "Xeen had been rather silent the few last days. Besides that, he made it clear that we have to learn now or we will grow tall but weak." Marcus rolled his eyes.

And I stand to this.

So you are around.

Of course, I'm listening and watching you two having a good time.

We should be more serious about this.

No, not at all. I think it is good that you for once allow yourself to not worry all the time and enjoy yourself. Being playful is the best way to find new abilities. I once… that is another story.

I really can't wait to hear about the playful Xeen.

"What is the core of the Titans abilities?" Ye-jun asked after resting for a bit on the floor. "Force. Not THE Force of course. Force as in physical force," Marcus said and his friend understood the reference. "Impulse Hammer causes force, Carapace uses force to confront attacks… Reconstruction is an outlier but it fits the overall package," Marcus said and Kim nodded. Silence filled the room and Marcus got the feeling his friend wanted to say something, "Spit it out," Marcus said with a smile and Ye-jun mirrored his smile. "Be brutally honest with me. Do you think I have overlooked something elemental with the Paladin?" Kim asked.Marcus swallowed hard and sat down next to his friend. He looked at the floor and thought a long time about the question.

"The Paladin you have created is amazing." He started and Ye-jun watched him carefully. "And until not too long ago I would have said no, but then we found Light's Mercy and that changed things," Marcus continued and Ye-jun slapped the floor with his palm. "EXACTLY! Since we figured it out, I have this growing feeling something is wrong. Like, I have overlooked something important and everybody is following me in the wrong direction." Frustration spilled out of the man like a waterfall. Marcus realized he must have carried these worries for some time. "The Paladin you made is powerful, versatile, but ultimately very solo orientated. Like you were when you started out," Marcus said and Kim gave him a painful look, but it turned into a smile. "See, this is why I like you. You understand these things and you don't shy away from telling me."

"Light's Mercy does only fit the picture of my Paladin on the first glance. Yes, it keeps you alive, but the capacity to heal and regenerate is so far removed from anything else the Paladin can do…," Ye-jun said and stopped for a moment. "When you came back and showed off your Burst, I felt stupefied. It further increased the turmoil inside my mind, making me question the Paladin I made.What if the abilities I believe to know so well could be used completely differently?" Kim poured out his heart and Marcus listened for a while and then said, "What stops you from revisiting them again? Go back to the fundamentals of Channel Light. Not the application but the function." Kim smiled, "My own pride and the fear of being wrong. That is stopping me. Doubt is a dangerous companion for us."

"How about this, revisit your abilities, but ask yourself how they could be useful in a non damage dealing capacity," Marcus said and his friend thought for a moment. "Like you turned your damage ability into a movement ability?" Kim asked, and Marcus smiled encouragingly. "Okay, that gives me a new goal. But enough about me, back to figuring out what we are missing." Kim looked refreshed and they continued to work hard. That they also had a lot of fun was coincidental.

The first day went by and they had nothing to show for but smiling faces and a good amount of hunger. Marcus spent a nice evening with the top brass of Sleeping Sky and for some time he was able to forget all his troubles and worries. As a child, Marcus had never experienced the joy of visiting a friend over the weekend, just playing and having fun, but he imagined it must have felt like this.

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