In the car lane,
Madison suddenly sneezed hard. "Damn it. Which bastard is talking about me behind my back? Could it be that bitch I just slapped?"
With no outsiders around, Madison immediately revealed her true nature.
Of course, she only acted like this in front of Luke.
She muttered casually, glanced at the rearview mirror, and subconsciously licked the corner of her lips.
"My dear Lukie Luke~ you weren't like this before today. This is the first time I've realized you're actually this strong."
Even through the mirror, Luke could feel her unabashed gaze roaming over his body, as if trying to pierce through his thin jacket and see what lay underneath.
"You're overthinking it. I've always been like this—it's just that you used to be more interested in other things about me."
"If it had been you today, I'd have been even more pissed off."
Luke knew exactly what women liked to hear.
Madison was clearly pleased, though she still said with a sigh, "Still, we shouldn't be so violent. Even if something like that really happened, I could've handled it myself."
After all, she was always the one bullying others. Who would dare mess with her?
Luke smiled, about to say something, when he suddenly frowned slightly and asked abruptly, "Madison… have you offended anyone recently?"
"Huh? No, I haven't."
Luke's question left Madison confused.
"Let me think. I beat up two punks yesterday, cursed out three keyboard warriors the day before, spent the day before that trading insults with two haters, and before that… nothing major."
"Is that so?"
Luke watched as more than a dozen red dots formed a loose circle within the stereoscopic view.
He shifted the perspective toward their location and saw a man dressed in black staring in their direction.
Without question, those people weren't coming for him. They were coming for Madison.
"Pull over," Luke said firmly.
Although Madison didn't understand why, she obediently stopped the car by the roadside.
"This is my place. We haven't reached yours yet."
Madison had deliberately rented a place near Luke's home. The drive took less than ten minutes, and the two often traveled to and from school together.
"Don't talk. Follow me."
Luke's expression turned solemn as he motioned for Madison to keep close.
Just then, two men in black walked toward them.
As they passed by, both men suddenly turned and reached into their bags, clearly about to pull something out.
Madison hadn't even reacted yet—but Luke, already prepared, snapped his fingers.
A thick, rectangular ridge of rock suddenly erupted from the ground not far away.
The two unprepared men in black were almost knocked off their feet by the violent tremor caused by the earth breaking open.
At the same time, two light brown, faintly yellow energy shields formed around Luke and Madison, protecting them completely.
First rule of combat: put up defenses before the fight begins.
"Talk. Who sent you?"
The men in black looked from the towering rock ridge to the calm Luke, then to the stunned Madison.
Without hesitation, one of them immediately lowered his head and spoke into a communicator.
"Situation has changed. The target has an additional superpowered companion. Requesting backup!"
Seeing this, Luke frowned slightly, raised his right hand, and with a sharp crackling sound, a brilliant bolt of lightning shot from his index finger, transforming into a lightning serpent that struck one of the men in black.
After hitting its target, the lightning arced and leapt to the second man.
Both men collapsed to the ground almost at the same time.
"Arrest operation suspended! All units, be advised—the mission objective has changed. Eliminate the primary target and the other male subject at all costs!"
The very next second, Luke saw the surrounding red dots begin moving almost simultaneously.
They drew their pistols and charged forward, firing as they ran.
Two of them were even carrying submachine guns. The bullets rattled like fiery serpents, most of them slamming into the light brownish-yellow energy shield.
"What the fuck?! Are these people after you? What did you even do?"
Madison had never imagined that everyday city life near campus could suddenly turn into a full-on North American gang war.
"It's what you did."
Luke said this while scanning the holographic view. Aside from a single red dot, all the enemies had converged.
Madison stared at him in disbelief. "What? They're after me? I didn't even know that!"
"By the way, what kind of magic is this? It feels insanely safe—and surprisingly reliable."
Madison even reached out and touched the shield, discovering that the protective barrier extended outward along with her hand.
Even when she moved from her original position, the shield continued to follow her.
That left Madison genuinely astonished.
"Look, it even follows me!"
"Save the research for later."
Luke rolled his eyes, opened his right palm, and shouted loudly, "Inundationes Aquae!"
Fire magic—Blaze Storm!
Whoosh—
In the next instant, a colossal column of water tens of meters high erupted violently from the flat ground ahead, transforming into a torrential deluge that seemed ready to drown the entire world.
The three men closest to the water pillar were instantly "vaporized" by it.
"Damn it! What kind of monster is this guy?! Avoid the water—"
The leader of the men in black cursed under his breath, not even caring that rain soaked his sleeve as he retreated.
It wasn't until he smelled something burning and saw scorched marks spreading across his arm that his pupils shrank violently. "Wait—oh shit! This stuff is fire! Run!!"
The men in black had intended to dive for cover to avoid the water, never imagining that this "water" would burn on contact.
Liquid water, behaving exactly like fire, ignited clothes and hair alike, engulfing entire bodies at terrifying speed.
Seeing this, the two men in black who were farthest away turned and ran without hesitation.
Madison saw this and immediately activated her innate magic—Telekinesis—forcefully dragging the two men straight back into the surging "water."
Their screams were cut short as the liquid completely incinerated them.
Afterward, Madison stared at the death zone shrouded in rising white steam, lingering fear evident on her face.
"You never told me you could use water magic like that."
"It's just water… a slightly special kind."
"You never told me you could use telekinesis either."
Luke swept his gaze around, confirming there were no remaining attackers, then looked in another direction.
About two hundred meters away, a lone man in black was frantically running down a staircase, trying to escape.
"And by the way," Luke added calmly, "this is fire too."
"You're telling me this is fire? What kind of fire looks like water?"
Madison looked at him as if he were joking.
"My fire can be water, lightning, light, or wind. You'll understand later."
Luke said it casually, then waved his right hand through the air.
The wall of a small garden beside them suddenly vanished.
At the same time, two hundred meters away,
The last man in black was sprinting down an alley in panic when, in the next instant, a three-meter-high wall abruptly appeared at the exit.
He froze in shock. Where had his escape route gone?
He slapped the wall, confirmed it was solid, and immediately turned to run the other way.
But after taking only two steps, he stopped dead.
Without any warning, another wall materialized out of thin air in front of him, blocking his retreat as well.
The man in black slowly lifted his head, staring at the blazing sun hanging high in the sky.
Was he being haunted… in broad daylight?!
Madison blinked, pointing at the empty garden beside them as if she'd seen a ghost.
The spot where the wall had been was now perfectly clean, like it had been erased.
"What did you just do? I mean… where did a wall that big even go?"
"You'll find out soon enough."
Luke walked over, took Madison's hand, and gave another gentle wave.
A blue arcane halo two meters in diameter appeared beneath their feet.
Arcane magic—Teleportation!
"Don't move during the teleportation. No matter what, don't step outside the circle—or even a rock shield won't be able to protect you."
Hearing Luke's calm warning, Madison stared blankly at the profound magic circle.
In a single day, her entire worldview had been shattered—and rebuilt.
After knowing each other for over a decade, her best friend suddenly said: I'm a magic boy.
Yes. That ridiculous.
As the halo grew brighter, Madison suddenly thought of something and turned to look at the utterly composed Luke.
"Wait… why do you look so practiced at this?"
Luke winked. "Oh, I've read a lot of shitty urban cultivation novels in Webnovel.com."
"Huh?!"
______
Add this to your Library~~~!!!